Connect with us

Published

on

Kif Leswing/CNBC

Alongside new iPhones and Apple Watches, Apple is releasing a new version of its AirPods Pro this month.

The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro with USB-C — a mouthful of a model name — don’t have any radical hardware changes. Apple replaced the proprietary Lightning port with a USB-C charger to match the rest of its lineup.

But a slew of software features launching alongside the new AirPods significantly change how noise-canceling on the wireless buds works in practice, and will make it much easier for AirPods Pro users to leave their earbuds in all day while navigating cities or talking to co-workers.

Apple has given the new features various names — Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Personalized Volume — but taken together, and using the default settings on a review unit of the new $249 AirPods, the upshot is that the device uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to turn down music when in a conversation or allow necessary nearby sounds into the headphones.

Instead of taking out your AirPods or turning off noise-canceling entirely when you’re navigating a treacherous street or having a conversation with a co-worker, users can now leave in their AirPods and rely on Apple’s software to intelligently decide what the user needs to hear.

Overall, the improvements are subtle but nice. They’re not a reason to upgrade AirPods if you have an older pair that’s working perfectly, but they are worth reaching for if you are getting new wireless headphones and know you don’t like to be constantly taking them in and out.

However, from a technological perspective, the new AirPods are exciting. Apple is using cutting-edge technology and its own customized chips to filter the world of sound through Apple’s hardware, and to augment or mute individual sounds to make your daily experience better, all powered by AI. Apple’s headphones are going far beyond the simple on-or-off noise-canceling features on competing devices.

The concept is not that far away from the “spatial computing” Apple introduced with the Vision Pro VR headset, which uses machine learning to integrate the real and computer worlds. Apple calls the AirPods a “wearable,” and reports it in the same revenue category as its Apple Watch. With its new adaptive features, the AirPods are more wearable than ever, and continue to be one of the company’s most intriguing product lines in terms of a look at the future of computing, even if they don’t get the same attention as the iPhone.

How it worked

While the adaptive technology isn’t quite seamless yet, it is a nice improvement over the blunter, muffling noise-cancellation setting that used to be the default on AirPods Pro. And it’s not only limited to the latest hardware — anyone with “second generation” AirPods Pro introduced last September can download software updates for their headphones and iPhone to enable them.

The new Adaptive mode ultimately blends chaotic street noise with the artificial quiet of active noise cancellation. Apple frames Adaptive Audio as a safety feature, so users don’t miss honks or disturbances when walking around cities. It’s subtle. You definitely feel like you’re still in a cocoon of quiet, but you don’t feel as if the whole world is muffled around you.

There’s a little chime when users turn it on, either through the Settings app when the earbuds are connected or through a shortcut by long-pressing the iPhone’s volume button in the Control Center.

Screenshot/CNBC

In practice, Adaptive Audio wasn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement over active noise canceling, which can be very isolating, and Apple’s transparency mode, which often amplifies extraneous noise (like the AirPods case clicking against car keys in my pocket). If I were to walk around cities, which I try to avoid for safety reasons, I would use Apple’s Adaptive mode.

But Bay Area BART station announcements made over a central speaker were still muffled, especially when I was listening to music, and that’s the sort of information I would like to hear. I still needed to turn off the headphones or take them out if I wanted to understand what they were saying, such as which train was coming into the station.

When walking in a dog park separated from a highway by a sound wall, Adaptive Audio let in more highway noise than active-cancellation mode, which wasn’t optimal. Later, when another person in the park was arguing about something and making a scene, I didn’t catch it by hearing it in Adaptive mode — I saw the dispute first. While many people use noise-canceling headphones to zone out those kind of disturbances, from a safety perspective, that’s something urban dwellers should be aware of in their vicinity.

Another key scenario for noise-canceling headphones is in the workplace, where workers who are headed back to the office are increasingly using them to try to simulate home office-like privacy or signal to co-workers they can’t talk.

