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Reasons Temu Tech Products Are Affordable

shopping platforms such as Amazon Haul, which seeks to go head-to-head with Temu.

A quick price comparison clearly indicates how much more affordable Temu’s merchandise is. Temu’s Android 15 tablet featuring a 10.1-inch display is listed at $60, while a comparable tablet on Amazon costs $90. On Temu, Kvidio’s wireless noise-cancelling headphones are priced at $8.85, but they sell for $17.34 on Amazon. The prices and products mentioned were accurate at the time of this writing. These are appealing offers, assuming the brands are genuinely what Temu claims –- it has faced allegations of selling counterfeit goods before. Such deals might leave customers wondering if Temu’s technology is genuinely worthwhile. Are you really obtaining high-quality items at such reduced rates?

Temu incurs losses to maintain low product prices

App Notifies Users When Mac Webcam or Microphone is Engaged While Away

### Boosting Mac Security with OverSight: An Essential Tool for Privacy Safeguarding

The integrated green LED privacy indicator on Macs acts as a vital warning system, alerting users when the webcam or microphone is in use. Nonetheless, this safeguard only functions effectively when users are available to observe the indicator. The danger emerges when malware activates these features during the user’s absence, possibly recording or listening in without any apparent alert.

To counter this risk, the complimentary open-source utility **OverSight**, created by Objective-See, provides an extra layer of defense. OverSight not only tracks when the webcam or microphone is turned on but also sends notifications, enabling users to check for any unauthorized access upon their return.

#### Grasping OverSight’s Functionality

OverSight is proficient in overseeing the activation of the camera and microphone. It logs each instance, detailing the process responsible for the activation, ensuring users are aware of any dubious activity that took place while they were away. This logging function is especially crucial in light of the history of malware like Fruitfly and Mokes, known for activating cameras in the absence of users.

In addition, OverSight is skilled in identifying piggybacking attacks. These attacks happen when malware covertly attaches itself to a legitimate video call, such as on Zoom or FaceTime, without activating the LED indicator. OverSight distinguishes between various processes accessing the camera, notifying users if an unauthorized application tries to piggyback on an active stream.

#### User Experience and Suggestions

After using OverSight for several weeks, numerous users, including security professionals, have deemed it an indispensable tool for peace of mind. The ease of receiving notifications about hardware access without the need for complicated scripting or system analysis is a notable benefit.

For anyone worried about privacy and security on their Mac, OverSight comes highly recommended. It offers a straightforward method to monitor and log webcam and microphone activity, ensuring users stay informed about their device’s condition.

#### Conclusion

In a time when digital privacy is crucial, tools like OverSight play an essential role in protecting personal data. By delivering real-time alerts and detailed logs of hardware use, OverSight enables users to take charge of their privacy and security on Mac devices. For additional information, users can visit the

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DuckDuckGo Unveils AI Platform Proficient in Image Creation

### Duck.ai: An AI Image Generation Tool Prioritizing Privacy

The recently introduced Duck.ai feature, now in beta, highlights DuckDuckGo’s dedication to a privacy-centric approach in both AI and search capabilities. This cutting-edge tool enables users to generate images from their descriptions while guaranteeing the protection of their privacy.

#### No Information Disclosed to OpenAI

Currently, users can navigate to [duck.ai](http://duck.ai) and choose the “New Image” option from the side panel to start generating images. DuckDuckGo underscores that the same privacy measures applicable to its chat tool are also in place for Duck.ai. This ensures that each prompt remains anonymous, and no user data is employed to train OpenAI’s core image model. This strategy maintains the confidentiality and security of user information.

#### Local Storage and C2PA Compliance

Aligned with its privacy-first ethos, Duck.ai saves generated images locally on the user’s device instead of on DuckDuckGo’s servers. This capability not only boosts user privacy but also provides users with full authority over their creations. Furthermore, the images produced by Duck.ai are tagged with C2PA-compliant metadata, facilitating verification that the images are AI-generated, thereby enhancing transparency in AI content production.

#### Complimentary Access with Usage Restrictions

Duck.ai is accessible at no cost; however, there are daily usage limitations for those who are not DuckDuckGo subscribers. This structure enables users to investigate the features of the image generator while promoting subscription for additional benefits.

#### Upcoming Features

After the initial launch, the Duck.ai team is diligently developing new features to enhance user experience. Future updates comprise support for uploading reference images and the addition of a dedicated download button for mobile devices, simplifying the process for users to save their creations.

