Apple Vision Pro users return headsets, OpenAI launches text to video tool
Some Apple Vision Pro owners are returning their headsets less than two weeks after buying them, with complaining of comfort, usability and sickness issues. The $3,500 mixed reality goggles, which launched in the US on 2 February, was described by Apple chief executive Tim Cook as the “beginning of a new era for computing” at its initial unveiling last year. It offers wearers the ability to experience augmented reality by overlaying digital content like apps and screens onto the physical world, however some of those returning the device said a lack of dedicated apps meant it lacked utility.
Four Microsoft Xbox video games – and the firm was frustratingly careful not to name them – will now be opened up to alternative platforms for the first time, boss Phil Spencer announced to the world last night. He gave only a couple of clues: all four are community-driven, more than one year old, and they do not include recent releases Starfield or Indiana Jones. This feels like a big change of gear for Microsoft, which has long favoured exclusivity to its own Xbox platform and Games Pass subscription service. BBC
US officials say they have disrupted a hacking network linked to Russian intelligence services. They say the hackers – believed to be from the secretive hacking arm of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (the GRU) – gained access to more than 1,000 personal and small business internet routers in the US and around the world. The hackers then used the infected devices to launch “harvesting campaigns” against targets of “intelligence interest” to the Russian government, says the the US Justice Department. Sky News
The developer of ChatGPT has unveiled a new AI tool that can create photorealistic videos using only text prompts. The new bot from Silicon Valley start-up OpenAI – called Sora, the Japanese word for “Sky” – produces synthetic clips up to a minute long that can appear almost completely lifelike. The AI tool can respond to detailed requests and generate “complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion and accurate details”, OpenAI said. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief, advertised the tool on X, formerly Twitter, by inviting users to submit prompts for videos that Sora then generated. Telegraph
Apple is officially axing support for progressive web apps for iPhone users located in the European Union. While web apps have been broken for EU users in every iOS 17.4 beta so far, Apple has now confirmed that this is a feature, not a bug. In an update to its developer website spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple says it’s removing homescreen apps for users in the EU because bringing them into compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) would involve “an entirely new integration architecture” that’s “not practical.” The Verge
Virgin Media O2 posted a £3.3 billion loss in 2023 after the firm added a huge goodwill impairment to its accounts amid rising debt costs and tighter cash flows. Virgin Media O2 said consumer fixed revenue decreased 2.3% to £3.3 billion during the year as “spend optimisation on mid-tier TV and home phone as household budgets were squeezed by the increased cost-of-living.” Total mobile revenue meanwhile increased by 0.6% to £5.9 billion. Evening Standard
