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Why it's nearly impossible to build a robot without China

The Japan Times

Why it's nearly impossible to build a robot without China Building on the country's electric vehicle industry, Chinese companies are making robot parts at a scale and price point others can't match. Japan led the world in robotics for decades. More than 50 years ago, Japanese researchers captured imaginations with the first robot capable of grasping objects and walking on two legs. In 1984, a team in Japan built one that could read sheet music and play the piano. When Honda unveiled its first humanoid in 2000, it seemed to cement the country's lead.


Japan and Canada can do more to accelerate AI adoption, expert says

The Japan Times

Japan and Canada can work more closely together to accelerate the real-world adoption of artificial intelligence, an expert at a Toronto-based, cutting-edge research institute says. "AI will be the technology that will power the future," Cameron Schuler, chief commercialization officer and vice president of industry innovation at the Vector Institute, said in a recent interview. "There are lots of opportunities for Japan and Canada to collaborate," he also said, naming manufacturing, financial services, life sciences and other industries as promising areas of cooperation. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


The Matrix: Infinite-Horizon World Generation with Real-Time Moving Control

Neural Information Processing Systems

We present The Matrix, a foundational realistic world simulator capable of generating infinitely long 720p high-fidelity real-scene video streams with real-time, responsive control in both first-and third-person perspectives. Trained on limited supervised data from video games like Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077, complemented by large-scale unsupervised footage from real-world settings like Tokyo streets, The Matrix allows users to traverse diverse terrains--deserts, grasslands, water bodies, and urban landscapes--in continuous, uncut hour-long sequences. With speeds of up to 16 FPS, the system supports real-time interactivity and demonstrates zero-shot generalization, translating virtual game environments to real-world contexts where collecting continuous movement data is often infeasible. For example, The Matrix can simulate a BMW X3 driving through an office setting--an environment present in neither gaming data nor real-world sources. This approach showcases the potential of game data to advance robust world models, bridging the gap between simulations and real-world applications in scenarios with limited data.


China Didn't Make People Hate Data Centers

WIRED

GOP lawmakers, tech investors, and even OpenAI have tied the anti-data-center movement in the US to Chinese interference. Experts say it's much more complicated than that. Right-wing officials and data center investors are increasingly claiming that data center protests are being funded and influenced by the Chinese government. OpenAI added to the discourse on Wednesday when it released a report describing a cluster of accounts originating in China that, the company said, had been spreading anti-data-center messages on social media. Experts who spoke to WIRED, however, are skeptical of the funding claims.


SpaceX IPO debuts in US markets, Musk becomes world's first trillionaire

Al Jazeera

SpaceX IPO debuts in US markets, Musk becomes world's first trillionaire SpaceX has debuted on US markets with a market valuation of more than $2 trillion, minting CEO Elon Musk as the world's first trillionaire. Shares opened on Friday at $150 per share, marking a 11 percent increase from the initial public offering (IPO) price of $135, valuing the company at $1.96 trillion and putting the aerospace company on track to become the sixth-largest company in the United States. The company sold $75bn in shares, immediately valuing it at $1.77 trillion. The IPO was oversubscribed four times higher than was otherwise expected, according to the Reuters news agency. Of the institutional investors allocated, according to Bloomberg News, as much as 70 percent went to what are called long-only investments -- a strategy in which holders buy assets based on the expectation that their value will grow over time -- and sovereign wealth funds, including those from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well.


The challenge of being neurodivergent in Japan's culture of conformity

The Japan Times

As awareness grows, more Japanese adults are receiving answers to struggles that went unrecognized for years. Social camouflaging can help neurodivergent people navigate social situations, but researchers say the effort often comes with significant emotional and mental strain. The first major crisis in Yosuke's life came when he stood in front of his students. Until then, the 24-year-old had navigated his life with few obstacles. He had done well in school, scored highly on IQ tests and graduated from university without any major issues. But after securing his dream job as a geography and history teacher at a girls' high school two years ago, cracks began to show. "I couldn't read the room," says Yosuke, who recalls struggling to organize course materials and wrap up classes on time.


