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nt moderators to monitor their communities. Now, the company has dedicated staff that work on trust and safety, and it's using technology from OpenAI to make its automated moderation more robust.
These efforts may not be enough to mitigate concerns, though. On anonymous apps, school administrators have seen terrible scenarios play out before – remember YikYak? The president of the University of North Carolina, which has sixteen campuses, announced plans to ban anonymous apps like Fizz, Whisper, and Sidechat from the school. So, those students won't be able to buy pre-owned textbooks on Fizz's marketplace.
"We're very aware that as an anonymous, Gen Z platform, moderation has to be our core," said Rakesh Mathur, CEO of Fizz.
We accessed one university's Fizz community. Students posted about sex and drugs – these topics are allowed on Fizz – but were not bullying each other or sparking harmful dialogue. But this is just one community out of hundreds. While Fizz's momentum in growing its content moderation team is promising, even the largest, most resourced social platforms still struggle with toxicity.
Fizz's argument in favor of the anonymous nature of the platform is that it encourages students to open up about how they're really feeling – when a student sees posts about how other people might be stressing over an exam or struggling socially, they'll know they aren't alone in those experiences. On the brighter side, users might find some great campus-specific memes. Or, now that there's a marketplace, they might be able to score a great deal on a TV.
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HealthEquity Says Data Breach is an 'Isolated Incident'
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Health tech services provider HealthEquity disclosed a data breach in a filing with federal regulators, in which hackers stole the "protected health information" of some customers. The company detected "anomalous behavior by a personal use device belonging to a business partner" and concluded that the partner's account had been compromised by someone who then used the account to access members' information.
A spokesperson for HealthEquity said this was "an isolated incident" that is not connected to other recent breaches, such as that of Change Healthcare, owned by the healthcare giant UnitedHealth. In May, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said in a House hearing that the breach affected "maybe a third" of all Americans.
HealthEquity detected the breach on March 25, took immediate action, and began extensive data forensics, which were completed on June 10. The company brought together a team of outside and internal experts to investigate and prepare for response. The investigations determined that the breach was due to the compromised third-party vendor account having access to "some of HealthEquity's SharePoint data."
SharePoint is a set of Microsoft tools that allows companies to create websites, as well as store and share internal information — essentially an intranet.
The company also said that "transactional systems, where integrations occur, were not impacted," and that it is notifying partners, clients, and members, and has been working with law enforcement as well as experts to work on preventing future incidents.
When asked to specify what personally identifiable and "protected health" information was stolen in this breach, how many people have been affected, and what partner was involved, the company declined to answer all of these questions.
Earlier this year, HealthEquity reported that the company and its subsidiaries "administer HSAs and other CDBs for our more than 15 million accounts in partnership with employers, benefits advisers, and health and retirement plan providers."
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Roll20 Discloses Data Breach, Exposing User Information
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A popular online tabletop and role-playing game platform, Roll20, announced on Wednesday that it had suffered a data breach, compromising some users' personal information.
In a statement, Roll20 revealed that on June 29, it detected a "bad actor" gaining access to an administrative website account for one hour. The company blocked all unauthorized access and ended the breach.
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The hacker was able to access and view all user accounts, potentially viewing users' personal information, including full names, email addresses, last-known IP addresses, and the last four digits of their credit card, if stored on their account. The company emphasized that passwords and full payment information were not accessed.
Roll20 notified affected users via email, with several users sharing screenshots of the notification on social media. The company did not disclose the number of users affected or provide further details on the hack.
"We truly regret that this incident occurred on our watch. Although we have no evidence that any of the data is being misused, and no passwords or card numbers were exposed, we believe in the importance of being transparent with our users about any potential exposure of their personal information," a spokesperson said.
This incident marks the second data breach for Roll20, following a 2019 hack in which a hacker listed 4 million records from the company.
Roll20 claims to have 12 million users and is considered the number one choice for online D&D.
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Amazon Discontinues Astro for Business Security Robot After Only 7 Months
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Amazon has decided to discontinue its Astro for Business device, a security robot designed for small and medium-sized businesses, just seven months after its launch.
In an email sent to customers and employees, the reason for discontinuing Astro for Business was cited as a desire to focus on the home version of Astro, which was launched in 2021. The home version offers features such as home security, pet detection, message delivery, and a cargo bin capable of carrying up to 4.4 pounds.
"We are fully committed to our vision of bringing world-class consumer robotics solutions to the home," an Amazon spokesperson said. "To accelerate our progress and ongoing research to make Astro the best in-home robot, we've made the decision to wind down support for Astro for Business. We're excited about the in-home experiences we're inventing for Astro, and look forward to sharing more in the future."
Astro for Business robots will no longer function starting on September 25. The company recommends that customers recycle the security robots through Amazon's recycling program, which will cover the shipping cost.
Although the company did not specify how many business customers were impacted by this discontinuation, it is clear that there were not enough customers for Amazon to continue investing in the devices.
The Astro for Business robots, which were priced at $2,350, were accompanied by three subscription plans. The "Astro Secure" subscription, priced at $60 per month, offered features like programming routes. Amazon also offered two optional subscriptions, allowing users to pay $20 per month for features like Ring alarms and motion detectors, and an additional $99 per month for human agent support and monitoring.
Effective immediately, companies will no longer be charged the "Astro Secure" subscription fee. Amazon has also announced a $300 credit for affected customers, which can be used to support a replacement solution for their workplace. Additionally, customers will be refunded for any unused, pre-paid Astro Secure fees.
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Red Magic Titan 16 Pro Laptop Launches with Intel Core i9 and RTX4060 or RTX4070 Graphics
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Aside from the new Red Magic 9S Pro and 9S Pro+ smartphones, the nubia sub-brand has also introduced the Titan 16 Pro laptop. As the name implies, it features a 16-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 3ms response time, 240 Hz refresh rate, and 2560x1600 resolution. The top brightness is 500 nits, and it has support for G-Sync and DC dimming, while covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space.
