Sam Altman Interview Reveals Bold Vision for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

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Y Combinator Sam Altman Interview

A recent Y Combinator interview with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, provides an in-depth look at the company’s journey toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Altman discusses the challenges and strategies involved in pursuing AGI, highlighting the importance of conviction, innovation, and adaptability in the rapidly changing tech landscape. AGI represents a significant goal in AI […]

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Sony PlayStation 5 Pro Unboxing & First Look

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PlayStation 5 Pro

The highly anticipated Sony PlayStation 5 Pro has finally arrived, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of gaming technology. As you carefully unbox the sleek package, you’ll find a treasure trove of innovative accessories, including: A state-of-the-art DualSense controller A UK power lead to ensure optimal power delivery An HDMI 2.1 cable for seamless […]

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This Rugged Android Tablet with 4 Speakers Is Your New All-Terrain Waterproof Entertainment Hub

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It’s a tablet PC, a shower speaker, your car’s infotainment system, and a portable dashboard for everything from music to video to phone calls. Meet the Nomad – a tablet-speaker that isn’t designed for productivity… it’s designed for entertainment. With a powerful speaker system, a waterproof design, and mounts that let you place the Nomad anywhere, this device doubles as your shower speaker, your smart display, a Carplay/Android Auto-compatible infotainment system, a dedicated device for Netflix and Chill whether it’s in the bedroom, living room, or poolside, and even your perfect radio alternative when you’re camping. For ages, tablets have grown thinner and their speakers weaker… and smart speakers have remained tethered to their plug points. Nomad combines both in a durable, portable package so you can carry your entertainment with you, without compromising on literally anything.

Designer: UpBeat

Click Here to Buy Now: $249 $399 ($150 off) Hurry! Only 13 days left. Raised over $113,000

The Nomad isn’t a tablet. It isn’t a speaker. It isn’t a smart home hub like the Echo Show or the Pixel Tablet. It’s a little of everything, combined into one product that offers zero compromises if you know what you’re buying it for. It’s designed purely for entertainment, which means that sleek, laptop-bag-friendly profile is a non-issue. The device is rugged, doesn’t compromise on audio quality, and is made to be used everywhere, from in your shower to your car.

With its waterproof build and four-speaker array, the Nomad was crafted with audio at its core. This device excels as a portable entertainment hub, with an audio quality that outshines any tablet’s built-in speaker system—be it the shower, the backseat of a car, or your outdoor adventures. The 4 front-facing speakers and 2 subwoofers on the side deliver rich, resonant sound (at up to 94 decibels) that rivals traditional portable speakers. Combined with a battery life of over 20 hours for music playback, the Nomad is set to keep the party going without frequent recharges.

On the inside, the Nomad runs on Android, which means it’s ready for all your favorite streaming apps, plus it has a microSD slot for expanding storage and loading up on offline content. The 8-inch HD touchscreen has a striking brightness level of 1200 nits, 20% brighter than the iPad Pro which shines at 1000 nits, making it perfect for outdoor use. The display is responsive, has an anti-glare coating, and complements the overall build of the device—it’s rugged yet refined, a rare find in tablets with a focus on durability.

The stick-on Shower Mount lets you easily dock and use your Nomad while in the shower

The built-in speaker is supplemented by microphones too, which means the tablet lets you interact with voice assistants, leave voice notes, or even take phone calls. That’s where the powerful speakers come in handy, allowing you to talk without cupping your ear to hear what the other person is saying. If you want to have a private conversation, just connect Bluetooth earbuds, or better still, use the 3.5mm jack on the Nomad to hook up your wired headphones. The only thing missing is an on-board camera, which means no photographs or even video calls.

Mounting options for the Nomad extend its functionality even further. It comes with a shower wall mount, which lets you easily slip the Nomad in while having a bath. The tablet is fully usable while bathing, so whether you’re watching a TV show or hosting your own bathroom karaoke, the Nomad lets you stay in control, unlike your phone or your Bluetooth speaker, which won’t go in the shower with you.

Outside the shower, a built-in kickstand lets you prop the Nomad up wherever you are. If you want to tether the tablet to a tree or the back of your car-seat for in-car entertainment, the tablet comes with a strap-on mount too. An optional add-on cup-holder mount lets you bring the tablet to the front seat, substituting your in-car radio or music player. When all fails, a tripod mount on the bottom lets you screw a tripod in, allowing you to position your tablet practically anywhere. And since it’s fully waterproof, you don’t have to worry about splashes or moisture damaging the device.

