Picture yourself on a packed train during rush hour, a cacophony of announcements, chatter, and the low hum of the tracks surrounding you. Youre taking an urgent call. You lean in, whispering softly into your headset, barely audible to the person sitting inches away, yet your voice comes through crisp and clear on the other end. It might sound like noise-cancellation on steroids, but its possible thanks to an AI-powered headphone that lets you whisper entire conversations while the headphone does the rest, amplifying your voice.Designer: SkytedThe magic here lies in how Skyted handles soundyours and everyone elses. It relies on a highly precise microphone array that can even hear whispers, along with an AI that helps enhance the. Yes, it sounds a bit sci-fi, but its surprisingly intuitive in practice. It uses an intelligent microphone built into the front thats designed to capture even the slightest directional audio, along with a powerful AI algorithm that works hard to amplify your whisper while canceling out pretty much all kinds of external noise. What kind of cancellation are we talking about here? Well, I was in a noisy convention center and the wearer was whispering dialogues 2 feet away from me. I could hear every single word crystal clear.The result? Privacy, even in the noisiest, most public places. Whether youre whispering your side of a confidential work call or dictating notes for a project, no one around you will hear more than a faint murmur. And those on the other end of the line? Theyll think youre calling from a library, even if youre smack in the middle of a bustling airport terminal.What really makes this device fascinating is how flexible it is. Skyted feels tailor-made for the remote worker who doesnt want to be tethered to their home office or the podcaster tired of lugging around recording equipment. Its also a game-changer for anyone who frequently takes calls in noisy environmentsthink salespeople, journalists, or even students navigating group projects in crowded cafs. And gamers, too, might finally find a headset that lets them coordinate their next big raid without worrying about leaking every background noise in their room. Heck, I can totally envision a phone with this technology too, so I dont need to yell when I get a phone call in a noisy environment.The headset looks unassuming until you actually try it out. I had the chance to demo a unit, with someone wearing it and whispering to me. Without the Skyted, I couldnt hear a word of what he said. However, as soon as he switched the Skyted headset on, the microphone did a phenomenal job catching his audio and AI-enhancing it to make it crystal-clear. Skyteds team said that the headphone was just step one, the next step is to build this tech into smartphones so that you can answer calls without people around you hearing what youre saying.The design looks admittedly retro, but is got a clean, streamlined vibe that is comfortable to wear and gets the job done. Its lightweight and portable, which is crucial for something youll be tossing into your bag between meetings or after a long commute. Its also designed to stay comfortable for long periodsa feature thatll matter to anyone who spends hours on calls or gaming marathons.Surprisingly, the tech has roots in aerospace technology. Developed with support from ONERA and Airbus Dveloppement, it takes inspiration from systems built to handle the relentless noise and acoustics of aircraft cabins. That lineage shows up in how flawlessly it filters sound and isolates voices, even in settings that would make most headsets crumble. Its the kind of crossover you dont expect, like Bose, the audio company, also making suspension for vehicles. Or Yamaha, being equally good at making motorbikes and pianos.Although Skyted hasnt officially announced a price, its gearing up for a launch that aims to make this technology broadly available. Considering its polished performance and the excitement it generated at CES, it feels like a strong contender to shake up the headset market.The post Future of Noise Cancellation at CES 2025: This AI-Powered Mic Headset Can Even Hear You Whisper first appeared on Yanko Design.

