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Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more (Latent.Space)

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Latent.Space : Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more   —  From rewriting Google's search stack in the early 2000s to reviving sparse trillion-parameter models and co-designing TPUs … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/kGi98xV

Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission (Katrina Manson/Bloomberg)

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Katrina Manson / Bloomberg : Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission   —  Elon Musk's SpaceX and wholly owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secretive new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/UVo3ZtK

Apple says it will bring "advanced video capabilities" to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows (Todd Spangler/Variety)

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Todd Spangler / Variety : Apple says it will bring “advanced video capabilities” to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows   —  Apple Podcasts is finally giving video a full embrace.  —  The tech giant, which pioneered the podcast audio format … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/6az0PZi

Tesla pulls the plug on one-time purchases of FSD

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Edie Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images Tesla eliminated the option to purchase Full Self-Driving with a one-time fee over the weekend. Previously, Tesla offered FSD as an $8,000 one-time purchase option. Musk has said he plans to hike FSD subscription prices as its capabilities improve. Tesla has shifted its Full Self-Driving feature to a subscription model. Over the weekend, the company removed the option to purchase the feature in the US via a one-time flat fee of $8,000. For years, Tesla owners have been able to purchase the service with a one-time payment that would allow them to use it for the full lifespan of their vehicle. Now, the driver-assist feature is available only via a $99-per-month subscription. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced in January that the change would take effect the following month. In the past, Musk has said that Teslas would serve as "appreciating assets," suggesting owners could benefit as the software became increas...

Lawsuits or billion-dollar deals: How Disney picks its AI copyright battles

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Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance after its new video generation model, Seedance 2.0, produced AI versions of its characters. It took a very different approach, however, when OpenAI's Sora did the same. Handout/Getty Images Disney's IP is under siege by the AI industry's 'ask for forgiveness, not permission' culture. Disney sent a cease-and-desist to ByteDance, saying it 'hijacked' its characters with Seedance 2.0. When OpenAI's Sora was used to create Disney characters, however, the House of Mouse struck a deal. No, Disney did not release footage of a never-before-seen fight sequence between Marvel's Wolverine and Thanos (spoiler: Thanos won). That clip, which amassed over 142,000 views on X over 48 hours, was created using Seedance 2.0 , an AI video generation model that ByteDance debuted last week. The tool created a buzz on social media, where one user made a hyperrealistic AI video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting ...

Former NPR host David Greene sues Google for allegedly replicating his voice in NotebookLM without permission; Google says the voice is based on a paid actor (Will Oremus/Washington Post)

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Will Oremus / Washington Post : Former NPR host David Greene sues Google for allegedly replicating his voice in NotebookLM without permission; Google says the voice is based on a paid actor   —  NPR's David Greene says he was “completely freaked out” when he heard an AI voice that sounded just like his own, and he's suing over it. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2E0ofaZ

We've tested nearly 100 work bags, and the Dagne Dover Allyn Tote is our favorite

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When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more We love the Allyn tote for the organizational features that make it stand above the rest. Samantha Crozier/Insider A bag has to pass a ton of tests to make our list of the best work bags for women . Between everyone on our team, we've probably tested over 100 work totes — and we've scrutinized each one with scientific rigor by filling them to the brim and schlepping back and forth on NYC subways. After years of testing, Dagne Dover's Allyn Leather Tote has reigned supreme as our favorite. Among its other standout features, it has the best internal organization we've ever seen. But all those pockets and compartments are contained in a bag with a sleek silhouette. As the old saying goes, there's a place for everything, and everything has its place. It comes in three colors (onyx, bone, and graphite) and two sizes (one for a 13" laptop and one for a 16" lapto...