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Tech News
Nvidia's RTX 5090, originally launched at $1,999, is now selling for around $5,090 even in non-special-edition versions like the Asus TUF Gaming OC. Prices have jumped 20% in the past month and 41% over six months, putting the card 145% above its original MSRP. Even pricier variants exist, including the Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 Edition 20 listed at $5,740.
Google's latest Android 17 QPR2 Beta 4 introduces a new way to manage the 'Install unknown apps' permission, letting users choose between permanently allowing an app to sideload APKs or requiring approval each time. This replaces the old all-or-nothing toggle that previously granted permanent installation rights until manually revoked through a buried settings menu.
Researchers in Germany tested over 120 metal fans and found that attending several days of live metal performances appeared to increase their ability to withstand pain, based on cold-pain tolerance tests. The findings suggest a link between the concert experience and heightened physical resilience among attendees.
A writer describes turning to an AI chatbot for guidance after prescribed pain medication failed to relieve nighttime back pain from an injury, and reports that the AI's suggestions offered relief. The account reflects a broader trend of millions of people consulting chatbots for medical advice, according to physicians who say the tools can be helpful but come with important caveats.
OSHA disclosures reviewed by TechCrunch show test drivers for Waymo and Zoox suffered sprains, strains and whiplash when autonomous software braked hard or swerved suddenly, with 16 injuries linked to Waymo depots via contractor Transdev and up to eight tied to Zoox. Some workers were out for weeks or months, and current and former Zoox contractors say abrupt braking incidents are still occurring.
Yayoi Kusama Studio announced that the Japanese artist died on August 14 in a Tokyo hospital, without disclosing a cause of death. Kusama, celebrated for her repetitive dot motifs across paintings, sculptures and immersive installations, continued painting until her final days.
Meta is reportedly encouraging other major platforms like YouTube and TikTok to share in settling claims over harm to young users' mental health, but Snapchat appears to be left out of that outreach. The move would spread liability and costs across multiple companies rather than Meta alone, even though bringing in more parties could theoretically raise Meta's own settlement obligations.
Reverse engineering of Windows Paint and Photos apps found that both send user prompts to a Microsoft server for moderation even when image generation runs locally via onboard AI models. That server returns a GUID alongside the approved prompt, and this GUID gets invisibly embedded into the pixels of the generated image, separate from the visible watermark toggle users can control. This applies even on Copilot+ PCs where generation happens entirely on-device.
A team training a generative model to paint with code (using p5.brush) found their nine-signal reward rubric caused the model to plateau at flat, repetitive outputs. Investigation revealed four quality judges and prompt adherence were nearly identical measurements, while a code-length metric saturated early and stopped providing useful feedback, leaving only one signal actually driving learning. The fix replaced absolute 0-10 scoring with pairwise comparisons against a curated pool of 1,664 hand-rated reference images.