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Google Pixel 8 Pro's Best Take technology is powerful enough to become an AI-based social situation fixer. I have proof.

True story: At a recent family function, a dozen of us sat at a long table and smiled at a smartphone camera while one person looked away after one shot and started to eat, as one does.

I do not begrudge her the much-needed snack but as I perused my more than half-dozen pictures, there was only one with her smiling at the camera and, taking inventory of the rest of the faces, it was not the best moment for everyone else.

Now, I wish I'd had the Google Pixel 8 Pro on me. Unveiled Wednesday in New York City alongside the Google Pixel 8, and Google Pixel Watch 2, the new flagship Android 14 phone includes a new Tensor G3 CPU that is powerful and packs a significant helping of onboard AI. Among its smart photo tricks is something called Best Take.

Put simply, Best Take can comb through a sequence of group pictures, find the faces, and let you replace each one with each person's most picture-friendly expression.

Google Pixel 8 Pro is ready to suggest the best photo (Image credit: Future)

Up until today, I'd only seen canned images produced by the Best Take technology. At Google's Made By Google event, however, Google finally let me experience the power of Best Take for myself.

In a well-lit studio space inside Google's Pier 57 West Side headquarters, Google sat me down with a trio of models. The instructions from the Google representative were simple: Try a number of different facial expressions as he called out when he was taking each shot.

Obviously, this is not exactly how you might normally capture a sequence of group photos. Often not everyone is paying attention and you're usually not calling out "And, taking a shot..." over and over again.

Google Pixel 8 Pro Best Take lives under tools. (Image credit: Future)

In any case, I played along, and after seating myself in the middle of this good-looking bunch, I listened as the Google rep called out and took group photos with the Google Pixel 8 Pro. Each time, I changed my expression, making sure that one image was of me smiling gleefully at the Pixel 8 Pro's 50MP main camera. The models also complied with their own silly, serious, and distracted mugs.

If you select "Suggestions", you'll see the Pixel 8 Pro's own choice for the best group shot. But we wanted to use Best Take, so we opened the photo and then selected Tools. Under that, we selected Best Take. Below our image, we saw this message, "Finding similar shots to improve photo" which meant the system was going through our sequence of six or seven shots looking for the faces and best expressions.

Google Pixel 8 Pro Best Take finds all the faces and their various expressions. (Image credit: Future)

While Best Take does not use facial recognition, the system does understand what a face is. Inside the tool, we could see all the faces collected in the photos. To register a face for potential swapping, they have to be free of obstructions. A plant or hands in front of a face will make it impossible to include as a face option.

When we selected my face, I saw three options. One was a nice smile, another looked dead serious, and the last was a smirk. With a tap, we could swap in the different faces. As my head switched, the models' faces around me remained the same. More importantly, my face swap did not look like it was done by a ransom note writer. Aside from the expressions, I could not see the stitching between my new face/head and unchanging body.

Next, we selected the face of the model next to me and swapped her face until we found the best expression.

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

If any of us had radically altered our poses, say, moved our shoulders 90 degrees this way or that, Best Take would've discarded those images from the sequence. Best Take also won't work if you wait 10 minutes between shots. Too much will have changed (lighting, poses, etc.) for a believable face swap. Also, thankfully, there's no option to swap your face with someone else's.

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

What's remarkable to me is that Best Take does its AI work locally. Google isn't sending your sequence of photos to its Tensor Processor Unit-filled cloud. It's all done on the Pixel 8 Pro and is a surprisingly fast process.

The other bit of good news is that Best Take is non-destructive. It keeps all the photos and if you look at metadata – as we did – you can see a little dash and number next to the file name to indicate this is a Best Take image and not the original.

As new tech experiences go, this was a best-case scenario with great lighting and subjects who always followed instructions. Even with a sequence of photos and the ability to swap heads, my real-world scenario might have proven challenging to Best Take.

On the other hand, I say bring on the next group dinner and hand me a Google Pixel 8 Pro because I am ready to try again.