The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i9 CPU and Nvidia's GeForce RTX4060 or RTX4070 graphics. It can be configured with up to 32GB of Samsung-made DDR5 5600MHz memory (and expanded up to 96GB), while the Samsung PM9A1 1TB SSD boasts a read speed of 7,000MB/s. If you need more storage, there's a PCIe 4.0 M.2 expansion slot.
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The laptop features a Magic Cooling system, which includes two large fans operating at 3,850 RPM, providing 13.8 CFM air pressure. There are also stereo dual speakers with DTS-X Ultra, an FHD IR camera that supports Windows Hello, and 100W PD fast charging support.
The Red Magic Titan 16 Pro has one Thunderbolt 4 port, one HDMI 2.1, one USB-C 3.2 port, one USB-A 3.2 port, an Ethernet port, an audio jack, and an SD card slot. It weighs 2.3kg.
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The Dark Knight colorway will be available on July 9, while the light-colored Glacier Edition will join later this month. Pricing starts at CNY 10,499 ($1,444) with RTX4060, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage in Dark Knight. The Glacier Silver version with the same specs will go for CNY 11,299 ($1,554). If you want the RTX4070 instead, and 32GB of RAM, then you'll need to pay CNY 13,299 ($1,829), and this variant will only be available in Glacier Silver.
The Red Magic Titan 16 Pro will make it to international markets during the fourth quarter of this year, so between October and December.
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Those renders came with dimensions too - 153.5 x 132.5 x 6.1 mm. That's a few mm off the other, more recent report of a 5.6mm unfolded thickness. CAD renders back the 6.1mm profile, but it could be a difference in models - Z Fold6 vs Z Fold6 Ultra.
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The same report says the cover display will become a bit more conventional - it will be a 6.3" 22:9 unit, compared to the Fold5's 6.2" 23.1:9 one. Expect the inner display to retain the 7.6" diagonal.
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This Week in AI: Chevron's Demise Spells Trouble for AI Regulation
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The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down "Chevron deference" has significant implications for AI regulation. Chevron deference allowed federal agencies to interpret congressional laws, but now courts will be expected to exercise their own legal judgment. This shift could make it even more challenging to pass nationwide AI regulation.
Congress was already struggling to create a basic AI policy framework, and this decision may make it even harder. State regulators may need to step in, but any regulation written will need to be highly specific to survive legal challenges.
Justice Elena Kagan highlighted the issue during oral arguments, citing the example of an artificial intelligence bill with delegations. She questioned whether courts or agencies should fill in the gaps left by Congress.
News
Google's Environmental AI Costs: Google's 2024 Environmental Report avoids discussing the energy consumption of its AI systems, despite their notorious power hunger.
Figma Disables AI Design Feature: Figma has temporarily disabled its "Make Design" AI feature, which was accused of ripping off Apple's Weather app design.
Meta Changes AI Label: Meta is changing its "Made with AI" label to "AI info" to clarify the use of AI in photos, following criticism from photographers.
Robot Companions: New York state is distributing thousands of robot animals to the elderly to combat loneliness.
Apple Brings AI to Vision Pro: Apple plans to bring its AI features to its Vision Pro mixed-reality headsets, going beyond its previously announced Apple Intelligence launches.
Research Paper of the Week
A recent study by Northeastern University researchers explored how text-generating models like OpenAI's GPT-4o process text. They found that these models develop an implicit vocabulary that maps groups of tokens to semantically meaningful units. The researchers developed a technique to probe any open model's implicit vocabulary, extracting phrases like "Lancaster" and "World Cup players."
Model of the Week
A Meta research team has trained models to create 3D assets from text descriptions, suitable for use in apps and video games. The models, AssetGen and TextureGen, support physically based rendering, allowing developers to relight objects.
Additional Articles
Yieldstreet Affected by Evolve Bank Data Breach: Yieldstreet has announced that some of its customers were affected by the Evolve Bank data breach.
Evolve Hack Fallout Continues: The fallout from the Evolve Bank hack continues, with fintech M&A heating up and Plaid discussing its enterprise customer growth.
Raising a Series A: Raising a Series A round in today's competitive market can be challenging. To help seed-stage founders, TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 will feature a session on what it takes to raise a Series A.
Snapchat's Personalization Features: Snapchat has introduced new features to help users personalize their accounts, including the ability to customize their profiles and add friends.
Meta Brings Generative AI to Metaverse Games: Meta plans to bring more generative AI tech into games, specifically VR, AR, and mixed reality games, as part of its metaverse strategy.
Perplexity Accused of Plagiarism: News outlets are accusing Perplexity AI of plagiarism and unethical web scraping, highlighting the thin line between fair use and plagiarism in the age of generative AI.
B storage.
That’s not quite right. The Red Magic 9S Pro+ also has a special edition with 24GB of RAM and 16TB storage. This one is priced at CNY 7,000.
This halo version aside, you have to pick between the Dark Knight/White Knight colorways and the transparent Silver Deuterium/Dark Knight versions (which are a bit pricier). The two 9S Pro models will be available in China from July 9 with the base model starting at CNY 4,800 (this converts to $660/€610/₹55,000). Pricing for the other versions is in the table below:
12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB 16GB/512GB 24GB/1TB Red Magic 9S Pro Dark/White Knight CNY 3,800 CNY 5,200 - -
Transparent CNY 5,000 CNY 5,400 - - Red Magic 9S Pro+ Dark/White Knight - - CNY 5,800 -
Transparent - - CNY 6,000 -
Special edition - - - CNY 7,000
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YouTube Makes it Easier to Report AI Deepfakes
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It's easier than ever to create a deepfake of another person's voice or face, but at least YouTube is making some small changes that make it slightly easier to report a video that uses your likeness without consent.
You can now submit YouTube takedown requests for deepfakes through the privacy request process, whereas in the past, you could only report these impersonations as being misleading. This shift tells us that YouTube is thinking about deep fakes as a privacy issue, rather than a content moderation issue – and it is a privacy issue. The more AI tools we have at our disposal, the more those tools will be abused.
