Monty Python and the Holy Grail is widely considered to be among the best comedy films of all time, and it’s certainly one of the most quotable. This absurdist masterpiece sending up Arthurian legend turns 50 (!) this year.
It was partly Python member Terry Jones’ passion for the Middle Ages and Arthurian legend that inspired Holy Grail and its approach to comedy. (Jones even went on to direct a 2004 documentary, Medieval Lives.) The troupe members wrote several drafts beginning in 1973, and Jones and Terry Gilliam were co-directors—the first full-length feature for each, so filming was one long learning process. Reviews were mixed when Holy Grail was first released—much like they were for Young Frankenstein (1974), another comedic masterpiece—but audiences begged to differ. It was the top-grossing British film screened in the US in 1975. And its reputation has only grown over the ensuing decades.
The film’s broad cultural influence extends beyond the entertainment industry. Holy Grail has been the subject of multiple scholarly papers examining such topics as its effectiveness at teaching Arthurian literature or geometric thought and logic, the comedic techniques employed, and why the depiction of a killer rabbit is so fitting (killer rabbits frequently appear drawn in the margins of Gothic manuscripts). My personal favorite was a 2018 tongue-in-cheek paper on whether the Black Knight could have survived long enough to make good on his threat to bite King Arthur’s legs off (tl;dr: no).
DJI has released an update to its Avinox motor, increasing the Turbo mode’s power from 850W to 1,000W.
Previously, the Avinox’s 1,000W maximum output was only available in a 30-second Boost mode designed to assist on the steepest gradients, but will now be constantly on tap in Turbo mode.
DJI says it is “closely monitoring the EU regulations and is committed to adhering to established guidelines”.
Whether the Chinese brand’s update is coincidental or pays no heed to the proposed changes is unclear. Either way, it’s likely to prove controversial with european manufactures such as Bosch, who have backed the campaign to limit motor power output.
Free firmware update
DJI’s Avinox motor already came with some mind-bending stats. Forbidden
The power increase comes as part of DJI’s 1.1.0 app version, released on 26 April, which the brand says is a “grey version intended for the collection of feedback”.
“App version 1.1.1 released on the same day addressed compatibility issues,” DJI explained. “We’re preparing to release a new firmware update in May, with specific details to be shared upon the official release. We appreciate your attention and patience as we work to provide you an improved experience.
“We’re closely monitoring the EU regulations and are committed to adhere to established guidelines. We are also committed to providing our users with support in light of any regulatory changes that may impact our products.
“Should such circumstances arise, we will ensure that our users have access to the necessary resources and guidance for adapting their purchased products.”
Alongside the 150W boost to Turbo mode, the update brings more control over charging, enabling you to choose a charging rate, with faster speeds resulting in speedier top-ups and slower prolonging battery life.
We already found the Avinox-equipped Amflow to have plenty of power. Andy Lloyd / Our Media
You can also change the length of Boost mode, enabling you to set it above the previous limit of 30 seconds.
The touchscreen will now present more data. Andy Lloyd / Our Media
The UX of the topbar-mounted screen has also been updated, with data now being shown in bar and line charts.
A stopwatch function has also been added, which should enable you to time your runs or see how long you’ve been waiting for your mates at the top of the hill.
What does this mean for EU regulation?
While it seems DJI has doubled down on its high-power ebike motor, many European manufacturers have welcomed legislation to limit motor output.
The feeling is that many manufacturers see electric bikes as having a Goldilocks position in the market, with no registration or licensing required to own or operate an EAPC-regulated bike.
The fear for some brands is that increasing maximum power will give legislators more reason to push for registration and licensing, which will likely impact sales.
This could be perceived as the European brands protecting the market from Chinese disrupters such as DJI and Bafang.
The once-celebrated partnership between OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella is deteriorating amid fundamental disagreements over computing resources, model access, and AI capabilities, according to WSJ. The relationship that Altman once called “the best partnership in tech” has grown strained as both companies prepare for independent futures.
Tensions center on several critical areas: Microsoft’s provision of computing power, OpenAI’s willingness to share model access, and conflicting views on achieving humanlike intelligence. Altman has expressed confidence OpenAI can build models with humanlike intelligence soon — a milestone Nadella publicly dismissed as “nonsensical benchmark hacking” during a February podcast.
The companies retain significant leverage over each other. Microsoft can block OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit entity, potentially costing the startup billions if not completed this year. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s board can trigger contract clauses preventing Microsoft from accessing its most advanced technology.
