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Hegseth stands up a new drone office with authority on everything from one-way attack drones to ground robots and boats

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The new office will have major power over the future of drones in the US military. US Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mary Torres Most of the US military's drone programs will now be overseen by a new office. The goal of the office is to accelerate the development of drone technology, Hegseth said. There are some notable exceptions, including the US Air Force's CCA program. Nearly all of the Pentagon's drone programs will now exist under one office, giving its officials major power over the future of uncrewed systems in the US military. The consolidation will accelerate the procurement and fielding of drones , US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a memo, a major priority of the second Trump administration as it seeks to prepare forces for drone warfare. Per a memo from earlier this week, the new office, called the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems, will be "the single joint integrator for all unmanned and autonomous system programs " acros...

Meta getting into the cloud business has been inevitable for a long time, as it seeks to diversify beyond ad revenue and monetize its AI buildout (M.G. Siegler/Spyglass)

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M.G. Siegler / Spyglass : Meta getting into the cloud business has been inevitable for a long time, as it seeks to diversify beyond ad revenue and monetize its AI buildout   —  Their need to diversify the business meets the AI build out concerns...  Meta has a problem.  Well, two of them, actually. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/EGbrogc

As buyers make decisions through LLMs, Bobcat's Laura Ness Owens is focusing more on customer experience

Laura Ness Owens, chief marketing officer at Bobcat, a manufacturer of compact construction and landscaping machines, said that she wants to meet customers where they are searching for information. Previously, the customer journey could start with search and the company's website, she said. "Today, many customers are going right to the large-language-models and saying, 'I want the right loader for me, to do this type of work', so they are skipping much of that research stage that we were able to guide." Owens says that product reviews, earned media, and dealer reviews factor into those LLM results. "You have to understand that the good, the bad, and the ugly are out there," she said. "It's pushed us to really focus greater on that customer experience." Read the original article on Business Insider from Business Insider https://ift.tt/7KDoBjy

Tripo AI, which is developing 3D foundation models and world models for use in games, raised $150M, a month after it said it raised $200M (Dean Takahashi/GamesBeat)

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Dean Takahashi / GamesBeat : Tripo AI, which is developing 3D foundation models and world models for use in games, raised $150M, a month after it said it raised $200M   —  Tripo AI, a global artificial intelligence company building AI 3D foundation models and world models, said it raised a new round of $150 million in funding. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/9IsmYZA

How Trump's new Air Force One, a luxury jet from Qatar, compares to the outgoing presidential plane

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The old and new Air Force One planes. Gustavo Valiente/Europa Press via Getty Images ; Andrew Leyden/Getty Images President Donald Trump flew on his new Air Force One for the first time on Wednesday. The VC-25B, a luxury jet valued at around $400 million, was gifted to Trump by Qatar. The new Air Force One is bigger, faster, more fuel-efficient, and more luxurious than the old one. Since his first term in the White House, President Donald Trump has displayed a model of a new Air Force One plane on his desk. On Wednesday, his long-held vision became a reality when the aircraft he accepted as a gift from Qatar, designated the VC-25B Bridge, flew as Air Force One for the first time. Speaking to reporters before boarding the aircraft at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump called it the "best plane ever built." He later landed in Medora, North Dakota, for the dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. Retrofitted with state-of-the-art protective measures and pa...

Sources: SpaceX showed investors a handset-like device prototype with AI tech from xAI, a proprietary OS, a Snapdragon chip, and a design slimmer than an iPhone (Wall Street Journal)

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Wall Street Journal : Sources: SpaceX showed investors a handset-like device prototype with AI tech from xAI, a proprietary OS, a Snapdragon chip, and a design slimmer than an iPhone   —  The sleek, handset-like prototype was designed to integrate AI technology from SpaceX's xAI  —  Elon Musk's SpaceX has developed … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/b51HcvI

Sources: Microsoft has been working on a disc-to-digital feature for Xbox One and Xbox Series X that will let users digitize their physical game collections (Tom Warren/The Verge)

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Tom Warren / The Verge : Sources: Microsoft has been working on a disc-to-digital feature for Xbox One and Xbox Series X that will let users digitize their physical game collections   —  Microsoft's disc-to-digital feature could be essential for next-gen Xbox consoles. … Microsoft will likely soon follow Sony … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/tpCEDXG