2025-02-23
Earth’s 1st Asteroid Mining Prospector Heads to the Launchpad
The dream of mining metals in deep space crashed and burned in the 2010s. AstroForge’s Odin mission to survey a potentially metallic asteroid is packed and ready to lift off.
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The iOS 18.4 beta brings Matter robot vacuum support
The Switchbot S10 is one robot vacuum with Matter support.Apple released the first developer beta of iOS 18.4 yesterday, which users have since discovered contains support for robot vacuums in the Apple Home app through Matter.As spotted by 9to5Mac, Smart Home Centre confirmed the functionality using a Switchbot S10, which offers its own beta support for Matter. (Switchbot first added Matter robot vacuum support last year, but it required a hub and was kind of a hack.) Apple Home screenshots shared in the story show the robot vacuum’s Home widget (complete with a little robot vacuum glyph...
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Did xAI lie about Grok 3’s benchmarks?
Debates over AI benchmarks — and how they’re reported by AI labs — are spilling out into public view. This week, an OpenAI employee accused Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, of publishing misleading benchmark results for its latest AI model, Grok 3. One of the co-founders of xAI, Igor Babushkin, insisted that the company was […]© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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An XR game trilogy based on Neon Genesis Evangelion is in the works
South Korean game development studio Pixelity says it’s working on a series of XR games based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the first one will be released next year. In an emailed announcement, the studio said it’s planning a trilogy “based on the world and events of all 26 episodes” of the beloved anime.We don’t have much in the way of details just yet, but Pixelity says, “Players will experience the narrative through the eyes of an original character, exploring the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, taking on quests, and engaging in thrilling battles — all while following the...
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US AI Safety Institute could face big cuts
The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staffers, according to multiple reports — cuts that further threaten a fledgling AI safety organization. Axios reported this week that the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Chips for America, both part of NIST, would be “gutted” by layoffs targeting probationary employees […]© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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The pain of discontinued items, and the thrill of finding them online
We’ve all been there. A favorite item is suddenly unavailable for purchase. Couldn’t the manufacturer have given you advance warning? Whether owing to low sales, changing habits, production costs, or even because something is a little wrong with your favorite product (shh), discontinued items are part of life. In a weekend piece, the New York […]© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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The best smartphone you can buy for under $500
You can get a great device for less than $500 these days if you know how to pick your priorities. | Image: The VergeSome of us take a kind of “I eat to live” rather than an “I live to eat” approach to gadgets. They’re tools that help you get things done, not something you want to invest a lot of time or money in. If that’s you — and there’s no judgment here from a certifiable gadget nerd — then you can probably think of more worthwhile ways to spend $1,000 than on a phone.Budget phones to the rescue. These devices are roughly $500 or under, and they’re more capable than ever...
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Spotify HiFi was announced four years ago, and it’s almost here — maybe
I’m hard-pressed to find another example of a tech company announcing something and then waiting over four years to actually ship it, but that’s exactly the situation we’ve reached with Spotify and its long-delayed HiFi feature. The latest reports indicate it’s finally coming in a matter of months as part of a Music Pro package that Spotify hopes will ensure the service’s continued profitability.But this has become quite the saga.First introduced on February 22nd 2021, Spotify HiFi was to roll out later...
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Trump administration reportedly shutting down federal EV chargers nationwide
The General Services Administration, the agency that manages buildings owned by the federal government, is planning to shut down its entire network of electric vehicle chargers, according to a report in The Verge. The GSA reportedly operates a network of hundreds of EV chargers with a total of 8,000 plugs that can be used to […]© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
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AT&T will let you split your bill with people on your plan
AT&T has introduced SplitPay, a new payment option that lets those sharing a phone plan with others split their payment line-by-line, so no one person has to pay the entire bill. The company says the program is available for “select postpaid wireless plans,” and that those using SplitPay can still get multi-line discounts.It sounds like a nice idea, especially if you’ve ever had the experience of bothering people you’re sharing a plan with for their part of a bill that you pay. As for what happens if not everyone pays up, AT&T says the account holder is still responsible for the bill...
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ASUS is making a ‘Fragrance Mouse,’ and it’s coming to the US
If you were paying attention to CES this year, you may have come across the Asus Aidol 14 Air Fragrance Edition’s curious gimmick: a magnetically-attached oil diffuser in the lid that emits the aroma of essential oils once the laptop heats up. Asus has now announced a “Fragrance Mouse” to go with it; and it’s coming to the US “around late April, early May,” company spokesperson Anthony Spence told The Verge in an email.The Fragrance Mouse has a light-duty mousing layout of two buttons and a scroll wheel. Its trick is on the underside, where a small compartment holds a refillable...
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Layer Your Clothes to Stay Comfortable in Any Weather (2025)
Learn how to use base layers, mid layers, and a shell to be comfortable no matter what nature throws at you.
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