Google's encryption-breaking Magic Compose AI proves iPhone shouldn't support RCS messaging - BGR

For years, Google has been dying to come up with an iMessage equivalent, a key iPhone feature that’s probably responsible for stealing plenty of users from Android. It took a while, but Google settled on RCS, a new standard that replaces SMS on Android devices. Now Google is dying for Apple to add RCS support to the iPhone Messages app, so iMessages and RCS texts can coexist.

Ever since Google began its attack ads, I’ve said that Apple shouldn’t do it. The messaging problem is blown way out of proportion, as plenty of apps bridge the gap between Android and iPhone. WhatsApp is the best example of that.

Fast-forward to late May and Google just shot itself in the foot when it comes to RCS. It turns out the Magic Compose AI feature that Google is building into Messages breaks encryption by sending messages back to Google’s servers. That’s a big problem, and it’s a perfect example of why Apple should keep RCS away from the iPhone.

When talking about RCS, Google wasted no time at I/O 2023 to make fun of Apple. Google touched on all the RCS features, including end-to-end encryption, before taking thinly-veiled shots at Apple, the iPhone, and iOS.

Sending high-quality images and video, getting typing notifications, and end-to-end encryption should all work. That’s why we’ve worked with our partners on upgrading old SMS and MMS technology to a modern standard called RCS that makes all of this possible.

And there are now over 800 million people with RCS on our way to over a billion by the end of the year. We hope every mobile operating system gets the message and adopts RCS so we can all hang out in the group chat together, no matter what device we’re using.

Then, Google demoed Magic Compose, a generative AI feature coming to Google Messages in the future. We didn’t necessarily need AI features in messages, but Google did its best to throw AI into everything at I/O 2023.

How Magic Compose works inside Google Messages. Image source: Google

And we didn’t have to wait long to test it. Generative AI is available inside Google Messages right now, and Magic Compose is available as a beta. Android Police points to a Google support page that says Magic Compose is available only for RCS conversations in the Messages app. That’s not a surprise or a problem. It makes sense for Google to upgrade RCS, especially considering the rivalry with Apple’s iMessage.

However, as Android Police points out, Magic Compose breaks end-to-end encryption (E2EE). That’s one of the tentpole features of iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp, and other chat apps. A feature that Google struggled to bring to RCS. But let’s not forget that Google made a point to mention E2EE during the Messages segment at I/O 2023.

Google Messages’ Magic Compose AI feature breaks encryption. Image source: Google

Unfortunately, Magic Compose can’t run on-device to generate responses. The Messages app will send up to 20 of your last messages to Google, so Magic Compose can do its thing. Google didn’t mention this glaring issue during I/O, but it does disclose the problem in the support document:

Google doesn’t store messages or use them to train machine learning models. Up to 20 previous messages, including emojis, reactions, and URLs, are sent to Google’s servers and only used to make suggestions relevant to your conversation. Messages with attachments, voice messages, and images aren’t sent to Google servers, but image captions and voice transcriptions may be sent.

Sure, you can avoid enabling Magic Compose, as the Google Messages feature is optional. But I worry many will just enable the feature without considering the privacy implications.

That is a big problem, I don’t care how many excuses you make. Private messages are no longer private. There should be no way for a company to break E2EE on its messaging platforms. Even if it’s for next-gen generative AI features. And this is just one more reason why Apple should not add RCS support to its iMessage app.

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Japan will try to beam solar power from space by 2025 - Engadget

Japan and JAXA, the country’s space administration, have spent decades trying to make it possible to beam solar energy from space. In 2015, the nation made a breakthrough when JAXA scientists successfully beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle, more than 50 meters to a wireless receiver. Now, Japan is poised to bring the technology one step closer to reality.

Nikkei reports a Japanese public-private partnership will attempt to beam solar energy from space as early as 2025. The project, led by Naoki Shinohara, a Kyoto University professor who has been working on space-based solar energy since 2009, will attempt to deploy a series of small satellites in orbit. Those will then try to beam the solar energy the arrays collect to ground-based receiving stations hundreds of miles away.

Using orbital solar panels and microwaves to send energy to Earth was first proposed in 1968. Since then, a few countries, including China and the US, have spent time and money pursuing the idea. The technology is appealing because orbital solar arrays represent a potentially unlimited renewable energy supply. In space, solar panels can collect energy no matter the time of day, and by using microwaves to beam the power they produce, clouds aren’t a concern either. However, even if Japan successfully deploys a set of orbital solar arrays, the tech would still be closer to science fiction than fact. That’s because producing an array that can generate 1 gigawatt of power – or about the output of one nuclear reactor – would cost about $7 billion with currently available technologies.

