GoKawiil
Tech News
Restaurants are increasingly using AI image generators to create advertising visuals for menu items, but the results are drawing criticism online for looking unnatural or unappealing. Examples cited include distorted renderings of dishes like chicken wings that bear little resemblance to real food.
Google has started a preliminary rollout of Call For Me, a Gemini-powered feature that lets the Pixel 11 place and conduct entire phone calls on a user's behalf for tasks like checking store inventory, rescheduling appointments, or booking a restaurant table. The AI navigates phone menus and holds, while users see a live transcript and can take over the call at any time. The feature is currently limited to paid Gemini subscribers with a Pixel 11 who are enrolled in the Phone by Google Public Beta in the US.
Google introduced Call for Me, an experimental beta feature limited to Pixel 11 phones in the US and English language, letting Gemini place phone calls to businesses on a user's behalf. Users need a Gemini subscription and enrollment in the Phone by Google app's public beta; Gemini can navigate automated menus, wait on hold, and hand control back to the user via a live transcript. Google says the AI won't call emergency services but can dial specific numbers users provide.
Google is testing a new Gemini feature called 'Call for Me' that lets the AI place phone calls to businesses on a user's behalf, sharing approved personal details to complete tasks like booking reservations or checking stock. The feature is limited to Pixel 11 owners with a Gemini subscription in the U.S. and requires the beta Google Phone app, using the user's own number and allowing them to watch a live transcript or take over the call.
Google has launched Live Avatar, a feature within its Gemini 3.8 Live model that renders an animated persona with lip-syncing and facial expressions during real-time conversations. The feature currently works across the 97 languages Gemini supports without losing video quality, and can display on-screen information while speaking. It is available only to Gemini Enterprise customers, who can choose from preset avatars or build custom ones.
Amazon has cut the price of JLab's JBuds Lux ANC wireless over-ear headphones to $49.95 from an $84.95 list price, a 41% discount. The headphones feature hybrid active noise canceling rated up to 35 dB, 40mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint pairing, and a claimed 70+ hours of battery life via USB-C charging.
The developer behind PokerNexus built a custom shortlink service at go.pokernexus.com/app that detects a visitor's device and routes iPhones to the App Store, Android phones to Google Play, and all other devices to the website. The system uses a lightweight Hono-based server and a browser-based QR code generator that boosts error correction to level H so a logo can sit in the code's center without breaking scans.
A customer alerted Easy Data Transform's developer to a fake GitHub repository impersonating the company's product name and logo, hosting a Mac .dmg file flagged by VirusTotal as malware. The developer reported the imitation to GitHub on August 31 and submitted further evidence on September 10, but received only an automated response until the listing was finally removed on September 24, shortly after the issue reached the front page of Hacker News.
SpaceX is preparing to launch the fourteenth test flight of its Starship rocket on Monday, marking a new attempt after 13 previous missions. The flight is described as attempting a milestone the vehicle has not achieved in any prior test.
Prediction-market platform Kalshi ran an ad built from tech YouTuber Elliott Choy's apartment-move video, using AI to alter the host's appearance so he appeared white instead of Asian-American. Kalshi told NPR's Bobby Allyn the ad was old, that it no longer uses AI-generated ads, and that it is reviewing its relationship with the agency that produced it.
Formula 1 is reportedly considering fast-tracking new engine regulations to 2030, a year earlier than planned, after the 2026 hybrid rules proved too ambitious. According to Autosport, manufacturers are converging on a 3.0-liter V8 turbo paired with a scaled-back electric motor, reversing the current near 50:50 split between combustion and electric power.
Robert Herjavec, an investor on ABC's 'Shark Tank,' recounted to the Wall Street Journal how his family fled Yugoslavia in 1970 with just $50 after his father was repeatedly arrested for opposing the Communist Party. He described arriving in Canada unable to speak English, working an unpaid office manager job in his early 20s to break into tech, and eventually earning equity that funded his 1990 founding of the Herjavec Group, an IT security firm.