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xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company behind the Grok chatbot — it also owns X — announced that it has raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round. The company wrote in a blog post that investors will include Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, and others, including Nvidia and Cisco as “strategic investors.” xAI has not disclosed if these investments come in the form of equity or debt. xAI says it has about 600 million monthly active users of X and Grok, and it will use this new funding to continue expanding its data centers and Grok models.…
A Reddit user claiming to be a whistleblower from a food delivery app has been outed as a fake. The user wrote a viral post alleging that the company he worked for was exploiting its drivers and users. “You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy theories,” the supposed whistleblower wrote. He claimed to be drunk and at the library to use its public Wi-Fi, where he was typing this long screed about how the company was exploiting legal loopholes to steal drivers’ tips and wages…
This week in Las Vegas, tech companies at CES 2026 are unveiling the latest wearable health devices — glucose monitors, blood pressure trackers, fitness trackers. Probably not mentioned at the show is that these gadgets might be creating a massive environmental problem. It isn’t something that tends to get much attention, but a new study from Cornell University and the University of Chicago found that by 2050, demand for health wearables could hit 2 billion units per year, or 42 times more than today. Unless we change how they’re made, these devices could generate over a million tons of electronic…
Elon Musk hasn’t stopped Grok, the chatbot developed by his artificial intelligence company xAI, from generating sexualized images of women. After reports emerged last week that the image generation tool on X was being used to create sexualized images of children, Grok has created potentially thousands of nonconsensual images of women in “undressed” and “bikini” photos.Every few seconds, Grok is continuing to create images of women in bikinis or underwear in response to user prompts on X, according to a WIRED review of the chatbots’ publicly posted live output. On Tuesday, at least 90 images involving women in swimsuits and…
CES 2026 is in full swing in Las Vegas, with the show floor open to the public after a packed couple of days occupied by press conferences from the likes of Nvidia, Sony, and AMD and previews from Sunday’s Unveiled event. As has been the case for the past two years at CES, AI is at the forefront of many companies’ messaging, though the hardware upgrades and oddities that have long defined the annual event still have their place on the show floor and in adjacent announcements. We’ll be collecting the biggest reveals and surprises here, though you can still catch the spur-of-the-moment reactions and thoughts from…
A new study reveals that roasted coffee contains previously unknown compounds capable of inhibiting a key enzyme linked to blood sugar control. Scientists have identified three compounds that strongly inhibited α-glucosidase, an enzyme that plays a central role in breaking down carbohydrates during digestion. Because blocking this enzyme can help control post-meal blood sugar spikes, […]Science,Biochemistry,Diabetes,Food Science,Nutrition#Scientists #Discover #Potent #AntiDiabetic #Compounds #Hidden #Roasted #Coffee1767737630
The region’s instability and authoritarian regimes were aided by elite training from the US military. The Defense Department trained tens of thousands of Latin American military, intelligence, and law enforcement at its infamous School of the Americas in Georgia; many went on to be accused of terrible human rights abuses, including alumni who, according to a Duke scholar’s investigation, went on to be “dictators, death squad operatives, and assassins,” including Manuel Noriega himself, Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez, Haitian dictator Raoul Cedras, Pinochet’s secret police leader, and even the general who this weekend was Maduro’s defense minister, among other so-called…
Mobileye made its name, and money, by supplying automakers with millions of computer vision chips designed to support automotive safety features and advanced driver assistance systems. The Intel subsidiary and publicly traded company later expanded to tackle autonomous driving through its chips and software. Now, co-founder and president Amnon Shashua is taking the company into what he calls Mobileye 3.0. And that means robotics and a hefty acquisition. The Israeli company announced Tuesday during CES in Las Vegas it has reached a deal to acquire Mentee Robotics — a startup co-founded by Shashua in 2022 — for $900 million. Under…
