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Technology

How To Make Your Ring Doorbell Play Creepy Sound Effects For Halloween

As the eerie aura of the Halloween season comes closer and closer, chances are you’ve already got your home adorned with all the creepiest decorations you could find. There’s a skull sitting on your kitchen countertop, a layer of cobwebs draping gracefully over the window ledge, and a family of spiders crawling close to the fireplace.

However, even with all the black and orange ornaments, the Halloween vibe just isn’t complete without some spooky sounds echoing through your home. Sure, you could always ask Alexa or Google Nest to play some haunting melodies inside the house, but what about outside?

Thankfully, if you have a Ring doorbell, you can extend the spine-chilling vibes of the season to your doorstep. One of the things you likely don’t know about the Ring is that during this time of year, it drops a selection of seasonal tones for both your video doorbell and Chime device. If you’re looking to amp up the spooky factor at your front door and turn your doorbell into a source of Halloween delight, we’ll walk you through the process of how to do so.

Configure your Ring doorbell for a haunting Halloween

To make your Ring doorbell greet visitors with a spooky Halloween message every time the doorbell is pressed, simply change the device’s Quick Reply Message. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Launch the Ring app on your device. Make sure the app is updated to the latest version.
  2. Open your doorbell’s settings. You can do this from the dashboard (tap on the gear icon in the doorbell’s snapshot view), or from the left-hand menu (open the hamburger menu at the top-left, select Devices, and pick your device under Video Doorbells).
  3. Scroll down to Smart Responses, and tap to open it.
  4. Enable Quick Replies if you haven’t already.
  5. Open “Response Time” to set the timing for the Halloween greeting. Choose Right away to play the message immediately after the doorbell is pressed or select a delay between two to 20 seconds.
  6. Go to Quick Reply Message.
  7. Expand the Halloween option.
  8. Pick the message you wish to use. There are seven available recordings you can choose from, including options like:
    1. “Just a minute! Feel free to park your broom.”
    2. “I’ll be right there to eat… I mean greet you.”
    3. “Fire burn, cauldron bubble, leave your message on the double.”
  9. After picking your favorite greeting, tap on “Save” at the top-right of the screen.

You can now spook your visitors with an eerie message when they come to your doorstep.

Change your indoor Ring Chime tone for a spookier Halloween

The good thing about Ring is that its Halloween theme isn’t limited to the video doorbell Quick Reply Messages. You can bring the Halloween vibe inside the house, too. You simply need to change the tone of your indoor Ring Chime. Follow these steps to do so:

  1. Open the Ring app on your device. Make sure the app is updated to the latest version.
  2. On the dashboard, select the hamburger menu located at the top-left corner.
  3. Go to Devices.
  4. Under the Chimes section, select the specific device you want to change the tone of.
  5. Open Audio Settings.
  6. Tap on Chime Tones.
  7. Select Doorbell Ring.
  8. Go to the Chime Tones menu.
  9. Scroll down until you see “Halloween 2023.”
  10. Pick your spooky sound from the list. You have over ten tones to choose from, such as “Monster,” “Bats,” and “Creaking door.”
  11. Tap on “Save” at the upper right.
  12. Exit the Chime Tone and adjust the volume to your preferred level.
Motorsport

Volkswagen Golf GTI Facelift Spotted with Minimal Camouflage

The latest images of the Volkswagen Golf GTI reveal an interesting camouflage technique employed by VW. At first glance, the hot hatch appears to be undisguised, but upon closer inspection, one can see the cleverly hidden details.

Although this is the first time we are seeing the GTI variant of the new Golf, we have already caught a glimpse of the updated hatchback. With this prior knowledge, we know where to look for concealed elements, starting with the front fascia. While the current GTI features squared proportions with vents and a grille on the lower fascia, the black tape on the corners of this prototype suggests a similar design. However, upon closer scrutiny, it becomes evident that these corner vents dip lower and then rise at an angle, reminiscent of the current Golf R. This more aggressive styling is expected to include the return of the X-shaped LED lights in the corners, despite their absence in these pictures.


News

Cadillac-backed Andretti Formula 1 bid is approved as 11th team

General Motors (GM) is one step closer to entering Formula 1 as the FIA, the world motorsport’s governing body, has approved Andretti Autosport’s application to participate in the category.

Andretti and Cadillac announced their intention to enter F1 earlier this year, and now their plans have received approval from the FIA. However, the application still needs to be approved by F1’s commercial bosses, and there is uncertainty about whether they will accept an 11th team, as there has been hesitancy within the F1 community to add another team.