It’s here where the Conversation Awareness feature will shine, allowing office grinders to hold quick conversations without taking out their AirPods. The feature effectively turns down your music or audio when it senses you’re taking part in a conversation. Instead of fumbling in settings to turn noise-canceling off or turn off the music, or taking the earbuds out of your ears, the software does it for you, and even amplifies the conversation a little bit.

When it works, it’s great. I had a couple conversations with my wife with the AirPods in and Conversation Awareness on. We spoke as if I didn’t have $250 of technology in my ears, and when I went back to doing what I was doing before, the volume of my music automatically went back to normal levels.

But there’s one big catch to Conversation Awareness — it doesn’t engage when someone talks to you, it only starts when you open your mouth and say something. So I found myself missing the first thing that was said in several conversations, such as when a neighbor greeted me, or what the cashier said when I approached my favorite taco truck.

At the taco truck, I found myself regretting not taking out the AirPods. I did feel like I missed a little bit of context in the short exchange, and felt rude for keeping in my headphones. I heard and understood the key bits, such as the total price, but I did not feel it was the same real-time conversation as if I was just speaking without headphones.

Also, Conversation Awareness did not turn down my music five minutes later when the cashier called out my order for pickup. Ultimately, my order was wrong too, probably because I was distracted. But it’s easy to see how people will use the feature to order a cold brew without pausing their music.

There are other little quirks, too. I like to sing along to music when I’m alone. With Conversation Awareness on, the music gets turned down, leaving you to hear your own flat singing. Once, when I was working at my computer, I laughed, and the AirPods algorithm thought I was trying to speak. I also never realized how much I mutter to myself when I’m writing.

Personalized Volume uses machine learning to adjust the overall audio level, taking into account your historical preferences — for me, louder than is healthy — and the exterior noise. I only noticed it once, when it turned down the volume after I had jacked it up.

Taking all this into account, the new AirPods features might not be a reason to rush out and get the latest model, but they clearly show that Apple’s headphones are evolving to become something more sophisticated than small speakers.

Continue Reading

Technology

Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for $74.7 million

Published

on

By

Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for .7 million

Anne Wojcicki attends the WSJ Magazine Style & Tech Dinner in Atherton, California, on March 15, 2023.

Kelly Sullivan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and New Mountain Capital have submitted a proposal to take the embattled genetic testing company private, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wojcicki and New Mountain have offered to acquire all of 23andMe’s outstanding shares in cash for $2.53 per share, or an equity value of approximately $74.7 million. The company’s stock closed at $2.42 on Friday with a market cap of about $65 million.

The offer comes after a turbulent year for 23andMe, with the stock losing more than 80% of its value in 2024. In January, the company announced plans to explore strategic alternatives, which could include a sale of the company or its assets, a restructuring or a business combination. 

Read more CNBC tech news

23andMe has a special committee of independent directors in place to evaluate potential paths forward. The company appointed three new independent directors to its board in October after all seven of its previous directors abruptly resigned the prior month. The special committee has to approve Wojcicki and New Mountain’s proposal.

“We believe that our Proposal provides compelling value and immediate liquidity to the Company’s public stockholders,” Wojcicki and Matthew Holt, managing director and president of private equity at New Mountain, wrote in a letter to the special committee on Thursday.

Wojcicki previously submitted a proposal to take the company private for 40 cents per share in July, but it was rejected by the special committee, in part because the members said it lacked committed financing and did not provide a premium to the closing price at the time.

Wojcicki and New Mountain are willing to provide secured debt financing to fund 23andMe’s operations through the transaction’s closing, the filing said. New Mountain is based in New York and has $55 billion of assets under management, according to its website.

23andMe declined to comment.

WATCH: The rise and fall of 23andMe

The rise and fall of 23andMe

Continue Reading

Technology

Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

Published

on

By

Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

Hims & Hers

Shares of Hims & Hers Health tumbled more than 23% on Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the shortage of semaglutide injection products has been resolved.

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic. Those medications are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1s, and demand for the treatments has exploded in recent years. As a result, digital health companies such as Hims & Hers have been prescribing compounded semaglutide as an alternative for patients who are navigating volatile supply hurdles and insurance obstacles.

