Samsung's 2021 smart TVs to get cloud gaming apps soon

Source: Samsung

And by soon, we mean next week. Samsung will bring Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now, and other game streaming services to select 2021 Samsung smart TV models. The rollout will continue through the end of the year, so you'll have to be patient if you haven't gotten it yet. Aside from the Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now, you can also expect Amazon Luna and Utomik to come before the year ends.

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YouTube Shorts will get a shopping feature

YouTube is looking for a new revenue stream, and it's turning to its TikTok-like feature, Shorts. The streaming giant is testing a new commission for creators on the site, where users can purchase products as they scroll through Shorts. This move comes amid decreasing ad spending and an economic downturn. YouTube rivals TikTok and Instagram have something similar in the e-commerce space. The new shopping features are expected to roll out in 2023, with creators getting a 45% cut of the revenue made from ads displayed between videos.

Viewers in Canada, the US, Brazil, Australia, and India will get the chance to interact with the product tags eligible creators add to their posts. YouTube plans to bring this to more markets in the future.

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Expect better mobile photography from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

(Left) Original photo, (Right) Brilliant shades and colors shine through when using Real-time semantic segmentation to capture photos (Source: Qualcomm)

Aside from getting hardware-based ray tracing capabilities, the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip promises to improve computational photography on upcoming devices. It's packing in what Qualcomm describes as its most advanced artificial intelligence AI engine driven by its upgraded Hexagon Processor. This combo enables phones to perform 4.35 times better when it comes to AI features. It's also the first Qualcomm mobile chip to support INT4, an AI precision format with a 60% performance-to-watt improvement for sustained AI inferencing.

What matters most when it comes to mobile photography is what Qualcomm labels as Snapdragon Sight. This feature will "define a new era of professional quality camera experiences" with its first Cognitive Image Signal Processor (ISP). It allows the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to automatically enhance photos and videos in real time through semantic segmentation. This process uses an AI neural network to make the camera contextually aware of faces, facial features, clothes, skies, hair, and more, so each detail gets customized professional image tuning in real time.

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What to expect from Snapdragon 8 Gen 2's networking capabilities

Source: Qualcomm

As expected, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 packs in a new 5G modem, complete with support for Dual-SIM Dual-Active technology. The new modem is built to make the most out of 5G networks. With dual-SIM support, you can use two SIM cards running on different 5G networks simultaneously. You don't have to run the risk of running out of high-speed internet.

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