Alzheimer’s may advance by breaking the brain’s internal clock—and resetting it could help fight the disease. Alzheimer’s disease often interferes with a person’s normal daily patterns. Early warning signs frequently include poor sleep at night combined with increased daytime napping. As the disease advances, many patients develop sundowning, a state of confusion and agitation that […]Health,Alzheimer’s Disease,Astrocytes,Brain,Circadian Rhythm,Microglia,Neuroscience,Washington University School of Medicine#Broken #Body #Clock #Fuel #Alzheimers #Disease1767733979
Disney+, if you didn’t know, isn’t just for kids. With its ownership of the Lucasfilm brand and the Marvel titles, the streaming service offers plenty of grown-up content in its bid to compete with Netflix and Amazon—and we’re not just talking movies. Since launching the service, Disney has used the name recognition of Star Wars and Marvel to launch scores of TV shows, from The Mandalorian to Loki. In the list below, we’ve collected the ones we think are the best to watch, from those franchises and beyond.Also: Because Disney+ merged its content with Hulu in 2024, most of the…
Senator Steve Padilla (D-CA) introduced a bill on Monday that would place a four-year ban on the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for kids under 18. The goal is to give safety regulators time to develop regulations to protect children from “dangerous AI interactions.” “Chatbots and other AI tools may become integral parts of our lives in the future, but the dangers they pose now require us to take bold action to protect our children,” Senator Padilla said in a statement. “Our safety regulations around this kind of technology are in their infancy and will need…
Looking for a steal of a deal on a luxurious pair of over-ear headphones? The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 are heavily marked down on Amazon in a variety of elegant finishes. They sport premium materials, upgraded sound, and surprisingly adept ANC, all for under $500, depending on how picky you are about the color. They’re an excellent pick if you have a discerning ear and want something to take on your next long flight.Courtesy of Bowers & WilkinsThe big star here is the listening experience, powered by a pair of 40-mm carbon cone drivers originally built for the 700 Series…
Intel is looking to double down on gaming hardware with a new chip and platform for portable gaming devices. The platform will include hardware and software, Intel vice president and general manager of PC products, Daniel Rogers, announced at CES on Monday. It will be built off of the company’s Intel Core Series 3 processors, known as Panther Lake, which was announced last year and is now being rolled out in a variety of PCs. This future platform includes a chip specifically for handheld gaming devices, according to reporting from IGN, which was confirmed by TechCrunch. These Panther Lake chips…
Bamboo tissue’s green image fades once you factor in coal-powered manufacturing. Bamboo tissue paper produced in China has become a popular option for shoppers looking to reduce their environmental impact. Despite its green reputation, new research suggests these products may not deliver the climate advantages many consumers expect. In some cases, bamboo tissue may even […]Earth,Coal,Energy,North Carolina State University#Surprising #Truth #Bamboo #Tissues #Carbon #Footprint1767726618
The Lloyd from Solo Stove pays serious homage to the freestanding mid-century enameled MCM Preway fireplaces that fetch thousands on the vintage marketplace. For less than $1,000 and a few minutes of assembly, the Lloyd may be a solution for those who want a real flicker. The Lloyd comes in five easy-to-love colors and most resembles the OG Malm Zircon. Made of electroplated steel, metal, and glass, the 31-pound Lloyd stands 3.5 feet tall.The Lloyd uses TerraFlame gel fuel, a proprietary blend of isopropanol and ethanol that has a faint eau de Sterno, reminiscent of the times I’ve used my…
Nvidia announced today at CES 2026 that it would help Siemens’ electronic design automation (EDA) software run on its GPUs in an attempt to speed up the chip-design process. Nearly all computer chips today are designed using EDA tools, and as chip features get smaller and transistors more numerous, the process has grown more computationally intensive. Beyond speeding chip development, Nvidia and Siemens are aiming to create digital facsimiles, from chips to entire racks, to test their function before they’re built. “What we are hoping for, and the reason why we’re partnering so closely together, is so that we could…