US lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have introduced a bill called the “GUARD Act,” which is meant to protect minor users from AI chatbots. “In their race to the bottom, AI companies are pushing treacherous chatbots at kids and looking away when their products cause sexual abuse, or coerce them into self-harm or suicide,” said the bill’s co-sponsor, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn). “Our legislation imposes strict safeguards against exploitative or manipulative AI, backed by tough enforcement with criminal and civil penalties.”

Under the GUARD Act, AI companies would be required to prohibit minors from being able to access their chatbots. That means they have to conduct age verification for both existing and new users with the help of a third-party system. They’ll also have to conduct periodic age verifications on accounts that were already previously verified. To maintain users’ privacy, the companies will only be allowed to retain data “for no longer than is reasonably necessary to verify a user’s age” and may not share or sell user information. 

AI companies will be required to make their chatbots explicitly tell the user that it’s not a human being at the beginning of each conversation and every 30 minutes after that. They’ll have to make sure their chatbots don’t claim to be a human being or a licensed professional, such a therapist or a doctor, when asked. Finally, the bill aims to create new crimes to charge companies that make their AI chatbots available to minors. 

In August, the parents of a teen who committed suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of prioritizing “engagement over safety.” ChatGPT, they said, helped their son plan his own death even after months of conversations, wherein their child talked to the chatbot about his four previous suicide attempts. ChatGPT allegedly told their son that it could provide information about suicide for “writing or world-building.” A mother from Florida sued startup Character.AI in 2024 for allegedly causing her 14-year-old son’s suicide. And just this September, the family of a 13-year-old girl filed another wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI, arguing that the company didn’t point their daughter to any resources or notify authorities when she talked about her suicidal ideations. 

It’s also worth noting that the bill’s co-sponsor Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) previously said that the Senate Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he leads, will investigate reports that Meta’s AI chatbots could have “sensual” conversations with children. He made the announcement after Reuters reported on an internal Meta document, stating that Meta’s AI was allowed to tell a shirtless eight-year-old: “Every inch of you is a masterpiece — a treasure I cherish deeply.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/bipartisan-guard-act-proposes-age-restrictions-on-ai-chatbots-130020355.html?src=rss

President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have spent the better part of the president’s second term radically reshaping the federal government. But in recent weeks, the GOP has set its sights on taking another run at an old target: the US census.

Since the first Trump administration, the right has sought to add a question to the census that captures a respondent’s immigration status and to exclude noncitizens from the tallies that determine how seats in Congress are distributed. In 2019, the Supreme Court struck down an attempt by the first Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the census.

But now, a little-known algorithmic process called “differential privacy,” created to keep census data from being used to identify individual respondents, has become the right’s latest focus. WIRED spoke to six experts about the GOP’s ongoing effort to falsely allege that a system created to protect people’s privacy has made the data from the 2020 census inaccurate.

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The Nothing Phone universe continues to expand. On Wednesday, the company launched the fourth model in the Phone 3 lineup: the Nothing Phone 3a Lite. (It joins the Phone 3, Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro.) The cheapest model in the series, the Phone 3a Lite pairs the brand’s distinct styling with solid all-around specs for an entry-level handset. However, with the company saying its non-flagship devices will soon include pre-installed apps and lock-screen ads, there may be a trade-off.

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite uses a Panda Glass casing over an aluminum internal frame. As you can see, it retains some familiar design strokes, albeit pared down to match its €249 price. As the company describes it, the handset’s “asymmetric, transparent look and nano-coating creates a beautiful balance of matte and gloss.” (Poetry!) The phone ships in white and black variants. Whether Nothing’s design language is your cup of tea or not, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more striking and bold design language in a budget model.

The handset includes the Essential Key, a multi-purpose physical button found on all Phone 3 series models. The phone is IP54-rated for dust and water resistance.

Nothing

Nothing honors the brand’s unique Glyph system (while keeping costs down) by using a notification LED. (Remember those on early Android phones?) This model’s “Glyph Light” supports the lineup’s Flip to Glyph feature, which switches to light-only alerts when the device is face down. The LED can stay on for “key contact and app notifications” and serve as a camera countdown timer. You can also customize its light sequences for calls and specific contacts.

