Google is experimenting with a novel feature for Android tablets that allows users to resize applications freely and organize them on their screen as desired. This enhancement aims to simplify multitasking by enabling users to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.

Key Features:

• The "desktop windowing" feature is currently available as a developer preview.
• For compatible apps, users can have multiple instances open simultaneously.
• By default, Android tablet apps open in full-screen mode.
• When activated, each app appears in a window with controls for repositioning, maximizing, or closing the app.
• A taskbar at the bottom of the screen displays running apps.

Comparison to Other Systems:

This feature bears similarities to Apple's iPad Stage Manager, which allows users to resize and move windows on their screen. It also shares characteristics with desktop operating systems.

Samsung has offered its DeX experience for several years, providing desktop-like window management for Android apps on Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Activation and Usage:

Once widely available, users can enable the feature by:

• Pressing and holding the window handle at the top of an app's screen
• Using the keyboard shortcut Meta key (Windows, Command, or Search) + Ctrl + Down

Users can exit the desktop mode by closing all active apps or by dragging a window to the top of the screen.

Considerations:

• Apps locked to portrait orientation remain resizable, which may lead to unusual appearances if certain apps are not optimized.
• Google plans to address this issue in a future update by scaling the UI of non-resizable apps while maintaining their aspect ratio.

Availability:

The developer preview is accessible in the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 for Pixel Tablets. However, the exact rollout date for general users remains unknown, and it's unclear whether the feature will be available on the upcoming Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

This new feature aims to enhance productivity and multitasking capabilities on Android tablets, potentially revolutionizing how users interact with their devices.

Google is rolling out a new ChromeOS update that makes it easier to keep your on-screen apps organized, copy text from images, and adjust camera and microphone settings on Chromebook devices.

The ChromeOS camera app now supports Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract text from captured images of letters or other documents. It allows users to copy or search the text in images, more easily convert images into searchable PDFs, and have the built-in ChromeOS screen reader speak image-based text. Google says its OCR supports both horizontal and vertical detection in 77 languages, and is disabled by default in photo mode.

Additionally, the Magnifier tool will now work with ChromeVox — allowing the screen magnifier to automatically follow words when text is read aloud, helping visually impaired users to keep their place. This is also disabled by default, and will require both Magnifier and ChromeVox to be enabled in the device settings.

Chromebook cameras and microphones are also getting some quality-of-life improvements — using them requires turning on privacy controls and app permissions in two separate places, but now Google has simplified this by adding software permissions to the apps section of the ChromeOS settings menu. There’s also a new Auto Gain Control (AGC) feature that allows apps like video calling software to automatically optimize microphone volume. This should improve the audio quality on calls and will notify users in the quick settings panel when the feature is overriding manual audio controls.

Apple has officially set the stage for its upcoming annual  iPhone event, with an event scheduled for September 9. This is set to take place at the Steve Jobs Theater located within the company’s Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.

Initially, the launch was expected to occur on September 10, but the company has opted to advance it by one day in order to avoid a potential overlap with the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump. The event – titled “It’s Glowtime”- will be streamed live across Apple’s official channels, including its website, TV app, and YouTube channel, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time (1:00 PM Eastern Time, 10:30 PM Indian Standard Time).

The September 9 event will be a pivotal moment for Apple, primarily focused on the introduction of the iPhone 16 series. This new lineup is expected to include four models: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Each model is projected to bring notable enhancements over their predecessors, particularly in display technology and camera capabilities.

As a Lenovo employee began presenting the lineup of products being unveiled at a closed-door briefing ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA Berlin), a journalist sitting next to me joked that it wouldn’t be IFA without a Lenovo concept device. 

Just before the presentation ended, Lenovo revealed a proof-of-concept laptop with an auto-twist design, heavily reliant on algorithms and rotary motors. It offers a glimpse into a future laptop that rotates and spins the screen to face you, adapting to different scenarios. However, it’s just a concept, and Lenovo may or may not bring it to market.

I spent some time with the Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC at IFA, and here are my first impressions.

A regular laptop with a twist

At first glance, it was hard to pinpoint what was different about this laptop. It’s a ThinkBook you’re familiar with, with the build quality and aesthetics that the iconic business line is known for. The laptop was lightweight and boasted decent specs, like Intel’s Meteor Lake processor and plenty of RAM. The display was high-resolution with an OLED screen, and the laptop featured a lot of AI integration. However, as soon as the Lenovo executive said, “Hi Twist, open the lid”, the laptop lid opened magically. The executive then used a similar voice command to close the lid without touching it, and the lid adjusted, moved forward, and shut. By that point, it was evident that this wasn’t an ordinary notebook. My mind was boggled as the executive further explored different modes. 

