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| Welcome to today's Inside Tech! Here are the latest stories: - Meta has unveiled the Quest 3 XR headset, new smart glasses, and AI chatbots.
- iPhone 15 overheating issues may be linked to design compromises.
- Ex-Microsoft exec Panos Panay will lead Amazon’s devices and services division.
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p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Meta unveiled its Quest 3 mixed reality headset, offering full-color "passthrough" for users to see their surroundings in color while wearing the device. The Quest 3 will ship on October 10, with prices starting at $500 for the 128GB base model. More: - The Quest 3, unveiled at today's Meta Connect event, has over double the graphics processing power of Quest 2, the best-selling VR headset of all time.
- The Quest 3 is powered by Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip. It features two 2064x2208 resolution LCD displays with a 90Hz refresh rate and a battery life of 2-3 hours, matching the Quest 2.
- The new headset adopts the Quest Pro's pancake lenses for a slimmer profile and sharper images.
Passthrough mode: - Double-tapping the Quest 3 exits the virtual world into "passthrough" mode. Users can view outside surroundings in color and blend the physical and digital worlds together for mixed-reality experiences.
- Meta says over 50 new titles will debut for Quest 3 by year-end.
- It offers full backward compatibility with Quest 2 games and apps.
Other Connect announcements: - Meta also unveiled the successor to its two-year-old Stories smart glasses. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, starting at $299, are capable of live streaming to Facebook or Instagram.
- Its new Meta AI assistant and chatbot generates both text and images. It's also rolling out 28 AI characters in its messaging apps, including ones based on celebrities like Charli D'Amelio, MrBeast, and Snoop Dogg.
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| 2 | | Reports have emerged of the iPhone 15 overheating, apparently affecting all models and causing temperatures to rise over 100 degrees F. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the issue could be linked to compromises made in the thermal system design to lower the weight of the phones, specifically the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. More: - User reports have cited overheating during tasks like fast charging, FaceTime calls, and scrolling through social media content, leading to potential performance throttling.
- For the Pro models, a smaller heat dissipation area and the new titanium frame may have affected the devices' thermal efficiency, according to Kuo.
- To fix the issue, he expects Apple to release a software update but warned that it could lower chip performance.
Zoom out: - While Apple has not acknowledged the overheating, its website notes that iPhones can heat up during tasks like the initial setup, backup restoration, and high-quality video streaming.
Q: Have you or anyone you know faced iPhone 15 overheating issues? Feel free to share your experiences on our community site. | | | |
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| 3 | | Longtime Microsoft executive Panos Panay is confirmed as the new head of Amazon's devices and services business, replacing outgoing hardware chief Dave Limp. Panay will oversee Amazon's division responsible for products like Alexa, Echo smart speakers, Ring doorbells, Fire streaming devices, and Kindle e-readers. More: - Panay, known for his Microsoft Surface presentations over the years, will join Amazon at the end of October.
- He recently departed from Microsoft, where he oversaw Surface PC devices and Windows 11 development.
- His successor, Limp, is now stepping into the role of CEO at Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos's space company.
Zoom out: - Panay's transition to Amazon suggests a possible change in direction for the company's D&S division, which has undergone layoffs in the past year.
- The division unveiled new Echo devices, Fire TV sticks, and AI features during its Fall Devices event last week.
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| 4 | | Indonesia has immediately banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms as part of newly tightened trade restrictions. TikTok, the leading platform for social media purchases in Indonesia, will see the biggest impact from the new rule. The company will be forced to separate TikTok Shop, its online shopping feature, from its popular video service. 
Details: Indonesia's new rules prevent social media companies, including TikTok, from handling direct e-commerce payments on their platforms. Instead, the companies can only advertise products. The move aims to protect the country's micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and safeguard the offline merchants from predatory pricing on social media platforms. The bgger picture: The move comes shortly after TikTok committed to investing billions of dollars in Southeast Asia, including support for small vendors looking to join TikTok Shop. The online shopping feature has gained popularity in Indonesia, TikTok's largest and primary market for the service. TikTok has been using Indonesia as a model to expand its online shopping presence in other markets, including the U.S. | | | |
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| 5 | | Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is shutting down its unit dedicated to augmented reality (AR) services for businesses. The closure of the AR Enterprise Services (ARES) division, which launched in March, will result in roughly 170 layoffs, though some employees could be rehired for other roles. More: - Customers found the project to be too costly and complex, according to a memo from CEO Evan Spiegel.
- The aim was to allow business customers to offer virtual try-on tools, using AR technology to overlay graphics onto real-world photos and images.
- However, the AR mobile technology has been "both technically complex and less engaging for our customers," Spiegel wrote in the memo.
- The company concluded that investing significantly in building up ARES was unsustainable.
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| 6 | | Microsoft is rolling out an update that adds its AI assistant Copilot to Windows 11. The rollout could take weeks or months before it reaches many devices. More: - Copilot is Microsoft's AI-powered digital assistant for launching apps, answering queries, controlling PC settings, and more.
- The assistant will be available via a new Windows 11 sidebar. There will also be Copilot integrations throughout Windows.
- There's still a separate Windows 11 23H2 update for the year, which is due out in Q4.
- In addition to Copilot, the latest updates add over 150 new features, including an AI image creator in Microsoft Paint, AI text extraction in the Snipping Tool, background blur in the Photos app, and more.
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INSIDE TECH LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is the writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism and editing since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic, USA Today, and others, and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach out to her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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