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MacworldMajor tremors in the iPhone rumorsphere last week, with the news that Apple is planning a name change for the next version of the iPhone SE. Goodbye, iPhone SE; hello, iPhone 16E.Here at Macworld our instinct when we hear reports like this is to respond first with skepticism and second with anger. Its probably not going to happen, we mutter, and if it does then were going to get mad. Why would Apple change a perfectly good and widely recognized brand in favor of one that is unfamiliar and, lets be honest, quite confusing? Does there really need to be five models in the 16-series iPhone range? And cant we leave the incomprehensible series of numbers and letters branding to the Android side of the aisle?But after the skepticism and the anger comes curiosity. Apple knows its marketing, so there must be some kind of logic here. Whats the rationale?Well, we know that Apple likes its letters to stand for something, even if its frequently coy about what that something is. SE stands for Special Edition. (Which, by the by, has always felt a little Orwellian. Whats so special about recycling an old design?) The E in 2002s eMac stood for Educationquite an easy code to crack, given its initial marketing to students and teachers. The C in iPhone 5c supposedly stood for Color, while the letter S stood variously for Speed (on the iPhone 3GS), Siri (on the iPhone 4s), Security (on the 5s), and Sheesh, Do We Really Have To Keep Coming Up With Words Beginning With S? in the years after until Apple gave up once and for all after the iPhone 11.There are many things this E could stand for, some of them considerably more accurate tags for a budget iPhone than Special Edition. Economy, most obviously. Or Entry Level (unless that would be EL?). After all, the whole point of the exercise is to be cheaper than the iPhone 16, although it would be understandable if Apple chose not to focus on that aspect of the product. Everyone wants a cheap iPhone but no one actually wants a cheap iPhone, if you see what I mean.Excellent, then? Or Effective? By all accounts the next version of the SEsorry, Eis going to boast a sparkling set of specs and features, with the antiquated Home button design finally a thing of the past and the RAM and processor bumped up in order to support Apple Intelligence. Some pundits even believe the long-gestated Apple 5G modem will make its debut in this product, bringing us improved battery performance and a point of difference, in a positive sense, from the late-2024 phones. The upcoming SE looks so promising, in fact, that it makes sense to create a new branding. Apple needs to mark a separation from the uninspiring 3rd-gen SE, and flag the fact that in tech terms this device is going to have a lot more in common with the iPhone 16. Ironically, the fact that the next SE really is going to be special means Apple cant call it that any more. The currency was debased by the last model. And if everyone is special, no one is.FoundryWelcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but its cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.Trending: Top storiesJason Snell explains why 2025 will be the year of Apple Intelligence (again).If you got a new iPhone for Christmas, you might want to return it.As a new year begins, the Macs Apple silicon transition is finally complete.Podcast of the weekOn this weeks episode of the Macworld Podcast, its all about your hot takes! You have thoughts about the iMac, the iPad mini and more! Its going to be a good one, so stick around!You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify,Soundcloud, thePodcasts app, orour own site.Reviews cornerJourney Nova 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station review: Super-stylish and speedy iPhone charger.The rumor millThe iPhone SE 4 might not be so special after all.And with that, were done for this weeks Apple Breakfast. If youd like to get regular roundups, sign up forour newsletters. You can also follow uson Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed the chip industry since its mainstream arrival over the past two years, driving demand for specialized processors, accelerating design innovation, and reshaping global supply chains and markets.The generative AI (genAI) revolution that began with OpenAIs release of ChatGPT in late 2022 continues to push the limits of AI inference, large language models (LLMs) and semiconductor technologies. In short order, traditional CPUs, insufficient for AIs parallel processing needs, have given way to specialized chips: GPUs, TPUs, NPUs, and AI accelerators. That prompted companies such as Nvidia, AMD, and Intel to expand their portfolios to include AI-optimized products, with Nvidia leading in GPUs for AI training and inference. And because AI workloads prioritize throughput, energy efficiency, and scalability, the larger tech industry has seen massive investments in data centers, with AI-focused chips like NVIDIAs H100 and AMDs MI300 now powering the backbone of AI cloud computing.At the same time, companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have developed custom chips (such as AWS Graviton and Google TPU) to reduce dependency on external suppliers and enhance AI performance.In particular, the AI revolution propelled has propelled growth at Nvidia, making it as a dominant force in the data center marketplace. Once focused on producing chips for gaming systems, the companys AI-driven hardware and software now outpaces those efforts, which has led to remarkable financial gains. The companys market capitalization topped $1 trillion in May 2023 and passed $3.3 trillion in June 2024, making it the worlds most valuable company at that time.The AI-chip industry, however, is about to change dramatically. Over the past several years, semiconductor developers and manufacturers have focused on supplying the data center needs of hyperscale cloud service providers such Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure; organizations have relied heavily on those industry stalwarts for their internal AI development.Theres now a shift toward smaller AI models that only use internal corporate data, allowing for more secure and customizable genAI applications and AI agents. At the same time, Edge AI is taking hold, because it allows AI processing to happen on devices (including PCs, smartphones, vehicles and IoT devices), reducing reliance on cloud infrastructure and spurring demand for efficient, low-power chips.The challenge is if youre going to bring AI to the masses, youre going to have to change the way you architect your solution; I think this is where Nvidia will be challenged because you cant use a big, complex GPU to address endpoints, said Mario Morales, a group vice president at research firm IDC. So, theres going to be an opportunity for new companies to come in companies like Qualcomm, ST Micro, Renesas, Ambarella and all these companies that have a lot of the technology, but now itll be about how to use it. This is where the next frontier is for AI the edge, Morales said.Turbulence in the market for some chip makersThough global semiconductor chip