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A closer look at the new features of AirPods Pro hearing aids

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In November 2022, the FDA passed a resolution allowing Americans to buy hearing aids with no prescription. The move launched a mini-industry during which firms rushed to make technology available that had previously been mired by health care constraints.

Consumer electronics firms also saw the opportunity. In September, Apple announced that it could be bringing hearing aid features to AirPods Pro 2 in an upcoming iOS update.

I had the opportunity to check out a demo of this feature at the iPhone 16 event. The offer was designed to supply insight into how users can test their hearing at home, although these results were incomplete. However, Apple recently shared the upcoming feature in its final form with TechCrunch.

I admit I’m just a little concerned. I’ve suffered from tinnitus my whole life, and while I’m pretty good at packing earplugs, I used to be pretty convinced that many years of rock shows had taken a toll on my overall hearing health.

However, as these processes go, Apple’s new hearing test feature is painless. It had been far too long since I had participated in any formal testing, but this feature immediately took me back to elementary school testing. Wait for the beep and lift the appropriate hand. You catch the drift.

This feature is straight away available in the Settings menu when you’ve gotten a pair of AirPods Pro 2 connected and in your ears. At this time, this feature is simply available on this specific model. This is because they’re the only members of the AirPods family to have each the new chip and a silicone tip for passive noise cancellation. After all, the key’s absolute silence. The sounds are faint and will be easily masked by the slightest background noise.

After some basic questions – Are you over 18? Have you attended a loud concert in the last 24 hours? – The system will play a generic music track to be sure that the AirPods are properly fitted. If the seal is just not in place, the system will prompt you to repair it before testing again.

The test then monitors the room for absolute silence. The first time I attempted it, I used to be told my environment was too noisy. We found that the air filter in the corner of the room was loud enough to trigger it. When the room becomes quiet, the test will begin. But luckily for me, the guy was fertilizing the lawn outside. He passed by my window every 45 seconds and every time he stopped the test and waited for all the pieces to calm down.

The hearing test is performed one ear at a time, starting with the left. The system then cycles through a series of tones, twice apiece. When you hear the beep, touch the screen. It’s quite easy. The test doesn’t measure how briskly you touch the screen, only whether you touch it each time.

Sounds run over a certain frequency range to find out which parts of the range could also be affected by hearing loss. The whole process takes about five minutes.

Results appear quickly. I used to be surprised when my results showed “little to no” hearing loss. The app rated my left hearing level at 18 dBHL (decibel hearing loss) and my right hearing level at 19. Mild hearing loss starts at around 25 dBHL. The hearing aid feature will only be available to individuals who test for mild to moderate hearing loss.

If your hearing loss is more severe, Apple recommends having it professionally tested. However, for those who perform the test inside the normal range, the system will offer the choice to activate Media Assist. The new feature enhances certain elements, akin to speech, distinguishing them from background noise. It is comparable to a new hearing aid feature in that it is meant to enhance on a regular basis life, although the amplification is just not as pronounced.

Still, this feature takes some getting used to. I discovered that some things, akin to the sound of fabric rubbing against fabric when walking, were way more noticeable than usual. In a more chaotic environment, it is a really useful feature – whenever you break the social norm of putting on headphones to check with someone.

This could also be the biggest challenge for this feature. We are used to hearing aids. If you see someone wearing this, you assume they’ve some extent of hearing loss. If the same person was using AirPods and didn’t hassle to take out at least one of them before striking up a conversation with you, you’d probably consider them rude.

However, as barriers come down, these little bits of social niceties will be resolved. This is a small price to pay for technology that may fundamentally improve the quality of life.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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How the digital “you” can withstand your torturous online conference calls

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Now you can appear like you are on a Zoom call in your office, even whilst you’re sipping a margarita in a hammock far, far-off. Courtesy of a several-month-old startup called Marinadethe premise is easy: upload a five-minute training video of you creating an avatar, and 24 hours later you may seemingly be able to go. Do you ought to call from your automotive? This can be your secret. Too lazy to get away from bed? No problem. At the beach club? You’re probably pushing it, although judging by the demo video, that is not the only problem that should be solved. (The service is currently available in Basic, Standard and Professional versions, with prices starting from $300 to $1,150 per yr.)

The technology, backed by Los Angeles-based Krew Capital, currently only works with macOS, Pickle says, but a Windows version is anticipated next month. As for the conferencing apps that customers can pick from, they include Zoom, Google Meet and Teams, in keeping with Pickle. However, you should have to attend to make use of them. According to the website, “due to high demand, clone generation is currently delayed.”