For further details regarding Duck.ai’s terms of service, users can check

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Linking Apple Music with ChatGPT: Advantages and Procedures

announcement that ChatGPT would soon collaborate with Apple Music, the alliance between OpenAI and Apple is now operational. Consequently, ChatGPT now connects with the two leading music streaming services: Spotify and Apple Music. However, the integration between these two platforms differs significantly.

While Spotify grants ChatGPT full access to a user’s data to enhance the integration process between the AI and the streaming platform, Apple Music restricts ChatGPT from accessing a user’s library, playlists, Replay statistics, recently played tracks, or listening history. Thus, ChatGPT can only gauge the preferences of an Apple Music user based on user input, which may affect its accuracy.

With this collaboration now in place, we will walk you through the steps to link Apple Music with ChatGPT, clarify what functionalities are available and what are not due to this integration, and share an anecdote from our own experience of putting together a joint playlist featuring Blossoms and The Vaccines, including the challenges we faced in finalizing the playlist.

How to link Apple Music and ChatGPT

Apple TV Secures New Dramedy ‘Beat the Reaper’ Featuring Will Poulter

Apple has officially unveiled its adaptation of Josh Bazell’s 2009 initial novel, “Beat the Reaper,” for Apple TV. The series is a joint effort between Apple Studios and New Regency, with Sam Catlin, recognized for his work on “Breaking Bad” and “Sugar,” taking on the roles of showrunner and executive producer.

The plot centers on Dr. Peter Brown, an intern at a notoriously poor-performing hospital in Boston, who has an exceptional aptitude for medicine but bears a perilous history. When a patient spots him, Dr. Brown finds himself in a race against time, confronting dangers from government agents, mob enforcers, and a sequence of lethal incidents, all within an eight-hour shift.

Will Poulter, known for his performances in “The Bear” and “Black Mirror,” has been confirmed to play Dr. Peter Brown, marking his announcement as the sole cast member revealed thus far. Information regarding the commencement of production and the series’ premiere date has not yet been made public.

Apple TV, which provides a subscription service priced at $12.99 per month, boasts a variety of well-known shows and films, including “F1 The Movie,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” and “Silo.” As excitement grows for “Beat the Reaper,” enthusiasts of the novel and new viewers alike are keen to see how this captivating tale will be translated onto the screen.

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Texas Initiates Legal Action Against Five Leading Smart TV Makers for Suspected Privacy Breaches

your intelligent TV is monitoring you and your viewing habits. Realistically, it’s not the sole device or platform where this occurs. What’s more concerning, at least according to a lawsuit from Texas, is that it is allegedly happening without your approval. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is filing a lawsuit against five television manufacturers — Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL — asserting that these companies are employing ad-targeted spyware to track what viewers are watching. The lawsuit alleges that, through Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology, firms “capture images of a user’s television screen every 500 milliseconds,” to monitor what they are viewing or engaging in. Subsequently, TVs “send that data back to the company without the user’s awareness or consent.”

You may recognize ACR as the technology enabling companies to observe what you view on devices connected to your TV’s HDMI inputs. The Texas lawsuit also claims that television companies profit by selling the data they gather to “target advertisements across various platforms.” However, in pursuit of this profit, these companies are accused of jeopardizing user privacy and sensitive information. “This behavior is intrusive, misleading, and illegal,” states Paxton. He emphasizes that individuals’ “basic right to privacy” will be safeguarded in the state. While “Big Tech” is referenced, Paxton specifically calls out corporations “linked to the Chinese Communist Party,” who ought “to have no right to illegally document Americans’ devices within their own residences.” He also notes that Hisense and TCL are headquartered in China.

In light of breaches of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Attorney General is pursuing damages of up to $10,000 for each infraction, and up to $250,000 for violations impacting individuals aged 65 or older. The state is also expressing interest in injunctions to prevent data collection, selling, and sharing while the lawsuits are in progress.

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Apple Creates a Cohesive AI Model Proficient in Image Recognition, Generation, and Modification

**UniGen 1.5: Breakthroughs in Image Interpretation, Creation, and Modification**

Leveraging advancements from the earlier UniGen model, a group of researchers at Apple has unveiled UniGen 1.5, an advanced system proficient in image interpretation, creation, and modification all within one framework. This article explores the specifics of this pioneering model and its significance in the realm of multimodal artificial intelligence.

### Expanding on the Initial UniGen

In May, Apple researchers released a paper titled [UniGen: Improved Training & Test-Time Approaches for Integrated Multimodal Understanding and Creation](https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.14682). This revolutionary contribution presented a cohesive multimodal large language model capable of executing both image interpretation and creation tasks without depending on distinct models for each capability.