sales declined in 2023 by about 11%, dropping from the previous years record of $574.1 billion to around $534 billion, that downturn did not last. Sales are expected to increase by 22% in 2025, according to Morales, driven by AI adoption and a stabilization in PC and smartphone sales.If youre making memory or making an AI accelerator, like Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD or even Marvel now, youre doing very well, Morales said. But if youre a semiconductor company like an ST Micro, Infinium, Renesas or Texas Instruments, youve been hit hard by excess inventory and a macroeconomy thats been uncertain for industrial and automobile sectors. Those two markets last year outperformed, but this year they were hit very hard.Most LLMs used today rely on public data, but more than 80% of the worlds data is held by enterprises that wont share it with platforms like OpenAI or Anthropic, according to Morales. That trend benefits processor companies, especially Nvidia, Qualcomm, and AMD. Highly specialized System on a Chip (SoC) technology with lower price points and more energy efficiency will begin to dominate the market as organizations bring the tech in-house.I think its definitely going to change the dynamics in the market, Morales said. Thats why youre seeing a lot of companies aligning themselves to address the edge and end points with their technology. I think thats the next wave of growth youre going to see along with the enterprise; the enterprise is adopting their own data center approach.Intel will continue to find a safe haven for its processors in PCs, and its decision to outsource manufacturing to TSMC has kept it competitive with rival AMD. But Intel is likely to struggle to keep pace with other chip makers in emerging markets.Outside of that, if you look at their data center business, its still losing share to AMD and they have no answer for Nvidia, Morales said.While Intels latest line of x86 and Gaudi AI accelerators are designed to compete with Nvidias H100 and Blackwell GPUs, Morales sees them more as a stop gap effort not what the market is seeking.I do believe on the client side theres an opportunity for Intel to take advantage of a replacement cycle with AI working its way into PCs, he said. They just received an endorsement from Microsoft for Copilot, so that gives their x86 line an opening; thats where Intel can continue to fight until they recover from their transformation and all the changes that have happened at the company.To stay relevant in modern data centers where Nvidias chips are driving growth Intel and AMD will need to invest in GPUs, according to Andrew Chang, technology director at S&P Global Ratings. While CPUs remain essential, Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, leaving AMD and Intel struggling to compete, Chang said. AMD aims for $5 billion in AI chip sales by 2025, while Intels AI efforts, centered on its Gaudi platform, are minimal. Both companies will continue investing in GPUs and AI accelerators, showing some incremental revenue growth, but their share of the data center market will likely keep declining.Politics, the CHIPS Act and what happens after Jan. 20Geopolitical and economic factors such as export restrictions, supply chain disruptions, and government policies, could also reshape the chip industry. President-elect Donald J. Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has signaled he plans to impose heavy tariffs on chip imports.The CHIPS and Science Act is also promising billions of dollars to semiconductor developers and manufacturers who locate operations in the US. Under the Act, $39 billion in funding has been earmarked for several companies, including TSMC, Intel, Samsung and Micron all of whom have developed plans for, or are already building, new fabrication or research facilities.But in order for tax dollars to be divvied out, each company must meet specific milestones; until that time the monies remain unspent. While the promise of billions of dollars in incentives are unquestionably helping reshore US chip production, Morales pointed to the CHIPS Acts 25% tax break as a greater benefit.Even a company like Intelis getting about $50 billion dollars [in tax breaks], which is unheard of. Thats where the winning payouts are, he said.Though Trump has signaled that government funding to encourage reshoring is the wrong tactic, industry experts do not believe the CHIPS Act will be drastically cut when he regains office. We expect modest revisions to the CHIPS Act, but not something drastic as cutting funding yet to be dispersed, Morales said. The CHIPS Act received bipartisan support and any attempt to revise this would face pushback from states that stand to benefit, such as Arizona and Ohio.Though high-end processors to power energy-sucking cloud data centers have dominated the market to date, energy-efficient AI processors for edge devices will likely continue to gain traction.Think about an AI PC this year or a smartphone that incorporates AI as well, or even a wearable device that has a smaller, more well-tuned model that can leverage AI inferencing, Morales said. This is where were going next, and I think its going to be very big over the coming years.And, I think AI inferencing, as a percentage of the companies, will be as big if not bigger than what weve seen in the data center, so far, he added.From LLMs to SLMs and edge devicesEnterprises and other organizations are also shifting their focus from single AI models to multimodal AI, or LLMs capable of processing and integrating multiple types of data or modalities, such as text, images, audio, video, and sensory input. The input from diverse resources creates a more comprehensive understanding of that data and enhances performance across tasks.Over 80% of organizations expect their AI workflows to increase in the next two years, while about two-thirds expect pressure to upgrade IT infrastructure, according to a report by S&P Global.Sudeep Kesh, chief innovation officer at S&P Global Ratings, noted that AI is evolving towards smaller, task-specific models, but larger, general-purpose models will still be essential. Both types will coexist, creating opportunities in each space, he said.A key challenge will be developing computationally and energy-efficient models, which will influence chip design and implementation. Chip makers will also need to address scalability, interoperability, and system integration all of which are expected to drive technological advances across industries, improve autonomous systems, and enable future developments like edge AI, Kesh said.In particular, as companies move away from cloud-based LLMs and embrace smaller language models that can be deployed on edge devices and endpoints, the industry will see increased interest in AI inferencing.Its an environment where its feast or famine for the industry, IDCs Morales said. Whats in store for the coming year? I think the growth weve seen in the data center been phenomenal and it will continue into 2025. What Im excited about is enterprises are beginning to look at prioritizing IT spending dollars in AI, and that will break a second wave of demand for processors.