After Altman’s brief ouster in 2023 — dubbed “the blip” within OpenAI — Nadella pursued an “insurance policy” by hiring DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman for $650 million to develop competing models. The personal relationship has also cooled, with the executives now communicating primarily through scheduled weekly calls rather than frequent text exchanges.
Puzzling Places has inspired more than 400,000 VR players. Now the studio has announced a PC VR version, as well as a 2D version for PC and the Steam Deck.
The co-founder of the open-source company Nextcloud reminds us that the free software philosophy that’s the foundation of open source is much more than a software development model.<
The Trinity Desktop Environment as a long ago fork of the KDE 3.5 desktop released TDE R14.1.4 on Sunday as the newest maintenance release with various bug fixes and minor feature improvements…
According to an email posted on Duolingo’s LinkedIn, the language learning app will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.” Co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn also said the company will be “AI-first.” The Verge reports: According to von Ahn, being “AI-first” means the company will “need to rethink much of how we work” and that “making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there.” As part of the shift, the company will roll out “a few constructive constraints,” including the changes to how it works with contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.”
von Ahn says that “Duolingo will remain a company that cares deeply about its employees” and that “this isn’t about replacing Duos with AI.” Instead, he says that the changes are “about removing bottlenecks” so that employees can “focus on creative work and real problems, not repetitive tasks.”
“AI isn’t just a productivity boost,” von Ahn says. “It helps us get closer to our mission. To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale. One of the best decisions we made recently was replacing a slow, manual content creation process with one powered by AI. Without AI, it would take us decades to scale our content to more learners. We owe it to our learners to get them this content ASAP.”
Nixplay has dramatically reduced its free cloud storage offering for digital photo frame users from the original 10GB to just 500MB. The previously announced update, which took effect last week, also removed the formerly free ability to sync Google Photos albums. Users whose accounts already exceed the new 500MB limit will find their content “restricted from sharing or viewing” unless they edit their library or purchase a subscription. Nixplay now offers two paid tiers: Nixplay Lite at $19.99 annually for 100GB storage and Nixplay Plus at $29.99 yearly for unlimited storage.
Under President Trump, the Food and Drug Administration may no longer approve seasonal COVID-19 vaccines updated for the virus variants circulating that year, according to recent statements by Trump administration officials.
Since the acute phase of the pandemic, vaccine manufacturers have been subtly updating COVID-19 shots annually to precisely target the molecular signatures of the newest virus variants, which continually evolve to evade our immune responses. So far, the FDA has treated these tweaked vaccines the same way it treats seasonal flu shots, which have long been updated annually to match currently circulating strains of flu viruses.
The FDA does not consider seasonal flu shots brand-new vaccines. Rather, they’re just slightly altered versions of the approved vaccines. As such, the regulator does not require companies to conduct lengthy, expensive vaccine trials to prove that each slightly changed version is safe and effective. If they did, generating annual vaccines would be virtually impossible. Each year, from late February to early March, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization direct flu shot makers on what tweaks they should make to shots for the upcoming flu season. That gives manufacturers just enough time to develop tweaks and start manufacturing massive supplies of doses in time for the start of the flu season.
OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPT’s search tool to include shopping features, allowing users to receive personalized product recommendations, view images and reviews, and access direct purchase links using natural language queries. TechCrunch reports: When ChatGPT users search for products, the chatbot will now offer a few recommendations, present images and reviews for those items, and include direct links to webpages where users can buy the products. OpenAI says users can ask hyper-specific questions in natural language and receive customized results. To start, OpenAI is experimenting with categories including fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics. OpenAI is rolling out the feature in the default AI model for ChatGPT, GPT-4o, today for ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Free users, as well as logged-out users around the globe.
[…] OpenAI claims its search product is growing rapidly. Users made more than a billion web searches in ChatGPT last week, the company told TechCrunch. OpenAI says it’s determining ChatGPT shopping results independently, and notes that ads are not part of this upgrade to ChatGPT search. The shopping results will be based on structured metadata from third parties, such as pricing, product descriptions, and reviews, according to OpenAI. The company won’t receive a kickback from purchases made through ChatGPT search. […] Soon, OpenAI says it will integrate its memory feature with shopping for Pro and Plus users, meaning ChatGPT will reference a user’s previous chats to make highly personalized product recommendations. The company previously updated ChatGPT to reference memory when making web searches broadly. However, these memory features won’t be available to users in the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
Calming jigsaw simulator Puzzling Places is coming to PC VR this year.
