An entrepreneur who returned as CEO of his company in early 2024 describes reorganizing its technology strategy around profitable growth just as large language models surged in prominence. Rather than chasing AI investment without restraint, as he observed many companies doing, he prioritized cost discipline, setting a goal of $100 million in free cash flow within three years while using AI to address internal data problems that mirror those of the company's merchant customers.
Ultrahuman has introduced Pulsomics, an opt-in research program inside its app that lets Ring AIR and Ring PRO owners aged 18 and up contribute their sleep, glucose, and VO2 Max data to improve the company's wellness algorithms. The program currently covers three studies, with more planned around cardiovascular load and long-term sleep tracking, and requires only that users wear their rings as usual.
Developer Chris Sotraidis built SpaghettiPad, an iPhone app that runs a decompiled PC source port of Mario Kart 64 called SpaghettiKart using the Libultraship library, which reimplements the original N64 SDK for modern hardware. Unlike emulators such as Delta, this approach renders the game natively via Metal, supports Bluetooth controllers, and unlocks widescreen visuals, frame rates up to 120fps, and higher-resolution textures.
Instagram announced it will mandate a visible 'AI-generated profile' label on accounts run by synthetic influencers, replacing the vaguer 'AI creator' tag that could be confused with human creators using AI tools. The label must appear in the bio header as well as on individual posts, Reels and Stories, and accounts that fail to add it will have their reach restricted. As of Monday afternoon, popular AI personas like Lil Miquela, Imma and Aitana Lopez had not yet been labeled, and Instagram hasn't clarified whether labeling will be automatic or manual.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged in a Time interview that public sentiment has turned sharply against AI and the data centers powering it. Communities nationwide are protesting roughly $130 billion in data center construction, citing strained water supplies, rising living costs and pollution, forming a bipartisan opposition movement. Altman also revealed he's faced personal threats, including a molotov cocktail thrown at his home and a shooting, linked to anti-AI safety activism.
Instagram is rolling out a mandatory 'AI-generated profile' label for accounts that portray a fictional AI person as if it were a real human. Accounts that fail to add the label risk having their content's reach reduced, the company said. This replaces the previous optional 'AI creator' tag with a more specific designation aimed squarely at synthetic personas rather than all AI-assisted content.
CarPlay received three notable app upgrades in August: MLB's app now lets users browse games and hear live radio feeds with in-car score displays, Meta AI joined ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Grok as a chatbot option (though still in limited testing), and The Weather Channel's Storm Radar app added live weather maps, radar layers, and route-based alerts. These updates arrive ahead of Apple's broader CarPlay overhaul expected with iOS 27 in September, which will add a dedicated Siri app and AI features.
Calibre, the open-source e-book library management tool, has introduced a feature that lets users generate custom book covers using AI. This joins its existing suite of tools for organizing, converting and syncing e-books across formats and devices.
A new workplace survey finds that more than one-third of employees admit to deliberately holding back specialized knowledge from AI agents they are asked to help train, fearing the technology will eventually replace them. The trend follows moves like Meta's decision this spring to monitor employees' mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes on work computers in order to feed real behavioral data into its AI training pipeline.
Meta has launched Pocket in the US, a mobile app built by the former Gizmo team that lets users create interactive game prototypes—called 'gizmos'—simply by typing text prompts, with no coding or code visibility involved. Finished creations can be shared in a TikTok-style feed with likes, comments and reposts, but users have no way to export or use them outside the app.
In a wide-ranging interview, New York Governor Kathy Hochul discussed her positions on AI, teen social media restrictions tied to Meta's multistate settlement, ghost gun bans challenged by activist Cody Wilson, Flock surveillance cameras, and a one-year moratorium on data center construction signed in July. She argued AI development needs stronger guardrails and pushed back on critics who say her policies face legal or technical loopholes.
Google rolled out a new location metadata API for Android's Photo Picker in its August Mainline update, and Snapseed (version 4.1.5.970833206) is the first app to adopt it. The update adds a prompt asking whether to include an image's location info when selecting it, plus a floating toggle button to quickly enable or disable that metadata sharing.
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