Russia’s first AI humanoid robot, Aldol, fell just seconds after its debut at a technology event in Moscow on Tuesday. “The robot was being led on stage to the soundtrack from the film ‘Rocky,’ before it suddenly lost its balance and fell,” reports the BBC. “Assistants could then be seen scrambling to cover it with a cloth — which ended up tangling in the process.” Developers of Aldol blamed poor lighting and calibration issues for the collapse, saying the robot’s stereo cameras are sensitive to light and the hall was dark.

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Slashdot readers Tablizer and fjo3 share news that an AI-generated country song has topped the U.S. sales chart for the first time this week. ABC News reports: The new country tune, “Walk my Walk” by Breaking Rust, recently hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, reaching over 3 million streams on Spotify in less than a month. That success has garnered mixed reactions from music fans and artists alike, particularly on TikTok, where hundreds of users have posted videos addressing the tune and others discussing the music in the comments.

Billboard has acknowledged Breaking Rust is an AI act and said it is one of at least six to chart in the past few months alone. “Ultimately, this feels like an experiment to see just how far something like this can go and what happens in the future and in other disciplines of art as well,” senior entertainment reporter Kelley L. Carter told ABC News. “AI artists won’t require things that a real human artist will require, and once companies start considering it and looking at bottom lines, I think that’s when artists should rightly be concerned about it,” she added.

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Waymo is rolling out robotaxi rides that use freeways across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix for the first time — “a critical expansion for the company that it says will reduce ride times by up to 50%,” reports TechCrunch. From the report: That stat could help attract a whole new group of users who need to travel between the many towns and suburbs within the greater San Francisco Bay Area or quicken commutes across the sprawling Los Angeles and Phoenix metro areas. Using freeways is also essential for Waymo to offer rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the company is currently testing in.

The service won’t be offered to all Waymo riders at first, the company said. Waymo riders who want to experience freeway rides can note their preference in the Waymo app. Once the rider hails a ride, they may be matched with a freeway trip, according to the company.

The company’s robotaxi routes will now stretch to San Jose, an expansion that will create a unified 260-mile service area across the Peninsula, according to Waymo. The company said it will also begin curbside drop off and pick up service at the San Jose Mineta International Airport. It already offers curbside service to the Sky Harbor Phoenix International Airport.

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I still haven’t gotten around to watching the first Super Mario movie because my movie queue is already like 600 movies long. I really have to start returning these Netflix DVDs. This is the trailer for the upcoming The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It looks very promising. You know, the Super Mario Galaxy video game holds a special place in my heart because I played it at a time in my life when things weren’t going so hot, and it helped. I mean not that they’ve gotten any better since, but hey, now I’m playing Borderlands 4.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Anthropic announced plans Wednesday to spend $50 billion on a U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out, starting with custom data centers in Texas and New York. The facilities, which will be designed to support the company’s rapid enterprise growth and its long-term research agenda, will be developed in partnership with Fluidstack.

Fluidstack is an AI cloud platform that supplies large-scale graphics processing unit, or GPU, clusters to clients like Meta, Midjourney and Mistral. Additional sites are expected to follow, with the first locations going live in 2026. The project is expected to create 800 permanent jobs and more than 2,000 construction roles. The investment positions Anthropic as a major domestic player in physical AI infrastructure at a moment when policymakers are increasingly focused on U.S.-based compute capacity and technological sovereignty. “We’re getting closer to AI that can accelerate scientific discovery and help solve complex problems in ways that weren’t possible before. Realizing that potential requires infrastructure that can support continued development at the frontier,” said CEO Dario Amodei. “These sites will help us build more capable AI systems that can drive those breakthroughs, while creating American jobs.”

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Sometimes, the best features in a new operating system aren’t the flashy ones that get broadcast during a keynote. They’re subtle improvements that naturally fit into how you use your device and just make the experience better. One of those appears to be coming in the next macOS update. The dev beta of Tahoe 26.2 includes a feature that essentially lets your computer screen function as a ring light during a video call.

It’s called Edge Light and it illuminates a rectangular band around the edge of the screen. Apple’s Neural Engine will also position the light based on where it detects your face in the video frame. There are some controls for making the light warmer or cooler, and it can be set to turn on automatically once the brightness in your environment dims. Edge Light doesn’t cover the top menu bar, and it will also move out of the way if the cursor hovers over it so that you can still use your laptop normally while on a call. 

Edge Light will only be available on MacBooks from after 2024 that are running on Apple’s Silicon. It may not be a true replacement for a ring light, but it’s probably a step up from opening a bunch of blank Google Docs to try and illuminate yourself for a last-minute meeting.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/the-next-macos-update-can-turn-your-screen-into-a-ring-light-234410504.html?src=rss

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Summer might have passed, but if you’re looking for a year-round portable speaker that’s durable and rugged enough to survive the outdoors (and multiple drops), the JBL Charge 6 is down to $129.95 (originally $199.95) on Amazon, marking its lowest price. If you don’t need one for yourself, this speaker would also make a great gift.

