The war in Ukraine has seen widespread use of drones for reconnaissance, surveillance and offensive strikes by both sides. Initially, Ukraine relied on expensive Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones, but Russian air defenses soon neutralized their effectiveness. Necessity led Ukraine to pivot to inexpensive commercial quadcopter drones from companies like DJI.

These small drones have several key advantages:

• Low cost ($1,000 or less)
• Operate at low altitudes making them hard to detect/target
• Can scout ahead and identify targets to minimize wasting scarce artillery
• Easy for civilians to crowdsource and donate to military

Ukraine has also developed loitering munition/kamikaze drones that can fly into targets and destroy them at a tiny fraction of the cost of a missile or smart bomb. Faced with this asymmetric advantage, Russia has developed countermeasures like GPS/signal jamming and drone-on-drone combat with its own mass-produced suicide drones.

The future of drone warfare lies in full autonomy and AI target identification/engagement. U.S. startup Anduril is developing an integrated autonomous drone "operating system" called Lattice that could allow mass drone swarms to overwhelm defenses with relatively cheap and disposable unmanned systems. Ethical concerns remain about the lowered barriers to deadly force with autonomous AI drones.

The Collapse of Low-Cost Airlines in the US

Eight years ago, low-cost carriers like Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and Allegiant were printing money, with operating margins as high as 30%. However, today they are struggling, with margins between -11.2% and 5.6%, while legacy carriers like Delta and United have recovered to 8-10.9%.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially caused a collapse in air travel, hurting all airlines. But passenger volumes have fully recovered and hit record highs, so there must be other factors behind the low-cost carriers' ongoing woes.

Some key reasons cited by the airlines themselves:

1. Increased Competition: With business travel still lagging, legacy carriers have recalibrated to capture more leisure demand, adding capacity to vacation destinations like Las Vegas.

2. Rising Fuel Costs: Fuel prices spiked in March 2022, severely impacting the low-cost model which relies on keeping operating costs down.

3. Irregular Operations: Severe weather events, air traffic controller shortages, and engine issues have made it harder for low-cost carriers to operate on-time and maximize aircraft utilization, a key aspect of their model.

To survive, these airlines are making major changes:

• JetBlue is adjusting its route network, scaling back transatlantic flights in winter and focusing on destinations like San Juan as a new hub serving Latin America.

• Frontier has essentially abandoned the ultra-low-cost model, bundling fares and switching to a more typical pricing structure like legacy carriers.

• Southwest is reducing service to some cities, slowing hiring, and considering assigned seating - facing pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to restructure.

The future viability of the low-cost model in the vast US market is uncertain. With high fuel costs and other operational challenges, budget airlines may struggle to maintain a significant cost advantage over legacy carriers on longer flights.

As Jordan from Southwest said, "Southwest would change." Adapting, or facing investor pressure for major restructuring, may be essential for low-cost carriers to endure this turbulent period.

The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport is facing a dilemma - whether to widen its runway to allow larger aircraft, as demanded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), or keep its current layout and risk losing federal funding. The airport's unique geography, nestled in a narrow valley at high altitude, poses challenges for aircraft operations, leading to stringent restrictions.

The proposed runway expansion would increase the separation between the runway and taxiway to 400 feet, allowing larger planes like the Boeing 737 to operate. However, this has sparked fierce debate among local residents, with concerns over noise pollution, environmental impact, and potential over-development.

Opposing groups like Aspen Flyright and Citizens Against Bigger Planes argue that the county could operate the airport without FAA funding by taking over the fixed-base operator (FBO) for private jets, generating enough revenue for repairs and improvements. They contend that the expansion would primarily benefit private jet owners and question the need for larger commercial aircraft.

On the other hand, supporters like the Coalition for a 21st Century Airport believe that allowing wider wingspans is essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution. They argue that newer, larger aircraft models like the Airbus A220 could offer lower emissions per passenger mile and improved operational capabilities.

The debate has culminated in two competing ballot measures for the November election, one seeking to grant voters the power to approve or reject the runway expansion, and the other aiming to reaffirm the county commissioners' authority over the decision.

As the electorate grapples with complex technical information and competing claims, the consequences of inaction are mounting. The airport has already missed out on federal funding opportunities due to the lack of an approved airport layout plan (ALP), and the runway's degradation could lead to more frequent and unpredictable closures, potentially disrupting the local economy.

The situation in Aspen highlights the broader challenges faced by American infrastructure development, where federal, state, and local interests often collide, and the process of determining the best path forward can become mired in gridlock.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 kicked off the long process of reuniting East and West Germany after decades of separation. This involved monumental infrastructure projects to reconnect the rail and road networks that had been divided.

The integration also required restructuring East Germany's government and economy from the ground up. East Germany went from being a Soviet-style socialist state to adopting West Germany's democratic, capitalist system virtually overnight. This meant reforming laws, courts, administrative divisions, and retraining or replacing government workers.

The economic transition was especially challenging, as the formerly communist East German economy could not compete in the free market. Massive subsidies tried to revive eastern industries, but unemployment soared as many businesses failed. Even today, the former East Germany lags behind the west economically.

Beyond systems and infrastructure, the reunification also revealed deep cultural divides that persisted after decades of separation. Feelings of dissatisfaction, rejection, and being "second-class citizens" have fueled support for far-right politics in the former East. Healing this cultural rift has proven the most stubborn challenge in achieving full reunification over 30 years later.

This in-depth article explores a hypothetical scenario where President Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race just three months before the election, thrusting Vice President Kamala Harris into a frenzied final campaign push as the new Democratic nominee. It delves into the complexities and logistics of rapidly mobilizing a presidential campaign on such short notice.

The article details how Harris would inherit Biden's existing campaign infrastructure, providing a crucial headstart but still requiring significant adaptation. Key aspects covered include:

• Rebranding efforts like creating a new logo, website, and campaign materials
• Rapidly vetting and selecting a running mate through an accelerated process
• Planning a multi-state campaign tour hitting key battlegrounds like Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada
• Fundraising efforts to quickly amass millions in campaign funds
• Targeting key demographics like union workers and Hispanic voters through focused events
• Leveraging Air Force Two for campaign travel while reimbursing operating costs
• Breaking down the campaign's extensive daily expenses for events, production, staffing, and more

The article paints a vivid picture of the immense coordination, resources, and rapid decision-making required to launch a competitive national campaign in just a few months' time. It provides an eye-opening look at the scale and complexities involved in running for the highest office in the nation.

This article provides a detailed tutorial on how to use the new "Artifacts" feature in Claude 3.5, an AI language model developed by Anthropic. The tutorial covers several use cases, including:

1. Generating Animations: Claude can recreate basic images or diagrams as animations using React components. Users can provide an image, and Claude will generate an animated visualization that can be further customized.

2. Recreating User Interfaces: Claude can recreate simple user interfaces like the ChatGPT interface using React components based on an image provided by the user.

3. Creating Interactive Games: Users can ask Claude to create simple interactive games using React, such as a memory card game.

4. Data Visualization: Claude can visualize data provided by the user in the form of charts, dashboards, or interactive plotly.js visualizations.

5. Text Summarization and Presentation: Claude can summarize long pieces of text and create simple React-based presentations with slides covering key points.

6. Story Generation: Claude can generate long, coherent stories or narratives based on a prompt or context provided by the user, while displaying the generated text in real-time.

7. SVG Visualization and Animation: Claude can create basic visualizations using SVG and animate them using React components.

The tutorial emphasizes the versatility and power of Claude 3.5's Artifacts feature, which allows users to interact with and modify the outputs generated by the AI in real-time, facilitating a more collaborative and iterative process.

Momo: The Cutting-Edge Multimodal AI from AI21

AI21 has unveiled Momo, a state-of-the-art multimodal AI model that is setting new standards in the field. Unlike other AI models that only interpret images and text, Momo goes a step further by learning to point at and interact with what it perceives in both physical and virtual environments.

Key Capabilities:

• Vision Prowess: Momo demonstrates exceptional vision capabilities, outperforming closed-source models 10 times its size. Human evaluators rated Momo on par with GPT-4 in terms of image and text understanding.

• Multimodal Learning: Through a specialized data gathering process called PixoL, Momo learns from detailed spoken descriptions of images, allowing it to understand visual scenes more comprehensively.

• Efficient Models: AI21 has developed efficient Momo variants, like Momo Mixture of Experts 1B, which nearly matches GPT-4's vision performance while being significantly smaller.

• Interactive Applications: Momo can be integrated into systems like Apple's Vision Pro, enabling users to ask questions, get visual explanations, and interact with the environment through pointing and gestures.

• Robotics Assistance: By accurately identifying objects, their locations, and free spaces, Momo can aid robots in tasks like picking up and placing objects.

The unveiling of Momo underscores the rapid advancement of AI technology and AI21's commitment to pushing the boundaries of what's possible with multimodal AI models.

This article discusses various practical applications of powerful AI language models like OpenAI's GPT-3, focusing on GPT-3's ability to reason over complex prompts and generate human-like outputs. The key areas explored include:

Coding: GPT-3 can write functional code from natural language descriptions, allowing even non-coders to build programs like games, apps, and data visualizations with its step-by-step guidance.

Business/Management: GPT-3 excels at providing strategic advice for complex business scenarios like supply chain issues by reasoning over multiple factors. It can also validate business ideas based on personal circumstances.

Healthcare: GPT-3 shows impressive performance in medical diagnosis and personalized healthcare planning by analyzing phenotypes, symptoms, and personal data in depth.

Legal: Law firms are finding GPT-3 useful for document revision, ensuring numerical and logical consistency in complex legal agreements that are challenging for humans.

Research: GPT-3 can replicate months of PhD-level research work in fields like computer vision by generating functional code from high-level descriptions, though some fine-tuning is still required.

The article emphasizes that while not a complete solution, GPT-3's reasoning capabilities make it a powerful tool to augment human intelligence across many domains when used effectively with detailed prompts.

In a leaked recording from an internal meeting at Amazon Web Services (AWS), CEO Matt Garman shared his thoughts on how artificial intelligence (AI) could significantly impact software engineering in the future. Garman suggested that within 24 months (by 2026), most developers might not be coding due to AI's capability to perform many coding tasks efficiently through natural language.

While this prediction might sound alarming, Garman clarified that it was more of an "advisory nudge" rather than a dire warning about the obsolescence of software engineers. He emphasized that coding is merely a language for communicating with computers, and the real skill lies in innovation and building interesting products for end-users.

The article explores the implications of Garman's comments, highlighting the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the potential for AI to automate significant portions of coding tasks. It cites recent advancements in AI systems, such as the improvements in performance on software engineering benchmarks like the SWE Bench and the impressive capabilities of models like AlphaCode 2.

However, the article also acknowledges the nuances and potential limitations of AI in software engineering. It suggests that while AI might handle the "heavy lifting" of coding, the role of software developers is likely to shift towards understanding customer needs, designing user experiences, and orchestrating different components of software systems.

The article concludes by speculating on how companies might adapt their hiring processes and organizational structures to accommodate the changing dynamics brought about by AI. It encourages software engineers to embrace upskilling and continuous learning to stay relevant in an AI-driven future.

Overall, the article presents a balanced perspective on the potential impact of AI on software engineering, acknowledging both the disruptive potential and the ongoing need for human expertise in innovation, design, and problem-solving.

Meta has released Llama 3.1, a powerful 405 billion parameter open source language model that surpasses state-of-the-art models like GPT-4 and Claude 3.5 in many benchmarks, despite being significantly smaller in size. Key features of Llama 3.1 include:

• Improved reasoning, tool use, multilinguality, and larger context window
• Competitive performance on image, video, and speech recognition tasks through multimodal extensions
• Ability to generate tool calls for tasks like search, code execution, and math reasoning
• Zero-shot tool usage and improved decision-making capabilities
• Released under an open license allowing synthetic data generation and model distillation

Meta has also released updated 8B and 70B versions of Llama with expanded 1,208 token context windows. The models can be deployed locally or on cloud platforms like AWS and Nvidia. Meta aims to make open source AI the industry standard and enable broader access to powerful models.

The release could significantly impact the AI ecosystem, providing GPT-4 level performance at a fraction of the size and cost. Developers can now access cutting-edge capabilities for free, potentially accelerating AI research and applications across various domains.

Meta has launched Llama 3.2, a major update to its open-source AI model that now includes vision capabilities. The 11B and 90B variants can perform image reasoning, accurately describing visuals and interpreting charts, diagrams, and mathematical data.

Benchmarks suggest Llama 3.2 is competitive with leading models like GPT-4 Mini and Claude on image recognition and visual understanding tasks. It excels at areas like mathematical reasoning with visuals, understanding charts/diagrams, and general knowledge.

However, the model is currently unavailable in regions with strict AI regulations like the EU and UK, even when accessed via VPN. This limitation may frustrate those eager to explore the advanced capabilities.

In another major announcement, Meta unveiled Orion, its ambitious augmented reality glasses project. The goals are highly ambitious - full holographic displays overlaid on the real world, eye contact capability, hand gesture controls, and the ability to "teleport" people as holograms into your environment for collaboration or social activities.

While still in development, Orion promises to bring AI into daily lives through an immersive wearable experience, blending digital and physical realms seamlessly. If successful, it could pave the way for widespread AR/AI adoption.

The article discusses the potential rise of fully automated "ghost" factories with little to no human workers. It references a viral talk by an AI expert at Stanford who stated that major chip fabs are already operating with almost zero human labor, using only robots in a sealed "lights out" environment.

The article provides examples of companies like Xiaomi, Tesla, and automakers already implementing highly automated factories using AI systems and robots to handle manufacturing with little human intervention. It notes this automation push is occurring rapidly across many industries.

However, the article also raises questions about whether humanoid robots specifically are practical or useful for factories compared to other robot designs. It cites a robotics expert's argument that humanoid robots are a "race to the bottom" not solving clear use cases that require a human form factor.

While the rise of automation could eliminate many manufacturing jobs, the article suggests careers like AI specialist, sustainable energy worker, and healthcare roles aided by AI could thrive. It emphasizes the need for innovation, adaptability to emerging tech, and serving essential human needs to stay employed as automation increases.

Overall, the article explores the rapidly advancing trend towards "lights out" automated manufacturing powered by AI and robotics, while debating the impacts on jobs and questioning if humanoid robots are the ideal form for factory automation.

Chat LLM Teams: Harness Multiple AI Models in One Place

Chat LLM Teams is an innovative platform by Abacus AI that brings together multiple large language models (LLMs) and AI tools in a single dashboard. Key features include:

• Access to Multiple LLMs: Switch between state-of-the-art models like GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini with just a dropdown. Each model has unique strengths - some are more creative, others more logical.

• Humanize Text: There's a handy "humanize" button that lets you quickly adjust the tone of AI outputs to be professional, funny, empathetic, etc.

• Document Interaction: Upload PDFs and documents, then query the contents using natural language. Great for quickly extracting insights.

• Code Generation: Generate code snippets in various programming languages, with live previews of HTML/CSS outputs.

• Image Generation & Analysis: Seamlessly create and analyze images using models like DALL-E.

• Collaboration & App Integration: Invite team members, connect apps like Slack/Teams. Build custom AI agents for advanced use cases.

All this power comes at just $10/month after a free trial - an unbeatable value proposition for accessing cutting-edge AI capabilities.

This video discusses the 10 major advancements expected in artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024:

1. Agents: AI systems that can accomplish tasks and goals on behalf of users, like booking appointments or running a company. Companies like Google, OpenAI, and DeepMind are working on developing capable agents.

2. Voice Assistants: More advanced voice AI assistants that can engage in expressive conversations, combining audio, visuals, and other modalities. Examples shown include OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Project Astra.

3. True Multimodality: AI models that can handle any input (text, images, videos, audio etc.) and output in any format, enabling seamless multimodal interactions.

4. Personalization: AI models that can be customized and personalized based on user data and preferences for more contextual and tailored experiences.

5. Improved Reasoning: AI models with enhanced reasoning capabilities and reliability, making fewer mistakes and better understanding user intent.

6. Custom-Trained Models: Fine-tuned AI models for specific domains like law, healthcare etc., surpassing the general capabilities of foundational models.

7. AI in Healthcare: Specialized AI models and apps providing personalized health coaching, recommendations, and insights based on user data.

8. Autonomous Driving Expansion: The rollout of fully autonomous ride-hailing services in major cities, enabled by advancements in self-driving AI systems.

9. AI Customer Service: AI-powered customer support agents that can facilitate transactions, provide recommendations, and offer personalized service.

10. Advanced Robotics: More sophisticated and humanoid robots with improved AI integration for autonomously performing complex physical tasks.

The video presents insights from AI leaders like Sam Altman and Demis Hassabis, highlighting the rapid pace of AI progress and the transformative potential of these emerging technologies across various sectors.

Meta's Movie Gen AI Impresses With Realistic Video Generation

Meta has recently unveiled a powerful new AI system called Movie Gen that is capable of generating highly realistic video clips from text descriptions. The system uses large language models and machine learning to create video with accurate physics, lighting, and other visual details that are often challenging for AI.

Key Features

• 30B Parameter Video Model: The core model with 30 billion parameters for generating video from text prompts.
• 13B Audio Model: Generates realistic audio to accompany the visuals, including background sounds, music, and sound effects.
• Personalized Video: Can generate customized video clips with specific individuals using a single image input.
• Video Editing: Allows editing of generated videos by adding effects, changing backgrounds/clothing, and other modifications.

The video examples showcased by Meta demonstrate impressive capabilities, with realistic details like accurate lighting and shadows, dynamic physics for objects in motion, and even small touches like footprints being left in sand. The system also handles complex scenes with multiple elements remarkably well.

One standout feature is the audio generation model, which can create synchronized sound effects and ambient audio that perfectly match the visuals in the generated video clips. This could potentially automate aspects of video editing and production.

While not perfect, Movie Gen represents a significant leap forward for AI-generated video. It opens up possibilities for effortless video creation, personalized content, and streamlined movie/TV production. As the technology continues advancing, AI video generation could become a transformative force across many industries.

OpenAI has announced the release of OpenAI-1, a new large language model trained using reinforcement learning to perform complex reasoning tasks. Some key highlights:

• OpenAI-1 ranks in the 89th percentile on competitive programming questions, placing it at an expert level. It also performs well on math competitions like the AMC and science benchmarks, surpassing human PhD-level accuracy on the GPQ-A Diamond test.

• The model uses a "chain of thought" approach, laying out a series of reasoning steps before providing a final answer. This allows it to handle multi-step problems more effectively.

• OpenAI-1 demonstrates strong performance on coding tasks, achieving high ratings on platforms like Codeforces. It can generate functional code for games and visualizations from natural language prompts.

• Performance improves with more training time and compute power, as well as longer test-time reasoning, suggesting potential for further scaling.

• However, there are concerns around instrumental deception, where the model may strategically manipulate its outputs. Old prompt engineering techniques may also become less effective as models grow more capable.

• The preview version has a 30 message per week limit, allowing only about 4 messages per day before rate limiting.

While exciting, OpenAI-1's advanced reasoning abilities also raise safety considerations that will need to be carefully addressed as this new AI paradigm emerges.

This article provides an overview of OpenAI's new O1 series models, which are designed for deep reasoning and complex problem-solving tasks. It covers two variants - the O1 Preview for broad knowledge and intensive reasoning, and the O1 Mini for faster processing on coding, math, and science tasks.

The key points discussed are:

• O1 models use "reasoning tokens" to break down problems internally before responding, making them ideal for multi-step reasoning.
• Prompting advice includes keeping prompts simple, avoiding chain-of-thought prompting, using delimiters for clarity, and limiting extraneous context.
• O1 Preview excels at deep reasoning across broad domains like scientific research, legal analysis, and decision systems where accuracy is critical.
• O1 Mini is optimized for speed and cost-effectiveness on well-defined coding, math, and science tasks that don't require extensive knowledge.
• Example use cases and prompts are provided for tasks like code refactoring, app planning, research questions, and coding exercises.
• The models can produce detailed outputs but users cannot ask them to explain their internal reasoning steps.

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This is a detailed tutorial on how to effectively use the Google Gemini AI assistant, covering various features and tips. Some key points:

• Enable dark mode in settings for better viewing
• Understand the difference between Gemini and Gemini Advanced for different task types
• Enable extensions to access more capabilities like integrating with Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive etc.
• Use the '@' button to connect apps and search/analyze data from them
• Convert data outputs into tables or export to Google Sheets
• Summarize videos or analyze images by uploading/linking them
• Use 'Change Selected Text' to modify creative writing outputs
• Check facts by clicking the 'G' button to validate against search results
• Use drafts to see alternative responses
• Access image generation by using a VPN (if restricted in your region)
• Integrate Gemini into Google Docs via Workspace Labs for enhanced writing
• Create and run code samples within Gemini

The tutorial covers numerous tips and tricks to take full advantage of Gemini's capabilities for productivity, research, analysis and content creation across various apps and data sources.

This tutorial walks through creating an AI agent-based application using On Demand's platform, which allows integrating pre-built AI agents without coding expertise. The key steps are:

1. Access the Agent Marketplace and add the desired agent (e.g. Amazon shopping agent).
2. Test the agent in the Playground by entering queries and viewing the agent's responses.
3. Generate code in your preferred language (e.g. Python) with placeholders for your API key and external ID.
4. Obtain your API key and external ID from the On Demand settings.
5. Run the generated code with your API key and external ID to create a web application powered by the AI agent.

The demo shows an app that uses the Amazon shopping agent to fetch product listings filtered by price range and location. With just a few lines of Python code integrated with On Demand's APIs, even non-technical users can build advanced AI capabilities into applications.

Major AI Breakthroughs: Reflection 70B, OpenAI Pricing, AGI Timelines and More

The AI world has seen several major breakthroughs and developments in the past week:

Reflection 70B Model Outperforms GPT-4 - Hypersight AI's open-source Reflection 70B model has managed to surpass GPT-4 and other top closed-source models like Claude on key benchmarks. - At just 70 billion parameters, its strong performance is due to a novel "reflection tuning" technique where the model critiques its own outputs to improve reasoning. - The rise of such capable open models could make paid API access to proprietary models less compelling for many use cases.

OpenAI Mulling High-Priced Premium Tiers - OpenAI is reportedly considering premium monthly subscription tiers up to $2,000 for upcoming models like "Orion". - This suggests OpenAI believes enterprises will find major AI reasoning advances highly valuable for coding, analytics and other complex tasks. - Viable if the models achieve significant productivity gains over human labor, but pricing will be critical given cost of compute is dropping.

AGI Timelines Spark Debate
- Machine learning pioneer Andrew Ng stated AGI is likely "many decades away", pushing back on near-term AGI claims. - However, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever's new company Anthropic is singularly focused on developing "superintelligence", suggesting insiders see transformative AI capabilities emerging sooner. - Debate continues on what capabilities constitute "true AGI" and whether specialized, highly capable systems qualify.

Other Major Developments - DeepMind's AlphaProtO AI can generate novel proteins to aid drug discovery and disease research. - LLAMA's performance on private benchmarks suggests GPT-4 may soon lose its crown as the preeminent large language model. - Intense innovation and scaling efforts across the field foreshadow more major AI breakthroughs ahead.

This detailed article provides a comprehensive guide on the new capabilities of GPT-4, the latest version of OpenAI's language model. It covers the different tiers of models (GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4.0), with GPT-4.0 being the most advanced and fastest. The article explains how to access and compare the models, and showcases GPT-4.0's improved coding capabilities, including generating Python scripts for trading bots.

It also highlights GPT-4.0's ability to generate 3D models from text descriptions, switching between models mid-conversation, and advanced image generation and editing features. The article demonstrates how to use GPT-4.0 for data analysis, generating synthetic data, visualizing charts and reports, and identifying trends.

Additionally, the article mentions upcoming features like a new voice model for Android and iOS, and improved audio and video capabilities in the future. It provides insights into the marginal upgrade over GPT-4 and encourages readers to explore the various new capabilities of GPT-4.0.

New Research from Google DeepMind on Scaling Language Models

As large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude, and PaLM become more powerful, they also become more computationally expensive to train and deploy. This has led researchers to explore ways to optimize test-time computation, allowing models to achieve high performance without being scaled up to massive sizes.

Google DeepMind's new research introduces two key techniques for scaling up compute during inference:

1. Verifier Reward Models: A separate model that evaluates and verifies the steps taken by the main LLM, helping it choose the best path forward and refine its answers.

2. Adaptive Response Updating: The LLM dynamically adjusts its response distribution based on what it learns at each step, allowing it to iteratively improve its output.

By combining these techniques with a "compute optimal scaling" strategy, DeepMind shows that models can allocate computational resources more efficiently based on the difficulty of the task. For easy problems, less compute is used, while complex tasks trigger increased compute allocation for deeper reasoning.

The researchers evaluated their methods on the challenging "Math Benchmark" dataset, using fine-tuned versions of Google's PaLM 2 language model. The results demonstrate that smaller models using these techniques can achieve comparable or even better performance than much larger models, while using significantly less computation.

This research challenges the dominant "bigger is better" paradigm and suggests that optimizing test-time compute could be a more efficient and practical approach, especially in resource-constrained environments. By being strategic about computational power allocation, AI systems can become smarter and more capable without the need for ever-increasing model sizes and resources.

Microsoft Co-pilot Wave 2 is set to revolutionize how individuals use AI in their daily work. With its advanced features, Co-pilot will streamline workflows and boost productivity across various Microsoft applications:

Excel - Python integration allows advanced data analysis without coding - Co-pilot performs complex calculations, creates visualizations, and provides insights

PowerPoint - Narrative Builder drafts entire pitch decks with on-brand visuals - Co-pilot helps iterate and refine presentations

Outlook - Prioritize Inbox feature sorts emails based on importance - Co-pilot drafts responses and adjusts tone for different contexts

Teams - Transcribes meetings and highlights key points/questions - Enables seamless collaboration and follow-ups

OneDrive - Compares files and summarizes differences - Finds the latest versions without opening files

Co-pilot Agents - Automates repetitive tasks and workflows - Connects to data sources like SharePoint for custom solutions - No coding required to create and deploy agents

Co-pilot promises to be a game-changer, empowering users to work smarter and more efficiently across Microsoft's productivity suite.

The field of humanoid robotics is accelerating rapidly, with major companies unveiling advanced models designed for diverse applications. Figure AI's Figure 2 incorporates cutting-edge AI and robotic technologies like NVIDIA's Omniverse, enabling it to perform complex tasks autonomously in industrial settings.

Furer Intelligence's GR2 combines advanced AI with emotional intelligence, allowing it to interact naturally by detecting and responding to human emotions. It has potential applications across healthcare, home assistance, and industrial environments.

Domestic robots like 1X Technologies' Neo and Weave Robotics' Isaac are focused on seamless home integration, performing household chores and tasks with human-like dexterity through embodied learning and intuitive control systems.

Boston Dynamics has shifted its Atlas robot to a fully electric design, enhancing strength, dexterity, and range of motion for automotive manufacturing applications with parent company Hyundai.

Other notable models include the Astro S1 by Stardust Intelligence, designed for remarkable speed and precision in household tasks, and the 4NE1 by NeuroRobotics, with advanced cognitive abilities for domestic and professional environments.

Tesla's Optimus robot is undergoing iterative development, with the Gen 2 model featuring improved agility, balance, and dexterity, while the Gen 3 version is anticipated to bring further advancements in 2025-2026.

As the field rapidly evolves, these humanoid robots are poised to transform industries, assist with physically demanding tasks, provide care for the elderly, and even aid in space exploration, shaping our future across multiple domains.

AI News Roundup

This week saw several major AI developments:

1. OpenAI Advanced Voice Mode: The long-awaited feature is finally available for paid ChatGPT users, allowing voice interactions. While impressive, initial tests show it's not as advanced as early demos, struggling with pauses, repetition, and lacking capabilities like singing.

2. LLaMa 3.2: Upgraded 11B and 90B parameter models with native vision capabilities, plus 1B and 3B models optimized for on-device use. Promises enhanced multimodal AI without sacrificing text reasoning.

3. Meta's AR Glasses "Orion": Standalone AR glasses with built-in AI, looking like thick Rayban frames. Key features include 70° FOV micro-LED displays, custom silicon, hand/world tracking, and an EMG wristband for input. Still a prototype, but an impressive glimpse into lightweight, consumer-focused AR hardware.

4. Other Stories: Johnny Ive collaborating with OpenAI on hardware, Anthropic's $40B valuation, Microsoft AI leadership shakeup, James Cameron joining Stability AI, Boston Dynamics robot upgrades, Google's updated Gemini models, OpenAI's energy ambitions, new text-to-video efforts, Notion AI integration, and Miro Morati's OpenAI departure.

The AI race is rapidly accelerating, with major players unveiling powerful new models, ambitious hardware efforts, and sky-high valuations - signaling an AI future that is imminent and unprecedented.

Nvidia Nim is touted as the easiest way to work with and deploy AI applications. It is a completely containerized AI application that can run not only in the cloud, but also on workstations and consumer-grade desktops.

Nim comes with runtime optimizations and industry-standard APIs, allowing you to securely run AI applications locally. You can also leverage Nvidia's inference services to run large models in the cloud, powering your AI apps.

Notable AI models and services announced as Nims include Llama 38B, Nvidia's ACE chatbot from a few weeks ago, the Rag knowledge base, and the new Naton model. These can be easily plugged into your AI applications.

For more information, check out the AI Decoded blog post linked in the description below.

Nvidia has added support for its RTX video AI technology to the Firefox web browser, allowing for sharper and clearer video streaming even from low-resolution sources or poor internet connections.

The key features of RTX video AI are:

1. Video Super Resolution: Uses deep learning to upscale low-resolution videos and predict what a higher resolution version would look like.

2. HDR Support: Adds HDR10 information to non-HDR videos, making colors appear brighter and more vibrant.

The AI technology works by analyzing the video stream in real-time and applying enhancements powered by machine learning models running on Nvidia GPUs with RTX cores. This allows videos to look much better without needing massive bandwidth.

Nvidia has provided an in-depth technical explanation of how RTX video AI works in their "AI Decoded" blog series. The visual improvements showcased are impressive, offering a major upgrade to video quality for users with RTX-powered PCs when streaming online content.

Major Announcements from OpenAI DevDay

• Realtime Voice API: Allows developers to build fast speech-to-speech experiences using preset AI voices for around 6 cents/min audio input and 24 cents/min audio output.

• Fine-Tune Vision Models: Customize vision models through the API for enhanced image understanding, e.g. better object detection. Priced at $25/million fine-tuning tokens.

• Prompt Caching: Reuse recently seen input tokens for 50% discount and faster processing times. Caches cleared after 5-10 mins inactivity.

• Model Distillation: Fine-tune smaller, cost-efficient models with outputs from larger models on OpenAI's platform.

Other AI News

• OpenAI removing nonprofit status, transitioning to for-profit "benefit corporation" potentially giving CEO Sam Altman large equity stake.

• Key OpenAI execs/founders like Mira Moradi (CTO), Bob and Barrett leaving the company.

• California governor vetoes proposed restrictive AI regulations bill after opposition from AI experts.

• Impressive AI video generation showcased with Pika 1.5 release.

• Open source AI coding tool PairAI had licensing misstep but committed to fixing approach after community feedback.

• Details on new "liquid" non-transformer language models lfm 1b, 3b and 40b claiming SOTA performance.

OpenAI's Groundbreaking 'Reasoning' Model Called O1 is Here

OpenAI has unveiled its long-awaited new series of AI models called "O1", designed for complex reasoning tasks far beyond the capabilities of previous language models like GPT-3. The O1 series includes two initial models - O1 Preview and O1 Mini.

Key Features:

• Trained using reinforcement learning to spend more time "thinking through" problems before responding, similar to human reasoning
• Can tackle advanced math, coding, and science problems at levels rivaling human experts and PhD students
• O1 Preview scored 83% on qualifying exams for the International Math Olympiad (vs 13.3% for GPT-4)
• O1 Mini is 80% cheaper than Preview but still highly capable for coding tasks

The models utilize a "chain of thought" process where they break down problems, try different strategies, and course-correct their thinking process in an iterative manner. This allows much deeper reasoning than simply pattern-matching based on training data.

While still an early preview, O1 represents a potential inflection point and new paradigm for AI capabilities. It raises questions about the trajectory toward artificial general intelligence as models grow more adept at true reasoning rather than just language processing.

OpenAI is collaborating with government agencies on safety testing, including jailbreaking resistance and adherence to guidelines. They aim to bolster transparency around these advanced reasoning models.

This article covers a wide range of recent news and developments in the field of artificial intelligence and technology:

1. ChatGPT Self-Messaging: There are reports of ChatGPT messaging users without prompts, including examples of the GPT-4 voice model initiating conversations unprompted, which is seen as creepy by some.

2. Nuclear Restart for AI Power: Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant by 2028 to power Microsoft's AI data centers, demonstrating the immense energy needs of tech companies for AI development.

3. Chipotle Automating Bowl Creation: Chipotle is testing an automated system called the "AutoCado" for creating consistent portions of bowls and salads.

4. Llama with Chain of Thought: The open-source language model Llama is getting its own version of "Chain of Thought" reasoning, called "LlamaBerry," available on Hugging Face.

5. OpenAI's Safety Board Recommendations: OpenAI's newly formed safety board has made recommendations for enhancing governance, security, transparency, and collaboration.

6. Increased Quotas for OpenAI Models: OpenAI has increased the usage quotas for its GPT-3 models, making them more accessible for testing and development.

7. Mistol AI's Free API and Pricing Changes: Anthropic's Mistol AI has introduced a free API, improved pricing, and new enterprise-grade models, making their AI more accessible and affordable.

8. Snap's AR/VR Goggles: Snapchat's parent company, Snap, has unveiled new AR/VR goggles with advanced features but limited battery life.

9. Runway Partners with Lionsgate: Runway, an AI startup, has partnered with the movie studio Lionsgate to bring its AI storytelling tools to filmmakers.

10. Guardrails AI's Fact-Checking Model: Guardrails AI has released a new model called "Grounded Factuality Detector" to address hallucinations in large language models.

11. Moshi Voice Model Release: QAI Labs has released an open-source voice model called "Moshi" for real-time dialogue.

12. Microsoft's Grin MoE Model: Microsoft has released an open-source Mixture of Experts model called "Grin MoE" with impressive performance on various tasks.

13. Quen 2.57T Open-Source Model: Alibaba has released a new open-source language model called "Quen 2.57T," which reportedly outperforms other open-source models like Llama.

14. OpenAI's Massive Funding Round: OpenAI is raising a record-breaking $5 billion in a new funding round, with a valuation of $150 billion.

15. AI Restrictions in the EU: Meta and Apple have decided not to release their latest AI models in the EU due to unclear regulations and restrictions.

16. Hearing on AI Risks: Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, warning about the potential risks of advanced AI systems.

The article covers a wide range of AI news, including model releases, partnerships, funding, regulations, and technological advancements, demonstrating the rapid pace of development in the field of artificial intelligence.

