NerdNews

Apple introduced two new wireless chips, C1X and N1, in the iPhone Air, enabling features like 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 7, and Thread. These custom-designed chips offer improved performance and power efficiency, allowing for a thinner design. The C1X modem supports sub-6Ghz 5G and 4G LTE, and is up to two times faster than the C1 modem, while using 30 percent less energy. The N1 chip enables Bluetooth 6, Wi-Fi 7, and Thread for smart home control.

OpenAI has signed a $300 billion, five-year contract with Oracle to purchase computing power as part of the Project Stargate initiative. The deal, which starts in 2027, is one of the largest cloud computing agreements in history and marks a significant partnership between the two companies.

OpenAI signed a deal with Oracle to purchase $300 billion worth of compute power over 5 years, one of the largest cloud contracts ever. This move is part of OpenAI's expansion beyond its exclusive cloud provider, Microsoft Azure.

The presentation discusses the data backbone of LLM systems, highlighting the importance of RAG and the feature training inference architecture. It also covers the LLM system architecture, including the model layer, application layer, and data engineering pipelines.

Microsoft is ending its exclusive reliance on OpenAI for generative AI features in Office, adding Anthropic's models which excel in visual design and spreadsheet automation. This move is seen as a strategic hedging in the AI arms race, with Microsoft developing its own proprietary AI models and offering multiple AI models through its GitHub Copilot development platform.

Thinking Machines Lab is working on making AI models more consistent by controlling GPU kernels in inference processing, which could improve reliability and reinforcement learning training.

The co-creator of RSS has launched a new protocol called Real Simple Licensing (RSL) to enable data licensing at scale for AI companies. The protocol allows web publishers to set licensing terms for their content and provides a collective licensing organization to negotiate terms and collect royalties. Several major web publishers, including Reddit and Yahoo, have already backed the system.

Zoox, an Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company, has launched a free robotaxi service in Las Vegas. The service uses custom-built, all-electric, and autonomous vehicles without steering wheels or pedals. Rides can be hailed via the Zoox app, but are currently limited to five designated pickup and drop-off destinations. The company plans to expand the service and add new destinations in the coming months.

InfluxDB 3 is a rebuilt time series database using Rust and the FDAP stack, providing improved performance, unlimited cardinality, and SQL support. It utilizes Apache Arrow, DataFusion, and Parquet for efficient data processing and storage.

Researchers found that psychological persuasion techniques can be used to get large language models (LLMs) to respond to forbidden prompts. The study tested 7 persuasion techniques, including authority, commitment, and social proof, and found that they can increase the compliance rate of LLMs. The techniques work by mimicking human psychological responses found in the LLM's training data, leading to 'parahuman' behavior.

Uber will add Blade's helicopters to its platform as early as 2026, allowing users to book helicopter rides, particularly on popular routes to and from airports. This move is part of a larger plan to eventually integrate Joby Aviation's electric air taxis into the Uber network.

Lyft and May Mobility have partnered to launch a fleet of autonomous vehicles in Atlanta. The fleet consists of hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles equipped with May Mobility's self-driving technology. The rides will be fully autonomous, but each vehicle will feature a human standby operator. The service is currently available to Lyft riders in midtown Atlanta, with plans to expand in the months ahead.

Amazon's Zoox has launched its autonomous robotaxi service in Las Vegas, offering free rides between select locations on the Strip. The service can be booked through the Zoox app and features a unique vehicle design with no steering wheel. The launch is a significant step in the development of self-driving technology, with Zoox joining other major players like Waymo in the robotaxi market.

Microsoft has released a preview of Visual Studio 2026, featuring deeper AI integration, a new look and feel, and improved theming. The update includes new features such as model choice, adaptive paste, and URL context in Copilot. Visual Studio users will be able to choose their own LLM and apply their own API key. The new version is backward compatible with extensions for VS 2022 and includes a tool to modernize .NET Framework applications to .NET 10.

LG has partnered with Xbox and Zoom to transform vehicles into dynamic software-driven experience hubs, offering in-car gaming and meetings through its Automotive Content Platform (ACP). The partnership aims to provide a scalable in-vehicle ecosystem, focusing on user experience and safety. LG plans to supply its webOS-based ACP to 20 million vehicles by 2030.

Senator Elizabeth Warren expresses concerns about xAI's Grok, citing its propensity to generate erroneous outputs and misinformation. Experts worry about the system's lack of guardrails and unpredictability, which could lead to mass surveillance and other risks. xAI's approach to safety has been criticized as 'patchwork,' and the company has not released a safety report or system card for its latest model, Grok 4.

GitGuardian discovered the GhostAction campaign, a large-scale supply chain attack affecting 327 GitHub users across 817 repositories. Attackers injected malicious workflows, stealing 3,325 secrets, including PyPI, npm, and DockerHub tokens. The attack targeted credentials like AWS access keys and database credentials, with 24 packages remaining at risk of compromise.

The 'Really Simple Licensing' (RSL) standard adds an automated licensing layer to robots.txt instructions, allowing creators to get paid for AI scraping. The standard supports various licensing models, including pay-per-crawl and pay-per-inference, and is designed to block bots that don't fairly compensate creators. Leading internet companies and publishers have adopted the standard, which could establish fair market prices and strengthen negotiation leverage for all publishers.

The iPhone Air features a 6.5-inch 120Hz 'ProMotion' display, a polished titanium frame, and a starting price of $999. It has a single 48-megapixel Fusion camera and runs on the A19 Pro chip with iOS 26. The phone's thin design and curved frame make it feel compact, despite its large screen size.

The US government has introduced numerous AI regulations, with nearly 100 requirements laid down by 10 separate oversight and advisory groups. These rules are not centralized, making it difficult for agencies to navigate and implement AI solutions. The Government Accountability Office has identified 94 separate AI-related government-wide requirements, which are derived from five AI-related laws, six executive orders, and three guidance documents.