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Apple iPhone Design May See Biggest Change In Years, New Leak Claims - Forbes

The iPhone is about to make one of the biggest changes in years, a new leak insists. Next year, for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple is going to change the display sizes. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter,in the “post-game Q&A section”.

This means that, for the first time since the introduction of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max in the fall of 2020, the screens are going to get bigger.

Currently, on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max—and almost certainly the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max—the displays measure 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches respectively.

But next year, it seems, the design of the iPhone will change, by “a couple tenths of an inch diagonally”, so the screen sizes would increase by 0.2 inches, that is, to 6.3 inches for the iPhone 16 Pro and 6.9 inches on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

That may not sound like a big change but, as Gurman says, it would mean the phones would have the largest displays ever seen on the iPhone and make them more on point with phones from companies like Samsung. The Samsung S23 Ultra, for instance, has a 6.8-inch display.

This exactly fits with the sizes of display from analyst Ross Young, who had the same figures in mind in a report he made earlier this month, something that industry heavyweights like Ming-Chi Kuo from TFI Securities have also corroborated.

Intriguingly, this change would not be size for size’s sake. It would also provide extra room inside the phone, for a bigger battery, say, or space for bigger camera sensors and so on.

In fact, no sooner had Gurman made his claim, but a report on Chinese site Weibo, spotted by MacRumors, backed it up. So, it looks like the periscope camera, expected to arrive this fall, but only on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, could come to the smaller Pro model next year as well.

And the bigger space could mean a larger sensor can fit in, which adds to photographic capabilities, especially in low light.

How much bigger, you ask? As much as almost an eighth bigger (12%) it seems.

All of which is pretty interesting, though it’s worth saying that one thing isn’t changing and that’s the size of our hands—evolution moves more slowly when it’s human rather than electronic. So, a bigger display, though welcome, will still need to fit in a manageable device, and there’s already very little extra screen space to be had on the front of an iPhone. Well, we’ll see.

There’s plenty of time for things to develop before the iPhone 16 Pro is released.

By the way, these changes are destined for the Pro phones only, it seems, not the iPhone 16, for instance. More as we have it.

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Watch this Nvidia demo and imagine actually speaking to AI game characters - The Verge

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When gaming and AI wholly collide... it’ll hopefully look this good but sound much better.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

At Computex 2023 in Taipei, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang just gave the world a glimpse of what it might be like when gaming and AI collide — with a graphically breathtaking rendering of a cyberpunk ramen shop where you can actually talk to the proprietor.

Seriously, instead of clicking on dialogue options, it imagines you could hold down a button, just say something with your own voice, and get an answer from a video game character. Nvidia’s calling it a “peek at the future of games.”

Unfortunately, the actual dialogue leaves a lot to be desired — maybe try GPT-4 or Sudowrite next time, Nvidia?

Here’s the entire conversation I hastily transcribed:

Player: Hey Jin, how are you?

Jin: Unfortunately not so good.

How come?

I am worried about the crime around here. It’s gotten bad lately. My ramen shop got caught in the crossfire.

Can I help?

If you want to do something about this, I have heard rumors that the powerful crime lord Kumon Aoki is causing all kinds of chaos in the city. He may be the root of this violence.

I’ll talk to him, where can I find him?

I have heard he hangs out in the underground fight clubs on the city’s east side. Try there.

OK, I’ll go.

Be careful, Kai.

Watching a single video of a single conversation, it’s hard to see how this is any better than picking from a NPC dialogue tree — but the impressive part is that the generative AI is reacting to natural speech. Hopefully Nvidia will release the demo so we can try it ourselves and get some radically different outcomes.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

The demo was built by Nvidia and partner Convai to help promote the tools that were used to create it — specifically a suite of middleware called Nvidia ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) for Games that can run both locally and in the cloud. The entire ACE suite includes the company’s NeMo tools for deploying large language models (LLMs), Riva speech-to-text and text-to-speech, among other bits.

The demo uses more than just those, of course — it’s built in Unreal Engine 5 with loads of ray-tracing... and it’s visually stunning to the point that the chatbot part feels lackluster to me by comparison. At this point, we’ve simply seen much more compelling dialogue from chatbots, even as trite and derivative as they can sometimes be.

