Hands on with Aqara’s new Matter-compatible camera
The first Matter camera is here - sort of. Camera support came to the smart home standard last year, and Aqara's Camera Hub G350 is the first to support it. The G350, which was announced at CES, launched this week and is a pan-and-tilt indoor security camera with up to 4K video resolution.
Today, the G350 only supports Matter on Samsung SmartThings, as none of the other platforms have added Matter 1.5 yet. I've only had the camera setup for a day, and it took several firmware updates before I could connect it as a Matter camera. So far, all it can do is stream a live feed, which is far less than what Samsung promises Matter cameras in Smar …
The Live Nation trial restarts with a ‘velvet hammer’
After a chaotic week following the Justice Department's mid-trial settlement with Live Nation-Ticketmaster, the antitrust trial picked back up surprisingly smoothly on Monday - this time, with dozens of states leading the case.
This isn't the outcome the states originally wanted. Out of concerns about being able to effectively take over the case and fear that the jury would be prejudiced by the shakeup, they requested a mistrial, which would have restarted the court battle at an unknown future date. But an irritated Judge Arun Subramanian seemed likely to deny the request, and once the states figured out how to retain the DOJ's expert witn …
DLSS 5 looks like a real-time generative AI filter for video games
Nvidia announced DLSS 5 on Monday during its GTC conference, and based on early reactions, it's going to be a divisive update, with some reactions calling it "slop" that unacceptably alters artistic intent. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is calling this the "GPT moment for graphics - blending hand-crafted rendering with generative AI to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression."
In games that support DLSS 5, the tools can immediately provide noticeable boosts to lighting and shadows, but unlike previous versions of upscaling that used machine learning to close the gap between high …
Teens sue Elon Musk’s xAI over Grok’s AI-generated CSAM
Three Tennessee teens are suing Elon Musk's xAI over claims that the company's Grok AI chatbot generated sexualized images and videos of themselves as minors, as reported earlier by The Washington Post. The proposed class action lawsuit, filed on Monday, accuses Musk and other xAI leaders of knowing that Grok would produce AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) when launching its "spicy mode" last year.
The plaintiffs include two minors and an adult who was underage when the events in the lawsuit took place. One of the victims, identified as "Jane Doe 1," alleges that last December, she learned that explicit, AI-generated images of …
Ecovacs’ Deebot X8 and X9 Pro Omni robovacs are nearly 50 percent off
If you like the idea of spring cleaning but not the part where you actually have to clean, both the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni and newer X9 Pro Omni have dropped to their lowest prices to date ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, which officially kicks off on March 25th. The X8 Pro Omni is available for $599 ($501 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and Ecovacs, while the X9 Pro Omni is on sale for $679 ($621 off) at the same retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, Ecovacs).
Deebot X8 Pro Omni
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Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni
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Both robot vacuums are packed with smart features designed to reduce the time you spend cleaning. Using lidar and a 3D camera for mapping, they can deftly navigate around furniture and baseboards, and even identify and avoid potential obstacles. The roller mop on both models also cleans itself while it works, and each robovac comes with a multifunction dock with a built-in water tank, allowing them to refill themselves and move dirty water into a separate waste tank. You can also use either the companion app or voice commands to control them thanks to their support for Matter, which lets you connect them to platforms like Alexa and Google Home.
Both models are excellent cleaning devices, too, and each uses an extendable roller mop that can apply up to 4,000Pa of pressure and reach hard-to-clean areas (including corners). The biggest differences between the two models come down to how they handle suction and airflow while vacuuming. For instance, the last-gen X8 Pro Omni offers slightly more powerful suction at 18,000Pa, compared to 16,600Pa on the X9. The X9 Pro Omni, meanwhile, leverages Ecovacs’ Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology, which moves more air through the vacuum, allowing dust and debris to be pulled in more easily for a deeper clean.
It’s worth noting that Ecovacs now sells a newer flagship, the Ecovacs Deepbot X11 OmniCyclone, which is also currently on sale at Amazon for $899 ($600 off). The high-end model adds even more suction (19,500Pa), an improved roller mop system, and a bagless auto-emptying dock that eliminates the need for disposable dust bags. That said, the X8 Pro Omni and X9 Pro Omni still offer many of the same core cleaning features for hundreds less.
Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to prove he’s not an AI clone
Social media platforms are currently awash with conspiracy theories claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu has been killed or injured and replaced by AI-generated deepfakes. Between clips that supposedly show the Israeli prime minister sporting extra fingers and drinking from a bottomless, gravity-defying cup of coffee, only one thing is apparent: Reality used to be much easier to prove.
There's very little credible evidence to suggest that Netanyahu isn't alive. But credibility is a rare commodity now that AI can convincingly clone real people across image, video, and audio formats, so it's getting tougher to conclusively dispel the rumors. This …
Nvidia says China’s BYD and Geely will use its robotaxi platform
Nvidia added two leading Chinese automakers, BYD and Geely, to its robotaxi program, as the chipmaker seeks to put its stamp on the growing autonomous vehicle market worldwide.
At its GTC conference today, Nvidia announced that BYD and Geely, as well as Isuzu and Nissan, would use the chipmaker's Drive Hyperion platform, which combines the chips, computers, sensors, and software needed for for the development of Level 4 autonomous vehicles.
BYD currently uses Nvidia's chips in its manually driven cars, and now, under this expanded agreement, it will use the company's Hyperion platform to build next-generation Level 4 vehicles. Geely, meanw …
I met Olaf — the Frozen robot who might be the future of Disney Parks
You know Olaf. Before KPop Demon Hunters, before the Wicked movies, it was Disney's Frozen that blasted show tunes like "Let It Go" and "Into the Unknown" into our lives. My little girls loved belting those tunes.
So when I met Olaf, the Disney Imagineering robot, I kept thinking: I can't wait for my kids to meet him too.
It's a weird thought, really, because this Olaf isn't a "he" and can't carry on a conversation. Why do I keep thinking "I met him" when he's largely a remote-controlled puppet teleoperated by a Steam Deck gaming handheld?
Sony’s AI graphics upscaling for PS5 Pro games is getting a big update tonight
Sony's upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology is rolling out to several titles on the PS5 Pro, including Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, and more. Digital Foundry got a chance to test some of them and found that the "new upscaler delivers the kind of upgrade we were looking for from PS5 Pro." Problems with shimmering, flickering, and other visual artifacts have been addressed, and they said it now delivers crisper and more consistent in-game graphics.
This is the first upgrade we've seen from AMD and Sony's combined Project Amethyst work on improving the effect of rendering a game at a lo …
Encyclopedia Britannica is suing OpenAI for allegedly ‘memorizing’ its content with ChatGPT
On Friday, Encyclopedia Britannica and dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that it used their copyrighted content to train its AI, then generated responses that were "substantially similar" to their content, as previously reported by Reuters.
According to Britannica, OpenAI repeatedly copied its content without permission, stating, "GPT-4 itself has 'memorized' much of Britannica's copyrighted content and will output near-verbatim copies of significant portions on demand. The memorized examples are unauthorized copies that [OpenAI] used to train their models, including GPT-4."
The lawsuit goes on …