NZCity NewsLinks -

All Links

6 Nov 2024

Search

US election: FBI warns against two fake videos as officials combat election disinformation
The fabricated videos falsely cite terror threats and voter fraud.

US election live: Americans head to the polls to choose Harris or Trump as next president
It is election day in the United States, with Americans heading to the polls to choose Kamala Harris or Donald Trump as their next president. Follow all the latest updates with RNZ's live blog.

The Auckland home that lost $100,000 in 20 years
One house that was previously bought for $205,235 back in June 2000 sold for $87,000 last week.

Empire Hotel, legendary home of the ‘Dunedin sound’, on the market
"I always wanted to come back home and buy a commercial building and turn it into fancy apartments.“

Festival called off as plans to move are announced
Organisers will provide further updates regarding the new site in the coming weeks.

Glastonbury announces big change to ticket booking
Fans will have to be online before the sale starts, or risk being put to the back of the queue.

Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite review: A unique AI-powered 4K webcam
At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Image quality is quite good AI features feel well thought-out Very good noise cancellation Innovative solution for group settings Cons 4K turns to 1080p when AI is enabled Utility app is buggy Hard to find in stores A bit overpriced Our Verdict The Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite is a unique, laptop-mounted webcam that can be used either for individual use or a small group. It largely delivers what it promises, with one significant exception. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite Retailer Price $219.99 View Deal Coolpo $220 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Coolpo’s AI Huddle Mini Lite does double duty as an individual webcam and one that can show off a number of participants in the same room, in a pinch. It’s a smartly designed “4K” camera, which foregoes frills for a simple, easy-to-use interface. Coolpo is one of those hundreds of little startups in Shenzhen, China, whose products come and go quickly. At press time, Amazon was out of stock, but the manufacturer still had availability. Keep in mind, though, that the MSRP, about $220, is way, way more than many of the webcams in our list of recommended webcams. For the price, it might have been nice if the Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite offered Windows Hello capabilities. Alas, it does not. You may have to tap your department’s IT budget to get it approved. Is it worth it? Not quite. One of the features this webcam offers is automatic panning and zooming, a value-add feature that was much more impressive before Microsoft added it to some of its Copilot+ devices armed with an NPU. Coolpo’s webcam intelligently crops and zooms to achieve the same effect. A webcam that can be used for both individual use as well as for small groups adds a lot of value. Unfortunately, it leaves a bit to be desired as a personal webcam. Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite: Build quality Coolpo’s AI Huddle Mini Lite is rather impressively chunky for a modern webcam, spanning 4.5 inches across the top of your monitor or display, extending 3.2 inches back, and measuring 2.5 inches from top to bottom. A cord stretching about 6.25 feet plugs into a USB-C slot on the back of the webcam, and to a USB-A port on your laptop or hub. It includes a physical shutter, which slides across. The Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite will grip a laptop, but it works better on a monitor.Mark Hachman / IDG Like most webcams, the Mini Lite’s mount includes a “tooth” that extends down from the “jaw” of the webcam’s mount. The tooth hooks over the edge of the display, while the flexible “jaw” opens and closes to support the webcam at a given angle. Some webcams include an additional “tongue” to support the webcam as it leans against your display; this webcam does not. Is it a problem? Not that I can see. The weight of the webcam helps hold it steady, and the webcam itself swivels up and down to line up your face. The AI software takes care of the rest. Coolpo’s camera appears to work right out of the box, as a generic USB camera. But if you want to use the added features, you’ll need to read the manual closer to unearth the download link. You’ll then need to download a small utility file to allow the value-added features to work. (I confirmed that the software will run on Windows on Arm PCs.) Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite: Image quality As a webcam, Coolpo’s AI Huddle Mini Lite does a pretty good job. As I explain in my webcam testing methodology, I do not try to take an “ideal” photo or screenshot, as I like to see how the webcam does in average to poor conditions. Downstairs in my cave-like office with artificial lighting, my blue shirt looked a bit grainy but the colors were otherwise on point. The screenshot looks a little soft though, for reasons I’ll explain below. Mark Hachman / IDG Upstairs, my go-to shot is in full, natural light, but with the light coming from one side. I thought the camera did a nice job processing the fall sun, as well as picking out the details of my face and hair. There’s only one problem with the color, and that’s that I’m wearing a green sweater. It looks about the same color as the dark gray couch. This camera doesn’t indicate that it has HDR, and I see no signs of it here. Mark Hachman / IDG Coolpo’s AI features: What do they do? The Coolpo utility software is somewhat hit or miss. For one, it had a persistent bug that caused the utility to disappear when the screen was moved from one display to the other, forcing me to detach and re-insert the webcam. The app also left a dialog box at the bottom of the app that wouldn’t go away, asking whether I wanted to save a custom configuration of various settings. Once you download the software, however, the “Meeting flex AI,” if enabled, goes to work. But, there’s a catch. Though this camera does go up to 4K (2160p) resolution, it only does so with AI off. The camera has an adjustable field of view (60/90/120 degrees) that can be adjusted manually or by letting the AI do the work. The AI software can be set up either in “Frame Master” (in group or individual mode) as well as “Division Master.” Coolpo’s software is simple yet functional.Mark Hachman / IDG In Frame Master mode, the webcam crops and zooms to fit one or a group, up to seven people. In individual mode, however, the webcam can’t crop in at 4K resolution (which is 30Hz, maximum). Instead, it crops down to 1080p resolution. The camera will maintain 4K resolution, but without panning or zooming, in a 120-degree field of view. That’s not ideal. Otherwise, the pan and zoom is very good, responsive without being twitchy — some cameras will refocus or recenter you at the smallest movement, which is distracting to an audience. Division Master is a very interesting mode, and helps justify this webcam as a business expense. When Division Master is on, the screen subdivides itself into four separate vertical video windows that somehow individually focus and lock in on the four faces. It’s a neat trick. (I tested this using the preview mode of the Coolpo app with my family, who asked me not to take a screenshot to preserve their privacy.) If the number of people in the room is between five and seven, the camera simply shows static images of their faces instead. The noise cancelation capabilities of the Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite aren’t bad. I typically play back rock music and a separate white noise track on a phone, and move them around while I record my voice using the camera mic. The Mini Lite did a decent job filtering out the music, and I could barely hear the much more neutral sounds of a recorded rainstorm. That’s what I would hope for. Is the Coolpo AI Huddle Mini Lite worth it? Coolpo is pitching this camera as an ideal solution for a “huddle room,” where a small team video chats with a remote audience. I would think that most teams would have a pricier, more complex solution, but maybe not. The Coolpro webcam seems like it could certainly work, especially in a pinch. In fact, given the price, using it for groups seems to offer the best value. Sure, I’d much rather have a “true” 4K camera with a zoomed-in field of view, or at least the option for it. But I give credit to Coolpro’s engineers for addressing a problem with some innovative solutions. As a personal webcam, however, Coolpo’s AI Huddle Mini Lite comes up a bit short for a bit too much. There are just too many superior options for less money to settle for the Coolpo’s compromises.