YouTube says it won't automatically take down these videos – it'll consider factors like whether it's a parody or satire, whether the person making the request can be identified, or if it's spoofing a public figure, in which case, YouTube says there will be a higher bar. The platform is also working on a process like this for removing deepfakes of copyrighted music, which have become increasingly common with tools like Suno and Udio.
Whether this move is a success or not will depend on how well enforced it is. If YouTube can speed up the process of removing potentially harmful content, then we'll call it a win.
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Threads Nears Its One-Year Anniversary with Over 175 Million Monthly Active Users
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Threads, a social media platform, is approaching its one-year anniversary with an impressive milestone of over 175 million monthly active users. This announcement comes just two days shy of the platform's first birthday.
Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Threads had surpassed 150 million monthly active users in April, up from 130 million reported in February. The platform launched on July 3, 2023, at a time when users were seeking an alternative to X (formerly Twitter) after Elon Musk introduced significant changes to the social network.
As part of the announcement, insights into how people are using Threads were shared. It was revealed that most users are coming to Threads for text-based content rather than images, with 63% of all Threads posts being text-only. However, images are still being shared on the platform, with one in four posts including at least one image.
The company also reported that over 50 million Tags have been created, with the top three being PhotographyThreads, BookThreads, and GymThreads.
While the metric of monthly active users alone is not enough to fully gauge the platform's success, it does indicate that Threads has a significant user base. Part of Threads' success can be attributed to its integration and promotion within Instagram.
Since its launch, Threads has been introducing various features, including a web app, trending topics, and an edit button. Although the platform is looking to align its experience and features with X, it is staying away from political discourse.
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Music Video-Sharing App Popster Utilizes Generative AI and Allows Artists to Remix Videos
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As the music streaming and creation tool landscape continues to evolve, Popster, a social music-sharing app, is introducing two new features to expand its user base: an AI-powered image generator for cover art and a collaboration tool enabling artists to remix another user's song.
Initially launched last year as a song-creation tool and music video platform, Popster allows artists to engage with other musicians, create original songs and music videos, and share them on social media. Users can record video and voice directly in the app and add stickers and color backgrounds. The app also offers a selection of in-house vocal effects and a community section for artists to interact with each other.
Popster has also integrated generative AI technology into its platform. For instance, the app provides ways for artists to generate ideas for lyrics as well as create new beats to record vocals on top. The AI tech is also used to enhance audio quality by reducing background noise.
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One notable AI-powered tool is the "Add a beat" feature, powered by OpenAI. Users can select a genre (such as Lofi Hip Hop, R&B, Indie Pop, Slow Ballad, and so on) and a vibe (like "Smooth" or "Normal") to compose a backtrack for singers to add their voice recordings on top.
Popster trains its model using Mubert's library of royalty-free pre-made tracks, distinguishing itself from AI music apps that have faced lawsuits for allegedly using copyrighted music without authorization.
"The issue with AI right now is that many people create songs that are trained from original songs, so you don't know who is the original creator, and there's not this concept of creativity," co-founder and CEO Themis Drakonakis said. "We believe that if you put AI next to the artist as a creative partner, you can experiment with different sounds, unlock different ideas, and get your creativity to another level."
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Popster's new artwork generator, "Albums," is the newest addition to its generative AI tools. In addition to recording and uploading videos, Popster now allows artists to enter a prompt to generate an image that can be displayed like a sticker overlay on top of an artist's short-form video. This adds an extra layer of sophistication for new and up-and-coming artists trying to introduce their new songs into the world.
Another new feature is reminiscent of TikTok's "Stitch" and "Duet" tools, which artists frequently use to combine their videos with other creators to add vocals, harmonize, or play instruments. Popster's new "Mashup" feature lets artists create remixes and collaborate with other artists. Users can now click the "Mashup" button under another person's video and record their own video, which will appear side-by-side.
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Popster is still in its early days, with only a few thousand users. However, the app's latest features may be what it needs to attract more people. So far, nearly 10,000 original songs have been created on the app. Drakonakis said users spend an average of 1.5 hours on the app daily.
The startup was co-founded by Drakonakis, who previously created three other apps, Nup (an anonymous chat app), Self'it (a location-based photo-sharing app), and UniPad (a collaboration app for college students), and Sotiris Kaniras (CTO), a former engineer for UniPad.
Popster raised $280,000 from the Realize Tech Fund and is in the midst of raising a pre-seed funding round, which will help it grow its team and enhance its video server. Other future plans include launching paid features and partnering with music labels.
The app is available for download on the App Store.
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Nano Dimension Acquires Desktop Metal
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Nano Dimension has announced plans to acquire Desktop Metal, a leading company in additive manufacturing. The deal, valued between $135 million and $183 million, marks a significant premium over Desktop Metal's closing price.
This acquisition brings an end to over two years of negotiations between major players in the additive manufacturing industry. In 2022, Desktop Metal underwent a 12% staff cut, while Nano Dimension acquired a 12% stake in Stratasys, a leading industrial 3D printing company. Last year, Nano Dimension made a bid to acquire Stratasys, which was rejected. Stratasys and Desktop Metal then announced merger plans, but the deal ultimately fell through.
Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop had previously stated that the company was not for sale, citing its strong cash position and expenses. However, Fulop has expressed enthusiasm about the Nano Dimension acquisition, noting that the combined companies will offer a more complete range of digital manufacturing technologies.
The deal, unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors, is expected to close in Q4 of this year. Nano Dimension plans to pay for the acquisition using cash on hand.
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The acquisition brings together two pioneering companies in additive manufacturing, enhancing their ability to serve customers in high-growth industries.
at LLMs could help with domestic robots, where they could perform specific tasks, especially with an aging population and not enough people to take care of them. However, even that could come with its own set of unique challenges.
"People say, 'Oh, the large language models are gonna make robots be able to do things they couldn't do.' That's not where the problem is. The problem with being able to do stuff is about control theory and all sorts of other hardcore math optimization," he said.
