I am sure (please don’t let me down) most of you would have subscribed to our second conversation every week, Neural Dispatch, focusing on the artificial intelligence (AI) hype and decoding everything in that excitable world. I’ll talk about this in detail over there in the next edition, but it’s important to start this week with an absurdity emerging from Microsoft’s implementation of Copilot in Excel. This AI is, simply put, supposed to generate formulas, summarising cell ranges in a spreadsheet or assign categories to text entries. All of which, gullible enterprises worldwide would happily welcome as the end of humans in their organisation. Read Microsoft’s support document with even the slightest bit of attention, and you’ll read, “COPILOT uses AI and can give incorrect responses” and further suggests “native Excel formulas (e.g., SUM, AVERAGE, IF) for any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility”. This is downright ridiculous, considering Copilot is underlined by OpenAI’s advanced reasoning models, and the latter has loudly championed the cause for AI being PhD-level and whatnot. Yet another AI failure, in a summer when the entire hype has been punctured. We’ll talk about this more, in Neural Dispatch — do subscribe, it’s free.
Last time in 💡 Wired Wisdom: Wearable sales slow down, and making sense of Elon Musk’s hardships
TECH SPOTLIGHT: OPTOMA UHC70LV PROJECTOR
There is little doubt that one after the other, projector giants Optoma have delivered on-point products, for homes in particular. The UHC70LV is the latest chapter in that rapidly thickening book of success for the Taiwanese projector brand, ticking off all the bells and whistles you’d expect in a premium home entertainment piece — this after all is priced at ₹7,50,000. That top money you’d spend gets you a projection system that can easily go as large as 120-inches, depending on how you place this and the wall or screen you’ll be pairing this with. The native resolution is 4K with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range standards. There’s something called a Filmmaker Mode too, which is a settings preset that you may find to your liking while watching movies.
{{/usCountry}}There is little doubt that one after the other, projector giants Optoma have delivered on-point products, for homes in particular. The UHC70LV is the latest chapter in that rapidly thickening book of success for the Taiwanese projector brand, ticking off all the bells and whistles you’d expect in a premium home entertainment piece — this after all is priced at ₹7,50,000. That top money you’d spend gets you a projection system that can easily go as large as 120-inches, depending on how you place this and the wall or screen you’ll be pairing this with. The native resolution is 4K with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range standards. There’s something called a Filmmaker Mode too, which is a settings preset that you may find to your liking while watching movies.
{{/usCountry}}I’ve come away genuinely impressed with the image processing and the default tonality approach for visuals, and this observation comes after a variety of content was experienced on the Optoma UHC70LV — besides movies and TV shows, the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, England vs India test matches, and considering whiling away of time on YouTube. At the core of this is what Optoma calls the PureEngine Ultra, which pre-defines the algorithmic collective of PureColor, PureContrast, PureLight, PureMotion and PureDetail functionality, and leaves a lot of headroom for manually tweaking the display settings to get it just right. The DuraCore Laser lamp source can get really bright, rated at 5000 lumens, and that means the UHC70LV had no problem working in a typically lit living room.
There are the typical projector shortcomings that one must contend with, such as a weak on-board audio system, and it is worth pointing out that Optoma could have perhaps taken some inspiration from their earlier CinemaX P2 laser projector from a few years ago, which had a built-in soundbar style speaker system which genuinely worked well. The remote that Optoma has bundled with the UHC70LV also often requires taking a second stab for the desired result. The UHC70LV also doesn’t bother with a ‘smart’ TV interface, either Google TV or another Android fork, and I would classify this as a positive (you’ll be better off pairing an Apple TV 4K with this), rather than lean the other way. I often say that projectors are now better placed than ever in human history, as viable alternatives to large screen TVs. The Optoma UHC70LV is very much leading that argument.
