The Blink Mini 2 home security camera was only announced a month ago, and it’s already on sale. The camera is 25 percent off in both colors — black and white — in a deal on Amazon, bringing the already budget-friendly system down to just $30. The Blink Mini 2 can be used indoors or outdoors, offers HD footage in the daytime or at night and has an LED spotlight. It can be paired with one of Amazon’s smart displays for Alexa voice controls. The camera is a plug-in device, though, so you’ll need to place it somewhere with an outlet.
Blink
Blink’s new indoor/outdoor security camera is 25 percent off.
You’ll also need to pick up the weather-resistant power adapter if you intend to put it outside. A bundle including that adapter is on sale as well, shaving $10 off its normal price of $50. Amazon-owned Blink announced the Mini 2 camera in March, touting improvements to image quality and the option for HD night view in color thanks to its spotlight. The camera also has motion detection and two-way audio, so you can hear what’s going on and, if you want, let whoever’s on the other side hear you too.
With the Blink subscription, you can get additional features out of the Mini 2. That includes smart notifications, like person detection, the ability to stream up to 90 minutes of live video and cloud storage for event clips. If you already own a Blink Video Doorbell, the Mini 2 camera can be used with that system to work as a chime when someone rings the doorbell. In the box you’ll get one camera, a mounting kit and stand, and one USB-C cable and power adapter for indoor use.
Purchasing the Mini 2 will get you a 30-day free trial of the Blink Subscription Plan, too. If you plan on keeping it after that, it’ll cost $3 per month per device. You can also opt to pay $10 per month to cover an unlimited amount of devices if you have a multi-camera setup.
Now that Bluesky has opened itself up to the public and , the team’s decided it’s finally time to allow world leaders on board, too. A post from the official account on Friday notified users, “By the way… we lifted our ‘no heads of state’ policy.” The policy has been in place for the last year as Bluesky worked through all the early growing pains of being a budding social network.
Bluesky remained an invite-only platform from its launch in February 2023 until February of this year, when it finally ditched the waitlist. had said last May that it wasn’t ready for heads of state to join, and even asked users to give its support team notice “before you invite prominent figures.” It’s since grown to more than 5 million users, alone in the day after it stopped requiring invite codes.
If you’ve been eyeing earbuds but were put off by the steep price tag, now would be the perfect time to pick up a set. The premium earbuds, normally $300, are down to a record low price of $230 on Amazon, for a savings of $70. This deal only applies to the earbuds in black. The Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds were released in summer 2023 and brought major upgrades over the previous model. They boast the best noise cancellation and call quality of Sony’s earbuds lineup, and have built-in Alexa support.
Sony
The Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds are our top pick for for this year. They’re more comfortable than the WF-1000XM4s, being 25 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter for a much better fit. The charging case, too, is more compact than its predecessor. In terms of sound quality, they further improve upon the already impressive capabilities of the 1000X line. The speakers are slightly larger than the previous model’s, and their Dynamic Driver X drivers make for rich, clear sound and bassier bass. Sony WF-1000XM5 scored an 87 in last year.
The earbuds offer Adaptive Sound Control, which will automatically adjust your noise cancellation settings to work best for the environment you’re in or activity you’re doing. You may want active noise cancellation on when you’re working from home, but switch to transparency mode when you’re going out for a run. You’ll need to enable location services for this feature using Sony’s Headphones Connect app.
The app allows for other types of customization as well, like changing the controls assigned to the touch sensors on the earbuds. Sony’s WF-1000XM5 earbuds also support multipoint Bluetooth connections, which means you can pair them with two devices at the same time. There’s a Speak-to-Chat mode that pauses audio when it senses you’ve started a conversation, and an equalizer in the app where you can adjust your sound settings.
Microsoft is exploring the idea of putting ads in your Windows 11 Start menu. To be specific, it’s looking to place advertisements for apps you can find in the Microsoft Store in the menu’s recommended section. I could hear you sighing in defeat if you’ve used Windows 10 extensively before — the older OS serves ads in the Start menu, as well, and they’re also for apps you can download. At the moment, Microsoft will only show ads in this version if you’re in the US and a Windows Insider in the Beta Channel. You won’t be seeing them if you’re not a beta tester or if you’re using a device managed by an organization.