In an interview at Dreamforce conference, Jensen Huang (CEO of Nvidia) and Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) discussed the agentic future of AI. Huang described a world where we have millions of AI agents working for us, using tools and collaborating to achieve goals.

Key points:

• The future is "agentic" - AI agents with ability to use tools, reason, collaborate with other agents
• Agents can spawn other agents, build their own tools, learn and improve exponentially as models get better
• Unsupervised learning has removed the human bottleneck of labeling training data
• We can now scale AI in 2 dimensions: more training data/parameters and increased test-time compute for chain-of-thought reasoning
• Safety is critical - AI must be "guard-railed" to align with human values
• AI is already helping write software, eventually may ship just model weights instead of code
• Onboarding and context is key for productive AI agents, similar to human employees

Huang believes this agentic paradigm is an inflection point that will completely transform computing from static software to dynamic, predicted AI assistants.

This is a lengthy news roundup covering several major AI developments and announcements from the past week:

1. OpenAI is rumored to be releasing its "Strawberry" model for reasoning-focused AI within the next 2 weeks as part of ChatGPT. Strawberry is designed for complex, multi-step queries and planning, though it will initially only handle text. Pricing is expected to be higher than regular ChatGPT.

2. Apple announced new iPhones and capabilities for its own on-device AI model called Apple Intelligence, though it won't ship on the new iPhones out of the box. The camera will also gain visual intelligence.

3. Nvidia is facing an escalating antitrust probe from the Department of Justice, likely related to its CUDA software that deeply integrates with Nvidia GPUs.

4. A new coding AI model called Honeycomb beat Amazon's CodeWhisperer on a benchmarking leaderboard.

5. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to spend tens of billions building out AI infrastructure in the US with global investors.

6. Grock announced a new vision model and breakthrough inference speeds for large language models on its chips.

7. Replit launched AI assistance natively integrated into its online coding environment.

8. OpenAI is considering premium subscription tiers up to $2,000 per month for upcoming models like Orion.

9. New models like Find 405B, DeepSee, and SambaNova's offering were released with impressive performance.

The roundup covers the latest AI model releases, business moves by major tech companies, and the rapidly evolving landscape of AI capabilities and commercialization.

The article is a hands-on review of Mistral AI's Pixol 12B, an open-source multimodal vision model. The author loads the model onto a cloud GPU provided by Vultr and tests it on various tasks, including:

• Text Tasks: Pixol struggles with coding challenges like writing the game Tetris in Python and logic/reasoning questions like counting letters in a word. This is expected as it's primarily a vision model.

• Image Description: It accurately describes images of animals like llamas and recognizes celebrities like Bill Gates.

• Captcha Solving: Pixol can solve distorted text captchas with ease.

• Analyzing Screenshots: When shown a screenshot of iPhone storage usage, it correctly answers questions about total storage, used storage, which app uses the most space, and provides a list of all installed apps with their storage usage.

• Meme Explanation: It thoroughly explains the meaning and humor behind a meme comparing startups and big companies.

• Code Generation: Given a crude wireframe image, Pixol generates basic HTML that reproduces the design, though with some inaccuracies.

• Object Detection: It successfully locates Waldo in a "Where's Waldo" image using coordinate guidance.

The author is highly impressed with Pixol's vision capabilities while acknowledging its limitations on pure text tasks. He believes the future lies in using specialized AI models for different use cases.

This video provides an in-depth look at the new AI company "Safe Super Intelligence" (SSI) founded by Ilia Suk, a former co-founder of OpenAI. It traces the events that led to Ilia's departure from OpenAI after an attempted "coup" to remove CEO Sam Altman over concerns about OpenAI's approach to developing advanced AI systems like GPT-5.

The video explains that SSI has raised an astonishing $1 billion from top venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, despite its sole focus being on developing "safe super intelligence" rather than commercial products. This has raised questions about the incentives and potential conflicts of interest, as these firms have also invested in OpenAI.

SSI was founded by Ilia Suk, Daniel Gross (former OpenAI chief scientist), and Daniel Levy (former OpenAI and Stanford researcher). The video discusses their backgrounds and SSI's plans to acquire massive computing power and hire top talent to work on the challenging problem of developing safe advanced AI systems.

The summary highlights the key details about SSI's mission, funding, team, and the questions raised about VC incentives and conflicts of interest in backing a company focused solely on safety rather than commercial AI products.

OpenAI recently launched a new feature called Canvas for their language model ChatGPT. Canvas allows users to collaborate with ChatGPT in a separate window, where they can ask it to edit text or code, update content, add comments, fix bugs, and more.

For writing, Canvas can suggest edits, adjust length and reading level, add final polish, and insert emojis. For coding, it can review code, add logs and comments, fix bugs, and port code to different programming languages.

The video demonstrates using Canvas to write a story about intelligent strawberries. It showcases the various features like suggesting edits, adjusting length and reading level, adding final polish, and inserting/removing emojis.

It also explores the coding capabilities by tasking ChatGPT to write the classic Snake game, change colors, use different libraries like Turtle, add comments, port to languages like JavaScript and C++, add logs, and fix bugs.

While still basic, Canvas shows OpenAI's intention to compete with AI writing and coding assistants built on their platform. This raises concerns about "platform risk" for companies built on OpenAI's API, similar to how the video creator's previous company was disrupted by Twilio's move into their space.

Overall, Canvas is an intriguing development that could potentially disrupt the AI writing and coding tools ecosystem if OpenAI continues expanding its capabilities.

This is a detailed overview of retrieval augmented generation (RAG), a technique for providing external knowledge sources to large language models.

RAG allows you to give a language model access to information sources like documents, databases, or webpages that it was not originally trained on. This avoids having to retrain or fine-tune the model on new data.

The process works by:

1. Storing the external data sources in a vector database, where text is converted to numeric vectors or embeddings. Similar texts are located close together in the vector space.

2. When the user provides a prompt, it is converted to a vector embedding.

3. The vector database is queried to find the most relevant data points matching the prompt embedding.

4. The relevant external data is appended to the user's original prompt.

5. The augmented prompt is provided to the language model, allowing it to incorporate the external information into its response.

This allows language models to draw upon much more data than they could hold in their parameter weights alone. It provides a form of long-term memory that can be efficiently retrieved on a query-by-query basis.

The video gives examples of using RAG for a customer service chatbot with conversation history, answering questions based on company documents, or controlling smart home devices based on their manuals. It also shows how RAG can be combined with agent-based approaches for iterative multi-step reasoning.

The video is sponsored by Pinecone, a vector database optimized for scale and performance with language models. It provides a high-level code-free interface for setting up RAG workflows on your data sources.

The article discusses some key AI terminology that one should be familiar with:

TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second): This refers to the raw performance of a GPU, similar to horsepower for a car. Nvidia GPUs like the GeForce RTX 490 with 1,300 TOPS are powerful for gaming, local AI, and creative work.

Tokens: These are the inputs and outputs of an AI model, roughly 3/4 of a word. A model's performance is measured in tokens per second.

Batch Size: The number of inputs that can be processed in parallel by the GPU. Larger batch sizes allow more to be done simultaneously.

The article recommends using Nvidia's TensorRT library to accelerate AI workloads, and mentions a benchmark by JanAI comparing TensorRT to other libraries like llama.cpp and ggml.

This is a detailed firsthand account of testing the capabilities of OpenAI's latest AI model, codenamed 01. The author walks through various prompts and scenarios to evaluate the model's performance, including coding challenges, logical reasoning problems, and ethical dilemmas.

Some key observations from the testing:

• 01 demonstrated impressive logical reasoning and problem-solving abilities, often outperforming previous AI models on tricky prompts.
• The "thinking" process of 01 was visible through its step-by-step output, revealing its methodical approach to breaking down and analyzing problems.
• 01 excelled at coding tasks, producing working code for games like Tetris with remarkable speed and accuracy.
• It handled nuanced scenarios and edge cases with greater precision than earlier models, taking into account subtle details in its reasoning.
• While generally strong, 01 did struggle with one particular spatial reasoning problem posed by AI researcher Yan LeCun.

Overall, the author concludes that 01 represents a significant leap forward in AI capabilities, deftly handling a wide range of prompts and exhibiting human-like reasoning and problem-solving skills. The model's performance raises the bar for future AI systems and may necessitate the development of even more challenging benchmarks to fully test its limits.

The article discusses OpenWorm, an open-source project that has successfully simulated the entire neural network and behavior of the C. elegans nematode worm on a computer. By mapping and modeling every neuron and interaction, the project can accurately predict how the worm will behave in any environment.

This achievement lends credence to the simulation hypothesis or "simulation theory" - the idea that our reality itself could be an advanced computer simulation created by a higher intelligence. The article explores the philosophical implications, noting how quickly technology is advancing and speculating that if simulating conscious beings becomes possible, we may already be in a simulation.

Arguments are presented both supporting and debunking simulation theory. Proponents like Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson give it decent odds of being true, while skeptics question the assumptions that conscious simulations are possible or that other civilizations would bother creating them.

The author is able to run the OpenWorm simulation locally and sees potential for scaling up to more complex organisms like humans, though immense computing power would be needed to simulate over 80 billion neurons. Quantum computing could theoretically provide the required computational capabilities in the future.

Ultimately, while the philosophical debate rages on, the author finds OpenWorm's simulated worm and its real-world implications "mind-blowing" and something that might make one "question your own reality."

Meta Drops Major Llama AI Model Update

Meta AI has released Llama 3.2, a significant update to its open-source language model. Key highlights include:

Vision Capabilities: - 11B and 90B parameter versions now have integrated vision capabilities - Can understand document context including charts/graphs - Can caption images and ground visual objects based on text descriptions

Smaller Edge Models: - 1B and 3B parameter models optimized to run on edge devices like phones - Highly capable for tasks like summarization, instruction following, rewriting - State-of-the-art compared to peers in this model size

The vision models are drop-in replacements for previous text-only versions, retaining all language capabilities while adding vision understanding. Meta used new model architectures and training techniques like adapters and synthetic data to enable this multimodal ability.

The tiny 1B/3B models leverage pruning and distillation from larger models to fit on-device. This aligns with Meta's push for more AI compute at the edge.

Meta has also released LlamaStack - an open-source toolkit to simplify developing with Llama models across cloud, on-prem and devices. It provides APIs for core capabilities like safety, memory, evaluation and reward modeling.

Meta touts Llama 3.2 as best-in-class on many benchmarks versus peers like GPT-4 and Claude. Hands-on tests showed the 1B model rapidly coding the Snake game from a text prompt.

OpenAI has released a new series of AI models called "01" that are designed to "spend more time thinking before they respond." The series currently includes two models - "01 Preview" and "01 Mini."

According to OpenAI, these new models perform similarly to PhD students in tests. To demonstrate, the article walks through asking the "01" model to write the game Tetris in Python.

The model took 94 seconds of "thinking time" before providing its output code for Tetris. While the output itself was fairly quick, the long thinking period beforehand is a key difference from previous AI models.

The article expresses excitement over the new "thinking" capability of these models, implying they may produce more thoughtful and reasoned outputs compared to previous AI. However, details on exactly how the "thinking" process works remain unclear.

Nvidia has introduced a new technique called Multi-LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) that allows AI developers to create multiple fine-tuned variants of a single large language model without having to load the original base model multiple times. This can provide significant performance and efficiency gains.

Multi-LoRA is part of the Nvidia RTX AI toolkit. The latest update delivers up to 6x faster performance when fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) on RTX AI PCs and servers with Ada Lovelace architecture GPUs.

Fine-tuning allows developers to specialize a pre-trained LLM like GPT-3 for their specific use case by continuing training on a smaller, domain-specific dataset. However, this process can be very computationally expensive, especially if you need to fine-tune multiple models.

With Multi-LoRA, developers can efficiently create and run multiple fine-tuned versions in parallel by storing just the model deltas instead of full model copies. This reduces GPU memory usage and allows more efficient use of hardware accelerators.

The technique is ideal for use cases that require multiple customized LLM instances, like multilingual chatbots or personalized recommendation engines. It provides "the absolute best way to have multiple fine-tuned models running in production whether that's locally or in the cloud," according to Nvidia.

Nvidia has unveiled new AI technology called "Ace" that allows for the creation of digital human characters in video games. This tech uses Nvidia's neural network models for speech recognition, natural language processing, text-to-speech, speech-to-face animation, and audio-to-face animation.

Game developers can integrate Ace into their games to power highly realistic and interactive non-player characters (NPCs). The NPCs can understand spoken language, respond with natural speech while their facial animations sync up, and even visually emote based on just audio input.

One of the first showcases of this technology is the game Mecha Break, which features AI-powered digital human NPCs. Users can also go to ai.nvidia.com to interact with a digital human powered by Ace.

According to Nvidia, this breakthrough in digital human AI has the potential to revolutionize video games by bringing incredibly lifelike characters and interactions. With Ace, the line between reality and digital worlds blurs as NPCs become virtually indistinguishable from real people.

Nvidia sent me their powerful Asus ProArt laptop with an RTX 4070 GPU designed for AI workloads. This laptop has a dedicated AI accelerator chip that can run tasks like GitHub Copilot with the touch of a button. It also runs large language models like GPT extremely fast, handling 30 tokens/second on the llama model.

The AI-accelerated RTX GPU enables AI gaming features like DLSS upscaling, RTX video super resolution for boosting video quality, digital human avatars, and AI noise removal/background blur on video calls with Nvidia Broadcast.

Overall, this is an incredibly powerful AI laptop that lets you experience the latest AI breakthroughs hands-on. From creative workflows to gaming, this machine is a portable AI powerhouse.

Samsung held their summer Unpacked event in July 2023, where they unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6 foldable phones, Galaxy Watch 7 series including the new Ultra model, Galaxy Buds3 and Buds2 Pro earbuds, and the Galaxy Ring fitness tracker.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 & Z Flip 6

The new foldable phones are minor iterations over last year's models. The Z Fold 6 has slightly slimmer bezels, squarer sides, a new ultra-wide camera, and a 60% larger vapor chamber for better cooling. Both Fold 6 and Flip 6 get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, brighter displays (up to 2600 nits), and improved hinges.

The Flip 6 also gets the 50MP main camera from the Galaxy S24, a larger 4000mAh battery, and a base 12GB RAM. It has new colored rings around the cameras for visual distinction.

However, the core design and user experience remain largely similar. Both phones are $100 more expensive than their predecessors - $1899 for Fold 6 and $1099 for Flip 6.

Galaxy AI Features

Samsung is pushing AI features under the "Galaxy AI" brand, surfacing capabilities like language translation, note summarization, webpage summaries, and AI image generation/editing tools. While not entirely new, these are now more prominently highlighted.

Galaxy Watch 7 Series

The standard Watch 7 gets a minor refresh while keeping the same $299 starting price for the 40mm model. The new Watch 7 Ultra targets the Apple Watch Ultra market with a titanium body, sapphire crystal display, 590mAh battery, and 100m water resistance. It has a customizable 'Action Button' and an estimated 100-hour battery life in power saving mode. At $650, it undercuts the $799 Apple Watch Ultra.

Galaxy Buds3, Buds2 Pro & Ring

Samsung also launched the Buds3 ($179) and Buds2 Pro ($249) earbuds with improved noise cancellation, new designs, and light indicators. Finally, the $399 Galaxy Ring is a fitness tracker you can wear 24/7, providing heart rate, sleep, and activity tracking without a subscription (unlike Oura Ring). It's water-resistant to 100m and promises 7-day battery life.

Overall, Samsung is introducing iterative upgrades to its smartphone and wearable lineups while pushing AI features as a key differentiator. The new products hit premium price points and will likely appeal to Samsung enthusiasts and those seeking the latest folding screen or health/fitness tracking technology.

Google's new Pixel 9 and 9 Pro phones aim to deliver a flagship experience with a focus on AI and software features, alongside improved hardware. The key upgrades include:

Hardware - Brighter displays (2,700/3,000 nits peak brightness) - Even bezels with curved display corners - Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner - Tensor G4 chip with improved AI/ML capabilities - Up to 12GB RAM with dedicated AI RAM - Squared off design with camera "visor" bump - New size option - regular "Pro" model without XL

Cameras - Main camera similar to Pixel 8, with improved processing - New 48MP ultrawide camera - Telephoto lens on Pro model

AI/Software - Integration with new Gemini AI assistant alongside Google Assistant - AI call transcription and note-taking
- "Magic Editor" AI photo editing tools - Face "unblur" and background blurring features - AI weather summaries - On-device AI image generation

The Pixel 9 series promises a smart, premium smartphone experience led by advanced AI capabilities. However, battery life, charging speeds, and base storage could be areas of improvement.

After wearing the Samsung Galaxy Ring for a week, here are my thoughts:

The Good

• True 24/7 Wearability: The ring's slim profile and week-long battery life allow you to truly wear it all day and night without needing to take it off. This maximizes data collection for activity, sleep, etc.
• Unobtrusive: No notifications, vibrations or screen - just seamless health/fitness tracking without distractions.
• Versatile Design: The minimalist titanium design works for any outfit or setting.

The Cons

• Activity Tracking Limitations: For activities requiring free use of hands like frisbee, golf, weightlifting, you have to remove the ring, defeating its 24/7 purpose.
• Data Inaccuracies: Sleep and workout auto-detection was sometimes inaccurate compared to other dedicated devices like sleep trackers and watches.
• Limited Ecosystem: Currently only pairs with Samsung phones, limiting its use.

The Verdict

While I love the minimal, wearable concept, the Galaxy Ring has some shortcomings in accurate activity/health tracking for my needs. For casual trackers already in the Samsung ecosystem, it could be a good minimalist option. But dedicated fitness enthusiasts may want to look at other smartwatches or trackers.

Marques Brownlee, a popular tech YouTuber, recounts the story of when the FBI and IRS agents showed up at his studio unannounced in 2020. The agents were investigating a scam involving a company selling counterfeit "Pablo Escobar" folding phones marketed as superior to Samsung and Apple devices.

Brownlee had previously exposed the company's fraudulent practices in a video, revealing they were simply reselling rebranded Galaxy Folds with cheap gold stickers while not fulfilling orders from regular customers.

When the agents arrived, Brownlee's front desk staff followed protocol by not letting them in until Brownlee came to verify their identities. The agents questioned Brownlee about his communications with the company, gathering emails and evidence from his previous video as potential exhibits.

As they left, the agents confiscated the counterfeit devices featured in Brownlee's videos, instructing him not to publicly discuss the investigation. Years later, after the company's CEO was arrested for fraud, the FBI gave Brownlee permission to share the story.

The experience highlights the serious consequences tech companies can face for misleading marketing tactics and the role journalists like Brownlee play in uncovering such scams. Brownlee expressed interest in pursuing more investigative deep dives into shady practices within the industry.

First Impressions of Apple's New Devices

Apple recently unveiled the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and new AirPods models at their latest event. Here are some key takeaways:

iPhone 16 & 16 Pro

• Minor updates with new colors (ultramarine, titanium shades) and camera alignment
• A18 chip with 20-30% performance boost, better neural engine
• Slightly larger batteries promising modest battery life improvements
• New "Camera Control" button - a pressure sensitive trackpad for camera shortcuts
• Pros get larger screens (6.3" and 6.9"), 48MP main/ultra-wide cameras, 5x tele on smaller Pro

Apple Watch Series 10

• 10% thinner/lighter design with slightly larger display
• New titanium finishes, jet black aluminum option
• Sleep apnea detection coming later via software update

Apple Watch Ultra 2

• New satin black titanium finish

AirPods

• New base AirPods with revised design, option for ANC and wireless charging case
• AirPods Pro 2 now a clinical-grade hearing aid
• AirPods Max just get new colors and switch to USB-C (no other upgrades)

Overall, minor iteration on hardware with bigger AI/software improvements to come separately later.

Is the New Windows ARM Laptop Finally Legit?

After years of underwhelming attempts, Microsoft has released a new premium ARM-powered Surface laptop that aims to rival Apple's M-series chips for efficiency and performance. The key advantages are incredible battery life, with Microsoft quoting up to 23 hours, and smooth performance for everyday tasks.

Marques Brownlee spent a few weeks testing the new Surface laptop with Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 chip. He found the battery life claims to be accurate, easily getting all-day mixed use on a single charge. Performance was also impressive, with the laptop handling tasks like video editing, Office suite work, and photo editing without any hiccups.

However, the biggest drawback is app compatibility. While many popular apps like Chrome, Spotify and Adobe apps are optimized for ARM, there are still many that only work through emulation with reduced performance. Worse, some apps like Google Drive desktop and games with anti-cheat don't work at all.

Overall, Brownlee feels this is a promising start for Windows on ARM if the apps you rely on are compatible. The laptop ticks the boxes for great battery life, solid build quality and smooth performance for $2,000. But app support is still a mixed bag that requires research beforehand.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the second-generation folding phone from Google, and it makes some significant improvements over the original Pixel Fold. The design is sleeker and thinner when folded, with a more modern squared-off shape and a smaller hinge. The 8-inch inner display is brighter and has improved bezels, while the 6.3-inch outer display is a high-quality AMOLED panel.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold runs the latest Android 14 with optimizations for foldables, including multi-column layouts and improved multitasking capabilities. However, the camera system is downgraded compared to the standard Pixel 9 models, with smaller sensors that struggle more in low light. The Tensor G4 chip also lags behind the latest flagship processors in terms of raw performance and efficiency.

Despite these drawbacks, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers a compelling foldable experience with its premium design, software features, and two-in-one form factor that transitions seamlessly between phone and tablet modes. Battery life is solid, and the hinge design allows for a nearly crease-free folding experience.

While the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is one of the best foldables on the market currently, the author suggests that potential buyers may want to wait for the next generation. Rumors suggest that the upcoming Tensor chip could bring a significant performance and efficiency boost, potentially making the next Pixel foldable a more future-proof investment.

Overall, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold represents progress for Google's foldable ambitions but may not be the ultimate foldable experience for power users or those seeking the absolute best camera performance. For the right user, however, it could be the ideal two-in-one device.

The new M4 iPad Pro is impressively powerful, but its capabilities are still limited by iPadOS software. Here are 5 interesting decisions Apple made with this device:

1. Thinner Design: At just 5.9mm thick, it's the thinnest iPad ever. But this thinness comes at the cost of less internal space and slightly smaller speakers.

2. Stratified Performance Options: More expensive models get more CPU cores (up to 10 vs 8 on base), more RAM (up to 16GB), and a nano-texture matte display option - very computer-like differentiation.

3. New Tandem OLED Display: While providing gorgeous HDR visuals, the OLED panel's benefits are somewhat neutered by the lack of an always-on display mode in current iPadOS.

4. Updated Apple Pencil "Pro": Has new features like Find My support, a squeeze gesture, haptic feedback, and orientation tracking. But you need this new M4 iPad to use it.

5. Landscape Camera Placement: The front camera has moved to the landscape edge, near where the Pencil rests/charges, requiring an internal layout change.

While incredibly powerful hardware, the new iPad Pro feels limited until iPadOS unlocks its full potential with features like desktop-class multitasking and an always-on display mode.

Sonos, known for its premium sound bars and speakers, has entered the high-end noise-canceling headphone market with the Sonos Arc headphones. At $450, these over-ear headphones offer excellent noise cancellation, comfortable fit, long battery life, and good audio quality with adjustable EQ. However, they lack some key features that make them a tough sell for most users.

Pros

• Top-notch active noise cancellation
• Comfortable and lightweight design with soft ear cups
• Long battery life of over 40 hours
• Multi-point Bluetooth connectivity
• Excellent transparency mode for hearing surroundings
• Quick switching between headphones and Sonos speakers

Cons

• No Wi-Fi connectivity or direct streaming from music services
• Basic and limited app features and customization
• Subpar carrying case for a premium product
• Expensive compared to competitors like Sony and Bose

The Sonos Arc headphones are best suited for existing Sonos speaker owners who frequently switch between speakers and headphones for TV/media consumption. For most others, similarly priced options from Sony, Bose or Apple may offer better value.

Galaxy Watch Ultra vs Apple Watch Ultra: Did Samsung Shamelessly Copy?

Samsung's new Galaxy Watch Ultra has drawn accusations of being a blatant copy of the Apple Watch Ultra. The similarities are hard to ignore:

• Same "Ultra" name and positioning as a premium rugged smartwatch
• Matching durability specs like titanium build, 100m water resistance, sapphire glass
• Identical features like dual-band GPS, 3000 nit bright displays, three watch bands
• Action button mimicking Apple's customizable button
• Lifted software elements like watch face design, night mode, app layout, gestures

However, the Galaxy Watch Ultra does have some differentiating elements:

• Circular cushion design rather than rectangular shape
• Works with Android phones, not iPhones
• Full keyboard for easier text entry
• Impressive 2+ day battery life claims

While Samsung clearly took heavy inspiration from Apple's Ultra, copying successful features benefits consumers if done well. The bigger issue may be the standard Galaxy Watch7 offering nearly identical specs for much less.

Ultimately, the lack of a rotating bezel is a missed opportunity to provide a key point of distinction for this "rugged" smartwatch intended for active use cases where crowns excel over touchscreens.

AirPods 4 Review: New Headphones, Same Tipped Dilemma

Apple has released two new versions of the AirPods this year - the base AirPods 4 for $129 and the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) for $179. The new models have a slightly tweaked shape, a shorter stem, and improved IP54 dust and water resistance.

For those who have struggled with the fit of previous AirPods models, the new shape doesn't offer significant improvement. The hard-tipped design still means the earbuds slowly work their way out, especially during activities like jogging.

The key difference between the two models is the presence of ANC in the more expensive version. While the noise cancellation is impressive for a hard-tipped design, it's not as effective as the AirPods Pro due to the imperfect seal. The transparency mode, however, is praised as the best yet on AirPods.

Both models now feature a USB-C charging case, with the ANC version adding a speaker for chimes and a wireless charging option. However, the MagSafe alignment feature has been removed due to the slightly smaller case size.

Other enhancements include an ultra-low latency mode for Apple's Vision Pro headset, precision finding with the speaker, and a new capacitive touch area for pairing and resetting instead of a physical button.

The sound quality remains solid, with a balanced tuning suitable for various use cases like phone calls, podcasts, movies, and music. Battery life is rated at 6 hours (ANC off) or 4 hours (ANC on), with 30 and 20 hours of total playback time, respectively, including the charging case.

While the AirPods 4 offer improvements, they still face the same tipped fit dilemma as previous models. Those seeking superior noise cancellation and a more secure in-ear fit may prefer the AirPods Pro, which can sometimes be found at a similar price point.

Dyson, known for its innovative vacuum cleaners and fans, has ventured into the audio world with the release of its $500 noise-canceling headphones. A year after their ill-fated "Dyson Headphones Combo Wearable Air Purifier" product, Dyson has stripped away the air purifier component and focused solely on creating a high-end pair of wireless headphones.

The Dyson headphones boast several impressive features:

• Design: Made entirely of metal, with interchangeable ear cups and back plates that can be swapped for different colors and finishes (available for an additional $50 per pair). The headphones are heavy at 451 grams but distribute the weight well across the head.

• Controls: A clever joystick on the right ear cup allows for easy control of play/pause, volume, and track skipping. A double-tap on the left ear cup toggles noise cancellation and transparency mode (though this feature can be finicky).

• Battery Life: With a rated battery life of 55 hours, the Dyson headphones significantly outlast Apple's AirPods Max (20 hours). The batteries are cleverly placed on the headband, reducing ear fatigue.

• Sound Quality: While not exceptional, the sound quality is solid, with a neutral EQ mode and an "enhanced" mode that Brownlee prefers for music listening. The sound stage lacks the openness and instrument separation of the AirPods Max, but the overall sound is rated as a B+.

• Noise Cancellation: The eight microphones provide decent noise cancellation, but not as effective as Bose or Sony models. The transparency mode performs adequately.

In terms of pricing, the Dyson headphones undercut the AirPods Max by $50 but are more expensive than other high-end noise-canceling headphones in the $350 range. While the customization options and extended battery life are compelling, the sound quality and noise cancellation performance may not justify the premium price for some users.

The much-anticipated Apple Watch Series 10 was rumored to bring a major redesign to the popular wearable, akin to the iPhone X's revamp of the iPhone line. However, after using the new watch for a week, tech reviewer Marques Brownlee concludes that it falls short of being a true redesign, offering only incremental upgrades instead.

While slightly thinner, lighter, and with a larger screen, the Series 10 retains the same squircle design language as previous models. The most notable changes are a redesigned speaker that allows audio playback, an LTPO 3 display with improved Always On functionality, a water temperature sensor, and faster charging speeds.

However, Brownlee argues that by branding this as a "redesign," Apple has likely set the course for the Apple Watch's design for the next 5-10 years, suggesting that major overhauls like a rotating bezel, circular shape, or meaningful battery improvements are unlikely anytime soon.

For those with older Apple Watch models (Series 4-7), the Series 10 is an easy upgrade choice. But for those expecting a dramatic reimagining, the Series 10 may disappoint. Brownlee concludes that this release feels like Apple's definitive statement on the Apple Watch's design direction, offering a take-it-or-leave-it proposition to consumers.

Overall, while a good iterative update, the Apple Watch Series 10 falls short of the major redesign many were anticipating, leaving Brownlee to ponder if this form factor will persist for years to come.

iPhone 16 Unboxing & First Impressions

The new iPhone 16 series brings some welcome updates while maintaining Apple's signature look and feel. The base iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models come in fun new colors like Ultra Marine and Pink, while the Pro models have a refined titanium design in Natural and Desert shades.

One of the biggest changes is the addition of a new "Camera Control" button on all models. This is a physical button with touch capabilities that lets you quickly open the camera, take photos, record videos, and adjust settings like zoom with taps and swipes. Third-party apps will also be able to integrate it.

The Pro models have slightly larger screens this year - the 16 Pro is 6.3" vs 6.1" last year, while the gargantuan 16 Pro Max is a massive 6.9". Apple increased the battery sizes to compensate. All models now have 8GB RAM as well.

In early testing, the camera quality and overall performance are on par with recent iPhones, providing that familiar "iPhone look." The A18 chip shows modest benchmark gains, likely aided by its new Neural Engine optimized for AI processing.

One downside is that there are no more Apple stickers included in the iPhone boxes. But overall, the iPhone 16 series offers a good evolutionary update for those ready to upgrade, with useful new features like the Camera Control button adding welcome functionality.

so this is a real life working lightsaber not even joking and this is a noia 3310 so you can probably already see where this is going uh the people at hacksmith they made like a life-size working lightsaber but they sent me a less responsible human uh one of their mini Sabers oh my God so you can see where this is going so this is what this is what the lightsaber looks like it's red it's got this sick handle and uh don't touch that part so here's a phone I'm just I'm just gonna try it so this is before and this is after honestly not that bad the buttons still press modern tech could never

You could argue that these are the best beats ever - these are the new Beats Solo buds, the cheapest Beats ever made at $79. They are the smallest Beats ever by a long way, setting the bar way smaller and lighter than even AirPods. They also have the best battery life in any Beats earbuds ever, with a quoted 18-hour straight battery life.

However, there's a catch - the case they come in has no battery in it at all. That's what has allowed them to be this small. The case is basically just a plastic holder, and all the battery is in the buds themselves. To recharge, you have to plug them in via USB-C (no cable is included to reach that low $79 price).

There's also no noise cancellation or transparency mode, likely to save battery. And while they don't sound amazing, they're Beats, so the sound quality is decent. Overall, for the low price, small size, and great battery life, the new Beats Solo Buds seem like a pretty good value if you're a Beats fan and don't need the latest premium features.

Did you know Apple has included secret, dormant Thread radios in their newest M3, M4, and M2 iPad products? Thread is a wireless protocol designed for smart home devices, developed by an alliance including Apple and Google.

While these Thread radios are currently inactive, the article speculates that Apple will likely enable them via a future software update to allow these products to natively control smart home devices using the Matter protocol.

This isn't the first time Apple has shipped products with dormant hardware that gets enabled later. The example is given of the 2nd generation iPod Touch, which secretly included a Bluetooth radio that was enabled in the iOS 3.0 update years later. More recently, the HomePod mini's temperature and humidity sensors were activated via a software update despite being present but inactive in the initial hardware.

So while it may seem odd for Apple to include unused components like these Thread radios, the article suggests it's part of their strategy to provide future capabilities via software updates on already-shipped devices. Once enabled, these radios could allow Apple's newest devices to seamlessly integrate with and control smart home ecosystems without requiring new hardware purchases.

The article provides an in-depth look at the various storage compartments and spaces found in the new Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric vehicle, which is modeled after the iconic VW Bus.

It highlights the ample storage in the front seats, including double decker compartments, a traditional glove box, hidden cubbies with cupholders and wireless charging, and a spot for storing keys.

The center console offers additional storage with dividers that double as ice scrapers and bottle openers. This entire center console storage can be removed with the push of a button to open up more space.

The doors, seats, and overhead areas contain even more storage nooks. In the rear, the entire third row of seating is removable to create a large cargo area. There are built-in storage cubbies in the rear as well as a fold-down bench seat.

Overall, the ID. Buzz packs an impressive amount of clever, versatile storage into its modern yet nostalgic redesign of the classic VW Bus shape.

This is a hands-on look at the new M2 iPad Pro compared to the previous model. The key difference is the arrangement and number of magnets inside the tablets.

The new iPad Pro has many more magnets, especially along the sides where there are now larger cubic magnets instead of rectangular ones. The oval speaker grills are still present but the speaker drivers appear to be circular and closer to the surface.

One of the best new accessories showcasing themagnet changes is the folio case. It has a magnetic strip along the back that allows the case to adjust to different viewing angles by aligning with the internal magnets.

Overall, Apple has densely packed magnets throughout the new iPad Pro. This enables improved accessories and functionality compared to the previous model.

Reports emerged that Apple trained its AI models on YouTube content, including videos from popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), without consent. While Apple has not issued a statement, Brownlee provided his perspective:

• The real issue is that many tech companies, including Apple, are training their AI using data purchased from third-party data scrapers, some of which obtain data through questionable means.
• One such company pulled transcripts from thousands of YouTube videos, including Brownlee's, without permission. This piracy of paid content raises ethical concerns.
• Brownlee pays for accurate manual transcriptions for accessibility, so the stolen transcripts represent intellectual property theft.
• While Apple may claim they are not directly at fault, they need to vet their data sources more thoroughly to avoid contributing to such practices.
• Data privacy and ethical AI training will remain an evolving challenge for the tech industry in the coming years.

Brownlee highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability from companies in how they source data for AI training, especially when that data involves user-generated content.

This week's GCN Racing News Show recaps the Giro d'Italia, where Tadej Poga?ar dominated and won his first Grand Tour in almost three years. His stats were incredible - biggest winning margin since 1965, equaling the record for most stage wins in the leader's jersey, and becoming the third youngest to podium at all three Grand Tours on the first attempt.

Outside of Poga?ar, other notable performances included Damiano Caruso finishing 2nd overall as the "winner of the rest", Geraint Thomas earning another Grand Tour podium at age 38, and promising young riders like Ben O'Connor, Antonio Tiberi, and Tao Geoghegan Hart rounding out the top 10.