Musk's 1.8 trillion SpaceX IPO could be 'highly undesirable' for some

Al Jazeera

Musk's $1.8 trillion SpaceX IPO could be'highly undesirable' for some SpaceX is expected to debut on the United States' public markets on Friday in what will be the largest initial public offering (IPOs). Artificial intelligence (AI) giants OpenAI and Anthropic are also widely expected to go public soon, and thanks to a new rule change by tech stock exchange Nasdaq, individual investors could own stock of these companies when they go public in as soon as 15 business days following its first trading day. SpaceX's IPO is generating buzz among retail investors. The Elon Musk-led company is expected to allocate 20 percent of shares to retail investors and has drawn roughly $70bn in orders, according to the Reuters news agency. Historically, there is a waiting period between when a company goes public and when it is listed on the Nasdaq-100 index and/or S&P 500.


There's a new skydiving Rubik's Cube-solving champ in town, but there's one big problem with this feat

FOX News

Jemele Hill says she feels'terribly sad' for Karmelo Anthony because his lawyer was white Five of the most unhinged fan theories that make'The Sopranos' a re-watchable masterpiece'Whalefall' trailer is here to add getting swallowed by a sperm whale while SCUBA diving to your list of fears Christopher Nolan's'The Odyssey' uncorks a Trojan Horse popcorn bucket that stores the goods in its crotch New trailer released for upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller'The Dog Stars' with Jacob Elordi'House of the Dragon' Season 3 premiere runtime and details revealed for hit HBO series You're not getting away with watering your grass with your'crank' out on Sheriff Grady Judd's watch Taylor Sheridan's hit CIA/military series'Lioness' gets official season release date on Paramount+ It wasn't on his shopping list, but a man managed to accidentally shoot himself in the groin at Walmart anyway Trump's Iran deal announcement sends markets skyrocketing, oil prices tumble Trump's Iran deal will not change regime's terror behavior, expert warns Paul Mauro: Crockett's weapon argument lacks'basic algebraic logic' Trump says Iran agreement documents are in'final shape,' signing soon Former Navy lieutenant commander says Iran doesn't'have a whole lot to work with' Massive national sporting events fuel market of'illicit trafficking,' says ex-DOJ prosector Doug Burgum praises Trump's leadership on rolling back regulations Iranian oil operations face'nuclear option' as US blockade traps ships Mike Pompeo: A piece of paper is'largely worthless' to the Iranian regime Trump says Iran will sign a deal'by this weekend' A solid WEEK after election night, progressive Nithya Raman has suddenly surged into the lead in LA--leaving voters completely flabbergasted. Few things amaze me like people who can solve a Rubik's Cube. Sure, lots of things amaze me more -- mountains, elaborate water features, how my dog sits on the couch and watches like he's super into it -- but it's a very specific kind of amazement that's like, Man, that's wild; I could never do that... nor do I really care to. But I like that other people are super into it to the point that there's now a Guinness World Record cottage industry of people solving them under different circumstances, and we've got a new top dog when it comes to solving a bunch of them while skydiving. A Rubik's Cube, the ultimate test of dexterity and spinning colored blocks.


Differential Privacy for Euclidean Jordan Algebra with Applications to Private Symmetric Cone Programming

Neural Information Processing Systems

In this paper, we study differentially private mechanisms for functions whose outputs lie in a Euclidean Jordan algebra. Euclidean Jordan algebras capture many important mathematical structures and form the foundation of linear programming, second-order cone programming, and semidefinite programming. Our main contribution is a generic Gaussian mechanism for such functions, with sensitivity measured in $\ell_2$, $\ell_1$, and $\ell_\infty$ norms. Notably, this framework includes the important case where the function outputs are symmetric matrices, and sensitivity is measured in the Frobenius, nuclear, or spectral norm. We further derive private algorithms for solving symmetric cone programs under various settings, using a combination of the multiplicative weights update method and our generic Gaussian mechanism. As an application, we present differentially private algorithms for semidefinite programming, resolving a major open question posed by [Hsu, Roth, Roughgarden, and Ullman, ICALP 2014].


Bahrain releases footage of damage caused by intercepted Iranian drones

Al Jazeera

Bahrain released video of damage in Manama after debris from intercepted Iranian drones fell in populated areas, damaging homes, burning vehicles and scattering wreckage. Officials said an 11-year-old girl sustained minor injuries in the incident.