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With demand for enterprise-grade large language models (LLMs) surging over the last year or so, Lamini has opened the doors to its LLM Superstation powered by AMD’s Instinct MI GPUs.

The firm claims it’s been running LLMs on over 100 AMD instinct GPUs in secret for the last year in production situations – even before ChatGPT launched. With its LLM Superstation, it’s opening the doors to more potential customers to run their models on its infrastructure.

These platforms are powered by AMD Instinct MI210 and MI250 accelerators, as opposed to the industry-leading Nvidia H100 GPUs which. By opting for its AMD GPUs, Lamini quips, businesses “can stop worrying about the 52-week lead time”. 

AMD vs Nvidia GPUs for LLMs

Although Nvidia’s GPUs – including the H100 and A100 – are those most commonly in use to power LLMs such as ChatGPT, AMD’s own hardware is comparable.

For example, the Instinct MI250 offers up to 362 teraflops of computing power for AI workloads, with the MI250X pushing this do 383 teraflops. The Nvidia A100 GPU, by way of contrast, offers up to 312 teraflops of computing power, according to TechRadar Pro sister site Tom’s Hardware.

"Using Lamini software, ROCm has achieved software parity with CUDA for LLMs,” said Lamini CTO Greg Diamos, who is also the cofounder of MLPerf. “We chose the Instinct MI250 as the foundation for Lamini because it runs the biggest models that our customers demand and integrates finetuning optimizations. 

“We use the large HBM capacity (128GB) on MI250 to run bigger models with lower software complexity than clusters of A100s."

(Image credit: Lamini)

AMD’s GPUs can, in theory, certainly compete with Nvidia’s. But the real crux is availability, with systems such as Lamini’s LLM Superstation able to offer enterprises the opportunity to take on workloads immediately. 

There’s also the question mark, however, over AMD’s next-in-line GPU, the MI300. Businesses are currently able to sample the MI300A now, while the MI300X is being sampled in the coming months.

According to Tom’s Hardware, the MI300X offers up to 192GB memory, which is double the H100, although we don’t yet fully know what the compute performance looks like. Nevertheless, it’s certainly set to be comparable to the H100. What would give Lamini’s LLM Superstation a real boost is building and offering its infrastructure powered by these next-gen GPUs. 

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Seemingly not content with one price hike (arguably two) in recent years, Netflix is reportedly set to increase the cost of its streaming service across the board again.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) states in a new report the company is currently “discussing raising prices in several markets globally” with the rollout likely to start in the US and Canada. It’s unknown how much the bump will be nor does The Wall Street Journal know when it’ll exactly begin. Netflix is keeping its lips sealed as it has refused multiple inquiries from media outlets. However, the WSJ says the streaming platform plans on raising costs “ a few months after the continuing Hollywood actors strike ends”. 

Imminent hike

At the time of this writing, SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) is still on strike although it may end soon. The guild has recently met with the heads of Hollywood’s four major production studios as both sides attempt to make a deal. Assuming the protest does end sooner than expected, this could put the Netflix price hike sometime in early 2024 as the platform continues to drive up revenue.

This past year and a half or so has seen Netflix enact multiple money-making strategies. It all began back in March 2022 when the platform bumped up the prices for all its subscription tiers. Then we saw the implementation of the ad-supported tier, the controversial password-sharing crackdown, and the death of the Basic plan in certain countries. 

That last one could be considered a second increase as it forced users to get either the more expensive Standard tier or the Standard with ads subscription to keep their service. 

Analysis: The next gamble

Why, we wonder, is Netflix enacting a fourth strategy after the strike ends?

It's possible the company has been wanting to implement another increase but couldn’t find a good reason to justify it to its subscribers. One online theory we've seen floating around argues that Netflix will use the returning actors and writers from the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike as justification for the hike. With all the new demands and content, the platform can claim it will need to gather more money from users to pay for everything. Even though the WGA’s calculations reveal the updated “contract will amount to just 0.2 percent of Netflix’s annual revenue.”

