Technology News

Learn more about using Google’s Deep Research, an AI assistant that helps you explore complex topics and delivers detailed reports.Learn more about using Google’s Deep Research, an AI assistant that helps you explore complex topics and delivers detailed reports.

The research-focused agent shows how a new generation of more capable AI models could automate some office tasks.

A computer scientist who tried to register an artwork that credited an artificial intelligence system as the sole author lost his appeal on Tuesday.

A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously agreed with the Copyright Office that Stephen Thaler's AI software cannot be granted authorship. Copyright law "requires all work to be authored in the first instance by a human being," Judge Patricia Millett wrote in her opinion.

"Because many of the Copyright Act's provisions make sense only if an author is a human being, the best reading of the Copyright Act is that human authorship is required for registration," Millett wrote.

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Safety is Volvo's big thing. From three-point seatbelts to side-impact protection to blind-spot monitoring and much more, the Swedish automaker focuses its innovation on making its cars safer rather than faster around the Nürburgring. (Although in the past, it has set records there too.) As part of its efforts, Volvo has collected data from tens of thousands of car crashes, which it's now leveraging in virtual worlds to put simulated cars and SUVs through the wringer with the help of something amusingly named "Gaussian splatting."

"We've been visiting crash sites since the '70s. We've been recording event data from a fleet of cars for many, many years," said Alwin Bakkenes, head of global software engineering at Volvo Cars. "And all of those data points have actually helped us create safety innovations... from the three-point safety belt to whiplash protection systems and now also, as we're introducing in the ES90, a function called 'lidar AS,' which helps the car steer away from vulnerable road users in the dark," he said.

Like some others in the industry, Volvo is an early adopter of the software-defined vehicle, or SDV. As a quick refresher, SDVs are clean-sheet designs in terms of their electronic architecture. Instead of dozens or even a hundred discrete black boxes, each with its own hardware and running its own software, each doing a discrete job (like controlling the air conditioner or managing traction control), four or five powerful central computers take over those roles, overseeing domains like infotainment, advanced driver assistance systems, handling and powertrain, and interior comfort.

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Nvidia has acquired synthetic data startup Gretel to bolster the AI training data used by the chip maker's customers and developers.

Nvidia has acquired synthetic data startup Gretel to bolster the AI training data used by the chip maker's customers and developers.

From record cleaners to mats, these extras are for budding enthusiasts and die-hard collectors alike.

Because of faults with Boeing’s Starliner, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had to wait months for a ride back to Earth on a different spacecraft.

The DMA is designed to regulate large platforms like Google, Apple and Meta and boost competition but, in reality, it is having the opposite effect by hurting European b…The DMA is designed to regulate large platforms like Google, Apple and Meta and boost competition but, in reality, it is having the opposite effect by hurting European businesses and consumers.

Dyson’s latest vacuum is powerful and compact but feels redundant.

Global sea levels rose faster than expected last year, largely due to warming ocean temperatures, a new NASA analysis found.

As seawater creeps further into coastlines, salt threatens to pollute the freshwater reserves that people depend on. But this brine isn’t just coming from the ocean: New research shows freshwater ecosystems are facing widespread dual threats of salt contamination from the sea and land, made worse by climate change.

Humans are a salty species, using the mineral for a vast number of reasons—from de-icing the roads during snowstorms to seasoning food.

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Google has taken the wraps off the Pixel 9a today, a phone that has leaked about a thousand times in recent weeks, as is the Pixel tradition. Still, there are some things to know about this phone you can't glean from leaked renders or a YouTube unboxing. This phone maintains the same $499 price tag as last year's A-series phone, but it has a larger battery, a new camera, and a simpler design that ditches the camera bar of other recent Pixel phones.

The Pixel 9a has the same flat aluminum frame that has been in vogue on smartphones for the past few years. Unlike the more expensive Pixels, the back is plastic instead of Gorilla Glass. Google says it's made of 81 percent recycled material, and the aluminum is 100 percent recycled. Apparently, these percentages are a record for the Pixel series, if that's something that matters to you.

Credit: Google

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Learn more about Google’s latest Pixel A-series phone, Pixel 9a.Learn more about Google’s latest Pixel A-series phone, Pixel 9a.

Google Wallet now gives parents and guardians in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Spain and Poland a way to allow their children to access digital payments on their Android de…

Learn more about Google’s latest Pixel A-series phone, Pixel 9a.Learn more about Google’s latest Pixel A-series phone, Pixel 9a.

Arriving in April, this midrange Android smartphone gets a bigger battery, a brighter screen, and even more AI.

Aqara's minimalist, affordable smart lock has a nice price tag and works well, but the expensive Aqara hub is required to use all of its features.

The Flip 7 adds new features, upgraded sound, and more battery.

In the fall of 2020, a 77-year-old man in Florida realized he had gotten one of the worst gifts imaginable—one that kept on giving.

According to a case report published in this month's issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the man showed up at a Gainesville hospital with chest pain that just wouldn't go away. For nearly two years prior, the man—a pastor living on a rural farm with dogs and goats—had been in and out of hospitals and on and off of various antibiotics.

Generally, the man wasn't in the best health. His medical history included Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. For the latter, he had an automated implantable cardiac defibrillator (AICD) placed—and it was not his first. The man had a notable history of having gone through multiple defibrillators and revisions, including getting a new generator in 2018. Some possible reasons for such a history could include heavy use of the device and infections.

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The company has partnered with Nvidia to develop “cognitive AI,” which it says will allow people with severe physical disabilities to have more natural interactions with the world around them.