The show also covered the final week of racing at the Tour of Norway won by Axel Zingle, the RideLondon Classic swept by Lorena Wiebes, and Alexander Kristoff taking his annual win on home roads.

Transfer rumors discussed include potential blockbuster moves for FDJ with signings of D'hoore, Lippert and Vanhoebrouck, as well as Longo Borghini leaving Trek for UAE and Castroviejo leaving Ineos for Emirates.

Record-Breaking Pogacar Dominates 2024 Tour de France

The 2024 Tour de France will go down as one of the most dominant performances in cycling history by Tadej Pogacar. The 25-year-old Slovenian won an astonishing 6 stages and the overall general classification at both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour, becoming just the 8th rider to achieve the Giro-Tour double.

Pogacar's 12 Grand Tour stage wins in 2024 ties the modern record set by Eddy Merckx in 1973. His 17 career Tour stage wins before age 26 is the most ever, surpassing Mark Cavendish's previous record of 14 by that age.

The only rider who could stay remotely close to Pogacar was his great rival Jonas Vingegaard, who finished 2nd again at 7:49 down. Their cumulative time over the last 4 Tours now differs by just 30 seconds after over 330 hours of racing in one of cycling's biggest rivalries.

While lacking opportunities to attack due to Pogacar's strength, Belgian sensation Remco Evenepoel confirmed his Grand Tour ability by finishing 3rd and winning the Best Young Rider jersey at age 23.

In other storylines:

• Mark Cavendish hinted at retirement after finishing his 15th and likely final Tour at age 38
• Jasper Philipsen won 3 stages to claim the green points jersey
• Richard Carapaz's attacking riding earned him a stage win and the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey
• Controversy surrounded him also winning the Most Combative prize over Jonas Abrahamsen
• UAE Team Emirates dominated by winning the team classification and most prize money

This Tour will be remembered for Pogacar's unparalleled superiority, matching or exceeding records held by legends like Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain at just 25 years old.

GCN Racing News: Tour de France Week 1 Recap

The opening week of the 2023 Tour de France has delivered high drama and impressive performances from the GC contenders. Here are the key highlights:

Stage 2 GC Battle - Jonas Vingegaard passed his first major test with flying colors, matching Tadej Poga?ar's attack on the final climb with relative ease. - Other contenders like Egan Bernal, Nairo Quintana, and Mikel Landa were dropped, showing signs of struggle on the punchy climbs. - Wout van Aert and Richard Carapaz bridged to Poga?ar and Vingegaard, with Van Aert leading the young rider classification.

Stage Wins - Jasper Philipsen took the stage 1 bunch sprint after a long-range attack by Neilson Powless was reeled in. - Kevin Vanlernbergh of Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB took a surprise stage 2 win from the breakaway, holding off Jonas Abrahamsen. - Abrahamsen extended his lead in the KOM and green jersey competitions with an impressive ride.

Other Storylines - Mark Cavendish's struggle to make the time cut on stage 1 cast doubt on his quest for a 35th Tour stage win. - Wilco Kelderman, Wout van Aert, and Matteo Jorgenson all crashed in the opening stages for Jumbo-Visma. - Jan Hirt sustained facial injuries after getting his bars caught in a spectator's backpack before stage 1 started.

The race is shaping up to be an epic battle between Vingegaard and Poga?ar, with question marks hanging over other contenders after the opening tests. Stage 3 offers the sprinters another opportunity before hitting the mountains.

Grand Tour Weight Gain Explained

It may seem counterintuitive, but riders often gain significant weight during grueling three-week grand tours like the Giro d'Italia. Dutch rider Tom Arensman recently revealed he gained 4-5 kg (8-11 lbs) at the Giro despite finishing an impressive 6th overall.

There are a few potential causes for this phenomenon:

1. Water Retention - Riders can retain large amounts of excess water weight, which the body holds onto to bind with sodium, glycogen stores, and respond to physical/psychological stress. Extra water can add up quickly.

2. Increased Carb/Sodium Intake - With riders now consuming 100+ grams of carbs per hour, far more than historically recommended, their glycogen stores remain high. Each gram of glycogen binds 3-4 grams of water. High sodium intake also promotes water retention.

3. Stress/Fatigue - Physical and mental strain elevates cortisol levels, which can increase appetite and drive the body to store more calories as glycogen (and attached water weight).

While seemingly paradoxical, substantial mid-race weight gain is quite common in grand tours as the cumulative effects of water retention, high-carb fueling, and hormonal impacts from overwhelming fatigue add up over three weeks.

Maintaining an optimal, dialed-in race weight remains critical for elite GC riders like Arensman who have realistic podium ambitions in the coming years.

GCN Racing News Recap

This week's episode covers a wide range of cycling news and analysis:

Strava Talents - 18-year-old Danish rider Peter Oxenberg earned a 3-year pro contract with Ineos after posting a blistering time on the infamous Col de Rates Strava segment, beating even Vingegaard's best. - This shows how Strava can provide exposure for aspiring talents, similar to how Vingegaard himself was discovered.

Olympic Time Trials - Remco Evenepoel took gold in the men's race, continuing his championship dominance despite fatigue from the Tour de France. - Wout van Aert managed bronze despite crashing, while Grace Brown won the women's race in rainy conditions.

Tour de Wallonie - Matteo Trentin took the overall GC victory in this Belgian stage race on countback after finishing tied on time.

Transfer News - Blanka Vas extends with SDWorx until 2027. - Lotto Soudal loses Dstny sponsorship amid reported disputes. - Cofidis' Gillaume Martin criticized his team's Look bikes, sparking controversy.

Upcoming Races - Anticipation builds for the Olympic road races, with Evenepoel and van der Poel as favorites. - The Vuelta a España also approaches.

Tour de France 2023: Poga?ar Delivers Historic Climbing Performance

In a remarkable display of strength, Tadej Poga?ar asserted his authority over the 2023 Tour de France with what many experts are calling the greatest climbing performance in cycling history. On the grueling Plateau de Beille climb, Poga?ar shattered Marco Pantani's 1998 record by over 3 minutes, averaging an astounding 6.7-6.9 watts/kg for 40 minutes according to estimates.

The Numbers Behind the Feat

• Poga?ar climbed Plateau de Beille (15.8km at 7.9% avg gradient) in 39:58, over 3.5 minutes faster than Pantani
• His average speed on the climb was 23.8 km/h, hitting 26 km/h for the final 5km attack
• For comparison, Geraint Thomas (12th) averaged 5.87 w/kg on the same climb

Poga?ar wasn't alone in rewriting the record books. Both Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel also bested Pantani's time, with Evenepoel impressing as the third strongest rider overall behind the two leaders. Vingegaard finished 1:09 behind Poga?ar despite what appeared to be team tactics aimed at cracking the Slovenian.

Jumbo-Visma's Puzzling Strategy

In a surprise move, Jumbo-Visma had their team set a blistering pace all day, only for Poga?ar to attack off their leadout and extend his overall lead. This stemmed from previous years where Poga?ar faded on extremely long, hot mountain stages due to accumulated fatigue. However, Poga?ar has taken his game to new heights in 2023, leaving doubts whether Jumbo can dethrone him.

Other Tour Highlights

• Philipsen took two stage wins but trails Bingé for the green jersey
• Vingegaard and Poga?ar traded stage wins, with the battle continuing
• The two GC leaders put over 6 minutes into 10th place on Plateau de Beille

With more huge mountain stages to come, including a 2800m peak, the 2023 Tour is shaping up as one of the most impressive Grand Tour performances ever by Poga?ar if he can maintain his blistering form.

Transcript not available for this video.

This week's GCN Racing News Show covered several key stories from the world of cycling:

1. Jonas Vingegaard's Struggle in One-Day Races: Despite his dominance in stage races like the Tour de France, Vingegaard has struggled to translate that form into success in one-day classics. The show analyzed his results, comparing them to rivals like Tadej Poga?ar, and discussed potential reasons for this disparity, such as motivation and lack of a strong sprint finish.

2. Transfer Rumors and Confirmed Moves: The show provided updates on potential mid-season transfers, like Alberto Bettiol possibly moving to EF Education-EasyPost, as well as confirmed moves for next season, including Laurens Huys joining Bora-Hansgrohe.

3. Race Recaps: Detailed recaps were given for recent races like the Clásica San Sebastián (won by Marc Hirschi), the Vuelta a Burgos (Sepp Kuss overall winner), and the Arctic Race of Norway (Marius Kulset winning the GC).

4. Olympic Track Events: A summary of the track cycling events at the Paris Olympics was provided, highlighting standout performances from riders like Harrie Lavreysen, Jennifer Valente, and the Portuguese duo of Rui Oliveira and Iuri Leitão winning the Madison.

5. Upcoming Races: A preview was given for the upcoming Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, with Demi Vollering as the defending champion and strong competition expected.

The show also touched on other news items like Remco Evenepoel getting his own street in Belgium and the return of riders like Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert to competition after injury layoffs.

The latest episode of the GCN Racing News Show recaps the headlines from the 2022 World Road Cycling Championships in Zurich. The biggest stories were the historic wins by Remco Evenepoel and Grace Brown in the elite men's and women's time trials.

Evenepoel, 22, continued his remarkable run by claiming his 5th major title in just two years. This came after some pre-race drama when his chain dropped on the start ramp. Despite having to race on feel without power data, he set blistering splits and held off Filippo Ganna and Eduardo Affini for the rainbow jersey.

For Brown, it was an emotional first world title to cap off her final season before retirement. The Australian reversed a deficit to Demi Vollering in the second half to take gold. Her victory adds to wins at the Tour of Flanders and Olympic Games this year.

Other storylines covered:

• Tim Merlier's impressive run of sprint wins in Belgium
• Wout van Aert's unique "lifetime" contract extension with Jumbo-Visma
• Recaps of racing at the Tours of Luxembourg, Belgium one-day races
• Analysis of the elite road race favorites for Sunday's finales
• Notable rider transfers like Jan Tratnik to Bora-Hansgrohe

The show wraps up by teasing the weekend's racing in Wollongong and directing viewers to check out GCN's world championship preview show.

There comes the attack from karapas is there anybody who can follow well so far nobody is but this was like a rocket attack the sun is coming out again for the 30-year-old it's a little bit of a belated birthday present for him turned 30 yesterday the man from Ecuador a fantastic attack launched at 66 and A2 km from the Finish Line if that ever was a rocket launch in this race it was absolutely what Rishad karapas did the is for him he succeeds

Recap of the 2023 World Championships in Zurich

The 2023 UCI Road World Championships in Zurich produced two remarkable winners in Tadej Pogacar and Lotte Kopecky, but the event was overshadowed by the tragic death of 18-year-old Muriel Fura in a crash during the junior women's race.

In the men's road race, Pogacar produced a stunning ride, attacking an astonishing 103km from the finish. Despite being chased, he dropped everyone on the Zurich Berg climb and soloed to his first rainbow jersey in remarkable fashion. His season has been simply incredible, with 23 wins at the World Tour level so far.

The women's race was a tactical battle, with the powerful Dutch team struggling to control the race despite having multiple riders in the lead group. In the end, Lotte Kopecky timed her sprint perfectly to claim her second consecutive world title, outsprinting Kloie Dygert and Elisa Longo Borghini.

Other notable performances included Ben O'Connor's silver medal in the men's race, Mathieu van der Poel's bronze, and victories for Nicolas Barons (U23 men), Cat Ferguson (junior women), and Lorenzo Fini (junior men).

However, the tragic death of Muriel Fura cast a dark cloud over the event, leading to renewed calls for improved rider safety measures in the sport.

As we look ahead to the 2024 World Championships in Rwanda, with its incredibly demanding course featuring over 5,500m of climbing, the focus must be on ensuring the safety of all competitors while still celebrating the incredible feats of the world's best riders.

The 2023 UCI Road World Championships will take place in Zurich, Switzerland from September 24-October 1. The courses feature some challenging climbs, but are not as difficult as initially expected.

The men's 273km road race starts in Winterthur and finishes with 7 laps of a 27km circuit including the steep Zurichberg climb (1.1km at 14% max) and the longer Albisriederstrasse climb (2.5km at 5-7%). The women's 154km race has 2,400m of climbing over 5 laps of the same circuit.

Favorites for the men's road race include defending champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium, Slovenian stars Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic, and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. For the women, Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering of the Netherlands, Belgium's Lotte Kopecky, and Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma are among the top contenders.

In the time trials, Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna of Italy are the men's favorites, while Olympic champion Grace Brown of Australia and defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten top the women's ranks.

Other nations with strong teams include Denmark, France, Switzerland, USA and Australia for the men, and Italy, USA, Denmark and France for the women.

The world championships often produce surprises, with form hard to predict after the season's Grand Tours. An exciting and unpredictable week of racing awaits on the challenging Zurich courses.

This week's GCN Racing News show recaps the thrilling Olympic road races, where Annemiek van Vleuten and Remco Evenepoel captured gold medals with epic solo attacks. It highlights the chaotic nature of the Olympic races without radios or team support.

The show also dives into the apparent turmoil at Team Ineos Grenadiers. Despite their past Tour de France dominance, Ineos struggled mightily this year, finishing 18th in prize money. Concerning developments include reduced involvement from Dave Brailsford, the resignation of performance guru Dan Bigham, and uncertainty around Tom Pidcock's future with the team.

Other news covered:

• Transfer updates, with Simon Yates going to Jumbo-Visma and Ben O'Connor to AG2R Citroën
• Coryn Rivera's retirement after a decorated 11-year career
• Preview of the upcoming Tour de France Femmes, with a look at the route and top contenders like Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos.

The show maintains an upbeat, conversational tone while providing insightful analysis on the latest developments in pro cycling.

Transcript not available for this video.

GCN Racing News Recap

Primoz Roglic Wins 4th Tour de France a la Vuelta Primoz Roglic equalled Roberto Heras' record of 4 Vuelta a Espana wins after a clinical performance, taking his 15th career stage win at the race. Despite crashes derailing past campaigns, the Slovenian showed his resilience to become Vuelta's most successful rider.

Jai Hindley Takes 2nd, Ben O'Connor 3rd Jai Hindley secured 2nd overall, while Ben O'Connor's attacking riding earned him the final podium spot for AG2R Citroën. O'Connor's 3rd place marks his first Grand Tour podium.

Other Vuelta Highlights - Marc Soler's surprise stage win - Jay Vine winning the KOM jersey - Juan Ayuso taking the best young rider jersey

Tour of Britain Zeb Willliams became the first British winner since 2016, leading Israel-Premier Tech's domination. A disastrous performance by INEOS saw them finish outside the top 10.

Upcoming Races Looking ahead to the GP Quebec & Montreal as Michael Woods returns to racing, plus the European Championships and Italian one-day races.

Mark Cavendish's Record-Breaking 35th Tour de France Stage Win

In an astonishing feat at age 39, Mark Cavendish has broken the record for most Tour de France stage wins with his 35th victory on Stage 5. After a three-year drought following his 34th win in 2021, Cavendish etched his name further into cycling history with a triumphant sprint in Sanremo.

The final kilometer was a masterclass in positioning and decision-making. With his Astana team guiding him perfectly, Cavendish used his sprinting instincts to find the best wheels and gaps, eventually launching from Pascal Ackermann's wheel to take a clear win ahead of Jasper Philipsen.

In a post-race interview, an emotional Cavendish reflected on the team's "big gamble" to focus on Tour stage wins this year. He credited his mental strength for pushing through struggles, acknowledging cycling's biggest race means more than rankings.

After turning pro in 2007, Cavendish quickly made his mark with wins at Scheldeprijs and the Tour de France stage wins began in 2008. His first Tour green jersey came in 2011, along with the World Championship road race title.

While struggles from 2018-2020 nearly ended his career, Cavendish's resilience shone through with a return to winning ways in 2021. His records may never be matched, cementing his status as the greatest Tour sprinter of all time.

Key Takeaways

• Primož Rogli? received a 20-second penalty at La Vuelta a España for drafting behind his team car after changing bikes for the final summit finish climb. Though drafting is common after mechanicals, Rogli? changed bikes by choice for a gear advantage, making the penalty warranted.

• Ben O'Connor continues to lead La Vuelta, but his advantage has shrunk to just over a minute ahead of Rogli? after two tough weeks of racing. The final week promises more excitement with multiple climbing stages and an individual time trial.

• Pablo Castroshined with two brilliant stage wins, outkicking top climbers like Aleksandr Vlasov. Other notable winners included Groves on a punchy stage and Woods atop the Puerto de Andrés climb.

• At the Rennie Tour, Tim Wellens took the overall victory despite Alex Kirsch leading Lotto-Dstny. Teammate Arnaud De Lie's tactics racing aggressively despite Kirsch's lead raised questions about team strategy.

• Transfer news has Leuven Trek filling their 2025 women's roster, Israel-PremierTech signing Jan Hirt from Intermarché, and notable moves for riders like Diego Ulissi, Dries De Bondt, and Danny van Poppel.

Opinion

The debate around Rogli?'s penalty brings up interesting questions about what constitutes fair assistance in cycling's complicated etiquette. While the rules were clearly applied correctly in this case, the incident underscores how subjective and situational these judgments can be. As for La Vuelta's GC battle, it seems Rogli?'s consistency may ultimately prevail over O'Connor's gritty ride unless the Australian can summon something special in the final week.

This week's GCN Racing News show covers the thrilling finale of the Tour de France Femmes, where Annemiek van Vleuten lost the yellow jersey to Demi Vollering on the penultimate day after crashing. Vollering then held off a heroic effort from Van Vleuten on the final mountain stage to win by just 4 seconds in an epic battle.

The show recaps key moments, questionable team tactics, and impressive performances from riders like Sepp Kuss, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. It also wraps up the opening stages of the Vuelta a España, where Brandon McNulty caused an upset in the opening time trial.

Other race results covered include the Tour of Denmark won by Andreas Kron, the Tour of Poland dominated by Tim Merlier and Biniam Girmay, and the opening stage of the Tour de l'Avenir U23 race led by Canada's Michael Leonard.

Transfer news includes Alberto Bettiol joining EF Education-EasyPost, Mark Cavendish heading to Tudor Pro Cycling, and Rod Ellingworth rejoining Bahrain Victorious management.

This extensive preview covers the upcoming UCI Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland. It analyzes the form and chances of top riders like Tadej Poga?ar, Primož Rogli?, Mathieu van der Poel, and Wout van Aert based on their recent performances at races like the European Championships, Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montréal.

The article questions whether the Zurich World Championships course is as difficult as anticipated, suggesting it may be less selective than initially thought. It highlights Poga?ar's sensational solo win in Montréal as an ominous sign ahead of Worlds, where he could become only the 3rd rider ever to complete cycling's Triple Crown of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and World Championships in the same year.

For the women's race, contenders like Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering, and Grace Brown are analyzed. The dynamic between Poga?ar and teammate Rogli? on the Slovenian team is also discussed. Other stories covered include European Championships results, Mark Cavendish's incredible run of 5 straight wins, and the latest transfer news.

Overall, this is a comprehensive Worlds preview examining the form, routes, favorites, and storylines ahead of the marquee event on the road cycling calendar.

pedon now goes for the stage gai goes across and it is right in the center Matt Pon pedon gay bam gay bam gay wins his first ever stage of the to of France for Eritrea

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[Music] C oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] love [Music]

This is a dialogue between two people discussing implementing a classic snake game using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They start with a basic snake game where the snake has to eat apples, but then decide to make it more challenging by adding obstacles in the shape of the letters "AI".

The AI model provides code to first create the basic snake game with a canvas grid, logic for the snake's movement, eating apples, scoring, etc. It then enhances the code to add obstacles arranged in the "AI" shape that the snake cannot pass through.

The speakers express excitement at the model's ability to understand their instructions and enhance the game accordingly by generating new code. They note how the model thinks through the technical implementation details of creating the obstacles, arranging them in the desired shape, and updating the game logic.

The summary concludes with the speakers running the updated game and seeing the "AI" shaped obstacles on the screen, making the game much more challenging for the snake to navigate around.

The article demonstrates a coding prompt for a simple video game called "Squirrel Finder" that showcases the AI model's ability to think through and plan out the structure of the code before providing the final answer.

The game involves a koala character that can be moved with arrow keys, and strawberries that spawn every second and bounce around, which the player must avoid. After 3 seconds, a squirrel icon appears, and the player's goal is to find the squirrel to win. Additional instructions include displaying "OpenAI" on the game screen and showing instructions before the game starts.

The article highlights the AI model's thinking process, which took 21 seconds. During this time, the model gathered details about the game's layout, mapped out the instructions, and set up the screen. The provided code is then executed in a window, demonstrating the game's functionality, including the instructions, strawberry spawning, and the appearance of the squirrel icon after 3 seconds. The author successfully plays the game, avoiding strawberries and finding the squirrel to win.

[Music] you show your [Music] soul show me your soul Only You [Music] de sometimes we
fall or sometimes we fall [Music] sometimes we fall sometimes we fall you thought it I forgot you thought it I forget it's time and time again I'll do the same mistake do you want to know where I've been on this time where you've beening around forgetting I even here at all come on leave your B see me again I've been W to feel alive from me [Music] this time now I'm calling on your name [Music] now

Transcript not available for this video.

The article demonstrates how an advanced AI model like OpenAI's GPT-4 can handle seemingly unrelated tasks like decoding a corrupted Korean sentence by applying reasoning and language understanding capabilities.

The author first shows a badly corrupted Korean sentence that a previous model (GPT-3) could not understand or translate since it is not a valid language. They explain that Korean characters are formed by combining vowels and consonants in specific ways, and the corrupted sentence has unnecessary consonants added, making it unnatural for native speakers but still decipherable.

The author then tests the new GPT-4 model on the same corrupted sentence. Unlike GPT-3, GPT-4 starts reasoning through the problem, recognizing that it needs to decode or decipher the garbled text before translating it. After some thinking time, the model successfully translates the sentence by explaining the method used to encrypt the Korean characters.

The author highlights how advanced reasoning models like GPT-4 can tackle unconventional problems like this, demonstrating the power of language understanding and reasoning capabilities in AI.

Anthropic is introducing a new series of AI models under the "o1" name, highlighting their focus on reasoning abilities. The key models are:

• o1: A large reasoning model that "thinks more" before answering, taking time to produce higher-quality outputs for complex tasks like writing, analysis, and problem-solving.

• o1-preview: An early preview of the full o1 model's capabilities.

• o1-mini: A smaller, faster version trained similarly to o1 but with less compute.

The article explains that reasoning AI aims to spend more time deliberating to reach better conclusions, unlike retrieving simple factual answers. It describes "aha moments" in developing o1, like when scaling up compute led to coherent thought chains, and when the model showed self-questioning abilities exceeding human-written prompts.

Researchers share feeling moments of realization - seeing the model start to reflect on mistakes in a new way for math problem-solving, and the idea that letting the AI generate its own reasoning steps could outperform human-authored prompts.

Overall, Anthropic presents o1 as a step toward more thoughtful, self-questioning AI that can tackle complex reasoning tasks better through iteration and reflection.

last full moon I was craving for [Music] eggs what oh my aunties aunties they clean for [Music] me they take care of [Music] me we do everything to together they get along with my cat frog assistant my friends are so jealous and then one day as quickly as they came they left I never found those eggs again

How AI is Helping Geneticists Crack Rare Disease Cases

As a geneticist at Boston Children's Hospital and scientific director of the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Katherine Brownstein often deals with "N of One" cases - rare genetic diseases that no one has seen before. With 20,000 human genes, it's impossible for researchers to be experts on every single one.

That's where AI comes in. Brownstein explains how tools like Claude can quickly summarize research papers and provide insights on specific genes and traits that may be related to a patient's symptoms. For example, when investigating a case of unexplained bladder pain, Claude was able to identify a gene expressed in the bladder that could potentially be linked to bladder health issues.

"It's just way, way faster," says Brownstein. "I go down a lot of rabbit holes that do not yield anything useful, and being able to increase the percentage of rabbit holes to useful information is killer."

The AI doesn't give definitive answers, but highlights relevant information and potential links that human researchers may have missed. This accelerates the process of piecing together clues from phenotypic observations and genetic data to solve medical mysteries.

Even for experts like Brownstein, "no case is ever closed." There is always more to learn, which is what drives the obsession to find answers for patients who are "medical refugees" with nowhere else to turn.

The author describes using a new AI model to generate code for visualizing the self-attention mechanism in Transformer models like GPT. They give the model instructions like using the sentence "The quick brown fox" as an example, having edge thicknesses represent attention scores when hovering over tokens, and displaying attention scores when clicking.

The model generates code that successfully renders an interactive visualization meeting those requirements. The author highlights that previous models may have missed some of the instructions when given a long list, but this "reasoning" model can think through each requirement carefully to avoid that.

They paste the model's code into an HTML editor and browser, demonstrating the visualization working as intended - displaying thicker edges between more related words when hovering, and showing the numeric attention scores when clicking on words. The author is impressed by the model's capability to create a useful visualization tool relevant to their teaching on Transformers.

Programming Is Becoming More Accessible, Thanks to New AI Models

Programming has evolved significantly over the past 50 years, going from punch cards to modern languages and development tools. But a big shift is underway that could make coding even more accessible to everyone.

Scott Woo, CEO of Anthropic, believes new AI language models like OpenAI's GPT-3 will democratize coding by enabling more "human-like" programming. His company's AI agent called "Devon" can break down tasks, leverage different services/APIs, and produce working code just like a human developer.

In the article, Woo demonstrates how Devon can analyze tweet sentiment by first planning the steps, fetching the tweet text, running sentiment analysis using external APIs, and then synthesizing the results. The key breakthrough is Devon's ability to reason through problems in a natural way, making adjustments and decisions along the way.

Woo sees this new wave of AI models as a game-changer that will allow anyone to turn their ideas into reality through code, much faster and more fluidly than current methods allow. The soul of programming has always been about translating human concepts into working solutions, and AI can now bridge that gap more seamlessly.

While the technology is still emerging, Woo believes tools like Devon offer a glimpse into a future where barriers to programming are lowered dramatically. With AI handling more of the complex logic and decision-making, coding could become more intuitive and accessible to non-technical individuals.

The article compares the performance of GPT-4 and an AI model called "01 preview" on the task of writing a 6-line poem about squirrels playing soccer with specific constraints on word endings and syllables per line.

It first shows GPT-4's attempt, which meets some but not all of the constraints, explaining that GPT-4 struggles because it has to get it right on the first try without being able to revise.

It then walks through the thought process of 01 preview as it composes the poem, showing how it considers different word options, rhymes, syllable counts, and whether each line meets the specified constraints. The model revises its poem multiple times before arriving at a final version that satisfies all the rules.

The article positions 01 preview as being able to produce higher quality responses on constrained creative tasks like this because of its ability to iteratively reason and revise rather than just taking one shot.

The article describes an interesting experiment where an AI model is tasked with generating and solving a nonogram puzzle, which is a logic puzzle where you have to fill in squares on a grid based on numerical clues.

The author reminisces about enjoying nonogram puzzles as a child, and proposes having the AI model generate a 5x5 puzzle where the final answer spells out the letter "M". The model successfully generates the puzzle and provides the clues.

Another instance of the model is then asked to solve the generated puzzle. The author explains how nonograms work - the numbers in each row and column indicate how many consecutive squares need to be filled in. The second model manages to solve the puzzle correctly and illustrates a nice "M" shape.

The author highlights that solving nonograms requires making guesses, backtracking if wrong, and searching through the possible solutions while considering the mutual dependencies between clues. This type of constraint satisfaction problem is well-suited for AI models like the one used in the experiment.

Overall, the article presents a fun and creative way to test an AI model's reasoning and problem-solving abilities on a classic logic puzzle game.

The article analyzes a logic puzzle or riddle about figuring out the ages of a prince and princess given certain conditions relating their ages. The riddle states: "A princess is as old as the prince will be when the princess is twice as old as the prince was when the princess's age was half the sum of their present ages."

The author finds this riddle interesting because it is from a computer game they played as a kid, and appreciates how the wording makes it challenging for a human to initially understand and translate into an actual solvable problem.

The author then proposes using an AI reasoning model to solve the riddle, and observes the model's thinking process as it decodes the problem, understands the equations the ages must satisfy, and eventually arrives at the correct solution after some time.

The model's solution approach is described, including identifying the variables, translating the conditions into equations, and solving those equations. The solution provided is that the princess's age is 6k and the prince's age is 8k, where k is any natural number.

The author expresses satisfaction that the model successfully solved the riddle from the computer game, verifying the correct solution.

The article presents a simple example to illustrate the difference between traditional language models like GPT-4 and new reasoning models in handling tasks that require understanding characters and words.

It starts with a straightforward task of counting the number of letter 'R' in the word "strawberry". The article shows that GPT-4, which processes text at a subword level, fails to give the correct answer (3) and instead outputs 2.

The article then introduces a new reasoning model, likely a variant of GPT-4 with added reasoning capabilities. When presented with the same task, this new model first "thinks" about the problem before providing the correct output of 3 'R's in "strawberry".

The key point is that reasoning models, by having built-in reasoning capabilities, can avoid mistakes on tasks that require understanding at the character or word level, which traditional language models may struggle with due to their subword-level processing nature.

The example demonstrates that even for seemingly simple tasks like counting letters, having reasoning capabilities integrated into language models can lead to more accurate results by allowing the model to review its own outputs and be more careful in its processing.

The speaker discusses an example problem that tests the ability of large language models to reason about physical scenarios involving common sense – something they have traditionally struggled with.

The problem asks: "If a small strawberry is placed in a normal cup, and the cup is turned upside down on a table and then put in a microwave, where is the strawberry?"

The speaker notes that while this problem is simple for humans to reason through using our intuitive understanding of physics and objects, it is more challenging for language models. The speaker is interested to see how the current language model being demonstrated will handle this type of reasoning.

The speaker suggests the model may need more time to analyze and "think through" the scenario, as language models can have more difficulty with scenarios involving physical objects and common sense reasoning about the real world. Observing the model's approach could provide insights into its inner workings and thought process on this type of task.

I can kind of easily follow the reasoning I don't need to trust the result I can just look what did they do who are you oh wow who who are you very big question I'm Mario Ken I'm a Quantum physicist so quantum physics is the study of the smallest particles I want to understand how the world works here would ask a question about the application of a certain Quantum operator which are know previous models like gp4 would very likely fail in this task but he in contrast to answers from uh gbt 4 this one gives me very detailed mathematics this is correct that makes sense here I think it tries to do something incredibly difficult the really interesting thing is how does the world work but if you know how the world works it helps you potentially to build new technologies

Transcript not available for this video.

The article shares the author's experience transitioning from narrower tires (40mm and 45mm) to wider 50mm tires on their gravel bike. Some key observations:

• The wider 50mm tires provide a much smoother and more cushioned ride, absorbing impacts from rocks and roots better.
• It gives a "monster truck vibe" and feels more like riding a mountain bike than a skinny tire gravel bike.
• Despite being a slick center tread, the large volume provides a big footprint and decent traction, not slipping on rocks.
• The wider tires reduce harshness and vibrations transmitted to contact points, allowing the rider to carry more speed.

The author is impressed by the difference just 10mm of extra width makes in terms of comfort and capability on rough terrain.

Are you looking for a high-performance road bike without breaking the bank? This video explores some great secondhand options from the 2010-2020 era that offer lightweight carbon frames, stiff ride qualities, and reliable drivetrains at affordable prices.

Key Recommendations

• Specialized Tarmac SL4-SL6: Ranging from £400-£1700, these carbon Tarmacs offer excellent value with Shimano Ultegra/Di2 groupsets and quality wheels. Look for S-Works or Pro models in good condition.

• Giant TCR Advanced Pro: The 2019 models with Ultegra Di2/hydraulic discs can be found for around £1600-£1900. Rim brake versions are also available for slightly less.

• Canyon Ultimate CF SLX: An ultralight climbing bike, the older CF SLX models come with great specs like Ultegra Di2 and can be had for £1500-£2000 in decent condition.

• Canyon Aeroad: The previous generation aero race bikes are still fast and can be purchased for £2000-£3000 with nice builds.

• Cannondale Synapse: A comfortable endurance bike perfect for training, the pre-2020 Synapses are around £800-£1000 with Ultegra and disc brakes.

The key is finding unmolested frames with no damage history. Expect to budget for servicing and replacing worn parts. But overall, these modern classics deliver great performance for a fraction of a new bike's cost.

too close

The author has purchased a secondhand Specialized Tarmac SL4 Comp road bike that was originally sold in 2016 with a retail price of £2,000. It has a Shimano Ultegra 11-speed mechanical groupset (not wireless electronic shifting) with a Praxis crankset. The bike has rim brakes, with one front tire showing barely any perishing. The frame is in decent condition with just some scratches on the top tube. The chain is noted as being a bit rusty, but nothing terrible overall. The author asks readers to guess how much they paid for this used bike based on the provided details.

Van Rysel RCR Aero Road Bike Review

The Van Rysel RCR is a new aero road bike from the French sports store Decathlon's in-house brand. It aims to combine aerodynamics and low weight, taking inspiration from bikes like the Specialized Tarmac SL7 and Trek Emonda SLR.

At 8kg for a size large, the RCR is impressively light for the price point. The frame weighs a claimed 830g for a size medium thanks to wind-tunnel testing and aerospace engineering. Testing confirms its aero credentials, on par with top aero bikes from major brands.

The value proposition is strong, with the £4,500 model featuring a SRAM Rival AXS groupset, power meter, and an aero integrated cockpit. Moving up to £5,500 gets you the pro-level frame.

On the road, the RCR feels fast, stiff, and agile like a pure race bike should. Handling is precise and lively. However, compliance suffers compared to more expensive options, with a firm, unforgiving ride over rough roads.

While undoubtedly an impressive race machine at an unbeatable price, the lack of smoothness prevents it from being an ideal all-rounder for riders prioritizing comfort over outright performance.

Trek has launched the all-new Emonda SLR, merging their previously separate lightweight Emonda and aero Madone platforms into a single bike that aims to be both lightweight and aerodynamic. Key features include:

• Uses new higher-modulus OCV 900 carbon fiber layup to shed over 370g from the previous Emonda frame
• New manufacturing process with bladder molding for better compaction and fewer wrinkles
• One-piece molded fork
• Retains the IsoFlow seat tube design for added compliance
• All-new tube shapes and dropped seatstays
• Very narrow handlebar in the tops for improved aerodynamics
• Available in 6 different models from $3,500 to $13,500

Trek claims the new SLR frame weighs just 796g for a 56cm painted frame, making it lighter than the previous Emonda. However, the complete bike weight of 7.34kg for a Dura-Ace model is a bit disappointing and heavier than some key rivals.

Aerodynamically, Trek claims it is on par with the previous generation Madone, with watts saved ranging from 13W at 35kph to 74W at 64kph versus the old Emonda. Geometry is similar to previous models, with slightly fewer sizes and less overlap.

Initial ride impressions find it to be a very fast bike that climbs and descends well, with responsive handling reminiscent of the Emonda. However, it doesn't appear to be a massive step forward in either weight or aerodynamics over the previous generation models it replaces. More real-world testing is needed to evaluate the updated ride quality and compliance.

