Missed the week’s big tech news? Here’s your firmware update
It’s never too late in the year for a huge tech announcement, it seems. While most tech companies were hunkering down in preparation for CES 2024 next month, Google decided to make its biggest announcement of the year this week with Gemini, its most powerful AI brain so far.
Gemini is a nebulous, shape-shifting beast that’s both in some existing products – like Google Bard and the Pixel 8 Pro – and a futuristic concept that shows where Google’s AI is headed. Sure, the demo video may have been somewhat staged, with Gemini not yet capable of real-time conversation, but it’s still a landmark moment for Google and AI.
Not that this new chapter in the story of artificial intelligence was the only news this week. A GTA 6 trailer finally landed and came with the gut punch that it won’t initially be coming to PCs, while Windows 12 got a leaked launch date for 2024.
Been busy doing Christmas shopping? Here are all the biggest tech stories of the week in one handy, five-minute breakdown… 7. Netflix quietly rolled out an HDR upgrade for your 4K TV
Subscribers to Netflix’s Premium plan recently absorbed yet another price hike, making the service’s 4K and HDR-enhanced tier one of the more expensive options among the best streaming services. To make that bitter pill go down a little more smoothly, Netflix followed up with an announcement that it had completed an upgrade to its streaming library, one that specifically improves the video quality of 4K titles with HDR.
The upgrade comes in the form of dynamically-optimized encodes for 4K video streaming, a process that not only enhances the look of Netflix content on TVs, but also on tablets and phones. Will it be enough to keep Premium subscribers from jumping to the more affordable ad-supported tier, or cancelling the service entirely? Only time will tell. But in an increasingly competitive streaming landscape, better-looking 4K movies and shows is an advantage Netflix can take to the bank.
Read more: Netflix quietly rolled out an HDR upgrade for 4K TVs – here are the details6. Meta teased a VR headset that looks like a next-gen Apple Vision Pro
This week Meta’s director of display systems research, Douglas Lanman, showed a render of Mirror Lake during a talk at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. This next-gen VR headset looks like a cross between the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro – with its open-side design taken from the Quest, and a version of the (somewhat creepy) EyeSight found on the Apple headset.