Brooks believes that this could eventually lead to robots with useful language interfaces for people in care situations. "It's not useful in the warehouse to tell an individual robot to go out and get one thing for one order, but it may be useful for eldercare in homes for people to be able to say things to the robots," he said.
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Matrix Rebrands India and China Units for 'Organizational Independence'
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Matrix, a US-headquartered venture capital firm, is rebranding its India and China affiliates, becoming the latest venture firm to distance its international franchises. The firm will retain its name, while Matrix Partners India will rebrand to Z47 and Matrix Partners China will rename itself MPC. Matrix began operating the India affiliated fund in 2006 and the China fund in 2008.
The unexpected rebranding takes effect July 1. Notably, Matrix's announcement referred to its India and China operations as "entities operating under the Matrix name" rather than as its own units.
Matrix Partners India stated that the rebrand will not affect its operational structure, existing funds, or strategy. The new name takes inspiration from India's journey towards becoming a developed country by 2047, it said.
Matrix is undertaking the "renaming and organizational update" to "clarify the local approach each of these teams has taken to operating in each of their geographies since inception and the organizational independence of each team," Matrix Partners said in a post.
The venture firm said each team's leadership has "operated with separate decision-making and separate back offices from inception."
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The move follows Sequoia's splitting of its India and Southeast Asia and China units last year amid geopolitical tension between China and the US.
"The decision to rename is driven by a shared commitment to clarity in the marketplace, responsiveness to regional market dynamics and a continued focus on competing locally, which will benefit each organization's respective portfolio companies, investors, and partners," Matrix said today.
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Amazon Hires Founders Away from AI Startup Adept
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Adept, a startup developing AI-powered "agents" to complete various software-based tasks, has agreed to license its technology to Amazon and the startup's co-founders and portions of its team have joined the ecommerce giant.
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According to reports, Adept co-founder and CEO David Luan will join Amazon, along with Adept co-founders Augustus Odena, Maxwell Nye, Erich Elsen, and Kelsey Szot, and other Adept employees.
Adept isn't closing up shop, however. Zach Brock, head of engineering, is taking over as CEO as Adept refocuses its efforts on "solutions that enable agentic AI."
"[Our products] will continue to be powered by a combination of our existing state-of-the-art in-house [AI] models, agentic data, web interaction software, and custom infrastructure," Adept wrote in a post on its official blog. "Continuing with Adept's initial plan of building both useful general intelligence and an enterprise agent product would've required spending significant attention on fundraising for our foundation models, rather than bringing to life our agent vision."
The deal provides a lifeline for Adept, which has reportedly been in talks with Meta and Microsoft over the past few months about a potential acquisition. Microsoft previously invested in the startup.
As for Amazon, it gets valuable talent — and tech to bolster its generative AI ambitions. Reports indicate that Luan will work under Rohit Prasad, the former Alexa head who's leading a new AGI team focused on building large language models.
"David and his team's expertise in training state-of-the-art multimodal foundational models and building real-world digital agents aligns with our vision to delight consumer and enterprise customers with practical AI solutions," Prasad wrote in a memo to employees. "[The license] will accelerate our roadmap for building digital agents that can automate software workflows."
Adept was founded two years ago with the goal of creating an AI model that can perform actions on any software tool using natural language. At a high level, the vision — a vision now shared by OpenAI, Rabbit, and others — was to create an "AI teammate" of sorts trained to use a wide variety of different software tools and APIs.
Adept managed to win over backers including Nvidia, Atlassian, Workday, and Greylock with its technology, raising over $415 million in capital and reaching a valuation of around $1 billion. But the startup's been plagued with dysfunction. Adept lost two of its co-founders, Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar, early on, and it's struggled to bring any product to market despite months and months of testing.
The market for AI agents is a tad more crowded than it was at Adept's launch. Well-funded startups like Orby, Emergence, and others are vying for a slice of what promises to be a lucrative pie; market research firm Grand View Research estimates that the AI agents segment was worth $4.2 billion in 2022.
But perhaps the Amazon tie-in will get Adept over the finish line. Or — with much of its executive ranks departing — it'll resign Adept to the same fate as Inflection, the AI startup that was effectively gutted, talent-wise, by Microsoft earlier this year. Or regulators increasingly skeptical of these types of AI aqui-hires will step in (if they aren’t rendered toothless by Friday’s Supreme Court decision).
Grab your popcorn and settle in.
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CMF Phone 1 Runs Geekbench with its Dimensity 7300 Chipset
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The CMF Phone 1 is set to launch on July 8, and Nothing has only a few days left to finalize preparations. This includes securing certification from regulators like the NBTC.
The certification lists the phone as CMF by Nothing, model Phone 1 (A015). This exact model number also appears in the Geekbench database. The benchmark reports an Android 14 phone with 8GB of RAM and a "Tetris" motherboard.
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Nothing has already confirmed that the CMF Phone 1 will be powered by the Dimensity 7300 chipset with 8GB of RAM (+8GB of virtual RAM).
MediaTek's naming scheme can be confusing, but the Dimensity 7200 Pro inside the Nothing Phone (2a) is actually more powerful than the 7300 in both CPU and GPU tests. The points result shown by Geekbench is fairly high for a 7300, the single-core result especially.
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Nothing has confirmed additional details for the CMF Phone 1 and the two accessories that will launch alongside it, the CMF Buds Pro 2 and CMF Watch Pro 2. The phone will have a Sony-made 50MP camera with an f/1.8 lens and Ultra XDR image processing.
Source
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Xiaomi Prepares Redmi Buds 5C and Two 10,000mAh Power Banks for July 9 Launch
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Xiaomi is set to launch a new pair of true wireless stereo (TWS) buds and two power banks on July 9. The Redmi Buds 5C will feature the company's "best-in-class Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology" and promise long battery life. The buds will be available in three colors: Bass White, Symphony Blue, and Acoustic Black.
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In addition to Xiaomi's online and offline stores, the Buds 5C will be sold through Amazon and Flipkart. The price has not been announced yet.