Further, you can disable the advertisements altogether. To do so, just go to Personalization under Settings and then toggle off “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions, and more” in the Start section. Like any other Microsoft experiment, it may never reach wider rollout, but you may want to remember the aforementioned steps, since the company does have history of incorporating ads into its desktop platforms. Last year, Microsoft also deployed experimental promo spots for its services like OneDrive in the menu that pops up when you click on your profile photo.
X will no longer allow users to hide their blue checks, regardless of whether they paid for premium or not. On Thursday, the app began notifying users that “the hide your checkmark feature of X Premium is going away soon.”
The change comes shortly after X unexpectedly began adding blue checks to the accounts of “influential” users with at least 2,500 followers who pay for a premium subscription. While Elon Musk suggested that change was meant to be a perk, some of his critics — including formerly verified users — were less than pleased with the blue badge appearing on their accounts, lest others suspect them of actually paying for a subscription.
Roku has released a line of TVs after first . These televisions are packed with tech, with the standout feature being Mini LED backlighting for better brightness and contrast. The 4K TVs also boast QLED panels, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and a responsive refresh rate of 120Hz. The company’s calling them the “ultimate TVs” for streaming.
To that end, the quad-core processor should allow for snappier menu navigation and for apps to launch quickly, so you can spend less time waiting on a load screen and more time binging Hulu’s Shogun while scarfing down a big bowl of popcorn. They’re also Wi-Fi 6 capable, which comes in handy when streaming 4K content.
On the audio side of things, the Pro Series models include side-firing Dolby Atmos speakers for a “wide, cinematic sound.” The TVs integrate nicely with wireless soundbars, speakers and subwoofers, in addition to wired variants. Each model also features Bluetooth for connecting wireless headphones, to prevent spoilers from seeping into every corner of the house. They come with a refreshed remote control that includes motion-activated backlit buttons, USB-C charging and new shortcut options.
The Pro Series TVs feature a new neural processing unit (NPU) that allows for some nifty OS features. Smart Picture Max uses AI to automatically adjust the best picture mode for a particular piece of content, refining the color, sharpness and motion as required. This carries over to brightness, which also automatically adjusts depending on room lighting.
While Smart Picture Max might be tied to the Pro Series line of TVs, due to the updated NPU, there are more OS features coming to all Roku panels. The company’s televisions will soon get something called Backdrops, which are basically just fancy screensavers pulled from a wide catalog of popular artwork or via uploaded images. This won’t exactly turn a Roku into a , but it’s a start.
Roku
Roku TVs are also getting deep integration with IMDB in a forthcoming OS update. This will provide data sourced from the site as you scroll through potential shows and movies to watch. Finally, the mobile app is receiving a comprehensive upgrade, complete with a streamlined design, better search and new content categories.
The Pro Series line is available now from Best Buy, Amazon and Walmart. Prices start at $900 for the 55-inch model and rise up to $1,700 for the chunky 75-inch version. There’s also a wall-mount kit available for $100.
The Pretendo Network, an open-source Nintendo Network alternative, no longer requires a hacked Wii U console. With Nintendo’s servers for the obsolete console shutting down on Monday, the Pretendo Network shared a new workaround that provides (limited) access to its homebrew servers without jailbreaking your dusty old console.
An SSL (secure sockets layer) is a protocol that encrypts the connection between a device and its servers. The Wii U’s SSL exploit (branded as “SSSL”), discovered by the Pretendo Network’s shutterbug, lets you connect to the network with only a simple DNS change, which you can do on the stock firmware. “We’ve been holding on to this exploit for this day for quite some time, in case Nintendo decided to issue patches for it,” the network’s creators wrote in a blog post announcing the new workaround.
Not everything will work, though. The Pretendo Network team says third-party titles that use their own SSL libraries aren’t compatible. That includes Watch Dogs, the YouTube app and anything running an embedded browser (like TVii, the eShop and the Miiverse applet). However, the network creators stress that in-game Miiverse functionality still works.
The workaround requires a Wii U running at least firmware version 5.5.5. If yours has software lower than that, you should still be able to go online and install the latest update. Nintendo last pushed a Wii U firmware update in August 2022, when the current version (5.5.6) arrived.