Now for the next question: will the upcoming hike be too much for subscribers? When the password-sharing crackdown began, debates raged online claiming, “This is the death of Netflix”. However, the opposite happened: the service’s subscriber count grew 236 percent. The gamble paid off for them  – at least, in the short term. It could be a different story in the long haul. Rising costs may finally prompt people to start canceling their subscriptions en masse. Netflix might end up with egg on its face, and realize it took things too far.

Of course, we don't know, but we'll definitely keep an eye on things as they develop.

While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best 39 films worth watching on Netflix in October 2023. 

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Currently, Apple and Google are engaged in a lucrative partnership that nets the former around $8 billion a year. This partnership involves Apple sending its sizable userbase (think billions!) to Google Search and, in return, it receives a commission from Google’s search ad revenue. Though Apple benefits tremendously, Google still needs Apple to promote the search engine and maintain its market dominance.

This arrangement means that Apple gets to enjoy several advantages, like having free resources to improve its non-web search capabilities, as well as having the world’s most effective bargaining chip when it comes to price negotiations with Google.

Despite this, Apple’s policy has always been to “own the core technologies underlying its products,” as Bloomberg puts it. If the tech giant ever took advantage of its knowledge and close proximity to Google’s search engine, it would wield great search power and get to keep more ad revenue. It wouldn’t have to match Google’s ability to sell advertising and search slots. Making its own in-house engine would be more than enough to increase revenue.

(Image credit: Yan Krukov / Pexels)

However, Apple has been developing its own search engine for years now. According to Bloomberg, John Giannandrea, a former Google executive who’s now in charge of machine learning and AI at Apple, has been running a search engine team for several years. The engine is codenamed ‘Pegasus,’ and it’s essentially a search engine for Apple’s own apps that’ll be making its way to more of them, including the App Store.

There’s also Spotlight, an engine that lets users find features and tools across their devices. Recently, Apple added web search support to Spotlight, which helped users find answers to their questions by pointing them to various sites. 

Apple's web search has been powered by both Microsoft Bing and Google in the past. Giannandrea and his team have also been looking to integrate Apple’s search features into iOS and macOS while enhancing that tech with generative AI tools.

There’s also tech that Apple already uses to enhance its search tools’ capabilities, including Applebot. It works by scouring the internet and indexing websites for more accurate search results, providing its users with more websites through Siri and Spotlight. 

Apple also has an advertising technology team, something that puts it much closer to Google if the former ever decides to actually create its own full-fledged search engine.

(Image credit: Future)

What’s stopping the massive tech giant? It seems that Apple has no desire to make its own search engines. Its partnership with Google works best, at least according to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. 

Cue is most likely on the money, as Apple tends to keep partnerships that serve its best interests. If Apple ever decided to fully invest in a search engine, it would simply do so, similar to how Apple partnered with Intel for years for its chips, until it didn’t and began designing its own silicon in-house.

A search engine is its own behemoth, one that Apple is probably not interested in tackling anytime soon.

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Google is working on giving Gmail users the opportunity to react to emails with a single emoji on iOS and Android phones.

Rumors regarding emoji reactions on Gmail have been circulating for several weeks although, outside of a few screenshots, we hadn’t seen it in action until recently. Industry insider AssembleDebug managed to get the feature working on their Android device and shared their findings on TheSpAndroid blog. 

According to the report, a new button will appear “to the right of the email” next to the three-dot menu. Tapping it opens a small menu where you pick from five default emojis: a sparkling heart, a party popper, a thumbs up, a laughing face, the praying hands (which people use to say thank you), as well as your run-of-the-mill smiley face. Once selected, that emoji appears in a reaction bar below the message, as you see in messaging platforms.

