Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
On this day in 1998, Apple discontinued the Newton line of products, just 5 years after the first model was introduced in 1993.
In today's Techpresso:
🤖 Tesla's robot is getting quicker, better
🧠 Nvidia CEO: kids shouldn't learn to code — they should leave it up to AI
🇪🇺 Microsoft's deal with Mistral AI faces EU scrutiny
🥽 Apple Vision Pro’s components cost $1,542—but that’s not the full story
🎮 PlayStation to axe 900 jobs and close studio
🎁 + 7 other news you might like
🔮 + 5 handpicked research papers and tools
🤖 Tesla's robot is getting quicker, betterLINK
Elon Musk shared new footage showing improved mobility and speed of Tesla's robot, Optimus Gen 2, which is moving more smoothly and steadily around a warehouse.
The latest version of the Optimus robot is lighter, has increased walking speed thanks to Tesla-designed actuators and sensors, and demonstrates significant progress over previous models.
Musk predicts the possibility of Optimus starting to ship in 2025 for less than $20,000, marking a significant milestone in Tesla's venture into humanoid robotics capable of performing mundane or dangerous tasks for humans.
🧠 Nvidia CEO: kids shouldn't learn to code — they should leave it up to AILINK
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressed at the World Governments Summit that with the advancement of AI, it is no longer crucial for young people to prioritize learning coding and computer science.
Huang suggests that AI will enable people in various fields like science, manufacturing, and farming to efficiently use computational systems without needing to develop coding skills.
Despite Huang's optimistic view on AI making everyone a programmer, critics argue that current AI models are unreliable and coding expertise remains essential.
🇪🇺 Microsoft's deal with Mistral AI faces EU scrutinyLINK
Microsoft's investment in French startup Mistral AI has sparked calls for an EU antitrust investigation, amid concerns over the concentration of power in the tech industry and the potential breach of EU competition rules. The deal, involving a 15-million euro investment by Microsoft to eventually convert into equity in Mistral, comes as Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI is also under EU scrutiny for potential antitrust violations. Criticism arises over Mistral's lobbying for exemptions in the EU's AI Act, with lawmakers questioning the company's motivations and the influence of big tech, leading to debates over the protection of European startups and the integrity of European regulatory efforts.
🥽 Apple Vision Pro’s components cost $1,542—but that’s not the full storyLINK
Omdia estimated the total bill of materials for the Apple Vision Pro to be around $1,542, while the consumer price starts at $3,499.
The silicon components, including the M2 system-on-a-chip and R1 processor, are the second most expensive parts, totaling $240.
Despite the materials cost, the actual profit from each Vision Pro sale is less than it appears due to unaccounted factors such as manufacturing, shipping, marketing, and R&D costs.
🎮 PlayStation to axe 900 jobs and close studioLINK
Sony is laying off approximately 900 employees from its PlayStation division, which accounts for about 8% of its global workforce.
The layoffs affect multiple PlayStation studios, including Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, and involve the closure of London Studio in the UK.
These layoffs come amid broader cost-cutting measures in the gaming and tech industries, following Sony's missed PS5 sales targets and a significant drop in its stock price.
Other news you might like
Apple faces pressure from major shareholders to disclose safety risks about AI.LINK
Political consultant behind fake Biden robocalls says he was trying to highlight a need for AI rules.LINK
Odysseus lander mission expected to end early due to power issue.LINK
Writer announces Palmyra-Vision, a multimodal LLM capable of understanding images.LINK
Dell promises 'every PC is going to be an AI PC' whether you like it or not.LINK
Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for legacy subscribers.LINK
Welcome To The ‘Siliconomy’.LINK
Latest research and tools
Paint Mixing Tool: a Python 3 program that calculates recipes for mixing Kimera paints to achieve specific colors, with available versions for Windows and MacOS.LINK
Cactus: a comprehensive tool for Diablo II (Original) that offers version switching, character isolation, and mod management, while also serving as an archive for all game versions and a platform for mod distribution.LINK
Shittier: a code formatting tool designed to intentionally worsen the appearance and structure of your code for entertainment purposes.LINK
Blazer: a business intelligence tool that allows users to explore their data with SQL, create charts and dashboards, and share them with their team, supporting multiple data sources like PostgreSQL and MySQL, and offering features like scheduled checks and Slack notifications.LINK
Solving Prompt Injection via Backtranslation: the paper proposes a method to protect language models from being manipulated by harmful inputs by translating them back and forth between different languages.LINK
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