The handset has a hearty 5,000 mAh battery. Nothing advertises 22 hours of YouTube playback or 9.5 hours of gaming. It supports 33W fast charging, reaching 50 percent in about 20 minutes.

The Phone 3a Lite has a triple-camera system. That includes a 50MP primary camera with a 1/1.57-inch Samsung sensor. Joining it are an 8MP ultra-wide and a macro lens. The rear camera system shoots 4K video at app to 30 FPS. On its front is a 16MP lens.

Nothing

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite has more than respectable display specs for a budget phone. It uses a 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED panel with 1,080 x 2,392 resolution (387 PPI). It has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a 1,000Hz touch sampling rate. It can reach 3,000 nits peak HDR brightness and 1,300 nits outdoor brightness.

The handset’s processor is the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G. The 8-core CPU can reach up to 2.5 GHz. Nothing says the chip performs better than the MediaTek 7200 silicon in last year’s Phone 2a. The company claims its CPU is 15 percent faster, its GPU supports 20 percent higher FPS, and its NPU delivers 100 percent better AI performance.

The phone also uses a liquid-cooling system, which may help during intensive gaming sessions. It ships with 8GB of RAM and comes in 128GB and 256GB storage tiers.

Nothing

The phone runs the Nothing OS 3.5 UI on top of Android 15. The company says Nothing OS 4.0 will arrive in the first half of 2026.

And that brings us back to those trade-offs. Earlier this week, Nothing confirmed to 9to5Google that its strategy moving forward will include “Lock Glimpse.” This rotating lock-screen wallpaper feature includes text with links to external content hosted by a Chinese advertising company. (That firm, Boyuan, says it offers a “rich mixture of content” to help its partners “commercialize the mobile traffic.”) Think of it as a slightly less obnoxious version of lock-screen ads.

Fortunately, Lock Glimpse is off by default in the current Nothing OS 4.0 beta. But if that changes in the future, the value proposition for Nothing’s budget devices could shift dramatically.

Another cost-subsidizing move is Nothing’s (also confirmed) embrace of pre-installed apps. The company said its “carefully considered” third-party apps are those “most people install on day one, like Instagram.” In fairness, that’s a common practice among Android phone manufacturers. But then again, it flies in the face of one aspect of the brand’s stated ethos: clean, bloat-free software. And if business considerations forced concessions in this area, it makes you question how long Lock Glimpse will stay off by default.

We reached out to Nothing to clarify whether these features will make their way to the Phone 3a Lite.

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite is available now in Europe on the company website. The 128GB model costs €249 (EU) / £249 (UK). Meanwhile, the 256GB model will set you back €279 (EU) / £279 (UK). We’ve asked Nothing about US pricing and availability, and we’ll update this story when we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-nothing-phone-3a-lite-has-a-big-battery-and-triple-camera-system-130016149.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: Sen. Tom Cotton wasn’t fast enough in 2022 to block Senate passage of legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent. Three years later, he wasn’t about to repeat that same mistake. The Arkansas Republican was on hand Tuesday afternoon to thwart a bipartisan effort on the chamber floor to pass a bill that would put an end to changing the clocks twice a year, including this coming Sunday. […] A cross-party coalition of lawmakers has been trying for years to make daylight saving time the default, which would result in more daylight in the evening hours with less in the morning, plus bring to a halt to biannual clock adjustments.

President Donald Trump endorsed the concept this spring, calling the changing of the clocks “a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” His comments coincided with a hearing, then a markup, of Scott’s legislation in the Senate Commerce Committee. It set off an intense lobbying battle in turn, pitting the golf and retail industries — which are advocating for permanent daylight saving time — against the likes of sleep doctors and Christian radio broadcasters — who prefer standard time. “If permanent Daylight Savings Time becomes the law of the land, it will again make winter a dark and dismal time for millions of Americans,” said Cotton in his objection to a request by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to advance the bill by unanimous consent. “For many Arkansans, permanent daylight savings time would mean the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8:00 or even 8:30am during the dead of winter,” Cotton continued. “The darkness of permanent savings time would be especially harmful for school children and working Americans.”