Compounded drugs are custom-made alternatives to brand-name drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs, and compounders are allowed to produce them when brand-name treatments are in shortage. The FDA doesn’t review the safety and efficacy of compounded products.

Hims & Hers began offering compounded semaglutide to patients in May, and it owns compounding pharmacies that produce the medications.

Compounded medications are typically much cheaper than their branded counterparts. Hims & Hers sells compounded semaglutide for less than $200 per month, while Ozempic and Wegovy both cost around $1,000 per month without insurance.

Read more CNBC tech news

The FDA said Friday that it will start taking action against compounders for violations in the next 60 to 90 days, depending on the type of facility, in order to “avoid unnecessary disruption to patient treatment.”

“Now that the FDA has determined the drug shortage for semaglutide has been resolved, we will continue to offer access to personalized treatments as allowed by law to meet patient needs,” Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum posted Friday on X. “We’re also closely monitoring potential future shortages, as Novo Nordisk stated two weeks ago that it would continue to have ‘capacity limitations’ and ‘expected continued periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications.'”

Him & Hers’ weight loss offerings have been a massive hit with investors. Shares of the company climbed more than 200% last year, and the stock is already up more than 100% this year despite Friday’s move.

Even before it added compounded GLP-1s to its portfolio, the company said in its 2023 fourth-quarter earnings call that it expects its weight loss program to bring in more than $100 million in revenue by the end of 2025.

Despite the turbulent regulatory landscape, Hims & Hers has showed no signs of slowing down.

On Friday, the company announced it has acquired a U.S.-based peptide facility that will “further verticalize the company’s long-term ability to deliver personalized medications.” Hims & Hers will explore advances across metabolic optimization, recovery science, biological resistances, cognitive performance and preventative health through the acquisition, the company said.

That move comes just days after Hims & Hers also bought Trybe Labs, the New Jersey-based at-home lab testing facility. Trybe Labs will allow Hims & Hers to perform at-home blood draws and more comprehensive pretreatment testing.

Hims & Hers did not disclose the terms of either deal.

WATCH: Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad sparks controversy

Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad sparks controversy

Continue Reading

Technology

Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

Published

on

By

Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

Tesla models Y and 3 are displayed at a Tesla dealership in Corte Madera, California, on Dec. 20, 2024.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Tesla is voluntarily recalling 376,241vehicles in the U.S. to correct an issue with failing power-assisted steering systems, according to records posted to the website of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a safety recall report posted on the NHTSA website, Tesla said the recall includes Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were manufactured for sale in the U.S. from Feb. 28, 2023, to October 11, 2023, and that were equipped with a certain older software release.

The records said printed circuit boards in the steering systems in affected vehicles could become overstressed, causing the power-assist steering to fail in some cases when a Tesla vehicle rolled to a stop and then accelerated.

When electronic power-assist steering systems fail in a Tesla, drivers need to exert more force to steer their cars, which can increase the risk of a collision.

Read more CNBC tech news

Tesla told the vehicle safety regulator that it was not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths related to the power steering failures, and that it was offering an over-the-air software update as a remedy.

The recall follows an earlier related probe and voluntary recall in China concerning the same systems.

President Donald Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to lead a team that is slashing the federal government workforce, and in some cases, regulations and entire agencies. Those cuts already affected the NHTSA, an agency Musk has long seen as standing in the way of some of his ambitions at Tesla.

The regulator has been engaged in a yearslong investigation into safety defects in the systems that Tesla markets currently as its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) options. The features do not make Tesla cars into robotaxis. They require a human driver ready to steer or brake at any time.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Musk’s team has led mass firings at the NHTSA, reducing the agency’s workforce and capacity to investigate companies including Tesla by about 10%.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: Tesla stock hinges on new vehicles being introduced

Tesla stock hinges on new vehicles being introduced, says Canaccord's  George Gianarikas

Continue Reading

Trending