Why AI won't ruin children's education
Chat GPT is here and changing education, with new versions of the technology making the use of it harder to detect.

Chinese workers still waiting for answers a year after investigation began
Chinese workers say they have been cheated thousands of dollars and are still waiting for promised full-time jobs more than a year after authorities began investigating their employer.

CrowdStrike strikes again, this time crashing Office apps in Windows 11
Another week, another issue with Windows 11 24H2 cropping up. It’s been over a month since the major Windows 11 update began rolling out to users and we’ve seen network connectivity issues, blue screen crashes, and rescue patches that fail to install. It’s gotten to the point where Microsoft has had to block the update for affected devices. Related: Must-know details about Windows 11 24H2 But even as Microsoft works on fixing the numerous issues already in play, more problems are surfacing — like a recent issue involving Microsoft Office apps crashing when a particular antivirus software is installed on your system, according to this support page. The annoying error affects Office applications such as Word or Excel, which crash and become completely unusable after updating to Windows 11 24H2. Funny thing is, this apparently only happens if antivirus software by CrowdStrike is installed. (Yes, the very same CrowdStrike that caused the global IT meltdown back in July.) That would be CrowdStrike’s Falcon sensor antivirus software, which has several advanced cybersecurity mechanisms that can cause problems with Windows 11 24H2. If you have it and the “Enhanced Exploitation Visibility Prevention Policy” setting is enabled in your host’s Prevention Policy, it can cause some first- and third-party apps to stop responding. It isn’t yet known whether other antivirus software is affected. So far, though, it appears to be isolated to CrowdStrike’s solution. Microsoft has added affected devices to its list of devices that are blocked from receiving the Windows 11 24H2 update, and the company has announced that it’s working with CrowdStrike to fix the error. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has had to work with other companies to address issues in the big 2024 update to its operating system. Just weeks ago, they worked with SSD manufacturers to address an issue causing hardware crashes on affected devices. This issue only affects organizations and managed IT environments. But if your personal Windows PC is affected by other Windows 11 24H2 problems, you might consider reverting to a previous version. Further reading: The best changes in Windows 11 24H2