Airlines Required To Refund Passengers For Canceled, Delayed Flights
Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced new rules for the airline industry that will require airlines to automatically give cash refunds to passengers for canceled and significantly delayed flights. They will also require airlines to give cash refunds if your bags are lost and not delivered within 12 hours.

“This i … ⌘ Read more

Almost Every Chinese Keyboard App Has a Security Flaw That Reveals What Users Type
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Almost all keyboard apps used by Chinese people around the world share a security loophole that makes it possible to spy on what users are typing. The vulnerability, which allows the keystroke data that these apps send to the cloud to be intercepted, … ⌘ Read more

Manga Site Blocks Adult Content, But Only For US and UK Users
Samantha Cole reports via 404 Media: A Japan-based online art platform is banning kink content for users based in the US and UK, as laws in these countries continue to tighten around sites that allow erotic content. Pixiv is an image gallery site where artists primarily share illustrations, manga, and novels. The site announced on April 22 that … ⌘ Read more

Apple Reportedly Developing Its Own Custom Silicon For AI Servers
Hartley Charlton reports via MacRumors: Apple is said to be developing its own AI server processor using TSMC’s 3nm process, targeting mass production by the second half of 2025. According to a post by the Weibo user known as “Phone Chip Expert,” Apple has ambitious plans to design its own artificial intelligence server processor. The user, wh … ⌘ Read more

Google Delays Third-Party Cookie Demise Yet Again
Google is delaying the end of third-party cookies in Chrome – again. This marks the third time Google pushed back its original deadline set in January 2020, when the company said it would phase out third-party cookies “within two years” to improve internet security. Digiday reports: The announcement was made on Tuesday ahead of quarterly reports from Google and the ever-watc … ⌘ Read more

‘ArcaneDoor’ Cyberspies Hacked Cisco Firewalls To Access Government Networks
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Network security appliances like firewalls are meant to keep hackers out. Instead, digital intruders are increasingly targeting them as the weak link that lets them pillage the very systems those devices are meant to protect. In the case of one hacking campaign over recent months … ⌘ Read more

Taser Company Axon Is Selling AI That Turns Body Cam Audio Into Police Reports
Axon on Tuesday announced a new tool called Draft One that uses artificial intelligence built on OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo model to transcribe audio from body cameras and automatically turn it into a police report. Axon CEO Rick Smith told Forbes that police officers will then be able to review the document to ensure accuracy. F … ⌘ Read more

Meta Opens Quest Operating System To Third-Party Device Makers
Similar to the way Google makes its mobile OS Android open source, Meta announced it is opening up its Quest headset’s operating system to rival device makers. Reuters reports: The move will allow partner companies to build their headsets using Meta Horizon OS, a rebranded operating system that brings capabilities like gesture recognition, passthroug … ⌘ Read more

Updating California’s Grid For EVs May Cost Up To $20 Billion
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Two researchers at the University of California, Davis – Yanning Li and Alan Jenn – have determined that nearly two-thirds of [California’s] feeder lines don’t have the capacity that will likely be needed for car charging. Updating to handle the rising demand might set its utilities back as much as … ⌘ Read more

Lenovo First To Implement LPCAMM2 in Laptop
Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop is set to be the first to use the new LPCAMM2 memory form factor, the successor to SODIMM sticks. From a report: While Lenovo has largely focused on the AI performance of its new laptop, which is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra CPU and Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada GPU, the company also noted that its device was the first in the world to use the LPCAMM2 mem … ⌘ Read more

HashiCorp Reportedly Being Acquired By IBM [UPDATE]
According to the Wall Street Journal, a deal for IBM to acquire HashiCorp could materialize in the next few days. Shares of HashiCorp jumped almost 20% on the news.

UPDATE 4/24/24: IBM has confirmed the deal valued at $6.4 billion. “IBM will pay $35 per share for HashiCorp, a 42.6% premium to Monday’s closing price,” reports Reuters. “The acquisition will be funded by cash on h … ⌘ Read more

Adobe’s Impressive AI Upscaling Project Makes Blurry Videos Look HD
Adobe researchers have developed a new generative AI model called VideoGigaGAN that can upscale blurry videos at up to eight times their original resolution. From a report: Introduced in a paper published on April 18th, Adobe claims VideoGigaGAN is superior to other Video Super Resolution (VSR) methods as it can provide more fine-grained det … ⌘ Read more

Google-Backed Glance Pilots Android Lockscreen Platform in US
Glance, which operates a popular lockscreen platform targeting Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the U.S. market. From a report: The Indian startup recently commenced a pilot program in partnership with Motorola and Verizon in the U.S., with plans for a full launch in the country later this year, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. … ⌘ Read more

