CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 20, 2023--

Since RiceGum's debut on Rumble, he was able to garner a viewership of 128k viewers by streaming for a mere nine hours

FORT MILL, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 15, 2023--

Ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 18 May, Apple has unveiled a host of new iOS features that will be coming to the iPhone, iPad and Mac later this year. The suite of updates announced on Tuesday include accessibility features to help those with cognitive, vision, hearing and mobility disabilities and, for the first time, new tools for those who have lost their ability to speak or are at risk of losing their voice. In the future update, users with a speech disability or a recent ALS diagnosis will be able to use their Apple device to create a digital voice that sounds exactly like them. The feature, called Personal Voice, can be trained in 15 minutes simply by reading a bunch of randomly generated text prompts, and uses on-device machine learning to ensure your data is kept private and secure. The Motor Neurone Disease Association suggests that voice banking takes an average of two hours or longer with current tech, and can cost hundreds of pounds. The Independent got a first look at the new feature in action, and the Personal Voice sounded remarkably similar to the user’s actual voice, albeit with a slightly robotic, synthesised tone. Personal Voice will be available for use with Apple’s new Live Speech feature on iOS, which will let users type what they want to say and have it spoken out loud, during in-person conversations, as well as with phone and FaceTime calls. The feature is said to work with all accents and dialects. As well as features for speech accessibility, Apple announced a cognitive disability setting for the iPhone and iPad called Assistive Access, which essentially lets you pare your device down to a few core apps of your choosing. Arranged in a grid or a list, it simplifies the user interface down to large, easily readable buttons, so you can make calls, access an emoji-only keyboard, and a fuss-free camera, without the clutter. Companies such as Doro and Jitterbug currently have a stranglehold on the “simple phone”, offering devices for senior users that strip away the bulk, and deliver a simple user interface with large high-contrast buttons that make it easy to use a phone. With Apple’s new Assistive Access feature, those with cognitive disabilities will be able to take advantage of a mainstream iPhone device and its features without having to opt for an Android device or one designed for their specific need. In addition, Apple previewed a new feature in the Magnifier app for low vision users called Point and Speak, which makes use of the camera, the LiDAR Scanner and on-device machine learning to read aloud text that a user places their finger on. Plus, the company announced Mac support for Made for iPhone hearing devices, phonetic suggestions for Voice Control users and the ability for Switch Control users to turn their switches into game controllers on the iPhone and iPad. Apple has made it a tradition over the years to unveil new accessibility features ahead of WWDC in June, where it usually reveals the next iOS update, emphasising its prioritisation of accessibility within the iOS ecosystem. While Apple didn’t state when exactly the new updates would be coming to its devices later this year, a rollout alongside iOS 17 seems likely, given previous announcements. Read More Apple iPhone 15 rumours: All you need to know, from release date to price and specs iPhone 15 to add mysterious new button on the side, Apple rumours suggest Inside Apple’s Developer Academy, where future app developers are being taught to put disability first 75% of Irish data watchdog’s GDPR decisions since 2018 overruled – report AI pioneer warns UK is failing to protect against ‘existential threat’ of machines Apple highlights work of small developers amid ongoing questions about the App Store

Major League Baseball's takeover of San Diego Padres' broadcasts involved months of planning, a playbook MLB is following this week with Arizona Diamondbacks' telecasts

A group of Amazon workers upset about recent layoffs, a return-to-office mandate and the company’s environmental impact is planning a walkout at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Facebook of putting profits over people’s safety during Canada’s wildfire emergencies