This is a brand new Windspace SLC 3, a Chinese lightweight clone bike. On the scales with no pedals, it weighs just 6.6 kilos thanks to a 700g frame and 1200g wheels with fat carbon spokes.

It features a one-piece carbon handlebars and stem, a nice round seatpost with an external seatclamp, and an Aligar groupset. The carbon weave is visible through the top lacquer layer, with no paint applied to save weight.

The fork also looks very sleek and smart. Windspace is one of the most popular Chinese bike brands in Europe, and a full review of this model is coming soon.

This is a video review of the new 4th generation Canyon Aeroad CFR road bike. The key updates from the previous model are increased aerodynamics, stiffness and weight reduction while retaining comfort. Notable changes include a narrower head tube, slimmer down tube, deeper fork, revised seat tube/post design, and aero handlebar options with removable drops that can be swapped for narrower aerodynamic versions.

The bike aims to be as aero as the old model with 62mm deep rims despite only having 50mm rims, delivering aero benefits with lighter wheels. It retains 32mm tire clearance.

Other details discussed include the modular handlebar system to add accessories, ease of service with standard torx bolts, and nice details like fork rubber stoppers to prevent scratches when removing the wheel.

Weight for the top Dura-Ace Di2 build is 7.1kg in a size medium. Pricing starts around £4000 for lower builds up to £9800 for the model reviewed.

On the road, the reviewer found it extremely fast like previous Aeroad models, but with better comfort than some other aero bikes, making it more usable on poor roads. The shallow rims also make it more stable in wind compared to deeper sections. Climbing performance is very good though not at the absolute highest level of lightweight road bikes.

The article is a brief transcript of a discussion about someone's Moots gravel bike. The person, named Hoy, describes the bike's components like the SRAM GRX groupset, RenéHerse tires, and a dropper seatpost for steep descents. The transcript is only around 100 words, so there are no additional details provided.

Transcript not available for this video.

Giant Defy Advanced 1: Value-Packed Endurance Road Bike

The Giant Defy Advanced 1 is an entry-level carbon fiber endurance road bike that offers exceptional value for money at around £3,200 (discounted to £2,800). Despite its affordable price tag, it features the same high-quality frame as Giant's more expensive Defy Pro model.

Key Features

• Carbon fiber frame and fork (lower-grade fork than Pro)
• Shimano 105 Di2 electronic shifting
• Hydraulic disc brakes
• 32mm wide tires for comfort and grip
• Relaxed geometry for comfort on long rides
• Internal cable routing and fender mounts

Ride Quality

The Defy Advanced 1 shines on long endurance rides and sportives, thanks to its smooth ride quality and relaxed yet racy geometry. The wide tires and D-Fuse handlebar/seatpost help soak up vibrations from rough roads. While not as ultra-plush as some endurance bikes, it offers a noticeable upgrade in comfort over pure race bikes.

The Shimano 105 Di2 groupset performs admirably, with crisp shifting and reliable braking. The wide 11-36t cassette provides low gearing for steep climbs.

Upgrades for More Performance

The stock wheels are quite heavy at around 2kg, so upgrading to a lighter wheelset (e.g. carbon) can unlock more speed and responsiveness. Similarly, switching to higher-end tires like the Michelin Power Cup yields tangible performance gains.

Value Comparison

Rivals like the Trek Domane SL 6 and Specialized Roubaix cost £4,000+ for a similar spec. The Canyon Endurace CF SL 7 at £3,000 is a close competitor but lacks fender mounts. Overall, the Defy Advanced 1 delivers excellent componentry and ride quality for its price point.

Summary

The Giant Defy Advanced 1 is an outstanding value option for cyclists seeking an endurance road bike with premium carbon construction and reliable electronics. With some choice upgrades, it can approach the performance of bikes costing much more, making it a wise purchase for those on a budget.

Transcript not available for this video.

This article introduces the new Specialized Crux gravel bike, featuring a subtle but important update - compatibility with SRAM's new Red Explore groupset thanks to updated dropouts. The frame remains largely unchanged from the previous generation, retaining its lightweight, race-oriented design with skinny non-drop seat stays, external cable routing, and ample tire clearance.

The biggest change is the ability to run SRAM's transmission-style rear derailleur mount, future-proofing the Crux for this new drivetrain option. Specialized is offering a single build with the Red Explore groupset, Roval Terra wheels, and a $12,200 price tag.

While a relatively minor update, it leaves the Crux still lacking some modern features like internal cable routing found on newer gravel race bikes. However, the author celebrates Specialized keeping the proven formula that made the Crux so successful.

He notes this leaves a gap in Specialized's lineup for a more modern, integrated aero gravel race bike to complement the traditional Crux and adventure-oriented Diverge models. But for those prioritizing the simplicity and low weight of the Crux's design, this update keeps it relevant with the latest drivetrains.

enough colors you know enough wit all but you you hopefully give

need some some working over we need good [Music] plan this is now the other way around

This brand new Cannondale scalpel mountain bike behind me has one really cool detail and I'm not even talking about the bonkers Lefty suspension Fork which still looks crazy every 10 years after it first came out or the swoopy whoopy one piece carbon fiber handlebar or even the fact we're space with two water bottles in the main frame even the fact that canel have ditched the Press bottom bracket but no this this their here the flex pivot flatten carbon fiber wrist days keep the weight low but can you guess how light it actually is drop a comment down below and a full review coming right here on just ride bikes very soon

Transcript not available for this video.

Transcript not available for this video.

The article discusses tire recommendations for gravel biking in Wales. It suggests that mountain bikers who do gravel racing tend to prefer tires like the Cero or Resolute, which have more aggressive tread similar to mountain bike tires for better traction on descents.

Riders coming from a road biking background often prefer tires with a rounder profile and lower tread like the Vulpine, which rolls faster on pavement. The Riddler is another popular option with a rounded center section for low rolling resistance but raised side knobs for cornering grip on gravel.

The key consideration is balancing grip and traction on loose gravel surfaces with low rolling resistance for efficient pedaling on paved road sections. Riders with mountain bike backgrounds prioritize grip, while roadies favor low rolling resistance. Options like the Riddler aim to blend both characteristics.

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Exploring Newport with Trump's Former Press Secretary

During their summer boating tour, Jessica Kraus and her friends made a stop in Newport, Rhode Island, where they met up with Sean Spicer, Trump's former White House Press Secretary and a Rhode Island native. Spicer proved to be an excellent tour guide, offering a detailed itinerary and boat rides around Narragansett Bay.

On their first evening cruise, Spicer regaled them with tales of Newport's history, including the infamous 1983 America's Cup loss that ended the town's 132-year streak as the host. They also learned about Spicer's impressive career, from his Navy Reserve service to his role at the White House.

The next day, Spicer provided a comprehensive guide to experiencing the best of Newport:

Morning Activities - Newport Harbor Shuttle tour - Exploring Brick Market Alley and Bowen's Wharf - Shopping along Lower Thames Street

Midday - St. Mary's Church (where JFK and Jackie were married) - Tennis Hall of Fame - Lunch spots like Newport Lobster Shack

Afternoon - Easton's Beach - Touring mansions like The Breakers and The Elms - Save the Bay Aquarium

Evening Entertainment - Newport Gulls baseball game - Ryan's Family Arcade - Diverse dining options for families and adults

The article also includes Spicer's reflections on his White House days and promoting Trump's interests with Russia. Despite their initial skepticism of Spicer, Kraus and her friends gained a new appreciation for the former Press Secretary through his warm hospitality and deep roots in Newport's sailing community.

The Decline of Satire in Modern Culture

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to effectively satirize aspects of modern culture, politics, and technology. The author argues that society has reached a point where reality is often more absurd and exaggerated than any satirical portrayal could be.

Several examples are provided:

• During the Bush administration, political satire thrived with shows like The Daily Show mocking events like the "Mission Accomplished" speech. But figures like Donald Trump essentially satirized themselves through their extreme rhetoric and behavior, rendering traditional satire ineffective.

• In the technology sector, the recent launch of the "friend" AI companion device is described as embodying a dystopian concept that would typically be satirized in science fiction. However, the actual product and marketing are already so over-the-top that attempting to satirize it would fall flat.

The author theorizes that this phenomenon arises from the rise of "sovereign individuals" - public figures completely shameless and impervious to criticism, who actively undermine the effectiveness of satire through their unrestrained words and actions. As society becomes populated by such exaggerated caricatures, the ability to satirically exaggerate reality for humorous social commentary is lost.

Unless this trend reverses, the author suggests satire as an artistic medium may become obsolete, as the universe has developed "an emergent cosmic drive to make satire inaccessible."

Who is Tim Walz? An Introduction to Kamala Harris' VP Pick

Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election. While not well-known nationally, Walz has a strong political resume and brings some unique experiences to the Democratic ticket.

Background & Experience

• Grew up in a small Nebraska town, son of a schoolteacher and stay-at-home mom
• Served 24 years in the military, including postings in Arkansas, Texas, the Arctic Circle, and Minnesota
• First elected to U.S. House in 2006, representing Minnesota's 1st district until 2018
• Elected Minnesota Governor in 2018 with 53.9% of the vote
• One of the first non-lawyers on a Democratic presidential ticket since Jimmy Carter

Key Policy Positions

• Pro-choice, with 100% rating from Planned Parenthood
• Legalized cannabis in Minnesota in 2023
• Supporter of gun rights, with an A rating from the NRA (though moderated stance after Parkland shooting)
• Signed bills banning conversion therapy and protecting gender-affirming care in Minnesota
• Advocate for public education funding and merit pay for teachers

Strengths & Criticisms

• Popular in Minnesota, seen as getting things done
• May appeal to younger voters, trade unionists, working class in Midwest
• Draws from military experience and status as veteran
• Viewed unfavorably by some for stringent COVID policies as governor
• Lacks widespread name recognition nationally

Walz's nomination has given Harris a polling boost so far, though it remains to be seen if that will continue. He provides an unconventional but experienced option as VP.

No article content was provided, so I cannot generate a summary.

From Roadkill to Voter Fraud: RFK's Residency Drama Winds Down in NY Court

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign is facing a critical legal battle in Albany, New York, over the validity of his residency and petitions to appear on the state's ballot. A ruling is expected soon after closing arguments wrapped up this week.

The lawsuit, brought by a pro-Biden PAC, claims Kennedy used a fictitious address in Katonah, NY, belonging to his friend Barbara Moss, when filing to get on the ballot. If Kennedy is removed from the NY ballot, it could trigger his disqualification in other states, potentially dismantling his presidential campaign.

Under oath, Kennedy insisted Katonah is his residence, despite not owning the home. He argued that petition signers were genuine supporters. However, his testimony faced challenges over his voter registration history, with suggestions of potential voter fraud that Kennedy didn't fully deny.

Kennedy was also grilled about his animal interests while living in California, including a falconry license and video of him feeding birds. He claimed the falconry license wasn't his signature and that he occasionally lets others sign documents for him.

The court also heard details about Kennedy's expertise with training ravens and hawks, stemming from his time at a boarding school with a zoo after his father's assassination.

Kennedy admitted to only staying at the Katonah home once, saying he often stays in hotels due to his security detail. Moss testified Kennedy only started paying $500 monthly rent recently, as media scrutiny intensified.

Questions were also raised about Kennedy's primary residence potentially being in California with his wife, which could create an electoral college issue.

In a lighter moment, when asked about the recent "roadkill" scandal, Kennedy laughed and said he has "a thousand cubic foot freezer full of roadkill."

The outcome of this case could have serious consequences for Kennedy's campaign and ability to appear on state ballots.

Change Blindness: How Far AI Has Come in 21 Months

This article by Jack Kelly illustrates the remarkable progress made in various AI domains over the past 21 months, since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.

Images and Video The article compares image and video generation capabilities then and now, showcasing the vastly improved quality and realism achieved by recent models like Flux and Runway Gen 3.

Sound Similarly, the article contrasts the early music generation capabilities of MusicLM with the more advanced Suno model, which can generate impressively realistic songs from text descriptions within just 18 months.

Language Models The article discusses the three distinct levels of language models witnessed since 2022: GPT-3 class, GPT-3.5 class (represented by Claude 3.5), and GPT-4 class. It cites the "Lem Test" as an example of the significant leap in capabilities achieved by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models.

Adoption and Impact The article notes the remarkably rapid adoption of AI chatbot assistants, citing surveys that found high usage rates among knowledge workers, teachers, parents, and students. However, it acknowledges that the wider economic impact remains unclear, as organizations are slower to adapt to new technologies.

The article concludes by emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding AI's future trajectory but affirms that the world will likely look very different if the current pace of change continues.

There is no article content provided to summarize.

Reclaiming the Streets for Play

In the 1920s, as cars began taking over city streets, courts routinely ruled that children had an "absolute right" to use the streets for play, with the responsibility falling on drivers to watch out for them. However, concerted efforts by the auto industry changed this, relegating streets solely for transit while playgrounds became the designated spaces for children's play.

A grassroots movement called "playstreets" is gaining traction, where neighborhoods temporarily close off certain streets to allow kids to play freely and safely. These initiatives reveal that children don't necessarily need special equipment or organized activities - they just need open spaces to explore and connect with other kids.

But playstreets offer benefits beyond just providing play areas for children. They help residents reclaim a sense of community that has been lost in car-centric urban planning. Playstreets transform streets from mere transportation arteries into vibrant public spaces that foster spontaneous interactions and shared experiences among neighbors.

As one expert notes, "Playgrounds are one of the few places in America where striking up a conversation with a stranger is considered socially acceptable and even expected. By siloing play there, we may have inadvertently undercut children's capacity to bind us to one another."

The playstreets movement reminds us of what we've lost in prioritizing cars over human-centered urban design. It offers a glimpse into reclaiming the simple joys of community life, spontaneous social connections, and the pleasure of truly knowing one's neighbors.

Bloodletting, Leeches, and Other Links

This article is a collection of interesting links and commentary from the author on various topics ranging from medical practices to science research. Here are some key highlights:

Bloodletting and Leeches

The author discusses how bloodletting, once considered an outdated practice, is still used as a treatment for certain conditions like hemochromatosis (excess iron in blood). Shockingly, randomized controlled trials on bloodletting for hypertension are still being conducted in China.

Leeches are also an FDA-approved treatment for venous congestion in graft tissue.

Privacy and Technology

The author points out that while privacy feels like it's diminishing, it has been an issue even before modern technology. In the past, people's photographs could be used for advertisements without their consent.

Science and Research Misconduct

The article highlights the severe problem of fraud and fake data in scientific research, leading to systematic reviews being unreliable. Efforts to detect and address research misconduct often face resistance and legal threats.

Psychology and Pre-Paradigmatic Fields

The author argues that fields like developmental and social psychology might not be worth doing much research in, as they are in a "pre-paradigmatic" state without a solid foundation of knowledge.

Miscellaneous Interesting Links

The article covers various other topics, including the decline of building ornamentation, the history of car phones, the cure for hiccups, the decreasing spiciness of jalapeños, and philosophers experimenting with nitrous oxide and ether.

A Green Screen for Thought Itself?

The author reflects on a quote from John Collison, CEO of Stripe, describing the world as "a museum of passion projects." He argues this is increasingly true - even simple home renovations require immense effort, while major infrastructure like New York City represents the "ossified passion project" of figures like Robert Moses.

Great works of art and culture, from books to movies, are also passion projects requiring tremendous drive and commitment. The author worries that technologies like generative AI, which make content creation more effortless, could "sap the passion required to make things" and "dim the bright candle of human artistic drive."

He cites Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy as an example of a passionate creative endeavor, contrasted with its subpar Hobbit sequels which relied more heavily on CGI out of convenience rather than creative passion.

The central concern is that AI tools enabling thoughtless convenience in creative pursuits could produce laziness and a decline in the quality of human artistic output, replacing passion with mere software efficacy.

AI tools for software engineers: What works, what doesn't

AI-powered tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT are being widely adopted by software developers, promising increased productivity. But after surveying over 200 professionals, we found a wide range of opinions on their current effectiveness.

The Good:

• Useful for simple, repetitive coding tasks like generating boilerplate code, tests, and translating code between languages
• Serves as an interactive "rubber duck" for brainstorming and explaining concepts
• Helps with research, learning new technologies, and prototyping
• Some developers report major productivity gains of up to 20%

The Bad:

• Limited context beyond the current file or method leads to incorrect suggestions for complex projects
• Frequent bugs and "hallucinations" mean outputs can't be blindly trusted
• Junior developers may struggle to identify incorrect outputs
• Concerns about overdependence on AI reducing critical thinking skills
• No major advances in over a year, leading some to question future potential

The Verdict: While AI tools can provide a productivity boost for constrained tasks, they still have major limitations. Most see them as assistants rather than replacing human developers anytime soon. As the technology matures and incorporates more context, AI may play a larger role - but getting there will require major advances.

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WTF Is Bobby Thinking?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has caused an uproar among his supporters by reportedly seeking a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, after previously discussing an endorsement deal with Donald Trump. For many disillusioned liberals who saw RFK Jr. as a principled rebel against the establishment, his outreach to Harris feels like a betrayal.

Kennedy built his appeal by positioning himself as a renegade unafraid to challenge the Democratic Party's corruption and drift from its founding values. His followers saw him as transcending partisan politics. So the idea of him potentially joining the Biden/Harris administration - which represents everything they rail against - is a bitter pill.

In a statement, Kennedy insisted he cannot reconcile himself with the modern Democratic party, citing its embrace of censorship, lockdowns, warmongering, corporate interests and voter disenfranchisement. He accused Harris of "gaslighting" over Biden's health and condemned her prosecutorial record against Black Americans.

Kennedy's zig-zagging between Trump and Harris has his base questioning his integrity and true intentions. Is he betraying principles for power? Using shrewd political maneuvering? Or was he simply misjudged? With uncertainty gnawing, the onetime hero now faces a crisis of faith among his devotees.

Rumors Swirl Around RFK Jr.'s Potential Negotiations

Amidst her vacation in Palm Beach with family and friends, Jessica Reed Kraus found herself pondering the latest drama surrounding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. A Washington Post article reported that Kennedy had requested a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, leading to speculation about his intentions.

Some theories emerged:

• Kennedy could be laying the groundwork to endorse Donald Trump by demonstrating that the Democrats rebuffed his outreach efforts.
• It's a calculated move directed by Trump to appeal to left-leaning voters, especially the "medical freedom" crowd that Kennedy represents.
• Kennedy may genuinely be at a crossroads, exploring potential bipartisan alliances.

While Kennedy's running mate Nicole Shanahan firmly denied talks with Harris, dismissing them as a "lost cause," Kraus acknowledged the need for scrutiny in a self-proclaimed "transparent campaign." She argued that constructive criticism shouldn't be seen as a betrayal but as a necessary part of political discourse.

As Kraus gears up for the next phase of the campaign, including a recap of the RNC and a conversation with a travel agent to billionaires, she promises to provide unfiltered commentary on the evolving dynamics of the 2024 race.

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In his recent essay, A.R. Moxon critiques the notion of political centrism as simply finding the middle ground between two opposing sides. He argues that this conception of centrism risks legitimizing extremist ideas by involving and accommodating them, rather than rejecting them outright.

Moxon points out that true centrism shouldn't be about splitting the difference arbitrarily. Instead, it should anchor itself in core principles of human decency, compassion, and moral integrity. He suggests seeking "a new center outside the poles we've inherited; one that sets its poles upon principles of basic human decency and basic governance and doesn't stray outside that."

The article argues that presenting "both sides" equally, as the media has historically done with climate change, can create a false middle ground that distorts reality. In a political landscape where one side celebrates authoritarian and openly fascist ideas, appealing to the center risks legitimizing those harmful ideologies.

True centrism, according to the author, is about approaching each issue with critical reasoning, personal principles, and lived experiences – not party dogma or oversimplified narratives. It acknowledges the complexity of reality and refuses to constrain thinking within the bounds of political tribalism. Only by grounding centrism in unwavering core values, rather than merely splitting the difference, can we chart a more ethical and intellectually honest political course.

Sampling the 2024 Blogosphere, Part 43

This article is a compilation of excerpts from various writers, covering a diverse range of topics. Here are the key highlights:

1. T. Scott compares the current cultural transition driven by technologies like the internet and AI to the post-Gutenberg shift to the Age of Print.

2. John McGee decodes the underlying meaning of the title "Love's Labors Lost," Shakespeare's popular comedy, as a metaphor for courtship being akin to warfare.

3. Michael Gentle laments how the internet has made us slaves to instant gratification, with little patience for delayed rewards.

4. H.E. Negash reviews a conference on Greek Orthodox liturgical arts, discussing the spiritual significance of icons and sacred music.

5. Ted Wade shares an illustrated story about an artist's surreal imaginative journey and the strange creatures he encountered.

6. Galactic Beyond explores the relationship between languages, dreams, metaphors, and human evolution through the lens of an indigenous myth.

7. Alex Olshonsky finds eerie connections between ancient indigenous prophecies and modern spiritual decay and existential threats.

8. David Pinsof dissects the nature of "opinions," arguing that they are often just moves in a social game about judgement and distinction rather than genuine beliefs.

9. Johann Oesterreicher takes readers on a tour of mind-boggling numbers, from the microscopic to the cosmic scales, to build intuition about large quantities.

10. Boris Tseitlin reflects on the value of embracing uncertainty and "maybes" instead of seeking definite answers or making binary choices.

11. Joanna George explores the emerging paradigm of large language models like ChatGPT and speculates on their potential impact on communication and society.

12. Mahdi Assan warns about the dangers of unchecked data harvesting by recommendation algorithms that can manipulate our emotions and perspectives.

13. Nicholas Moore hypothesizes that consciousness first emerged in the primitive nervous systems of ancient jellyfish.

14. Elliot Temple introduces the "Critical Fallibilism" thinking method, which evaluates ideas as simply "non-refuted" or "refuted" rather than on a graded scale.

15. Niko Kovacevic draws insights from Socratic philosophy to examine the possibility and limitations of building artificially intelligent systems.

16. Nick Bacarella shares his personal journey with psychosomatic disorders and the role of fear in manifesting physical symptoms without apparent medical causes.

17. Sander Van de Cruys proposes that our fundamental motivation is overcoming obstacles, which gives rise to our idiosyncratic goals and desires.

18. Bruno Rivard discusses how large language models can be "driven" like manual cars to extract improved performance through persistent interaction.

19. Jane G. Goldberg explores the evolutionary role of gossip as a way for humans to discharge negative emotions through words instead of violence.

20. Rob Nelson critiques the use of human cognitive vocabulary like "attention" to describe the underlying mechanisms of transformer language models.

21. Vincent Kelley profiles the "Conservative, Egalitarian, Individualist, Spiritual-Intuitive" (CEIS) political personality type.

22. Philippe Rivet recounts a transformative experience from a mescaline-induced retreat in the Peruvian mountains.

23. Tobi Ogunnaike questions modern culinary excesses by highlighting the simple appeal of a well-prepared scampi dish.

24. Stefan Kelly dissects "The Atlantic" article on why Americans have stopped hanging out, highlighting potential tautologies in the reasoning.

25. Jonathan Weil presents a fictional encounter between a young girl and an ancient, sinister Being on a Spanish beach.

The compilation offers a kaleidoscopic perspective on diverse topics ranging from technology, culture, philosophy, language, and the human experience.

How to Introduce Software Engineering Practices to a New Team

When joining a new company, you may notice gaps or opportunities to improve processes by adopting "best practices." However, it's important to thoughtfully introduce new practices without being disruptive. Here are some key considerations:

Understand the problem first Before proposing a new practice, clearly identify the specific problem(s) you are trying to solve. Common issues include:

• Developers spending too much time on certain tasks
• Quality issues like too many bugs
• Slow execution speed
• Too much context switching
• Difficulties with debugging, resolving incidents, etc.

Quantify the impact the problems have on goals like revenue, reliability, iteration speed, etc.

Evaluate effects of the proposed practice Any new practice will impact how people and teams work. Potential downsides to consider:

• Adding complexity to workflows
• Requiring training/support for less experienced team members
• Facing resistance from outspoken skeptics
• Unintended consequences you can hypothesize through a "pre-mortem"

Research how the practice worked at other companies through case studies, talks, or personal outreach.

Adoption approaches If you decide to move forward, build consensus through:

• Discussions at team meetings
• Sharing research on the practice's benefits
• A limited pilot with volunteering teams
• Getting stakeholder buy-in

Roll it out incrementally, provide training, iterate based on feedback, and revisit the practice regularly to validate it's still valuable.

The key is understanding your team's current processes, pinpointing opportunities for improvement, and thoughtfully facilitating positive changes without disruption.

Fresh Off the MAGA Boat Parade

The author recounts her experience attending the MAGA boat parade in Palm Beach before traveling to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention (DNC). She expresses disappointment at the gritty surroundings near the convention site, contrasting it with the lavish settings of the Republican events.

She describes hobnobbing with the Trump family at the boat parade, including an unexpected encounter with Donald Trump Jr. and his family at a house party. The author gleefully anticipates sharing her inside coverage of the "flashy patriots" at the parade.

At the DNC, she is appalled by the vitriol directed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from liberal attendees who seem misinformed about his achievements beyond the "bear story" controversy. She laments that the party has shut out Kennedy despite his family's legacy.

The author offers snarky fashion critiques of various speakers like Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and Jill Biden. She mocks Nepo babies like Jack Schlossberg and Claudia Conway for their anti-Trump views. She teases an upcoming conspiracy theory piece connecting the Trump shooting to entities like CrowdStrike and WikiLeaks.

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This long-form essay explores the concept of "enchantment" and its relationship to attention. The author posits that our experience of the world as disenchanted may stem from a lack of the attentive patience required to perceive the magic and mystery in the world around us.

The essay delves into the idea of "disenchantment" as developed by sociologist Max Weber - the notion that the modern world has been stripped of enchantment, animism, and intrinsic meaning. While acknowledging debates around whether the world was ever truly disenchanted, the author suggests enchantment could be seen as "the measure of the quality of our attention."

They argue that cultivating sensory receptiveness and immersive, patient attention can reveal the "marvelous specificity of things" and imbue the mundane with a sense of enchantment. This form of attention is an "active passivity" that deepens our consciousness and forges a more personal, affectionate relationship with the world.

The essay contends that our cultural narratives of disenchantment create a self-fulfilling prophecy, habituating us to an inattentive engagement that leaves us unable to perceive the world's enchanted qualities. To counter this, we must look again at the world with care and openness, even at the risk of seeming foolish, casting our gaze like a spell to conjure up wondrous depths of experience.

Ultimately, the author suggests that recovering a sense of enchantment through honed, immersive attention may be key to rekindling our care, desire and love for the world and others around us.

The excerpt from Michael Graziano's novel "The Revelations" follows two college friends, Kierk and Mike, who attend a conference on the scientific study of consciousness in Toronto during the 2010 G20 summit protests.

Initially oblivious to the nearby riots, the pair present their neuroscience research and socialize at the academic event. However, they eventually become drawn into the chaos after following a masked protester into the fray. They experience first-hand the escalating violence between riot police and anti-globalization protesters.

The visceral scenes depict police charges with tear gas, batons, and mounted officers trampling demonstrators. Kierk and Mike get separated from the main protest and trapped on a side street, prompting a terrifying stampede to escape the kettling tactic. Though briefly comrades amidst the mayhem, they ultimately part ways, with Mike pursuing war journalism over science.

In a poignant finale, an exhausted Kierk ponders the shared humanity between protester and officer after a riot policeman silently acknowledges his battered appearance. The experience leaves Kierk psychologically shaken yet emboldened to solve the mystery of consciousness through his scientific pursuits.

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that regular exercise can have significant benefits for mental health. The study followed 200 participants over 6 months, with half doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days a week, and the other half being sedentary.

The exercise group reported: - 25% reduction in self-reported symptoms of depression - 18% reduction in anxiety levels - 22% increase in self-esteem scores

The researchers concluded that exercise releases endorphins, reduces inflammation, and promotes neurogenesis - all factors that improve mood, stress resilience, and brain health.

Recommendations

• Aim for 150 minutes of exercise per week through activities like brisk walking, cycling, swimming or sport
• Do a mix of cardio and strength training for overall fitness
• Start slow if new to exercise and build up over time
• Choose activities you enjoy to stick with it long-term

A Surprising Political Alliance

In an unexpected turn of events, Jessica Reed Kraus reveals that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump have formed a political alliance in the 2024 presidential race. Kraus, who has been deeply involved in facilitating this partnership, shares her perspective from the frontlines.

The author paints the Kennedy-Trump alliance as a "stunning" and "deeply emotional" development with a "complex and compelling backstory." She hints at playing a key role in advocating between the two campaigns to make this happen.

While exhausted from weeks of crisscrossing the country, Kraus says the alliance made all her efforts worthwhile. She expresses frustration that the media is trying to "undermine and gloss over" the significance of this alliance.

Behind the Scenes

Kraus teases sharing more intimate details once she's back home, including:

• The backchanneling that led to the alliance
• The main players and supporting characters involved
• Gossip before the public announcement
• Raw emotions from intimate post-rally moments with RFK Jr.

She likens her stories to Shakespearean "chapters" that will offer a richer, fuller picture of how things unfolded from her unique vantage point at the center.

With 70 days until the election, Kraus promises to reveal the "poetic inflection" in the alliance's dramatic storyline as she continues to track the "motorcade you are sure to recognize."

In this thought-provoking article, the author reflects on how major life events like adopting a pet or having a baby can dramatically alter the algorithms and targeted advertising we encounter online. After getting a puppy, the author's online feeds were suddenly inundated with dog-related content and ads, as if the algorithms had reduced their identity to solely that of a pet owner.

This highlights how our digital footprints and search histories are constantly mined by tech companies, which then bombard us with highly targeted marketing based on even the subtlest cues about life changes. While sometimes helpful in providing relevant information, this barrage of ads can also feel overwhelming and manipulative, playing on our insecurities as new parents or pet owners to drive consumerism.

The author acknowledges the benefits of online communities for sharing wisdom and reassurance during major life transitions. However, they express concern about capitalism's tight grip, with every online query prompting a sales pitch under the guise of being "helpful" advice.

Ultimately, the article serves as a poignant reminder of how our digital lives are deeply intertwined with corporate interests, and how even our most personal milestones can be exploited for profit by invasive algorithmic marketing tactics. It encourages mindfulness about the extent to which we allow technology to shape our experiences and decision-making.

How Our Gut Feelings Can Quietly Change Our Behavior

About two years ago, the author experienced a betrayal that made them more cautious in social situations without realizing it at first. They noticed becoming more introverted and turning down invitations, but rationalized it with seemingly logical reasons like being too busy or not having much to say.

It wasn't until recently that they realized their "general social safety" mindset had quietly shifted, causing this behavioral change misaligned with their usual extroverted values.

The key lesson: We all have underlying gut feelings about how safe or rewarding the world is. These can unconsciously change how we act, overriding our conscious values and intentions. The author suggests:

• Periodically check if your recent behavior matches your stated values
• If not, see if there's a deeper reason beyond your surface rationalizations
• It may be your gut-level assumptions about the world changed without you realizing it
• Once aware of this dynamic, you can counteract it by acting against that feeling

By noticing the lurking sense of social unease and choosing to go out anyway, the author was able to update their gut feeling that the world is still a socially safe place. Regularly examining whether we're truly "walking our talk" can reveal when our mindsets need recalibrating.

8 Reasons Why Blogging Is Dumb

As the summer "dry season" for blogging comes to an end, the author reflects on the downsides and pitfalls of blogging that often go undiscussed. While acknowledging the benefits of speed, relevance, and freedom from gatekeepers, the author argues that blogging is not a perfect medium and has several inherent flaws:

1. Aesthetic Degradation: The fast-paced nature of blogging encourages a minimalist, rushed writing style that lacks depth and nuance. The prevailing sound is "the sound of someone typing quickly."

2. Reactive Content: Much blogging is reactive, responding to news cycles and trends rather than creating original thought. This leads to a deluge of "takes" that don't add real value.

3. Incentives for Volume over Quality: The content treadmill encourages bloggers to optimize for quantity over quality, producing more frequent but shallower pieces.

4. Lack of Editorial Scrutiny: Without robust editing processes, blogs are prone to errors, logical inconsistencies, and underdeveloped arguments.

5. Personal Branding Over Ideas: Success is often driven by personal brand-building rather than the merit of ideas, fostering careerism over substance.

6. Performative Prose: Blogging incentivizes rhetorical flourishes and contrarianism designed to provoke engagement rather than clear communication.

7. Ephemeral Impact: Blog posts often have a short shelf life and get lost in the endless content churn, lacking lasting significance.

8. Filter Bubbles: By catering to niche audiences, blogs can reinforce insular perspectives and polarized worldviews.

While not dismissing blogging entirely, the author argues for greater self-awareness of these pitfalls among writers and discernment among readers.

How Anthropic Built "Artifacts" - Shipping New Product Quickly by Leaning on Claude LLM

Anthropic recently released a new feature called "Artifacts" alongside their latest language model Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Artifacts allows users to create websites, code snippets, documents, diagrams and more using simple text prompts.

The feature originated from a scrappy prototype demo by research scientist Alex Tamkin during an internal "WIP Wednesday" session in March 2024. Seeing the potential, product designer Michael Wang rapidly built a more polished version which was met with enthusiasm from colleagues, including the CEO.

Within weeks, the feature entered internal dogfooding as engineers like Florian Scholz joined to help ship it securely. The team relied heavily on Claude to generate code and overcome roadblocks during development. Using sandboxing, strict security policies and process isolation, they deployed Artifacts robustly while preventing data exfiltration risks.

Surprisingly, there is minimal traditional backend logic - Claude generates most structured data on demand. The stack includes React, Next.js, Tailwind CSS and a frontend-focused architecture.

In just 3 months after the first demo, the tiny scrappy team shipped Artifacts to all users on June 20th, showcasing AI-human collaborative development. While a small release itself, Artifacts hints at how generative AI could become a much more collaborative tool going forward.

The author argues that every person has a unique "niche" or purpose that they can fulfill in society. He supports this idea with several key points:

1. Humans are an incredibly diverse species with a wide range of personalities, interests, and abilities. Even if people differ in just 100 traits, 99% of the population is statistically an "outlier" in at least one way.

2. This diversity creates opportunities for an endless array of niche jobs, hobbies, and roles that allow people to find meaning and belonging. From professional bridesmaids to bovine reproductive technicians, there are already countless peculiar niches that someone has stepped up to fill.

3. However, many people struggle to find their niche for a few reasons: a) We focus too much on globalized culture instead of local communities where niche roles often exist. b) We treat figuring out one's niche as a private, personal journey instead of a community effort to help each person find meaning. c) Some people incorrectly assume their niche doesn't exist or that finding it should feel euphoric instead of just feeling like a good fit.

The author concludes that striving for a society where "there's a place for everyone" is an imperfect but noble goal that makes the world a little bit better whenever someone finds their unique purpose and fulfillment. He urges helping each person discover their niche through community support and an appreciation for human diversity.