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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‘Wolves’ sequel canceled because director ‘no longer trusted’ Apple

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It could also be hard to recollect, but George Clooney and Brad Pitt starred together within the movie “Wolves,” which Apple released just two months ago.

On Friday, the film’s author and director Jon Watts said Friday that the sequel is not any longer happening; IN one other interview for Deadlinehe explained that he “no longer trusts (Apple) as a creative partner.”

According to reports, the corporate limiting your film strategy. For example, “Wolfs” was imagined to have a giant theatrical release, but as an alternative it played in a limited variety of theaters for just per week before it landed on Apple TV+.

Watts, who also created the brand new Star Wars series “Skeleton Crew,” said Apple’s change “came as a complete surprise and was made without any explanation or discussion.”

“I was completely shocked and asked them not to tell me I was writing a sequel,” Watts said. “They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, apparently to put a positive spin on their streaming axis.”

As a result, Watts said he “quietly refunded the money they gave me to continue” and canceled the project.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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The Rise and Fall of the “Scattered Spider” Hackers.

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A statue of CrowdStrike’s action figure that represents the Scattered Spider cybercriminal group, seen at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in August 2024.

After greater than two years of evading capture following a hacking spree that targeted some of the world’s largest technology firms, U.S. authorities say they’ve finally caught a minimum of some of the hackers responsible.

In August 2022 security researchers made their information public with a warning that a bunch of hackers targeted greater than 130 organizations in a complicated phishing campaign that stole the credentials of nearly 10,000 employees. The hackers specifically targeted firms that use Okta, a single sign-on service provider that hundreds of firms around the world use to permit their employees to log in from home.

Due to its give attention to Okta, the hacker group was dubbed “0ktapus”. By now the group has been hacked Caesar’s entertainmentCoinbase, DoorDash, Mailchimp, Riot Games, Twilio (twice) and dozens more.

The most notable and severe cyber attack by hackers in terms of downtime and impact was the September 2023 breach of MGM Resorts, which reportedly cost the casino and hotel giant a minimum of $100 million. In this case, the hackers collaborated with the Russian-speaking ransomware gang ALPHV and demanded a ransom from MGM for the company to get better its files. The break-in was such a nuisance that MGM-owned casinos had problems with service delivery for several days.

Over the past two years, as law enforcement has closed in on hackers, people in the cybersecurity industry have been attempting to work out exactly tips on how to classify hackers and whether to place them in a single group or one other.

Techniques utilized by hackers similar to social engineering, email and SMS phishing, and SIM swapping are common and widespread. Some of the individual hackers were part of several groups chargeable for various data breaches. These circumstances make it obscure exactly who belongs to which group. Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike has dubbed this hacker group “Scattered Spider,” and researchers imagine it has some overlap with 0ktapus.

The group was so energetic and successful that the US cybersecurity agency CISA and the FBI issued a advice in late 2023 with detailed details about the group’s activities and techniques in an try and help organizations prepare for and defend against anticipated attacks.

Scattered Spider is a “cybercriminal group targeting large companies and their IT helpdesks,” CISA said in its advisory. The agency warned that the group “typically engaged in data theft for extortion purposes” and noted its known ties to ransomware gangs.

One thing that is comparatively certain is that hackers mostly speak English and are generally believed to be teenagers or early 20s, and are sometimes called “advanced, persistent teenagers.”

“A disproportionate number of minors are involved and this is because the group deliberately recruits minors due to the lenient legal environment in which these minors live, and they know that nothing will happen to them if the police catch the child” – Allison Nixon , director of research for Unit 221B, told TechCrunch at the time.

Over the past two years, some members of 0ktapus and Scattered Spider have been linked to a similarly nebulous group of cybercriminals generally known as “Com” People inside this broader cybercriminal community committed crimes that leaked into the real world. Some of them are chargeable for acts of violence similar to robberies, burglaries and bricklaying – hiring thugs to throw bricks at someone’s house or apartment; and swatting – when someone tricks authorities into believing that a violent crime has occurred, prompting the intervention of an armed police unit. Although born as a joke, the swat has fatal consequences.

After two years of hacking, authorities are finally starting to discover and prosecute Scattered Spider members.

in July This was confirmed by the British police arrest of a 17-year-old in reference to the MGM burglary.

In November, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had indicted five hackers: Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, 23, of College Station, Texas; Noah Michael Urban, 20, from Palm Coast, Florida, arrested in January; Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20, of Dallas, Texas; Joel Martin Evans, 25, of Jacksonville, North Carolina; and Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22, from the UK, who was arrested in June in Spain.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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