Amazon’s decade-old acquisition of Annapurna Labs has emerged as a pivotal element in its AI strategy, with the once-secretive Israeli chip design startup now powering AWS infrastructure. The $350 million deal, struck in 2015 after initial talks between Annapurna co-founder Nafea Bshara and Amazon executive James Hamilton, has equipped the tech giant with custom silicon capabilities critical to its cloud computing dominance.

Annapurna’s chips, particularly the Trainium processor for AI model training and Graviton for general-purpose computing, now form the foundation of Amazon’s AI infrastructure. The company is deploying hundreds of thousands of Trainium chips in its Project Rainier supercomputer being delivered to AI startup Anthropic this year. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who led AWS when the acquisition occurred, described it as “one of the most important moments” in AWS history.

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Dutch researchers have recalculated the timeline for cosmic decay via Hawking-like radiation and found that the universe may end much sooner than previously thought — around 10^78 years, rather than 10^1100. Phys.Org reports: The research by black hole expert Heino Falcke, quantum physicist Michael Wondrak, and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom (all from Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) is a follow-up to a 2023 paper by the same trio. In that paper, they showed that not only black holes, but also other objects such as neutron stars, can “evaporate” via a process akin to Hawking radiation. After that publication, the researchers received many questions from inside and outside the scientific community about how long the process would take. They have now answered this question in the new article.

The researchers calculated that the end of the universe is about 1078 years away, if only Hawking-like radiation is taken into account. This is the time it takes for white dwarf stars, the most persistent celestial bodies, to decay via Hawking-like radiation. Previous studies, which did not take this effect into account, put the lifetime of white dwarfs at 101100 years. Lead author Heino Falcke said, “So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time.”

The findings have been published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

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Over 400 prominent UK media and arts figures — including Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Ian McKellen — have urged the prime minister to support an amendment to the Data Bill that would require AI companies to disclose which copyrighted works they use for training. The Register reports: The UK government proposes to allow exceptions to copyright rules in the case of text and data mining needed for AI training, with an opt-out option for content producers. “Government amendments requiring an economic impact assessment and reports on the feasibility of an ‘opt-out’ copyright regime and transparency requirements do not meet the moment, but simply leave creators open to years of copyright theft,” the letter says.

The group — which also includes Kate Bush, Robbie Williams, Tom Stoppard, and Russell T Davies — said the amendments tabled for the Lords debate would create a requirement for AI firms to tell copyright owners which individual works they have ingested. “Copyright law is not broken, but you can’t enforce the law if you can’t see the crime taking place. Transparency requirements would make the risk of infringement too great for AI firms to continue to break the law,” the letter states.
Baroness Kidron, who proposed the amendment, said: “How AI is developed and who it benefits are two of the most important questions of our time. The UK creative industries reflect our national stories, drive tourism, create wealth for the nation, and provide 2.4 million jobs across our four nations. They must not be sacrificed to the interests of a handful of US tech companies.” Baroness Kidron added: “The UK is in a unique position to take its place as a global player in the international AI supply chain, but to grasp that opportunity requires the transparency provided for in my amendments, which are essential to create a vibrant licensing market.”

The letter was also signed by a number of media organizations, including the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, and the National Union of Journalists.

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ZDNet’s Steven Vaughan-Nichols marks Reddit’s 20 years of being “the front page of the internet,” recalling its evolution from a scrappy startup into a cultural powerhouse that shaped online discourse, meme culture, and the way millions consume news and entertainment. Slashdot is also given a subtle nod in the opening line of the article. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt: In 2005, if you were into social networks focused on links, you probably used Digg or Slashdot. However, two guys, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, recent graduates from the University of Virginia, wanted to create a hub where users could find, share, and discuss the internet’s most interesting content. Little did they know where this idea would take them. After all, their concept was nothing new. Still, after Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, the startup accelerator and seed capital firm, had shot down their first idea — a mobile food-ordering app — they pitched what would become Reddit to Graham, and he gave it his blessing. Drawing inspiration from sites like Delicious, a now-defunct social bookmarking service, and Slashdot, Huffman and Ohanian envisioned Reddit as a platform that would combine the best aspects of both: a place for sharing timely, ephemeral news and fostering vibrant community discussions of not just technology, but any topic users cared about. Their guiding mission was to build “the front page of the internet,” a simple, user-driven site where anyone could submit content, and the community, not algorithms or editors, would decide what was most important through voting and discussion. They deliberately prioritized user participation and conversation over flashy features or heavy editorial control.

What set Reddit apart from its early rivals was its framework. Instead of one large all-in-one interface, the site borrowed the idea from pre-internet online networks, such as CompuServe, of smaller sub-networks devoted to a particular topic. These user-created communities, “subreddits,” quickly set it apart from other social platforms. As Laurence Sangarde-Brown, co-founder of TechTree, wrote: “This design allows users to delve into focused discussions, ask questions, and exchange ideas on a scale unmatched by other platforms.” That approach was not enough, though, to kick-start Reddit. The founders had to “fake it until they made it.” They seeded the site with fake accounts to make it appear more active. Their efforts paid off, as real users soon flocked to the platform. Another crucial early change was when Reddit merged with Aaron Swartz’s Infogami and introduced commenting. This move was vital for laying the groundwork for the site’s interactive, community-driven experience. […]

So, where does Reddit go from here? We’ll see. Reddit’s legacy is one of transformation: from a scrappy startup to a global hub for conversation, collaboration, and sometimes controversy. As it celebrates 20 years, Reddit remains a testament to how important online communities can be in a world increasingly filled with AI slop. Still, Huffman believes Reddit’s true value is coming. In a recent Reddit post, he wrote: “Reddit works because it’s human. It’s one of the few places online where real people share real opinions. That authenticity is what gives Reddit its value. If we lose trust in that, we lose what makes RedditReddit. Our focus is, and always will be, on keeping Reddit a trusted place for human conversation.” Huffman concluded: “The last 20 years have proven how powerful online communities can be — and as we look ahead, I’m even more excited for what the next 20 will bring.”

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An anonymous reader shares a report: After weeks of news about Google’s antitrust travails, the tech giant will try to reset the narrative next week by highlighting advances it is making in artificial intelligence, cloud and Android technology at its annual I/O developer conference.

Ahead of I/O, Google has been demonstrating to employees and outside developers an array of different products, including an AI agent for software development. Known internally as a “software development lifecycle agent,” it is intended to help software engineers navigate every stage of the software process, from responding to tasks to documenting code, according to three people who have seen demonstrations of the product or been told about it by Google employees. Google employees have described it as an always-on coworker that can help identify bugs to fix or flag security vulnerabilities, one of the people said, although it’s not clear how close it is to being released.

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