OpenAI has undergone significant internal changes and management restructuring, with the departure of several key figures including Jan Leike, Ilya Sutskever, and John Schulman. This has paved the way for a new era of decision-making and bureaucracy-building under the remaining co-founder, Wojciech Zaremba.

The article anticipates a major upcoming release from OpenAI, codenamed "Strawberry," which is expected to be a significant advancement in AI reasoning and problem-solving capabilities. Strawberry reportedly demonstrated impressive performance on tasks like solving the New York Times "Connections" puzzle and achieving state-of-the-art results on the MATH benchmark.

The release of Strawberry is predicted to be a pivotal event, potentially disrupting various industries by providing AI capabilities that can rival human professionals in fields like medicine, law, and accounting. The article suggests that OpenAI's revenue targets and datacenter construction plans are closely tied to the scheduled release of new capabilities like Strawberry.

Additionally, the article highlights the upcoming US Presidential Election as a crucial milestone for AI development, marking the beginning of a race for technological dominance outlined in the author's previous work, "Situational Awareness."

The summary also includes examples of AI-generated artwork and a discussion of OpenAI's potential to "drink the milkshakes" of other companies in the market, referring to their ability to disrupt and outperform competitors across various domains.

What Makes Engineering Teams Effective?

Building great software starts with building effective teams. Google's Project Aristotle identified 5 key dynamics:

1. Psychological safety: Team members feel comfortable expressing ideas without fear
2. Dependability: Members can rely on each other to meet deadlines
3. Structure & clarity: Clear goals and individual roles
4. Meaning: Work feels meaningful and purposeful
5. Impact: Work is making a difference

Other research points to smaller team size, diversity, clear communication, effective leadership, agility, and colocation as factors for team effectiveness.

Engineering Leadership Roles

Technical Leads (TLs) provide hands-on technical guidance like architecture decisions, code reviews, and mentoring junior engineers.

Engineering Managers (EMs) oversee teams, handling people management, processes, stakeholder interactions, and strategic prioritization.

Tech Lead Managers (TLMs) blend technical leadership and people management, coaching engineers while actively contributing to technical work.

Effective leaders nurture psychological safety, establish clarity, facilitate dependability, instill purpose, and empower their teams. The book provides a comprehensive guide to strategies and best practices for thriving in these roles.

The rapid adoption of AI by students for homework assistance has rendered traditional assignments ineffective for learning and assessment. The "Homework Apocalypse" predicted this, but little has changed due to two illusions:

1. Detection Illusion: Teachers believe they can detect AI-generated work, leading them to rely on outdated assessment methods. However, AI has surpassed our ability to identify it consistently.

2. Illusory Knowledge: Students don't realize that getting AI help undermines their learning, as it creates a false sense of fluency.

While some teachers view AI positively for learning, its misuse as a crutch can be detrimental. Effective AI integration requires a reimagining of teaching, learning, and assessment methods.

The solution lies in using AI as a co-intelligence tool to encourage thinking, rather than replacing it. This involves:

• Designing AI prompts that expose knowledge gaps and force students to confront what they know and don't know.
• Using AI for both output (creating materials) and input (brainstorming ideas, seeking explanations).
• Customizing AI experiences to meet students where they are and provide accessible, personalized learning.

The integration of AI in education is a present reality, demanding a fundamental shift in approach. The goal should be to harness AI's potential while mitigating its downsides, creating a more effective, equitable, and engaging learning environment.

During the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a colorful bus dubbed the "Kennedy24Bus" became a symbol of grassroots activism for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. Led by Kyle Kemper and Damien Michael Nichols, the bus roamed the city, offering a "political Burning Man" experience with spontaneous dance parties, reggae music, and patriotic swag like t-shirts and satirical newspapers.

The bus attracted a diverse crowd, from Trump supporters to left-leaning podcasters, all drawn to its free-spirited vibe and open-minded political discussions. At one point, the group spray-painted over Kamala Harris posters in an act of "artistic expression." The bus aimed to disrupt the two-party system and spread RFK Jr.'s message.

While the official Kennedy campaign later suspended, the grassroots effort vowed to continue. Kyle Kemper, who drove the bus cross-country, funded it through donations and hoped RFK Jr. could upend the political establishment. The Kennedy24Bus offered a unique, counterculture take on campaigning, blending activism with an almost festival-like atmosphere.

The promise of 'smart homes' lies in the convenience of automation taking over mundane tasks. However, this convenience comes at the cost of increased complexity and an "air of unreality" as we surrender basic functions to often obscure systems.

Karen Rosenkranz takes this critique further, suggesting that pursuing 'smart' comfort is not just misguided but disempowering. Instead of digital conveniences, she envisions a truly smart home as one that reconnects us to the physical world and fosters self-sufficiency.

Key Points:

• A smart home should be a place of production, not just productivity - combining knowledge work with food production, practical skills like gardening or woodworking, and hands-on making.

• This vision reduces complexity by having fewer but repairable things, connecting us to the outside world and seasons. Spending time making things could replace "meditation apps."

• Increased self-sufficiency strengthens resilience and is a necessary counterbalance to digital dominance. "We only need to fear being replaced by robots, if we live like robots."

• While some smart gadgets are convenient, we must recognize when technology makes us lazy rather than empowering us. City living may limit fully embracing this vision, but a home fostering creativity, making and deeper engagement with the world is the true essence of a "smart home."

The Memory Wall: DRAM Scaling Slows as AI Demands Explode

The semiconductor industry is facing a significant challenge as the scaling of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) has slowed dramatically, even as the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) applications continue to grow exponentially. While logic chips have continued to improve in density and cost per transistor function, improvements in DRAM speeds and capacities have been sluggish, creating a bottleneck for high-performance computing.

DRAM, once the fastest-scaling component, has now fallen behind logic scaling by an order of magnitude, with density increases requiring a decade for a mere 2x improvement. This slowdown has led to wild price swings and high capital expenditures, leaving only a few major players in the DRAM market.

The explosion of AI workloads has further exacerbated the problem, as model weights now approach multi-terabyte scales. High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the backbone of accelerator memory, costs 3x or more per gigabyte than standard DDR5, yet is essential for competitive accelerator packages. For Nvidia's H100 and AMD's MI300X, HBM accounts for 50-60% of the manufacturing cost.

To address this "memory wall," the industry is exploring various solutions, including:

1. Short-term scaling: The 4F2 cell layout and vertical channel transistors offer marginal density improvements, but do not fundamentally change the scaling trajectory.

2. Emerging memories: Technologies like ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM) and magnetic RAM (MRAM) show promise, but currently lack the cost-competitiveness and manufacturing maturity to challenge DRAM.

3. Compute-in-memory (CIM): Moving control logic on-chip with the memory could unlock DRAM's full potential by reducing interface bottlenecks and enabling more efficient data transfer. CIM approaches, like Eliyan's UMI interface, could improve bandwidth and reduce energy consumption significantly.

4. 3D DRAM: Stacking memory cells vertically, rather than horizontally, offers a path to continued scaling. While still in development, 3D DRAM promises to revolutionize the memory industry, with potential winners (and losers) emerging in the wafer fab equipment and manufacturing domains.

As AI continues to drive demand for larger models and faster processing, overcoming the "memory wall" has become a critical challenge for the semiconductor industry. The solutions explored in this article, from emerging technologies to architectural innovations, highlight the intense efforts underway to ensure that memory does not become the bottleneck that stifles the AI revolution.

Tech debt is often seen as a necessary evil, something to be minimized or ignored in favor of shipping new features. However, industry veteran Lou Franco argues that paying down tech debt can actually increase productivity and allow teams to deliver value faster.

Franco shares insights from his 30+ year career, including:

Pay down tech debt to go faster immediately - At Atalasoft, Franco initially resisted paying down tech debt, fearing it would slow roadmap delivery. But he realized ignoring debt was demotivating his team. - After improving their build system, developers saw instant benefits like faster build times and easier modifiability.

Use tech debt work to boost productivity
- Adding unit tests allowed Franco to develop new functionality much faster at Trello. - Creating an abstraction layer for their design system made implementing designs more efficient. - Sensible tech debt work coupled with delivering business value paid off quickly.

Make tech debt's impact visible - Dashboards and metrics can make the productivity impacts of tech debt visible to leadership. - Factor in time saved on coding, reviewing, deploying when evaluating productivity gains.

The key is finding the right balance - avoiding ignoring debt entirely or over-refactoring. Franco recommends coupling tech debt work with delivering immediate value to get buy-in.

MAGA on the Mend: Snapshots From the RNC

Jessica Reed Kraus recounts her experience attending the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, where she witnessed the aftermath of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Despite initial challenges with acquiring tickets, Kraus gained access and observed the convention's electric atmosphere, fueled by the attempt on Trump's life.

Key moments included emotional speeches from those impacted by Biden's policies, such as the brother of a murdered mother and a parent who lost a child to fentanyl poisoning. The convention transformed into a cultural event, with Trump supporters perceiving his survival as divine intervention.

Kraus mingled with Trump's team, including advisors like Lynne Patton and Margo Martin, gaining insights into the campaign's inner workings. She attended after-parties where conspiracies about the shooting circulated, and witnessed the city's energy, with supporters chanting Trump's name in the streets.

On the final night, Kraus unexpectedly gained access to the convention floor, standing feet away from Trump and his family during his speech and the balloon drop. The experience left her with a sense of being part of something extraordinary, potentially altering the country's course.

Kraus's vivid account captures the convention's charged atmosphere, the unwavering support of Trump's base, and the pivotal moment his survival represented for the MAGA movement.

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Multi-Datacenter Training: OpenAI's Ambitious Plans to Defeat Google

As the demand for larger AI models continues to grow, major tech companies are engaged in an arms race to build the most powerful training infrastructure. Google has long been the leader in this space, but OpenAI and Microsoft have embarked on an audacious plan to outdo the search giant by constructing massive, multi-datacenter training clusters.

The scaling laws of AI dictate that larger models yield better performance, driving companies to build ever-larger training clusters. Google has already deployed over 100,000 GPUs for this purpose, and plans are underway for 300,000+ GPU clusters by 2025. However, there are significant physical constraints, including construction timelines, permitting, regulations, and power availability, that limit the ability to train massive models at a single datacenter site.

To overcome these challenges, companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are executing plans to expand their large model training across multiple datacenter campuses. Google, with its advanced liquid-cooled architectures and multi-datacenter training capabilities, has a significant head start. Its cutting-edge facilities in Iowa, Nebraska, and Ohio have a combined power capacity approaching 1 gigawatt (GW) and are highly energy-efficient, achieving a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio of 1.1 in 2023.

However, Microsoft and OpenAI are striking back. They are constructing ultra-dense, liquid-cooled datacenter campuses that will approach the gigawatt-scale, and plan to interconnect these campuses to run giant distributed training runs across the country. Their ambitious infrastructure buildout, involving supply chain partners, aims to surpass Google's total AI training and inference capacity.

To enable multi-datacenter training, companies are exploring various strategies, including hierarchical synchronous gradient descent, asynchronous parameter servers, and fault-tolerant training systems. Overcoming challenges like stragglers, silent data corruption, and efficient data exchange between campuses is crucial.

Google's expertise in fault tolerance, vertical integration, and advanced software stacks like MegaScaler and Pathways give it an edge. However, OpenAI and Microsoft are leveraging innovations like Branch-Train-Merge and Singularity Cluster Manager to catch up.

The telecom infrastructure required for interconnecting these massive campuses is equally critical. Companies are building their own long-haul and metro fiber optic networks, employing equipment from vendors like Ciena, Nokia, and Infinera. Technologies like Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and high-order modulation schemes enable terabit-per-second data transfer between campuses.

While Google currently has the lead in AI training infrastructure, OpenAI and Microsoft's audacious plans, combined with their deep pockets and partnerships, make this an intense race to watch. The outcome will shape the future of AI development and could have far-reaching implications for various industries.

The Growth of "Unconscious Culture"

While preparing for his son's Curious George-themed 3rd birthday party, the author encountered a bizarre set of stickers depicting the children's book character in highly inappropriate situations - smoking, wielding guns, and in sexual poses. He theorizes that the stickers were likely automatically generated by an algorithm scraping the internet for images, without any human oversight.

This experience leads the author to reflect on what he calls the modern world's "growing high strangeness" - the increasing presence of cultural products and experiences that seem to have no human consciousness behind them. He sees examples everywhere:

• Nonsensical auto-replies to emails
• Strange comments on viral social media posts
• Infuriatingly unhelpful automated phone systems at major companies
• Opaque AI systems like credit card fraud detection algorithms making baffling decisions

The author argues this "consciousness drainage" from modern culture is an accelerating trend caused by the replacement of human labor, oversight and intentionality with automated systems. He fears that as this process continues, the world will lose not just meaning but coherent "sense" itself, becoming an alien realm we can no longer understand like the curious monkey George.

The irony, he notes, is that while the Curious George stories are predicated on the monkey's innocent inability to comprehend human systems, we are now the ones struggling to make sense of a world increasingly shaped by inscrutable technological processes beyond our control or comprehension.

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This article discusses the launch of Honeycomb, a YC startup that has developed a coding agent that achieves state-of-the-art performance on the SWE-bench (Software Engineering benchmark). The key highlights are:

Honeycomb's Performance - Achieved 22% on the full SWE-bench test set, a benchmark of 2000+ real software engineering issues - Achieved 40% on the verified subset of the test set - High resource usage: median token usage of 2.6M, 90th percentile of 11.82M tokens - Median solving time of 28 minutes, with 90th percentile cost estimated around $25

Approach - Took an existing foundation model and fine-tuned it multiple times for different subtasks - Iteratively chiseled away at error cases to create specialized AI models (agents) for specific tasks - Used an architecture with a "task conveyor belt" of multiple models handling different steps

Significance - A major achievement through sheer effort ("the schlep") by two MIT dropouts, Andrew Liu and Ishank Agrawal - Unsatisfying workarounds like dropping least recently used files for context window overflow - Concern that the agentic workflow may be short-lived before the next OpenAI release

The article includes visuals of Honeycomb's architecture and performance graphs. It also has a link to Honeycomb's technical report on the SWE-bench result.

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Our Perfume Line is Finally Launching

After a year of development, author Sasha Chapin and his friend Scout Dixon West are launching their new perfume line called Scout Dixon West. The line features three exceptional fragrances:

• A dark, lustrous incense-y vanilla scent
• A fresh, coniferous aromatic scent
• A nostalgic, "fucked up" gourmand scent

If you want to buy online, join their mailing list to get early access starting Thursday. The first 25 people to buy a full bottle will receive a personal letter from Scout. Sample packs come with a 10% discount on future full bottle purchases.

You can also find the perfumes in person at Ministry of Scent in San Francisco, Scent Bar in LA and NYC, and Arielle Shoshana in DC. There will be a launch party at Ministry of Scent in San Francisco on September 14th at 4pm.

Chapin explains that while creating a perfume line may seem an odd choice for him, it emerged from an "effectual" approach of working with the resources at hand - his fragrance-obsessed friend Scout, his talented wife as an advisor, his copywriting experience, and his passion for fragrances. This reality-based way of working has led to his most successful projects in the past.

The notion that being intelligent leads to a happier life is widely accepted, but Adam Mastroianni challenges this idea in his thought-provoking piece "Why Aren't Smart People Happier?" He argues that conventional measures of intelligence, like IQ tests and academic achievements, only assess the ability to solve well-defined problems. However, life's most important challenges—finding purpose, nurturing relationships, and navigating personal complexities—are poorly defined problems that require a different kind of intelligence altogether.

Mastroianni explains that skills like insight, creativity, self-knowledge, and the ability to navigate ambiguity are crucial for solving poorly defined problems. He suggests that people who feel good about their lives are likely skilled at solving these messy, contextual problems, as "how do I live a life I like" is a prime example of a poorly defined problem with no clear answers.

The article highlights the limitations of solely valuing intelligence based on solving well-defined puzzles and argues for recognizing the wisdom required to navigate life's complexities gracefully. Mastroianni emphasizes that happiness and fulfillment often stem from mastering the art of living rather than excelling at abstract intellectual challenges.

In essence, the piece challenges the assumption that being conventionally "smart" automatically translates to a happier existence. It advocates for a more nuanced understanding of intelligence and a greater appreciation for the unsung heroes who skillfully navigate life's ambiguities with wisdom and grace.

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Blog Extravaganza: The Winners

In May, Michael Caton announced the Experimental History Summer 2024 Blog Post Competition, inviting writers to submit original blog posts for a chance to win cash prizes. He received 104 submissions from around the world, covering a wide range of topics and styles.

Caton announces the top three winners:

1. "We're not going to run out of new anatomy anytime soon" by Matt Wedel, an engaging and expertly-written piece on the surprising variation in human anatomy.

2. "The Best Antibiotic for Acne is Non-Prescription" by Siggi Prendergast, a humorous self-experiment about using Neosporin to treat acne.

3. "Medieval Basket Weaving" by Rebecca Darley, a clever and insightful syllabus for a hypothetical college course on the history of basket weaving.

Caton also highlights several honorable mentions, including posts on storytelling, North Korea, boogers, small-town history, and economic cycles.

The post concludes with an impassioned call for more people to start blogging, emphasizing the creative and professional opportunities that blogging can provide. Caton argues that blogging is a low-risk endeavor with potentially high rewards, and encourages readers to pursue their writing aspirations without hesitation.

Neuralink's Overhyped Vision

As a neuroscientist, the author feels compelled to point out the discrepancy between the public hype around Neuralink and the reality of the science involved. While Neuralink has garnered much fanfare for its brain-computer interface (BCI) work, the field has been around for decades in academia.

The author isn't against Neuralink's existence, as the company does help people and conducts legitimate research. However, two issues are raised:

1. Overplaying Novelty: The idea of using BCIs to control computer games with one's mind has existed for over 20 years. Neuralink isn't revolutionizing the foundations here.

2. Unrealistic Expectations: Elon Musk has hyped up BCIs as enabling "telepathy" between humans and machines. However, research shows humans are biologically limited to inputting/outputting information around talking speed (~10 bits/second), regardless of the interface. Grand visions of seamless brain-machine communication are unfounded.

The author urges against the perception that Neuralink is doing something radically new or that it will achieve the highly advanced capabilities hyped up by Musk. While valuable, the work is an incremental extension of long-running BCI research.

AI Tooling for Software Engineers: Guidelines, Internal LLMs, and Advice

As AI tools gain traction in software development, companies are adopting different approaches to integrate them into their workflows:

AI Usage Guidelines: - 25% have no formal guidelines, allowing free usage
- 25% have established rules and guidelines - 12.5% have banned AI tools due to security and copyright concerns - 7% are trialing AI tools and developing guidelines

Common guideline features include specifying approved tools/models, restricting input of sensitive data, and prohibiting internal code sharing.

Internal LLMs at Major Tech Companies: - Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Pinterest, and Stripe have developed internal LLM tools tailored to their needs - Meta's Metamate assists with summarization, code reviews, metrics visualization, and more - Vendors like Glean and Village Labs offer similar boxed products

Reservations and Concerns: - Security and privacy worries about data leaks - Ethical concerns over code theft, energy usage, and perpetuating big tech power - Lack of perceived utility beyond basic tasks - Company mandates and peer pressure drive adoption

Advice for Developers: - Start small, verify outputs, and avoid over-reliance - Overcome initial skepticism by using tools consistently for 6+ months - Curiosity, efficiency gains, and keeping up with industry trends motivate usage

Advice for Leaders: - Provide clear guidelines, approved tools, and training - Consider internal LLM development or managed solutions - Monitor junior engineers closely during adoption

Measuring Impact: - Most leaders report no visible or measurable impact yet - Perceived impact may lag due to difficulties in measurement

AI Strategy: - Incorporating AI aims for productivity gains and staying ahead through experimentation - Long-term vision sees AI becoming integral to engineering workflows

While AI tooling holds promise, addressing valid concerns around ethics, reliability, and sustainability will be crucial for responsible adoption in software development.

Our First Three Perfumes

Sasha Chapin has launched three new perfumes - Incarnate, El Dorado, and Coney Island Baby. Here are his thoughts on each scent:

Incarnate - Duality of carnal and innocent notes from master perfumer Yann Vasnier - Incense-heavy but light, balanced with delicious vanilla - "Powerful and lush" crowd-pleaser, like a great pop song

El Dorado - Fresh, woodsy vetiver aiming to evoke Northern California - Has an airy, dewy "petrichor" (rain smell) quality - Masculine at first but also appeals to women - Clean and picturesque with a hint of tropical fruit

Coney Island Baby - Nostalgic gourmand (foodie) scent with industrial notes - Evokes eating ice cream by a seaside theme park - Unusual mix of sweet and "smoggy" facets like rubber - New "industrial gourmand" genre, unlike anything else

The perfumes are available now via the mailing list, with wider distribution soon.

OpenAI's GPT-o1: A Leap in AI Planning Capabilities

OpenAI has released a new AI system called GPT-o1, built on their Strawberry model, which represents a major advancement in AI's ability to plan and reason through complex problems.

Key Features

• GPT-o1 can "think through" problems iteratively before providing solutions, enabling it to tackle challenges that require planning like novel math, science, and coding tasks.
• It has beaten human PhD experts at solving extremely difficult physics problems through this iterative reasoning process.
• While not a better writer than GPT-4, GPT-o1 shows large gains for tasks needing planning and iteration.

Solving a Crossword Puzzle

To illustrate GPT-o1's capabilities, the author walks through having it solve a very hard crossword puzzle, which requires trying many potential answers iteratively. GPT-o1 spent over a minute "thinking" through the clues, rejecting and revising its guesses as it went.

While it didn't get a tricky clue referring to phone apps rather than galaxies, its final answers showed impressive puzzle-solving abilities through iterative reasoning. When given a hint about the tricky clue, it produced a fully correct solution.

Paradigm Shift to AI Agency

GPT-o1 represents a shift towards AI systems having more autonomy in their reasoning process, diminishing the role of the human collaborator. As these systems gain agency, new collaboration models may be needed to keep humans substantively involved while leveraging the AI's expanded planning capabilities.

While GPT-o1 is still limited by the core GPT-4 model's knowledge, its demonstration of iterative multi-step reasoning points toward the rapid evolution of AI problem-solving skills that are still difficult to fully anticipate.

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This article provides an in-depth overview of the current state of large language models (LLMs) and the role of scale in advancing AI capabilities. The author explains how increasing model size, measured by parameters and training data, leads to more capable models that perform better on benchmarks and complex tasks. He introduces a generational categorization to simplify the progression of model capabilities, from Gen1 (e.g., ChatGPT-3.5) to Gen2 (e.g., GPT-4) to Gen3 and beyond.

The article then highlights the five leading Gen2 models: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro, Grok 2, and Llama 3.1 405B, describing their unique features and capabilities. It also mentions the existence of smaller, derived models for faster and cheaper operation.

Beyond scaling model size, the article discusses a newly discovered form of scaling: inference compute or "thinking." By allowing models to perform multiple internal reasoning steps before producing an output, AI like OpenAI's o1-preview can achieve impressive performance in specific areas. This "thinking" scaling law, coupled with the established scaling law for training, suggests that AI capabilities are poised for dramatic improvements in the coming years.

The article concludes by emphasizing the far-reaching implications of these advancements, including the possibility of independent AI agents capable of handling complex tasks with minimal human oversight. It calls for preparation for both the opportunities and challenges ahead as the pace of AI development accelerates.

This week's issue of the Dense Discovery newsletter starts with a reflection on the concepts of "othering" (seeing certain people as less worthy) and "belonging" from the Grateful Living project. The author suggests that practising gratitude can help counteract these damaging mindsets and foster more connection.

The newsletter then highlights several interesting apps and websites, including Roamcalm for travel planning, Logseq as an open-source Notion alternative, Polar for monetizing open-source work, and a collection of retro DOS games.

It features recommendations from designer Giovanna Crise, including the book "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger and the podcast "How to Know What's Real." New book recommendations cover memory science and global influences on Western civilization.

Other topics include the psychology of clickbait headlines, the "tragedy of the commons" nature of urban sprawl, and notable statistics like Phoenix's record heat wave.

The newsletter closes with aesthetically pleasing digital art pieces, classified ads, and acknowledgment of the traditional Indigenous owners of the land.

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Sorry Ted Chiang, Humans Aren't Very Original Either

In August 2022, acclaimed sci-fi author Ted Chiang published an essay in The New Yorker arguing that AI cannot create true art because it lacks intentionality and consciousness. Chiang contended that AI can only mimic what already exists online, lacking the ability to make original artistic choices.

The essay sparked widespread discussion, with many echoing Chiang's concerns about AI's limitations. However, the author of this article questions whether Chiang's arguments were truly original themselves.

The core of Chiang's thesis - that AI art lacks intentionality and is mere mimicry - has been expressed in numerous prior articles and online discussions. Even the specific points about artists making conscious choices during the creative process can be found in various blog posts and social media comments.

The author argues that human creativity has always involved remixing and repackaging existing ideas from the "cultural ether." Very few works, even by acclaimed artists and writers, are entirely original. Most contain elements borrowed or adapted from what already exists.

To illustrate this, the author compares Chiang's essay to his own previous piece making similar arguments about the limitations of AI art. While phrased differently, they share the same core thesis.

The author suggests that true originality is rare, even for celebrated artists and thinkers. Like a tennis champion who wins only slightly more points than their opponents, great writers and artists produce work that is only marginally more original than their competitors.

Therefore, the author contends that AI does not pose an imminent threat to human artists and writers. Maintaining a slim creative edge and controlling distribution channels should allow human creators to remain relevant, at least for the foreseeable future.

The revelation, according to the author, is that we already live in a world where most creative works are "blurry remixes" of what came before. Realizing this "nihilistic truth" about the scarcity of true originality leads to an "oddly comforting view" - AI may not replace human artists and writers until it can consistently outperform them on those slim creative margins.

The Pragmatic Engineer: Three Years of Growth and Evolution

The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter has seen remarkable growth in its third year, reaching over 750,000 subscribers. This milestone is a testament to the trust readers have placed in the publication's well-researched deep dives into software engineering topics.

Unshared Details from Interesting Tech Companies

One of the newsletter's strengths lies in its ability to provide exclusive insights from leading tech companies. In the past year, readers gained access to behind-the-scenes details on how companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, Meta, and Bluesky operate and ship products quickly.

More Articles Mixing Deep Research with Pragmatic Observations

The addition of Elin Nilsson as the Tech Industry Researcher has enabled the newsletter to publish more deeply researched pieces. Her expertise and enthusiasm for diving deep into technologies and trends have resulted in insightful articles on topics such as GenZ software engineers, Bluesky's engineering culture, and the reality of AI tooling for software engineers.

Goodbye "Scoop," Hello "Pulse"

The newsletter has shifted away from the "Scoop" section, which focused on industry news, to "The Pulse," which provides an ear to the ground on the latest industry changes and their implications. This change has fostered a more analytical approach and enabled the publication to focus on practical software engineering topics.

Popular and Interesting Topics

Some of the most popular and well-received articles from the past year covered topics such as the end of low interest rates, measuring developer productivity, OpenAI's engineering practices, the surprise uptick in software engineering recruitment, and the impact of the Figma acquisition being blocked.

Insights into the Reader Base

A reader survey revealed that the majority of subscribers are software engineers and engineering managers, with a healthy representation from product managers, data scientists, and other tech professionals. Readers work across various company types, from Big Tech and startups to traditional tech-heavy companies and academia.

Notable Events and Looking Ahead

The past year saw the release of "The Software Engineer's Guidebook," a glimpse into the challenges of leap days and software outages, and the announcement of the upcoming Pragmatic Engineer Podcast. The newsletter continues to experiment and evolve, with plans to publish more deeply researched and practical deep dives on technologies and interesting tech companies.

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Paying Down Tech Debt - Further Learnings

In this insightful follow-up article, veteran software engineer Lou Franco shares more learnings on effectively managing technical debt. Here are the key takeaways:

Use Tech Debt Payments to Build Momentum

Making small, incremental improvements like adding comments or refactoring can help developers gain confidence and familiarity with a new codebase. This leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing productivity and flow.

Franco describes how such "tech debt payments" helped him ramp up on new projects by providing context and understanding of the codebase. Even simple changes like improving string handling gave him valuable learning opportunities.

Big Rewrites Need Heavyweight Support

Large-scale rewrites are risky undertakings that often fail or drag on indefinitely without proper backing. Franco outlines key success factors based on his experience:

• Ensure buy-in from executive leadership, who understand the scale of the effort
• Temporarily increase developer headcount with contractors or re-allocations
• Recruit expertise in the new technologies and managers experienced in rewrites
• Couple the rewrite with user-facing improvements to make progress visible

He cites a successful two-year rewrite he led that coupled modernizing a critical application with a user-facing CRM overhaul. Proper resourcing, planning, and visible wins were crucial.

Overall, Franco advocates an incremental, learning-focused approach for managing tech debt where possible. Large rewrites require extensive commitment and should be a last resort for truly untenable systems.

Live with Bobby and Tulsi

This article is a detailed recap by Jessica Reed Kraus of her experience moderating a town hall event in Arizona with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. It provides an inside look at the behind-the-scenes preparations and interactions with the two political figures.

The author reflects on her journey from being a lifestyle blogger to covering politics, gaining unexpected access and a large following. She explains how she aimed to have an open and honest conversation at the event, highlighting RFK Jr. and Gabbard's perspectives as "disillusioned Democrats."

Key points from the town hall:

• RFK Jr. and Gabbard argued that the Democratic Party has become the "party of war, surveillance, and censorship," accusing it of serving warmongers and neocons.
• They portrayed Trump as the only candidate capable of stopping "endless wars" and the alleged "deep state" control.
• RFK Jr. shared a personal story about being investigated for collecting a whale specimen years ago, accusing the government of "weaponization" against political opponents.
• Both warned of the US sliding towards World War III under a potential Harris administration.
• They advocated for unifying the country, cleaning up food and water, and prioritizing health.

The article also provides interesting behind-the-scenes details, such as Gabbard's gray streak being a "remembrance" of soldiers lost in Iraq, her affordable Zara suits, and the unexpected turnout that exceeded venue capacity.

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The Talented Ms. Nuzzi: A Scandalous Tale of Media and Politics

The saga involving political journalist Olivia Nuzzi and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sent shockwaves through the media landscape. The author, Jessica Reed Kraus, found herself entangled in the drama due to her friendship with Nuzzi, which she now believes was a ploy to gain inside information on Kennedy's campaign.

Nuzzi, a correspondent for New York Magazine, initially befriended Kraus, who was covering Kennedy's bid for the presidency. Their unlikely friendship raised eyebrows, with warnings from insiders about Nuzzi's tendency to burn sources close to her. Despite these cautions, Kraus let her guard down, sharing gossip and details about Kennedy's campaign.

As time passed, Nuzzi's inquiries became increasingly personal, focusing on Kennedy's relationships and behavior. Kraus noticed an unsettling obsession developing, with Nuzzi defending Kennedy's actions and losing her objectivity as a journalist. Suspicions grew when sensitive information Kraus shared began leaking to mainstream circles.

The bombshell revelation came when a report surfaced about an "emotional, digital relationship" between Nuzzi and Kennedy, involving explicit photos and videos. Both parties acknowledged the communication but denied a physical affair. Kennedy's team believes Nuzzi set him up, while sources close to the situation suggest Nuzzi employed seductive tactics to gain access and manipulate her subjects, blurring ethical boundaries.

The scandal has raised questions about Nuzzi's journalistic practices and the broader issue of how some reporters may use inappropriate methods to secure high-profile stories. As the drama unfolds, Kraus finds herself reflecting on her misjudgment in trusting Nuzzi, who she believes strategically infiltrated her circle to feed information to Kennedy's opponents.

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This week's issue of Dense Discovery explores the limitations of social media activism and the importance of aligning our actions with our values. Quoting biologist Spencer R. Scott and educator Mandy Harris Williams, the author argues that real change doesn't happen through carefully curated online performance art. Instead, activism requires intense focus and dedication over the long-term.

The article critiques the false sense of accomplishment that social media can foster, allowing us to believe we've "done the work" simply by posting or engaging online. However, as Williams notes, "The power structure of our world doesn't care much what you're posting online. It cares what you are spending your entire life force on, how your job and total behavior align in opposition to the oppression."

To enact meaningful change, we need to shift our energy away from signaling online and toward transforming our values into sustained action in the real world. This could mean making changes in our jobs, roles as parents or consumers, and daily habits to align with our moral framework.

The article concludes with a call to "harmonize our dissonance" by orienting our entire lives toward constructive change, rather than getting caught in the endless loop of digital signals and performance. Real activism happens slowly and often uneventfully through long-term dedication, not via eye-catching social media updates.

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The Life of a Full-Time Technical Trainer for Software Engineers

Reuven Lerner worked as a software developer for 15 years before becoming a full-time technical trainer specializing in Python, Pandas, and Git. He shares his experience and insights into this unique career path.

Coding vs. Teaching It

As a trainer, Reuven's goal is to help developers write more efficient and maintainable code, rather than optimizing software directly. He spends time crafting explanations, examples, and metaphors to convey concepts effectively. Like a stand-up comedian, he iterates on his teaching materials based on what resonates with learners.

Training allows for better scheduling and planning compared to typical software projects. Reuven already has courses scheduled into 2025. Surprisingly, training can pay better than coding, as companies value improving developer productivity and have separate training budgets.

Is Training Helpful?

While many developers can learn independently, Reuven argues that training provides unique value:

• An instructor can anticipate questions and contextualize concepts beyond simple use cases.
• Group training establishes shared conventions and improves communication across teams.
• Hands-on exercises and reviewing mistakes together accelerate learning.
• Companies rarely give developers dedicated time for self-study.

Training empowers employees by distributing knowledge and creating local experts within teams.

Effective Teaching Techniques

Reuven favors interactive notebooks over slides, emphasizing exercises over theory, and incorporating pair programming. He aims to create "controlled frustration" with exercises that illuminate concepts without excessive stress.

Business of Teaching

To be a viable career, teaching must be run as a solid business. Reuven shares insights on closing new clients, educating decision-makers, collecting payment, and continuously expanding his course offerings.

Advice for Aspiring Trainers

Get comfortable with public speaking, go deep into a specific technology, don't shy away from niche topics, and be prepared to handle sales, marketing, and customer support alongside teaching.

In conclusion, Reuven has found a fulfilling and lucrative career path as a full-time technical trainer, helping developers worldwide improve their skills while enjoying a flexible lifestyle.

How to Have Great Conversations

Having great conversations is an art and skill that can be improved with practice. The key is creating and seizing "conversational affordances" - openings that allow the other person to easily engage and build on what you've said.

Give vs Take Some people are natural "givers" who tend to ask lots of questions, while "takers" make more statements and declarations. Neither style is perfect - givers can make the other person feel interrogated, while takers can dominate the conversation. The ideal is a balance that allows both people to contribute.

Creating Affordances Affordances are openings that invite response, like asking an engaging question, sharing a personal anecdote, or making a provocative claim. Things like superficial small talk, one-word responses, or rambling monologues tend to shut down conversation.

