On Monday, Samsung family scion and chair Lee Jae-yong (aka, Jay Y. Lee) said the company is facing “a do-or-die survival issue.” Today its executive leadership doubled-down on promises to better compete globally at its annual meeting. These five charts compiled by the Financial Times explain the urgency:
In an effort to help preserve intellectual property and fight misinformation and misattribution, AI-generated video outputs from Nvidia’s Cosmos world foundation models will include SynthID digital watermarks. That makes Nvidia the first external user of Google DeepMind’s watermarking tech, announced back in 2023.
Update: Nvidia now says only video outputs will be watermarked, not text and audio as originally told to The Verge.
This hiking shoe incorporates similar midsole tech as those Nike running shoes that helped so many marathoners break records since 2017. As an avid hiker myself, I had to test Merrell’s new FlexPlate and the promise of “underfoot propulsion.”
Spoiler: It works, and helps reduce foot fatigue over long distances, but the stack height made me feel unstable at times. Oh, and Merrell’s SpeedARC Surge BOAs ain’t cheap at $290.
That’s a quote from Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong (aka, Jay Y. Lee), delivered in a message sent to a few thousand executives undergoing education seminars, according to Yonhap’s sources. Last year, it was reported that Samsung shifted executives to a six-day workweek to “inject a sense of crisis” after falling behind in AI semiconductors. More recently, TVs, smartphones, and lucrative DRAM sales have also seen declining market shares.
The long time Apple pundit and preservationist minced no words in calling “bullshit” on Apple after re-examining the AI-infused personalized Siri features — now delayed — announced at WWDC in June of last year:
“The fiasco is that Apple pitched a story that wasn’t true, one that some people within the company surely understood wasn’t true, and they set a course based on that.”
For Gruber, the conditions that allowed this to happen are an existential threat to the company. If Tim Cook doesn’t address the root cause, “then, I fear, that’s all she wrote. The ride is over.”
[daringfireball.net]
8
Verge Score
Testing ‘the most versatile e-bike in the world.’
The 20-inch all-terrain wheels and extended wheelbase make the ride less twitchy compared to the iconic British foldable and it still packs up incredibly small for those last-mile commutes. Prices start at $3,300 for the non-electric pedal bike. The Electric G models will be available Stateside in the fall with a 20mph top speed and handlebar controls for a price that’s TBD, but will likely demand a 40 percent premium if European pricing holds true. Look for my review in the coming weeks.
US consumers hoping to avoid price increases associated with Trump’s tariffs can’t just “buy American,” not with supply chains spanning North America and the world. The New York Times explores the impact tariffs will have on US automakers who are particularly at risk given the number of cars assembled in Mexico and Canada — with US-made engines and transmissions — before being shipped back across the border for purchase.
7
Verge Score
Travel bag or photo workstation, you choose.
Two weeks after Apple announced its first 5G modem touting unmatched power efficiency in the iPhone 16E, its former supplier has announced its 8th gen 5G modem-to-antenna solution which includes mmWave support for gigabit throughput unlike Apple’s C1 modem. The Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF “sets new standards for 5G and gives connectivity leadership to the Android ecosystem.”