Once only available on Quest, indie darling Puzzling Places is coming to PC VR soon. While no release date has been confirmed yet, studio Realities.io has confirmed both a VR mode and, for the first time, a flatscreen mode for the 3D jigsaw puzzler. Well received in its initial launch, our review back in 2021 called it “a resounding success.”
0:00
/1:18
With over 30 puzzles ranging from impressive 3D photogrammetry images to original situations created for the game, there is no shortage of creativity on display. Landmarks such as the Great Sphinx of Giza or a live concert coming to life are some options to discover in these intricately designed dioramas. With no timers, Puzzling Places’ ambient music and clever brain-teasers lend to a slow gameplay experience that requires your full attention.
The puzzles are available from a simple 25-piece all the way up to 1000 pieces, accommodating all types of players. This lends itself to a flexible approach to play, either in brief sessions or tackling larger challenges depending on your mood. There are also two modes to choose from: tabletop and snack mode. In the first one, you arrange the fractured image piece by piece, and the latter offers quick, curated puzzle sessions.
Since the Iberian Peninsula lost power in a massive blackout, grid operators are in the process of trying to restore power to millions of customers and businesses. As you might imagine, the process—termed a “black start”—is quite a bit more challenging than flicking on a switch. However, the challenge is made considerably more difficult because nearly everything about the system—from the management hardware that remotely controls the performance of the grid to the power plants themselves—needs power to operate.
Restarting the grid
You might think that a power plant could easily start generating power, but in reality, only a limited number of facilities have everything they need to handle a black start. That’s because it takes power to make power. Facilities that boil water have lots of powered pumps and valves, coal plants need to pulverize the fuel and move it to where it’s burned, etc. In most cases, black-start-rated plants have a diesel generator present to supply enough power to get the plant operating. These tend to be smaller plants, since they require proportionally smaller diesel generators.
The initial output of these black start facilities is then used to provide power to all the plants that need an external power source to operate. This has to be managed in a way that ensures that only other power plants get the first electrons to start moving on the grid, otherwise the normal demand would immediately overwhelm the limited number of small plants that are operating. Again, this has to be handled by facilities that need power in order to control the flow of energy across the grid. This is why managing the grid will never be as simple as “put the hardware on the Internet and control it remotely,” given that the Internet also needs power to operate.
New submitter MicroBitz shares a report: SPROUT, short for Soft Pathfinding Robotic Observation Unit, is a flexible, vine-like robot developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame. Unlike rigid robots or static cameras, SPROUT can “grow” into tight, winding spaces that are otherwise inaccessible, giving first responders a new way to explore, map and assess collapsed structures. Beyond disaster response, the technology could be adapted for inspecting military systems or critical infrastructure in hard-to-reach places, making SPROUT a versatile tool for a variety of high-stakes scenarios. “The urban search-and-rescue environment can be brutal and unforgiving, where even the most hardened technology struggles to operate. The fundamental way a vine robot works mitigates a lot of the challenges that other platforms face,” says Chad Council, a member of the SPROUT team, which is led by Nathaniel Hanson.
“The mechanical performance of the robots has an immediate effect, but the real goal is to rethink the way sensors are used to enhance situational awareness for rescue teams,” adds Hanson. “Ultimately, we want SPROUT to provide a complete operating picture to teams before anyone enters a rubble pile.”
You can see the SPROUT vine robot in action in a YouTube video from MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
But what it can’t do is ‘unilaterally claw back a community project and its infrastructure, assets, and branding’. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) has filed a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office to prevent Synadia from using the logo and domain for NATS, the open source messaging system.…
On Thursday, OpenAI announced the addition of shopping features to ChatGPT Search. The new feature allows users to search for products and purchase them through merchant websites after being redirected from the ChatGPT interface. Product placement is not sponsored, and the update affects all users, regardless of whether they’ve signed in to an account.
Adam Fry, ChatGPT search product lead at OpenAI, showed Ars Technica’s sister site Wired how the new shopping system works during a demonstration. Users researching products like espresso machines or office chairs receive recommendations based on their stated preferences, stored memories, and product reviews from around the web.
According to Wired, the shopping experience in ChatGPT resembles Google Shopping. When users click on a product image, the interface displays multiple retailers like Amazon and Walmart on the right side of the screen, with buttons to complete purchases. OpenAI is currently experimenting with categories that include electronics, fashion, home goods, and beauty products.
