The AI's latest trick is following the schedule you set for it. The developers of the big generative AI chatbots are continuing to push out new features at a rapid rate, as they bid to make sure their bot is the one you turn to whenever you need some assistance from artificial intelligence. One of the latest updates to Google Gemini gives you the ability to set up scheduled actions. These are exactly what they sound like: Tasks that you can get Google Gemini to run automatically, on a schedule. Maybe you want a weather and news report every morning at 7 am, or perhaps you want an evening meal suggestion every evening at 7 pm.

Mobile translation apps have improved substantially in recent years--with a little help on speech recognition from AI. Most apps can now keep up with real-time conversations, if your phone has a strong enough internet connection (so the audio can be processed and converted in the cloud). It means if you're trying to hold a conversation with someone in a language you don't know, you no longer need to spend time typing out words and phrases, or trying to figure out spellings and pronunciations. Instead, simply place your phone between you and the other person, and start chatting. There are several apps that can do this for you, but here we'll focus on the free translation apps on your Pixel phone, Galaxy phone, or iPhone.

Everything to do with artificial intelligence has been the big IT hype of the past two years. Even if the initial enthusiasm for ChatGPT and others has now given way to a more sober assessment, there is hardly a software company at the moment that is not taking a close look at the possibilities of the technology. Microsoft in particular has invested huge sums in AI development and is demonstrating how AI can also be integrated into familiar programs: Gradually, more and more applications are being given functions that fulfill their tasks with the help of artificial intelligence. Microsoft has also released its Large Language Model (LLM) Copilot as its own app and browser extension. Other companies have now also embedded AI functions into apps, some of which are available for free.

Google is bringing its Gemini AI assistant into more of its software suite, announcing several new features for Google Maps. Users looking for ideas about places to go in Maps can now ask conversational questions about the type of location they want and receive answers from Gemini. Maps can also use AI to respond to deeper queries about a specific locale. When you're looking at a location on Maps, Gemini can also provide a summary of reviews. These AI-powered features will roll out to the Maps app on Android and iOS beginning this week.

Google is making Gemini more easily accessible in its Workspace apps, if you're a paying customer. The company is rolling out Gemini side panels for Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Gmail, and it has also launched Gemini for the Gmail app on Android and iOS. When Google announced the Gemini side panels at I/O this year, it called the feature "the connective tissue across multiple applications with AI-powered workflow." The side panel in Docs will help you refine and rephrase what you're writing, summarize information, suggest improvements and create new content based on other files. In Sheets, it can help you create tables, generate formulas and demystify various Sheets functions by teaching you how to do certain tasks.

Google has updated some of its accessibility apps to add capabilities that will make them easier to use for people who need them. It has rolled out a new version of the Lookout app, which can read text and even lengthy documents out loud for people with low vision or blindness. The app can also read food labels, recognize currency and can tell users what it sees through the camera and in an image. Its latest version comes with a new "Find" mode that allows users to choose from seven item categories, including seating, tables, vehicles, utensils and bathrooms. When users choose a category, the app will be able to recognize objects associated with them as the user moves their camera around a room.

We present FedKit, a federated learning (FL) system tailored for cross-platform FL research on Android and iOS devices. FedKit pipelines cross-platform FL development by enabling model conversion, hardware-accelerated training, and cross-platform model aggregation. Our FL workflow supports flexible machine learning operations (MLOps) in production, facilitating continuous model delivery and training. We have deployed FedKit in a real-world use case for health data analysis on university campuses, demonstrating its effectiveness. FedKit is open-source at https://github.com/FedCampus/FedKit.

San Francisco, February 14: Microsoft has started rolling out the new ChatGPT-powered Bing on desktops to early testers worldwide, and it will also be available on Android and iOS in the coming weeks, the media reported. The tech giant is working on a "substantial optimised interface" for Bing.com's Chat UI for Android and iOS, which includes all-new OpenAI-powered content, reports Windows Latest, citing sources. In an email sent out to testers, Microsoft confirmed that the mobile experience is not yet ready, according to the report. "We don't have a mobile experience ready yet -- we are actively working on it and will have it ready soon. Until then, please continue to use the new Bing on desktop and download the Bing app from your favourite app store to ensure you are ready for the amazing experience when the mobile version is ready," the company said in the email.

Currency is used almost everywhere to facilitate business. In most developing countries, especially the ones in Africa, tangible notes are predominantly used in everyday financial transactions. One of these countries, Ethiopia, is believed to have one of the world highest rates of blindness (1.6%) and low vision (3.7%). There are around 4 million visually impaired people; With 1.7 million people being in complete vision loss. Those people face a number of challenges when they are in a bus station, in shopping centers, or anywhere which requires the physical exchange of money. In this paper, we try to provide a solution to this issue using AI/ML applications. We developed an Android and IOS compatible mobile application with a model that achieved 98.9% classification accuracy on our dataset. The application has a voice integrated feature that tells the type of the scanned currency in Amharic, the working language of Ethiopia. The application is developed to be easily accessible by its users. It is build to reduce the burden of visually impaired people in Ethiopia.

There are many options for mapping and route planning on a smartphone, but one thing they all have in common is their car-centric nature. Those apps that do support pedestrian navigation tend to make assumptions about a user that are at best inaccurate, and at worst dangerous. The app, which was developed by the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology housed at the Paul G. Allen Center of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and is based off of the web-based tool of the same name, enables users of Android and iOS in the cities of Seattle, Bellingham and Mount Vernon to generate customized walking directions on the go based on their own mobility needs and preferences. The app's release coincides with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an annual observance initiated by the United Nations to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society, including political, social, economic and cultural life. "Many apps offer some semblance of pedestrian directions, but those directions assume a user profile that ignores the lived experience of a vast number of people," explained Anat Caspi, director of the Taskar Center.