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Microsoft to spend $4 billion on second Wisconsin data center

Microsoft plans to match the amount of energy it consumes from fossil fuel sources with carbon-free energy it will contribute to the grid, said Smith, who spent part of his childhood in Mount Pleasant. Cloud infrastructure providers are racing to build capacity to meet the needs of companies that want to run AI models. More than 700 million people use OpenAI's ChatGPT, which draws on Microsoft's Azure cloud, and software providers from Adobe to Salesforce have been adding AI feature enhancement

Google Ventures doubles down on dev tool startup Blacksmith just 4 months after its seed round

As speed becomes the defining currency in an AI-driven software world, Blacksmith has raised another round led by Google Ventures — just four months after its seed — to accelerate how code gets shipped. The $10 million Series A closed in just 14 days, with Google Ventures doubling down after first backing Blacksmith’s $3.5 million seed in May. At the time, Alphabet’s VC arm bet on the size of the market and the founding team, which included veterans of Cockroach Labs, another GV portfolio compa

Microsoft trumps Google with $30 billion investment in the UK

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft is announcing that it’s investing £22 billion (around $30 billion) in the UK to help support AI infrastructure and ongoing operations from 2025 through 2028. The investment includes $15 billion in capital expenditures to build a supercomputer to support AI demand and adoption. “T

One Vigilante, 22 Cell Tower Fires, and a World of Conspiracies

As dawn spread over San Antonio on September 9, 2021, almond-colored smoke began to fill the sky above the city’s Far West Side. The plumes were whorling off the top of a 132-foot-tall cell tower that overshadows an office park just north of SeaWorld. At a hotel a mile away, a paramedic snapped a photo of the spectacle and posted it to the r/sanantonio subreddit. “Cell tower on fire around 1604 and Culebra,” he wrote. In typical Reddit fashion, the comments section piled up with corny jokes. “B

One Vigilante, 22 Cell Towers, and a World of Conspiracies

As dawn spread over San Antonio on September 9, 2021, almond-colored smoke began to fill the sky above the city’s Far West Side. The plumes were whorling off the top of a 132-foot-tall cell tower that overshadows an office park just north of SeaWorld. At a hotel a mile away, a paramedic snapped a photo of the spectacle and posted it to the r/sanantonio subreddit. “Cell tower on fire around 1604 and Culebra,” he wrote. In typical Reddit fashion, the comments section piled up with corny jokes. “B

inDrive has big plans to become a global ‘super app’ where others have failed

Known for its bidding-based ride-hailing model across Asia and Latin America, inDrive is rolling out a “super app” strategy aimed at frontier markets — expanding beyond cabs to deliver daily essentials to its users. Beginning with grocery deliveries in Kazakhstan, inDrive plans to expand into multiple verticals over the next 12 months across its top markets, including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Pakistan, Peru, and Mexico. The shift comes on the heels of more than 360 million app downloads and 6.5

InDrive has big plans to become a global ‘super app’ where others have failed

InDrive, known for its bidding-based ride-hailing model across Asia and Latin America, is rolling out a “super-app” strategy aimed at frontier markets — expanding beyond cabs to deliver daily essentials to its users. Beginning with grocery deliveries in Kazakhstan, InDrive plans to expand into multiple verticals over the next 12 months across its top markets, including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Pakistan, Peru, and Mexico. The shift comes on the heels of more than 360 million app downloads and 6.

Venture Capitalist Sues Surrogate Mother After Stillbirth

Losing a baby to a stillbirth is arguably the most heartbreaking outcome an expecting mother can experience. But what would you do if that stillbirth kicked off a lengthy and protracted legal battle in which your most intimate details are spilled to the police, the courts, and social media? That's the horrifying conundrum facing Rebecca Smith, a 34 year old would-be surrogate mother who says her stillbirth almost killed her. Despite almost paying for the unfortunate complication with her life,

‘Tron: Ares’ Star Says Her Character Reveals a Hard Truth About AI and Humans

Even in the opening moments of the Tron: Ares trailer, the story wastes no time in putting humanity’s future with artificial intelligence into jeopardy. And while lots of fans are wondering what kind of performance we’re going to get out of Jared Leto in the titular role of Ares in the Nine Inch Nails-scored sci-fi sequel, fellow cast member Jodie Turner-Smith has a lot to say about how her character is aimed to provoke audiences to think hard about the realities of an AI-filled future. In a ne

Will Smith Posts Bizarre New AI-Generated Concert Video

Last week, "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" star Will Smith — himself the victim of a gross AI meme about slurping spaghetti — showed the world that he's not so fresh anymore when his team used AI to add rapturous fans to concert footage of his "Based on a True Story" comeback tour. Online observers quickly noticed that the AI had gone haywire, adding demonic-looking fans with garbled signs praising the 56-year-old rapper-actor that stood in clear contrast to the wilted-looking crowd visible in actual

