NerdNews

Amazon is testing a new AI shopping agent called 'Buy for Me' that can purchase products from third-party websites. The agent, powered by Amazon Nova AI models and Anthropic's Claude, can fill out user information and complete purchases without users leaving the Amazon app. This feature aims to capture more e-commerce business for Amazon, but raises concerns about security and control over the shopping experience.

Google is releasing its Gemini AI models at a faster pace, but hasn't published safety reports for its latest models, raising concerns about prioritizing speed over transparency. The company considers these releases as 'experimental' and plans to publish model cards when the models are generally available.

OpenAI's new image-generation feature in ChatGPT has generated over 700 million images since its launch on March 25, with over 130 million users. The feature has led to product delays and temporarily degraded services as OpenAI works to scale up infrastructure to meet demand.

Spotify announced Gen AI ads and a new programmatic offering, Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX), allowing advertisers to reach logged-in users via real-time auctions. The company also integrated AI into its advertising offerings, enabling marketers to create scripts and voiceovers for audio ads using Spotify Ads Manager.

Runway, a startup developing generative AI models for media production, has raised $308 million in a Series D funding round led by General Atlantic. The company plans to use the funds for AI research, hiring, and expanding its film and animation production arm.

Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman discusses the intersection of science and spirituality, the mystery of consciousness, and the potential future of human-machine integration. He explores how AI can appear to be conscious but may not truly be, and how humans may evolve to become 'homo techno' with enhanced brains and new forms of communication.

Christine Yen, CEO of Honeycomb, discusses how observability can help improve the user experience of LLM-based systems by adapting development feedback loops based on production observations, enabling feedback loops to learn from code behavior and incorporate observations into development processes.

NVIDIA has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 2 features Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which provides ten times the graphical performance of the original Switch. The console supports up to 60fps at 4K resolution or 120fps at 1440p or 1080p resolutions in docked mode, and has a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz in handheld mode.

YouTube Shorts is introducing new features to compete with TikTok, including an improved video editor, AI stickers, and a feature that syncs content to the beat of a song. These updates aim to attract creators and capitalize on the potential void left by TikTok if it faces a ban in the United States.

A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that using smartphone apps to monitor driver behavior can lead to safer driving. The study used techniques from usage-based insurance programs, which track driving habits in real-time to determine premiums. Participants who received feedback on their driving behavior showed a reduction in speeding, hard braking, and rapid acceleration.

Suspected Chinese government spies have been exploiting a critical bug in Ivanti VPN appliances since mid-March, allowing them to achieve remote code execution. The bug, tracked as CVE-2025-22457, affects Ivanti Connect Secure, Pulse Connect Secure, Ivanti Policy Secure, and ZTA gateways. The attackers have deployed two new malware strains, Trailblaze and Brushfire, and variants of the Spawn malware. Ivanti has released a patch, and customers are urged to update to a secure version.

Amazon will launch its Project Kuiper space internet project next week, with 27 satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The network will eventually comprise 3,200 satellites and offer high-speed internet service with speeds up to 1Gbps. The project aims to rival Elon Musk's Starlink and cover the entire planet when completed.

Intel and TSMC are reportedly launching a joint chipmaking venture, with TSMC having a 20% stake. The venture will operate Intel's chipmaking facilities, and TSMC will share its chipmaking practices with Intel employees. This move is seen as a significant development in the semiconductor industry, with potential implications for the future of chip production.

Amazon is set to launch its first 27 Project Kuiper satellites, a constellation of over 3,200 satellites that will provide high-speed, low-latency internet service. The launch is scheduled for April 9th and will compete with Elon Musk's Starlink. Amazon's satellites will offer speeds up to 1Gbps and will be available for use with terminal antennas. The company expects to begin offering the service later this year.

Ivanti has released security updates to patch a critical Connect Secure remote code execution vulnerability exploited by a China-linked espionage actor. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-22457, is a stack-based buffer overflow weakness that impacts Pulse Connect Secure 9.1x and Ivanti Connect Secure 22.7R2.5 and earlier. Ivanti has patched the vulnerability in version 22.7R2.6, released on February 11, 2025.

The article discusses the challenges of disaster recovery in today's complex IT environments, where heterogeneous stacks, ransomware, and IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) pose significant risks. It highlights the importance of having a robust disaster recovery plan, immutable backups, and tested recovery procedures to mitigate these risks. The article also provides examples of organizations that have been affected by ransomware attacks and emphasizes the need for customers to police their ITaaS suppliers and require them to have valid DR plans.

Phonic, a company founded by two MIT grads, has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Lux for its end-to-end voice AI solution. The company trains its models in-house to increase synthetic voice reliability and decrease latency, and plans to launch its product broadly in a few months.

Amazon is testing a new 'Buy for Me' button that allows users to purchase products from third-party websites without leaving the Amazon app. The feature uses agentic AI to provide payment information and shipping details, and is currently available to a subset of users in the US on iOS and Android devices.

Google's NotebookLM has a new feature called Discover that allows it to find its own web sources to summarize and narrate. Users can describe a topic and the tool will gather relevant sources, analyze them, and present a list of recommendations. The feature is part of Google's efforts to make it easier for users to find relevant reference materials.

Google's NotebookLM has added a 'Discover Sources' feature, allowing users to search the web for sources on a topic without needing to upload documents. The feature also includes an 'I'm Feeling Curious' button, which provides sources on a random topic. NotebookLM uses AI to analyze user-provided documents and can create conversant AI, build FAQs, briefing summaries, and Audio Overviews.