The two power banks are the Pocket Power Bank 10,000mAh and Power Bank 4i 10,000mAh. Both support 22.5W fast charging and have a capacity of 10,000mAh.
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The main difference between the two power banks lies in their shape and USB arrangement. The Pocket Power Bank features a built-in USB-C cable and is shorter and narrower but thicker. The Power Bank 4i is more slender and has no integrated cable, but has one USB-C and two USB-A ports.
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Fizz, the Anonymous Gen Z Social App, Adds a Marketplace for College Students
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Teddy Solomon, co-founder of Fizz, recently moved into a new house in Palo Alto and turned to the Stanford community on Fizz to furnish his room. He was thrilled to score a $100 TV from a grad student who was about to move out for the summer. Solomon, who grilled the seller with questions about the marketplace, was impressed by the experience.
When we first met Fizz's Stanford dropout co-founders in 2022, the anonymous social media platform was only available on a dozen college campuses. Today, the app operates on 240 college campuses and 60 high schools, with a team of 30 full-time staff and 4,000 volunteer moderators across schools. Fizz has raised $41.5 million across multiple funding rounds, powering its growing presence in campus culture.
Even in those early conversations, Solomon mentioned Fizz's plans to open a marketplace, where students can buy and sell items like clothes, textbooks, bikes, and more. College students often make these kinds of transactions since they're moving between dorms every year, and maybe they want some money back for their lightly used calculus textbook.
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Solomon believes that the market for a local, Gen Z-focused buying and selling platform is wide open. He thinks that the stigma around selling on platforms like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace is a major turn-off for Gen Z users.
The marketplace feature rolled out across Fizz's hundreds of campuses between March and May of this year, in preparation for the predictable end-of-semester rush to sell. Solomon said Fizz has had 50,000 listings posted on the platform, with 150,000 DMs sent around items. The most popular category is women's clothing, which amounts to about 75% of listings.
However, Facebook Marketplace won't be an easy competitor to beat. Some young Facebook users say they only go on the platform for the marketplace. Even though fewer Gen Z users are on Facebook, Meta is working on recapturing that generation's attention.
Payments are not yet integrated in Fizz, so users are responsible for navigating their sales. Solomon said Fizz may build out a payment structure to make the marketplace more user-friendly, but he isn't thinking about monetization yet. While Fizz may be rich in venture funding, this classic Silicon Valley move of prioritizing growth over profit isn't as feasible in the next generation of social media.
Fizz is fully anonymous, even on the marketplace. But to get onto a school's Fizz community in the first place, you need to verify a school email account. So, while there's always a risk in meeting up with a stranger – even if they go to your school – users seem less hesitant about buying from their classmates.
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"One of the statistics we really love that we were looking over the other day is that on average, every seller has two people reach out to them before they sell," Solomon said. "If you know they're in the dorm next door to you, you don't have any reason to figure out if they're legitimate or not. It's pretty easy."
But as with the anonymous social platforms that have come before it, Fizz has struggled to maintain a safe environment on all of its campuses. In one high-profile case, a Fizz community wreaked havoc on a high school, as students hid behind anonymity to shame and torment other students and faculty.
"We've had two communities that we've voluntarily shut down just because of feedback from parents and administrators," Solomon said. Since then, Fizz has refocused its commitment on content moderation. In the past, Fizz paid part-time stude[...]
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How to Turn Off Video Call Reactions on iPhone and Mac
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If you've seen thumbs up bubbles or confetti going off on your screen while moving your hands on a video call, you're not alone. Many people think this is a quirk of Zoom or WhatsApp, but it's actually an Apple feature baked into iOS and Mac. Fortunately, you can turn off the reactions feature to stop these effects from appearing on screen during your work calls.
How to Turn Off Video Call Reactions on a Mac
When you're on any video call on your Mac, click on the video menu in the menu bar; it's a green camera icon in the top right of your screen. Then, click on the Reactions option in the drop-down menu to turn off reactions for all video calls.
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You have to be in a video call to turn these reactions off.
How to Turn Off Video Call Reactions on an iPhone
When you're in a video call on your iPhone, open the Control Center and tap on the video tab. Under the tab, tap on the reactions options to turn off gesture-based effects.
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When Apple rolled out iOS 17.4 earlier this year, it gave an option to developers of third-party video call apps to turn these reactions off by default. So, if your preferred video call app has implemented this change, you might not need to manually turn off these reactions.
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Deep Tech VC Sidney Scott Explains Why He's Closing His Firm as This Area Booms
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Sidney Scott, a solo general partner at Driving Forces, has announced that he is shutting down his $5 million fintech and deep tech venture capital fund, which he started in 2020. In a LinkedIn post, Scott described the past four years as "a wild ride."
During that time, Scott was involved in building the first AI and deep tech investor network with Handwave, collaborating with investors at companies including NVIDIA M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, Intel Capital, and First Round Capital. The fund made about two dozen investments into companies like SpaceX, OpenSea, Workstream, and Cart.com, yielding over 30% net internal rate of return.
However, Scott believes that the current market conditions are not favorable for his small fund. He notes that deep tech has become a mainstream destination for corporate, venture capital, sovereign wealth, and private equity funds, with many newcomers entering the area. This increased competition has led to a surge in valuations, making it challenging for smaller funds like his to compete.
Scott predicts that the rush into deep tech investing will lead to a "bullwhip effect" where early-stage investors and VCs will rush to repeat prior breakthroughs or high-profile successes. This will attract more capital, including from investors with less expertise, leading to a surge in deep tech startups. However, this could create unrealistic expectations and significant pressure on startups to perform, which could ultimately lead to a negative feedback loop.
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Scott is not bearish on venture capital or hard tech companies, but he expects there to be a correction in the market. He believes that the phase of valuation inflation can be sped up, driving up startup valuations rapidly, which can impact the entire ecosystem, causing funding struggles, slower development, and potential shutdowns.
In the end, Scott has decided to close his fund and is auctioning off his vests, starting at $500,000. He believes that it's the right choice for the current market, and he's not alone in his concerns. As the deep tech space continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how other investors and startups adapt to the changing landscape.