JBL Charge 6

$129.95
at Amazon

$199.95
Save $70.00

$129.95
at Amazon

$199.95
Save $70.00

While the price bump from the Charge 5 is modest, the number of upgrades is impressive. This model is fully waterproof, has an extended battery life, and an even bigger woofer. While the Charge 6 is slightly larger than its predecessor, it comes with a new ergonomic carry handle that keeps it ultra-portable. 

It can survive drops up to three feet and has an IP68 rating (an upgrade from its previous IP67 rating), which means it can be submerged under five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. Its single USB-C connection on the back handles charging, lossless wired audio connections, and power output to charge other devices. The 34-watt-hour battery runs up to 24 hours and doubles as a power bank for devices like phones or tablets in need of charging. It can charge up in just three hours, but it’s worth noting that you’ll need your own charging brick and USB cable as they’re not included in the package.  

App customization is limited to simple controls, but it does feature a customizable seven-band EQ, and this PCMag review calls the sound “surprisingly punchy” with a more robust audio response than similarly compact speakers. It provides loud, clear, and balanced sound (even outdoors). While the PlayTime Boost setting increases volume while conserving battery, it comes at the cost of bass, meaning it may be worthwhile for podcasts or audiobooks, but it could impact how your music sounds.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a small but powerful speaker that performs well and is built to last, the JBL Charge 6 is a great, feature-packed choice, and at $129.95, it’s an absolute steal for a new model. However, if you’re an audiophile looking for stereo speaker quality or bass on par with a subwoofer, this might not be the right fit. 

Longtime Slashdot reader hadleyburg writes: For a user with an Android phone and who’s happy to stick within the Google ecosystem, an Android tablet might seem like the more obvious choice over an iPad. Of course, iPads are a lot more popular, and asking about Android tablets is likely to invite advice about sticking with what everyone else has.

The Slashdot community on the other hand — being a discerning and thoughtful crowd — might have some experience in this area and be willing to share the pros and cons they have found.

The use case is someone not requiring any heavy usage — no video editing or gaming — just email, browsing, YouTube, video calls, and that sort of thing.

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If you’re looking for a new QD-OLED TV with fantastic picture quality from a reputable brand, the Sony QD-OLED 77″ Bravia XR A95L Series is currently $3,798 (originally 4,999.99), bringing this popular TV down to its lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. 

Sony QD-OLED 77 inch Bravia XR A95L Series 4K Ultra HD TV

$3,798.00
at Amazon

$4,999.99
Save $1,201.99

$3,798.00
at Amazon

$4,999.99
Save $1,201.99

This TV offers a wide color gamut and exceptional, lifelike color thanks to the QD-OLED panel, which also delivers perfect OLED blacks without any blooming. For shoppers with a large room or those who view the TV off-center, the ultra-wide viewing angle is a major plus. 

A step up from the A95L (reviewed in PCMag), the Dolby Vision HDR on this smart TV performs well and handles reflections and glare with ease. Compared to the A95L, it manages bright scenes better, offers more refined visuals, and delivers a better gaming experience, supporting 4K at 120Hz, VRR, Auto Low Latency Mode, and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. It also includes a Game Menu that keeps your gaming picture settings and assist settings in an easily accessible interface. For PlayStation 5 owners, it unlocks Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode for optimized picture quality.

That said, the A95L only has two HDMI ports, so if you need to connect multiple high-bandwidth devices, it may not be ideal. However, reviewers note that compared to similar televisions, its out-of-the-box calibration accuracy is impressive. 

If you’re looking for one of the most immersive TV picture experiences on the market with premium image fidelity, depth, and color richness (and don’t mind limited HDMI 2.1 ports), the Sony QD-OLED 77″ Bravia XR A95L Series is a solid large-screen option with standout value, especially at a $1,200 discount.

On Wednesday, OpenAI released GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking, two updated versions of its flagship AI models now available in ChatGPT. The company is wrapping the models in the language of anthropomorphism, claiming that they’re warmer, more conversational, and better at following instructions.

The release follows complaints earlier this year that its previous models were excessively cheerful and sycophantic, along with an opposing controversy among users over how OpenAI modified the default GPT-5 output style after several suicide lawsuits.

The company now faces intense scrutiny from lawyers and regulators that could threaten its future operations. In that kind of environment, it’s difficult to just release a new AI model, throw out a few stats, and move on like the company could even a year ago. But here are the basics: The new GPT-5.1 Instant model will serve as ChatGPT’s faster default option for most tasks, while GPT-5.1 Thinking is a simulated reasoning model that attempts to handle more complex problem-solving tasks.

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