Welcome to our annual breakthroughs issue. If youre an MIT Technology Review superfan, you may already know that putting together our 10 Breakthrough Technologies (TR10) list is one of my favorite things we do as a publication. We spend months researching and discussing which technologies will make the list. We try to highlight a mix of items that reflect innovations happening in various fields. We look at consumer technologies, large industrial-scale projects, biomedical advances, changes in computing, climate solutions, the latest in AI, and more.Weve been publishing this list every year since 2001 and, frankly, have a great track record of flagging things that are poised to hit a tipping point. When you look back over the years, youll find items like natural-language processing (2001), wireless power (2008), and reusable rockets (2016)spot-on in terms of horizon scanning. Youll also see the occasional miss, or moments when maybe we were a little bit too far ahead of ourselves. (See our Magic Leap entry from 2015.)But the real secret of the TR10 is what we leave off the list. It is hard to think of another industry, aside from maybe entertainment, that has as much of a hype machine behind it as tech does. Which means that being too conservative is rarely the wrong call. But it does happen.Last year, for example, we were going to include robotaxis on the TR10. Autonomous vehicles have been around for years, but 2023 seemed like a real breakthrough moment; both Cruise and Waymo were ferrying paying customers around various cities, with big expansion plans on the horizon. And then, last fall, after a series of mishaps (including an incident when a pedestrian was caught under a vehicle and dragged), Cruise pulled its entire fleet of robotaxis from service. Yikes.The timing was pretty miserable, as we were in the process of putting some of the finishing touches on the issue. I made the decision to pull it. That was a mistake.What followed turned out to be a banner year for the robotaxi. Waymo, which had previously been available only to a select group of beta testers, opened its service to the general public in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2024. Its cars are now ubiquitous in the City by the Bay, where they have not only become a real competitor to the likes of Uber and Lyft but even created something of a tourist attraction. Which is no wonder, because riding in one is delightful. They are still novel enough to make it feel like a kind of magic. And as you can read, Waymo is just a part of this amazing story.The item we swapped into the robotaxis place was the Apple Vision Pro, an example of both a hit and a miss. Wed included it because it is truly a revolutionary piece of hardware, and we zeroed in on its micro-OLED display. Yet a year later, it has seemingly failed to find a market fit, and its sales are reported to be far below what Apple predicted. Ive been covering this field for well over a decade, and I would still argue that the Vision Pro (unlike the Magic Leap vaporware of 2015) is a breakthrough device. But it clearly did not have a breakthrough year. Mea culpa.Having said all that, I think we have an incredible and thought-provoking list for you this yearfrom a new astronomical observatory that will allow us to peer into the fourth dimension to new ways of searching the internet to, well, robotaxis. I hope theres something here for everyone.

Other World Computing's CES 2025 offerings include massive storage with the OWC ThunderBlade X12 and connectivity with the OWC Active Optical Cable.OWC ThunderBlade X12The OWC ThunderBlade X12 is a high-capacity, high-bandwidth storage device aimed at video professionals, including digital imaging technicians on film and TV productions. OWC offers it can be used as a production shuttle RAID in a portable size.The aim of the device is that it solves the niche problem of a RAID solution compatible with RAID 5, that handles both massive storage capacities and sustained fast speeds for on-set footage ingestion. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Remedy Entertainment has been on a roll lately with titles like Control and Alan Wake 2. Its future line-up also looks very promising, with FBC: Firebreak coming this year. Max Payne 1 + 2 Remake has also entered full production, with Control 2 to follow at some point in 2025.With production values ramping, its interesting how Remedy has drawn inspiration from Naughty Dog of The Last of Us fame. This isnt a recent development either. Alan Wake 2 director Kyle Rowley said in the Behind the Voice podcast that he brought this up while working on Quantum Break.When I came to Quantum Break, I was excited about working on something that had One of my favorite games at the time was Uncharted And I remember discussing it with our lead animator. I was like, We should be aiming to kind of be like the European version of Naughty Dog. That would be cool if we could get that same level of feel, and that was the type of game I like to play. I was excited about working on it. Given the success of Alan Wake 2, which sold over 1.8 million copies as of November 2024, its safe to say that Remedy has achieved a similar expertise in crafting memorable narratives.Alan Wake 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review here, where we gave it a nine out of ten.