The AI assistants are getting better fast
Plus, in this week’s Installer: A new-old way to search Google, the fanciest mop ever, another iOS emulator, and much more.
Plus, in this week’s Installer: A new-old way to search Google, the fanciest mop ever, another iOS emulator, and much more.
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That’s according to Mark Gurman, who writes in his latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that the company will release the new version of its item tracker “around the middle of next year” with improvements to its chip and location tracking.
On The Vergecast: what’s new from OpenAI and Google, the future of search, and more.
Vox reported yesterday, following two high-profile departures, that OpenAI’s exit terms include revoking employees’ vested equity in the company if they ever disparage it or acknowledge the terms exist. OpenAI told the outlet it hadn’t revoked equity before, and wouldn’t in the future.
Those terms were real and “should never have been,” Altman posted today, adding that he’s “genuinely embarrassed” by them.
The 240-ton Caterpillar 793 will be tested by Brazilian mining company Vale in the country’s Minas Gerais state, according to Construction Equipment Magazine.
Gigantic trucks running on alternative fuel sources are becoming more commonplace. For example, Komatsu, which has several electric drive mining trucks, will power a future 500-ton 930E truck using General Motors’ Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cells.
Yes, in a few days, says German tech site WinFuture, citing unnamed sources (and Samsung’s site). That includes a 16-inch Galaxy Book 4 Edge Pro that’s equipped with the highest-end version of the Snapdragon X ARM chip that’s meant to take on Apple’s custom M-series chips.
Expect other Snapdragon X laptops soon, including from Microsoft, Dell, and Asus.
The company announced that it’s “opening up its source code” and invites developers to contribute to the Windows version of its music player. It’s also releasing a mobile app in July. As ZDNet points out, the company will still own and decide what goes into the official version.
Winamp didn’t immediately reply to a request for more information, like whether and what open-source license it’ll use.
Apple retail stores will offer a little more money for iPhone trade-ins in the US and Canada for people upgrading to the iPhone 15 series of phones from May 20th to June 3rd, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
He didn’t say what the new values will be. At the moment, the most Apple offers is $630 for an iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The app’s “Now Playing” screen has a gradient background now, as 9to5Google spotted. Also, the three tabs at the bottom aren’t on a visually separate bar anymore, though you can still swipe up to reveal them.
If you don’t see it at first, try swiping the app closed from the app switcher and relaunching — worked for me.
Ken and Roberta Williams are some of the most influential video game designers ever, and also founded a video game publisher that did a whole lot more — until Sierra On-Line became a victim of massive accounting fraud and dramatically collapsed.
Vice’s Waypoint published this must-read feature story about it, before it, too, became a victim. Now, an authorized Sierra documentary is coming:
GM staged a blackout to demonstrate how EVs can power an entire home — and also shore up our aging grid infrastructure.
Actually, no! io9’s ever-reliable James Whitbrook found legit reasons to love the Star Wars movie we don’t talk about. A slideshow that delivers:
We found all sorts of gadgets and goodies to celebrate the class of 2024, from the practical to the poignant.
After pledging to slash its greenhouse gas emissions, Microsoft’s climate pollution has grown by 30 percent as the company prioritizes AI.
It wasn’t initially clear whether Cillian Murphy might return for Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later. But Sony Motion Pictures Group chairman Tom Rothman revealed to Deadline that we can expect to see Murphy show up in a “a surprising way and in a way that grows,” when the movie hits theaters on June 20th, 2025.
Perhaps of note: their Binance accounts and their Deltec accounts; Deltec was allegedly key in giving FTX secret money to buy Tether. Criminal complaint here.
And though the charges are for laundering at least $73 million, the wallet in question received $341 million between April 2021 and the date of the indictment. Hm!
After a week of watching AI demos of ChatGPT and Google’s Project Astra, reset with comedian Conner O’Malley’s new special Stand Up Solutions.
O’Malley performs as startup founder Richard Eagleton, pitching an “AI standup comedian” product for an audience of VCs. The unhinged presentation parodies tech bro lingo and exaggerated business promises — which is probably NSFW, especially if you work in Big Tech.
Despite the studio’s closure, Arkane Austin is squeezing out one final update for its vampiric shooter Redfall. This follows the final patch for Hi-Fi Rush from Tango Gameworks, which was also shut down.
Both companies are competing to build a combination of ChatGPT and Search. Now, it’s a matter of who can out-maneuver the other.
Post-apocalyptic wastelands are all the rage right now, and soon that will extend to Fortnite. When the game’s Greek mythology season ends next week, it will give way to something that will hopefully make the wait for Fallout 5 a little easier.
If you use Uber with an iPhone, you can turn off unwanted marketing notifications — but the feature is a leetle hard to find. Okay, it’s a lot hard to find. John Gruber found it, though: go to Account > Settings > Privacy > Offers and Promos from Uber and tap the word here. You can then unsubscribe from some or all Uber marketing emails or notifications.
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