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Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Google is apparently going to be more secretive about its AI breakthroughs.

    A paper (PDF) published by Google described the Transformer neural net architecture that is the “T” in OpenAI’s GPT, but the Washington Post reports we shouldn’t expect to see that happen again.

    Now the Post says Google Research leader Jeff Dean shifted away from a previous approach of “encouraging researchers to publish academic papers prolifically.”

    Instead:

    Google would take advantage of its own AI discoveries, sharing papers only after the lab work had been turned into products, Dean said, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private information.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Four Proud Boys members, including leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.

    CNN reports a jury convicted four members of the far-right group for their involvement in the mob that stormed the US Capitol building on January 6th, 2021.

    The jury continues to deliberate on a few other charges, including assault against specific officers and destruction of government property.

    Google announces the Pixel FoldGoogle announces the Pixel Fold
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Spoiler alert.

    While ever-so-optimistically noting this is a preview of the Earth’s fate (in another 5 billion years or so), scientists at MIT, Harvard, and Caltech say that for the first time, they were able to see a star expand and engulf a nearby planet.

    This horror show was captured within our own galaxy and included the use of NASA’s asteroid-hunting Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) to capture infrared light indicating dust released from the disintegrating planet.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    If nothing else works, try threats.

    Just as Twitter extended an olive branch to the MTA with free API access, Elon Musk emailed an NPR reporter threatening to reassign the outlet’s account.

    The NPR stopped posting last month after Twitter tried adding account labels indicating it was controlled by the government.

    Twitter’s own rules indicate an account is active as long as someone’s logging in, not whether they’re posting. But, those rules also used to use NPR as an example of an account that didn’t fit the criteria of a “state-owned” media organization. Things change.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Google isn’t waiting to get the May Pixel / Android security updates out.

    For anyone keeping their Android phone current with the latest patches, Google has two new patch levels, dated for the first and the fifth of this month, to address security issues discovered on the platform; you can get all the info on those right here.

    And for Google Pixel owners, here are the details on the May update, which is supposed to improve touch screen response on the Pixel 7 Pro and address a glitch that could make lock screen elements overlap with the home screen launcher UI.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Lo-fi beats to orbit the Earth to.

    Whether you put this up on the big screen now or bookmark it for a later session, NASA’s put together nearly an hour of 4K footage of the Earth with some relaxing music for your screensaving needs.

    The videos were captured over the last year from the International Space Station during Expeditions 67 and 68.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The Starship took a chunk out of its launch tower and everything underneath.

    This picture, apparently posted to a forum for Beechcraft airplane owners, claims to show the damage underneath the tower where Starship launched on Thursday.

    In some video footage of the launch, you can see what’s said to be large pieces of concrete flying into the air along with Starship.

    Elon Musk previously tweeted that not building in a flame diverter “could turn out to be a mistake,” but it looks like Starship dug one of its own anyway, prompting several people to say the company designed reusable rockets with single use launch mounts.