It also demanded documents related to the AI companies’ safety practices, consumer privacy policies, and marketing materials, as part of “a probe focused on potential consumer protection violations,” Axios reports. Its sources also say the FTC “plans to compel top AI executives to testify about their products.”
A suspected gas cylinder explosion at Intel’s Kiryat Gat facility in southern Israel, where it makes its most advanced chips, has killed two workers and injured a third. JPost and CTech report that police believe a gas cylinder malfunctioned while trucks were loading material into tanks, causing serious burns to the victims and a leak of nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃).
We’ve written about the risks fab workers face, including the death of a truck driver in 2024 while transporting sulfuric acid waste at TSMC’s Arizona facility, and an Intel employee who worried cost-cutting and downsizing were adding extra risk.
Following wearables with playable versions of Tetris, Mega Man 2, and Pong, My Play Watch’s latest timepiece comes saturated in Street Fighter II theming including various faces inspired by the game’s characters, a matching strap, and a version of the fighting game optimized for tiny touchscreen controls. You can preorder it now for $79.99 with shipping expected later this year.
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The “Ask YouTube” feature, which pulls uses AI to generate a search results page populated with text and suggested videos to watch, popped up on mobile as an experiment in August. I tested the web version earlier this year, and in a few minutes using the mobile version, it’s pretty similar.
Six employees at the AI safety organization METR will gain access to hardware and internal tools “roughly on par” with what Anthropic’s own risk assessment team sees. While Anthropic says METR will publish reports about Anthropic’s risk levels, incidents, and practices, it can still instruct the safety evaluator to redact certain information, such as the inner workings of its models or customer data.
[Anthropic]
EasySMX’s upcoming $54.99 S05 Pro wireless controller doesn’t seem to leave out any features. It has a similar design to the X05 Pro, but with TMR sticks and more Switch features, like amiibo support, six-axis gyro, and one-button wake-up. More surprising are its two-stage Hall effect triggers that have dedicated rumble actuators (plus rumble in each grip). I’ll be testing it soon.
The “Crows” scene from the upcoming stop-motion fantasy film is less than two minutes long. Wildwood production designer Nelson Lowry told Variety it’s “the largest and most complex film” Laika has ever done. It comes out in theaters next week on October 23rd.
Google’s worldwide phone-powered earthquake alert system now covers even more of the planet. After launching in California in 2021 and eventually expanding to 98 countries and regions including Greece and New Zealand, the system is now available in over 200 regions with Panama, Guatemala, and more joining the list.
The website decomp.dev published a big statement following the recent influx of AI-assisted decompilations of games:
decomp.dev was originally designed to gamify decompilation: watching the progress go up was a fun way to stay motivated when every fraction of a percent took real human effort. Today, that same idea has warped decompilation into a hollow numbers game, exacerbated by folks who just want to burn tokens to make number go up or “port game to PC”, all else be damned. While the increased attention has brought in genuine folks who want to learn and contribute meaningfully, I believe that decomp.dev serving as a public index and leaderboard is now causing more harm than good.
In January 2024, the label announced a major cost-cutting initiative that is expected to run through 2027. As another round of layoffs is expected, several executives are leaving, including Tunji Balogun, Chairman and CEO of Def Jam Recordings; Nicole Wyskoarko and Sam Riback of Interscope Geffen A&M; Ben Mortimer, President of Polydor Label Group; Rebecca Allen, Chief Artist and Strategy Officer at Universal Music Group UK; and Mark Crossingham, Managing Director of UMG Ireland.
A Reddit user spotted the fake “Chrome” app as a sponsored suggestion above the real version. As Android Authority reports, the app was originally added to the Play Store as a “Ball Bounce” game before the developer reskinned it as a Chrome dupe.
You can use it as a regular USB webcam on Windows, macOS, or Linux PCs, but Arduino’s new plug-and-play accessory is primarily designed to work with computer vision models running on the UNO Q or Ventuno Q microcomputers. It’s got a built-in microphone so additional audio hardware isn’t needed and a touch-dimmable LED ring around the lens with an adjustable color temperature.