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Noplace, a Mashup of Twitter and MySpace for Gen Z, Hits No. 1 on the App Store
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A new social media app, noplace, has surged to the top of the App Store after launching out of invite-only mode. Designed to appeal to a younger crowd, noplace is a modern-day take on MySpace with customizable profiles that allow users to share their interests, relationships, and more.
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Founder and CEO Tiffany Zhong, who previously founded her own early-stage consumer fund, Pineapple Capital, aimed to bring back the "social" aspect of social media. She believes that today's platforms have become too focused on curated content, making it difficult for users to truly connect with each other.
"Noplace is about community and finding people who share your interests," Zhong says. "We want to provide a space where people can be themselves and connect with others in a more authentic way."
The app features customizable profiles with "stars" (tags) that represent users' interests, making it easy to discover like-minded individuals. There's also a "top 10 friends" section, reminiscent of MySpace's top 8. However, unlike MySpace, noplace focuses on text-based updates and doesn't support photos or videos... yet.
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Zhong's vision is to create a platform where users can share what they're currently doing, rather than just posting curated updates. The app offers two feeds: one with friends and another global feed from all users, both in reverse chronological order. There are no private profiles, and users under 18 will receive a more moderated feed.
Noplace uses AI technology to drive suggestions and curation, rather than algorithms, to create a more organic experience. The app doesn't edit the feed for users, instead offering summaries of what they've missed.
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After launching in invite-only beta mode, noplace went viral, prompting the team to distribute invite codes to early adopters. The app is now available for free download on iOS and is available in read-only mode on the web. Monetization plans are still in the works.
Noplace has received funding from investors, including 776 (Alexis Ohanian) and Forerunner Ventures, raising over $19 million. As it continues to grow, noplace may become a major player in the social media landscape, offering a unique alternative to traditional platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6: What We Know So Far
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With the Galaxy S lineup now outshipping its predecessors, Samsung has lofty ambitions for its 2024 foldables - the Z Flip6 and the Galaxy Z Fold6. All the rumors suggest we're in for the biggest revamp of the lineup yet, and the book-style foldable will be the star. So here's what we know so far. Launch Date
The Galaxy Z Fold6 will launch alongside the Galaxy Z Flip6, the new Galaxy Watch7 series, and the novel Galaxy Ring on July 10. The New Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6
The Galaxy Z Fold6 is shaping up as a small upgrade. It looks nearly identical to its predecessor, although it could adjust the screen aspect ratios a bit and could be thinner and lighter.
We expect a bump to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy and we expect this to be the chipset on all Galaxy Z Fold6's across the globe. There could also be an increase in battery capacity.
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The Galaxy Z Fold6 will likely use the exact same camera setup as the Galaxy Z Fold5. That means a 50 MP 1/1.56" ISOCELL GN3 wide-angle camera will be joined by 10 MP 1/3.94" 3x zoom and 12 MP 1/3.06" ultrawide shooters. A 10 MP 1/3" punch hole selfie, and a 16MP 1/3" under-display selfie camera complete the list.
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For the first time, Samsung will split the Galaxy Z Fold series in two. It wasn't clear for a time whether we're getting a regular Fold and a cheaper Fold, or a Fold and a Fold Ultra but it's seemingly clear now that a higher-end Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra is coming, however, it's more likely to arrive alongside the Galaxy S25 in early 2025.
The most credible reports suggest a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra with a better camera setup. It's likely the Ultra will get the 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera from the Galaxy S24 Ultra but no word on the rest of the camera setup.
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The other rumors point to a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra. It will reportedly weigh 239g, which is considerably lower than the Fold5's 253g. Additionally, the Ultra may use Titanium, like in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The Ultra Fold will be just 5.6mm thick when unfolded and 12.1mm when folded - down from 6.1mm and 13.4mm on the current Fold5. A Cheaper Galaxy Z Fold6 Isn't Coming
For a while, we heard rumors of a Galaxy Z Fold6 FE that will be substantially cheaper than the ongoing Z Fold5. This isn't likely. New Design with a Thinner Frame and a Wider Cover Display
Samsung marginally tweaks the design of the Galaxy Z Fold each year, but it's too conservative and has fallen behind the competition lately. Last year, we got a flat-closing phone with an ever-so-slight widening of the aspect ratio.
This year, we're hearing of more substantial changes. We already mentioned the thinner frame, expected to allow for an 11mm folded Galaxy Z Fold6.
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Cloudflare Launches a Tool to Combat AI Bots
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Cloudflare, a cloud service provider, has launched a new, free tool to prevent AI bots from scraping websites hosted on its platform for data to train AI models. Some AI vendors, including Google, OpenAI, and Apple, allow website owners to block the bots they use for data scraping and model training by amending their site's robots.txt file. However, not all AI scrapers respect this standard.
Cloudflare analyzed AI bot and crawler traffic to fine-tune automatic bot detection models. The models consider factors such as whether an AI bot might be trying to evade detection by mimicking the appearance and behavior of a web browser user. When bad actors attempt to crawl websites at scale, they generally use tools and frameworks that can be fingerprinted. Based on these signals, Cloudflare's models can flag traffic from evasive AI bots as bots.
Cloudflare has set up a form for hosts to report suspected AI bots and crawlers and will continue to manually blacklist AI bots over time. The problem of AI bots has come into sharp relief as the generative AI boom fuels the demand for model training data.
Many sites, wary of AI vendors training models on their content without alerting or compensating them, have opted to block AI scrapers and crawlers. Around 26% of the top 1,000 sites on the web have blocked OpenAI's bot, according to one study; another found that more than 600 news publishers had blocked the bot.
Blocking isn't a surefire protection, however. As alluded to earlier, some vendors appear to be ignoring standard bot exclusion rules to gain a competitive advantage in the AI race. AI search engine Perplexity was recently accused of impersonating legitimate visitors to scrape content from websites, and OpenAI and Anthropic are said to have at times ignored robots.txt rules.