Steam Closes Early Access Playtime Loophole
An anonymous reader shares a report: “Early Access” was once a novel, quirky thing, giving a select set of Steam PC games a way to involve enthusiastic fans in pre-alpha-level play-testing and feedback. Now loads of games launch in various forms of Early Access, in a wide variety of readiness. It’s been a boon for games like Baldur’s Gate 3, which came a long way across years of Early A … ⌘ Read more

Apple Releases OpenELM: Small, Open Source AI Models Designed To Run On-device
Just as Google, Samsung and Microsoft continue to push their efforts with generative AI on PCs and mobile devices, Apple is moving to join the party with OpenELM, a new family of open source large language models (LLMs) that can run entirely on a single device rather than having to connect to cloud servers. From a repor … ⌘ Read more

Apple Releases OpenELM: Small, Open Source AI Models Designed To Run On-device
Just as Google, Samsung and Microsoft continue to push their efforts with generative AI on PCs and mobile devices, Apple is moving to join the party with OpenELM, a new family of open source large language models (LLMs) that can run entirely on a single device rather than having to connect to cloud servers. From a repor … ⌘ Read more

Framework Won’t Be Just a Laptop Company Anymore
Today, Framework is the modular repairable laptop company. Tomorrow, it wants to be a consumer electronics company, period. From a report: That’s one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding – it wants to expand beyond the laptop into “additional product categories.” Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan. The company or … ⌘ Read more

‘The Man Who Killed Google Search’
Edward Zitron, citing emails released as part of the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, writes about Prabhakar Raghavan: And Raghavan – a manager, hired by Sundar Pichai, a former McKinsey man and a manager by trade – is an example of everything wrong with the tech industry. Despite his history as a true computer scientist with actual academic credentials, Raghavan chose to bulldoze ac … ⌘ Read more

Windows 11 Now Comes With Its Own Adware
An anonymous reader shares a report: It used to be that you could pay for a retail version of Windows 11 and expect it to be ad-free, but those days are apparently finito. The latest update to Windows 11 (KB5036980) comes out this week and includes ads for apps in the “recommended” section of the Start Menu, one of the most oft-used parts of the OS. “The Recommended section of the Start menu w … ⌘ Read more

Diamond Market Shows Serious Cracks From Man-Made Stones
An anonymous reader shares a report: Diamonds may be forever but they are also seriously on sale. Natural rough diamond prices have collapsed 26 per cent in the past couple of years. Tepid US and Chinese demand for diamond jewellery hasn’t helped. But most ring fingers point at the increasing popularity of cheaper laboratory grown diamonds (LGD). This fracturing of t … ⌘ Read more

Diamond Market Shows Serious Cracks From Man-Made Stones
An anonymous reader shares a report: Diamonds may be forever but they are also seriously on sale. Natural rough diamond prices have collapsed 26 per cent in the past couple of years. Tepid US and Chinese demand for diamond jewellery hasn’t helped. But most ring fingers point at the increasing popularity of cheaper laboratory grown diamonds (LGD). This fracturing of t … ⌘ Read more

Biden Signs TikTok ‘Divest or Ban’ Bill Into Law
President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year. The Verge: The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move. The company has an initial nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three mo … ⌘ Read more

Qualcomm Is Cheating On Their Snapdragon X Elite/Pro Benchmarks
An anonymous reader shares a report: Qualcomm is cheating on the Snapdragon X Plus/Elite benchmarks given to OEMs and the press. SemiAccurate doesn’t use these words lightly but there is no denying what multiple sources are telling us. […] Then there were the actual ‘briefings’ for the X Pro SoC. To call them pathetic is giving them more than their … ⌘ Read more

NVIDIA To Acquire Run:ai
Nvidia, in a blog post: To help customers make more efficient use of their AI computing resources, NVIDIA today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Run:ai, a Kubernetes-based workload management and orchestration software provider. Customer AI deployments are becoming increasingly complex, with workloads distributed across cloud, edge and on-premises data center infrastructure.

Managing and orches … ⌘ Read more

NVIDIA To Acquire Run:ai
Nvidia, in a blog post: To help customers make more efficient use of their AI computing resources, NVIDIA today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Run:ai, a Kubernetes-based workload management and orchestration software provider. Customer AI deployments are becoming increasingly complex, with workloads distributed across cloud, edge and on-premises data center infrastructure.

Managing and orches … ⌘ Read more