Tech
Inside Google’s Two-12 months Frenzy to Catch Up With OpenAIParesh Dave and Arielle Pardes | Wired
“Wired spoke with greater than 50 current and former employees—including engineers, marketers, legal and safety experts, and a dozen top executives—to trace probably the most frenzied and culture-reshaping period in the corporate’s history. …That is the story, being told with detailed recollections from several executives for the primary time, of those turbulent two years and the trade-offs required along the best way.”
Robotics
Watch the Atlas Robot Bust a Move in Boston Dynamics’ Latest VideoAnna Washenko | Engadget
“Within the [new clip], [Boston Dynamics’] Atlas robot demonstrates several varieties of full-body movement, starting with a walk and advancing to a cartwheel and even a spot of break dancing. The several actions were developed using reinforcement learning that used motion capture and animation as source materials.”
Computing
Not Everyone Is Convinced by Microsoft’s Topological QubitsDina Genkina | IEEE Spectrum
“The Microsoft team has not yet reached the milestone where the scientific community would agree that they’ve created a single topological qubit. ‘They’ve an idea chip which has eight lithographically fabricated qubits,’ Eggleston says. ‘But they’re not functional qubits, that’s the effective print. It’s their concept of what they’re moving towards.'”
Future
In Las Vegas, a Former SpaceX Engineer Is Pulling CO2 From the Air to Make ConcreteAdele Peters | Fast Company
“In an industrial park in North Las Vegas, near an Amazon warehouse and a waste storage facility, a brand new carbon removal plant is starting to tug CO2 from the air and store it permanently. Called Project Juniper, it’s the primary ‘integrated’ plant of its kind within the US, meaning that it handles each carbon capture and storage in a single place.”
Future
Judge Disses Star Trek Icon Data’s Poetry While Ruling AI Can’t Creator WorksAshley Belanger | Ars Technica
“Data ‘may be worse than ChatGPT at writing poetry,’ but his ‘intelligence is comparable to that of a human being,’ Millet wrote. If AI ever reached Data levels of intelligence, Millett suggested that copyright laws could shift to grant copyrights to AI-authored works. But that point is seemingly not now. ‘There shall be time enough for Congress and the Copyright Office to tackle those issues once they arise,’ Millett wrote.”
Is Dark Energy Getting Weaker? Latest Evidence Strengthens the Case.Charlie Wood | Quanta
“Last 12 months, an infinite map of the cosmos hinted that the engine driving cosmic expansion may be sputtering. …[This week], the scientists [reported] that they’ve analyzed greater than twice as much data as before and that it points more strongly to the identical conclusion: Dark energy is losing steam.”
Robotics
1X Will Test Humanoid Robots in ‘a Few Hundred’ Homes in 2025Maxwell Zeff | TechCrunch
“These in-home tests will allow 1X to gather data on how Neo Gamma operates in the house. Early adopters will help create a big, invaluable dataset that 1X can use to coach in-house AI models and upgrade Neo Gamma’s capabilities.”
See the First Ever Footage of Sunset on the Moon Captured by Blue GhostGeorgina Torbet | Digital Trends
“With the Blue Ghost lunar mission coming to an end this week, the spacecraft has gifted scientists and the general public with an incredible send-off. The moon lander captured the primary ever HD imagery of a sunset as seen from the moon, and the pictures have been stitched together right into a video.”
Tech
The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books ProblemAlex Reisner | The Atlantic
“LibGen and other such pirated libraries make information more accessible, allowing people to read original work without paying for it. Yet generative-AI corporations comparable to Meta have gone a step further: Their goal is to soak up the work into profitable technology products that compete with the originals. Will these be higher for society than the human dialogue they’re already starting to interchange?”
Webb Telescope Captures First Direct Evidence of Carbon Dioxide on an ExoplanetIsaac Schultz | Gizmodo
“The pictures feature HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years from Earth. The invention not only reveals a chemical compound essential on Earth for processes including photosynthesis and the carbon cycle, but additionally indicates that gas giant planets elsewhere within the galaxy formed in an identical strategy to our local giants, Jupiter, and Saturn.”
Computing
Top Developers Want Nvidia Blackwell Chips. Everyone Else, Not So MuchAnissa Gardizy | The Information
“Jensen Huang turned Nvidia into the third most useful company on the planet by designing chips that were way ahead of their time. But Huang’s remarks on Tuesday suggest he’s pulling far ahead of some customers, and the growing gap between what he’s selling and what they’re buying could spell trouble.”