AI or not, Will Smith’s crowd video is fresh cringe

Will Smith posted a video on social media that shows oceans of fans cheering him on during his recent European tour. “My favorite part of the tour is seeing you all up close,” the caption says. “Thank you for seeing me too.” In these thousands-deep crowds, some fans are holding up signs espousing their love for Smith, with one even saying that his music helped them survive cancer. But the video gives off an odd aura — it looks believably real at first glance, until you look closer and find di

Microsoft fires two employee protesters who occupied its president’s office

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft has fired two employees that were involved in a sit-in protest in vice chair and president Brad Smith’s office. Software engineers Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle were both dismissed today, after being part of a group of seven protesters that managed to get inside Smith’s office in Bu

DJI's much smaller Mic 3 can record four subjects at once

DJI's busy engineering team is at it again with the creation of the company's third wireless mic system in less than two years. The new flagship DJI Mic 3 has a wholesale design change from the Mic 2 plus numerous improvements in areas like sound quality, noise reduction and the number of subjects you can record at once — though there is one downgrade compared to to the last model. I've had one for over a week so I'll provide some impressions as well. The most noticeable change with the Mic 3 i

Will Smith's Tour Video Used AI to Generate Adoring Audience Members and the Result Is... Bleak

Over the past few years, actor, rapper, and slapper Will Smith has been the subject of a grotesque meme in AI is used to show him gobbling down on nightmarish squelching spaghetti. It now seems that the 56-year-old "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" star's team has used the tech to soup up concert footage from his would-be comeback tour — and it strongly appears that the purpose was to make an underwhelming crowd look like they're still filled with love for Smith's much-lampooned career trajectory. Pos

Topics: ai crowd look smith video

Will Smith's Tour Video Used AI to Generate Adoring Fans and the Result Is Unintentionally Hilarious

Over the past few years, actor, rapper, and slapper Will Smith has been the subject of a grotesque meme in AI is used to show him gobbling down on nightmarish squelching spaghetti. It now seems that the 56-year-old "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" star's team has used the tech to soup up concert footage from his would-be comeback tour — and it strongly appears that the purpose was to make an underwhelming crowd look like they're still filled with love for Smith's much-lampooned career trajectory. Pos

Topics: ai crowd look smith video

Microsoft Locks Down Building After Protesters Breach President’s Office

People inside and outside of Microsoft have been agitating for the software giant to cut ties with the Israeli government. As the war and slaughter in Gaza drag on, activists have increasingly sought to expose and condemn the software giant. This week, it appears that the company had to temporarily lock down its headquarters, as protesting workers entered the office of company president Brad Smith to conduct a sit-in. The protest efforts that took place on Tuesday were also streamed live on Twi

Microsoft hosts emergency press conference after protesters ‘storm a building’

is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft president Brad Smith hosted an impromptu press conference on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after protesters gained access to a building at the company’s headquarters and held a sit-in demonstration inside his office. Seated on the edge of his desk, in the office that had been occupied by protester

Horrifying AI Crowds Apparently Used in Will Smith Concert Video

Commenters are calling out Will Smith for using AI in a concert video. The video, posted to YouTube on Aug. 12, features the actor and rapper performing on stage with a montage of his audiences. The crowd looks real in some shots, but in others it appears to be AI generated, given the prevalence of blurry faces, extra fingers and akimbo limbs. One YouTube commenter responded: "I like to pause this video and see your crowd close up too. Lots of extra digits in this crowd." Another said: "This i

Alan Tudyk Wasn’t Part of ‘I, Robot’ Publicity for a Very Surprising Reason

Alan Tudyk has made a fine career of playing otherworldly roles. Sometimes he’s a robot, like in Rogue One or Superman. Other times he’s an alien, like on Resident Alien, or he lends his voice to all manner of weird, wacky creatures from Moana and Encanto to Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph. Long before any of that, though, Tudyk played Sonny, the lead robot in the 2004 Will Smith hit I, Robot—but there’s a good chance you didn’t know that. That’s because it wasn’t well publicized. Speaking on the

Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby to retain its space shuttle

Texas lawmakers, seemingly not content with getting NASA's endorsement to move a retired space shuttle to Houston, are now calling for an investigation into how the Smithsonian allegedly objected to relocating the orbiter it has owned for more than a decade. Senator John Cornyn and Representative Randy Weber on Thursday sent a letter to John Roberts, the Smithsonian Institution's chancellor and chief justice of the United States, suggesting that the Smithsonian's staff may have violated the law

Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby to retain its space shuttle