For in-car use, you’ve got built-in Android Auto and CarPlay compatibility, a standout feature that elevates the Nomad from a mere tablet to a full-fledged navigation and media console for your car. CarPlay integration makes the device invaluable for on-the-go use, especially if you prefer your tech streamlined and multipurpose. Mount it on a dashboard, and you have an instant navigation system paired with immersive sound quality, all accessible through the Android interface that many users will find familiar and easy to navigate.

Under the hood, the Snapdragon 662 processor keeps the Nomad humming along smoothly. Sure, it’s not the latest SoC on the market, but in a rugged device focused on reliability and battery efficiency, the Snapdragon 662 is a solid choice that provides a good balance of performance and energy efficiency. You’ll find it more than capable for streaming, navigation, and even some light gaming if the mood strikes. Although the exact battery capacity isn’t mentioned, the Nomad delivers 20 hours of audio on a full charge, and can be doubled thanks to an optional magnetic battery that snaps right on top, bringing its output to 40 hours of music, or 10 full hours of video. Both the tablet and the magnetic battery have USB-C charging, which means you can charge your Nomad anywhere.

The basic bundle starts at $249, which includes the Nomad itself along with the shower mount. The $340 Ultimate Bundle gets you all the other accessories too, like the strap-on mount, the cup mount, and that snap-on magnetic battery. No matter which bundle you pick, the Nomad ships globally, starting February 2025.

Click Here to Buy Now: $249 $399 ($150 off) Hurry! Only 13 days left. Raised over $113,000

The post This Rugged Android Tablet with 4 Speakers Is Your New All-Terrain Waterproof Entertainment Hub first appeared on Yanko Design.

Bjarke Ingels Group’s New HQ In Copenhagen Is An Energy-Efficient Concrete Wonder

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The Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is known for creating extraordinary and unique buildings, they recently designed their own headquarters, and we’re really quite curious to know more about it. The HQ is called Piranesian, and it is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is tucked away in a popular section of the Nordhavn Harbor neighborhood. It isn’t as extravagant as some of BIG’s creations and instead adopts the form of a chunky concrete building with a height of 89 feet. A 460-ft staircase wraps around the exterior of the building, forming an outdoor terrace and fire escape for all seven floors.

Designer: BIG

The building is made from Uni-Green concrete, which was developed in collaboration with Unicon. A section of the cement clinker was replaced with calcined clay and lime filler, leading to a carbon dioxide reduction of around 25% in comparison to a traditional concrete mix. The interior adopts a lot of concrete, and some wood too. It also features another large staircase that seems to zigzag through the multiple floors. The inside is designed to be free-flowing, with an ample amount of floor space left available. Natural light was maximized, and an elevator and a small secondary staircase were placed at the northern edge of the structure.

Quite a bit of greenery was incorporated around the building as well. The outdoor staircase features wind-tolerant species of trees, shrubs, herbs, and perennials. The herbs are utilized by the chefs for cooking in the staff canteen. The rooftop terrace is equipped with wood from a local sawmill and plenty more greenery. The terrace also offers lovely views of the surrounding landscape. A park was also constructed for visitors.

“At the tip of Sundmolen in Nordhavn, we’ve transformed what was once a parking lot into a 1,500-sq-m (roughly 16,000-sq-ft) beach park – a hidden gem in the heart of the city,” said Giulia Frittoli, Partner and Head of BIG Landscape. “Inspired by Denmark’s beautiful coastal landscapes, we envisioned a place where people can relax, play, fish, and connect with nature. The park reflects what would have naturally grown here before the harbor emerged, making it an homage to both the past and future.”

BIG’s HQ is designed to be pretty energy-efficient,  given its size and type. The roof is marked with solar panels to cut down on grid-based power use. A combination of a geothermal energy system and natural ventilation delivers 84% of heating requirements, and 100% of its cooling.

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Innovative ‘Self-Directed’ Desk Is Designed To Help Students Study & Focus Better

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It’s been a while since I’ve been a student, spending hours preparing for exams. But, I do recall vividly the anxiety and stress that seemed to dominate those times. If you’re a student struggling with good study habits, or even a professional prone to getting distracted, and suffering from unproductivity, then there is a desk to help you through this dilemma. Named Peask, this furniture design is a ‘self-directed and focused’ desk.