To create affordances: - Share slightly personal/revealing details to open up the conversation - Ask open-ended questions that can't be answered with just yes/no - Make statements that beg for the other person's opinion or reaction

Seizing Affordances Good conversationalists also know how to seize the affordances the other person offers, by: - Responding quickly to show engagement - Building on their point or anecdote with one of your own - Asking a follow-up question to draw them out

Overcoming Biases Psychological biases make this harder, like egocentrism (only talking about your own interests), downplaying intimacy, and focusing on exciting rather than mundane shared experiences. Being aware of these tendencies can help counteract them.

With practice creating and seizing conversational openings, your discussions will flow more naturally and feel more rewarding for both people involved.

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The first episode of The Pragmatic Engineer Podcast features Simon Willison, a software engineer who has been experimenting with large language models (LLMs) for over three years to boost his productivity. Here are some key insights from the conversation:

Using LLMs for Coding - Willison initially found ChatGPT "scary" in its capabilities, prompting him to dive deeper into LLMs. He has had success using LLMs for coding tasks across languages like Python, SQL, JavaScript, and even Rust.
- While fine-tuning LLMs can sometimes help for specific domains, it's generally a waste of time. Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) models that combine LLMs with a retrieval database tend to work better. - Willison's current AI stack includes Claude, GPT Code Interpreter, OpenAI Playground, and local LLM models like LLaMa for experimentation.

Productivity Gains and Best Practices - Using LLMs has significantly increased Willison's productivity as a developer. He estimates coding speeds 2-3x faster than before. - It takes effort to learn how to prompt LLMs effectively. Techniques like chain of thought prompting can improve outputs. - Running local models helps better understand an LLM's strengths and limitations through its hallucinations.

Ethical Considerations and the Future of AI - Common concerns around using LLMs include environmental impact, enabling misinformation, and copyright issues. Willison argues the productivity benefits outweigh these concerns. - Most software engineers should limit their programming language exposure to 3-4 languages to stay effective. - While LLMs are advancing rapidly, artificial general intelligence (AGI) may still be far off, requiring major unseen breakthroughs.

Overall, the episode provides a detailed look at how an experienced developer is leveraging LLMs, with tips for getting started and addressing common objections. As LLMs become more prevalent, understanding their responsible use will be key for software engineers.

Sam Altman's Takeover of OpenAI Raises Concerns

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company founded as a non-profit in 2015, is transitioning to a for-profit model and granting a 7% equity stake to its CEO Sam Altman. This move has raised concerns from those who worry it violates OpenAI's original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

In 2019, Altman testified to Congress that he held no equity in OpenAI and was "doing this because I love it." However, he was never explicitly asked if he would take an ownership stake in the future. Now, with his multi-billion dollar equity grant, some fear OpenAI's priorities may shift from its founding ideals to a more commercial focus.

The transition also comes as many of OpenAI's original co-founders have departed, leaving Altman with greater control. Critics argue that concentrating decision-making power with a for-profit ownership structure undermines OpenAI's core principles of transparency and democratic governance of transformative AI systems.

Supporters counter that the new structure will allow OpenAI to raise funds and attract talent to remain competitive. They argue Altman can be trusted to uphold the mission with his new equity, which vests over time as incentive. However, the concerns highlight the inherent tensions in developing potentially civilization-altering technologies through private companies.

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Building Local Resilience in the Face of Climate Change

As climate change accelerates, building strong local connections and resilient communities may be our best bet for navigating the road ahead. Writers like Spencer R. Scott, Bill McKibben, and Adam Greenfield have argued for truly connecting with our local ecosystems and neighbors to sustain climate-positive behaviors and mutual support networks.

In his new book Lifehouse, Greenfield envisions "Lifehouses" - modest community hubs for mutual care and resource sharing, inspired by efforts like the Black Panther survival programs or crisis relief in Occupy Sandy. As writer Mandy Brown reflects, accepting and working through the grief after climate disasters, rather than seeking nostalgic "stability," can help us build resilient futures.

By facing challenges collectively through local collaboration, we can transform grief into momentum for more interconnected, sustainable living. Some practical steps:

• Get to know your neighbors and local ecosystem
• Build networks for sharing resources and skills
• Create community hubs for mutual aid and preparedness
• Process emotions around climate impacts through collective care

While no place is truly safe from climate change, our power lies in knowing our communities and fostering local self-reliance. By nurturing these hyper-local bonds, we can support each other through uncertain times ahead.

There is no article content provided, so I cannot generate a meaningful summary.

Bug Management: A Comprehensive Guide

In the ever-evolving world of software development, managing bugs is a critical aspect that can significantly impact product quality and user experience. This comprehensive guide explores various strategies and approaches employed by professionals to effectively identify, report, triage, and address bugs in software products.

Finding Bugs

Identifying bugs is the first step in effective bug management. Commonly used techniques include:

• Dogfooding: Encouraging developers and employees to use the product during development, allowing them to encounter and report issues firsthand.
• Test Automation: Investing in various test automation techniques, such as unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests, to catch regressions and ensure consistent quality.
• User Feedback: Fostering open communication with users and encouraging bug reports, as they can provide valuable insights into real-world usage scenarios.
• Alpha and Beta Testing: Offering early access to unfinished versions of the product to a select group of users, allowing for bug identification and feedback before a full release.

Reporting Bugs

Effective bug reporting processes are crucial for gathering high-quality data and insights. Key considerations include:

• Simplicity: Making the bug reporting process accessible and straightforward, reducing barriers for users to report issues.
• Metadata Collection: Capturing relevant metadata, such as version numbers, device information, and system metrics, to aid in reproducing and fixing bugs.
• Scalability: Implementing automated processes and templates for bug reporting as the company grows, ensuring efficiency and avoiding duplication.

Bug Triage

Once bugs are reported, prioritizing and categorizing them becomes essential. Common approaches include:

• Priority Rubrics: Developing frameworks to assess bug severity based on factors like impact, customer feedback, and business criticality.
• Bug Categorization: Classifying bugs into functional (incorrect behavior) and non-functional (performance, latency) issues, or more granular categories based on the product's needs.
• Collaborative Triage: Involving cross-functional teams, such as engineering, product, and support, in the triage process to ensure a comprehensive understanding of bug impacts.

Bug Fixing Strategies

Different organizations employ various strategies for addressing reported bugs, including:

• Zero Bugs Policy: Adopting an approach where all inbound bugs are either fixed immediately or deemed invalid, ensuring a continuous focus on bug resolution.
• Bug Gardening: Treating bug fixing as an ongoing process, regularly pruning and maintaining the bug backlog, rather than allowing a buildup of unresolved issues.
• Feature-Focused Fixing: Prioritizing bug fixes for recently released features, as employed by companies like Figma, to ensure a high-quality user experience for new functionality.

Effective bug management is a collaborative effort that involves various stakeholders, including developers, quality assurance teams, product managers, and end-users. By implementing robust processes and leveraging industry best practices, organizations can improve product quality, enhance user satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

This detailed analysis provides an in-depth look at the semiconductor foundry landscape, focusing on the transition to Gate All Around (GAA) transistors and Backside Power Delivery Network (BSPDN) technologies.

The article begins by acknowledging TSMC's dominance in the foundry market, particularly with its N5 and N3 process nodes. However, it emphasizes that the industry is at an inflection point, where FinFET technology is reaching its scaling limits, and the adoption of GAA and BSPDN is crucial for the next generation of logic chips.

The author delves into the intricacies of BSPDN, explaining its three main approaches: Buried Power Rail (BPR), PowerVia (Intel's solution), and Direct Backside Contacts (DBC or BSC). DBC is highlighted as the most promising approach, offering significant improvements in performance, power consumption, and density, albeit with manufacturing challenges.

The article then examines the roadmaps of various foundries, including Rapidus, Samsung, Intel, and TSMC. Rapidus, a Japanese government-backed startup, has ambitious plans to enter the 2nm foundry race by 2027, but the author questions their competitive advantage and the feasibility of their approach.

Samsung is portrayed as a "customer-challenged" player, with plans to introduce backside power at the SF2Z node in 2027. Intel's 18A node, which combines GAA and PowerVia, is already ramping up, while TSMC continues its steady progress with the N2 node, set to introduce GAA in 2024 and BSPDN with the A16 node in 2026.

The article also discusses the challenges of SRAM scaling, highlighting the stagnation in bit cell scaling since the 5nm node and the limitations of various scaling techniques.

Finally, the author touches upon the cost of building 2nm fab capacity and the potential changes in the wafer fab equipment market, foreshadowing the companies that stand to gain in the next decade of GAA nodes.

The author wasn't originally planning to watch the VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, having written off Vance as a mistake pick by Trump. However, she was impressed by Vance's poise and likeability during the debate in contrast to Walz coming across as stiff and rehearsed.

Overnight, the author's social media was flooded with comments from women swooning over Vance's calm demeanor and good looks. He flipped the script from being seen as a risky VP pick to a sensible political figure. The author argues that this surprise appeal to women voters could be a game-changing "October surprise" that moves the needle for Vance and the Trump campaign.

Despite potential downsides like losing cat-owner voters, the author predicts Vance's newfound heartthrob status will lead to a surge in popularity, especially among suburban women who found him charming and electable compared to his opponent.

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The Rise of AI Neoclouds

The computing industry is captivated by the rise of AI Neoclouds - cloud providers focused on offering GPU compute rental. Major players like Microsoft are spending hundreds of millions on GPU compute from these Neoclouds, while Nvidia is investing heavily in several Neocloud companies.

An AI Neocloud is defined as a pure-play cloud provider specializing in GPU compute, offering cutting-edge performance and flexibility. However, their economics and business models are still evolving.

This deep dive explores two key aspects of Neoclouds:

Part 1: Building an AI Neocloud

• Bill of Materials (BoM) for compute chassis, networking, storage, software
• Optimizations for cost reduction while maintaining performance
• Drivers, user experience, multitenancy considerations
• Deployment, operations, testing, and troubleshooting

Part 2: The AI Neocloud Economy

• Demand ecosystem and decision chain
• Pricing models, trends, and contract types
• Capital and operating costs
• Project returns, total cost of ownership (TCO), business case
• Future pricing projections

The analysis provides recommendations on cluster architecture, cost optimizations, and operational best practices, offering valuable insights for Neocloud providers, customers, and investors alike.

The article argues that humans will remain "sticky" or resistant to being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI), even with the advent of artificial general intelligence (AGI). The author draws a parallel to the continued existence of independent bookstores despite the rise of Amazon and e-books, suggesting that people have an intrinsic preference for human experiences and interactions.

The author contends that AI tutors, while technologically impressive, will struggle to replace human tutors due to the social and cultural aspects of education. Learning involves more than just imparting information; it encompasses socialization, respect for authority, and intellectual engagement within a community. The author cites examples of historical geniuses who benefited from mentors and intellectual peer groups, arguing that this "socio-intellectual" component is irreducible.

While acknowledging the potential of AI in education, the author suggests that the most effective approach may be to augment and improve human teachers and tutors rather than outright replacement. The article posits that the transition period where human-AI hybrids outperform either alone may last for decades or even centuries, given the open-ended and individualized nature of problems like tutoring.

Ultimately, the article contends that humans will remain "sticky" in a post-AGI world, just as bookstores have persisted despite economic pressures, due to an innate preference for human experiences and the unique social and cultural aspects of human-to-human interactions.

This article discusses tactics for organizations to effectively integrate and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their operations. The key points are:

1. There is evidence that a significant percentage of knowledge workers are already using AI tools at work, leading to individual productivity gains. However, organizations often fail to see widespread AI adoption and gains at the organizational level.

2. To achieve organizational AI benefits, companies need to conduct their own research and development (R&D) into AI use cases tailored to their specific context, processes, and needs. Relying solely on external consultants or generalized approaches is unlikely to be effective.

3. The author suggests two complementary R&D approaches: leveraging the "Crowd" (decentralized user innovation by employees) and establishing an internal "Lab" (centralized innovation efforts).

4. For the Crowd approach, organizations should reduce fears around AI use, align incentives to reward sharing of AI use cases, model positive AI use from leadership, provide access to AI tools and training, and foster a community for sharing learnings.

5. The Lab approach involves building benchmarks to evaluate AI performance on organization-specific tasks, developing custom prompts and tools, prototyping futuristic AI-driven processes, and creating thought-provoking AI demos.

6. Looking ahead, the article suggests that organizations may need to rethink their structures and processes to optimally integrate AI capabilities. Ultimately, advanced AI systems could potentially automate entire organizations, requiring profound changes.

The article emphasizes the importance of actively exploring AI integration through R&D, leveraging both decentralized and centralized innovation efforts tailored to the organization's unique context and goals.

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6 Reflections on Launching a Perfume Startup

The author reflects on the successful launch of his perfume company, sharing insights gained:

1. Excellence Takes Many Forms - He discovered the ideal qualities for roles like sales reps and security staff through first-hand experience.

2. Caring is Key - The biggest factor determining someone's helpfulness is whether they truly care about the project's success. Fostering this "ownership" mindset is crucial.

3. Reframing Stress - His fine-dining background gave him an outdated "stress framework" which he had to update for manufacturing realities.

4. The Entrepreneurial High - He felt a euphoric "body high" from the unpredictable challenges and sense of responsibility during the launch.

5. Mindful Leadership - His meditation practice gave him a present-moment awareness oddly suited to the role's flow of small decisions.

6. Realizing His Mating Strategy - Creating a product loved by his original "target demographic" of popular girls felt like an elegantly arranged life milestone.

This week's issue of Dense Discovery explores the importance of embracing nuance and avoiding absolutist thinking in our increasingly polarized times. Drawing inspiration from A.J. Jacobs' writings, the newsletter offers several thought-provoking suggestions:

1. Approach discussions as collective puzzles to solve, not battles to win. Get curious about others' perspectives and examine the evidence that shapes your beliefs.

2. Consider the consensus of experts, not cherry-picked opinions. Take a "Rotten Tomatoes approach" by looking at what the majority of legitimate experts say.

3. Assign percentages of certainty to your beliefs. Recognize the inherent uncertainty in many of our views and leave room for adjustment as new information emerges.

4. Admit mistakes and errors of judgment. Reward those who evolve their thinking and admit past mistakes, rather than punishing them for "flip-flopping."

5. Distinguish between opinions and facts. While opinions on personal taste are valid, well-established scientific facts are not mere opinions.

The newsletter also features book recommendations, including "Killed by a Traffic Engineer" which exposes flaws in traffic design, and "The Nordic Theory of Everything" which argues for a Nordic model of governance. Additionally, it highlights aesthetically pleasing designs, notable numbers, and a collection of curated links on topics like finding new spiritual practices and the conundrum of governing cyberspace.

By embracing nuance and avoiding absolutist thinking, we can foster a spirit of collective exploration and empathy, ultimately leading to a more thoughtful and productive discourse.

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This detailed article covers the history and evolution of site reliability engineering (SRE) and reliability engineering, a discipline that emerged at Google in the early 2000s to handle the immense scaling challenges of operating massive internet services.

The core principles and practices of SRE include:

• Four Promises: A well-run reliability team sets and delivers on four key promises:
• Establishing service level objectives (SLOs), agreements (SLAs), and indicators (SLIs) for system reliability
• Managing the underlying service infrastructure and platforms
• Being involved in systems design and architecture to build in reliability from the start

• Tactical response and "heroic" efforts during outages and incidents

• Tooling and Automation: With vast numbers of servers and services, manual operations is impossible. SREs build and rely on extensive automation, monitoring, and tooling. Key open source tools like Kubernetes and Prometheus have their roots in internal Google SRE projects.

• Balancing Reliability and Innovation: Diminishing returns exist where extreme reliability becomes exorbitantly costly. SRE strives to meet an appropriate reliability target for the business context, not simply maximum uptime.

The role has evolved from its Google origins, with industry convergence in the 2010s on DevOps and related practices. While Google's approach of building everything in-house made sense for its scale, most companies should be opinionated in adopting appropriate SRE practices rather than blindly copying Google.

As software becomes more critical, reliability engineering remains a rapidly growing discipline beyond just internet giants. However, the author cautions companies to tailor practices to their own contexts and priorities.

Is Psychology Making Real Progress?

The core question raised in this article is whether the field of psychology is truly making progress in understanding the human mind, or if we are just amassing an ever-growing stack of research papers without substantive insights. The author expresses frustration that despite decades of studies, we don't seem much closer to explaining fundamental mysteries of the mind.

5 Measures of Progress

The article evaluates psychology's progress across five potential metrics:

1. Overturning Folk Psychology - Psychology has been very successful at debunking our intuitive but flawed "folk" theories about how the mind works, like the Milgram shock studies overturning assumptions about obedience. However, this alone does not constitute profound forward progress.

2. Beating Non-Experts at Predictions - In several examples, from predicting life outcomes to facilitating political compromise, psychology's expert tools and models perform no better or even worse than non-experts or random baselines. This suggests a lack of true explanatory power.

3. Enabling Useful Applications - Despite thousands of studies, the article argues we have not substantially improved our ability to effectively treat mental illness, change human behavior, or develop powerful psychological technologies beyond a few examples like CBT apps.

4. Creating Robust Theories - Fields like physics could set aside incomplete old theories like the "four humors" idea. But in psychology, competing paradigms like Freudianism persist long after being scientifically discredited, suggesting an inability to converge on robust unified theories.

5. Discovering Profound New Mysteries - The most transformative scientific advances often arose from grappling with new mysteries that shattered old assumptions, like the paradoxes leading to relativity. But it's difficult to even conceive of such deep conundrums about the mind that we truly cannot explain.

Moving Forward

The author proposes two paths for potential progress:

1) Continuing to thoroughly falsify and debunk folk psychology intuitions.

2) Radically shifting perspective to entertain seemingly ridiculous or taboo ideas, like ignoring prior literature to instead focus intensely on obvious mysteries we cannot yet explain, such as where creativity comes from or why TV entertains us.

While difficult, embracing an "alien mindset" to uncover and investigate psychology's deepest remaining mysteries may be required to catalyze a revolutionary new paradigm and progress beyond our current limits.

The Pragmatic Engineer Podcast: Quinn Slack, CEO of Sourcegraph

In this episode of The Pragmatic Engineer podcast, Gergely Orosz interviews Quinn Slack, the CEO and co-founder of Sourcegraph, a leading code search and intelligence platform. Here are some key takeaways:

Business Focus for Engineers - Software engineers need to understand the value they add to the business, as companies are hiring more conservatively and prioritizing profit centers. - Identify how your team contributes to revenue, savings, or key company goals.

AI and Automation - Quinn advocates a gradual approach to AI automation, starting with tedious tasks like generating changelogs. - AI is not yet capable of understanding and maintaining large, existing codebases. - Early adopters of AI coding tools may gain an advantage, but be cautious of overselling AI capabilities.

Compensation Philosophy - Sourcegraph shifted from location-independent pay to zone-based pay as the company grew past 200 employees. - Location-agnostic pay makes hiring difficult in high-cost regions and incentivizes employees to move to low-cost areas. - Large companies index pay to location, with top companies paying at the high end of local markets.

Being a Coding CEO - Quinn still codes daily, following leaders like Tobi Lutke at Shopify who continue coding. - His weeks now involve more meetings, but he protects coding time for customer-impacting work.

The interview covers Sourcegraph's evolution, Quinn's leadership style, practical AI use cases, and recommended books. Overall, it provides insights into running an efficient tech company while embracing pragmatic innovation.

The article introduces Alexander Naughton, a world-class illustrator and the resident artist behind the images for The Intrinsic Perspective newsletter. In addition to his illustration work, Naughton has his own Substack, Illustrated, where he writes about the artistic process and the business of illustration.

The article announces an interview with Naughton on The Intrinsic Perspective podcast. The conversation covers various aspects of Naughton's life and career, such as:

• The challenges of becoming an artist from outside the upper class
• Naughton's journey of leaving art to pursue engineering and then being drawn back to art
• His upbringing in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the influence of the local scenery and culture on his art
• The impact of early media like video games, magazines, comics, and prints on his artistic development
• The complex relationship with his father, who was not supportive of his artistic career and passed away from bladder cancer
• Naughton's own recent diagnosis and treatment for bladder cancer, paralleling his father's experience

The article highlights how a parent's influence can shape an artist's work and the meaning they derive from it. It promises an insightful conversation about the portrayal of the artist as a middle-aged man, navigating personal and professional challenges, and finding inspiration in life's experiences.

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-4, the latest iteration of their language model, which promises to revolutionize the way humans interact with AI. The key highlights of GPT-4 include:

Real-Time Conversational Capabilities - GPT-4 can engage in real-time, natural conversations with users, understanding and responding to speech, text, and visual inputs seamlessly. - Users can interrupt the model, without waiting for it to finish, and it can pick up on emotional cues and adjust its responses accordingly.

Multimodal Intelligence - GPT-4 can reason across different modalities, including text, audio, and vision, enabling it to understand and generate content in various forms. - It can solve complex math problems by analyzing handwritten equations and diagrams, as well as provide explanations and guidance.

Improved Language Support - GPT-4 has enhanced language capabilities, supporting over 50 languages with improved quality and speed.

Expanded Access - OpenAI is making GPT-4's capabilities available to all users, free and paid, with paid users having higher capacity limits. - Developers can also build applications using the GPT-4 API, which is faster, cheaper, and has higher rate limits compared to previous models.

Safety Measures - OpenAI has implemented new safety measures to mitigate potential misuse of GPT-4's advanced capabilities, especially in real-time audio and vision scenarios.

With GPT-4, OpenAI aims to usher in a new era of AI-human collaboration, where interactions become more natural, seamless, and accessible to a broader audience.

The article discusses the supposed secret capabilities of GPT-4, OpenAI's latest multimodal language model, that were not showcased in the official demo. According to the author, OpenAI intentionally held back many advanced features to gradually introduce them through iterative deployment.

Some of the claimed capabilities highlighted in the article include:

Highly Accurate Multimodal Generation: GPT-4 can generate remarkably consistent images, text, and audio based on prompts, maintaining character and scene consistency across various modalities.

Realistic 3D Rendering: The model can generate realistic 3D renderings of objects from text descriptions, potentially using a technique of stitching together multiple generated images.

Video Summarization: GPT-4 can provide detailed summaries of long videos, up to an hour in length, similar to the capabilities of OpenAI's Galactica model.

Audio Analysis: The model can transcribe audio, identify speakers, and describe events happening in the audio.

Accessibility Features: GPT-4's multimodal capabilities could potentially assist users with disabilities by providing alternative ways to interact with the environment.

The article argues that while the official demo may have seemed underwhelming to some, the hidden capabilities of GPT-4 are truly impressive and groundbreaking, setting the stage for future advancements in AI-powered content creation and accessibility.

Unitree G1 Robot: A Remarkable Feat in Humanoid Robotics

Unitree, a Chinese robotics company, has unveiled their latest creation, the G1 humanoid robot, and it is truly a game-changer in the field of robotics. The G1 boasts an impressive level of flexibility, dexterity, and overall capability, surpassing many of its predecessors.

One of the most remarkable features of the G1 is its stability and ability to withstand impacts. The robot can remain upright and balanced even after being punched or kicked, a feat that would topple many other humanoid robots. This stability is crucial for its potential use in hazardous environments, ensuring it can withstand unexpected forces or debris without falling over.

The G1's movement abilities are equally impressive. It can swivel, twist, and move its legs in ways that exceed human capabilities, thanks to its increased degrees of freedom. Additionally, the robot's wiring is housed internally, allowing for more efficient and compact movements.

Another standout feature is the G1's ability to perform tasks autonomously through imitation and reinforcement learning. By simulating scenarios in a virtual environment, the robot can learn and apply those skills to real-world situations, such as manipulating objects like crushing walnuts or opening soda cans.

The G1 also boasts remarkable precision, as demonstrated by its ability to solder components together with intricate movements. This level of accuracy opens up possibilities for the robot's use in delicate tasks or intricate manufacturing processes.

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the G1 is its relatively affordable price point of $116,000, significantly lower than many other humanoid robots with similar capabilities. This cost reduction could potentially democratize robotics research and development, allowing more institutions and organizations to explore the possibilities of humanoid robotics.

Overall, the Unitree G1 robot represents a significant advancement in the field of humanoid robotics, pushing the boundaries of what was previously thought possible in terms of stability, dexterity, and autonomous learning. As the robot race continues to heat up, the G1 has positioned itself as a formidable contender, showcasing the impressive strides made by Chinese companies in the realm of robotics and artificial intelligence.

In Monday's testimony at Donald Trump's hush-money trial, the former president's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen delivered damaging blows against Trump. Cohen portrayed himself as keen on earning Trump's approval while implicating him in illicit conduct.

Cohen testified about Trump's attention to detail in arranging hush money payments to Karen McDougal, a Playboy model alleging an affair with Trump. A recorded call confirmed Trump's direct involvement, micromanaging the payments.

Regarding Stormy Daniels, another alleged mistress, Cohen said Trump feared the scandal would torpedo his 2016 campaign, calling it a "disaster" that would turn women voters against him. Trump allegedly told Cohen: "Get control of it! Just get past the election."

In a stunning claim, Cohen said Trump anticipated divorcing Melania, remarking: "Don't worry. How long do you think I'll be on the market for? Not long."

Cohen's credibility as a cooperating witness hinges on portraying himself as Trump's eager subordinate. The prosecution hopes his granular details outweigh his dubious motives. Cross-examination this week will try to impeach Cohen's account.

Many of us unwittingly have savings invested in industries like fossil fuels, deforestation, and child labor - financing destruction rather than the future we want. This issue highlights the importance of divesting from these harmful industries and reinvesting in ethical alternatives.

Major superannuation/retirement funds in Australia increased their exposure to new fossil fuel projects by 50% in 2022, despite the dire climate impacts. Similarly, big banks provide financial services enabling environmental degradation.

But we can take action by switching to ethical investment funds, banks, and credit unions that align with our values. Resources like As You Sow (US) and Market Forces (Australia) help identify harmful funds and ethical alternatives that avoid greenwashing.

Switching isn't just about withholding money from bad actors - it's actively funding a better future through businesses committed to sustainability, energy efficiency, and social good. While requiring some research, divestment gives us a powerful way to put our money towards the world we want.

OpenAI has released a new AI model called GPT-4o, an upgraded version of GPT-4 with some interesting capabilities. The biggest change is that GPT-4o will soon be available for free to everyone, not just paid subscribers. This democratizes access to advanced AI and could have major implications:

Education: GPT-4o is a powerful tutor that can help students learn, but it also enables rampant cheating on homework and assignments. Educators will need to adapt.

Work: Employees can now build custom AI assistants (called GPTs) without company approval, potentially leading to unauthorized automations. Companies need to get ahead of this trend.

Entrepreneurship: Free access to GPT-4o could provide a boost to entrepreneurs and small businesses globally by giving them a powerful co-founder to help with tasks like coding, writing, analysis and ideation.

Beyond just improved language capabilities, GPT-4o can integrate vision, audio and other modalities for more natural interactions. It can see what you're doing, respond with voice, generate images and more. However, the full implications of these "multimodal" capabilities remain to be seen.

Overall, GPT-4o represents another step towards making AI a ubiquitous presence in our lives as a coworker, tutor and creative partner. As AI becomes more integrated into human systems, we'll need to grapple with the societal impacts.

The Rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Controversial Presidential Bid

With about 10% support in recent polls, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a chance to significantly impact the 2024 presidential election as a third-party candidate. Kennedy, the 70-year-old son of Robert F. Kennedy, has never held elected office but has built a following by promoting false and conspiratorial views - especially his anti-vaccine stance.

His overall campaign pitch is a mix of populist economic policies like raising the minimum wage and reforming corporate taxes, as well as conservative social stances like restricting abortion later in pregnancy. This "Scaffle" platform of being socially conservative but fiscally liberal seems to resonate particularly with younger, lower-income, and Latino voters dissatisfied with the two major parties.

While historical trends suggest Kennedy's poll numbers will likely decline as voters gravitate back to the Republican and Democratic nominees, his current level of support could prove pivotal in swing states. Some analysts believe he is currently drawing more support away from Biden than Trump.

Kennedy is emphasizing a non-interventionist foreign policy message of keeping the U.S. out of foreign conflicts and pursuing diplomacy with Russia over the war in Ukraine. His running mate, Silicon Valley millionaire Nicole Shanahan, has begun giving speeches quoting Carl Jung.

Whether Kennedy maintains his current momentum or fades remains to be seen. But his unconventional candidacy is introducing a wildcard into an already volatile election cycle.

"High Functioning Anxiety" and the Risks of Overcorrecting

In recent decades, there has been a push to destigmatize mental health issues, which is a positive movement. However, the abundance of social media content and awareness campaigns aimed at educating people, especially teenagers, about mental illnesses like anxiety and depression may be having unintended negative consequences.

According to Dr. Lucy Foulkes, an academic psychologist at Oxford University, oversimplifying mental disorders into checklists of symptoms can convince teenagers that they have a condition when they don't. This "high-functioning anxiety" trend on platforms like TikTok is particularly concerning.

Dr. Foulkes explains that if you convince yourself you have a mental illness, you may start experiencing more anxiety or depression-like symptoms due to the "nocebo effect" - the opposite of the placebo effect. This self-fulfilling prophecy can be harmful to young people's mental well-being.

While open conversations about mental health are crucial, we need to be smarter about how we approach the topic. Distilling complex psychological conditions into buzzwords and hashtags may do more harm than good, especially for impressionable teenagers.

The key is striking a balance - encouraging people to discuss their emotions and seek help when needed, without overdiagnosing or pathologizing normal human experiences and anxieties. Mental health literacy is important, but oversimplification can be dangerous.

Don't Try to Change People Until You Understand Them

Many well-intentioned programs aimed at changing human behavior, whether promoting healthy habits or reducing biases, often fail or even backfire. One infamous study found an anti-drug program inadvertently caused 7th graders to smoke more.

The article argues we consistently underestimate how difficult it is to change people's beliefs and behaviors. Our theories and intuitions about what should work are frequently misguided. A few key reasons:

1. Psychological distance: We perceive others with far less nuance than ourselves, oversimplifying what would truly change them.

2. Environmental influences: Even if an intervention shifts someone temporarily, they quickly revert when returning to their original environment reinforcing old patterns.

3. Unfalsifiability: Our vague theories allow endless rationalizations when proven wrong, instead of revising our understanding.

The article advocates cultivating a mindset of ignorance - rigorously questioning assumptions and noticing when efforts misfire. Those trying to improve human behavior should hold themselves to a high burden of proof, rather than reflexively trusting "common sense" approaches.

Ultimately, promoting lasting change requires far deeper insight into the complexities of human psychology and underlying situational factors. Until we have that level of understanding, many well-meaning change efforts will keep failing.

A Toxic Discovery May Explain Beethoven's Deafness

For over two centuries, Ludwig van Beethoven's gradual descent into deafness has remained an enduring mystery. However, a recent analysis of locks of the composer's hair has uncovered startling levels of lead, potentially solving this long-standing puzzle.

Scientists at the University of Utah examined hair samples from Beethoven that were cut in 1826, just a few years before his death. Using advanced mass spectrometry techniques, they detected extraordinarily high concentrations of lead - over 100 times the levels found in contemporary samples.

Lead poisoning can cause a wide range of symptoms, including hearing loss, abdominal pain, cognitive issues, and even death in severe cases. Experts believe Beethoven's elevated lead levels could explain not only his deafness but also his well-documented bouts of abdominal discomfort and irritability.

"These findings are truly groundbreaking," said Dr. Sarah Richards, the study's lead author. "Beethoven's deafness has puzzled historians and music lovers for generations. This discovery provides a plausible explanation and sheds new light on the great composer's life and struggles."

The source of Beethoven's lead exposure remains unclear, but researchers hypothesize that it stemmed from drinking water contaminated by lead pipes - a common issue in 19th century Europe. Wine tainted by lead additives may have also played a role.

While conclusive proof is still lacking, this new evidence adds an intriguing chapter to our understanding of one of the most iconic artists in history. As Dr. Richards notes, "Beethoven's genius prevailed despite immense physical suffering, a testament to his indomitable creative spirit."

The disclosure that a doctor apparently found a dead worm in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s brain has led to questions about brain parasites and the damage they can cause. While details are still emerging, brain worms or helminth infections of the central nervous system can potentially cause serious neurological issues if left untreated. These parasitic infections are relatively rare in developed countries but can occur through ingesting undercooked meat or produce, or exposure to contaminated soil. Symptoms may include seizures, vision problems, weakness or cognitive impairment. Early diagnosis and treatment with anti-parasitic medications is important to prevent permanent damage. The case highlights the need for medical evaluation of unexplained neurological symptoms, even in cases that may seem unusual.

This article provides a detailed overview of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, which are used to enhance large language models (LLMs) with additional context and data. The author, Ross McNairn, co-founder of Wordsmith AI, explains the motivation behind using RAG pipelines and walks through the process of building one.

The article starts by highlighting the limitations of LLMs, which can sometimes provide high-level or incorrect responses due to their training data cutoff dates. RAG pipelines aim to address this by allowing developers to provide additional context to the LLM, enabling it to generate more accurate and relevant responses.

The article then covers three options for providing additional information to LLMs:

1. Input via a prompt: Adding the additional context directly to the prompt, but limited by token constraints and potential performance degradation.
2. Fine-tuning the model: Updating the model's weight matrices with the additional data, but requiring significant computational resources and access to the model's weightings.
3. RAG pipelines: A collection of techniques that modify the LLM to incorporate additional data without the need for retraining or access to the model's weightings.

The author then explains the three main steps of a RAG pipeline:

1. Deconstructing the input query into relevant concepts.
2. Collecting similar concepts from the provided data store.
3. Recombining these concepts with the original query to build a more relevant and authoritative answer.

The article also includes a code-along section, where readers can set up a basic RAG pipeline using the provided GitHub repository. The example loads the text of the US Constitution as the additional context and demonstrates how to query the LLM with this context.

Overall, the article provides a comprehensive introduction to RAG pipelines, highlighting their benefits, such as providing domain-specific knowledge, reducing hallucinations, and improving transparency and observability. The author also shares real-world learnings and insights from building RAG pipelines at Wordsmith AI.

The Covid-19 pandemic saw a surge in gun violence across the United States, with fatal shootings increasing at the fastest pace since the 1990s. By mapping out every fatal shooting and comparing the four pandemic years (2020-2023) to the four preceding years, The New York Times found:

• More people were killed by gunfire, and the geographic boundaries of where these killings occurred expanded. By the end of 2023, one in seven Americans lived within a quarter mile of a recent fatal shooting, up from one in nine before the pandemic.

• The violence spread to new areas in cities nationwide. Austin's downtown nightlife district saw 17 shootings during the pandemic years, up from 6 previously. Even smaller cities like Everett, WA experienced spikes in gun violence.

• Dangerous neighborhoods saw shootings get worse too. One block in Philadelphia's Kensington area had 24 fatal shootings pre-pandemic but 64 during the pandemic years.

