These are the articles, videos and more that caught the attention of TechCentral’s editorial team in the past 48 hours.
- Big Tech is rushing to find clean power to fuel AI’s insatiable appetite: The tech sector’s plans to reduce carbon emissions have been waylaid by the boom in generative artificial intelligence. Gen AI workloads are compute-intensive, power-hungry and require more water to cool the GPUs running the computations. Big Tech is now looking to geothermal energy and other greener power sources to reduce carbon emissions. Read more in the The Wall Street Journal (hard paywall). NN
- Apple is redesigning the Mac mini – here’s everything we know: Apple is set to launch a redesigned Mac mini in October, featuring a smaller, more compact design similar to the Apple TV. The new model will offer two versions: one with the M4 chip and another with the M4 Pro, promising improved performance, memory and graphics. The redesign includes more USB-C ports, ditching USB-A, while maintaining HDMI, Ethernet and headphone connectivity. Shipping is expected to begin in November. Read more on 9to5Mac. DM
- How do people actually ‘die from old age’?: “Death from old age” isn’t an actual cause of death but a simplified term for underlying health issues that arise as the body wears down. As people age, they become more vulnerable to conditions like heart disease, cancer or infections, which ultimately cause death. A peaceful death often involves the gradual shutting down of bodily functions rather than sudden heart failure. Read more on Gizmodo. DM
- Jony Ive confirms he’s working with Sam Altman on a secret project: Former Apple designer Jony Ive has confirmed that his design company, LoveFrom, is working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on a secret AI project. The collaboration involves a team of about 10 employees, including former Apple designers Tang Tan and Evans Hankey. The project aims to create a less socially disruptive computing experience using AI, though details and a release timeline remain undisclosed. Read more on Engadget. DM
- Electronic warfare spooks airlines, pilots and air-safety officials: GPS spoofing is increasingly affecting commercial flights worldwide, with more than 1 100 incidents daily by August 2023. Fake signals, used in military operations, disrupt aircraft navigation and safety systems, causing false alerts and navigation errors. While pilots are trained to handle such issues, these distractions pose serious risks during emergencies. Airlines and regulators are developing fixes, but solutions are still in progress, raising concerns about potential accidents. Read more in The Wall Street Journal (hard paywall). DM
- Amazon fell behind in AI. An Alexa creator is leading its push to catch up: Amazon has tasked Rohit Prasad with rebooting its AI efforts to compete with OpenAI, Microsoft and Google. Prasad’s team, overseeing thousands of employees, is focused on upgrading Alexa with large language models, but they are still behind competitors like ChatGPT. Amazon’s internal AI struggles with reliability for basic tasks, but the company plans to unveil a new, smarter Alexa soon, while exploring partnerships and large investments to catch up. Is it all too late? Read more in The Wall Street Journal (hard paywall). DM
- Space crew returns to Earth after longest stay on ISS: Two Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub returned to Earth after breaking the record for the longest stay on the International Space Station. They were aboard for 374 days – that’s over a year in space. Kononenko has been off-planet for a cumulative 1 111 days. Watch the video on BBC News. NN
- Telegram will share user IP addresses, phone numbers with police upon request: A month after French authorities charged him with enabling drug trafficking and child abuse on his platform, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced on Monday that the popular messaging app has taken several steps to weed out illegal material. Read more on Gizmodo. TS
- New tech could improve care for Parkinson’s patients: Despite the number of people with Parkinson’s disease doubling in the last 25 years, the diagnostic tools for identifying the disease and its severity are still in the Stone Age. Now, researchers at Stanford have developed a digital diagnostic tool, giving doctors a more objective measure of the illness for the first time. Read more on Medical Xpress. NN
- Fitbit․com going away in October, fully replaced by Google Store: This migration started in January with help.fitbit.com articles being transferred over to the existing support.google.com infrastructure used by every other first-party product and service. There’s more on 9to5Google. TS
Top stories on TechCentral in the past 48 hours:
- You may soon need a TV licence to watch Netflix
- Blue Label is not ‘stripping’ Cell C’s assets, Icasa hears
- Good luck to Qualcomm in getting Intel inside
- OpenAI rolls out new ChatGPT voice assistant
- CrowdStrike apologises for Windows IT disaster
Bookmarks is a daily feature on TechCentral and published Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
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