Hasbro spent two years secretly working a kids lightsaber, but then walked away from it without explanation. But you can still walk into a Target or Walmart and buy a Goliath Power Saber for $60. It doesn’t have official Star Wars sounds, but the extendable and retractable blade is the toy fans of the franchise have always wanted. Read more from The Verge:
The Verge
How Star Wars walked away from the world’s first self-retracting lightsaber toy
The Goliath Power Saber.
 #Tech #StarWars #LightSaber #Technology Follow [@theverge](
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How much is OpenAI worth? For sure, the company is raking in a lot of money. It’s spending even more, though. Nvidia and Apple are said to be in talks to contribute to OpenAI’s next fundraising round. TechCrunch has more, including how X is marking some links to NPR’s website as “unsafe,” and more in this briefing:
TechCrunch
Apple and Nvidia could be OpenAI's next big investors | TechCrunch
Apple and Nvidia are reportedly considering investing in OpenAI's next funding round -- a round that could value the AI startup at $100 billion.
 #Tech #OpenAI #ChatGPT #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Nvidia #Apple #NPR For more tech news, follow [@Techcrunch](
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After almost three decades, computer hardware news and reviews site @npub1ljf4...a8sz is shutting down. The website’s editor-in-chief, Ryan Smith, announced the sad news in a post and confirmed the site would stop publishing from today. “Few things last forever,” he added, “and the market for written tech journalism is not what it once was — nor will it ever be again. So, the time has come for AnandTech to wrap up its work, and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place within the zeitgeist.” @Ars Technica has more.
Ars Technica
AnandTech, mainstay of computer hardware reviews, closes after 27 years
Site was founded by a 14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi in 1997.
 #AnandTech #Journalism #Technology #Tech
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has ordered the suspension of social media giant X after tech billionaire Elon Musk refused to establish a legal representative. The Associated Press has more, including how the move further escalates a monthslong feud over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.
AP News
On the first day without X, many Brazilians say they feel disconnected from the world
The blocking of social media platform X in Brazil has divided users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban, and many Brazilians had difficu...
 #Tech #Technology #Twitter #SocialMedia #ElonMusk
OpenAI has been announcing deals with a whole lot of publishers in recent months, which might seem strange considering its ChatGPT model had already consumed entire archives of their work. Why is it paying for something it already has, and why are publishers — many of whom have been pretty mad about their work being stolen — agreeing? [@theverge](
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 ) takes a look at the deals, what they truly mean and what they could suggest OpenAI is planning for in the future.
The Verge
OpenAI searches for an answer to its copyright problems
The final boss of the internet: copyright.
 #OpenAI #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #Tech
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is being accused of adding to the pollution in Memphis, Tennessee through the unauthorized use of natural gas-burning turbines at its new data center, which opened in June. The Southern Environmental Law Center sent a letter this week to the Health Department in Shelby County, claiming xAI has installed at least 18 turbines without the required permit, and that it is “already having significant health and environmental impact on the surrounding community.” Here’s more from CNBC.
CNBC
Elon Musk’s xAI accused of worsening Memphis smog with unauthorized gas turbines at data center
Memphis already has a smog problem. Environmental groups say Elon Musk’s xAI is making it worse with unauthorized use of gas turbines to power it...
 #ElonMusk #xAI #Data #Tech
The California State Assembly has passed the divisive AI Safety Bill, one of the first significant regulations of artificial intelligence in the U.S., reports [@theverge](
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Every day, The Verge asks how technology is changing the way we live and seeks out the most important ideas, people, events, and objects that might...
 ). The bill would “obligate AI companies operating in California to implement a number of precautions before they train a sophisticated foundation model,” it writes. “Those include making it possible to quickly and fully shut the model down, ensuring the model is protected against ‘unsafe post-training modifications,’ and maintaining a testing procedure to evaluate whether a model or its derivatives is especially at risk of ’causing or enabling a critical harm.’” Here’s more.
The Verge
California legislature passes sweeping AI safety bill
The bill is inching closer to becoming law.
 #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AISafetyBill #Tech
What happens when an electric vehicle start-up goes bust? As a number of Chinese EV manufacturers close down amidst intense price wars and the end of government subsidies, owners of affected vehicles are finding that a lack of software updates and maintenance are essentially taking their cars “offline,” making some features unusable, and the cars potentially unsafe. Here’s more from @npub1qt7k...dgeq.
Rest of World
When EV startups shut down, will their cars still work?
As Chinese EV makers close, drivers of “smartphones on wheels” say software updates and maintenance are in jeopardy.
 #ElectricVehicles #EV #Automotive #Tech
Many of us might think that our daily ritual of scrolling through social media is keeping us entertained, but a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found it’s doing quite the opposite. All those memes, TikToks and cat videos could actually be making us more bored. Here’s more from [@FastCompany](
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Progressive, creative, innovative. Follow FastCompany on Flipboard, to explore their latest magazines and flipped articles.
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This week, Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to congressional Republicans claiming the Biden administration had pressured Meta to censor content around COVID-19. The timing of the letter felt somewhat strange, considering it referred to incidents back in 2021. But tech observers on both sides of the aisle say that, in the wake of this summer’s Supreme Court decisions on speech and social platforms, it actually represents a very shrewd political calculation. Is Zuckerberg hedging his bets against a Trump presidency? [@politico](
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POLITICO (@politico) on Flipboard
POLITICO is the authority on power and politics. Follow politico on Flipboard, to explore their latest magazines and flipped articles.
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