A teenager has been issued with a criminal behaviour order and fined hundreds of pounds after entering a home as part of a TikTok “prank” video. Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, 18, of Manor Road, Hackney, London, appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. O’Garro appeared in court wearing a black hoodie and a face mask. He spoke only to confirm his name, age and address, and to admit to one count of failing to comply with a community protection notice. Varinder Hayre, prosecuting, told the court that O’Garro was issued with a community protection notice on May 11 last year, and that two of its conditions were that he not trespass on to private property. Ms Hayre said that he then breached that notice by entering a home on May 15 this year. “He went to the home address of the victim,” she said. “The door of the property was open. “Mr O’Garro walked into the property and immediately walked down the stairs. “He was stopped by the home owner. “He went into the living room. He sat down on the sofa and said ‘Is this where the study group is?'” He has caused the family a lot of distress Varinder Hayre, prosecuting Ms Hayre said: “He was asked to leave multiple times by both the victim and the husband.” She added: “It was discovered that he had filmed the entire incident for a TikTok trend about walking into random houses.” Ms Hayre said: “He has caused the family a lot of distress. “The faces of the couple and their two young children can be seen.” She told the court that the mother was under the impression that O’Garro was attempting burglary, and added that the mother takes her family’s privacy “very seriously”. “This has caused the victim great concern,” Ms Hayre said. Lee Sergent, in mitigation, said that O’Garro had apologised to the family. He said that his client was raised by a single parent and had a difficult upbringing. “Mr O’Garro grew up in a single parent household,” Mr Sergent said. “He had an extremely difficult childhood. “He is an intelligent young man and a young man with some potential.” He said that his client was neither in work nor education, but was instead in receipt of Universal Credit. Mr Sergent added that his client had made some legitimate social media content, including playing games and discussing conspiracy theories. Judge Charlotte Crangle issued O’Garro with a two-year criminal behaviour order. The order included that O’Garro must not directly or indirectly post videos on to social media without the documented consent of the people featured in the content, that he must not trespass into private property, and that he must not attend the Westfield Centre in Stratford. She also ordered O’Garro to pay a fine of £200, as well as a victim surcharge of £80 and costs of £85 – totalling £365. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live New brain technology helps paralysed man with severe spine injury walk again Meta Ireland to cut about 490 jobs Netflix begins crackdown on password sharing in the UK and US

You probably know who Bryan Johnson is by now. If the name doesn't ring a bell, perhaps his mission to reverse his biological age does. Spending a staggering $2 million a year on his experiment to reverse his age, the 46-year-old has tried various methods from a strict diet to using his son's blood. During an interview with Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Johnson revealed his latest method to indicate his health. This time? Measuring his nighttime erections. Johnson told Bartlett that nighttime erections "are actually a meaningful health indicator" because they "represent psychological health, cardiological health." He found that during the night he was typically erect for "two hours and 12 minutes" – but has since undergone shockwave therapy to "rebuild" his penis in an attempt to reach "three hours and 30 minutes of nighttime erections" in order to get to the level of an 18-year-old. Johnson explains that he sits in a chair and gets his penis "shocked". "So there's this technology, you have a wand and you sit in a chair and then the technician uses the wand and basically shocks your penis, through the acoustic technology. "And it does the same things as workouts [...] where you're creating micro injuries so that it rebuilds." The technology is more commonly used for other body parts, namely dodgy knees, joints, or shoulders, however it can also be used for erectile dysfunction. Although Johnson made it clear that he does not suffer from erectile dysfunction saying he "score[s] perfect[ly] in every category" - Johnson was curious to see the technology's effects on his penis, seeing if would "rejuvenate" it and "increase nighttime erections." The results? "I'm now two months in, in my subjective experience, it's as if my penis has gotten like 15 years younger," Johnson told Bartlett." So we're still in the early stages, we still need to measure, we need data before we're going to believe anything subjectively." Although, the results come with a cost it seems. "It's painful. You need to be focused. You need to do pain management," he says. "It's like maybe a seven out of 10, but once you get to the tip, it's like a nine out of 10 because the tip you have improve sensitivity. "In addition to what we're trying to do with the nighttime erections, it also improves erection strength and orgasm pleasurability. So it has all kinds of benefits I'm trying to figure out." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Qualifyze is closing in on a fundraising that could value the pharmaceutical compliance data firm at about $100

Montana is asking a federal judge to allow its law banning new downloads of TikTok to take effect while a legal challenge filed by the company and five content creators moves through the courts

First Snapchat, now Wendy's. No one is safe from AI. The fast food chain will