(Image credit: AssembleDebug/TheSpAndroid)

TheSpAndroid states there will be two other places “from where you can react on an email”. There will be an Add Reaction option in the three-dot menu plus an extra button at the bottom of an email next to Reply, Reply All, and Forward. 

This feature will reportedly work on email threads that include multiple people. They explain that "it may be possible to react just by tapping" emojis somebody else added previously. Of course, users will be able to send any emoji they want by tapping the Plus symbol in the small window that pops up. You’ll have the full library at your disposal.

(Image credit: AssembleDebug/TheSPAndroid)

Limitations

As fun as this update may sound, there are several limitations present with one in particular that could potentially ruin the experience. 

If other people don’t use the official mobile app, they’ll receive the emoji reactions in separate emails. Imagine sending an email out to a group of people and getting spammed with multiple “emails of emoji reactions”. Not fun. It's important to note that the browser version of Gmail may not have the new emoji support.

It looks like Google is aware of the spam problem as users won’t be allowed to react to emails sent to a large group. So there is some mitigation, but it probably won't be enough to stop the spam. Also, you won’t be able to send emojis to encrypted emails or any received via BCC. The limit for reactions is capped at 20 for one person. In a group, the limit is bumped up to 50 for all.

It’s unknown when this update will roll out. However, AssembleDebug claims it will most likely happen sometime this month and “in batches.” If this comes true, we hope Google quickly releases a version for browsers soon after or installs extra preventative measures to slow down the spam. 

Gmail is a widely used service, but you might find its security capabilities rather lacking. For more options, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best secure email providers for 2023. 

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It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult.

What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently. 

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for this game too. 

I'm a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who's been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #616 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #2 - total vowels

What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 10.

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #3 - repeated letters

Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 3.

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 11.

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #5 - uncommon letters

Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #6 - starting letters (1)

Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #616) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• G

• F

• L

• O

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #616) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #616, are…

• GUAVA
• FLORA
• LEGAL
• ONION

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

---

Daily Sequence today (game #616) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #616, are…

• PAUSE
• RATIO
• MANGO
• HERON

---

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #615, Sunday 1 October: LEAST, ARRAY, BOWEL, MATEY
• Quordle #614, Saturday 30 September: MELEE, CHECK, SHONE, GLIDE
• Quordle #613, Friday 29 September: PARER, CLASP, SHARD, JERKY
• Quordle #612, Thursday 28 September: SAUCY, PEACH, SURER, STRIP
• Quordle #611, Wednesday 27 September: NOISY, CLEAT, EAGER, CARAT
• Quordle #610, Tuesday 26 September: SEDAN, CHARD, CHASM, GUSTO
• Quordle #609, Monday 25 September: LEASH, GAZER, GUILE, KNEED
• Quordle #608, Sunday 24 September: LUCKY, ANGRY, QUIET, LUCID
• Quordle #607, Saturday 23 September: HEARD, LOATH, GUEST, SIGMA
• Quordle #606, Friday 22 September: CHILI, METRO, PUREE, KIOSK
• Quordle #605, Thursday 21 September: AWARE, SHONE, SHADE, SHELF
• Quordle #604, Wednesday 20 September: TAMER, SNOUT, BLAND, SLEEP
• Quordle #603, Tuesday 19 September: WACKY, LAYER, FRUIT, MINER
• Quordle #602, Monday 18 September: SWEAR, LOWLY, STAND, UPSET
• Quordle #601, Sunday 17 September: SCRUB, DUSTY, QUOTH, UNCLE
• Quordle #600, Saturday 16 September: FLAIL, ALTAR, YACHT, HAUNT
• Quordle #599, Friday 15 September: FISHY, DRAKE, TORUS, SMOTE
• Quordle #598, Thursday 14 September: CHEST, RIVER, THERE, EMCEE
• Quordle #597, Wednesday 13 September: GUESS, MICRO, DROOP, ELATE
• Quordle #596, Tuesday 12 September: CYNIC, GRUEL, CACTI, TOWER

Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know

What is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It's played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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