google - CybAI news

23 Sep

Attention, Spoiled Software Engineers: Take a Lesson from Google’s Programming Language

stp2y0 CommentsRAG modelscoding, computer science, computers, google, machine readable, programming, software

Many of today’s programmers—excuse me, software engineers—consider themselves “creatives.” Artists of a sort. They are given to ostentatious personal websites with cleverly hidden Easter eggs and parallax scrolling; they confer upon themselves multihyphenate job titles (“ex-Amazon-engineer-investor-author”) and crowd their laptops with identity-signaling vinyl stickers. Some regard themselves as literary sophisticates. Consider the references smashed into certain product names: Apache Kafka, ScyllaDB, Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Much of that, I admit, applies to me. The difference is I’m a tad short on talents to hyphenate, and my toy projects—with names like “Nabokov” (I know, I know)—are better off staying on my laptop. I…

19 Sep

Google passkeys can now sync across devices on multiple platforms

stp2y0 CommentsNewsgear, google, Google Password Manager, news, passkey, Passkeys

Google is rolling out a really useful update for Google Password Manager, allowing users to sync passkeys across their many devices. Up until this point, folks could only save passkeys to Google Password Manager on Android, so the cross-device utility was limited. It was possible to use the passkeys on other devices, but it would require users to scan a QR code.The update allows for passkey saving via Google Password Manager on Windows, macOS, Linux and, of course, Android. ChromeOS is currently being beta tested, so that functionality should come sooner rather than later. Google also says that iOS support…

18 Sep

Report: Google offered to sell AdX to end EU antitrust suit

stp2y0 CommentsNewsadvertising, antitrust, big tech, gear, google, lawsuit, news

In an effort to quell monopoly concerns in the EU, Google reportedly offered to sell its AdX advertising marketplace. Sources told that European publishers rejected Google's offer, arguing that the company would have to divest more in order to dismantle the conflicts of interest in its online advertising operations. Lawyers familiar with the antitrust cases said this was the first time Google had offered to sell off an asset in response to this type of lawsuit.Despite this alleged sale offer, Google is publicly standing firm about its adtech business. "As we have said before, the European Commission's case about our…

18 Sep

An Avalanche of Generative AI Videos Is Coming to YouTube Shorts

stp2y0 CommentsAIai lab, artificial intelligence, google, social media, youtube

Eli Collins, a vice president of product management at Google DeepMind, first demoed generative AI video tools for the company’s board of directors back in 2022. Despite the model’s slow speed, pricey cost to operate, and sometimes off-kilter outputs, he says it was an eye-opening moment for them to see fresh video clips generated from a random prompt.Now, just a few years later, Google has announced plans for a tool inside of the YouTube app that will allow anyone to generate AI video clips, using the company’s Veo model, and directly post them as part of YouTube Shorts. “Looking forward…

14 Sep

Amazon’s Audiobook Narrators Can Now Make Their Own AI Voice Clones

stp2y0 CommentsAIamazon, apple, artificial intelligence, gear roundup, google, meta

Synthetic voices have been proliferating for years, and the generative AI boom of the new ’20s has sped that process right along. AI voices are everywhere—in podcasts, in political campaigns, and in chatbots where they maybe-not-so-subtly replicate celebrity voices. Soon, they’ll be all up in your audiobooks too.Audible, the Amazon-owned audiobook company, announced a trial program for generating AI voice clones to read works in its audiobook marketplace. The announcement came via a post in ACX—Audiobook Creation Exchange—Audible’s service that lets authors and publishers turn written books into audiobooks.“We're taking measured steps to test new technologies to help expand our…

12 Sep

Utah judge blocks law preventing youth from accessing social media freely

stp2y0 CommentsNewsentertainment, google, meta, news, social media, Utah

On Tuesday, Chief US District Judge Robert Shelby granted a preliminary injunction to from limiting the social media usage of minors. Republican Governor Spencer Cox had signed the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act earlier in March. It was supposed to take effect on October 1, but the court’s decision to block the law is a victory for young social media users in Utah.This isn’t the first time Utah’s governor has attempted to use among the youths in the state. Last year, he signed two bills that required parents to grant permission for teens to create social media accounts,…

11 Sep

Google searches now link to the Internet Archive

stp2y0 CommentsNewscached, entertainment, google, internet, internet archive, news

Earlier this year, Google said goodbye to its feature, saying it’s no longer needed. While many were sad to see it go, we can now rejoice as Google is partnering with the Internet Archive to bring something substantially similar back. Thanks to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, you can now look at easily.Clicking on the three dots beside any search result will let you begin to access cached pages. Next, look for the “About this Result” panel and click “More About This Page.” Doing so will lead you to the Wayback Machine, allowing anyone to see snapshots of webpages from…

11 Sep

Pixel Watch 3 review: Google finally got it right, especially with the battery life

stp2y0 CommentsNewsgear, google, pixel watch 3, review, smartwatch, wearable

2024 might just be Google’s year – for its Pixel-branded hardware, at least. After impressing us with the Pixel 9 phones, the company is ready to release the Pixel Watch 3. Spoiler alert: It continues the trend of this year’s Pixel hardware feeling more mature and ready to take on the competition than ever. With the introduction of a new larger size and serious battery life improvements, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like a smartwatch worthy of the Fitbit and Google partnership. There are still some quirks the company has to iron out, but for now, the Pixel Watch 3…

11 Sep

Google announces deal with direct-air capture startup to remove carbon emissions

stp2y0 CommentsNewsbig tech, environment, google, news, tomorrow

Google that it has entered a partnership with Holocene to support its direct-air capture technology for collecting and removing carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. Under this $10 million deal, Google will purchase carbon removal credits from Holocene at a rate of $100 per metric ton. This is the price the US Department of Energy for direct-air capture technology to make it a viable part of efforts to reduce the rate at which we emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.As the name implies, direct-air capture can collect carbon dioxide out of the air, then concentrate the gas to be stored…

10 Sep

Inside Google’s 7-Year Mission to Give AI a Robot Body

stp2y0 CommentsAIaging, Alphabet, artificial intelligence, google, longreads, robotics, robots

Often during evenings and sometimes weekends, when the robots weren’t busy doing their daily chores, Catie and her impromptu team would gather a dozen or so robots in a large atrium in the middle of X. Flocks of robots began moving together, at times haltingly, yet always in interesting patterns, with what often felt like curiosity and sometimes even grace and beauty. Tom Engbersen is a roboticist from the Netherlands who painted replicas of classic masterpieces in his spare time. He began a side project collaborating with Catie on an exploration of how dancing robots might respond to music or…