Shutting down the Wii U and 3DS online servers doesn’t prevent Nintendo from providing new firmware updates to the consoles. Given Nintendo’s aversion to hacking its devices, the Mario maker could, at least in theory, update the 12-year-old Wii U to patch the DNS workaround.
Arturia just released a new standalone synthesizer called the AstroLab. This 61-key stage keyboard is basically the in hardware form, which makes it perfect for live performances. The synth boasts ten dedicated sound engines and access to 35 virtual instruments, including the vast majority of the emulations found with . It also costs $2,000.
You could recreate this on the cheap by just buying some software instruments and a MIDI controller, but this is a stage keyboard. In other words, it has been designed with live performance in mind. The casing is durable and built to withstand the rigors of touring and there’s plenty of nifty sound design tools that should come in handy when gigging.
There are 12 insert FX options, with four control knobs, and the ability to loop any sound by up to 32 bars. The instrument even captures the MIDI, so people can easily swap out to another instrument and play the same part. The multitimbral feature allows players to set a split point along the keyboard, to make it easy to pull up two instruments at the same time. This is a big deal when playing live, as you never know how long a keyboard will take to load a preset.
If you want to get people dancing to the sound of a robot voice singing “around the world” over and over until 5 AM, AstroLab keyboards ship with a vocoder and a port to plug in a microphone. Of course, the synthesizer features the usual accouterments like mod wheels, an arpeggiator and various chord scale options. Finally, there’s an affiliated mobile app, AstroLab Connect, that lets users organize their presets and download new sounds from the store. The keyboard is available now through Arturia and various retailers.
X has expanded its support for passkey logins and has made the option available to users around the world, as long as they’re accessing the app on an iPhone. The social media company formerly known as Twitter originally launched passkey support for iOS users in the US back in January. Now, the X Safety account has confirmed its global rollout, giving more people the choice to use the login alternative.
Passkeys are considered more secure than passwords, because they’re not vulnerable to phishing or social engineering schemes and are resistant to login theft. When users activate and set up a passkey login, they’re creating a key pair that will serve as their digital authentication credential. The service offering the login option only has access to one of those keys, which it then has to pair to the other key stored locally on the user’s device to verify their identity. The user only has to confirm that they’re the one accessing their account through their biometric credentials or device passcode.
To enable passkeys on X, users will need to fire up their iOS app, and then go to “Settings and privacy” under “Your account.” In “Security and account access,” they can find Passkey under “Additional password protection.” Unfortunately, X didn’t say if and when the option will be available for Android users.
Three companies are vying for the opportunity to send their own lunar vehicle to the moon to support NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. The this week that it’s chosen Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to develop their lunar terrain vehicles (LTV) in a feasibility study over the next year. After that, only one is expected to be selected for a demonstration mission, in which the vehicle will be completed and sent to the moon for performance and safety tests. NASA is planning to use the LTV starting with the Artemis V crew that’s projected to launch in early 2030.
The LTV that eventually heads to the moon’s south pole needs to function as both a crewed and uncrewed vehicle, serving sometimes as a mode of transportation for astronauts and other times as a remotely operated explorer. NASA says it’ll contract the chosen vehicle for lunar services through 2039, with all the task orders relating to the LTV amounting to a potential value of up to $4.6 billion. The selected company will also be able to use its LTV for commercial activities in its down time.
Lunar Outpost
Astrolab
Intuitive Machines, which will be developing an LTV called the Moon Racer, has already bagged multiple contracts with NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, and , Odysseus, to the moon to achieve . Venturi Astrolab will be developing a vehicle it’s dubbed Flex, while Lunar Outpost will be working on an LTV called Lunar Dawn. All must be able to support a crew of two astronauts and withstand the extreme conditions of the lunar south pole.
“We will use the LTV to travel to locations we might not otherwise be able to reach on foot, increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries,” said Jacob Bleacher, a chief exploration scientist at NASA.
Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro have dipped to under $200 in a deal from Amazon. The AirPods Pro, which normally cost $250, are $60 off right now, bringing the price down to just $190. That’s the same price we saw during Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. The AirPods Pro offer a number of premium features over the standard AirPods, including active noise cancellation for when you want to shut out the world, and an impressive transparency mode for when you want to hear your surroundings.
