Workplace VR, DuckDuckGo, AI Fundamentals, More: Saturday…

TWEAKS AND UPDATES Gizmodo: It’s Time to Admit Working in VR Has Been One Big Failure. “As someone who’s strapped quite a few headsets to his face, I can say for certain that the most obvious…

Gizmodo: It’s Time to Admit Working in VR Has Been One Big Failure. “As someone who’s strapped quite a few headsets to his face, I can say for certain that the most obvious downside of headsets is likely the biggest reason why working in VR has been a bust—headsets absolutely suck to wear for long periods. If you’ve ever tried to use one for an extended period, you know what I’m talking about.” Lifehacker: How DuckDuckGo’s New Encrypted Voice AI Chat Compares With ChatGPT and Gemini.

“Since its launch in 2024, the portal has only offered a chatbot interface, but now, DuckDuckGo has added a voice mode as well. With voice chat, instead of reading through long and meandering answers, the AI replies in short, to-the-point snippets that are relevant to your query.” University of Bristol: Free distance learning course demystifies the world of AI . “With no coding or mathematics involved, AI Fundamentals has been purposely designed to suit learners from any background who wish to improve their understanding of what AI is, how it works, what it can do and how we should think about it.” Reuters: Amazon’s cloud was hit by two outages involving AI tools in December, FT says.

“Amazon’s cloud unit suffered at ‌least two outages in December stemming from errors ‌involving its own AI tools, the Financial Times reported on ​Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.” Brussels Signal: Liars: German national TV caught using AI images of fake ICE arrest. “Germany’s ZDF public broadcaster has come under fire over an episode of its flagship heute journal news programme after it emerged it broadcast an AI-generated video clip to illustrate alleged brutality by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.” NC Newsline: Data centers threaten energy affordability, NC task force says.

“Data centers account for about 80% of Duke Energy’s projected energy demand, according to a report from Gov. Josh Stein’s North Carolina Energy Policy Task Force. The report found that data centers have ‘uniquely high energy needs’ compared to traditional users like manufacturing, chemicals, life sciences, food and beverage, and aerospace industries.” The American Prospect: The Unregulated AI Experiment on America’s Children.

“Young people who turn away from peers for companionship or adults for assistance can come to depend on a chatbot for emotional support, with sometimes devastating results. Suicides, an overdose, and even murder have been linked to chatbots.” Android Headlines: West Virginia Files Lawsuit Against Apple iCloud For Failing to Stop CSAM Material. “West Virginia has filed a lawsuit against Apple.

The state alleges that the iCloud failed to prevent CSAM storage and sharing. It seeks financial penalties and an official court order that would require Apple to adopt advanced CSAM detection systems.” The Hindu: Hyderabad police caution people over fraudsters manipulating search engine results. “The Hyderabad city police have cautioned citizens against being misled by fraudulent websites that appear at the top of online search results.

Hyderabad Commissioner of Police V. C. Sajjanar in an advisory said that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting search engine rankings to deceive internet users.” Unsung: Unsung heroes: Flickr’s URLs scheme. “This was incredible and a breath of fresh air. No redundant www. in front or awkward .php at the end. No parameters with their unpleasant ?&= syntax. No % signs partying with hex codes.

When you shared these URLs with others, you didn’t have to retouch or delete anything. When Chrome’s address bar started autocompleting them, you knew exactly where you were going.” The Register: Microsoft boffins cook up archival storage using Pyrex glass they say can last over 10,000 years. “Microsoft this week detailed new research aimed at preserving data in borosilicate glass plates for thousands of years longer than conventional media like hard drives or magnetic tape, without needing to worry about bit rot.” Arizona State University: New architecture program teaches students how to design with Indigenous principles in mind.

“Imagine a Tempe Town Lake free of concrete, its banks lush with native creosote and wildflowers, with winding dirt paths. That visualization was created by a student who applied Indigenous principles to a design problem. Noor Alzuhairi is in the first cohort of the Indigenous placekeeping and design master’s degree program at Arizona State University. The degree, in The Design School, debuted last fall.” Good morning, Internet… This newsletter is free but most of the things that go into making it aren’t!

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Summary

This report covers the latest developments in android. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

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