Designed by Minjeong Kim, Soyeong Kim, and Yumin Seo this conceptual desk design was created to help students study efficiently, inculcating healthy study habits. The designers noticed an increasing number of students feeling stressed with academic expectations, and being unable to study productively due to anxiety and a lack of self-direction. Hence, they created Peask to help students overcome these hurdles, enabling them to focus better and perform their best.

Designer: Minjeong Kim, Soyeong Kim, and Yumin Seo

Peask was designed to encourage students to self-study, pushing them to develop a habit where they can study by themselves, without any external pressure or force. This ‘self-directed’ study desk is equipped with multiple components and elements such as a pen holder, partitions, storage space, and a touch bar and panel. Custom height-adjustable partitions and handy storage space have been integrated to ensure students have a well-organized and tidy desk, enabling them to focus better. You can move the partitions around, to create an ideal desk setup. While the pens can be neatly organized using the additional pen holder.

There is a nifty storage space placed under the desk, so users can easily store their books and other learning equipment to create the perfect study environment, where everything is easily accessible. The touch bar can be used be adjust certain settings, for example, students can set a timer to ensure they study for the required hours. They can also set their learning record to better manage their learning curve. These nifty features help students to better understand and control how much time they spend studying, and how much spend they spend on breaks.

The partitions can be adjusted to differentiate between study time and break time, ensuring students focus while studying, and relax while taking a break. Currently, the Peask is a concept, but such a smart furniture design could help students improve their learning and concentration capabilities.

The post Innovative ‘Self-Directed’ Desk Is Designed To Help Students Study & Focus Better first appeared on Yanko Design.

Fake AirPods Pro With A Built-In TouchScreen Feels an AirPods/iPod Frankenstein’s Monster

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Apple would never… but what if they did??

This isn’t the Apple AirPods Ultra, but it sure is parading around the internet as one. Discovered on Threads, these knockoff pair of AirPods Pro (probably available on Temu if you look hard enough) have a feature that even the originals don’t. Visible the instant you unbox the earbuds, these knockoff AirPods Pro come with a touchscreen built into the case, letting you play/pause music, activate or deactivate features like ANC and Spatial Audio, and even mess with the earbuds’ equalizers. It isn’t too different from a pair of JBL Tour PRO 3 earbuds we saw two years ago at CES, except these ones are modeled exactly on Apple’s AirPods Pro.

Designer: Choice HYUNDAI

It isn’t easy to tell what the brand or model of these earbuds is (although I suspect it’s the Choice HYUNDAI HY-Y11), but it’s certainly a Chinese manufacturer trying to emulate the Apple aesthetic. The case looks almost exactly like the AirPods Pro, albeit with a black touchscreen on the front. You’ve got a USB-C at the bottom, and the interiors of the case look almost exactly like Apple’s own. The earbuds are a resounding copy too.

Flip open the case and it automatically wakes up the touchscreen, showing your earbuds status. Take one earbud out and an animation on the screen shows which earbud’s out of its case, providing a pretty nifty visual indication. The screen has touch-to-wake too, allowing you to do things like play/pause music, set a wallpaper on your “AirPods” case, and adjust features like ANC, EQ, and Spatial Audio.

On the top, you’ve also got a status bar that tells you each earbud’s battery level, case battery level, Bluetooth connectivity status, and the time. Pop the earbuds in and you can adjust your audio through the case itself without needing to take your phone out. Is it convenient? Sure. Is it necessary? I doubt.

This device basically turns the AirPods Pro into an AirPods iPod mashup. It’s cool, but highly unnecessary given that it doesn’t achieve much since you’re still taking a gadget out of your pocket to control playback. At that point, the gadget might as well be your phone. Adding a screen to the case also reduces its overall battery capacity, since the screen now chugs on the battery to remain operational.

However, if the idea of an AirPods case with its dedicated screen appeals to you, the internet is probably littered with low-cost versions of this device that you could play with for fun. Don’t expect stunning audio quality, ANC, or Spatial Audio from these shoddily-made knockoffs. Don’t expect a warranty either, since this thing literally costs $7.50 on AliExpress.

 

View on Threads

 

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The voice of AOL’s ‘You’ve got mail!’ has died at 74

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If you’re at least in your mid-30s (give or take), you know the voice of Elwood Edwards, realize it or not. He recorded the phrase, “You’ve got mail!” and three other lines for Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company later rebranded to America Online, and the rest is early internet history. Edwards died on Tuesday.

