A month after debuting as a subscriber-only feature, Google’s Gemini Live is rolling out to more of the chatbot’s users free of charge, the company announced Thursday.
We're starting to roll out Gemini Live in English to more people using the Android app, free of charge. Go Live to talk things out with Gemini, explore a new topic, or brainstorm ideas. Keep an eye out for Gemini Live in the Gemini app 👀 pic.twitter.com/0VL0c7E6Gw
— Google Gemini App (@GeminiApp) September 12, 2024
Gemini Live is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT. It allows users to interact directly and conversationally with the chatbot, in real time, using spoken natural language prompts rather than text-based inputs.
To access it, open the Gemini app and click on the Sparkle icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. Once you’ve finished conversing with the AI, you can either click the Stop button or simply say, “stop” and the system will then generate a transcript of what you talked about. That transcript will appear in your chat history list for later review.
The feature does have some limitations. For example, it is currently available only to English-language Android users and cannot be used on iOS devices or with Gemini’s other Workspace integrations like YouTube Music or Gmail, though that functionality is expected to arrive at some point in the future.
OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode, on the other hand, is still in beta and has only been made available to select ChatGPT Plus subscribers. OpenAI has stated that the feature will roll out to its entire subscriber base in the coming months, but has yet to set a date. ChatGPT users will need to shell out for the $20-per-month subscription just to be considered for the rollout, and there’s no guarantee on when they’ll actually gain access.
Both Google and OpenAI are reportedly working to integrate the mobile device’s camera with their live voice chat features, enabling your phone to access additional multimodal context when answering your spoken queries, though neither company has set a specific date for their respective releases.
If you want to check out Gemini Live for yourself, download the Gemini App from Google Play.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.