 The Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC features a high-resolution OLED display. Its motorised rotation allows users hands-free operation and motion tracking for an immersive user experience. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

If you remember the Amazon Echo Show 10, which has a rotating display that follows you around, Lenovo’s Auto Twist AI PC is built on similar principles but is much more advanced and cutting-edge. When the executive first demonstrated the AI Twist PC, the laptop’s screen followed her. In other words, the moment you approach the laptop, it follows you and keeps moving until you stand directly in front of the screen. Even if you move a little, the screen adjusts to follow you. As I emulated the executive, the screen panned from left to right at about a 180-degree angle — the screen was able to recognise the shift in my movement. 

Written by Anuj Bhatia 

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Berlin | Updated: September 6, 2024 17:20 IST

6 min read

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The Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC on display at IFA 2024 in Berlin. The device features a motorised rotating screen that allows users more movements and the ability to adapt to different scenarios. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

As a Lenovo employee began presenting the lineup of products being unveiled at a closed-door briefing ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA Berlin), a journalist sitting next to me joked that it wouldn’t be IFA without a Lenovo concept device. 

Just before the presentation ended, Lenovo revealed a proof-of-concept laptop with an auto-twist design, heavily reliant on algorithms and rotary motors. It offers a glimpse into a future laptop that rotates and spins the screen to face you, adapting to different scenarios. However, it’s just a concept, and Lenovo may or may not bring it to market.

I spent some time with the Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC at IFA, and here are my first impressions.

Advertisement regular laptop with a twist

At first glance, it was hard to pinpoint what was different about this laptop. It’s a ThinkBook you’re familiar with, with the build quality and aesthetics that the iconic business line is known for. The laptop was lightweight and boasted decent specs, like Intel’s Meteor Lake processor and plenty of RAM. The display was high-resolution with an OLED screen, and the laptop featured a lot of AI integration. However, as soon as the Lenovo executive said, “Hi Twist, open the lid”, the laptop lid opened magically. The executive then used a similar voice command to close the lid without touching it, and the lid adjusted, moved forward, and shut. By that point, it was evident that this wasn’t an ordinary notebook. My mind was boggled as the executive further explored different modes. 

 The Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC features a high-resolution OLED display. Its motorised rotation allows users hands-free operation and motion tracking for an immersive user experience. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

If you remember the Amazon Echo Show 10, which has a rotating display that follows you around, Lenovo’s Auto Twist AI PC is built on similar principles but is much more advanced and cutting-edge. When the executive first demonstrated the AI Twist PC, the laptop’s screen followed her. In other words, the moment you approach the laptop, it follows you and keeps moving until you stand directly in front of the screen. Even if you move a little, the screen adjusts to follow you. As I emulated the executive, the screen panned from left to right at about a 180-degree angle — the screen was able to recognise the shift in my movement. 

 The hinge mechanism on Lenovo’s ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC features a micro-motor technology that enables the screen to rotate automatically. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Also Read | IFA 2024: AI gadgets and concept devices to headline Europe’s biggest tech show

I’m told the hinge of the laptop houses a micro-motor for dual-degree movement, allowing it to twist vertically 180 degrees and horizontally 270 degrees. I’d say the Auto Twist AI PC is pretty good at following me as I move from one point to another. Even better, the laptop screen can move 270 degrees and take a panoramic picture of everyone in the room. Pretty neat, I’d say. No wonder the camera’s motion-tracking feature has a lot of heavy lifting to do, but I just hope the camera doesn’t struggle to keep up with multiple people in the frame. 

The motor is extremely quiet, and you won’t hear anything while it’s moving. Lenovo claims the screen can twist more than 20,000 times without an issue.

During the demonstration, Lenovo showed the many ways in which the Auto Twist PC can adapt to its surroundings and provide a completely hands-free experience. Although the appeal of a screen that twists and turns is interesting, it remains to be seen how third-party developers will use this capability to their advantage and design apps that leverage this unique screen concept. Right now, the appeal is mainly limited to video calls or executing specific actions. However, I must say it is very handy when you move around an area — like a kitchen, for example — and want to keep an eye on a recipe, or while watching the news.

Potential as a smart home hub

If you ask me what I make of the Lenovo ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC, I’d say that it is a work in progress. The reason isn’t the hardware but rather the compelling software features and potential use cases. The possibilities with this device are infinite. It heavily relies on algorithms and machine learning to determine how far it will move from left to right and back. It gets a lot right when it follows and tracks you around the room. It also automatically tilts the screen up, down, and backwards, and rotates at different angles.

I can see the potential for the ThinkBook Auto Twist AI PC as a smart home hub. With features like a motorised touchscreen, motion-tracking camera, and automatic tilting, it could become an advanced tabletop home device that uses robotics to move the display around.

All said and done, it’s great to see that Lenovo at least thought outside the box to envision a laptop from a new perspective. Lenovo’s AI Twist laptop concept feels like the culmination of several cool technologies in search of a purpose.

At the annual Roblox Developers Conference, the company announced on Friday a series of changes coming to the platform in the next few months and years. Most notably, Roblox is adding more ways for creators to earn money through their experiences, and the company is unveiling a project that will power generative AI creation on the platform. 

