Tag: Tesla
Virgin space flight set to take off, UK government defends access to private messages
The VSS Unity craft flies during a supersonic test flight. Image: Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight is set to take off this afternoon. Among the three passengers about the VSS Unity is 80-year-old British former Olympian Jon Goodwin. The flight is scheduled to take off at around 4pm…
iPhone users will soon be able to clone their own voice
Thanks to a new iPhone feature that lets anyone clone their voice with no technical chops and little time required, meeting anxiety may become a thing of the past. Announced back in May and now available as part of the public beta for iOS 17, the "personal voice" tool lets my voice read aloud any text whatsoever…
Google claims quantum computing breakthrough, Tesla delivers record number of EVs
Left: Artist's rendition of the Sycamore processor mounted in the cryostat. (Full Res Version; Forest Stearns, Google AI Quantum Artist in Residence) Right: Photograph of the Sycamore processor. (Full Res Version; Erik Lucero, Research Scientist and Lead Production Quantum Hardware) Google has developed a quantum computer that instantly makes calculations that would…
ShinyShiny snippets: EU votes for replaceable smartphone batteries
The European Parliament has voted yes to replaceable battery legislation, putting Apple on a path to a second redesign just over a year after USB-C charging ports were mandated in the bloc. Unlike the USB-C redesign, which has a 2024 deadline, the "portable battery" rule will come into play in 2027 at the earliest. That rule, by…
ShinyShiny snippets: AI deleting possible war crimes on social media sites
Image: BBC Evidence of potential human rights abuses may be lost after being deleted by tech companies, the BBC has found. Platforms remove graphic videos, often using artificial intelligence - but footage that may help prosecutions can be taken down without being archived. Meta and YouTube say they aim to balance…
ShinyShiny snippets: AI poses similar risk to ‘nuclear war’, experts warn
Artificial intelligence poses a similar risk of human extinction as pandemics and nuclear war, experts have warned. The boss of the firm behind ChatGPT, the head of Google's AI lab, and CEO of Anthropic - another major AI firm, have all signed an open letter. It reads: "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a…
Shiny Shiny snippets: Elon Musk’s brain chip firm Neuralink given go ahead for human trials
Elon Musk's brain chip firm Neuralink has said it has been given the go-ahead to start carrying out studies on humans. Neuralink said in a tweet on Thursday it had won the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "to launch our first-in-human clinical study!" It represents "an important first step that will…
ShinyShiny snippets: ‘Godfather of AI’ warns of growing dangers of technology
A man widely seen as the godfather of artificial intelligence (AI) has quit his job, warning about the growing dangers from developments in the field. Geoffrey Hinton, 75, announced his resignation from Google in a statement to the New York Times, saying he now regretted his work. He told the BBC some of the dangers…
ShinyShiny snippets: Microsoft claims block on Activision purchase ‘bad for Britain’
Microsoft has been blocked from buying Call of Duty publisher Activision by the UK's CMA Microsoft's president has attacked the UK after it was blocked from buying US gaming firm Activision, saying the EU was a better place to start a business. The move was "bad for Britain" and marked Microsoft's…
ShinyShiny snippets: US vinyl sales overtake CDs for first time since 1980s
Vinyl record sales outperformed CDs in the US for the first time since 1987, according to a new report. Just over 41 million vinyl records were sold in 2022, to the tune of $1.2bn (£.99bn). Only 33 million CDs were sold, amounting to $483m. It was the 16th consecutive year of growth for record sales, about…