Billy Steele/Engadget
The second-generation AirPods Pro came out in 2022 and brought Apple’s H2 chip to the earbuds for a notable performance boost. It offers Adaptive Audio, which will automatically switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode based on what’s going on around you. With Conversation Awareness, they can lower the volume when you’re speaking and make it so other people’s voices are easier to hear.
We gave this version of the AirPods Pro a , and it’s one of our picks for the on the market. The second-generation AirPods Pro are dust, sweat and water resistant, so they should hold up well for workouts, and they achieve better battery life than the previous generation. They can get about six hours of battery life with features like ANC enabled, and that goes up to as much as 30 hours with the charging case. Apple says popping the AirPods Pro in the case for 5 minutes will give you an hour of additional listening or talking time.
AirPods Pro also offer Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking for more immersive listening while you’re watching TV or movies. The gesture controls that were introduced with this generation of the earbuds might take some getting used to, though. With AirPods Pro, you can adjust the volume by swiping the touch control.
Weather Update, April 7, 4:00 AM ET: The weather forecast in the story below still largely holds, but things are more unsettled in the southern US, with forecasts now calling for thunderstorms from Dallas up to Indianapolis. So, keep that potential danger in mind (and keep an eye on forecasts) when making eclipse plans.
Elsewhere, the best chance of good viewing along the path of totality is still in northeastern parts of the US (Buffalo, NY, Burlington, VT), along with southeast Canada (Niagara Falls and Montreal), according to Accuweather. In the Midwest (Cleveland), there’s a higher chance of rain than before (58 percent), but no storms currently predicted.
Original story continues below
On April 8, a solar eclipse will darken the skies. This is a rare astronomical event: The last North American total solar eclipse was on August 21, 2017, and there won’t be another on visible on the continent until 2044. The path of totality — where the sun will be fully blocked by the moon — covers over 30 million people in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Those lucky folks may see the sun’s corona and a “diamond ring” — both dramatic sights. Other regions will experience partial eclipses, with the level depending on how close you are to totality. Watching the moon eat into the sun, even a bit, is still a spectacular sight.
So, which cities and regions will experience totality, and when? What’s the weather forecast in those areas? And if you do have a clear view, how can you safely watch and record the event?
Where in the US will you experience the solar eclipse totality, and when?
The good news is that many major centers are in the 100-mile-wide band of totality, so millions of people will be able to see a full solar eclipse. It follows a northeast path, so Mexico’s Pacific coast will get the first views in Mazatlan starting at around 10:57 AM PDT (total eclipse starting at 12:07 PDT), followed by the city of Torreón (all times local).
The total eclipse moves into the United states at 12:10 PM CDT (Eagle Pass, Texas), then hits Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas — three out of five of the most populous Texas cities. From there, it moves into Little Rock, Arkansas, followed by select parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana (including Indianapolis).
NASA
Ohio cities Dayton, Toledo and Cleveland get the full show, followed by Erie, Pennsylvania, then Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse in New York along with Maine. Canada is in on the fun too, with parts of southern Ontario (Hamilton, Niagara Falls) and Quebec (Montreal) getting the totality, along with New Brunswick, PEI and finally, Bonavista, Labrador at 4:03 PM NDT (Newfoundland Time).
If you’re elsewhere on the continent and can’t travel, know that the closer you are to the band of totality, the more the sun will be obscured by the moon (this map shows how much of the eclipse you’ll get depending where you are on the continent).
An impressive list of major centers are within 200 miles of totality, so they’ll get a 90 percent or better eclipse (Houston, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toronto, New York, Boston).
Anyone in the US south, midwest and northeast should get a decent spectacle, as will folks in Canada’s southeast and Atlantic coast. Even if you’re not in those regions, you might still see (and can capture) a mini eclipse.
How long with the 2024 solar eclipse last?
From the beginning when the moon first starts to cover the sun (partial eclipse) until the end when the two bodies part ways is a good long time – up to two hours and forty minutes in Dallas, and 2:18 in Caribou, Maine.
