Month: June 2025

After Mattel and OpenAI announced a partnership that would result in an AI product marketed to kids, a consumer rights advocacy group is warning that the collaboration may endanger children.

It remains unclear what shape Mattel's first AI product will take. However, on Tuesday, Public Citizen co-President Robert Weissman issued a statement urging more transparency so that parents can prepare for potential risks. Weissman is particularly concerned that ChatGPT-fueled toys could hurt kids in unknown ways.

"Endowing toys with human-seeming voices that are able to engage in human-like conversations risks inflicting real damage on children," Weissman said. "It may undermine social development, interfere with children’s ability to form peer relationships, pull children away from playtime with peers, and possibly inflict long-term harm."

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There’s no shortage of dirt cheap mini PCs that sell for under $200 these days, but most use use low-cost, low-power chips like the relatively recent Intel N150 “Twin Lake” processor. The GMK G10 mini PC that’s launching in China this month takes a different approach – it uses an older AMD Ryzen 5 3500U […]

The post This $200 mini PC has an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor appeared first on Liliputing.

NFC is a protocol that enables short-range, low-speed connections between electronic devices. If you tap your phone or smartwatch to a mobile payment terminal, you’re probably using NFC. The standard also lets you quickly pair some earbuds to smartphones and other devices. But the range is pretty limited – NFC stands for Near Field Communication. […]

The post NFC Release 15 quadruples range to 2CM appeared first on Liliputing.

Google has announced a big expansion of its Gemini AI model family today. After months of tweaking and tuning, the high-power Gemini 2.5 Pro is leaving preview and is ready for developers to build on. Meanwhile, Google is offering a peek at its upcoming high-efficiency model, known as Gemini 2.5 Pro Flash-Lite. Try as it might, Google can't get away from confusing model names.

Google's AI aspirations have been looking up in 2025 with the debut of Gemini 2.5. These models showed a marked improvement over past versions, making Google more competitive with OpenAI and its popular GPT models. However, we've been inundated with previews and test builds as Google works toward general availability, which means a model is stable enough for long-term development work.

The 2.5 Flash model left preview at I/O, but Gemini 2.5 Pro lagged behind. Today, Flash is hitting general availability with the 04-17 build. Gemini 2.5 Pro is leaving preview and also reaching general availability, and as predicted, the recently revamped 06-05 build is the winner. This version aimed to address some issues that popped up in the Google I/O build of 2.5 Pro, and it appears to have worked.

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On June 18, 1983, NASA astronaut Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. National Geographic is marking the occasion with a new documentary on the astronaut's life: Sally. In addition to revisiting her storied career, the film provides an unprecedented look at the famously private Ride's personal life—notably her nearly 30-year relationship with another woman.

Director Cristina Costantini's prior work includes the 2018 Emmy-nominated National Geographic documentary Science Fair, chronicling nine teenagers' paths to competing in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. So perhaps it's not surprising that Costantini is a longtime fan of Ride since childhood. "It was just, if a girl can go to space and do all these things that women aren't supposed to do, maybe I can do big things, too," she told Ars. "I think a lot of women have the exact same reaction. If she can do it, we can do it. As I got older and I learned more about Sally, I realized, wow, she really had a very fine line to walk and she did it so masterfully."

Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012, which is when Costantini and much of the rest of the world discovered that the astronaut's business partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, was also Ride's romantic partner and had been for 27 years. "I thought, oh my God, if NASA was barely ready for women, what was this like?" said Costantini. "What was beneath the story that we had been fed our entire lives of who Sally really was? I wanted to make a film that celebrated the Sally we all knew and also celebrated the Sally we didn't know and complicate her legacy and make her a real person."

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Eine Verkettung mehrerer Ursachen führte zum großflächigen Stromausfall in Spanien. Weder erneuerbare Energien noch ein Cyberangriff gehören dazu. (Blackout, Strom)

OpenAI executives have discussed filing an antitrust complaint with US regulators against Microsoft, the company's largest investor, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between the two long-term AI partners. OpenAI, which develops ChatGPT, has reportedly considered seeking a federal regulatory review of the terms of its contract with Microsoft for potential antitrust law violations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The potential antitrust complaint would likely argue that Microsoft is using its dominant position in cloud services and contractual leverage to suppress competition, according to insiders who described it as a "nuclear option," the WSJ reports.

The move could unravel one of the most important business partnerships in the AI industry—a relationship that started with a $1 billion investment by Microsoft in 2019 and has grown to include billions more in funding, along with Microsoft's exclusive rights to host OpenAI models on its Azure cloud platform.

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At the recent media launch of the ZR1, the most powerful Corvette ever, Chevrolet also teased an even more potent variant set to debut later this year. Dubbed the ZR1X, the latest model arrives after serious anticipation that began swirling when the eighth-gen ‘Vette switched to a mid-engine layout—and especially after the E-Ray hybrid justified the design's enormous center console by filling the backbone with batteries to power a small front electric motor.

Hype online ahead of the official unveil nicknamed the top-spec car "Zora" after Zora Arkus-Duntov, the GM engineer known as the "Father of the Corvette." But instead, ZR1X follows the industry's typical alphanumeric nomenclature, where, as usual, X means all-wheel drive. The ZR1X, therefore, uses the same recipe by complementing the ZR1's 1,064 hp (783 kW) twin-turbocharged V8 with a front electric motor, resulting in a claimed combined rating of 1,250 hp (919 kW).

The same 1.9 kWh battery pack now holds 26 percent more charge than in the E-Ray, which helps bump the front motor's output from 160 to 186 hp (117 to 132 kW) and from 125 to 145 lb-ft (169 to 196 Nm). This allows GM to predict that the ZR1X will achieve a 0–60 mph (0–96 kph) time under two seconds, made possible by all-wheel-drive traction off the line.

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Die internationale Norm ISO/IEC 42001 schafft erstmals einen Standard für das Management von KI-Systemen. Ein Online-Workshop vermittelt das nötige Know-how, die Anforderungen systematisch umzusetzen - inklusive Zertifikatsprüfung. (Golem Karrierewelt, KI)

TRMNL is a small E Ink screen that you can mount on a wall, place on your desk, or put just about anywhere to display a stream of information. First launched through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in 2024, you can now buy a TRMNL device directly from the company’s website for $139 to get a […]

The post TRMNL is a $139 WiFi-enabled E Ink display with open source firmware (you can also make one from a jailbroken Kindle) appeared first on Liliputing.