In a Computex pre-briefing, Nvidia VP of GeForce Platform Jason Paul told me that yes, the tech can scale to more than one character at a time and could theoretically even let NPCs talk to each other — but admitted that he hadn’t actually seen that tested.

It’s not clear if any developer will embrace the entire ACE toolkit the way the demo attempts, but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chernobyl and Fort Solis will use the part Nvidia calls “Omniverse Audio2Face,” which tries to match facial animation of a 3D character to their voice actor’s speech.

Correction, 11:25PM ET: It was Nvidia’s Jason Paul, not Rev Lebaredian, who answered my question. I regret the error.

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AirPlay upgrade part of expected inbound iOS 17 changes - AppleInsider

iOS on an iPhone 14 Pro Max

The changes arriving in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will include enhancements to AirPlay to make it easier to work with hotel TVs, a leaker claims, as the rumors continue to flood in ahead of WWDC.

According to Mark Gurman in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, the software updates will have a change made to AirPlay that will make it easier to "beam content to TVs and speakers you don't own." While this could include other people's homes, Gurman offers it could also potentially work for devices located in hotels.

Gurman's other preview features includes a smart display-like interface that kicks in when the iPhone is locked and in a landscape orientation. The feature, previously raised in rumors, would display calendar appointments and other details, as well as notifications.

There's also mention of a journaling app with location services support, so that users could take notes and update friends on activities, as well as to log mood and emotions. The Wallet app will also apparently be upgraded to match Apple's continued expansion into financial services.

In preparation for the Apple headset, SharePlay will supposedly get some enhancements, but exactly what that entails isn't mentioned. Health app updates may include mood logging and "managing vision problems, as well as arriving on the iPad for the first time.

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Developer says its app can spot counterfeits and fakes using a smartphone camera - PhoneArena

Counterfeit and knock-off products can impact you in many ways. Suppose the pharmacy you get your medication from accidentally buys knock-off or counterfeit inventory. Would you really want to be driving in a car that has fake brake pads that were purchased by the body shop you use? App developer Alitheon has created FeaturePrint, an AI-based app that can spot counterfeits, fakes, and knock-offs by taking a single photo. And the app works with a wide variety of products.

As the developer says on its website (via PetaPixel), "Pick up a car brake pad, a circuit board, a bar of precious metal, or your collectable baseball card. Are you sure it is what you think it is? Is it what it should be? What is the consequence if it isn't? Eliminate these questions and avoid the doubt. Be FeaturePrint sure!" With global counterfeits now a $2.3 trillion "industry," the FeaturePrint app uses a photo and software to identify the digital footprint on every item.

Imagine using an app and a photo to verify the authenticity of different items

Alitheon writes, "Using a photo, our FeaturePrint Optical AI software 'sees' and converts the minute surface details of physical items into a unique mathematical identity. From gears and circuit boards to watches and collectables, no two objects are exactly the same, even though they may have just come out of the same production line."

Even though the app uses your phone's camera, FeaturePrint is not an image. "It is a set of numbers characterizing the unique features of an object. Features common to similar objects are rejected, and only the information that makes this object unique is preserved." A FeaturePrint confirms a particular object, not the kind of object it is. For example, the app might confirm a certain Intel Core i9 processor, not the class of all Intel Core i9 processors.

The app replaces barcodes, QR codes, or RFID tags that can fall off, get covered up, or get counterfeited. The FeaturePrint app is not available from a smartphone app storefront. The app is for businesses and if you represent a company that needs what FeaturePrint provides, you will need to get in touch with Alitheon by filling out their contact form. Pricing is not mentioned on the website.

The app is used by the London Bullion Market Association to identify and authenticate gold bars

The app is currently used by the London Bullion Market Association to identify and authenticate the gold bars it receives to make sure that they are legitimate and are not from an illegal source. "We applaud LBMA and its members as together we work to secure the world's gold and precious metals reserves and supply chains," said Roei Ganzarski, CEO at Alitheon. "Companies and consumers are used to having data at their fingertips. Now they can be sure the gold bar or gold product they are buying is authentic, ethically sourced, and legal, from a simple photo taken on their phone."

As Alitheon says, "Alitheon’s FeaturePrint optical AI technology securely links the physical and digital worlds. A FeaturePrint is a digital representation of the inherent random features unique to an object that arise from the object’s creation. FeaturePrinting allows high confidence distinguishing of individual items out of millions of similar and so-called "identical" objects."