Subsequently, another paper entitled [UniGen-1.5: Advancing Image Creation and Modification through Reward Integration in Reinforcement Learning](https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14760) has been published, highlighting the improvements made to the initial model.

### Understanding UniGen-1.5

UniGen-1.5 builds on its predecessor by integrating image modification functionalities into the unified model. This integration poses significant challenges, as interpreting and creating images generally require disparate approaches. Nevertheless, the researchers maintain that a unified model can leverage its interpretative skills to enhance creation quality.

A prominent difficulty in image modification lies in the model’s capacity to grasp intricate editing commands, particularly when the modifications needed are fine or precise. To address this challenge, UniGen-1.5 implements a novel post-training phase referred to as Edit Instruction Alignment.

The Edit Instruction Alignment procedure encompasses refining the model to ascertain the semantic meaning of the target image relative to the original image and the editing directives. This intermediate phase enables the model to better assimilate the desired edits prior to generating the final output.

### Reinforcement Learning and Cohesive Reward Framework

The researchers integrate reinforcement learning as a vital aspect of the model’s training process. Remarkably, they apply a cohesive reward framework for both image creation and modification, which has proven challenging in earlier models due to the diverse nature of edits. This technique empowers UniGen-1.5 to perform proficiently across various tasks.

In evaluations against established industry benchmarks that assess how well models comply with directives, uphold visual fidelity, and manage intricate edits, UniGen-1.5 showcased strong performance. It received scores of 0.89 and 86.83 on GenEval and DPG-Bench, respectively, surpassing numerous cutting-edge models, including BAGEL and BLIP3o. For image modification, it earned a score of 4.31 on ImgEdit, exceeding recent open-source models and rivaling proprietary solutions.

### Challenges and Prospective Enhancements

Despite its progress, UniGen-1.5 encounters issues, particularly in text creation and ensuring identity consistency in images. The model finds it difficult to accurately depict text characters and displays identity variations in specific situations, such as changes in texture and hue. The researchers recognize these challenges and emphasize the necessity for ongoing enhancements.

### Closing Thoughts

UniGen 1.5 marks a notable advancement in the domain of unified multimodal large language models. By adeptly merging image interpretation, creation, and modification into a singular framework, it establishes a new benchmark for upcoming research and applications in artificial intelligence. The complete study can be accessed

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ChatGPT Improves Access to Significant Discussions

**Pinned Chats Feature in ChatGPT: Elevating User Interaction**

OpenAI has recently rolled out a major update to ChatGPT, designed to enhance user interaction by facilitating the management and retrieval of crucial conversations. This new feature, termed pinned chats, allows users to emphasize particular discussions, ensuring they stay prominently displayed at the top of the chat history.

### The Difficulty of Managing Conversations

As users participate in various discussions on ChatGPT, it can become increasingly difficult to monitor key chats among the surge of new dialogues. While ChatGPT automatically identifies conversations based on their context, users frequently encounter challenges in pinpointing specific chats when required. The launch of pinned chats effectively resolves this concern.

### Functionality of Pinned Chats

With the introduction of the pinned chats feature, users can now secure conversations at the top of their chat list. This capability is accessible across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and web. Users can effortlessly pin a chat by selecting the “…” next to the conversation on the web or by long-pressing on mobile devices. This straightforward action facilitates quick access to frequently referenced talks without the necessity of scrolling through the entire chat history.

### Advantages of Pinned Chats

The incorporation of pinned chats represents a minor yet significant enhancement that fosters a more efficient user experience. By enabling users to prioritize specific conversations, OpenAI is aiding in alleviating frustration and enhancing the overall effectiveness of interactions within ChatGPT. This feature is especially advantageous for users who depend on the platform for ongoing projects or dialogues that need consistent reference.

### Recent Developments and Integrations

Alongside the pinned chats feature, OpenAI has been diligently implementing additional updates to elevate ChatGPT’s capabilities. The latest introduction of GPT-5.2 has brought enhancements to the model’s efficiency, while integrations with services such as Apple Music and Adobe Photoshop have broadened the platform’s functionality. These updates work together to provide a richer and more adaptable user experience.

### Summary

The launch of pinned chats in ChatGPT signifies a notable advancement in the design of user experience. By allowing users to conveniently access important discussions, OpenAI is tackling a prevalent issue and augmenting the overall usability of the platform. As OpenAI continues to innovate and enhance ChatGPT, users can anticipate more features that simplify and enrich their interactions.