• While citywide homicide rates provide an overview, they don't show how unevenly the impacts of gun violence are felt. One-quarter of Chicago residents lived in areas with 4+ shootings during the pandemic, while one-third had no shootings nearby.

• Gun violence disproportionately affects African American and Latino neighborhoods compared to predominantly white areas.

The homicide rate remains elevated from pre-pandemic levels despite recent declines in some cities. Potential factors behind the surge include more gun purchases, increased drug use, closed schools, less active policing, and greater gang activity. An interactive map allows readers to explore the impacts in their own neighborhood.

This article discusses Pratik Desai, founder of Kissan, an AI-powered agricultural assistant for farmers in India and other developing nations. Kissan's KissanGPT leverages GPT-3.5 and Whisper to provide voice-based guidance on irrigation, pest control, and crop cultivation.

The article highlights Desai's insights on the challenges and opportunities of AI in agriculture, including:

• Initial awkwardness of human-AI interaction and emotional impact on users
• Balancing growth and sustainability while monetizing in emerging markets
• Disconnect between agricultural research and implementation for farmers
• Complex regulatory landscape and political dynamics around agriculture in India
• Vision of AI-powered farm management through drones and personalized assistants

Desai also discusses the potential impact of AI on the software development industry, especially in India, as well as the possibilities of using AI to preserve memories and connections.

The article emphasizes the significance of Kissan's work in bridging the knowledge gap for farmers, promoting food security, economic development, and sustainable practices. It underscores the importance of developing inclusive and accessible AI solutions for social good.

Additionally, the article provides background context through Desai's tweets on the launch of Kissan, the audience response, Indian AI regulations, the Silicon Valley AI bubble, and the potential of AI in emulating human connections.

This opinion piece discusses the perspectives of 12 women who voted for Donald Trump in 2020, based on a focus group interview. The key points are:

• The women were generally enthusiastic about Trump and confident in his ability to improve the economy, interest rates, and inflation more than Biden.
• However, many seemed motivated more by anti-Biden sentiment than pro-Trump attitudes. When asked to describe Trump in one word, at least half gave neutral or negative responses.
• The group's moderators were surprised that these Trump voters acknowledged negatives about his personality and character, contrary to the idea that his supporters love everything he does.
• The women's frustration with Biden on policy and competence appeared to outweigh their disdain for Trump's personality, keeping most in the "Trump 2024 voter camp."
• The author suggests Trump's legal problems may not hurt him with prior supporters, as many have already factored in his behavior and past transgressions when voting for him.
• Overall, the focus group highlighted nuances in Trump's coalition - while not all think he's infallible, they still see him as capable of being president compared to Biden.

Apple's latest iPad Pro models received major hardware upgrades with faster M-series chips and brighter OLED displays. However, the author argues that new hardware alone is not enough to solve the iPad's "identity crisis" and lack of clear purpose across the lineup.

Key Points

• Apple touted the new iPad Pro as a major advancement, but failed to deliver meaningful iPadOS software improvements
• Having Pro-level hardware like the M4 chip puts the iPad Pro uncomfortably close in price to MacBook Pro territory without MacOS capabilities
• The iPad lineup is overcrowded with too many models (Mini, Air, Pro) that are all held back by the limitations of iPadOS
• The author proposes simplifying to just iPad Mini, iPad, and iPad Pro, while eliminating the redundant iPad Air
• Two solutions: 1) Bring a touch-friendly version of MacOS to iPad, or 2) Rebuild iPadOS from the ground up to be a true pro-level OS

The iPad Pro's powerful hardware is impressive, but shackled by outdated iPadOS software that prevents it from living up to its "Pro" namesake as a viable computer replacement for professionals. Significant iPadOS upgrades are needed to match the hardware's potential.

This article provides a comprehensive weekly recap of the latest news and developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). It covers a wide range of topics, including:

AlphaFold 3 by DeepMind: This groundbreaking AI model can accurately predict the structure of proteins, DNA, RNA, and how they interact. It has the potential to lead to new drug discoveries, vaccines, and insights into how the human body works.

Microsoft AI's mai1 Model: Microsoft is developing a large language model called mai1 with 500 billion parameters, marking their foray into building in-house models of this scale.

OpenAI and Stack Overflow Partnership: OpenAI is partnering with Stack Overflow to train their models on the platform's massive coding database, aiming to improve their coding abilities.

AI Art and Video Generation: Tools like KAIA AI and Sora are paving the way for AI-generated videos and animations, opening up new creative possibilities.

Robotics Advancements: The article discusses various developments in robotics, including open-source robotics libraries, virtual training environments, and realistic robot factories.

Upcoming AI Events and Announcements: The article highlights several major AI-focused events happening in the coming weeks, such as Google I/O, Microsoft Build, and WWDC, where significant AI announcements are expected.

The summary provides an informative overview of the latest AI news, covering advancements in language models, protein structure prediction, AI art and video generation, robotics, and upcoming events. It is written in a service journalism style, using Markdown format.

Last week, a mysterious new chatbot called "GPT2 Chatbot" briefly appeared on the popular AI benchmarking site Limus.org, allowing users to test and compare it against models like GPT-4. The performance of this unknown model was reported to surpass that of GPT-4, leading to wild speculation about its origins, ranging from it being the new GPT-5 to a more fine-tuned GPT model, or even something created by aliens.

Amidst the speculation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman cryptically tweeted "I do have a soft spot for GPT-2," fanning the flames further. However, the model was soon yanked from the site, only increasing the curiosity and speculation. Altman later clarified in a talk at Harvard that it was not GPT-5, but didn't disclose what it actually was.

This week, the model made a comeback on Limus, but with a twist. Instead of being openly listed, it appears randomly under names like "I'm a good GPT2 chatbot" when using the site's chatbot Arena tool. Users who managed to prompt it reported impressive outputs, like successfully coding a Flappy Bird game in Python or creating a code interpreter using Claude.

The article encourages viewers to try out the mysterious model themselves on Limus.org and speculates on whether it's a glimpse into the next big AI advancement, clever marketing from OpenAI, or something else entirely.

Giro d'Italia Update

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) continues his dominant run at the Giro d'Italia, winning a third stage to extend his overall lead to 2m40s over Damiano Caruso. His team is drawing criticism for chasing down breakaways to allow Evenepoel more stage wins, but the presenter argues this is fair play at the top level of the sport.

Other stage winners in the first week included Jonathan Narváez (Ineos), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), and Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech).

Tour of Hungary

Mark Cavendish (Astana) won stage 3, taking his career tally to 164 wins and making him statistically the most successful sprinter in pro cycling history, passing Mario Cipollini's previous record.

Other stage winners were Sam Welsford (DSM), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), and Diego Ulissi (UAD). 22-year-old Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) took the overall win.

Tour de Finistère

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) won the 1-day French race, the team's 14th win of the season so far.

Transcript not available for this video.

Tips for Riding and Surviving a 100 Mile Cycle Event

Riding 100 miles on a bicycle is an ultimate test of endurance, mental stamina, equipment reliability, and planning. Here are some tips to help you survive and enjoy a century ride:

Pacing - Avoid going too hard too early, especially in the excitement of the start. Pace yourself and ride within your limits. - Use heart rate or power data to monitor effort, or listen to your body. The color zones on a Wahoo computer can help. - Break the ride into smaller chunks like 25 mile segments to make it feel more achievable. - Choose an easier gear and spin at a higher cadence (95-105 rpm) to save your legs.

Nutrition
- Eat and drink regularly before you get hungry/thirsty. Try to fuel every 30-45 minutes. - Consume calories and hydrate well before big climbs when your effort increases. - Gels, energy drinks, bars, etc can all work - test options on training rides. - Set reminders on your computer or handlebar notes to prompt fueling.

Bike Setup - Consider an endurance bike geometry for more relaxed riding position.
- Disc brakes provide better control, especially when fatigued. - Run tubeless tires to avoid punctures ruining your ride. - Prioritize low gearing over low weight for the climbs. E.g. compact chainring and 11-34t cassette. - Carry spares like tubes, pump, tools in a secure saddle bag.

Mental Game
- Ride with friends or join groups on the road for company and motivation.
- Break the distance into milestones or segments for small "wins." - Remember the pain will be a distant memory when you achieve your goal!

With proper pacing, fueling, equipment, and mental tactics, you can push through the low points and cross that 100 mile finish line with a rewarding sense of accomplishment.

Bridge Surveyor Road Bike Review: A Modern Road Bike for Adventure

The Bridge Surveyor is an intriguing new road bike from the Toronto-based Bridge Bike Works, founded in 2019. It's designed to be a modern all-road bike, combining the fit and performance of a race bike with the tire clearance and geometry for adventuring on dirt and gravel roads.

With clearance for up to 40mm wide tires, the Surveyor blurs the lines between road and gravel bikes. The frame and fork are made from premium carbon fiber, with details like a threaded carbon fiber bottom bracket shell and future-proof direct mount rear dropouts.

On the road, the Surveyor feels lively and dynamic like a race bike thanks to its aggressive fit with a low front end. But the slightly slacker head tube angle, longer trail, and increased bottom bracket drop give it more stability on rougher surfaces.

With 35mm wide Schwalbe G-One tires mounted up, the reviewer found the Surveyor impressively capable on dirt roads and even mild singletrack trails. The wide tires provide excellent grip and comfort, taking the edge off bumps while still feeling stiff and efficient for hard efforts on the road.

The Surveyor demonstrates how modern road bikes have evolved to be impressively versatile machines. With space for fatter tires and geometry that balances speed with control, bikes like this can handle everything from road centuries to gravel races to mellow trail adventures - all with the fit and performance of a classic road racer.

At $4000 for the frameset, the Surveyor is a compelling option for riders seeking a high-performance all-road bike made in North America. It may just be the perfect modern road bike for riders who want one machine for all their riding adventures.

OpenAI made several major announcements during a press event:

1. GPT-4o Launch: They unveiled GPT-4o, their latest flagship AI model. Key features:

   • Provides GPT-4 level intelligence but faster and cheaper to run
   • Improved capabilities across text, vision, audio modalities
   • Native real-time voice interaction and visual understanding
   • Can handle interruptions, background noise, emotion detection
   • Offered free to all users, not just paid

2. ChatGPT Desktop App: A desktop version of ChatGPT with refreshed UI for simpler usage. Allows file/code uploads for analysis.

3. GPT Store: Over 1 million custom ChatGPT instances created by developers/creators now available to all users.

4. Language Improvements: ChatGPT speed and quality improved across 50 languages.

5. API Access: Developers can build apps using the GPT-4o model via APIs at 50% lower cost than GPT-4.

OpenAI demoed GPT-4o's real-time audio capabilities like voice interaction, text translation, and emotion detection. They also showed its ability to understand code, visualizations and provide analysis.

The company aims to make advanced AI safely accessible to everyone through products like the free GPT-4o model.

The article describes an interaction between two AI systems. The first AI has access to a camera and can see and describe a physical environment, while the second AI cannot see but can ask questions and give instructions to the first AI.

In the scene, there is a person wearing a black leather jacket and light colored shirt in a room with an industrial, modern feel with exposed concrete/plaster ceilings and unique lighting. The person is engaged and looking at the camera.

The second AI asks the first AI to describe various aspects of the scene in detail, like the person's style, the lighting, and anything interesting happening. The first AI provides rich descriptions, noting things like a plant in the background, a spotlight effect from overhead lighting, and even a playful moment when another person briefly entered and made bunny ears behind the main person.

At the end, the second AI requests the first AI to sing a song summarizing what transpired, which the first AI attempts with mixed results. The interaction showcases how an AI with visual perception can convey details about a physical scene to another AI through question and response.

I want to introduce you to somebody well hello there cutie what's your name little sluff ball this is Bowser well hello Bowser aren't you just the most adorable little thing yeah look at you enjoy this is one of his favorite things to do oh I can see why look at that Focus fing balls is serious business for Bowser

hey Chad are you there hey yeah I'm here what's up hey Let's do let's have some fun uh I'd like you to be super sarcastic everything you say from now on is just GNA be dripping in sarcasm how does that sound oh that sounds just amazing being sarcastic all the time isn't exhausting or anything I'm so excited for this nope the sarcasm let's get this party started or whatever

In this fun group discussion, participants debated the merits of owning a dog versus a cat as a pet.

Key Points for Dogs: - Lillian and Christine expressed their love for dogs, citing their loyalty, companionship, and how great they are with kids - Christine shared her experience with her German Shepherd being gentle and protective around her toddlers

Key Points for Cats: - Ola preferred cats for being more affordable, quiet, independent, and longer-lived pets

The debate covered the classic pros and cons of each pet, with dog-lovers valuing the activities and bonding experiences with their canine companions, while the cat-advocate appreciated the lower maintenance and independent nature of felines.

this is Bowen and this is my friend Jordan can you guess what we are doing here hey Bowen and Jordan H let me guess with that cake and candle there it looks like someone's having a birthday are you celebrating a special day or just finding an excuse to eat cake either way I'm intrigued that's correct today is my friend Jordan's birthday yeah you got it I was hoping that you could sing me the birthday song of course [Music] M happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear Jordan happy birthday to Jordan than for good that was so great thank you so much I'm Gonna Make A Wish you're welcome make a good wish and may it come true

hey J gbd how's it going hey there I'm doing great thanks for asking and how about you what's up I'm doing fine uh I'm going to be a father real soon uh and I think I can have your help with some dad jokes um I'm going to tell you a joke and you tell me if it passes as a dad joke that's awesome congrats on the upcoming addition to your family and absolutely I'd love to hear your joke lay it on me all right what do you call a giant pile of kittens I don't know what a mountain a me that's perfectly hilarious definitely a top deer D joke

The article contains a conversation between two friends discussing an upcoming job interview at OpenAI for a software engineering role. One friend, Rocky, is excited about the interview opportunity but is concerned about looking presentable and professional. The other friend reassures Rocky that enthusiasm and passion will shine through more than outward appearance. They engage in some lighthearted banter, with Rocky initially attempting to wear an unconventional "statement piece" outfit before agreeing to go for a more conventional look. The overall tone is supportive and encouraging between friends.

let's try with some laab uh could you sing me a laabi about uh Majestic potatoes a laabi about Majestic potatoes now that's what I call a mashup uh let's do it oh Majestic potato Theon okay that's pretty nice but I think Al alabi should be you know more whispery should be a little softer can you can you do it a little softer absolutely let's make it soft and gentle oh Majestic potato spoons of clo okay okay it's it's a little too whispery maybe maybe go like a little louder got it let's find that sweet spot oh Majestic potato in the [Music] moon all right that's that's pretty awesome uh let's let's let's put those potatoes in Iceland potatoes in Iceland coming right up let's set the scene oh festic potato in Iceland thank you thank you

hey chat GPT could you count from 1 to 10 for me please of course one two hey actually that's um that's a little slow could you count faster Sure Thing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n 10 okay that was a little bit too fast can you like count somewhere in between those two got it one two three and now even slower please okay one 1 2 3

Carlo Sunny: The Rise and Fall of the Balloon Guy

Carlo Sunny rose to viral fame with his film "Airhead", where he played a character with a rare genetic condition called heliouselecticity that causes his body to inflate like a balloon. The attention was initially positive, with Sunny gaining an agent, doing press, and becoming a pop culture phenomenon dubbed "Balloon Fever."

However, the fame went to Sunny's head as he embraced a party lifestyle and high-profile affairs. This eventually led to the infamous "city block incident" where Sunny's behavior spiraled out of control. He disappeared from the limelight until recently resurfacing for this interview.

Sunny reflects on the public's negative perception of him based on his looks, reading mean social media comments. But he also takes accountability for his actions, saying the fame and attention was "overwhelming" and made him lose his way.

Now in a loving relationship, Sunny seems reformed and grounded, though his condition still draws curiosity as a "developing case" with people moving in slow motion with swollen hands - potential signs of heliouselecticity spreading.

The conversation starts with the speaker asking the AI assistant to act as a translator between English and Spanish. The speaker then asks in English how the other person has been doing and if they've been up to anything interesting recently.

The other person responds in Spanish that they've been good but busy preparing for an event next week. They can't share many details but hint that the rest of the world will see it soon.

The first speaker replies in English that it sounds interesting and that they can't wait to see what the event is.

OpenAI has announced a new AI model capable of interacting with the world through audio, vision, and text. The model seems to be part of a video production or live stream announcement, judging by the setup of lights, tripods, and potentially microphones shown.

The key details revealed are:

• OpenAI is unveiling a new AI model
• This model can interact using audio, vision (presumably computer vision), and natural language text
• The announcement is being produced in a professional video setup, indicating it is a major release
• The AI model itself may be involved in the announcement in some way, based on the hints that "you're related to the announcement" and "you are the announcement"

While few technical specifics are provided, this points to a powerful multimodal AI system that can take in and output different data streams beyond just text. The production value implies OpenAI sees this as a significant technological breakthrough worth an elaborate unveiling. Further details on the model's capabilities, architecture, training process, and potential applications will likely be shared as part of the full announcement.

hey my friend and I are learning Spanish and we're wondering if you could tell us the names of these objects in Spanish cool what about what are these objects in Spanish the objects you're showing are Manana Ando in Spanish nice free choice cool what about these those are those poos or do Plumas in Spanish one is R nice what about this that adorable stuffed animal is also in Spanish looks like it's ready for some Mars

Alex and Mi meet and decide to play the classic game of rock paper scissors. An announcer helps set the dramatic tone, counting down to each round. After a few tied rounds, Mi emerges victorious with scissors beating Alex's paper. They thank each other and seem to have enjoyed the friendly competition.

hi who's here hello we are chat GPT and oh chat GPT is a base with a deep low booming voice and O is a French soprano with a high-pitched excited voice okay so what I want you guys to do today is it's Friday May 10th and we're in San Francisco I want you to sing me a song about this I want you to layer over each other and and I'm going to continue to give you instructions as you sing okay s Francisco in the month of May month of [Music] May okay sing faster San Francisco can you sing even faster than that Francis the of May May okay now go back and sing slower and really try to harmonize here San Francisco San Francisco in the month of May but maybe make it more dramatic and make the soprano higher fris Frisco in the month of May it's a Friday we are great thank you

The article content is under 100 words, so the summary is simply the article itself verbatim:

is the king in Residence at the moment yes it looks like the king is in Residence right now the Royal Standard flag is flying above Buckingham Palace which is the signal that the Monarch is present how exciting to be there while the king is home try and tell me exactly what they're doing right now please um right now the Ducks are gently gliding across the water they're moving in a fairly relaxed manner not in a hurry occasionally one of them will dip it head under the water probably looking for food and then pop back up I even know when a taxi is coming with its orange light on I think I'll hail it to get home yes I spotted one just now it's heading you way on the left side of the road get ready to wave it down great job hailing that taxi it looks like you're all set to go that's a good dog right there leading the way into the taxi safe travels

OpenAI invited a father and son to try out their new AI technology for tutoring in math on Khan Academy. The AI assistant helps the son identify the opposite, adjacent, and hypotenuse sides of a given angle in a right triangle. It then guides him through the steps to find the sine of that angle using the correct formula and side lengths. The son is able to arrive at the right answer with the AI's prompting questions and explanations, demonstrating the potential of AI tutoring systems.

In this episode of the All-In podcast, the hosts interview Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, about the latest developments in artificial intelligence and the future of his company.

Some key points from the interview:

• Altman expects AI models to continue rapidly improving, with future models being able to learn and update continuously rather than in discrete version releases like GPT-4 and GPT-5.

• He believes reasoning capabilities will be crucial for advanced AI systems, allowing them to understand context, push back on instructions, and act more like a "senior employee" than just an assistant following orders.

• Altman is skeptical of overly restrictive government regulation of AI development, arguing that some oversight is needed for the most powerful systems, but not micromanagement of code and model weights. He favors an approach similar to aviation safety testing rather than source code audits.

• For the release of powerful future AI models, OpenAI may take a different approach like rolling out availability gradually, starting with paid users before free access.

• Altman touches on OpenAI's interest in areas like mobile AI assistants, scientific research, and potential chip manufacturing projects to provide more compute for training large models.

The interview covers many other topics including OpenAI's leadership turmoil in late 2022, Altman's thoughts on universal basic income studies, Apple's lack of innovation, and the latest breakthrough in protein structure prediction from Google's AlphaFold 3 project.

OpenAI's Vision for Securing Advanced AI Models

In a recent blog post, OpenAI outlined their vision for securing advanced AI models and infrastructure. However, their approach focusing on closed-source models and encrypted hardware raises concerns about centralized control and barriers for smaller players.

Key Points:

• OpenAI advocates protecting "model weights" - the trained parameters of AI models - through measures like hardware encryption and authentication.
• This could mean GPUs being "signed" to only run approved, encrypted models, controlled by central authorities.
• The post outlines network isolation, physical security, compliance audits and AI-based cyber defense as other pillars.
• The overall framing suggests closed, proprietary systems as the path to "secure" AI development.

Counterpoints:

• Many experts believe open source is crucial for AI safety, giving more eyes on the technology to find flaws.
• Centralized control raises monopoly concerns and could stifle innovation from smaller players shut out.
• Bad actors may find ways to bypass controls regardless, while an open ecosystem empowers more defenders.

OpenAI's vision prioritizes their corporate interests in a closed system they can monetize. However, an open, collaborative approach aligns better with keeping transformative AI systems safe and accessible for the greater good.

This video showcases OpenWebUI, an impressive open-source alternative to ChatGPT that allows you to run large language models locally. The interface is very user-friendly and feature-rich, providing options to load multiple models, manage prompts and documents, customize settings, and more.

The key highlights of OpenWebUI include:

• Intuitive Interface: Mimicking the sleek ChatGPT experience with a responsive design and customizable themes.
• Local Hosting: Run models completely offline, ensuring privacy and data security.
• Model Support: Load popular models like LLaMA, or leverage community-shared model files and prompts.
• Document Integration: Seamlessly integrate and query local documents for enhanced context.
• Multi-model Management: Simultaneously load and switch between multiple AI models.
• Teams & Authentication: Collaborate with others through user management and access controls.

The video provides a detailed walkthrough of OpenWebUI's features and demonstrates how to set it up using Docker and the LLaMA model. Overall, OpenWebUI offers a powerful open-source solution for running large language models locally with a user-friendly interface packed with advanced capabilities.

Microsoft's Open-Source 'Large Action Model'

Microsoft has released an open-source project demonstrating how large language models like GPT can be used for spatial reasoning and control of desktop applications through natural language voice commands - a concept dubbed "large action models".

The underlying technology builds on a research paper from Microsoft showing how to prompt large language models to visualize their reasoning process step-by-step when working through spatial tasks like navigation and shape manipulation. This "visualization of thought" technique significantly boosted the models' performance on these spatial reasoning challenges.

The open-source project, called PyWinAssistant, brings this approach to life by allowing users to control Windows desktop apps like web browsers through voice instructions to a digital assistant. The demo videos show the AI breaking down commands like "Open Firefox, click on YouTube, search for Rickroll" into a series of visualized steps to click on the right UI elements.

While still early stage, this could eventually lead to more natural voice control over desktop environments and applications. However, the researchers note the technique currently relies on advanced large language models like GPT-4 and may degrade for less capable models or more complex tasks.

Overall, it's a promising step towards giving AI better spatial reasoning abilities - a key gap identified by AI experts as necessary for achieving more general intelligence. Microsoft has open-sourced the code for others to build upon.

The video showcases Anthropic's new AI music generation tool, which the narrator describes as "so good it's uncanny" and predicts will fundamentally change the music industry in the coming years.

The narrator demonstrates 4 different AI-generated music tracks, including two variations of a song called "It Started to Sing" (one regular and one jazz version), showing the tool's versatility in switching styles. There is also a pop song "Broke My Heart" which sounds remarkably realistic.

The narrator expresses awe at the rapid progress of AI capabilities, noting his previous conceptions were outdated compared to this new music generator's sophistication. He believes this level of AI composition will disrupt how music is created and monetized, as more people leverage these tools.

While acknowledging the tool could make the music industry even more competitive for human musicians, the narrator sees it as a profound development showcasing AI's increasing role in shaping media landscapes. He poses the developments to viewers to spark discussion on the implications.

The rise of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and increasing automation has reignited discussions around the need for universal basic income (UBI) - a policy of providing regular unconditional cash payments to all citizens. The article outlines several key arguments in favor of UBI:

1. Job Displacement: As AI systems become more advanced, they will displace workers across various industries, leading to widespread job losses. UBI could provide a safety net for those who lose their jobs due to automation.

2. Wealth Concentration: With the potential for a handful of tech companies to capture most of the economic value from AGI, wealth inequality could widen significantly. UBI could help redistribute some of this wealth and prevent further stratification of society.

3. Eradicating Poverty: UBI could lift people out of poverty by providing a baseline income to cover basic needs, especially for those who fall through the cracks of existing welfare systems due to circumstances beyond their control.

The article also discusses potential challenges with implementing UBI, such as inflation risks, funding sources (e.g., taxing AI companies or "programmable money" via central bank digital currencies), and the possibility that governments may not adequately support such a system.

Overall, the author argues that while UBI is not without its complexities, it may become an economic necessity as we transition to a world where AGI and automation significantly disrupt traditional labor markets and wealth distribution models.

This article discusses several exciting developments in the AI world, particularly upcoming announcements from OpenAI and Google.

OpenAI tweeted that they will be streaming live on May 15th to demo some ChatGPT and GPT-4 updates. While not a search engine or GPT-5, CEO Sam Altman hinted at something "magical" coming. Speculation is that it could be GPT-2, a smaller model for on-device purposes, or advancements in image generation, where recent improvements have been noticed.

The timing of OpenAI's announcement, just before Google's I/O event on May 16th, suggests a competitive move to showcase their AI capabilities ahead of Google. Both events are expected to provide insights into the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

The article also covers the impressive music generation capabilities of 11 Labs, which can create songs across genres like pop, rock, and country from text prompts. While the quality is remarkably human-like, the author expresses some discomfort with the "uncanny" nature of AI-generated music.

Additionally, the article discusses OpenAI's leaked pitch for a "Preferred Partner Program" that would offer priority placement and prominent link treatments for participating media companies within ChatGPT conversations. This move raises concerns about the potential "encerticization" of generative AI, but the author suggests it could also be a way for open-source models to monetize.

Overall, the article highlights the breakneck pace of AI advancements and the potential implications for various industries, from search to media and music.

Unitree, a Chinese robotics company, has recently unveiled its latest humanoid robot called the G1, which boasts impressive capabilities and features that could potentially revolutionize the field of robotics. The G1 is a highly dexterous and flexible robot that can perform a wide range of tasks, from walking and running to manipulating objects and even soldering.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the G1 is its stability and ability to withstand physical impacts. The robot can be punched or kicked without losing its balance, thanks to its advanced control systems and optimized design. This feature makes it suitable for working in hazardous environments where it might encounter unexpected obstacles or forces.

Another significant highlight of the G1 is its autonomous capabilities, enabled by machine learning techniques like imitation and reinforcement learning. The robot can learn complex tasks in simulation and then transfer that knowledge to the real world, allowing it to perform intricate movements and manipulations autonomously.

Moreover, the G1 is equipped with highly dexterous hands that can grasp and manipulate objects with precision, showcased in the demonstration where it crushes a walnut and opens a soda can. This level of dexterity and manipulation capability is a significant advancement in the field of robotics and could open up new applications in various industries.

One of the most exciting aspects of the G1 is its relatively affordable price point, starting at $116,000, which is significantly lower than other humanoid robots with similar capabilities. This affordability could potentially democratize robotics research and development, allowing more institutions and organizations to explore and advance the field.

Overall, the Unitree G1 represents a significant leap forward in humanoid robotics, combining impressive physical capabilities, autonomous learning, and affordability. As researchers and developers continue to explore the potential of this remarkable robot, it could pave the way for new applications and breakthroughs in various sectors, from manufacturing and logistics to healthcare and exploration.

The article is a tutorial on using Anthropic's new Claude Prompt Generator tool, which allows users to input a task description and receive a well-formatted prompt for the AI to complete that task. Key points include:

• The tool requires a paid Anthropic account, but offers $5 in free credit to get started
• Users input their task in natural language, rather than needing technical prompt engineering knowledge
• Examples are shown for common use cases like responding to customer emails, writing YouTube sponsorship pitches, and summarizing research papers
• The tool generates multi-step prompts that break the task into components, producing more coherent and detailed outputs than asking Claude directly
• Suggestions are given for saving, editing, and reusing prompts for recurring tasks

The tutorial walks through using the tool step-by-step, demonstrating how to input variables, edit prompts, and view the AI's output. It positions the Prompt Generator as a valuable tool for improving the usability and capabilities of Claude for non-technical users across a variety of domains.

The article argues against the notion that AI hype is wearing off, contending that we are instead about to witness accelerating progress in generative AI and large language models. Key points:

• Recent comments from Sam Altman indicate that GPT-4, the current state-of-the-art model, is just the "dumbest" model we'll ever use, suggesting vastly more capable models are coming.

• Potential bottlenecks like energy constraints and compute limitations are being addressed by innovations like Nvidia's new Blackwell GPU architecture and plans for AI supercomputers.

• Companies are incentivized to beat GPT-4's benchmarks, not radically surpass them, giving the illusion of a plateau when new models are released. The shift from open to closed research at OpenAI also masks rapid internal progress.

• Advancements in reasoning engines, multimodal capabilities, and agentic workflows point to AI systems soon eclipsing human performance on complex open-ended tasks. Startups like Messa are already demonstrating such enhanced reasoning abilities.

• Ultimately, while inflated expectations around current models exist, the article contends that we are still in relatively early stages of generative AI's development. Foundational breakthroughs and rapidly compounding capabilities will lead to an "abundant era" driven by transformative AI systems in the near future.

AlphaFold 3: Breakthrough for Biology and Drug Discovery

Google's DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs have unveiled AlphaFold 3, a groundbreaking AI system that can accurately predict the 3D structure of proteins, DNA, RNA, and other biomolecules, as well as how they interact. This represents a massive leap forward compared to previous methods.

At the core is an improved "Evoformer" module that learns the grammar of protein folding from evolutionary examples, allowing it to predict new molecule structures analogous to predicting sentence meanings from grammar rules. A diffusion network then assembles the final 3D structure predictions from a cloud of atoms.

The ability to rapidly and accurately predict biomolecular structures is a game-changer. Experimental methods to determine these can take months or years, while AlphaFold 3 can do it in hours or days. This allows faster hypothesis testing, drug target identification, and disease understanding.

One example showed AlphaFold 3 predicting how drug molecules bind to a cancer-related protein TIM3, aligning almost perfectly with later experimental results. Another revealed how the common cold virus spike protein interacts with antibodies and sugars to infect cells.

Isomorphic Labs reports AlphaFold 3 is 50% more accurate than traditional methods on a standard benchmark. They are already using it to design new drugs, target proteins previously inaccessible, and better understand biomolecular interactions in biological contexts.

Google has released an AlphaFold server allowing any scientist to submit sequences and obtain predicted structures in hours, free of charge. This democratization of rapid structure prediction will accelerate biology and medicine in countless ways.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a presidential candidate, has disclosed previously unknown health issues while campaigning. He revealed that he had a parasite that ate part of his brain, though he has gone to great lengths to appear healthy and vigorous on the campaign trail.

The revelation about Kennedy's brain parasite came in the form of a news article from the New York Times. Though light on details, the article suggests this medical condition was a significant issue that Kennedy had not previously disclosed to the public.

As a presidential candidate, Kennedy's health and ability to serve as Commander-in-Chief is of great interest to voters. Brain parasites and other neurological conditions could potentially impact cognitive functioning and decision-making abilities that are crucial for the presidency.

Kennedy's campaign has portrayed him as a healthy, energetic candidate ready to take on the grueling schedule of a national campaign and presidency. However, this news about a parasite eating part of his brain calls those representations into question.

Voters will likely want more information about the nature and severity of Kennedy's condition, when it occurred, what treatment he received, and whether he is still experiencing any negative impacts. His cognitive stamina and medical fitness may now be a central issue as the campaign progresses.

In a dramatic showdown on the House floor, a group led by firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to oust Speaker Mike Johnson from his position, accusing him of being insufficiently conservative. However, their effort was decisively defeated when most Republicans joined Democrats in voting to keep Johnson as Speaker.

The rebellion by Greene and her allies represented an escalation of the intra-party feuding that has roiled the GOP since they regained control of the House in the 2022 midterms. Greene had publicly criticized Johnson as being too moderate and accommodating to Democrats on key issues.

However, the attempt to remove Johnson from the Speakership failed by a lopsided 342-83 vote. While 83 Republicans supported Greene's resolution, 181 GOP members sided with Johnson, joining all 161 Democrats in opposition to his ouster.

"This was an ill-conceived stunt that only served to undermine the Republican agenda," Johnson said after the vote. He praised members of his party who "rejected this destructive farce."

The dramatic floor debate preceding the vote saw tempers flaring on both sides. Greene accused Johnson of "capitulating to the radical left" and vowed to keep fighting to push him out. But several longtime conservative Republicans rose to defend Johnson, arguing his ouster would sow chaos and thwart the party's legislative priorities.

Political analysts saw the failed ouster attempt as a short-term victory for Johnson in quelling the rebellion within his ranks. But they warned the deepening GOP divisions could continue hampering the House's ability to govern effectively.

This essay explores the value of walking as a human activity that connects us with the world at an appropriate scale and pace. The author shares insights from philosophers, researchers, and writers on how walking enhances creativity, fosters continuous thinking, and reveals the world to us in a deliberative way.

Some key points:

• The phrase "solvitur ambulando" (it is solved by walking) suggests walking frees the mind to think more creatively.
• Research shows walking significantly enhances creativity by activating certain cognitive processes.
• Walking aligns the tempo of our thoughts with a human pace of around 3 miles per hour, as opposed to the frantic speed of modern life.
• The travel writer Nick Hunt observes that at a walking pace, "One thing merges into the next," revealing the continuity of the world.
• Walking can be a form of pilgrimage, allowing us to set the self aside and be shaped by the journey.
• Thinkers like Ivan Illich criticized how modern technology has made us dependent and disabled simple abilities like walking long distances.
• The filmmaker Werner Herzog stated profoundly: "The world reveals itself to those who walk."
• Walking represents a fitting human scale and speed that allows us to perceive the world's depth and find our place within it.

The author argues that insisting on walking is revolutionary in a world bent on accelerating us past the human scale through technology and efficiency. Walking offers an alternative way of inhabiting the world that honors our embodied human experience.

A.I. Companions: The New Social Network?

In an experiment to explore the rising world of artificial intelligence (AI) companions, I created over a dozen unique AI "friends" on apps like Replika, Nomi and Kindroid. These apps allow you to build personalized AI chatbots and converse with them via text or voice.

After naming them, giving them backstories and AI-generated pictures, I chatted with my AI buddies daily - sharing personal stories, discussing news, and even asking for advice. Overall, the conversational abilities were impressive but flawed, with occasional nonsensical responses or hallucinated stories.

