This week, details on Samsung’s new devices, the Samsung and Xbox partnership, GPT-3 writing like a human, London Drugs getting computers to kids in need, the Daily Grind in Grindstone, and new battle royale Hyper Scape is now playable.

Samsung announces updates to smartphones, tablets, and wearables

Last week, Samsung announced the latest versions of its Note smartphone, Tab tablet, and watch and earbuds.

The two wearables are available online now.

The Galaxy Watch 3 comes in two sizes: 41 mm ($550) and 42 m ($600). and the Galaxy Buds Live ($250) have active noise cancelling.

The two Notes and two Tabs, meanwhile, will be available to purchase on August 21.

The Galaxy Note20 5G (starting at $1,400) and larger Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (startring at $1,820) come in a range of “mystic” colours including black, bronze, grey, and green, depending on the model and configuration.

The Tab S7 and Tab S7 Plus (from $920 to $1,300) for screen sizes that are 11 inches and 12.4 inches respectively.

Samsung also announced a new foldable device, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 alongside a video acknowledging the complaints about the first version, promising that more information about the new edition were coming on September 1.

Just days after the new foldable was announced, Samsung Canada released the Galaxy Z Flip in Canada ($2,020).

Xbox partners with Samsung on gaming bundle

As part of its push to promote the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription service, Phil Spencer appeared at the Samsung Unpacked event to talk about a partnership between Microsoft and Samsung.

The Xbox Game Pass app is available on the Samsung Galaxy store, and as of September 15, gamers can get their Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription on Samsung devices.

Samsung has announced a gaming bundle for the Note20 and Note20 Ultra that includes a controller (MOGA XP5-X+), a wireless charger pad, and three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Computer AI gets even better at mimicking the writing of actual humans

There’s been lots of attention in recent months about generative adversarial networks, which is a way of teaching computers how to create things like paintings and photographs of human faces.

Now, researchers in artificial intelligence are using similar techniques to teach machines how to write.

And for some kinds of writing, like rewriting legal text into plain language, the machines are pretty damn good.

Just taught GPT-3 how to turn legalese into simple plain English. All I gave it were 2 examples Might build a term sheet and investment document interpreter out of this pic.twitter.com/BDdwCuFce5

— Michael (@michaeltefula) July 21, 2020

This is all made possible by a “generative pretrained transformer”, or GPT-3, which is a product of OpenAI.

It works by feeding sample writing into the transformer, which the computer tries to mimic.

The transformer was itself built using 45 terabytes of text, effectively everything available on the internet.

Because of the bias in the source information, it’s understood that GPT-3 is also biased. But for a technology that is in its infancy, it’s frequently astounding.

Check out some of the other examples posted by Boaz Barak. They asked Twitter to compare a column written by a New York Times journalist and one written by GPT-3. Just more than “40% answered correctly”.

London Drugs is collecting unused tech to restore for use by students at home

London Drugs already has an admirable recycling program, and now the company is stepping up with a reuse program that will put computers into the hands of students who need them for remote learning.

The tech drive runs from now through September, people can bring their old computers – desktops and laptops – as well as peripherals like monitors, mice, and keyboards, to any of the 81 London Drugs stores in Western Canada.

Those devices will be restored and matched with a child in need as identified by local affiliates of the Computers for Schools program in BC Technology Learning Society, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

In a release, London Drugs said its technicians will “conduct a complete data wipe” prior to the device being restored.

Anything that can’t be restored and reused will be recycled through the London Drugs What’s the Green Deal program.

Now there’s a reason to play Grindstone every day

Arguably Apple Arcade’s best game, Grindstone was updated at the end of July and now includes a “Daily Grind”.

Developed by Toronto’s Capy Games, Grindstone is a puzzle game in which you need to trace a path through enemies, avoiding pitfalls and enemy attacks. Longer chains of attacks create grindstones, which enable you to create even longer chains.

Since the game was released last September, there have been a couple of updates to add levels, but many people – myself included – have already completed the game and all the challenges.

The Daily Grind gives me a reason to play Grindstone every day. It’s a leaderboard-driven challenge with four pre-defined levels where the goal is to get the highest score possible.

You don’t get to keep the loot you generate, but that’s not what the Daily Grind is all about. It’s about getting to the top of the leaderboard, baby. Which, thankfully, resets daily. That give me fresh hope every morning.

You can now play Ubisoft’s battle royale game, Hyper Scape

Hyper Scape is a new online multiplayer game to try out, and it’s got a unique take on the battle royale genre.

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and playable for free on PS4, Windows, and Xbox One, there’s a bit more metanarrative in Hyper Scape than in some other online multiplayer games, and it’s very in line with the kind of dystopic future that Ubisoft games have been predicting for years.

The Hyper Scape is a virtual reality environment in 2054 where people living in dirty, crowded, dangerous megacities can find escape. Crown Rush is a battle royale game inside Hyper Scape where citizens fight for fame and glory.

Your avatar actually competes in this game, and in season one you’ll be able to collect a new “memory shard” every week that will help uncover what’s going on.

As with other free-to-play games, you don’t need to spend money to play Hyper Scape, but you can. A “premium battle pass” costs about $13 and gives you instant access to rewards that you’d need to spend hours to achieve. The “hyper battle pass” is about $35 and instantly gives you 25 levels.

Season one of Hyper Scape is scheduled to run until October 5.