|
Google DeepMind and Boston Dynamics are bringing Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 to Spot, adding embodied reasoning for inspections, gauges, and facility tasks.
The post Google, Boston Dynamics Teach Robot Dog ‘Spot' to See, Think, and Act appeared first on eWEEK.
|
|
 OpenAI is making several updates to its Codex AI coding agent. Codex is now able to operate desktop Mac apps with its own cursor, seeing what's on the screen, clicking, and typing to complete tasks.
|
|
Anthropic has started rolling out identity verification on Claude "for a few use cases." The company didn't list out those use cases in its announcement, but we've asked it for details and will update this post when we hear back. Anthropic says you might see a verification prompt upon "accessing certain capabilities," asking you to verify your identity. You would have to show a valid and physical government-issued photo ID. You'd also have take a selfie with your phone or computer camera that the system will compare against the ID you present.
The news, as you'd expect, wasn't well-received. Many users are questioning the necessity of identity verification to be able to use an AI chatbot, especially if Anthropic already has their credit cards on file as paying subscribers. People are also criticizing Anthropic's decision to use Persona Identities, which also provides age verification services for OpenAI and Roblox. One of Persona's major investors is venture firm Founders Fund, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, who's also the co-founder and chairman of surveillance company Palantir.
Palantir's customers are mostly federal agencies and government offices, including the FBI, the CIA and
|
|
Love 'em or hate 'em, no modern browser is complete without robust tab support, and so too would it seem Google's AI Mode. Starting today, the company is rolling out an update to users in the US that makes the tool better at interacting and understanding tabs.
To start, the next time you use AI Mode on Chrome for desktop and click on a link, the chatbot will open a new side-by-side interface that allows you to both browse the new webpage and ask questions of AI Mode. The connection allows the chatbot to maintain the context of the search that brought you to that website in the first place.
For instance, say you're looking for a new coffee maker to buy for your apartment. After AI Mode finds a handful of different models for you to compare, you can click on one to go to the manufacturer's website and ask additional questions of the chatbot like "how easy is this to clean?" Thanks to the expanded context window, you don't need to refer to the specific name of the model.
Meanwhile, if you have an existing tab or group of tabs that you'd like AI Mode to factor into a new search, you can do that now too. From the redesigned Plus menu, just click the new option that's there. While you're in the Plus menu, you can also prompt AI Mode to consider other materials, including images and PDFs, alongside any relevant tabs.
In testing, Google says users found the integration translated to less tab switching, and made it easier to focus. Mike Torres, vice-president of product for Chrome, said the new features represent a broader effort by Google to bring practical AI capabilities to its web browser. Torres added the company would soon bring today's updates to more places around the world.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-chrome-makes-it
|
|
Playdate is getting a third season of curated, surprise games, Panic announced today. We don't know much beyond the fact that Season Three is officially happening, but Panic's Head of Playdate Greg Maletic said in an announcement video that it will be here "in time for the holidays" this year. Considering we had to wait a whole three years for Season Two to come out following Season One's release with the console in 2022, that doesn't sound so bad.
Panic hasn't yet said how many games Season Three will include, or how much it will cost. While Season One had a total of 24 games — with a release schedule of two games per week for 12 weeks — last year's Season Two had half the amount (plus Blippo ), and cost $39. But that drop in quantity thankfully didn't mean a drop in quality. Season Two was great, with a collection of games that felt stronger overall than the first. I, for one, can't wait to see what Season Three brings. In other exciting news, Panic also announced today that the much, much-awaited game Office Chair Curling is finally availa
|
|
Apple's MacBook Neo is a $600 (or $500 for students) shot across the bow at affordable Windows laptops, and it seems like Microsoft has ready its first response. The newly announced "Microsoft College Offer" is a bundle of Microsoft 365 Premium, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, custom Xbox controller and discounted laptop that the company thinks could woo students away from Apple's new deal.
With the purchase of a discounted machine directly from Microsoft, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy or PC makers like HP, ASUS and Acer, you can get what the company says is an extra $500 of value from its bundle. The laptop deals include a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x with a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $500 from Best Buy, around $250 off the laptop's usual $750 price. Or if you wanted something even cheaper, Walmart is selling an HP Omnibook 3 for $429, a discount of $270 off its usual $699 price. Microsoft is less generous with the deals on its own laptops and tablets, but you can even get a discount on a Surface Laptop as part of the offer.
A discounted laptop is great, but where the value of the Microsoft College Offer gets harder to define is with the services the company is packing in. Getting what would normally be a $200 year-long subscription to Microsoft 365 Premium for free is a meaningful deal, but many colleges give their students access to Microsoft's ap
|
|
Live Nation, which operates the Ticketmaster platform, has been determined to be a monopoly. A federal jury handed down its decision today that the company violated federal and state antitrust rules. This finding won't surprise anyone who has used Ticketmaster and been sticker-shocked by their final bill. However, it's unclear what the jury's decision will mean in practice.
For starters, the judge overseeing the case hasn't determined what remedies will be applied. The actions could go as far as requiring Live Nation to sell off Ticketmaster. There are also monetary damages to be awarded, which haven't been set yet. And whatever the judge decides, it's also likely that Live Nation will appeal the decision. We've reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
The Department of Justice and a group of state and district attorneys general
|
|
And by "you," I mean Adam, Mark, and Will, not me. Because I'm too far away from Arizona to see Intel's massive industrial fabrication center. And I'm not jealous at all, not even a little bit.
Sadly, because it's 1) a clean facility that's ten times as strict as an average surgical theater in terms of cleanliness and 2) stuffed floor-to-very-high-ceiling with proprietary technology and industrial secrets, the PCWorld team didn't get to take photos or video of the brand new Fab 52-18A facility, which is gearing up to produce Intel's next-generation Panther Lake chips for 2026.
The team did get to take notes and had a nice long chat in the Arizona sunshine about their experiences. For a deep dive on what has to be one of the most complex facilities on the planet, check out the full conversati
|
|