A PATH FORWARD
Next week, Apple opens doors to two more official Apple Store outlets in India. Apple Hebbal (Bengaluru) opens doors on Sept 2, while Apple Koregaon Park (Pune) will open for business on Sept 4. These two stores join Apple Saket (New Delhi) and Apple BKC (Mumbai). In my conversation with Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and People, she points to “magical, only-at-Apple experiences”, including Today at Apple sessions, engraving on select products such as AirPods and iPad, a Genius Bar for service, as well as in-store pickup for orders placed online. For Apple’s stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Pune, there is a special focus on payment and financing options. The question is, why is Apple timing the new store launches now? There is more than one reason for this.
- The next iPhone lineup, iPhone 17 series, is lined up to be unveiled on September 9. And the new iPhones will go on sale later in the same month. By then, Apple Stores in Bengaluru and Pune will also be fully in the flow.
- Earlier this year, the launch of the Apple Store app in India set the ball rolling for further retail impetus, that’s bearing results now. The company’s strategy for India is cognisant of the need for balance between a strong online presence, as well as physical experiences, including partner ‘premium resellers’.
- “Products like iPhone and Mac are meant to be experienced in person, and our team members often share stories of how our customers come to our stores to shop for our products and learn more about how they can do their best work. And as we open new stores, we expect the same connection and more only-at-Apple experiences that enrich our customers’ lives,” O’Brien noted.
- Apple is navigating tariff complexity at home. Though there is currently a temporary tariff exemption on iPhones manufactured in India (and elsewhere, which land in the US markets), despite US President Donald Trump’s broader escalation of tariffs on many countries including India. However, this protection is inherently unstable.
- Apple’s India operations serve a dual purpose — manufacturing iPhones for local consumption as well as exports to other countries, and a retail expansion positions Apple to maximise revenue from its India-manufactured devices locally.
TASTE OF THINGS
This week, a rather interesting tech evolution landed in my tray, something that took me back to how my father taught me to handle batteries (this was an era before alkaline ones, just for reference). It was a simpler time, when battery operated toys and DIY electric motor, fan and light kits were peak toys. The development I’m talking about takes me to the house of Duracell, which has designed Lithium Coin Batteries (there are more applications of this than you may immediately realise, such as Apple AirTags and TV remotes) with something called as a Bitter coating — the idea being to strongly dissuade toddlers and young children from putting this piece of technology power in their mouth. This coating releases this bitter taste when it comes in contact with saliva. This is something they say will be clearly mentioned on the packaging too. “The accidental ingestion of lithium coin batteries is a serious concern for parents, as the number of devices that require lithium coin batteries rises,” says Sunil Gadgil, General Manager, Duracell India. Their unique form factor and rather small footprint lend to this scenario as well. Duracell says this coating is now on the CR2025, CR2016, and CR2032 variants. The thought is appreciated. I’m yet to taste this though.
I’ve come away genuinely impressed with the image processing and the default tonality approach for visuals, and this observation comes after a variety of content was experienced on the Optoma UHC70LV — besides movies and TV shows, the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, England vs India test matches, and considering whiling away of time on YouTube. At the core of this is what Optoma calls the PureEngine Ultra, which pre-defines the algorithmic collective of PureColor, PureContrast, PureLight, PureMotion and PureDetail functionality, and leaves a lot of headroom for manually tweaking the display settings to get it just right. The DuraCore Laser lamp source can get really bright, rated at 5000 lumens, and that means the UHC70LV had no problem working in a typically lit living room.
There are the typical projector shortcomings that one must contend with, such as a weak on-board audio system, and it is worth pointing out that Optoma could have perhaps taken some inspiration from their earlier CinemaX P2 laser projector from a few years ago, which had a built-in soundbar style speaker system which genuinely worked well. The remote that Optoma has bundled with the UHC70LV also often requires taking a second stab for the desired result. The UHC70LV also doesn’t bother with a ‘smart’ TV interface, either Google TV or another Android fork, and I would classify this as a positive (you’ll be better off pairing an Apple TV 4K with this), rather than lean the other way. I often say that projectors are now better placed than ever in human history, as viable alternatives to large screen TVs. The Optoma UHC70LV is very much leading that argument.