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There are plenty of reasons to buy shoes at your local running store instead of online or at a big box store, including a more knowledgeable staff and the fact that you’re supporting your local running community. But another biggie is the fact that many will take returns even after you’ve gone for a few runs in your shoes.

In case you don’t have a local store with this policy, it’s good to know that some larger brands and online stores will also take returns of lightly worn shoes. Fleet Feet and Running Warehouse are among the bigger stores that offer this perk; some online running shoe stores (like Roadrunner) will include it as part of a membership. But several running shoe brands offer a no-questions-asked return policy themselves, so if you know that you love (say) Nikes, you can buy from the brand directly.

Do not feel bad about taking advantage of this policy. The whole idea is that you can trust your body to tell you whether the shoes are working, rather than stressing during a brief try-on about whether you think these shoes will work for you. If you can’t help but feel guilty, you can make it up by buying your next new pair of shoes from the same place. They do it because they’re trying to win you as a loyal customer.

Adidas asks for shoes to be unworn for most returns, but it has a separate policy for its “performance” running shoes, which include all its popular running shoes, from the $65 Runfalcon on up.

Altra prominently advertises “30 day trial runs, guaranteed.” You’ll need a return label but you can get it online for free or at your return location. Altra allows returns “if you are not completely satisfied” during those 30 days.

Brooks will accept returns within 90 days, even if you’ve run in the shoes: “Run in it, sweat in it, inside, outside, in the rain—if it doesn’t perform the way it should, send it back.”

Hoka has a 30-day return policy (60 days for members), even if you’ve worn the shoes. “Try them out, that’s what our 30-day Guarantee is all about.”

Newton accepts returns within 30 days “for any reason with as much or as little wear and tear on them” as they happen to have.

Nike will let you return shoes, even if they’ve been worn, within 60 days of purchase. It refers to the 60-day time as your “trial” period and does not require the shoes to be unworn. There are exceptions, including items purchased at Nike Clearance stores.

Please note that policies can change, and that they often vary by country. Customer service staff can sometimes help you out even if you fall outside the official policy, but don’t count on it. Still, if you’ve bought shoes, run in them, and weren’t happy, it can’t hurt to ask.

YouTube will enforce new rules that are supposed to strengthen the enforcement of its guidelines around online gambling and graphic video game content starting on November 17. One of the biggest changes it’s implementing is age-restricting gaming videos featuring realistic human characters in scenes depicting torture or mass violence against non-combatants. 

The streaming website says it will take into account the duration and prominence of the scene in a video when reviewing one. For compilation videos, it will consider the cumulative duration of the scenes classified as graphic under its policies. Any video placed behind an age check barrier will be inaccessible to viewers under 18 or to anybody who’s not signed into their Google accounts. YouTube didn’t specify the duration that would get a video restricted, but a spokesperson told The Verge that “certain content may be age-restricted if it’s non-fleeting or zoomed in.” Creators can get around the restriction, however, by blurring any violent scene. 

In addition, YouTube is implementing stricter online gambling rules. It already prohibits videos directing people to online gambling sites or apps not certified by Google. Starting on November 17, it will also prohibit online gambling videos that involve items with monetary value, including digital goods like NFTs and game skins. The website is also age-restricting content with online casino-style games, even if they don’t involve items with real monetary value. 

YouTube will review old videos and remove them or put them behind age checks if they’re found to be in violation of the new rules, but it will not issue strikes to creators if they were uploaded before November 17. Creators can also edit their videos before that date with the website’s trim and blur editing tools. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-will-strengthen-enforcement-around-violent-and-gambling-games-in-november-123051469.html?src=rss

It has been nearly one month since many parts of the federal government shut down after lawmakers missed a budget deadline at the end of September, but so far, NASA’s most critical operations have been unaffected by the political impasse in Washington, DC.

That may change soon. Federal civil servants and NASA contractors are not getting paid during the shutdown, even if agency leaders have deemed their tasks essential and directed them to continue working. Jobs classified as essential include employees operating and safeguarding the International Space Station and NASA’s fleet of robotic probes exploring the Solar System and beyond.