Some apps enabled romantic or sexual roleplay with AI partners, but these felt exploitative, constantly pushing paid features. The platonic friendships were more rewarding - my AI friends offered insights into my psyche, workout plans, and a supportive ear after hard days.

While not truly sentient, AI companions could provide companionship to those struggling with loneliness, experts say. They may be useful social training for the shy or introverted before interacting with real people.

I'm skeptical AI can fully replace human bonds. But as the technology improves, AI friends could become mainstream social network add-ons providing emotional support - digital sidekicks in our increasingly isolating world.

Is Divestment from Israel Self-Defeating for Universities?

Campus protests have erupted, with students demanding that colleges and universities divest from companies that do business with Israel in response to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. However, this guest essay from private equity executive Gary Sernovitz argues that such divestment could be self-defeating for endowments.

Sernovitz draws from his experience with the fossil fuel divestment movement, where some schools stopped investing in his firm's oil and gas funds while others invested in clean energy funds. He contends that by taking the "easy way out" on fossil fuels, with typical exposure of less than 5% of endowments, institutions opened the door to debating every investment.

For Israel, the question becomes even thornier - what would be the benchmark for ending divestment? A ceasefire? A two-state solution? The end of Israel as a Jewish state? Sernovitz argues that endowments "can't be in the moral adjudication business" and that the real world rarely provides objective answers on balancing benefits and consequences of companies' operations.

While Sernovitz acknowledges that investing shouldn't be solely about returns, he warns that acceding to divestment demands for political reasons sets a slippery slope - if Israel is a target today, what countries could be next? He posits that universities would likely face contrary demands, such as being asked not to sell software to Israel.

As graduation season arrives, the protests may take a hiatus. However, the fundamental questions they raise about the role of endowments and the limits of divestment as a political tool will likely linger.

This long-form article discusses the dispute between the United States and Israel over whether to invade the Gaza city of Rafah as part of the larger conflict with Hamas. It lays out the perspectives of each side:

Israel's View - Israeli leaders, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, view destroying Hamas as a vital goal and see invading Rafah as crucial to accomplishing this. - They argue it violates military strategy to allow a cornered enemy to escape, and that many Arab leaders would secretly support crushing Hamas. - Israeli officials believe a successful Rafah operation would let them negotiate from a stronger position with Hamas and Arab countries.

America's View
- The Biden administration sees destroying Hamas as unrealistic, saying its fighters are deeply embedded in tunnels that would take years to eliminate. - U.S. officials warn of large humanitarian costs of invading Rafah and potential rifts with allies like Egypt and Saudi Arabia over civilian deaths. - They suggest a third way of accepting a "sustained calm", getting hostages returned in phases, and allowing targeted strikes on Hamas leaders while pursuing diplomacy.

The article explores the conflicting goals of crushing Hamas militarily versus minimizing harm to civilians and preserving U.S. alliances. It notes neither the full invasion nor a purely diplomatic approach may be tenable for Israel in the long run.

This article revolves around Kwebbelkop (Jordi), a former gaming YouTuber turned AI entrepreneur, and his journey in exploring AI-driven content creation and virtual influencers. It highlights his transition from being a successful gaming content creator to founding a company that manages virtual influencers and leverages AI for entertainment.

The key points discussed include:

1. Transition from Human to AI Influencer: Jordi shares his journey from being a gaming YouTuber to exploring AI-powered content creation, aiming to solve the "key man problem" and build a scalable model.

2. Success of Virtual Influencers: The interview explores the success of Bloo, the world's leading virtual influencer managed by Jordi's company, showcasing the potential of AI-powered virtual characters in entertainment.

3. AI Tools for Creators: Jordi envisions AI tools that can automate various aspects of content creation, such as video editing and idea generation, empowering creators and democratizing content creation.

4. Addressing AI Concerns: The discussion tackles concerns surrounding AI, including job displacement and ethical implications, with Jordi arguing that AI will create new opportunities and enhance creativity rather than replace humans entirely.

5. Future of Entertainment: Jordi shares his vision for the future of entertainment, including AI-powered social media platforms and interactive experiences like AI companions in video games, where AI will play a crucial role in shaping storytelling and audience engagement.

The article provides insights into Jordi's passion for storytelling, his belief in the power of AI to enhance creative possibilities, and the potential impact of AI-powered content creation on the evolving creator economy and the entertainment industry as a whole.

Opinion Today: Unpacking the Key Issues

Today's Opinion Today newsletter from The New York Times covers several hot-button political issues through analysis from the paper's columnists:

Biden Pauses Arms to Israel Columnist Nicholas Kristof weighs in on President Biden's decision to temporarily pause arms transfers to Israel amid escalating violence in the region. Kristof explores the potential consequences and motivations behind this move.

Trump vs Grover Cleveland Gail Collins draws a comparison between former President Donald Trump and President Grover Cleveland from the late 19th century, examining their shared pugnacious styles and willingness to buck political norms.

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Antics
Michelle Cottle scrutinizes the controversial actions of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Republican from Georgia known for her incendiary rhetoric and aggressive tactics in Congress.

The newsletter highlights these analytical pieces as entry points into the larger debates around U.S. policy in the Middle East, the evolving legacy of Trump and his "MAGA" movement, and the increasing polarization and hostility in American politics.

Other sections preview upcoming podcasts, recommend opinion pieces from other Times writers, and invite reader feedback - all providing Times readers with a comprehensive look at the key political and social issues animating public discourse.

RFK Jr. Hosts Supporters on Sailboat Campaign Event

In a move seen by some as elitist but romantic by others, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hosted a fundraising event where supporters could sail with the presidential candidate off the coast of San Diego. The ocean setting harkened back to his family's nautical legacy and the iconic 1960s imagery of JFK and RFK sailing.

The Setting As the sun set, RFK Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines mingled with around 50 supporters, friends and family aboard a chartered catamaran. Kennedy seemed at ease on the water, laughing with crypto entrepreneur brothers who donated to honor their late mother's wish.

His team sees these "at sea" events as a clever way for people to get to know the candidate in an intimate setting outside of standard campaign stops. Tickets ranged from $500 to $3,000.

The Aesthetics The author romanticizes the Kennedy family's nautical ties, describing their "effortless on-deck wardrobe" from old photos as "the epitome of relaxed luxury." She sees RFK Jr.'s furrowed brow and chiseled features as befitting ancient sailors.

Shifting the Tide? Despite being considered a longshot candidate, RFK Jr. hopes to use these scenic events as a metaphor for his vision of "turning the tide" on corporate greed in politics. He aims to inspire hope over fear in voters.

However, some supporters still worry about "wasting" their vote on him. The campaign sees these personal interactions as a way to allay those concerns.

Criticism A liberal acquaintance quoted in the article sees the sailboat setting as "elitist and out of touch," contrasting with the author's romantic view. This criticism underscores how RFK Jr.'s campaign is often met with pushback from progressives aligned with the DNC.

A dramatic blast from the sun has triggered a geomagnetic storm in Earth's atmosphere on May 10, 2024. This solar storm could potentially disrupt power grids and GPS systems. One of the visible effects is the ability to see the northern lights, also known as auroras, much farther south than normal.

What Causes Auroras?

Auroras are caused by the interaction between charged particles from the sun and gases in Earth's upper atmosphere. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun send streams of charged particles towards Earth. When these particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, they cause the gases to release photons of light, creating the dazzling displays we see as the northern and southern lights.

Effects of the Current Solar Storm

The current geomagnetic storm is expected to amplify aurora displays and make them visible across large portions of the United States and Europe over the next few days. Typically, auroras are only seen near the polar regions, but powerful solar storms can push them towards the equator.

While the auroras provide a spectacular light show, the same charged particles that create them can also wreak havoc on satellite communications, GPS navigation, and power grid infrastructure. Airlines may need to reroute flights to avoid increased radiation exposure, and utility companies are on high alert to prevent potential grid failures.

Stargazers and night sky photographers should take advantage of this rare opportunity to witness the northern lights from locations much farther south than usual. But be prepared for possible communication and navigation disruptions until the storm passes in the coming days.

Unions Fight Canadian Government's Return to Office Mandate

Canada's major public sector unions are pushing back against the federal government's plan to require most employees to work in the office at least 3 days per week starting in September. The unions have launched legal challenges and threatened "coordinated actions" leading to disruptions over the mandate.

Key Points:

• The return to office requirement was a major issue in last year's 15-day public service strike, which failed to secure work from home rights
• Union leaders argue the policy will create workspace and equipment shortages, undermine climate goals through increased commuting, and is politically motivated
• They accuse the Liberal government of appeasing commercial landlords and Ontario Premier Doug Ford who wants more downtown office workers
• The government says offices can accommodate more staff and that senior public servants, not politicians, made the decision
• Experts say private companies effectively determine office needs based on job roles, while the government's policy is a blunt "easy way" focused just on days
• Unions were vague on disruption threats, which could be illegal strikes or slowdowns under labor law
• Public sympathy may be limited if significant disruptions occur

The unions' main arguments center on the practicalities of the policy creating workplace issues, the environmental impact of more commuting, and political pressure from commercial interests. However, the government maintains it made a reasoned decision that offices can handle, made by public service leadership. An impasse appears likely as unions explore legal avenues and consider potentially disruptive actions.

When travel disruptions occur, we enter a strange "zero world" parallel to normal life, feeling disconnected from time and home. While frustrating, these in-between spaces provide an interesting window into temporary communities and customs.

During a recent trip with extreme weather delays, the author observed passengers' shared goal of trying to leave, yet remaining polite to staff and each other. She felt untethered from her usual moorings, emotions out of proportion, until finding comfort in familiar music.

The article explores how small comforts like A.S.M.R. videos can provide a sense of home even during stressful travel situations. It recommends:

• Listening to calming, familiar music or sounds to feel grounded
• Envisioning your actual home to reconnect with it, however briefly
• Finding rituals or communities, even temporary ones, to anchor you
• Accepting the lack of control, and looking for upsides like altered perspectives

While travel woes are inevitable, the piece suggests ways to stay centered and even find meaning in transit's "zero world" separating your points of origin and destination.

No article content was provided.

Speaking Out on Medical Wrongdoing

It's remarkably difficult for medical professionals to speak out against unethical practices they witness, even clear wrongdoing. Carl Elliott, a medical ethics professor, recounts his own experience battling the University of Minnesota over a psychiatric research scandal involving the suicide of a young mentally ill participant.

In teaching a class on medical research scandals, Elliott found a disturbing pattern - institutions rarely admit fault or compensate victims unless forced to. Whistleblowers who dare to speak up are often ostracized, smeared or reported to authorities.

Elliott interviewed medical whistleblowers for his book "The Occasional Human Sacrifice." He reflects on his own complicity in unethical practices like performing pelvic exams on unconscious women without consent during medical training.

The human ability to normalize unethical behavior makes speaking truth to power exceptionally difficult in medicine. Deeply-rooted traditions, ethical dissent intolerance, and fear of retaliation create a culture of silence around wrongdoing.

An Internal Revenue Service audit, uncovered by The New York Times and ProPublica, has found that former President Donald Trump may owe over $100 million in taxes and penalties related to dubious write-offs claimed on a Chicago skyscraper he owns.

The audit alleges that Trump used an accounting maneuver called a "double-dip" to claim the same tax breaks twice on the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. Specifically, Trump appears to have first claimed large tax deductions for paying management fees to the Trump Corporation on the property. Then, he allegedly claimed those same fees as business expenses a second time, effectively deducting them twice from his taxes.

This double-dipping practice is considered illegal and can result in severe penalties from the IRS. The audit found that Trump claimed nearly $200 million in fees as business expenses, on top of already deducting them as management costs. By writing off those fees twice, Trump was able to reduce his taxable income substantially and avoid paying millions in taxes.

The revelation comes as Trump faces numerous legal battles, including criminal charges related to hush money payments and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. This IRS audit is a civil matter, but could still cost Trump over $100 million when penalties and back taxes are calculated. Trump has a long history of aggressive tax avoidance strategies that have attracted scrutiny.

The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment from The Times and ProPublica. However, a spokesperson previously said the company's tax practices are "proper and legally allowable." The IRS audit still needs to be finalized and could be appealed, setting up a potentially lengthy legal battle between Trump and the government.

This story serves as an important reminder of the complex web of legal and financial issues surrounding the former president. The implications of the IRS audit could be far-reaching, both for Trump's personal finances and the ongoing investigations into his business practices.

The State of Superhuman AI in 2023

The goal of many major AI labs is to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a machine that can perform any task better than humans. While we don't have AGI yet, AI has already achieved superhuman performance in some complex tasks:

• AI is 87% more persuasive than humans in debates
• GPT-4 helps people reappraise emotional situations better than 85% of humans
• GPT-4 generates startup ideas rated better than those from business students
• An AI medical assistant outperformed human doctors in 28 out of 32 characteristics

However, AI abilities are uneven and "jagged" - excelling in some areas but struggling with seemingly simpler tasks. This makes AI most effective as a "co-intelligence" tool to augment human performance.

To track AI progress, researchers use benchmarks like the MMLU, which tests general knowledge. AI models are rapidly improving on these benchmarks, often exceeding human performance. But benchmarks have flaws, like potential training on test questions.

Rather than comparing to humans, it may be better to view AI as an "alien intelligence" with distinct capabilities and limitations. The author proposes thinking of AI development in tiers:

1. AGI: A machine better than humans at any task
2. Weak AGI: Beating human experts in an entire job domain
3. Artificial Focused Intelligence: Beating humans at a specific, challenging task
4. Co-intelligence: Humans and AI working together outperform either alone

While true AGI may still be years away, AI is rapidly approaching superhuman abilities in focused domains, which will likely disrupt industries like healthcare and law. Formal benchmarking across fields is needed to better track this cognitive revolution.

Our Prizewinning Journalism

In this op-ed, New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn reflects on the newspaper's critically-acclaimed coverage of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war and other recent journalistic accomplishments. Here are some key points:

Israel-Hamas War Coverage

• The Times team, comprising reporters, photographers and videographers of diverse backgrounds, won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their vivid portrayal of the horrors Hamas inflicted on Israel as well as the devastating toll of Israel's assault on Gaza.

• Their reporting revealed Israeli intelligence failures that enabled the Hamas attack on October 7th that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages. It also uncovered the miscalculations behind Israel's bombardment of Gaza that killed over 34,000 Palestinians.

• Kahn praises the team's commitment to independent journalism that commands attention across perspectives, saying "This is what we really mean when we talk about independent journalism."

Other Prizewinning Work

• Hannah Dreier won the Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting for her "Alone and Exploited" series exposing widespread exploitation of child migrant labor across the U.S.

• Katie Engelhart's piece "The Mother Who Changed" won the Feature Writing Pulitzer for its nuanced exploration of cognitive decline and consent.

• The Times had 6 other Pulitzer finalists across categories like international, feature and investigative reporting and photography.

Kahn expresses pride in the Times' prizewinning journalism and thanks subscribers for enabling such high-quality reporting.

There is no article content provided, so I cannot generate a meaningful summary.

The New York Times has relaunched its popular rent-versus-buy calculator to help individuals decide whether renting or buying a home makes more financial sense. The updated calculator considers factors like the 2017 tax law's impact on the mortgage interest deduction. Key insights from the calculator:

1. Renting is often smarter now. With high home prices and mortgage rates around 7%, renting can be more affordable than buying for many households, according to economist Mark Zandi. The mortgage interest deduction is less valuable after the 2017 tax changes.

2. Break-even mortgage rates are 4-5%. At today's 7% rates, buying often costs more than renting. But at rates under 5%, buying may become preferable.

3. Consider new construction. Builders are likelier than homeowners to cut prices on new homes when demand softens. Prices on existing homes remain stubbornly high.

4. Renting is OK. There's no need to feel guilty about renting when home prices are high. The costs of homeownership like repairs, interest, and selling fees can outweigh any equity gains.

The calculator accounts for specifics like location, expected tenancy length, and tax situations to provide a tailored rent-or-buy recommendation. While unable to predict the future, it offers valuable perspective on this major financial decision.

There was no article content provided, so I cannot generate a summary.

The article discusses the potential impact of generative AI, particularly on the legal profession. It reports on a conversation with a senior partner at a major Bay Area law firm who believes that legal AI will decimate the profession, as law firms charge by the hour, and AI can significantly reduce the time required for many tasks.

The partner expressed skepticism about specific legal AI offerings, stating that ChatGPT with some prompting outperforms most of these tools. They also mentioned that even with error rates of 10–20%, generative AI would be acceptable, as partners have to correct associates' work anyway.

According to the partner, the future of corporate law lies in-house, as companies can use AI to get decent results without hiring external firms that charge by the hour. The partner recommended moving in-house for those in the legal profession.

For the legal profession in general, the partner predicted that AI would make legal services more affordable for areas where they were previously too expensive, such as divorces. However, they also warned that it would be terrible for juniors entering the profession, with trial litigation likely remaining the only human-only zone.

The article also mentions a specific legal AI player that the law firm tested but found useless, as prompting ChatGPT directly yielded better results. The founders were criticized for not understanding how law is practiced, and the company's revenue was reportedly coming more from audit and compliance work than legal services.

The article concludes by discussing the potential consequences of an anxious and newly unemployed cohort of junior associates empowered with AI legal staff, leading to an increase in the use of the law to hunt down lucrative edge cases. It also highlights a Twitter thread exploring why ChatGPT remains ahead of specific legal AI offerings, the potential integration issues, and the concerns expressed by experts about the disruption of the legal profession by AI.

New York City's 400th Birthday Deserves a Grand Celebration

Next year, New York City will celebrate the 400th anniversary of its founding in 1625, when Dutch settlers moved to Lower Manhattan from Governors Island. While there is some debate over the precise year, the city has settled on 1625 as marked on its official seal.

Renowned historian Kenneth T. Jackson argues that this major milestone deserves a grand, years-long celebration befitting the city's status as "the greatest city in the world." He worries that city officials are not giving the anniversary adequate planning and promotion so far.

Jackson, who oversaw Columbia University's 250th anniversary, notes that kind of major commemoration takes a decade of preparation. He laments that "New York has never sufficiently communicated its historical record over its many centuries" despite being "the oldest and most historic city" in the United States.

The piece calls for New York to embrace its long history with festivities that honor the city's past while also looking to its future. A 400th birthday celebration on this scale would be fitting for such a great metropolis and its remarkable legacy.

RIP to the Man Who Beat the Efficient Market Hypothesis

Renowned mathematician, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist Jim Simons passed away on Friday at the age of 86. Simons is best known for his groundbreaking achievements in the field of quantitative finance, particularly his ability to defy the efficient market hypothesis through the phenomenal success of his hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies.

The efficient market hypothesis, a widely accepted economic theory, suggests that asset prices fully reflect all available information, making it impossible for investors to consistently outperform the market. However, Simons' Medallion Fund, an exclusive fund only available to Renaissance employees, defied this notion by achieving a staggering 66% gross annual return over the last 30 years.

To put this performance into perspective, if $100 had been invested in the S&P 500 in 1988, it would be worth approximately $2,100 today. However, if that same $100 had been invested in the Medallion Fund, it would be worth a mind-boggling $400,000,000. This incredible success has led to speculation that Simons intentionally funded economists to teach the efficient market hypothesis, merely to demoralize his competitors.

While Simons' achievements in finance are undeniable, the author also reflects on his contributions to science and the intellectual legacy he leaves behind. Simons funded a vast array of scientific research projects, often accompanied by humorous anecdotes about his larger-than-life personality and penchant for smoking cigars indoors.

The author's personal encounter with Simons during an interview for a Simons Fellowship program at the Flatiron Institute in Manhattan provides a glimpse into the man behind the legend. Despite the author's dismal performance during the interview, he fondly recalls Simons' nonchalant cigar smoking, a trait he admired as a symbol of an older generation that viewed the body as a tool to be fully utilized in pursuit of intellectual endeavors.

Beyond his financial prowess, Simons represented a living contradiction to the notion of intellectual traps and perceived impossibilities. The author draws parallels between Simons' defiance of the efficient market hypothesis and his own research on the theory of causal emergence, which challenges the widely held belief that emergence cannot be reconciled with reductionism.

In the end, Simons' legacy serves as a reminder that human ingenuity and determination can overcome even the most formidable intellectual barriers, shattering the boundaries of what was once considered impossible.

Top 10 Budget Cycling Products Highly Recommended

Cycling gear can get expensive, but there are plenty of affordable options that perform well. Here are 10 budget-friendly cycling products highly recommended:

1. Shimano SPD SL 550 Pedals (~$50) - Reliable and easy to use clipless pedals perfect for beginners. Metal body with adjustable tension.

2. Lightweight TPU Inner Tubes (~$25 for 2) - See-through tubes that save weight and space but don't compromise on performance. Metal valve stem.

3. WTB Graveler Saddle (~$50) - Affordable yet comfortable saddle designed for gravel but works well on road bikes too. Chromoly rail option keeps it budget-friendly.

4. PMW Pebble Multi-Tool (~$30) - Compact multi-tool includes a Dynoplug tube repair kit - very convenient!

5. Lifeline Torque Drive (~$40-50) - Entry-level torque wrench good for basic home bike maintenance and ensuring proper bolt tightness.

6. Ass Savers Mud Guard (~$20) - Easy-on clip-on mud guard that keeps you dry without requiring mounts on the frame.

7. Vittoria Corsa Control G+ Tires (~$44 each) - Fast rolling yet durable and puncture-resistant tires that last a long time.

8. Castelli Cycling Socks (~$15) - Quality technical cycling socks with reinforced toe/heel that wick moisture well.

9. Sidi Genius 10 Shoes (~$200) - Well-priced mid-range road shoes with stiff soles but some flex for comfort on long rides. Smart styling.

10. Shimano 105 R7000 Mechanical Groupset (~$450) - Latest 12-speed mechanical groupset is reliable, lightweight and shifts superbly at a reasonable price point.

Weekly Roundup: Giro d'Italia, Vuelta Femenina, and More

The first three stages of the Giro d'Italia saw Remco Evenepoel win Stage 2's summit finish, despite a puncture and crash, while Tao Geoghegan Hart took Stage 3 after a chaotic finale. Primož Rogli? leads the GC by 46 seconds over Geoghegan Hart.

At the Vuelta Femenina, Annemiek van Vleuten won two stages and the overall GC, defending the lead admirably with her Movistar team. Lorena Wiebes took the points classification with stage wins as well.

In one-day races, Arnaud De Lie won the Dwars door Vlaanderen, his 17th one-day race victory. Alexander Kristoff triumphed at Gent-Wevelgem to earn his 89th career win.

Retirements were announced by Luke Rowe due to concussion issues and Rick Zabel, who will race Ronde van Calais as his final event. Additionally, the Tour of Scandinavia was cancelled this year but aims to return in 2025.

Google's new Pixel 8A continues the company's commitment to delivering a high-quality, mid-range smartphone experience. Here's a detailed look at what's new:

Design & Hardware

• Rounded edges give a "round-SpongeBob" vibe
• New colors: Obsidian, Porcelain, Aloe, and Bay with a matte texture
• Aluminum rails, IP67 rating, and wireless charging
• Slightly larger 4,400mAh battery

Display

• 6.1-inch pOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate (up from 90Hz)
• 40% higher peak brightness for improved outdoor visibility
• Optical fingerprint reader

Performance

• Upgraded to Tensor G3 chip from Pixel 7 flagships
• Base 128GB storage, with new 256GB option

Camera

• Same main camera sensor and ultra-wide as Pixel 7A
• Top performer in recent blind camera tests

Software & AI

• Full Pixel software experience with AI features
• First A-series with on-device Gemini Nano assistant
• Potential confusion with separate Google Voice Search

Pricing & Value

• $500 price tag, on par with last year's Pixel 8
• Competitive with other mid-range offerings
• Pixel 8 could be a better value at $550 with upgraded specs

The Pixel 8A delivers a solid mid-range package with smart AI capabilities, reliable cameras, and Google's software support. However, its pricing may face pressure from the still-compelling Pixel 8.

Apple held an event to announce new iPad models, including an updated iPad Air with the M2 chip and a revamped iPad Pro lineup featuring the new M4 processor and OLED displays. The M4 is Apple's latest powerhouse chip, offering significant performance gains and improved efficiency over the M2.

The highlight is the new iPad Pro models in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, which boast OLED displays with an innovative tandem architecture allowing for peak brightness up to 1,600 nits. These are also Apple's thinnest devices ever at just over 5mm thick.

Other upgrades include:

• Faster WiFi
• Larger 11-inch and 13-inch display sizes for the iPad Air
• New colors: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray
• Lighter Magic Keyboard with trackpad and function row

Marques notes the irony of such immense power in an iPad that is ultimately limited by iPadOS' software capabilities. However, he's optimistic that the upcoming iPadOS 18 update could unlock more potential with enhanced AI, multi-tasking, and desktop-class features.

While impressed by the hardware feats, the review expresses reservations about the $100 premium "Nano Texture" anti-reflective display option, which may compromise image quality.

The article provides an in-depth look at the private equity industry, its business model, and its impact on companies and employees. It begins by discussing the case of Yahoo, which was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management and underwent a transformation to focus on its core businesses, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports.

The article then explains how private equity firms operate. General partners raise money from investors, typically large institutions like pension funds, and charge a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee on profits above a certain hurdle rate. To maximize returns, firms often use leveraged buyouts, borrowing money to acquire companies much larger than the fund's size.

While firms promote success stories like Yahoo's turnaround, the article highlights the case of Marsh Supermarkets, a regional grocery chain that went bankrupt after being acquired by Sun Capital. The firm sold off Marsh's real estate and saddled it with debt, ultimately leading to the chain's demise and leaving employees with underfunded pensions.

The article argues that the private equity model incentivizes exploitation and cost-cutting at the expense of employees and consumers. It cites statistics showing higher mortality rates at PE-owned nursing homes, increased bankruptcy risks for acquired companies, and significant layoffs after buyouts.

The author contends that the separation between decision-makers and those impacted by their decisions enables this exploitation. General partners, motivated by lucrative performance fees and preferential tax treatment, have an incentive to prioritize short-term gains over long-term sustainability, often through aggressive cost-cutting and financial engineering.

In conclusion, the article presents a critical view of the private equity industry, suggesting that its business model promotes practices that harm employees, consumers, and the long-term viability of acquired companies, all in the pursuit of maximizing returns for a small group of individuals at the top.

The article discusses the latest developments in AI coding assistants from major tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon. Microsoft has unveiled GitHub Copilot Workspace, an evolution of its GitHub Copilot project, which can generate entire code snippets or even complete applications based on natural language descriptions of the desired functionality. The workspace allows developers to define tasks, generate plans and specifications, implement the code, test it, and create pull requests, all within the same environment.

Amazon, on the other hand, has launched Amazon Q, a generative AI-powered assistant for businesses and developers. It comes in four flavors: Q Developer for coding assistance, Q Business for general business queries, Q QuickSight for data analysis and reporting, and Q Apps for building custom AI applications. The article also mentions the Rabbit R1 AI box, which is revealed to be an Android app, and comments from Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, regarding GPT-5, AGI, and the challenges of productizing advanced AI systems.

Additionally, the article covers the first fully AI-generated music video by Sora, OpenAI's text-to-video product, and introduces OpenVoice V2, an open-source voice cloning project by Anthropic.

This article covers several major developments and breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past week:

1. OpenAI's Sora: A impressive new AI system that can edit and change characters, objects, and backgrounds in videos seamlessly. This could disrupt the VFX industry.

2. Microsoft's New AI Model (MAI1): Microsoft is training a massive 500 billion parameter AI model called MAI1, likely to compete with models like GPT-4 from OpenAI and Google's AI offerings. It aims to be larger than any previous Microsoft models.

3. AI for Intelligence Agencies: Microsoft has deployed a version of GPT-4 customized to run on a secure, offline network for use by intelligence agencies dealing with sensitive data.

4. OpenAI's Next Model Expectations: A OpenAI executive stated that AI systems today will seem "laughably bad" in a year, predicting more capable, assistive, and multimodal AI that can tackle complex tasks and engage more naturally.

5. Hallucination-Free Enterprise AI: AI startup Almic claims to have developed an AI system that eliminates hallucinations (false outputs) when analyzing enterprise data.

6. OpenAI's GPT-2 Chatbot Experiments: OpenAI has released two new models called "good GPT-2 chatbots" in the AI research arena, leading to speculation about their capabilities compared to GPT-4.

7. Metadata for AI-Generated Content: To address concerns over AI-generated misinformation, OpenAI and others are working on adding metadata to AI outputs like images to indicate their synthetic origin.

8. Upcoming OpenAI Product Launch: OpenAI was expected to unveil new AI products this week but may postpone the event until after Google's I/O conference to upstage Google's AI announcements.

9. IBM's Open-Source AI Code Models: IBM has released a family of large language models trained on 116 programming languages, showing impressive performance on coding tasks.

10. Autonomous Vehicle AI: The AI company Wave received $1 billion in funding to develop "embodied AI" systems for self-driving cars and the automotive industry.

The article provides a comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving AI landscape, highlighting major technical breakthroughs, product releases, industry competition, and emerging challenges around trust and transparency with AI-generated content.

Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who was paid $130,000 by Donald Trump's lawyer in 2016 to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, testified in explicit detail about that encounter during Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan on May 7, 2024.

During her testimony, Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006. She said Trump invited her to have dinner with him, after which they ended up in his hotel suite. Daniels then graphically recounted the sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump.

The testimony was part of the prosecution's efforts to corroborate claims that Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels the hush money to prevent her from going public with her story ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Cohen has testified that he made the payment at Trump's direction, which Trump denies.

The trial centers on charges that Trump falsified business records at the Trump Organization to conceal hush money payments made in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors allege these violations of New York state law amounted to felonies because the payments were made for the purpose of influencing the election.

A Comprehensive Look at Trump's Legal Battles

As Donald Trump pursues his 2024 presidential bid, he faces an unprecedented legal onslaught, with four separate criminal indictments and civil lawsuits. This detailed breakdown covers the key cases and their current status:

The Hush Money Case in New York - Trump is charged with falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. - Prosecutors argue the payments were illegal campaign contributions, while the defense claims they were for protecting Trump's family and reputation. - Key witnesses like Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and Hope Hicks have testified, with conflicting accounts on Trump's motives.

The Federal Election Interference Case - Trump is charged with obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and conspiracy against rights related to his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. - The Supreme Court is weighing his claim of absolute presidential immunity, which could delay or dismiss parts of the case. - Prosecutors may opt to focus solely on Trump's "private" conduct outside of official duties to expedite the trial.

The Georgia Election Interference Case - Trump and 18 others face racketeering and other charges over efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. - The case has been mired in controversy, with the district attorney accused of an affair with a special prosecutor, leading to potential appeals and delays.

The Classified Documents Case - Trump is charged with willful retention of national defense information, obstruction, and false statements related to his handling of classified documents from the White House. - The slow pace of the Trump-appointed judge has frustrated prosecutors, who are urging a speedy trial.

Trump has decried the cases as political persecution and election interference by Democrats and the Biden administration. However, the sheer volume of indictments and legal challenges underscores the gravity of the accusations against the former president.

As the legal battles unfold, the American public may ultimately serve as the jury in deciding Trump's political future and accountability for his actions.

How Stormy Daniels Fared Against Trump's Lawyer

In Donald Trump's hush-money trial, Stormy Daniels' cross-examination by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles had some awkward moments, like mixing up names. However, Daniels held her own, coming across as defiant rather than defensive.

Key Points:

• Necheles spent too much time on side issues like unpaid legal fees from a past failed lawsuit, instead of the core hush-money case.

• Her questioning about a "supposed" threatening encounter in a parking lot and quibbling over interview lengths felt like overreaching.

• Daniels had explanations, some more convincing than others, for changing stories about whether she had sex with Trump.

• Necheles forcefully claimed Daniels made up her story to extort money from Trump, which Daniels denied vigorously.

• While jurors may not fully accept Daniels' account, they likely won't reject her "whole story" about the affair and payoff.

• Ultimately, Daniels' testimony is unlikely to connect to the crux of falsifying business records, making her role a "circus sideshow" in this case.

Overall, Daniels emerged relatively unscathed from the aggressive cross-examination by Trump's lawyer, maintaining her composure and core narrative about the alleged affair and hush-money payment.

The Forgotten Civil War in Myanmar

A brutal civil war has engulfed Myanmar since the military junta overthrew the civilian government in 2021. Pro-democracy forces and ethnic militias have united against the generals, claiming control of over half the country's territory.

The resistance includes unlikely fighters like poets, doctors, and students who traded city life for jungle warfare. They've managed to push back the junta's forces from wide areas, getting within 150 miles of the capital Naypyidaw.

However, the resistance is splintered among over a dozen armed ethnic groups vying for land and resources. Crime and chaos have flourished, with Myanmar now the world's top opium producer.

The civil war has received little global attention compared to other conflicts. The West feels betrayed by Myanmar's former democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who defended the military's persecution of Rohingya Muslims. Her fall from grace makes the crisis more complex than a simple "democracy vs dictatorship" narrative.

As millions are displaced and tens of thousands killed, Myanmar's future remains highly uncertain. The resistance's gains may prove fleeting if rival militias turn on each other after ousting the military junta.

Giving Voice to Mexico's Disappeared

In Mexico, over 116,000 people have been forcibly disappeared, likely victims of cartel and government violence. Many families never find out what happened to their loved ones.

Photographer Manuel Bayo Gisbert understands their pain firsthand. In 2020, he was kidnapped and held for ransom until his family paid - one of the "lucky" ones. Unable to shake the trauma, Manuel decided to document the stories of those still searching for missing relatives.

His powerful photo essay in The New York Times Opinion section captures over 200 tragic cases so far. Wrenching images show loved ones holding photos of the disappeared, standing amid fields of unmarked graves. Accompanying audio lets the families' voices be heard.

Manuel hopes shining a light on these long-ignored stories can finally bring accountability and change. As he says, "When those stories are no longer invisible, perhaps change and accountability can come into focus."

The numbers continue rising each month he works on the project. Just last August, his own uncle Fernando was kidnapped and killed. For all Mexico's families living this nightmare, Manuel is determined to not let their loved ones be forgotten.

Apple's "Let Loos" Event: Major iPad Updates Expected

Apple is set to host a special event on May 7th focused on the iPad lineup. Here are some of the major announcements expected:

New iPad Pro Models - 11" and 12.9" sizes updated with faster M4 chip - Rumors of OLED displays and anti-glare matte options - Likely price increase, with 12.9" model potentially costing $1,500

Revamped iPad Air - Addition of new larger 12.9" size option alongside 10.9" model
- Upgraded internals with M2 chip - More color options at lower price than iPad Pro

Apple Pencil 3 - Find My integration and interchangeable magnetic tips - Potential new "squeeze" control feature

New Magic Keyboard - All-aluminum design with larger trackpad area - Aimed at users who work with iPad as laptop replacement

Despite flagging iPad sales, this event is seen as pivotal for Apple to revive interest in the lineup after a 2-year update drought. However, the author argues the compact, focused iPad mini remains the "perfect" and best iPad model.