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Tech

AI Summary

  • Artificial intelligence continues its rapid expansion, integrating into everything from personal assistants and image editing software to scientific research, though its growth also raises significant concerns regarding ethical use and infrastructure demands.
  • Social media platforms are navigating a turbulent period marked by high-profile addiction lawsuits, internal restructuring to address data privacy, and increased global regulatory pressure concerning content moderation and platform integrity.
  • Major tech companies are strategically realigning their operations, with shifts like Amazon's reevaluation of its physical retail footprint and a push for digital sovereignty among European nations, coupled with ongoing legal challenges over consumer data.
  • The consumer hardware market sees continuous innovation, with new iterations of popular devices and enhanced security features for mobile platforms, while emerging transportation technologies like robotaxis are becoming more viable and cost-competitive.
  • The industry is grappling with profound societal implications, including workforce adjustments due to AI integration, the proliferation of harmful AI-generated content, and heated discussions around censorship and the political influence of online platforms.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • Mark Zuckerberg was initially opposed to parental controls for AI chatbots, according to legal filing 8 hours ago by Anna Washenko
    Social & Online Media, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Anna Washenko

    Meta has faced some serious questions about how it allows its underage users to interact with AI-powered chatbots. Most recently, internal communications obtained by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office revealed that although Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was opposed to the chatbots having "explicit" conversations with minors, he also rejected the idea of placing parental controls on the feature. Reuters reported that in an exchange between two unnamed Meta employees, one wrote that we "pushed hard for parental controls to turn GenAI off – but GenAI leadership pushed back stating Mark decision.” In its statement to the publication, Meta accused the

  • Meta blocks links to ICE List, a Wiki that names agents 9 hours ago by Karissa Bell
    Media, Arts & Entertainment, Social & Online Media, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Karissa Bell

    Meta has started blocking links to ICE List, a website that compiles information about incidents involving Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents, and lists thousands of their employees' names. It seems that the latter detail is what caused Meta to take action in a move that was first reported by Wired.  ICE List is a crowdsourced Wiki that describes itself as "an independently maintained public documentation project focused on immigration-enforcement activity" in the US. "Its purpose is to record, organize, and preserve verifiable information about enforcement actions, agents, facilities, vehicles, and related incidents that would otherwise remain fragmented,

  • Adobe Photoshop upgrades its Firefly-powered generative-AI editing tools 10 hours ago by Anna Washenko
    Software, Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Anna Washenko

    Adobe Photoshop introduced some new features that are rolling out for creators today. As you'd expect from any service operator in this day and age, there's some AI involved. Adobe has improved the tools for Generative Fill, Generative Expand and Remove that are powered by its Firefly generative AI platform. Using these tools for image editing should now produce results in 2K resolution with fewer artifacts and increased detail all while delivering better matches for the provided prompts. The Reference Image option for Generative Fill has also been upgraded to deliver "geometry-aware results that better match the scene."   One of the

  • Astronomers discover over 800 cosmic anomalies using a new AI tool 11 hours ago by Will Shanklin
    Science, Space & Astronomy, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Will Shanklin

    Here's a use of AI that appears to do more good than harm. A pair of astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) developed a neural network that searches through space images for anomalies. The results were far beyond what human experts could have done. In two and a half days, it sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts, discovering 1,400 anomalous objects. The creators of the AI model, David O'Ryan and Pablo Gómez, call it AnomalyMatch. The pair trained it on (and applied it to) the Hubble Legacy Archive, which houses tens of thousands of datasets from Hubble's 35-year history.

  • Sennheiser debuts new models of wired headphones and earbuds 12 hours ago by Anna Washenko
    Audio Technology, Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Anna Washenko

    Wireless audio has become the industry standard, but there are still options out there for people who prefer a wired connection. Two new choices joining the market come from Sennheiser, which has released the CX 80U wired earbuds and HD 400U wired over-ear headphones. These new takes on the company's previous models for wired listening have replaced the 3.5mm audio jack connector with a USB-C cable. Both sets support 24-bit, 96 kHz digital audio playback. They're compatible with a broad array of devices, including iOS, iPadOS, Android, ChromeOS, MacOS, Windows and SteamOS.  Both of these items are priced at an entry


The Verge

  • The crypto bill is falling apart in Congress 7 hours ago by Tina Nguyen
    Column, Policy, Politics, Regulator, Social Media, Tech

    Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), from left, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) Sen. John Boozman (R-AK), Rep. French Hill (R-AK), and David Sacks, White House Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Crypto czar, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. | Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Hello and welcome to Regulator, the Verge newsletter about the technology politics happening in our nation's capital. I hope our snowstorm-affected readers are safe, warm, and haven't reenacted The Shining at home yet. Do you know what prevents that? Subscribing to The Verge. Last week, when I was tracking Coinbase's opposition

  • The best Android phones 8 hours ago by Allison Johnson
    Buying Guides, Foldable Phones, Gadgets, Google, Google Pixel, Mobile, OnePlus, Samsung, Tech, Verge Shopping

    The Android ecosystem is all about choice. While iPhone owners have a smaller pool of new devices to pick from when it’s time to upgrade, there’s a wider range of choices on Android. Some Android phones even fold in half! Imagine. On the flip side, all that choice can make for some hard decisions. Here’s where I’d like to help; I’ve tested a whole boatload of recent Android phones, and I think there are some real winners in the current batch. It’s all a matter of what you’re looking for, what you’re comfortable spending, and what your definition of a “reasonably

  • Meta is spending millions to convince people that data centers are cool and you like them 8 hours ago by Stevie Bonifield
    AI, Meta, News, Tech

    Over the last few months of 2025, Meta spent $6.4 million on an ad campaign running in cities across the country, from Sacramento to Washington, with a clear mission: win over viewers on the construction of new data centers. As the New York Times reports, the ad campaign is anchored by short, folksy video spotlights on Meta's data centers in Altoona, Iowa, and Los Lunas, New Mexico. The ads make the case that Meta's data centers create jobs, revitalizing rural communities. However, they take a fairly idealistic tone. For instance, the Altoona ad portrays a town on the brink of disappearing, but

  • Moltbot, the AI agent that ‘actually does things,’ is tech’s new obsession 9 hours ago by Emma Roth
    AI, Apps, Report, Tech

    An open-source AI agent that "actually does things" is taking off, with people across the web sharing how they're using the agent to do a whole bunch of things, like manage reminders, log health and fitness data, and even communicate with clients. The tool, called Moltbot (formerly Clawdbot), runs locally on a variety of devices, and you can ask it to perform tasks on your behalf by chatting with it through WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Discord, and iMessage. Federico Viticci at MacStories highlighted how he installed Moltbot on his M4 Mac Mini and transformed it into a tool that delivers daily audio

  • The best budget robot vacuums 9 hours ago by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Buying Guides, Gadgets, Reviews, Smart Home Reviews, Tech, Verge Shopping

    Today’s robot vacuums are becoming a bit like cars: with all the features, upgrades, and fancy trimmings available these days, it’s easy to forget that they can just be simple machines that get us from point A to point B. Yes, some bots blow hot air on their bums (mop pads), deftly navigate dog poop, and have arms to pick up your socks, but there are plenty of basic budget robot vacuums that just do a decent job of cleaning your floor autonomously — as long as you tidy up first. Fancier models have obstacle recognition, and some even use AI-powered


Wired


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