However, totality itself is brief, with the duration dependent on how close you are to the center of the totality band and the time of day. It’s at just under four minutes in Dallas, less than three minutes in Presque Island, Maine and a mere minute and 12 seconds in Montreal. As such, you’ll need to be ready and hope that the skies are clear during that brief window.
What’s the weather forecast in my area?
It’s still early for an accurate forecast, but a week is enough to get a general idea by region. Suffice to say, April isn’t the ideal month for clear skies. That said, an eclipse can still be visible through light cloud cover, and even if it’s thick, the sky will grow dramatically dark.
Unfortunately, the odds of precipitation are indeed above average across most of the band of the eclipse. Forecasts predict that the chances for clear skies are better the farther northeast you live, the opposite of historical trends.
To wit, Dallas has showers forecast throughout the day (58 percent), which would mean continuous cloud cover and no clear view if that holds. That improves a bit when you get to Indianapolis (partly cloudy, 24 percent chance of rain), with things better still in Buffalo, New York (partly cloudy, 11 percent).
Things are looking good right now in Montreal, though, with mostly sunny skies and only a 9 percent chance of rain, and the same goes for Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Niagara Falls also figures to have decent weather during the eclipse (mostly sunny, 18 percent) and is in the path of totality, which has led to the city declaring a state of emergency out of caution. Officials estimate that a million people could pour into the area, creating potentially dangerous crowds.
How can I watch the solar eclipse at home?
Staring at the sun is obviously dangerous for your vision, and doing so during an eclipse can be just as harmful. Even though you may not feel discomfort immediately, you may damage your eyes via an affliction called solar retinopathy. That can lead to serious consequences like eye pain, blind spots, blurred vision and more.
American Astronomical Society
To view it safely, you must purchase a pair of approved solar eclipse glasses based on an international safety standard called ISO 12312-2 (regular sunglasses won’t do). That dictates the maximum luminous transmittance, along with the range of permissible wavelength transmittance (UVA, UVB and infrared).
There’s certainly still time to grab a pair if you don’t have them already. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has many recommendations for manufacturers and vendors, both online and at retail chains.
Warby Parker, for one, is offering free glasses (limit two per person while supplies last). You can also find them at Staples, Lowes and Walmart, or online at B&H and multiple science and astronomy stores.
The AAS advises against searching for the lowest price on Amazon or eBay, however, in case you get a bad knock off. “Before you buy a solar viewer or filter online, we recommend that you make sure that (1) the seller is identified on the site and (2) the seller is listed on this page,” it says on its Solar Eclipse Across America site.
How to watch the solar eclipse safely without glasses
Canadian Space Agency
It’s possible to view an eclipse without glasses via indirect means, as well. The simplest way is by punching a small round hole in a piece of thick paper or cardboard, then positioning it so the sun shines through the hole onto the ground or a flat surface (you can also attach a piece of foil with a hole, as NASA shows here). That will project an image of the Sun’s disc, letting you see the eclipse in real time.
The same pinhole principle would let you use anything with perforated holes, like a colander, projecting dozens of tiny eclipses on a surface. Trees can do the same thing, casting weird leaf shadows with little solar eclipse chunks out of them.
Benjamin Seigh/Wikimedia
For a bit better experience, you can build a crude box projector. With that, the sun shines through a hole in tin foil onto a white card, and you can look through a larger hole at the card, with the sun behind you. The Canadian Space Agency explains exactly how to make that.
Never, ever view an eclipse directly through a pair of binoculars or a telescope, as that’s a guaranteed way to damage your eyes. That said, you can use a pair of binoculars or a telescope to project the sun onto a piece of paper, as shown in this video.
How to take photos or video of the solar eclipse
Unfortunately, you can’t just point your smartphone or camera at the sun to record the eclipse, as the brightness will overwhelm the sensor and ruin the image (and possibly damage the sensor). Luckily, you can shield your camera just as you do your eyes.
The cheapest way to do that is to buy an extra set of eclipse glasses, then cut out an eyepiece from one and tape it over the smartphone (or other camera) lens. That will reduce the light levels enough to see detail in the sun throughout the partial eclipse and totality.
