Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Xiaomi could replace MIUI with MiOS for smartphones

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is reportedly considering replacing its MIUI Android interface with a new operating system called MiOS. The company is planning changes for the upcoming version of its custom interface, with speculation that MIUI 15 may not be released. It is unclear whether MiOS will be a new operating system or just another Android-based skin. Xiaomi has a global user base of over 564 million monthly active users, and the new interface may be exclusive to users in China. However, Xiaomi is still testing MIUI 15 and plans to release it with its upcoming Xiaomi 14 smartphones. https://ift.tt/HadA41V

Zebronics launches a series of lifestyle laptops: All the details

Zebronics has introduced laptops under its Pro Series Y and Pro Series Z, including models with Dolby Atmos for immersive sound. The laptops, powered by Intel processors and running on Windows 11, offer up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD storage. The Pro Series Y starts at Rs 27,990 ($375), while Pro Series Z starts at Rs 31,990 ($430). The laptops are available on Flipkart and Amazon. All models have a 15.6-inch FHD display and multiple connectivity options. https://ift.tt/GPmF8JY

Monday, October 9, 2023

An investigation details FTX staff's all-night race to stop a crypto heist as the exchange collapsed, ultimately losing $415M to $432M to unidentified hackers (Andy Greenberg/Wired)

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
An investigation details FTX staff's all-night race to stop a crypto heist as the exchange collapsed, ultimately losing $415M to $432M to unidentified hackers  —  The same chaotic day FTX declared bankruptcy, someone began stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from its coffers.



Investors and analysts: Intel, Nvidia, and others in Israel are set to fortify security and face disruptions after Hamas attacks; Nvidia cancels an AI summit (Reuters)

Reuters:
Investors and analysts: Intel, Nvidia, and others in Israel are set to fortify security and face disruptions after Hamas attacks; Nvidia cancels an AI summit  —  Tech companies operating in Israel are expected to fortify security as they could face disruptions, said investors and analysts …



A look at Discogs, a user-generated music database and marketplace for physical music media, as sellers complain about the website's old tech and increased fees (Natalie Weiner/The Verge)

Natalie Weiner / The Verge:
A look at Discogs, a user-generated music database and marketplace for physical music media, as sellers complain about the website's old tech and increased fees  —  A home for music diehards has been fractured by increased fees that are pushing sellers and shoppers to other platforms.



Sunday, October 8, 2023

Fortnite maker vs Google: List of witnesses includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai and these top execs

Epic Games and Match Group, among others, have accused Google of antitrust violations in the Android app market. The list of witnesses to testify in the upcoming trial has been released, including top executives from both companies, such as Sundar Pichai and Tim Sweeney. Andy Rubin, a co-founder of the Android operating system, may also be called as a witness. Epic alleges that after being ousted from the Google Play Store, Google engaged in anti-competitive practices. Both Google and Apple removed Epic from their app stores for violating their rules. https://ift.tt/n51EqNP

LLMs trained on voice, text, and video chats can now detect and mimic emotions like empathy, which could impact fields like customer service, HR, mental health (Lisa Bannon/Wall Street Journal)

Lisa Bannon / Wall Street Journal:
LLMs trained on voice, text, and video chats can now detect and mimic emotions like empathy, which could impact fields like customer service, HR, mental health  —  Artificial Intelligence is getting smart enough to express and measure human empathy.  Here's how the new technology could change healthcare …



Q&A with Dr. Lloyd Minor, dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, on generative AI in medicine, privacy risks, responsible deployment, and more (Jo Craven McGinty/Wall Street Journal)

Jo Craven McGinty / Wall Street Journal:
Q&A with Dr. Lloyd Minor, dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, on generative AI in medicine, privacy risks, responsible deployment, and more  —  The dean of Stanford University's medical school thinks artificial intelligence will transform the medicines you take, the care you get and the training of doctors



IIT-Delhi researchers achieve breakthrough in quantum communication

Researchers at IIT-Delhi have made a breakthrough in secure quantum communication, achieving a distance of 380km with a low error rate. The achievement is significant for securing financial transactions and secret codes. The findings were published in the "Nature Scientific Reports" journal. This development is expected to revolutionize cyber security and make digital transactions safer. The researchers believe this will lead to the commercial production of long-distance secure quantum key devices. https://ift.tt/zaRNSAE

Sources: Apple is trying to make the next Vision Pro more comfortable to wear and Meta is aiming to release true AR glasses in 2025 and a cheaper Quest (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is trying to make the next Vision Pro more comfortable to wear and Meta is aiming to release true AR glasses in 2025 and a cheaper Quest  —  Apple's Vision Pro and Meta's Quest 3 haven't even been released yet, but the two companies are already deep into work on follow-up products.



One in four people in the US who reported losing money to fraud between January 2021-June 2023 said it started on social media, resulting in losses worth $2.7B (Emma Fletcher/Federal Trade Commission)

Emma Fletcher / Federal Trade Commission:
One in four people in the US who reported losing money to fraud between January 2021-June 2023 said it started on social media, resulting in losses worth $2.7B  —  Scammers are hiding in plain sight on social media platforms and reports to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network point to huge profits.



Saturday, October 7, 2023

The UK FCA plans to name firms violating its crypto promotion rules, which will be widened on October 8 to include cryptoasset providers regardless of location (Emily Nicolle/Bloomberg)

Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
The UK FCA plans to name firms violating its crypto promotion rules, which will be widened on October 8 to include cryptoasset providers regardless of location  —  - Watchdog will add firms to warning list starting on Sunday  —  The UK's Financial Conduct Authority will move fast to name …



A research paper details how decomposing groups of neurons in a neural network into interpretable "features" may improve safety by enabling monitoring of LLMs (Anthropic)

Anthropic:
A research paper details how decomposing groups of neurons in a neural network into interpretable “features” may improve safety by enabling monitoring of LLMs  —  Neural networks are trained on data, not programmed to follow rules.  With each step of training …



IDC says Google shipped 37.9M Pixel phones between 2016 and 2023, suggesting the company shipped a record ~10M phones over the last 12 months (Ben Schoon/9to5Google)

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
IDC says Google shipped 37.9M Pixel phones between 2016 and 2023, suggesting the company shipped a record ~10M phones over the last 12 months  —  Google Pixel is still a minor player in the global smartphone market, but the brand continues to move along.  As the Pixel 8 series launched this week …



Samsung announces OneUI 6.0, based on Android 14: All the details

Samsung has announced One UI 6, the latest version of its software for phones, at the Samsung Developer Conference 2023. The new software, based on Android 14, focuses on improving usability and enhancing photo and video editing capabilities. It includes features such as a revamped Quick panel, AI-powered Gallery app, multi-layer video editor, and improvements to various apps like Weather, Calendar, and Reminder. The beta program for One UI 6 is currently available for Galaxy Z Fold5 and Galaxy Z Flip5 users. https://ift.tt/5qvunBH

Alibaba's DAMO Academy releases RynnBrain, an open-source foundation model to help robots perform real-world tasks like navigating rooms, trained on Qwen3-VL (Saritha Rai/Bloomberg)

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg : Alibaba's DAMO Academy releases RynnBrain, an open-source foundation model to help robots perform real-worl...