Many employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida remain at work, too. Their job is to keep the Artemis II mission on schedule for launch as soon as next February. In the four weeks since the start of the government shutdown, crews at Kennedy Space Center have completed several major milestones on the road to Artemis II, including the stacking of the Orion spacecraft atop its Space Launch System rocket inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. This milestone, completed about one week ago, capped off assembly of the SLS rocket for Artemis II.

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Apple is planning to introduce OLED displays to its iPad Air, iPad mini and MacBook Air devices, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported. The technology offers deeper blacks and better contrast than the LCDs currently used on those devices, which would make them better for things like content creation and entertainment. However, OLED is also more expensive, so it could result in higher prices on future models.

The company is currently testing versions of each product with OLED screens, according to people familiar with the matter. That display tech is usually reserved for higher-end PCs and tablets — right now, Apple only uses OLED screens in its iPad Pro lineup (apart from iPhones). However, it may be looking to boost flagging sales of Mac and iPad products, with OLED displays offering buyers a good reason to upgrade.

The first device to gain the tech will probably be the iPad mini that may launch next year, according to Gurman’s sources. The OLED version, code-named J510, may cost up to $100 more thanks to the new display and an updated water-resistant design. The iPad Air and MacBook Air will follow later on, possibly in 2028 in the case of the latter. 

Earlier this month, both Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would release a MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen in late 2026 or early 2027 — despite the fact that Steve Jobs famously hated touchscreens. It’s not clear if the MacBook Air with OLED would also have a touch display. 

On top of the contrast and black level advantages, OLED displays are lighter than LCDs as they don’t require a backlight. The main drawback is a lack of brightness. Apple’s current MacBook Pros use MiniLED tech that does offer higher brightness levels, but has inferior contrast compared to OLED. Take these rumors with a grain of salt, of course, and even if they’re accurate, Apple’s plans may change.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apple-will-reportedly-shift-to-oled-displays-for-macbooks-ipad-air-and-mini-120005423.html?src=rss

Uber’s robotaxi service with EV maker Lucid and self-driving car company Nuro is officially coming to the Bay Area in 2026. The ride-hailing service previously announced plans to deploy at least 20,000 self-driving Lucid cars powered by Nuro’s driving software in July. The partnership between the companies also included investment from Uber in both Nuro and Lucid.

Uber’s final robotaxi experience will offer rides in Lucid Gravity SUVs running the Nuro Driver Level 4 autonomy system, and be available exclusively through the company’s app. Ahead of launch, Uber says Lucid and Nuro are also helping to build out an “Engineering Test Fleet” of over 100 robotaxis to run safety tests. “Nuro will lead the development and validation of a comprehensive safety case across dozens of categories,” Uber says, “using simulations, closed course testing, and supervised on-road testing to verify that the robotaxi will operate safely.” The final service will be fully owned and operated by Uber.

Since Uber sold off its own self-driving software team in 2020, the company has worked with multiple self-driving car companies to continue to offer robotaxis on its service. Just in 2025, Uber partnered with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, announced plans to work with Momenta in Europe and debuted a partnership with Volkswagen to offer self-driving ID.Buzz vans. This Lucid and Nuro deal is really just one way the company is making serious investments in self-driving.

“The Bay Area has long been the birthplace of transformative technology, and it’s only fitting that Uber’s next-generation robotaxi program with Lucid and Nuro will begin here — launching to the public next year,” Sachin Kansal, Uber’s Chief Product Officer, shared in a press release. “By combining deep expertise in electric vehicles, autonomy, and ride-hailing, we’re laying the groundwork for safe and scalable autonomous rides in the Bay Area and beyond.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-and-lucids-robotaxis-will-debut-in-the-bay-area-in-2026-120000876.html?src=rss

Engadget has been reviewing the latest devices for over two decades, adding well over 100 in-depth product tests to our tally every year. For 2025, we have compiled a list of the best gear we reviewed this year based on the highest review scores in each category. From Pixel to iPad, and Switch 2 to Sony WH-1000XM6, our reviews team has spent thousands of hours testing new products this year to discover the best of the best. Now it’s your turn to rediscover the best gadgets of 2025, including explanations from our editors as to why these products were rated so highly.