WKYC first reported (via Variety) that Edwards passed away one day before what would have been his 75th birthday. He was a longtime off-camera presence at the Cleveland TV station, working as a graphic designer, camera operator and jack-of-all-trades employee.

His wife, Karen Edwards, worked at Quantum when she heard the company’s then-CEO talking about needing a voice for the software that would soon bombard mailboxes across the US. “So, she volunteered my voice,” Edwards said in a 2012 video. “And on a cassette deck in my living room, I recorded the phrases that you’ve come to know.”

He was paid a grand total of $200 for his voiceover work.

The new-message catchphrase, recorded in Edwards’ calm and welcoming voice, became a cultural phenomenon in AOL’s ‘90s and early 2000s heyday. Of course, that included inspiring the 1998 Nora Ephron rom-com’s title.

Edwards also contributed three (lesser known but still remembered by many) AOL sayings: “Welcome,” “File’s done” and “Goodbye.” In the 2012 video, he’s depicted getting hounded by various employees, prompting him to say the thing. (AOL is currently owned by Yahoo, Engadget’s parent company.)

“So, that’s the story behind the catchphrase,” he said in the clip, “which, well, I have a certain amount of trouble trying to escape.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-voice-of-aols-youve-got-mail-has-died-at-74-214247947.html?src=rss

The voice of AOL’s ‘You’ve got mail!’ has died at 74

Posted on by

If you’re at least in your mid-30s (give or take), you know the voice of Elwood Edwards, realize it or not. He recorded the phrase, “You’ve got mail!” and three other lines for Quantum Computer Services in 1989. That company later rebranded to America Online, and the rest is early internet history. Edwards died on Tuesday.

WKYC first reported (via Variety) that Edwards passed away one day before what would have been his 75th birthday. He was a longtime off-camera presence at the Cleveland TV station, working as a graphic designer, camera operator and jack-of-all-trades employee.

His wife, Karen Edwards, worked at Quantum when she heard the company’s then-CEO talking about needing a voice for the software that would soon bombard mailboxes across the US. “So, she volunteered my voice,” Edwards said in a 2012 video. “And on a cassette deck in my living room, I recorded the phrases that you’ve come to know.”

He was paid a grand total of $200 for his voiceover work.

The new-message catchphrase, recorded in Edwards’ calm and welcoming voice, became a cultural phenomenon in AOL’s ‘90s and early 2000s heyday. Of course, that included inspiring the 1998 Nora Ephron rom-com’s title.

Edwards also contributed three (lesser known but still remembered by many) AOL sayings: “Welcome,” “File’s done” and “Goodbye.” In the 2012 video, he’s depicted getting hounded by various employees, prompting him to say the thing. (AOL is currently owned by Yahoo, Engadget’s parent company.)

“So, that’s the story behind the catchphrase,” he said in the clip, “which, well, I have a certain amount of trouble trying to escape.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-voice-of-aols-youve-got-mail-has-died-at-74-214247947.html?src=rss

Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 will include Crazy Taxi with a live backing band

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It’s almost time again for Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), the zany speedrun-fest for a good cause. The hook for this year’s event is a run of the Dreamcast classic Crazy Taxi with a live backing band. Funds raised from this year’s showcase will benefit the nonprofit Prevent Cancer Foundation. AGDQ 2025 runs from January 5 to 12 in Pittsburgh.

The live instrumental band rocking out during a Crazy Taxi run sounds like a fun centerpiece. You can check out a preview in the video below, which showed the same band rocking out to a recorded run of the game at Summer Games Done Quick (SGDC) 2024. On Saturday, January 11 at 4:48PM ET, you can catch a fully live version.

Other highlights on the agenda include a run of the instant PlayStation classic Astro Bot on Sunday, January 5 at 6:30PM ET, a speedrun of Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire for 3DS on January 11 at 8:18AM ET and a play-through of the Wii port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the same day at 4PM ET. You can check out the full schedule for more.

Last year’s AGDQ (also in Pittsburgh) raised $2.5 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Among its best bits were a no-hit run of Resident Evil 2 (2019), Super Mario 64 completed on an electric drum kit and a pup named Peanut Butter lending a paw to help his person beat the NES classic Gyromite. The Games Done Quick Organization has raised $51.8 million for various charities throughout its 15 years.

You can stream AGDQ 2025 on Twitch. Or, if you want to attend live at the Wyndham Grand in downtown Pittsburgh, you can register now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/awesome-games-done-quick-2025-will-include-crazy-taxi-with-a-live-backing-band-203426032.html?src=rss