Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
On this day, 31 years ago, Intel launched its first Pentium processors with speeds of 60 and 66 MHz.
In today's Techpresso:
🥷 Hackers can unlock over 3 million hotel doors in seconds
💰 Microsoft to pay Inflection AI $650m after hiring most of staff
🧬 Sakana AI's evolutionary algorithm creates capable AI models by merging existing ones
🍎 Apple worked for years to make Apple Watch compatible with Android
🏥 Patient in recovery after receiving pig kidney
🎁 + 10 other news you might like
🔮 + 5 handpicked research papers and tools
🥷 Hackers can unlock over 3 million hotel doors in secondsLINK
Security researchers identified a vulnerability in the Saflok door system by Dormakaba, potentially affecting over three million hotel locks worldwide. The vulnerability has existed for 36 years, and although Dormakaba was notified and started patching in November 2023, only 36% of the locks have been updated or replaced, requiring extensive updates including reissuing all keycards. The flaw enables attackers to unlock any door within the property by cloning a keycard, a process made possible with easily available electronic devices.
💰 Microsoft to pay Inflection AI $650m after hiring most of staffLINK
Microsoft will pay Inflection AI a total of $650 million, comprising $620 million to license its AI models and $30 million for legal rights waivers, after hiring the startup's co-founders and most of its staff. The deal, which has been compared to an 'acqui-hire,' could raise antitrust concerns due to the increasing scrutiny of Big Tech's AI investments by US regulators. Following the mass hiring by Microsoft, Inflection AI is attempting to reduce costs by seeking a partial refund from its cloud computing partner, CoreWeave, as it transitions to an enterprise business model.
🧬 Sakana AI's evolutionary algorithm creates capable AI models by merging existing onesLINK
Sakana AI, a Japanese AI startup, has developed a method called 'Evolutionary Model Fusion' that combines existing AI models using an evolutionary algorithm, promising advancements in generating new AI models. The innovative approach involves recombining layers and remixing weights of different models, leading to the creation of AI models like a Japanese Large Language Model and Vision Language Model with state-of-the-art results. The founders, former Google AI experts, want to use principles from nature, such as evolution and collective intelligence, to create AI systems that are more adaptable to changes in their environment.
🍎 Apple worked for years to make Apple Watch compatible with AndroidLINK
Apple worked on making the Apple Watch compatible with Android for approximately three years but ultimately abandoned the project due to technical challenges, as reported by 9to5Mac.
The U.S. Department of Justice and several state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company's strategy with the Apple Watch contributes to monopolizing the smartphone market.
Despite the lack of Android compatibility, Apple's ecosystem provides limited support for the Apple Watch on other Apple products, like the iPad, and Google has attempted to compete by launching the Pixel Watch and acquiring Fitbit.
🏥 Patient in recovery after receiving pig kidneyLINK
A team at Massachusetts General Hospital successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a 62-year-old man, Rick Slayman, marking a significant advancement in medical research.
The pig kidney, praised for its immediate functionality and compatibility, was modified using CRISPR-Cas9 technology by eGenesis Bio, aiming to prevent organ rejection and eliminate potential viral infections.
This groundbreaking operation represents the third instance of a pig organ being implanted into a human, highlighting the potential of xenotransplants to address the critical organ shortage crisis, particularly for kidneys.
Other news you might like
Microsoft's $650 million Inflection deal could be a ploy to poach AI talent while avoiding FTC trouble.LINK
Apple held talks with China's Baidu over AI for its devices, WSJ reports.LINK
Did somebody poke you on Facebook after a decade? Meta is resurrecting the feature.LINK
Nvidia announces AI-powered health care 'agents' that outperform nurses — and cost $9 an hour.LINK
German climate tech VC raises ‘record-breaking’ €300M first fund.LINK
Android 15 gets satellite messaging, starts foldable cover app support.LINK
Intel plans to spend $100 billion on US chip manufacturing plants.LINK
Microsoft's first AI PCs Surface with Intel cores and a Copilot key.LINK
SBF repeatedly lied to get out of “supervillain” prison term, FTX CEO alleges.LINK
Formula 1 chief retires 'impossible to navigate' Excel spreadsheet used to manage car parts.LINK
Latest research and tools
Chronos: Learning the Language of Time Series: the paper introduces a method for efficiently understanding and analyzing patterns within time-series data.LINK
Bulma CSS framework v1.0: a complete overhaul using Dart Sass for easier customization, maintaining all HTML snippets the same for seamless transition, introducing themes including Dark Mode, color palettes, skeleton loaders, and allowing class prefixing for enhanced customization.LINK
OpenSplat: a free and open-source tool for 3D gaussian splatting in C++, designed for performance and flexibility, supporting CPU and GPU processing, and capable of converting camera poses and sparse points into a scene file for further use.LINK
Kafbat UI for Apache Kafka v1.0: a tool that enhances interaction with Apache Kafka by offering a revamped Messages API, improved broker visibility, secure authentication methods, and addresses security vulnerabilities while acknowledging the contributions of various developers to this release.LINK
Redis: changed its license from BSD-3 to a dual Redis Source Available License (RSALv2) and Server Side Public License v1 (SSPLv1).LINK
Want to get the latest news differently? Find us on:
See you tomorrow for a new dose of ☕️ Techpresso!
-min.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