The company is introducing a new program that will give creators a higher share of revenue for their paid experiences on the desktop. Creators will now receive 50% of the revenue for paid experiences that cost $9.99, 60% for experiences that cost $29.99 and 70% for experiences that cost $49.99. The change marks a significant increase in revenue sharing, as creators currently earn about 25% of the revenue for their paid experiences. 

Roblox chief product officer Manuel Bronstein told TechCrunch in an interview that the company believes this change will encourage more traditional game developers to bring their games to the platform. 

The company also announced that it’s partnering with Shopify to allow creators to sell physical merchandise directly within their experiences. Roblox plans to pilot this integration later this year with select creators, brands and e-commerce partners. 

To further support creators, Roblox is going to roll out a “Price Optimization” tool that will run tests to help developers identify the best price for in-experience purchases. In some cases, the tool may suggest that developers lower the price of an item to get more sales, benefiting both the developer and players. 

In the same vein, the company is going to start experimenting with regional pricing recommendations to allow developers to tailor their prices to local markets. 

Powering generative AI creation

In terms of AI, Roblox announced that it’s working on a 3D foundational model that will power generative creation on its platform. The model will be open source and multimodal and allow creators to generate 3D content using text, video and prompts. 

“A creator could say I want to create a world that is in the Scottish Highlands with castles and a stormy day, with a dragon background, and I want all of this in a steampunk steam style. And then the output will be the full scene creation,” Bronstein said. 

He noted that generative AI is currently focused on pictures and videos, not 3D creation. But, in Roblox, you need 3D objects, so if you see a tree, it needs to behave like a tree and also be visible from all sides. 

Bronstein noted that Roblox isn’t trying to replace the creative process but instead focuses on enabling more people to develop and create games. For instance, you may be a great developer but struggle with the artistic requirements for game creation. The 3D foundational model aims to make it easier for anybody to get started on the platform, while also helping current teams speed up the process of game development. 

Plus, just because you get an output, doesn’t mean that you will implement it right away. Developers will likely fine-tune and modify the AI-generated content, Bronstein said.

In addition, Roblox revealed that it’s rolling out a new technology called “Harmony” that will help developers automatically optimize their experiences for different devices and network conditions. 

Making Roblox more social

While Roblox already has social features that allow users to interact with each other, the company is introducing new ways for users to do so. 

For starters, it’s adding “Party,” which is a new way for a group of friends to move around Roblox together as a group in a private chat. If a user is under the age of 13, they can chat via text. If a user is older, they can use voice chat. Users in a Party can chat with each other even if they’re playing different games, and if they all want to play the same game, they can send invites to each other. 

The company is also introducing forums later this year to give users a dedicated space to share feedback, discuss gameplay and report any issues they encounter. 

To make its platform a destination for people to discover new music, Roblox will roll out a new “What’s Playing” and “Music Charts” feature where people will be able to find trending songs from breakout artists. Roblox is also planning an integration with music distribution service DistroKid to give artists a way to upload and share their music on the platform. 

All of the features announced today are part of Roblox’s ambitious goal of having 10% of all gaming content revenue worldwide flow through its ecosystem. Although the company didn’t provide a timeline for when it aims to reach this goal, Roblox believes the changes it is introducing will help it achieve the milestone. 

 Google Pixel Watch 3 was launched last month alongside the Pixel 9 series during the company's Made by Google event. Now, Google has confirmed that the new wearable will receive Wear OS updates for three years. The tech giant is providing seven years of updates for its Pixel smartphones. The three-year support for updates for the latest Pixel Watch is quite short when compared to the latest Samsung smartwatches, which are assured to receive software updates for four years.

As per Google's official support page, the Pixel Watch 3 will get guaranteed software updates until October 2027. The software updates will include Pixel Watch security updates and may include feature drops and other updates.

The Pixel Watch 3 was unveiled with Android 14-based Wear OS 5. Google is promising a similar three-year update cycle for previous wearables as well. The Pixel Watch 2, which was launched in 2023, will get updates until October 2026. The Pixel Watch from 2022 will receive updates until October 2025.

Google's Pixel smartphones are guaranteed to get seven years of OS and security updates. Google's major rival in the market, Samsung currently promises four years of updates for Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra models.

Pixel Watch 3 Price in India, Specifications

The Pixel Watch 3 was unveiled on August 13 at the Made by Google event with a starting price tag of Rs. 39,900 for the 41mm model with Wi-Fi connectivity. The 45mm model with Wi-Fi connectivity starts at Rs. 43,900. The wearable is currently available for pre-order in the country through Flipkart as well as retailers like Reliance Digitial and Croma.

The Pixel Watch 3 is available in 41mm and 45mm display sizes and both models ship with Actua display with 2,000nits of peak brightness and 320ppi pixel density. The display has 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 coating as well. It runs on Qualcomm SW5100 alongside Cortex M33 co-processor. It has an IP68-rated build.

The 41mm version has a 307mAh battery while the 45mm variant has a 420mAh battery. The wearable is claimed to deliver up to 24 hours of battery life with the always-on display mode enabled.