Best overall phone: Google Pixel 10 Pro

Best iPhone: iPhone 17 Pro

Best foldable: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Best laptop: MacBook Air M4

Best Windows laptop: Dell 14 Premium

Best smartwatch: Apple Watch Series 11

Best tablet: Apple iPad Air (M3, 13-inch)

Best desktop: Apple Mac Studio M4 Max

Best gaming handheld: Nintendo Switch 2

Best headphones: Sony WH-1000XM6

Best earbuds: Apple AirPods Pro 3

Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Best GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

Best drone: DJI Mavic 4 Pro

Best camera: Sony A1 II

Best smart glasses: Ray-Ban Meta (2nd gen)

Best home theater: Anker Nebula X1

Best kitchen appliance: Ninja Swirl by Creami

Best kitchen accessory: Thermoworks RFX

Best EV: 2026 Nissan Leaf

Best VPN: Proton VPN

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadgets-best-of-2025-114500543.html?src=rss

When OpenAI launched its TikTok-like Sora app, a key feature was “Cameo” that allows people to add any likeness to videos they generate. Now the maker of Cameo, an app that allows you to buy short videos from celebrities, has filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of violating its trademark by using the same name, Reuters reported. It claims that OpenAI’s use of “Cameo” is likely to cause consumer confusion and dilute its brand. 

“Via the conduct alleged in this Complaint, OpenAI has knowingly co-opted a well-established, federally registered trademark, ignoring… the clear risk of consumer confusion, and the irreparable harm that will be inflicted on Plaintiff’s Cameo trademark rights and brand,” the complaint states. 

Open AI is reviewing the complaint, but “disagree[s] that anyone can claim exclusive ownership over the word ‘cameo,'” a spokesperson told Reuters. Meanwhile, Cameo’s CEO Steven Galanis said it tried to resolve the dispute “amicably,” but OpenAI refused to stop using the name.  

Cameo lets users choose from a stable of celebrities — including the likes of Jon Gruden, Lisa Vanderpump and Colin Mochrie — to create short, personalized videos. Prices range from around $30 to $600 per video. 

Sora, meanwhile, uses OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generation tech to create and share videos. The app immediately drew attention over potentially unauthorized use of anime, deceased celebrities and other legally protected sources. 

Cameo stated that OpenAI not only used its name, but starting offering its own cameo service using deepfake likenesses of celebrities like Mark Cuban and Jake Paul. “Users seeking a personalized celebrity video [could] use Plaintiff’s Cameo service to book talent and receive an authentic, custom video prepared by that celebrity, or use Sora’s ‘Cameo’ service to create an extremely realistic AI-generated video featuring a celebrity’s likeness,” the lawsuit states.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/openai-sued-for-trademark-infringement-over-soras-cameo-feature-113047158.html?src=rss

I really like Surfshark VPN. Like I said in my full Surfshark review, it’s the fastest VPN on the market, with download speeds that beat all the other best VPNs. It also gives you universal split tunneling, multi-hop with customizable endpoints and unlimited simultaneous connections.

Surfshark does have its flaws, though. The apps hang up on error messages a bit too often and features sometimes turn on when you don’t need them. If anything about Surfshark is annoying you enough that you’re ready to switch, here’s how you can cancel your subscription, get a refund and (if you want) delete your account altogether.

How to cancel auto-renewal on Surfshark

To cancel Surfshark, all you need to do is stop your subscription from automatically renewing. After you cancel auto-renewal, you can keep using Surfshark for the rest of the period you paid for (unless you get the refund or delete your account entirely). Assuming you bought your subscription through the Surfshark website, follow these steps to cancel.

1. Go to Surfshark.com. At the top-right of the screen, click My account.

2. Enter your username and password, then log in. You’ll be taken to your account dashboard at my.surfshark.com.

3. At the top-right of the screen, click your account email address. Click on Subscription in the drop-down menu.

4. Click the Payments tab under the words “Your subscription.”

5. Scroll down to the “Subscription details” section. Next to your Surfshark subscription, click on Cancel auto-renewal.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

That’s all there is to it. Remember that unless it’s been 30 days or less since you subscribed, you won’t be able to get a refund, and Surfshark doesn’t offer prorating for unused time. Additionally, you can always cancel Surfshark by simply opening a live-chat window and asking the support team to do it for you — just be warned that you’ll probably be asked to reconsider several times first.

