This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Across the Web (Through December 13)

Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI Releases GPT-5.2 After ‘Code Red’ Google Threat AlertBenj Edwards | Ars Technica

“OpenAI says GPT-5.2 Pondering beats or ties ‘human professionals’ on 70.9 percent of tasks within the GDPval benchmark (in comparison with 53.3 percent for Gemini 3 Pro). The corporate also claims the model completes these tasks at greater than 11 times the speed and lower than 1 percent of the associated fee of human experts.”

Robotics

1X Struck a Deal to Send Its ‘Home’ Humanoids to Factories and WarehousesRebecca Szkutak | TechCrunch

“The corporate announced a strategic partnership to make hundreds of its humanoid robots available for [its backer] EQT’s portfolio corporations on Thursday. …This deal involves shipping as much as 10,000 1X Neo humanoid robots between 2026 and 2030 to EQT’s greater than 300 portfolio corporations with a concentration on manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and other industrial use cases.”

Computing

China Launches 34,175-Mile AI Network That Acts Like One Massive SupercomputerGayoung Lee | Gizmodo

“Last week, state-run Science and Technology Every day reported the launch of the Future Network Test Facility (FNTF), an enormous distributed AI computing pool able to connecting distant computing centers. The high-speed optical network spans across 40 cities in China, measuring at about 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers)—enough to circle the equator 1.5 times, in line with the South China Morning Post.”

Robotics

Aurora Will Have ‘A whole bunch’ of Driverless Trucks on the Road by the End of 2026, CEO SaysAndrew J. Hawkins | The Verge

“Urmson says he expects ‘hundreds’ of trucks on the road inside the following two years. ‘It’ll be a bit of less visceral, since it’s not a consumer-facing product,’ he says. ‘But when it comes to the expansion, I feel we’ll begin to see that occur pretty quickly.'”

Future

This Incredible Map Shows the World’s 2.75 Billion BuildingsJesus Diaz | Fast Company

“From the most recent skyscraper in a Chinese megalopolis to a six‑foot‑tall yurt in Inner Mongolia, researchers on the Technical University of Munich claim they’ve created a map of all buildings worldwide: 2.75 billion constructing models set in high‑resolution 3D with a level of precision never before recorded.”

Computing

AI Hackers Are Coming Dangerously Near Beating HumansRobert McMillan | The Wall Street Journal ($)

“Artemis found bugs at lightning speed and it was low cost: It cost slightly below $60 an hour to run. Ragan says that human pen testers typically charge between $2,000 and $2,500 a day. But Artemis wasn’t perfect. About 18% of its bug reports were false positives. It also completely missed an obvious bug that the majority of the human testers spotted in a webpage.”

Energy

Overview Energy Desires to Beam Energy From Space to Existing Solar FarmsTim De Chant | TechCrunch

“The startup plans to make use of large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth where satellites match the planet’s rotation—to reap sunlight. It can then use infrared lasers to transmit that power to utility-scale solar farms on Earth, allowing them to send power to the grid nearly around the clock.”

Tech

Why the AI Boom Is Unlike the Dot-Com BoomDavid Streitfeld | The Latest York Times ($)

“Much of the rhetoric about a wonderful world to return is similar [as the dot-com boom]. Fortunes are again being made, sometimes by the identical tech individuals who made fortunes the primary time around. Extravagant valuations are being given to corporations that didn’t exist yesterday. For all of the similarities, nonetheless, there are lots of differences that may lead to a distinctly different consequence.”

Computing

A First Take a look at Google’s Project Aura Glasses Built With XrealVictoria Song | The Verge

“Is it a headset? Smart glasses? Each? Those were the questions running through my head as I held Project Aura in my hands in a recent demo. It looked like a pair of chunky sunglasses, apart from the cord dangling off the left side, leading right down to a battery pack that also served as a trackpad. After I asked, Google’s reps told me they consider it a headset masquerading as glasses. They’ve a term for it, too: wired XR glasses.”

Bezos and Musk Race to Bring Data Centers to SpaceMicah Maidenberg and Becky Peterson | The Wall Street Journal ($)

“Bezos’ Blue Origin has had a team working for greater than a yr on technology needed for orbital AI data centers, an individual acquainted with the matter said. Musk’s SpaceX plans to make use of an upgraded version of its Starlink satellites to host AI computing payloads, pitching the technology as a part of a share sale that could value the corporate at $800 billion, in line with people involved within the discussions.”

Biotechnology

Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be within the WaterDavid Ferry | Wired ($)

“Despite the avalanche of funding, the most recent research suggests that only 10 to fifteen percent of Parkinson’s cases may be fully explained by genetics. The opposite three-quarters are, functionally, a mystery. ‘Greater than two-thirds of individuals with PD don’t have any clear genetic link,’ says Briana De Miranda, a researcher on the University of Alabama at Birmingham. ‘So, we’re moving to a brand new query: What else could it’s?'”

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