As the developer points out, "Each FeaturePrint is unique, even between objects that have been made to be identical and manufactured in the same way, and thus appear identical to the human eye. It is to a solid object what a fingerprint is to a person, but with vastly more detail and associated with vastly higher recognition and authentication confidence. Of the plethora of various objects, we have FeaturePrinted and identified, we have never made a high-confidence mistake."

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Quordle today - hints and answers for Sunday, May 28 (game #489) - TechRadar

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints - now with added Daily Sequence answers! 

Yes, that's right: the makers of Quordle have a new game, which sees you complete four Wordle puzzles consecutively. The twist is that the letters you've already used on the first game are repeated on the second and so on. 

It's good fun, but also difficult - so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you'll probably need some for Quordle and the Daily Sequence 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 #489 and the answers to the Daily Sequence. 

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

Your Quordle expert

Your Quordle expert

Marc McLaren

Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief and has been playing Wordle and Quordle for more than a year. He's authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom's Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in every position. His Wordle streak recently reached the 500 mark and he'll be inconsolable if he loses it. Yes, he takes it all too seriously. 

Quordle today (game #489) - hint #1 - Vowels

How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* 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 #489) - 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 7.

Quordle today (game #489) - 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 1.

Quordle today (game #489) - hint #4 - total letters

How many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 14.

Quordle today (game #489) - 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 #489) - 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 2.

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 #489) - hint #7 - starting letters (2)

What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• G

• R

• C

• C

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

Quordle today (game #489) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #489, are…

• GULLY
• RISEN
• CHAFE
• CHEAT

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

---

Daily Sequence today (game #489) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #489, are…

• WIMPY
• HELLO
• GRAPH
• SYNOD

---

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #488, Saturday 27 May: GRASS, BELCH, CROWD, SHOWN
• Quordle #487, Friday 26 May: LOATH, MEALY, BEGAN, REUSE
• Quordle #486, Thursday 25 May: ALARM, PAUSE, COLON, BURLY
• Quordle #485, Wednesday 24 May: WHINY, LUSTY, NOISE, BOOTH
• Quordle #484, Tuesday 23 May: WIDER, AWAIT, CROSS, MEATY
• Quordle #483, Monday 22 May: EAGLE, SLICK, SOLID, TAKEN
• Quordle #482, Sunday 21 May: DEVIL, EVOKE, GUISE, FUNNY
• Quordle #481, Saturday 20 May: LINGO, HOWDY, GRASP, THIRD
• Quordle #480, Friday 19 May: ARBOR, MEDAL, TRIAL, WOOZY
• Quordle #479, Thursday 18 May: ENNUI, SPRIG, LATER, SLUNK
• Quordle #478, Wednesday 17 May: SKIMP, GLEAN, PAYEE, BRAVO
• Quordle #477, Tuesday 16 May: HARRY, COLON, SHEAR, LARVA
• Quordle #476, Monday 15 May: ULCER, APNEA, CANDY, ADULT
• Quordle #475, Sunday 14 May: CLONE, SKUNK, SWEPT, SASSY
• Quordle #474, Saturday 13 May: TRACT, PREEN, BUDGE, SNARE
• Quordle #473, Friday 12 May: HONEY, CYNIC, DAUNT, CHIRP
• Quordle #472, Thursday 11 May: CRYPT, DUNCE, WHEEL, NOBLE
• Quordle #471, Wednesday 10 May: PRINT, VICAR, GAFFE, PLAIT
• Quordle #470, Tuesday 9 May: PROSE, MUNCH, PIVOT, CONDO
• Quordle #469, Monday 8 May: PUSHY, GRIPE, BLOAT, ASSET
• Quordle #468, Sunday 7 May: TOOTH, SKULK, BRISK, SLOSH

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.

UK Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief, the latest in a long line of senior editorial roles he’s held in a career that started the week that Google launched (nice of them to mark the occasion). Prior to joining TR, he was UK Editor in Chief on Tom’s Guide, where he oversaw all gaming, streaming, audio, TV, entertainment, how-to and cameras coverage. He's also a former editor of the tech website Stuff and spent five years at the music magazine NME, where his duties mainly involved spoiling other people’s fun. He’s based in London, and has tested and written about phones, tablets, wearables, streaming boxes, smart home devices, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, games, TVs, cameras and pretty much every other type of gadget you can think of. An avid photographer, Marc likes nothing better than taking pictures of very small things (bugs, his daughters) or very big things (distant galaxies). He also enjoys live music, gaming, cycling, and beating Wordle (he authors the daily Wordle hints page).

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