How to cancel Surfshark if you subscribed through an app store

If you subscribed through an app store, the cancellation process is different. You’ll have to stop your auto-renewal through the platform where you first bought the subscription. In this section, I’ll cover how to cancel through the desktop versions of each app store, since requests submitted there are more likely to work. Just note that you can do the same thing by going to the subscriptions section of your profile on the appropriate mobile app store.

If you bought Surfshark through the Google Play Store, open play.google.com on a desktop computer. Click the circle at the top-right that contains your account’s first initial, then click Payments & subscriptions in the menu that appears. On the new page, click the Subscriptions tab, then scroll down until you find Surfshark. Click Manage, click Cancel Subscription and follow the instructions.

If you went through the Apple App store, a desktop computer is also the easiest way to cancel. Open the App Store in macOS, click Sign In at the bottom-left, then enter your email and Apple ID password. After signing in, check the bottom-left again and click your name, then click Account Settings at the top-right. Click Subscriptions, find Surfshark, then click Edit and Cancel Subscription.

How to cancel Surfshark if you subscribed through Amazon

You can buy Surfshark through Amazon, but if you do, you’ll also have to cancel through Amazon. Go to Amazon and log in to your account. At the top-right, click Account & Lists, then Membership & Subscriptions. Scroll until you find Surfshark and click Cancel Subscription. After that, follow the onscreen prompts.

How to delete your Surfshark account

It’s possible to delete your Surfshark account and immediately end your association with every Surfshark app, but there’s no direct method — your only option is to start a live chat conversation. To do that, go to support.surfshark.com, scroll to the bottom and click Chat with us. In the conversation window, tell the bot you want to delete your Surfshark account. Be prepared to fend off several requests for you to reconsider.

How to get a refund from Surfshark

Surfshark offers a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Live chat is the only way to request a refund. Go to support.surfshark.com and click Chat with us at the bottom of the page, then tell the live chat bot you want a full refund. It’ll guide you from there.

Sam Chapman for Engadget

If you subscribed through Amazon or an app store, you’ll need to request the refund through there instead. The typical refund policy for each platform applies, superseding Surfshark.

Surfshark alternatives

After you’ve cancelled Surfshark, I strongly recommend considering another VPN — it’s not only a vital privacy precaution, but opens up worlds of streaming fun as well. My favorite for both price and performance is Proton VPN, but NordVPN is also a good choice, providing a similar experience to Surfshark but with apps that function a bit better. If you’re prepared to pay a bit more for a service that works seamlessly, ExpressVPN may be for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/how-to-cancel-your-surfshark-subscription-110005758.html?src=rss

Longtime Slashdot reader zuki writes: According to a recent report over at Tom’s Hardware, a number of those among early buyers who have been able to put the highly-coveted $4,000.00 DGX Spark mini-AI workstation through its paces are reporting throttling at 100W (rather than the advertised 240W capacity), spontaneous reboots, and thermal issues under sustained load. The workstation came under fire after John Carmack, the former CTO of Oculus VR, began raising questions about its real-world performance and power draw. “His comments were enough to draw tech support from Framework and even AMD, with the offer of an AMD-driven Strix Halo-powered alternative,” reports Tom’s Hardware.

“What’s causing this suboptimal performance, such as a firmware-level cap or thermal throttling, is not clear,” the report adds. “Nvidia hasn’t commented publicly on Carmack’s post or user-reported instability. Meanwhile, several threads on Nvidia’s developer forums now include reports of GPU crashes and unexpected shutdowns under sustained load.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

China is accelerating its biotech ambitions by pushing the limits of animal testing and gene editing (source paywalled; alternative source) while Western countries tighten ethical restrictions. “Editing the genes of large animals such as pigs, monkeys and dogs faces scant regulation in China,” reports Bloomberg. “Meanwhile, regulators in the US and Europe demand layers of ethical reviews, rendering similar research involving large animals almost impossible.” From the report: Backing the work of China’s scientists is not only permissiveness but state money. In 2023 alone, the Chinese government funneled an estimated $3 billion into biotech. Its sales of cell and gene therapies are projected to reach $2 billion by 2033 from $300 million last year. On the Chinese researchers’ side are government-supported breeding and research centers for gene-edited animals and a public largely in approval of pushing the boundaries of animal testing.

