On Hands-On Tech, Mikah answers Bob's question about finding a way to have their emails dictated to them from their phone.

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Host: Mikah Sargent

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Emily Forlini of PCMag joins Mikah Sargent this week! A look into Synchron's headquarters, Beeper relaunches its messaging services after being acquired by Automattic, OpenAI releases its new agentic AI service, and an AI service company is hosting over 5,000 nonconsensual AI models of real people.

• Emily shares her time checking out Synchron, a company developing brain-computer interface implants that is considered a significant competitor to Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk.
• Mikah talks about Beeper's relaunch of its messaging app, which runs on devices and offers premium services such as access to more accounts and power-user-type features.
• OpenAI launched its new agentic AI service, ChatGPT Agent, on Thursday morning. This service can complete work for you on your computer and perform a variety of tasks for you.
• And Emanuel Maiberg of 404 Media shares his reporting into Hugging Face and how it is hosting over 5,000 AI models of real people, without consent, following another company, Civitai, which previously banned these models.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Emily Forlini

Guest: Emanuel Maiberg

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Unlock the potential of your AirPods with these game-changing settings that most users never experiment with! Mikah Sargent plugs into the comprehensive settings menu for Apple's audio devices, revealing advanced features that can transform your listening experience from basic to spellbinding.

•Battery monitoring and case connectivity - How to check AirPods and case battery levels, plus troubleshooting charging animations and Bluetooth connection issues

•Device naming and identification - Customizing your AirPods name to distinguish between multiple pairs and ensure you're connecting to the right device

•Noise control modes - Deep dive into Transparency, Adaptive, and Noise Cancellation modes, including how each works differently and when to use them

•Adaptive audio intelligence - How this feature automatically switches between noise cancellation and transparency based on your environment and conversations

•Hearing health features - Comprehensive look at hearing protection, loud sound reduction, and the 85-decibel safety threshold

•Ear tip fit testing - Using built-in tools to ensure you're using the correct size ear tips for optimal performance and comfort

•Hearing assistance - How AirPods Pro can function as hearing aids and perform actual hearing tests to customize audio

•Customizing press and hold controls - Programming left and right AirPods for different functions like noise control or voice assistant activation

•Call management features - Setting up tap controls for answering, muting, and ending calls with simple gestures

•Personalized volume and conversation awareness - Auto-adjusting volume based on environment and automatically pausing media during conversations

•Connection preferences - Solving the common annoyance of AirPods connecting to the wrong device by adjusting automatic connection settings

•Spatial audio and personalization - Understanding 3D audio features and how they adapt to your specific ear shape and hearing pattern

•Microphone selection and head gestures - Choosing which AirPod serves as your microphone and using head nods/shakes to control calls

•Advanced features - Charging case sounds, optimized battery charging, Find My integration, and accessibility options

•Troubleshooting tips - Using disconnect and forget options to resolve connection issues across all your Apple devices

Host: Mikah Sargent

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