The FIA has been actively seeking new entrants for F1, starting with expressions of interest and then a detailed application process. Andretti’s bid was one of four and the only one to receive backing from the FIA.

Under the Andretti Cadillac plan, the team would be based in the US and have a support facility in the UK, although the specific location has not been determined yet. The earliest the team could compete in F1 is 2025.

Rodin Cars, a firm from New Zealand that manufactures single-seaters, previously submitted an application to the FIA, which was rejected. The identities of the other two applicants remain unknown.

This development reflects the growing influence of F1 in the US. The series will include races in Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas in 2023, and Haas, a US-based team, is already on the F1 grid as the newest team in the lineup.

If successful, Andretti and Cadillac have expressed their intention to prioritize the appointment of at least one American driver to compete in F1.

The operation is led by Michael Andretti, a former F1 driver and the son of Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 champion and founder of Andretti Global enterprise.

In addition to Andretti Cadillac, Audi has been confirmed as a new entrant in F1 starting from 2026. Audi will partner with Swiss team Sauber, which currently collaborates with Alfa Romeo.

Meanwhile, Porsche, a sibling brand of Audi, remains interested in entering F1 after canceling plans to partner with Red Bull Racing.

Andretti Cadillac will use an engine supplied by a third party, with technical support from Andretti and GM. The two companies previously partnered to run the Chevrolet team in the 2012 Indycar Series, where they achieved success by winning the driver, team, and manufacturer titles.

Entering F1 will not impact Cadillac’s involvement in endurance racing. The company has been racing in the IMSA Sportscar Championship since 2017 and will expand its efforts globally this year by participating in the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race, with its new V-LMDh racer.

ToyotaUk

Toyota Research Institute Unveils Breakthrough in Teaching Robots New Behaviors

# Toyota Research Institute Unveils Breakthrough in Teaching Robots New Behaviors

## New Generative AI Technique Brings Researchers One Step Closer to Building a “Large Behavior Model”

**LOS ALTOS, Calif. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Sept. 19, 2023)** – Today, Toyota Research Institute (TRI) announced a breakthrough generative AI approach based on Diffusion Policy to quickly and confidently teach robots new, dexterous skills. This advancement significantly improves robot utility and is a step towards building “Large Behavior Models (LBMs)” for robots, analogous to the Large Language Models (LLMs) that have recently revolutionized conversational AI.

“Our research in robotics is aimed at amplifying people rather than replacing them,” said [Gill Pratt](https://www.tri.global/about-us/dr-gill-pratt), CEO of TRI and Chief Scientist for Toyota Motor Corporation. “This new teaching technique is both very efficient and produces very high performing behaviors, enabling robots to much more effectively amplify people in many ways.”

Previous state-of-the-art techniques to teach robots new behaviors were slow, inconsistent, inefficient, and often limited to narrowly defined tasks performed in highly constrained environments. Roboticists needed to spend many hours writing sophisticated code and/or using numerous trial and error cycles to program behaviors.

TRI has already taught robots more than 60 difficult, dexterous skills using the new approach, including pouring liquids, using tools, and manipulating deformable objects. These achievements were realized without writing a single line of new code; the only change was supplying the robot with new data. Building on this success, TRI has set an ambitious target of teaching hundreds of new skills by the end of the year and 1,000 by the end of 2024.

Today’s news also highlights that robots can be taught to function in new scenarios and perform a wide range of behaviors. These skills are not limited to just “‘pick and place” or simply picking up objects and putting them down in new locations. TRI’s robots can now interact with the world in varied and rich ways – which will one day allow robots to support people in everyday situations and unpredictable, ever-changing environments.

“The tasks that I’m watching these robots perform are simply amazing – even one year ago, I would not have predicted that we were close to this level of diverse dexterity,” remarked [Russ Tedrake](https://www.tri.global/about-us/dr-russ-tedrake), Vice President of Robotics Research at TRI. Dr. Tedrake, who is also the Toyota Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Mechanical Engineering at MIT, explained, “What is so exciting about this new approach is the rate and reliability with which we can add new skills. Because these skills work directly from camera images and tactile sensing, using only learned representations, they are able to perform well even on tasks that involve deformable objects, cloth, and liquids – all of which have traditionally been extremely difficult for robots.”

**Technical details:**

TRI’s robot behavior model learns from haptic demonstrations from a teacher, combined with a language description of the goal. It then uses an AI-based Diffusion Policy to learn the demonstrated skill. This process allows a new behavior to be deployed autonomously from dozens of demonstrations. Not only does this approach produce consistent, repeatable, and performant results, but it does so with tremendous speed.