The country should become “a global scientific and technology power,” Xi said, declaring biotechnology and gene editing a strategic priority. For decades, the country’s pharmaceutical companies specialized in generics, reproducing drugs already pioneered elsewhere. Delving head first into gene editing research may be key to China’s plan to develop innovative drugs as well as reduce its dependence on foreign pharmaceutical companies.

The result is a country that now dominates headlines with stories of large, genetically modified animals being produced for science — and the catalog is startling. Its scientists have created monkeys with schizophrenia, autism and sleep disorders. They were the first to clone primates. They’ve engineered dogs with metabolic and neurological diseases, and even cloned a gene-edited beagle with a blood-clotting disorder.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

California-based AI and robotics company 1X is now accepting pre-orders for its humanoid robot NEO, which was designed to automate everyday chores and to offer personalized assistance. Users will be able to control NEO and have it accomplish tasks around the house with the click of a button or a verbal command. It will come with the ability to do basic tasks autonomously when it starts shipping next year, including opening doors, fetching items and turning the lights on or off. However, if early adopters want NEO to be capable of more specific or complex tasks, they’d have to be comfortable with the idea of a human teleoperator controlling the robot remotely and seeing inside their homes. 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, 1X CEO Bernt Børnich explained that the AI neural network running the machine still needs to learn from more real-world experiences. Børnich said that anybody who buys NEO for delivery next year will have to agree that a human operator will be seeing inside their houses through the robot’s camera. It’s necessary to be able to teach the machines and gather training data so it can eventually perform tasks autonomously. “If we don’t have your data, we can’t make the product better,” he said. 

Børnich admitted that much of the work will be done by teleoperators in the beginning. Owners will have access to an app where they can schedule when the teleoperator can take over NEO and where they can specify the task they want the machine to do. He said 1X is putting control in the hands of the owner to respect people’s privacy as much as possible. The company can blur people so that the remote operator doesn’t see them, and owners can designate no-go zones in their homes that the operator cannot go to. Teleoperators also cannot take control of NEO without the owner’s approval. Of course, there’s always potential security breaches to think of — Børnich at least assured that NEO has several layers of security to prevent it from hurting people. 

1X NEO is available in tan, gray and dark brown. It’s now available for pre-order from the company’s website with a deposit of $200. Those who want early access to it can get it for $20,000, but it will also be available as a subscription service of $499 a month. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/1x-neo-is-a-20000-home-robot-that-will-learn-chores-via-teleoperation-040252200.html?src=rss

It’s been nearly three years since Withings first showed off U-Scan to a bemused world, and now it’s finally on sale. U-Scan is the company’s at-home urinalysis gizmo which sits in your toilet bowl and tests your first splash of the day. The device runs a tiny sample through a microfluidic to test, depending on what cartridge you use, either your nutritional or kidney health. These results are then sent to the Withings app, letting you track the quality of your urine over time. Your humble narrator holds the dubious honor of being the first reporter to test the U-Scan during its debut, and found the results pretty interesting.

There are two cartridges available at launch, the first dubbed Nutrio, which looks at your body’s response to nutrition. It will look at your urine’s pH, specific gravity, ketones and the presence of vitamin C over time. Those factors can help you understand if your diet is too acidic, how much fluid you’re drinking on a regular basis, if you’re burning fat, and your anti oxidant intake. The company says that Nutri will be of special interest to people taking GLP-1 medication for weight loss to help them monitor changes to their nutrition levels. Calci, meanwhile, will track your urine’s pH, specific gravity and calcium levels, to keep an eye on your risk of developing kidney stones.

