In Brief

Apple to be fined for breaching EU’s Digital Markets Act, Bloomberg reports

Apps /

The European Union’s flagship market contestability regulation has been in force on a handful of tech giants for months. Since March, the bloc has had open investigations on several gatekeepers. But it’s Apple that will face the first Digital Markets Act (DMA) fine, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the case. Apple’s App Store rules […]

Apple to be fined for breaching EU’s Digital Markets Act, Bloomberg reports Read More »

Meta found to have exposed info on North Korean defectors to advertisers

Social /

Meta has added another privacy sanction to its extensive collection: South Korea’s data protection agency fined the social media giant around $15.7 million for processing sensitive user data and passing it to advertisers without a proper legal basis, Reuters reports. Seoul’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) found Facebook’s parent collected information from about 980,000 users,

Meta found to have exposed info on North Korean defectors to advertisers Read More »

DeepRoute raises $100M in push to beat Tesla’s FSD in China

Transportation /

DeepRoute.ai, a Shenzhen-based autonomous driving technology startup, raised $100 million from Great Wall Motor. The startup aims to get its automated driving systems into as many vehicles in China before Tesla takes off next year, according to a Reuters report. DeepRoute did not publicly disclose the name of its automaker backer, but reports in the

DeepRoute raises $100M in push to beat Tesla’s FSD in China Read More »

Amazon acknowledges screen issues on a ‘small number’ of Kindle Colorsoft units

Hardware /

After more than a decade of waiting, Amazon’s first color Kindle has stumbled out of the gate. An issue with the new display has left Colorsoft buyers leaving unfavorable reviews. At last count, the e-reader is hovering around 2.7 stars. The company confirmed the display issues affecting a “small number” of units in a statement

Amazon acknowledges screen issues on a ‘small number’ of Kindle Colorsoft units Read More »

Built in four days, this $120 robot arm cleans a spill with help from GPT-4o

AI /

Large language models have already proven transformative for robotics. While researchers and companies alike utilize the platforms to supercharge robotic learning, a pair of roboticists at UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich challenged themselves by leveraging generative AI to put a cheap robot arm to work. We built a GPT-4o-powered cleaning robot.– $250 for the robot

Built in four days, this $120 robot arm cleans a spill with help from GPT-4o Read More »

Chinese military researchers reportedly used Meta AI to develop defense chatbot

AI /

Chinese research scientists linked to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of China’s ruling party, reportedly used “open” AI from Meta to develop a tool for defense applications. According to Reuters, Chinese researchers, including two affiliated with a PLA R&D group, used Meta’s Llama 2 AI model to create a military-focused chatbot. The

Chinese military researchers reportedly used Meta AI to develop defense chatbot Read More »

Elon Musk skipped a hearing in Philly about his super PAC’s payouts to voters

Government & Policy /

A Philadelphia judge ordered X CEO Elon Musk to appear in a hearing Thursday morning over his super PAC’s plan to award $1 million a day to voters in key battleground states. But Musk skipped his courthouse appointment after the same judge granted a request to transfer the case from Pennsylvania state to federal jurisdiction.

Elon Musk skipped a hearing in Philly about his super PAC’s payouts to voters Read More »

Decart’s AI simulates a real-time, playable version of Minecraft

Gaming /

Decart, an Israeli AI company that emerged from stealth today with $21 million in funding from Sequoia and Oren Zeev, has released what it’s claiming is the first playable “open-world” AI model. Called Oasis, the model, which is available for download, powers a demo on Decart’s site: a Minecraft-like game that’s generated on the fly,

Decart’s AI simulates a real-time, playable version of Minecraft Read More »

500 Amazon employees reportedly ask AWS CEO to reverse return-to-office policy

Enterprise /

More than 500 Amazon employees sent a letter on Wednesday to AWS CEO Matt Garman, urging the executive to reverse the company’s full return-to-office policy, Reuters reports. In September, Amazon asked employees to come back to the office five days a week starting in 2025. The AWS CEO previously told employees that nine out of

500 Amazon employees reportedly ask AWS CEO to reverse return-to-office policy Read More »