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Image Credits: Getty Images
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Xiaomi Mix Fold4 to Launch Globally with Ultra-Thin Body
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According to a reliable source, Xiaomi is set to launch the Mix Fold4 internationally, making it the first Xiaomi foldable to do so. The phone is expected to be even thinner than the Honor Magic V3, which is already confirmed to be thinner than its predecessor, the Magic V2.
The Honor Magic V3 is scheduled to launch on July 12, and it will reportedly have a thickness of less than 9.9mm in its folded state and 4.7mm when unfolded. Xiaomi is expected to follow suit with its own announcement soon, possibly as early as this month in China.
The Mix Fold4 will be the most exciting launch in the lineup yet, and it will be accompanied by the Mix Flip, Xiaomi's first clamshell foldable.
Source
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Red Magic 9S Pro and 9S Pro+ Arrive with Overclocked SD 8 Gen 3, Improved Cooling
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The Red Magic 9S Pro and 9S Pro+ have been announced, featuring a beefed-up chipset and improved cooling system. The chipset is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version, which runs its prime CPU core at 3.4GHz and boosts the GPU to 1GHz.
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The company claims that the 9S Pro has achieved an AnTuTu score of 2,369,542 points, the highest of any Android device yet. The revamped ICE 13.5 cooling system features a vapor chamber (10,182mm²) and new cooling gel that reduces thermal resistance. Combined with the 22,000 RPM active cooling fan, the system can reduce chipset temperature by up to 19.5°C compared to 18°C for the original ICE 13 system used in the Red Magic 9 Pro and 9 Pro+.
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The battery situation presents the same choice as before – a large 6,500mAh battery with 80W charging on the 9S Pro and a smaller but faster 5,500mAh battery with 165W charging. Even the 80W version is quite fast – it can do a full charge in just 35 minutes. But if you opt for the plus model, 100% is achieved in 16 minutes (noting that the battery on the plus is 1,000mAh smaller).
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The phones also have the option to bypass the battery and run directly off external power, which generates less heat and reduces wear and tear on the battery. In terms of dimensions, the two phones stick to the key dimensions of the 9 Pro pair. They measure 8.9mm thick and weigh 229g.
Gaming is done on a flat 6.8” OLED display (BOE Q9+), which has rare qualities – it’s a proper rectangle (no rounded corners) and the 16MP camera is under it, so there is nothing getting in the way of game UI. This display has 1,116 x 2,480px resolution and runs at 120Hz. For controls, it can reach an instant touch sampling rate of 2,000Hz and there is a pair of 520Hz shoulder triggers (with an updated backlight design).
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Connectivity includes fast Wi-Fi 7 and USB-C 3.2, plus a 3.5mm jack for wired headphones. If you want, you can use the dual speakers (with DTS:X Ultra certification) instead.
The rear camera features a 50MP main sensor (1/1.57” GN5, lens with OIS) and a 50MP ultra wide (JN1). The company should be commended that it keeps its cameras flush with the back, no bumps here.
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The new Red Magic 9.5 OS adds AI features, including Smart Navigator with real-time recommendations, AI Trigger, Sound Recognition for games, and more. Other AI features include image enlargement, wallpaper, wallpaper generation, a writing assistant, summaries, search, and so on.
Besides the battery and charging, the differences between the regular Pro and the Pro+ include different memory options - the 9S Pro has 12GB of RAM and 256/512GB storage, while the 9S Pro+ has 16GB of RAM and 512G[...]
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Groups Save Big at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
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Planning to attend TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 with your team? Maximize your team-building time and your company's impact across the entire conference when you bring your team. Groups of 4 to 9 save 15% on passes, and if you have a group of 10 or more, you can save 30%.
Here's a sneak peek at some of the incredible content you and your team can dive into:
What You Need to Raise a Series A Today: Essential tips and strategies to secure your next round of funding. How to Find, and Keep, Product-Market Fit: Learn the secrets to identifying and maintaining the right market fit for your product. Family Offices Want Startup Exposure, but What Are They Looking For?: Discover what family offices seek in startups and how to attract their interest.
Plus, don't miss out on these opportunities:
* Divide and conquer the expo hall, connecting with hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest in tech.
* Attend over 300 sessions packed with insights and innovation, and share your insights with your team members.
* Spread out and network at one of the 100+ Side Events to source valuable leads.
* Attend or host your own company Braindate session to engage in meaningful, one-on-one conversations on topics.
Bring the team, save, and make the most of your TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 experience!
About TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
TechCrunch Disrupt is where you'll find innovation for every stage of your startup journey. Whether you're a budding founder with a revolutionary idea, a seasoned startup looking to scale or an investor seeking the next big thing, TechCrunch Disrupt offers unparalleled resources, connections and expert insights to propel your venture forward. Over 10,000 startup leaders will be attending this year's event on October 28-30 in San Francisco. Learn more.
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Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro Review
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Introduction
The Redmi Pad and Redmi Pad SE have gained significant traction in the market, thanks to their large screens, metal bodies, and attractive pricing. Now, Xiaomi is expanding its Redmi tablet series with the Pad Pro, which boasts a premium Dolby Vision display, better performance, and a larger battery.
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The new Redmi Pad Pro features a 12.1" 120 Hz LCD with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and Dolby Vision certification. It is powered by a powerful Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, which should provide a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 680 and Helio G99 in the older Pad models.
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The Redmi Pad Pro has an 8MP camera on each side, four Dolby Atmos speakers, and a large 10,000mAh battery with 33W charging support, which means you won't have to reach for that charger too often.
Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro Specs at a Glance:
Body: 280.0x181.9x7.5mm, 571g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 3), aluminum frame, aluminum back; Stylus support (magnetic). Display: 12.10" IPS LCD, 68B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, 600 nits (HBM), 1600x2560px resolution, 14.4:9 aspect ratio, 249ppi. Chipset: Qualcomm SM7435-AB Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 (4 nm): Octa-core (4x2.40 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x1.95 GHz Cortex-A55); Adreno 710. Memory: 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot). OS/Software: Android 14, HyperOS. Rear camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm. Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.3, (wide), 1/4.0", 1.12µm. Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps. Battery: 10000mAh; 33W wired, PD3.0, QC3+. Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.2, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive; 3.5mm jack. Misc: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity (accessories only), compass; stereo speakers (4 speakers).