You can also purchase dedicated smartphone solar filters like the VisiSolar Photo Filter, which are designed for cameras and not direct viewing. Another choice is the Solar Snap Eclipse App Kit, which also offers an app that aids in photographing the eclipsed sun. It’s advisable to also wear solar glasses when setting up your smartphone or camera to protect your eyes.
If you’re shooting the eclipse with a dedicated mirrorless or DSLR camera, you’ll need either a mylar, 16-stop ND (neutral density) or hydrogen alpha solar filter. Again, do not look directly into a DSLR’s optical viewfinder at the sun if the lens doesn’t have one of those filters attached (the electronic viewfinder on a mirrorless camera is safe).
To photograph the eclipse with a smartphone, turn the flash off and put the camera into ultrawide or wide mode so it stays in frame. Do NOT look directly at the sun to line up your camera if you’re not wearing solar eclipse glasses.
Don’t use the digital zoom to try to make the eclipse bigger, as you’ll lose resolution (you can zoom in later in your photo editing app). Once focus is set on the sun, use your smartphone’s focus lock feature so that it doesn’t “hunt” for focus and blur the eclipse.
During totality, the “diamond ring” effect only lasts a split second, so use the burst mode of your camera or you’ll likely miss the shot. And try to capture RAW (rather than JPEG) images to keep the maximum detail possible for later editing. Some iPhone and Android smartphones have RAW capability built-in, if not, you can use a third-party app.
If you decide to capture video, you’ll need a filter as well, of course. But you should also use a tripod, as shooting handheld will induce blur and result in a shaky video. Even a cheap tripod will do the trick, along with a simple smartphone holder. Capture the highest resolution you can (4K or even 8K) at the highest quality possible. You’ll also capture any cheering, shouting, etc. — a precious souvenir you can look back on again and again.
More resources
There are plenty of government and private sites with more information about the eclipse, starting with the AAS’s eclipse site, detailing things like eye safety, imaging, resources and even a totality app — an “interactive map that shows what you’ll see at any location in North America for the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024.”
Geek Squad agents have been flooding Reddit with images of their badges and posts about “going sleeper” after the company reportedly conducted mass layoffs this week. A former employee who spoke to 404 Media said they were sent an email notifying them to work from home on Wednesday and were then called individually to be told the news about their jobs. Some, per 404 Media’s sources and numerous Reddit posts, were longtime Geek Squad agents who had been with the company for more than 10 or even 20 years. Best Buy has not yet responded to Engadget’s request for comment.
There has been an outpouring of support for the laid off workers on the unofficial Geek Squad subreddit, where many have lamented the loss of jobs they’d dedicated much of their lives to and noted that things in the lead up had been heading in a concerning direction. Some commented that their hours had dwindled in recent months, with one former employee telling 404 Media it’s been “a struggle to get by.”
Best Buy conducted mass layoffs affecting employees at its retail stores just last spring, and as The Verge reports, CEO Corie Barry indicated during the company’s February earnings call that more layoffs were coming in 2024 as Best Buy shifts resources toward AI and other areas.
It looks like is starting to pay off. Samsung is planning on doubling its investment in Texas, . This will bring the total investment in the state’s chip-manufacturing sector to $44 billion, as Samsung already spent nearly $20 billion .
The ambitious expansion will reportedly take the form of a new chip manufacturing facility, a packaging site and a research and development space. It’ll all be located in or near Taylor, Texas, as that’s where the . The current manufacturing hub isn’t operational yet, but will begin building “crucial logic chips” later this year. For the geographically challenged, Taylor is around a 40 minute drive from Austin.
If this actually happens, it’ll be a huge win for the Biden administration. One of the main goals of the CHIPS Act, after all, is to lure global chipmakers to build on US soil. To that end, Washington to Samsung as further incentive to keep things running in the good ole USA.
The CHIPS Act has allowed the federal government to award funding and offer loans to many tech companies to encourage domestic spending. Back in February, the multinational semiconductor company GlobalFoundries to help pay for a major US expansion, in addition to a $1.6 billion loan. It plans on building a new fabrication facility in Malta, New York, which will handle the manufacture of chips for the automotive, aerospace, defense and AI industries.