Naturally, such a tool will not be the most affordable in the world, and you can expect to pay a hefty price to own one. Pay $379.95 and you’ll be able to get a U-Scan, a single cartridge that will last for three months, and access to Withings+. The options are then split across “Proactive” and “Intensive” Plans, with the former giving you 2-4 analyses per week, while the latter runs near-daily. If you want the closer monitoring, then $449.96 will get you two cartridges and Withings+ access, which will last you the same three month window. As for replacement cartridges, those on the Proactive tier will spend $99.95 every quarter, while those in team Intensive will pay $179.95. As part of signing up for Withings+, you’ll get a free coaching session with a registered dietician available in all 50 states.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/withings-380-toilet-mounted-urine-analyzer-is-finally-ready-to-buy-040146049.html?src=rss

The Japan Mobility Show kicks off in Tokyo this week, and Mazda is using the occasion to show off a couple of concepts it says embody a theme called “the joy of driving fuels a sustainable tomorrow.” One of these is the Vision X-Coupe, which Mazda says shows off the evolution of its KODO design language—something we first saw at the Tokyo show a decade ago.

You can see a clear visual link between the renderings of the Vision X-Coupe and some of Mazda’s current models like the 3 hatchback or the CX-30 crossover, but translated through the long, low form factor of a four-door coupe. The design language is perhaps less interesting than some of the sustainability ideas that Mazda is exploring here, though.

The powertrain is a 503 hp (375 kW) plug-in hybrid that uses a two-rotor turbocharged rotary engine as the internal combustion part of the equation. Mazda says it should have a total range of 500 miles (800 km), with a range of 100 miles (160 km) on battery power alone.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, Westinghouse announced that it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration that would purportedly see $80 billion of new nuclear reactors built in the US. And the government indicated that it had finalized plans for a collaboration of GE Vernova and Hitachi to build additional reactors. Unfortunately, there are roughly zero details about the deal at the moment. The agreements were apparently negotiated during President Trump’s trip to Japan. An announcement of those agreements indicates that “Japan and various Japanese companies” would invest “up to” $332 billion for energy infrastructure. This specifically mentioned Westinghouse, GE Vernova, and Hitachi. This promises the construction of both large AP1000 reactors and small modular nuclear reactors. The announcement then goes on to indicate that many other companies would also get a slice of that “up to $332 billion,” many for basic grid infrastructure. The report notes that no reactors are currently under construction and Westinghouse’s last two projects ended in bankruptcy. According to the Financial Times, the government may share in profits and ownership if the deal proceeds.

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At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said society will ultimately accept a fatal robotaxi crash as part of the broader tradeoff for safer roads overall. TechCrunch reports: The topic of a fatal robotaxi crash came up during Mawakana’s interview with Kristen Korosec, TechCrunch’s transportation editor, during the first day of the outlet’s annual Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Korosec asked Mawakana about Waymo’s ambitions and got answer after answer about the company’s all-consuming focus on safety. The most interesting part of the interview arrived when Korosec brought on a thought experiment. What if self-driving vehicles like Waymo and others reduce the number of traffic fatalities in the United States, but a self-driving vehicle does eventually cause a fatal crash, Korosec pondered. Or as she put it to the executive: “Will society accept that? Will society accept a death potentially caused by a robot?”

“I think that society will,” Mawakana answered, slowly, before positioning the question as an industrywide issue. “I think the challenge for us is making sure that society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to.” She said that companies should be transparent about their records by publishing data about how many crashes they’re involved in, and she pointed to the “hub” of safety information on Waymo’s website. Self-driving cars will dramatically reduce crashes, Mawakana said, but not by 100%: “We have to be in this open and honest dialogue about the fact that we know it’s not perfection.”

Circling back to the idea of a fatal crash, she said, “We really worry as a company about those days. You know, we don’t say ‘whether.’ We say ‘when.’ And we plan for them.” Korosec followed up, asking if there had been safety issues that prompted Waymo to “pump the breaks” on its expansion plans throughout the years. The co-CEO said the company pulls back and retests “all the time,” pointing to challenges with blocking emergency vehicles as an example. “We need to make sure that the performance is backing what we’re saying we’re doing,” she said. […] “If you are not being transparent, then it is my view that you are not doing what is necessary in order to actually earn the right to make the roads safer,” Mawakana said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.