To further enhance its capabilities, Xiaomi offers official accessories, including the Redmi Smart Pen, the Redmi Pad Pro Cover, and the Redmi Pad Pro Keyboard cover. On the list of omissions, we can put the lack of cellular connectivity, NFC, and a fingerprint scanner, but we wouldn't say either of those is a big deal when it comes to tablets.
Unboxing the Redmi Pad Pro
The Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro arrives in a thin paper box, which contains the tablet itself and a USB-A-to-C cable. There is no charger, so if you don't have a 33W charger, you'll need to purchase one if maximizing charging speed matters to you.
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Next Page » 2. Design, build quality, handling
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MIT Robotics Pioneer Rodney Brooks Thinks People Are Vastly Overestimating Generative AI
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When it comes to robotics and artificial intelligence, Rodney Brooks is a name to be reckoned with. As the Panasonic Professor of Robotics Emeritus at MIT, he has co-founded three key companies, including Rethink Robotics, iRobot, and his current venture, Robust.ai. Brooks also ran the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) for a decade starting in 1997.
Brooks is known for making predictions about the future of AI and keeps a scorecard on his blog to track his accuracy. He believes that people are vastly overestimating the capabilities of generative AI. "I'm not saying LLMs are not important, but we have to be careful with how we evaluate them," he said.
The issue with generative AI, according to Brooks, is that it can perform certain tasks well, but it can't do everything a human can. Humans tend to overestimate its capabilities because they generalize its performance to similar tasks. "When a human sees an AI system perform a task, they immediately generalize it to things that are similar and make an estimate of the competence of the AI system; not just the performance on that, but the competence around that," Brooks explained.
Brooks uses his company, Robust.ai, as an example. Someone suggested using a large language model (LLM) to tell his warehouse robots where to go, but Brooks believes this is not a reasonable use case for generative AI. Instead, it's simpler to connect the robots to a stream of data coming from the warehouse management software.
"When you have 10,000 orders that just came in that you have to ship in two hours, you have to optimize for that. Language is not going to help; it's just going to slow things down," he said. "We have massive data processing and massive AI optimization techniques and planning. And that's how we get the orders completed fast."
Brooks has also learned that you can't try to do too much with robots and AI. You should solve a solvable problem where robots can be integrated easily. "We need to automate in places where things have already been cleaned up. So the example of my company is we're doing pretty well in warehouses, and warehouses are actually pretty constrained," he said.
Brooks' company designed robots for practical purposes related to warehouse operations, rather than building human-looking robots. "So the form factor we use is not humanoids walking around — even though I have built and delivered more humanoids than anyone else. These look like shopping carts," he said. "It's got a handlebar, so if there's a problem with the robot, a person can grab the handlebar and do what they wish with it."
After all these years, Brooks has learned that it's about making the technology accessible and purpose-built. "I always try to make technology easy for people to understand, and therefore we can deploy it at scale, and always look at the business case; the return on investment is also very important."
Even with that, Brooks says we have to accept that there are always going to be hard-to-solve outlier cases when it comes to AI, which could take decades to solve. "Without carefully boxing in how an AI system is deployed, there is always a long tail of special cases that take decades to discover and fix. Paradoxically all those fixes are AI complete themselves."
Brooks also believes that there's a mistaken belief that technology will always grow exponentially, thanks to Moore's Law. He uses the iPod as an example. For a few iterations, it did double in storage size, but it didn't continue on that trajectory. "The models being sold in 2017 actually came with 256GB or 160GB because, as I pointed out, nobody actually needed more than that."
Brooks acknowledges th[...]
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Y Combinator Alum Fluently Raises $2M for AI-Powered English Coach
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There are numerous resources available to learn English, but few cater to near-native speakers looking to improve their fluency. This challenge inspired Stanislav Beliaev and Yurii Rebryk to create Fluently, an AI-powered English coach.
Fluently provides users with feedback and tips on their spoken English, making it similar to ELSA's AI speech tutor and online/offline one-on-one coaching solutions. However, Fluently stands out by building its feedback from listening to real-life calls.
Users can have Fluently record and transcribe their side of calls, such as those made on Zoom for work. Additionally, they can practice with an AI coach, either "Ryan" for daily conversations or "Kyle" for mock interviews.
The duo estimates that there are 84 million non-native employees working in English-speaking environments, presenting a sizable market opportunity. This potential market helped Fluently secure a spot in Y Combinator's winter 2024 batch and attract a $2 million seed round from investors, including Pioneer Fund and SID Venture Partners.
Fluently's tech-focused approach, with three out of four team members being engineers, has garnered attention from VCs. The startup plans to use the funding to grow its team and invest in marketing.
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In its current beta form, Fluently is still in its early stages, but it already offers a sense of what it can achieve. For instance, users can learn how to improve their pronunciation, such as with the word "computer," which can be useful in tech industries.
The startup aims to be a one-stop-shop for better speaking skills, focusing on understandability, including improving pronunciation, grammar, pace, and vocabulary. Rephrasing advice, similar to Grammarly or Ludwig's offerings for writing, could be an additional feature.
Fluently prioritizes user privacy, storing audio locally and encrypting data, with anonymized data sent to third-party providers. The startup is currently available on MacOS, with plans to launch a Chrome extension soon.
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With its AI-powered English coach, Fluently is poised to make a significant impact in the edtech space.
ent and lawmakers do not understand technical matters. And so, looking forward, who defines "artificial intelligence," or "scrape" or "personal information," or "invasive"? Yesterday, it might have been the FCC or FTC, which with their experts in technology, industry, markets, and so on, would have made an informed decision and perhaps even solicited public opinion, as they often do in rulemaking processes. Today, it will be a judge in whatever state an industry decides has the friendliest or most gullible bench.
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