Key achievements of TRI’s research for this novel development include:
– **Diffusion Policy:** TRI and our collaborators in [Professor Song](https://shurans.github.io/)’s group at Columbia University developed a new, powerful generative-AI approach to behavior learning. This approach, called [Diffusion Policy](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.04137), enables easy and rapid behavior teaching from demonstration.
– **Customized Robot Platform:** TRI’s robot platform is custom-built for dexterous dual-arm manipulation tasks with a special focus on enabling haptic feedback and tactile sensing.
– **Pipeline**: TRI robots have learned 60 dexterous skills already, with a target of hundreds by the end of the year and 1,000 by the end of 2024.
– **Drake**: Part of our (not so) secret sauce is [Drake](https://drake.mit.edu/), a model-based design for robotics that provides us with a cutting-edge toolbox and simulation platform. Drake’s high degree of realism allows us to develop in both simulation and in reality at a dramatically increased scale and velocity than would otherwise be possible. Our internal robot stack is built using Drake’s optimization and systems frameworks, and we have made Drake open source to catalyze work across the entire robotics community.
– **Safety:** Safety is core to our robotics efforts at TRI. We have designed our system with strong safeguards, powered by Drake and our custom robot control stack, to ensure our robots respect safety guarantees like not colliding with itself or its environment.

[Diffusion Policy](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.04137) has been published at the 2023 Robotics Science and Systems conference. Additional technical information can be found on [TRI’s Medium blog](https://toyotaresearch.medium.com/2c30b1a8c573).

Please join our LinkedIn Live Q&A session on October 4th from 1 pm – 1:30 pm ET / 10 am – 10:30 am PT, for an opportunity to learn more and hear directly from the TRI robotics research team. Sign up for the event on [TRI’s LinkedIn page](https://www.linkedin.com/events/trilinkedinlive7108154211422408704/theater/).

## About Toyota Research Institute

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) conducts research to amplify human ability, focusing on making our lives safer and more sustainable. Led by Dr. Gill Pratt, TRI’s team of researchers develops technologies to advance energy and materials, human-centered artificial intelligence, human interactive driving, machine learning, and robotics. Established in 2015, TRI has offices in Los Altos, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information about TRI, please visit [http://tri.global](http://tri.global).

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Featured

Take A Detailed Look At The Exterior Of Tata Nexon Facelift In 10 Images


Take a closer look at all the changes related to the exterior styling of the Tata Nexon facelift

Tata Nexon 2023

The Tata Nexon facelift has been revealed and will soon go on sale in India. The facelift is quite comprehensive, giving the subcompact SUV a completely fresh and more modern look inside-out. While we’ve explored its interior through images, let’s take a look at its exterior changes with a detailed gallery:

Tata Nexon 2023

Up front, the Tata Nexon facelift has a sleeker grille with a closed-off design. The split air dam setup now acts as the conventional grille seen in ICE-powered cars. The new Nexon bears a resemblance to the Tata Curvv.

Tata Nexon 2023

The LED DRLs are sharper and support a cool-looking welcome-light animation function.

Tata Nexon 2023

The split LED headlamp setup is inspired by the Harrier EV, giving it a more futuristic appeal. The front fascia also features a more aggressive-looking bumper.

Tata Nexon 2023

The side profile remains unchanged, except for the new aerodynamically-styled 16-inch alloy wheels.

Tata Nexon 2023

At the back, there are new connected LED tail lights with the ‘X’ light signature, programmed for welcome light animations. The boot lid also has a touch of ruggedness.

Tata Nexon 2023

The new bumper has a quirky look and houses the reverse lamp. A cool visual element is the hidden rear wiper, tucked under the roof-integrated spoiler.

Tata Nexon Facelift Daytona Grey

The facelifted Tata Nexon comes in six color options: Fearless Purple, Creative Ocean, Pure Grey, Flame Red, Daytona Grey, Pristine White.

Tata Nexon 2023

The Tata Nexon facelift retains the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines. The petrol engine can be paired with four transmission options: 5-speed manual, 6-speed manual, 6-speed AMT, and a 7-speed DCT. The diesel engine is available with 6-speed manual and AMT options.

Prices for the Tata Nexon facelift will be announced on September 14, with an expected starting price of around Rs 8 lakh (ex-showroom). It will continue to rival other subcompact SUVs like the Kia Sonet, Mahindra XUV300, Renault Kiger, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Nissan Magnite, and Hyundai Venue. The Tata Nexon EV facelift will also be launched alongside the ICE version and has already been revealed.

