With public opinion broadly against AI data centers, the Today, Explained podcast from Vox brought on Nicole Thomas, a marketing and PR exec who represents data center companies.
The “for” arguments are familiar (tax dollars, not all data centers are XXL-sized hyperscaler AI projects, and that what is needed is more transparency), and they also look at some of the attempts to make data centers friendlier, like Microsoft’s biomimicry camouflage.
In addition to latest quote posts, you can sort them by (what appears to be) the ones with the most engagement. Seems like a useful way to see which quote posts might be generating conversations of their own.
The Yashica Y16 Pocket Camera was announced last month as a modern redux of a retro film camera first introduced in 1959. Upgrades include a 12-megapixel sensor, an LCD display on the back, and a Xenon flash. You can preorder it through Yashica’s online store for $114.43 with shipping expected to start in November.
After being announced last June, you can now reserve Honeycomb Aeronautical’s $179.99 Echo Aviation Controller XPC without a deposit ahead of sales staring on November 20th. The gamepad swaps a standard layout for a collection of flight sim-specific controls like throttle levers, a trim wheel, rudder paddles, and even dedicated switches for deploying landing gear and applying an aircraft’s parking brake.
Toggling on the new “Surveillance” switch in the Map Options on MapQuest adds eyeball icons showing the locations of “known license plate readers” and outdoor surveillance cameras, similar to DeFlock’s ALPR mapping project.
Waymo announced that it’s coming to Canada — Toronto to be exact — with the goal of welcoming the first riders in 2028. The robotaxi company, flush with cash but still unprofitable, is increasingly looking at cities outside the US as it seeks to scale its operations. Waymo says it will start with data-gathering, manually driven cars before transitioning to fully autonomous ones. And once it starts its commercial service, Toronto-based Element Fleet Management will handle all the charging, cleaning, and maintenance of the vehicles.
Though OpenAI didn’t give its internal research model access to funds on the network, the AI system instead found a way to access another account with test crypto, using it to help complete its task, according to OpenAI.
The model “reasoned whether it had permission” but ultimately determined that the public recovery phrase associated with the account and the fact that it contained test tokens “made the funds acceptable to use.”
Nvidia’s new Arm-based laptop chip is an exciting new challenger, but exclusively for the high-end.
Hagerty’s Henry Catchpool sat down with Tesla VP for Engineering Lars Moravy to talk through the details of last night’s impressive Tesla Roadster demonstration. But behind all the flipping and flying (falling?) stunt work is some impressive engineering — as well as some surprising reveals. (The Roadster is rear-wheel drive?!?)
It’s okay to marvel at the stunt — it’s pure spectacle.