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iOS 26.2 Improves Capabilities of Well-Liked Apple Watch Function

# Grasping the Sleep Score Feature in iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2

A prominent addition in the recent updates for Apple Watch and iOS is the Sleep Score. Acknowledging the significance of sleep in our everyday routines, this feature delivers insights into three vital components: sleep duration, bedtime, and disturbances.

## Improvements in Sleep Score with iOS 26.2

With the recent release of iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2, the Sleep Score has seen enhancements. The original version in iOS 26 and watchOS 26 received varied responses, as numerous users considered the scoring system overly generous. For example, there were occasions when users believed they had a restless night, yet their Apple Watch classified it as “OK” or “Good.”

In light of this input, Apple has redefined the Sleep Score levels in the new updates.

### Sleep Score Levels

**iOS 26 and watchOS 26 Levels:**
– Very Low: 0-29 points
– Low: 30-49 points
– OK: 50-69 points
– High: 70-89 points
– Excellent: 90-100 points

**iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2 Levels:**
– Very Low: 0-40 points
– Low: 41-60 points
– OK: 61-80 points
– High: 81-95 points
– Very High: 96-100 points

This revised categorization seeks to provide a more precise representation of sleep quality, simplifying the understanding of users’ sleep patterns.

## The Significance of Actionable Data

The efficacy of the Sleep Score feature relies on how users interact with the data. Merely tracking sleep without implementing changes can limit its effectiveness. For many, including the author, the Sleep Score has uncovered unexpected findings, such as frequent awakenings throughout the night.

To enhance sleep quality, users have tested various approaches, such as:
– Cutting back on caffeine intake post-noon
– Having dinner earlier
– Reducing screen exposure before sleep

Nevertheless, there is a wish for Apple to offer more proactive suggestions for enhancing Sleep Scores based on the data collected. While the feature supplies comprehensive insights into sleep duration, bedtime, and interruptions, it lacks specific advice on improving these metrics.

## Compatibility Beyond Apple Watch

An appealing feature of the Sleep Score is its compatibility with devices beyond the Apple Watch. It can work with any accessory or application that syncs data to the Health app. For instance, users can leverage devices like the Oura Ring 4, which also offers a Sleep Score, highlighting the adaptability and availability of sleep tracking.

## Conclusion

The Sleep Score feature in iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2 marks a substantial advancement in understanding and enhancing sleep quality. By providing more accurate scoring and integrating data from diverse devices, Apple has simplified the process for users to oversee their sleep patterns. As users continue to delve into this feature, the potential for actionable insights and enhancements in sleep health remains a significant focal point.

Do you make use of the Sleep Score feature? Share your experiences and insights in the comments.

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Factors That May Cause Postponement of iPhone Fold Launch to 2027

**The iPhone Fold: Perspectives from Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo**

In a recent segment of the MacroMicro podcast, esteemed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared important perspectives on the progress and expected release schedule of Apple’s upcoming foldable smartphone, the iPhone Fold. Kuo’s evaluation highlights the obstacles and hopes tied to this groundbreaking device.

### Production Schedule and Hurdles

Kuo disclosed that the iPhone Fold’s development is currently behind earlier predictions. While the unveiling is anticipated in the latter half of 2026, he warned that seamless deliveries might not happen until 2027 due to preliminary yield and scaling challenges. This postponement could lead to considerable shortages, as demand is predicted to remain high even with restricted supply.

Kuo compared the iPhone Fold’s launch approach to that of the iPhone X, implying that while the announcement might coincide with other devices, the start of mass production and consumer accessibility could be delayed. Users may not get their hands on the device until late 2026 or possibly 2027.

### Strategic Significance of the iPhone Fold

Kuo stressed that Apple regards the iPhone Fold as a vital product that needs to be launched next year, even if the initial production numbers are limited. He is convinced that foldable smartphones signify the next major advancement in mobile technology, possibly paving the way for future innovations such as smart glasses with built-in displays.

Despite initial projections suggesting that Apple intends to send out between 8 to 10 million units of the iPhone Fold during its first year, Kuo pointed out that these estimates may be adjusted downward. He mentioned that numerous clients have raised concerns about the practicality of meeting such shipment targets, particularly considering the intricate nature of increasing production and finalizing specifications.

### Conclusion

As excitement grows for the iPhone Fold, Kuo’s insights emphasize both the opportunities and the challenges Apple must navigate to launch this innovative gadget. By concentrating on resolving production obstacles and fulfilling consumer expectations, the iPhone Fold could significantly influence the future landscape of smartphones. For those keen on Kuo’s complete comments, further information can be accessed through his in-depth notes and the podcast discussion.

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