More recently, Intel , snagging up to $8.5 billion to continue various US-based operations. The current plan is for Intel to use that money to manufacture plants that make leading-edge semiconductor chips meant for use in AI and other advanced applications. The company’s building two new fabrication facilities in Arizona and two in Ohio. Additionally, it’s going to use the money to modernize two pre-existing fabs in New Mexico and expand one location in Oregon. All told, Intel is going to invest $100 billion in US-based chip manufacturing. The various projects are expected to create 20,000 construction and 10,000 manufacturing jobs.
The Biden administration signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law back in 2022 to foster domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing and to lessen America’s reliance on Chinese suppliers. It sets aside $52 billion in tax credits and funding for firms to expand stateside production.
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The White House has published a policy memo asking NASA to create a new time standard for the Moon by 2026. Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) will establish an official time reference to help guide future lunar missions. The US, China, Japan, India and Russia have space missions to the Moon planned or completed.
NASA (and the White House) aren’t the only ones trying. The European Space Agency is also trying to make a time zone outside of Earth’s… zone.
Given the Moon’s weaker gravity, time moves slightly faster there. “The same clock we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the Moon,” NASA space communications and navigation chief Kevin Coggins told Reuters.
You saw Interstellar, right? Er, just like that. Exactly like that. No further questions.
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The most error-free quantum solution yet, apparently.
What if we could build a machine working at the quantum level that could tackle complex calculations exponentially faster than a computer limited by classic physics? Despite all the heady dreams of quantum computing and press releases from IBM and Google, it’s still a what-if. Microsoft now says it’s developed the most error-free quantum computing system yet, with Quantinuum. It’s not a thing I can condense into a single paragraph. You… saw Interstellar, right?
Stability AI just unveiled Stable Audio 2.0, an upgraded version of its music-generation platform. With this system, you can use your own text to create up to three minutes of audio, which is roughly the length of a song. You can hone the results by choosing a genre or even uploading audio to inspire the algo. It’s fun — try it out. Just don’t add vocals, trust me.
Apple, hunting for its next iPhone / Apple Watch / Vision Pro (maybe?), might be trying to get into robots. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one area the company is exploring is personal robotics — and it started looking at electric vehicles too. The report says Apple has started working on a mobile robot to follow users around their home and has already developed a table-top device that uses a robot to move a screen around.
Meta AI is consistently unable to generate accurate images for seemingly simple prompts like “Asian man and Caucasian friend,” or “Asian man and white wife,” The Verge. Instead, the company’s image generator seems to be biased toward creating images of people of the same race, even when explicitly prompted otherwise.
Engadget confirmed these results in our own testing of Meta’s image generator. Prompts for “an Asian man with a white woman friend” or “an Asian man with a white wife” generated images of Asian couples. When asked for “a diverse group of people,” Meta AI generated a grid of nine white faces and one person of color. There were a couple occasions when it created a single result that reflected the prompt, but in most cases it failed to accurately depict the prompt.
As The Verge points out, there are other more “subtle” signs of bias in Meta AI, like a tendency to make Asian men appear older while Asian women appeared younger. The image generator also sometimes added “culturally specific attire” even when that wasn’t part of the prompt.
It’s not clear why Meta AI is struggling with these types of prompts, though it’s not the first generative AI platform to come under scrutiny for its depiction of race. Google’s Gemini image generator paused its ability to create images of people after it overcorrected for diversity with in response prompts about historical figures. Google that its internal safeguards failed to account for situations when diverse results were inappropriate.
Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously described Meta AI as being in “beta” and thus prone to making mistakes. Meta AI has also struggled to accurately answer about current events and public figures.
OnePlus is the latest company to hop on the AI train. The phone manufacturer is rolling out a new photo editing tool called AI Eraser, which lets users remove extraneous objects from their photos. The new feature will be available on a range of OnePlus smartphones, including the OnePlus 12 and 12R, OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Open.
To use the OnePlus AI Eraser, a person first has to highlight the parts of the image that need removing. These could be random people or a dirty trash can, but they can also be “imperfections” in the photo. Then, AI analyzes that area and creates a background that OnePlus claims will blend into the existing image. If it sounds familiar, it works basically the same as Adobe’s Generative Fill and Google’s Magic Eraser tools.
