GoKawiil
Tech News
NVIDIA, Google, and startup Emerald AI have created the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA), a coalition aimed at making AI data centers more flexible in their power consumption. The group wants facilities to be able to shift workloads, tap batteries, and cut usage during peak demand, in exchange for utilities granting faster grid connections and potentially sharing infrastructure costs.
Developer Luckey Faraday used the GPT Astra AI model to rewrite a browser-based recreation of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's Hijacked map in Java so it runs directly inside Minecraft's own OpenGL rendering context, rather than as a screen-in-screen simulation. The mod, built with the Fabric loader, includes working collision, bots, navmesh and weapons, and reportedly runs at about 45fps.
Despite stepping down as Apple CEO, Tim Cook has kept the responsibility of engaging with governments as part of his new executive chairman title. Bloomberg reports Cook, along with OpenAI's Sam Altman, will attend a White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping amid tense US-China relations over AI, trade and geopolitics.
After a four-year effort, researcher DiscoStarslayer, working with developer Libby, successfully decapped and optically dumped the firmware of the PS2's MechaCon chip, a feat no one had achieved in the console's 26-year history. The pair used an exploit Libby discovered to extract the firmware and are now documenting metadata and hashes, with a full technical write-up promised soon.
A UN fact-finding mission investigating the February conflict between Iran and the US has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe US forces struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school and a sports facility in Minab, killing more than 150 people, including roughly 120 children. Investigators said the US relied on faulty intelligence about a commander's presence and failed to verify the target, calling the strike reckless and an indiscriminate attack amounting to a war crime. The same mission also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity while suppressing anti-government protests that began in December.
A new McKinsey and SEMI Foundation report projects the United States could be short by as many as 157,000 semiconductor workers by 2030, even as companies like Samsung, TSMC and Intel race to build new fabrication plants domestically. Samsung executive Jon Taylor told CNBC he's worried there simply aren't enough technically trained people entering the field to staff these facilities, including Samsung's $35 billion Taylor, Texas complex set to begin production this year.
A contributor writing for Entrepreneur argues that most business owners fail to formally document their exit and succession wishes, leaving families to guess at intentions during crises like death, disability, divorce or disagreement. The piece cites the statistic that half of all owners will eventually exit due to one of these 'five Ds,' often without written guidance in place.
Waymo says its robotaxi detected a terms-of-service violation involving a firearm, pulled over, and alerted emergency responders, leading police to arrest two teenagers after allegedly finding a loaded AR-style ghost gun inside the car. The incident adds to a growing list of episodes where Waymo vehicles have supplied footage or triggered law enforcement action, including hit-and-run evidence and protest surveillance concerns.
Camp Snap has opened preorders for the 110D, a pocket-sized digital point-and-shoot styled after the thin horizontal 110 film cameras Kodak popularized in the 1970s. It costs $74.95 and comes in two color options, packing an 8-megapixel Sony sensor, a 4.2mm f/2.0 lens with 30.5mm filter compatibility, five built-in retro filters, and a bundled 4GB microSD card.
Apple is reportedly building custom AI servers around future M8 Ultra chips, planned in two- and four-chip configurations, and is evaluating Nvidia's NVLink Fusion for high-speed interconnects between them. The project, said to have started roughly a year ago under former hardware chief John Ternus, aims to replace Apple's existing in-house connectivity tech, which is reportedly too slow and expensive for large-scale deployment.
YouTuber and right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann is touring the US with his nonprofit Fulu, holding events that push to repeal Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing manufacturer-imposed digital locks on devices. The San Jose stop drew about 80 attendees and featured panels from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a university repair workshop, and Fisker vehicle owners fighting to keep their cars running. Fulu also pays bounties to people willing to break digital locks on hardware, even risking legal consequences.
Soundboks has released the Rider, a portable speaker built with a steel grille, rubber corners and a thick plastic body designed to survive drops and heavy use. It features a user-replaceable battery that charges over USB-C, but skips the multi-speaker wireless linking, stand mount and XLR inputs found on Soundboks' larger Mix and 4 models.