Punjab Times

Perplexity has its own ‘Deep Research’ tool now too

In a blog post on Friday, Perplexity introduced a new tool called Deep Research that it says can conduct “in-depth research and analysis” to deliver detailed reports in response to your questions, and it’s free for limited use. It comes just a couple of weeks after OpenAI announced its own Deep Research feature for ChatGPT Pro users… which itself followed Google’s December announcement of Deep Research for Gemini. Perplexity’s tool is available only on the web to start, but it will hit the iOS, Android and Mac apps soon too.

Perplexity says its Deep Research “excels at a range of expert-level tasks — from finance and marketing to product research” and takes about 2-4 minutes to come up with an answer, during which it “performs dozens of searches, reads hundreds of sources, and reasons through the material.” Once finished, its reports can be shared …read more

The Nintendo DS Drastic emulator is gone from Google Play

The popular Nintendo DS emulator Drastic has disappeared from the Google Play store, reports Android Authority. It’s not clear at the moment why the app is now gone, but it seems likely that it was the developer, not Nintendo, that prompted its removal.

Developer Exophase made Drastic free-to-download last year and indicated that it planned to remove the app from Google Play and open-source its code, though that doesn’t seem to have ever happened. The announcement came after a Nintendo settlement took down Switch emulator Yuzu and Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra, something the developer said wasn’t reponsible for its decision, but did accelerate the timeline.

Exophase did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

The loss of Drastic is a hit to the broader emulator scene, which was rocked by Nintendo’s legal moves against Yuzu last year. But despite that, there is now a flourishing iOS emulator marketplace, thanks to a surprise change to Apple’s App Store guidelines last year.

…read more

All the buzz about Nintendo’s Alarmo clock

It seems like Nintendo just revealed its mysterious device that recently crossed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — and it’s not the Switch 2. On Wednesday, Nintendo announced, of all things, the “Alarmo” alarm clock. But in classic Nintendo fashion, the clock has some playful tricks.

The clock responds to your movements, which you can use to snooze your alarm with motion. Its faces feature Nintendo characters from franchises like Super Mario and Zelda, and you can set the alarm to wake you up with music from those franchises. The Alarmo can also track how much you move in your sleep.

The Alarmo — officially, the “Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo” — is available to purchase in “early access” for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers and at the Nintendo NY store. We’ve actually already picked one up, and we’ve published some initial impressions and a bunch of photos.

Here’s all of our coverage of Nintendo’s Alarmo clock.

Anyone in the US can now buy Nintendo’s Alarmo clock from the online store

Nintendo of America announced that it’s opened purchases of the game-themed alarm clock, Alarmo, to the public so anyone can snag one, with or without a Switch Online membership. The bright red alarm clock comes with a handful of built-in themes to choose from at the start — Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and Ring Fit Adventure — and Nintendo says others, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, will be available for free down the line. Alarmo will also be sold in select stores starting in March, as well as online in other regions.

Alarmo first went on sale back in October, but only for Nintendo Switch Online members. That changed on Friday, when the company announced, “Nintendo Sound Clock: #Alarmo is now available on My Nintendo store, no Nintendo Switch Online membership required.”

…read more

Amazon’s revamped Alexa might launch over a month after its announcement event

Amazon won’t launch the AI-powered upgrade for Alexa for at least a month after its showcase at an event set for February 26th, according to The Washington Post. The delay is reportedly at least partly because the updated assistant has issues with giving inaccurate answers to test questions.

An anonymous Amazon employee told the outlet that the upgrade won’t come “until March 31 or later” due to the issues. The new Alexa could be tied to a subscription, with features like “the ability to adopt a personality, recall conversations, order takeout or call a taxi,” and was originally set to launch later this month as a free trial, the Post writes, citing internal documents and messages.

News of the delay comes after months of rumors suggesting Amazon is struggling to realize its plans to “supercharge” Alexa generative AI, which it said in 2023 would take place over a period of months, but still hasn’t. It was reportedly delayed from a late 2024 launch amid beta tester reports of slow, stiff, and less-than-useful responses. Amazon did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Apple is also rumored to be having issues …read more