Read More on : Tata Nexon AMT

Motorsport

2024 Ford Mustang Buyers Prefer Drift Brake and Automatic Transmissions

The delivery of the highly anticipated 2024 Ford Mustang is just around the corner. Despite being equipped with pure internal-combustion power, the seventh-generation pony car still offers a manual transmission for those who love shifting gears manually. Ford has recently updated its online Mustang configurator, providing more details and fresh photos of the car. This update also sheds light on the configuration choices made by early buyers.

The configurator was made available earlier this year, allowing customers to customize their 2024 Mustang. It was revealed that the top-tier configuration of the 2024 Mustang could cost up to $80,000. Now, with better descriptions and visuals of the available options, Ford has shared the percentages of equipment and features chosen by customers from January to June.

50 Percent Drift

One popular feature, especially among those who choose the four-cylinder EcoBoost models, is the new electronic drift brake. This feature is included with the High Performance Package, which has a 50 percent take rate. It’s important to note that the only transmission option for the 2024 Mustang EcoBoost is the 10-speed automatic. The manual transmission has been discontinued due to its low popularity, with only a 10 percent take rate in previous models.

27 Percent Shift

While the six-speed manual is still available for V8 Mustangs, its popularity has decreased in the seventh-generation model. Currently, 27 percent of early GT and Dark Horse orders opt for the manual transmission, while the remaining 73 percent choose the automatic transmission. Previous reports indicated that the manual transmission had a take rate of over 40 percent for the GT, but it seems the preference is shifting towards automatic transmissions in the new model.

Packages And Paint

Delving deeper into the statistics, Ford reveals that the Performance and Nite Pony packages are popular choices among 2024 Mustang buyers. The Performance package, which costs $4,995, has a 22 percent take rate among GT buyers. It adds several performance-enhancing features such as Brembo brakes, a Torsen differential, and various chassis and electronic system upgrades. On the other hand, the $1,195 Nite Pony package, which adds black exterior trims, is preferred by 26 percent of buyers.

As for color preferences, Shadow Black is the top choice for GT and EcoBoost models, with a take rate of 17 percent. Oxford White follows with 13 percent, while Rapid Red stands at 11 percent. The high-output Mustang Dark Horse sees Blue Ember as the most popular color, chosen by 39 percent of buyers. Vapor Blue and Shadow Black come in at 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Featured

We Won’t See The Unveil Of 5-Door Mahindra Thar On Independence Day 2023

We Won’t See The Unveil Of 5-Door Mahindra Thar On Independence Day 2023


The 5-door Thar will likely be revealed closer to its slated launch in early 2024


Mahindra Thar 5-door




  • The 5-Door Thar unveil is officially not happening on August 15.




  • Instead, we might see a near-production-ready version of the XUV700 EV on the said date.




  • The 5-door Thar will feature a full metal hard top and electric sunroof with the possibility of six airbags.




  • To use the same 2-litre turbo-petrol and 2.2-litre diesel engines with manual and automatic transmissions.




Following numerous reports, the carmaker has officially confirmed that the global unveil of the 5-door Mahindra Thar won’t take place on August 15. Since the SUV is slated to launch in 2024 only, it would have likely been too early to unveil the model.


Mahindra Thar 5-Door


There is still a Mahindra event on August 15 but its exact details are unknown, but we’re expecting to see closer-to-production versions of some of their upcoming electric SUVs. The carmaker plans to launch its fresh line of EVs from 2025, starting with the XUV e8 which is the electric version of the XUV700.


Also Read: Mahindra Confirms No New Models For 2023; Big Launches Coming In 2024!


As per our last spy shot, the 5-door Thar appears to be nearly production-ready. It will have a similar design language to the three-door version inside and out, save for the two more doors. Two important additions will be a full metal hard top and an electric sunroof. Other features expected are a 7-inch touchscreen system, cruise control, auto AC, six airbags, and a rear camera.


Mahindra Thar ground clearance


Also Read: Maruti Jimny Vs Mahindra Thar – Price Check


The more practical Thar will be propelled by the same 2-litre turbo-petrol and 2.2-litre diesel engines as the 3-door Thar, possibly in a higher state of tune. 6-speed manual and automatic transmissions will also be offered with both the engines. Just like the 3-door, we’re expecting the 5-door version with rear-wheel- and four-wheel drivetrains.


The 5-door Thar is likely to retail from around Rs 15 lakh (ex-showroom), serving as a bigger and more premium option to the Maruti Jimny.


Read More on : Thar diesel