However, this is a new venture for OnePlus, which uses its proprietary LLM to power the AI Eraser. “As OnePlus’ first feature based on generative AI technology, AI Eraser represents the first step in our vision to liberate user creativity through AI and revolutionize the future of photo editing, empowering users to create remarkable photos with just a few touches,” Kinder Liu, president and COO of OnePlus, said in a statement. “This year, we plan to introduce more AI features, and we look forward to their upcoming availability.”
X has named a new head of safety nearly a year after the last executive in the position resigned. The company said Tuesday that it had Kylie McRoberts to Head of Safety and hired Yale Cohen as Head of Brand Safety and Advertiser Solutions.
The two will have the unenviable task of leading X’s safety efforts, including its attempts to reassure advertisers that the platform doesn’t monetize or . The company said earlier this year it planned 100 new safety employees after much of its safety staff.
Head of safety has been a particularly fraught position since Elon Musk took over the company previously known as Twitter. Musk has previously clashed with his safety leads and McRoberts is the third person to hold the title in less than two years. Previously, Yoel Roth shortly after the disastrous rollout of Twitter Blue in 2022. Roth was replaced by Ella Irwin, who last year after Musk publicly criticized employees for enforcing policies around misgendering.
Not much is known about McRoberts, but she is apparently an existing member of X’s safety team (her X account is currently private and a appears to have been recently deleted). “During her time at X, she has led initiatives to increase transparency in our moderation practices through labels, improve security with passkeys, as well as building out our new Safety Center of Excellence in Austin,” X said in a statement.
It’s spring cleaning season, but that doesn’t mean you need to get on the floor and scrub. Robot vacuums are a great way to keep your home clean while doing little to nothing, and a few robovacs from Shark are currently on sale. One of the best deals comes courtesy of a 44 percent discount on Shark’s AI Robot Vacuum and Mop. The device is down to $270 from $480 — only $20 more than its all-time low price.
Shark
Shark’s AI Robot Vacuum and Mop is a great option for anyone looking to try a robot vacuum or upgrade their entry-level model. It’s nearly identical to Shark’s much pricier Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, which appears on our list of the best robot vacuums for 2024 — it just doesn’t have a self-emptying base.
The AI Robot Vacuum and Mop does have quite a few gadgets, including home mapping and AI laser navigation for detecting row-by-row precision and detecting objects four inches or taller. The mop executes 100 scrubs per minute and follows no-mop zones. You can use UltraClean mode on specific, busier rooms, with Shark claiming vacuum work 30 percent better at cleaning carpets in the setting.
On Monday, OpenAI began opening up ChatGPT to users without an account. It described the move as part of its mission to “make tools like ChatGPT broadly available so that people can experience the benefits of AI.” It also gives the company more training data (for those who don’t opt out) and perhaps nudges more users into creating accounts and subscribing for superior GPT-4 access instead of the older GPT-3.5 model free users get.
I tested the instant access, which — as advertised — allowed me to start a new GPT-3.5 thread without any login info. The chatbot’s standard “How can I help you today?” screen appears, with optional buttons to sign up or log in. Although I saw it today, OpenAI says it’s gradually rolling out access, so check back later if you don’t see the option yet.
OpenAI says it added extra safeguards for accountless users, including blocking prompts and image generations in more categories than logged-in users. When asked for more info on what new categories it’s blocking, an OpenAI spokesperson told me that, while developing the feature, it considered how logged-out GPT-3.5 users could potentially introduce new threats.
The spokesperson added that the teams in charge of detecting and stopping abuse of its AI models have been involved in creating the new feature and will adjust accordingly if unexpected threats emerge. Of course, it still blocks everything it does for signed-in users, as detailed in its moderation API.
You can opt out of data training for your prompts when not signed in. To do so, click on the little question mark to the right of the text box, then select Settings and turn off the toggle for “Improve the model for everyone.”
OpenAI says more than 100 million people across 185 countries use ChatGPT weekly. Those are staggering numbers for an 18-month-old service from a company many people still hadn’t heard of two years ago. Today’s move gives those hesitant to create an account an incentive to take the world-changing chatbot for a spin, boosting those numbers even more.
