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Leak reveals what Sam Altman and Jony Ive are cooking up: 100 million AI companion devices

Mashable

OpenAI and Jony Ive's vision for its AI device is a screenless companion that knows everything about you. Details leaked to the Wall Street Journal give us a clearer picture of OpenAI's acquisition of io, cofounded by Ive, the iconic iPhone designer. The ChatGPT maker reportedly plans to ship 100 million AI devices designed to fit in with users' everyday life. "The product will be capable of being fully aware of a user's surroundings and life, will be unobtrusive, able to rest in one's pocket or on one's desk," according to a recording of an OpenAI staff meeting reviewed by the Journal. The device "will be a third core device a person would put on a desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone," per the meeting which occurred the same day (Wednesday) that OpenAI announced its acquisition of Ive's company.


News/Media Alliance says Google's AI takes content by force

Mashable

Is Google's new AI Mode feature theft? The News/Media Alliance, trade association representing news media organizations in the U.S. and Canada, certainly thinks so. At Google's I/O showcase earlier this week, the tech company announced the public release of AI Mode in Google Search. AI Mode expands AI Overviews in search and signifies a pivot away from Google's traditional search. Users will see a tab at the top of their Google Search page that takes them to a chatbot interface much like, say, ChatGPT, instead of your typical Google Search results.


Florida man rigs drone to save drowning teen

Popular Science

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Drones can be a divisive subject, but they do have their uses (beyond causing mass panic). Professional unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) are already instrumental in conservation efforts and engineering projects, but even personal use drones do more than recording cool aerial shots of your vacation. In the case of a recent emergency in Florida, one man's drone helped save a teenager's life. Earlier this month, amateur shark fisherman Andrew Smith was convinced by a friend to come with them to Pensacola Beach after getting off from work.


This 2K indoor security camera is a steal for just 30 right now

PCWorld

Just a few years ago, getting a security camera to keep an eye on your kids or pets while you aren't home would've been pretty expensive. This tiny little thing can be placed anywhere inside your home, as long as it's close enough to an outlet for plugging in. Whether you're placing it on a bookcase shelf, near your TV, or on a nightstand, the Arlo Essential camera can capture most of any room thanks to its large 130-degree field of view and high-def 2560 1440 resolution. Even during the night, this camera will capture great-quality video, making it ideal for keeping an eye on your sleeping baby or watching out for burglars. Since it works with Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, and IFTTT, you can integrate the camera with your local smart home setup and do things like pull up the video feed on your smart screen.


Politico's Newsroom Is Starting a Legal Battle With Management Over AI

WIRED

Politico became one of the first newsrooms last year to win a union contract that included rules on how the media outlet can deploy artificial intelligence. The PEN Guild, which represents Politico and its sister publication, environment and energy site E&E News, is now gearing up for another first. The union's members allege that the AI provisions in their contract have been violated, and they're preparing for a groundbreaking legal dispute with management. The outcome could set a precedent for how much input journalists ultimately have over how AI is used in their newsrooms. Last year, Politico began publishing AI-generated live news summaries during big political events like the Democratic National Convention and the US vice presidential debates.


Effective Dimension Adaptive Sketching Methods for Faster Regularized Least-Squares Optimization

Neural Information Processing Systems

We propose a new randomized algorithm for solving L2-regularized least-squares problems based on sketching. We consider two of the most popular random embeddings, namely, Gaussian embeddings and the Subsampled Randomized Hadamard Transform (SRHT). While current randomized solvers for least-squares optimization prescribe an embedding dimension at least greater than the data dimension, we show that the embedding dimension can be reduced to the effective dimension of the optimization problem, and still preserve high-probability convergence guarantees. In this regard, we derive sharp matrix deviation inequalities over ellipsoids for both Gaussian and SRHT embeddings. Specifically, we improve on the constant of a classical Gaussian concentration bound whereas, for SRHT embeddings, our deviation inequality involves a novel technical approach. Leveraging these bounds, we are able to design a practical and adaptive algorithm which does not require to know the effective dimension beforehand. Our method starts with an initial embedding dimension equal to 1 and, over iterations, increases the embedding dimension up to the effective one at most. Hence, our algorithm improves the state-of-the-art computational complexity for solving regularized least-squares problems. Further, we show numerically that it outperforms standard iterative solvers such as the conjugate gradient method and its pre-conditioned version on several standard machine learning datasets.


Get a free gaming monitor with the heavily discounted Samsung Odyssey G9

Mashable

FREE GAMING MONITOR: The Samsung Odyssey G9 49-inch monitor is on sale for 799.99 at Samsung. Save 500 and get a free 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G55C. We thought it was neat that LG were offering up free gaming monitors for Memorial Day, but it turns out that everyone is getting in on the act. The Samsung Odyssey G9 49-inch curved gaming monitor is on sale for 799.99 at Samsung, saving you 500 on list price. That's a strong standalone deal, but this purchase comes with a 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G55C for free.


I let Google's Jules AI agent into my code repo and it did four hours of work in an instant

ZDNet

I just added an entire new feature to my software, including UI and functionality, just by typing four paragraphs of instructions. I have screenshots, and I'll try to make sense of it in this article. I can't tell if we're living in the future or we've just descended to a new plane of hell (or both). Let's take a step back. Google's Jules is the latest in a flood of new coding agents released just this week. I wrote about OpenAI Codex and Microsoft's GitHub Copilot Coding Agent at the beginning of the week, and ZDNET's Webb Wright wrote about Google's Jules. All of these coding agents will perform coding operations on a GitHub repository.


Matter-enabled SwitchBot Hub 3 smart home controller is now available

PCWorld

The SwitchBot Hub 3 smart home controller is now available for purchase. The Matter-capable device is quite different than other smart home hubs we've tested, starting with its rotary knob that can adjust the target temperature on a smart thermostat, the brightness of smart lighting devices, or the volume level of a connected speaker. Another feature that makes the 120 controller so interesting is the USB-C cable that connects it to its power supply: The cable senses the ambient temperature and relative humidity in the room where the Hub 3 is installed. These readings are shown on the hub's display. We have a hands-on review of the all-new SwitchBot Ultra, which is also shipping today.


Got a million-dollar idea? This AI-powered business software helps you build it and now it's 73% off

Popular Science

Do you have a million-dollar business idea? Sellful is ready to help you bring it to market. This AI-powered white-label website builder and software is an all-in-one tool to get your business up and running, and right now it's just 349.97 (reg. Whether you want to start a side hustle or quit your job and pour everything into your new venture, Sellful will be your first hire. This AI-powered platform can be an employee who wears multiple hats, acting as a web developer, marketer, and HR consultant.