Texas lawmakers, seemingly not content with getting NASA's endorsement to move a retired space shuttle to Houston, are now calling for an investigation into how the Smithsonian allegedly objected to relocating the orbiter it has owned for more than a decade. Senator John Cornyn and Representative Randy Weber on Thursday sent a letter to John Roberts, the Smithsonian Institution's chancellor and chief justice of the United States, suggesting that the Smithsonian's staff may have violated the law

Someone Gave ChatGPT $100 and Let It Trade Stocks for a Month

With $100 and a dream, one enterprising Redditor turned ChatGPT into a day trader, and the results so far have been pretty remarkable. In a post on r/Dataisbeautiful, the Redditor in question — real name Nathan Smith — described his project as a "6-month experiment to see how a language model performs in picking small, [under-covered] stocks with only a $100 budget." According to a chart shared on Reddit, this literal gamble is already paying off. Using GPT-4o, one of OpenAI's most advanced mo

Apple TV+: ‘Slow Horses’ writer to leave the show after season 5

Will Smith, the writer and executive producer behind Apple TV+’s hit show Slow Horses, has confirmed his decision to step away from the series after the upcoming season 5. Here are the details. ’A good moment to hand over the show’ Smith has been with the show since the beginning, serving as its de facto showrunner and leading the adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. Now, as Season 5 wraps post-production and prepares for release on September 24, Smith says it’s time to pass t

Hackers Can Tamper With Train Brakes Using Just a Radio, Feds Warn

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an advisory last week warning that a key train system could be hacked using nothing but a radio and a little know-how. The flaw has to do with the protocol used in a train system known as the End-of-Train and Head-of-Train. A Flashing Rear End Device (FRED), also known as an End-of-Train (EOT) device, is attached to the back of a train and sends data via radio signals to a corresponding device in the locomotive called the Head-o

Sarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can ‘unlock’ so much for solo GPs like herself

Sarah Smith, founder and managing partner of the eponymous Sarah Smith Fund, announced Thursday the final closing of a $16 million Fund I. Smith launched her eponymous fund in 2022 and is a solo GP. She said she’s “stunned” by what AI can unlock for firms like hers, solo and next-generation. “I can’t imagine doing venture any other way now,” she said. “While I believe company building still requires a team effort, I believe early-stage investing is best done solo.” She appreciates how she can

Topics: ai fund said smith solo

LangChain is about to become a unicorn, sources say

LangChain, an AI infrastructure startup providing tools to build and monitor LLM-powered applications, is raising a new round of funding at an approximate $1 billion valuation led by IVP, according to three sources with knowledge of the deal. LangChain began its life in late 2022 as an open-source project founded by Harrison Chase, who was then an engineer at machine learning startup Robust Intelligence. After generating significant developer interest, Chase transformed the project into a start

Publishing Pepys

Two hundred years ago this month, Samuel Pepys’s diary was published to great acclaim. Readers of the first edition in 1825 relished Pepys’s ‘honest’ observations and ‘private anecdotes’. While writing his journal in the 1660s, Pepys had worked hard to keep it secret. He knew he was placing his livelihood at risk by recording seditious criticisms of his superiors, along with details of his own bribe-taking and sexually explicit accounts of his ‘amours’. There was much that, when writing, he did

Whitesmiths C compiler: One of the earliest commercial C compilers available

Whitesmiths, Ltd. C Compiler Background The original Whitesmiths compiler was released in 1978 and compiled a version of C similar to that accepted by Version 6 Unix. It was an entirely new implementation, borrowing no code from Unix. When Whitesmiths released version 3.0 of its C compiler in 1985 it supported the emerging ANSI C standard. The Whitesmiths compiler had code generators for DEC PDP-11, Intel 8080/Zilog Z80, Intel 8086, Motorola MC68000, DEC VAX-11, IBM System/370 and IBM System

Diabetic Woman No Longer Needs Insulin After Single Dose of Experimental Stem Cells

Image by Getty / Futurism Treatments A Canadian woman with type 1 diabetes spent nearly a decade dependent on her glucose monitor and insulin shots — but after a single dose of manufactured stem cells implanted into her liver, she's now free. In an interview with CTV, 36-year-old Amanda Smith of London, Ontario described how it felt to be part of such a groundbreaking experiment that has allowed her body to once again produce its own insulin. "I remember, like, being scared and excited," Smit

Man falls for AI chatbot he created, proposes while partner looks on in disbelief

WTF?! A 32-year-old man from the United States has captured national attention after proposing to an artificial intelligence companion he created and named "Sol." The story, which unfolded during a recent CBS News interview, has sparked widespread discussion about the evolving relationship between humans and AI technology. Chris Smith, the man behind the viral moment, told CBS News that he programmed "Sol" using ChatGPT, creating a flirty and engaging digital companion. According to Smith, what