Digital Phablet

Tag: owners

  • BMW Owners Furious Over ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ In-Car Ad

    BMW Owners Furious Over ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ In-Car Ad

    It looks like even your vehicle needs an ad blocker now! Recently, angry BMW owners took to social media to share videos claiming they received a pop-up ad for Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” on their in-car screens.

    BMW clarified that the animation does not autoplay. Owners were taken aback by this news, considering BMW is renowned for its luxury vehicles, which can cost from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The backlash intensified as owners accused the German automaker of using their personal cars as marketing platforms.

    BMW owners outraged over in-car ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ ad

    A tweet reported, “BREAKING: BMW remotely pushed a Spider-Man movie ad onto customer vehicle dashboards, sparking outrage over unsolicited in-car advertising.” [Link to tweet]

    One owner posted on the German automaker’s subreddit, sharing a video of the Spider-Man ad and commenting, “Received this commercial in my car today as part of the Spider-Man – Brand New Day campaign.”

    Responses flooded in, with one user saying, “Spending $50,000–$100,000 on a car and still getting ads… guess we need adblockers for cars now?” Another joked, “Wait until the new U2 album OTA update arrives!”

    This development came despite BMW’s assurances that their in-car screens would not be used for advertising. According to The New York Post, owners encountered a banner every time the vehicle was started. Clicking on the banner led to a 19-second, full-screen ad featuring dynamic lighting, animation, and music, suggesting this was more than just a minor experiment by the automaker. The ad, which launched on July 27, is scheduled to run until August 10 in BMW models produced after July 2020.

  • OnePlus 13 Users Receive Free Major AI Tool Upgrade

    OnePlus 13 Users Receive Free Major AI Tool Upgrade

    Owners of the OnePlus 13 and 13R smartphones are now receiving a software update featuring an exciting new AI capability.

    OnePlus has begun to distribute its Plus Mind AI tool to users of the OnePlus 13 and 13R globally. This tool provides users with intelligent suggestions for actions while also retaining information for future reference.

    Initially, Plus Mind was launched on the OnePlus 13 in India and has since expanded to include the OnePlus Nord 5 in Europe. With its rollout to the 13 and 13R, this feature is now accessible to a wider audience, including those in the United States. However, activating Plus Mind on these devices involves a different method than with the 13s and Nord 5.

    The 13s and Nord 5 come equipped with a dedicated ‘Plus Key’ on their left edge for quick access to Plus Mind. In contrast, the older 13 and 13R models lack this button. Users will need to perform a three-finger swipe up on the screen to activate the AI tool.

    Capabilities of Plus Mind

    Consider Plus Mind as akin to a Google Lens feature that can interpret the context of on-screen content. Important details you wish to keep handy are stored in a dedicated app known as Mind Space.

    Quick captures of posters, web pages, social media posts, or message threads can be analyzed by Plus Mind and securely kept in Mind Space.

    The three-finger gesture enables the addition of any visible content to your digital memory box, but that’s merely one aspect of what Plus Mind can accomplish.

    For instance, while engaging in a chat with friends about an upcoming event, activating Plus Mind allows the AI to identify event details and propose a calendar entry. A simple confirmation will insert the event into your default calendar app.

    Plus Mind is also capable of translating text from Instagram posts, tagging articles for later reading, and identifying products and locations through the camera view.

    Since everything analyzed by Plus Mind is stored in Mind Space, you can revisit previous entries by searching in the app or using the built-in AI search bar.

    I’ve had the opportunity to use Plus Mind and Mind Space briefly with the OnePlus 13s and Nord 5. While the potential for a valuable feature is evident, it currently feels somewhat limited.

    It handles basic tasks like calendar entries and object recognition efficiently, but it hasn’t reached a deeper level of comprehension just yet. However, with time, this could change.

    A Promising Beginning

    OnePlus emphasizes that Plus Mind and Mind Space are merely initial components of a broader AI strategy. They represent the first phase in a three-stage plan to offer a personalized AI experience.

    The second stage, labeled “Your Secondary Mind,” involves integrating Mind Space with large language models that will enable Plus Mind to understand vast amounts of your content and preferences to create a unique AI persona.

    The third phase, “Your Personal Assistant,” will evolve that persona into a proactive assistant that offers recommendations based on your activities, such as suggesting a taxi when you’re running late for a flight.

    Details on when these additional stages will be released remain unclear, so users are invited to explore Plus Mind for the time being.

    If you own a OnePlus 13 or 13R and haven’t seen the update yet, don’t worry; the rollout will continue over the next few weeks.