Home • Directory • Classifieds • Chat • Contact
 online info hub for Philadelphia
|
 |
 | |
|
News |  |
Info | |
Forums | |
Tech & Business | |
Music & Culture | |
Community & Events | |
coming soon...
Latest Slashdot News:• Three Supermassive Black Holes Discovered In a Single Galaxy For the First Time Astronomers using JWST have found three actively feeding supermassive black holes in the distant galaxy J0148-4214 seen as it existed about 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Two sit just 620 light-years apart near the galaxy's center and are expected to merge within a few hundred million years. Phys.org reports: Theories of galaxy evolution -- based on observations -- suggest that early in the history of the universe galaxies came very close to one another and merged. In the process black holes at their centers also merged giving rise to even more massive black holes at the centers of the merged galaxies. The analysis yields black hole masses of approximately 80 million 0.6 million and 2 million solar masses. The most massive black hole is accreting at a lower rate than the nearby black hole with a mass of 0.6 million solar masses which is actively feeding and even exceeding the maximum accretion rate predicted by basic theories of black hole growth (the Eddington limit). "The JWST data allowed us not only to identify the three black holes but also to estimate their masses accretion rates and the stellar mass of the galaxy" says Dr. Giovanni Mazzolari second author of the study and researcher at MPE. "We find a total stellar mass of about 1.3 billion solar masses and the black holes represent a significant fraction of that." The central black hole pair is expected to merge within the next few hundred million years. "These results are extremely exciting" adds Roberto Maiolino professor at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study. "They suggest that black hole merging may be an additional fast route for their rapid growth in the early universe." The third black hole located off-nucleus may be the remnant of a previous merger be displaced from the center by a gravitational recoil kick or be currently migrating inward. The findings have been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. read more >> • Scientists Turn Starlink Into a Giant Scanner For Earth's Upper Atmosphere alternative_right shares a report from ScienceDaily: Researchers have found a clever new way to map a part of Earth's upper atmosphere that is notoriously difficult to observe. Using orbital data from roughly 1200 Starlink satellites they reconstructed changes in atmospheric density about 500 kilometers above Earth. [...] The resulting density patterns also showed strong consistency with observations from the European Space Agency's SWARM satellites which measure changes in atmospheric density along their orbital paths. The work expands on an earlier study by the same team. In that research scientists estimated how thermospheric density changed over time and altitude using general orbital information called Two-Line Element or TLE data from Starlink satellites. The new analysis adds another dimension by examining how density varies horizontally across latitude and longitude revealing more of the thermosphere's geographic structure. The findings could have practical benefits as the number of objects orbiting Earth continues to grow. More accurate information about atmospheric density can improve predictions of satellite motion helping reduce the chance of collisions between satellites and between satellites and space debris. The technique could also eventually support near-real-time measurements of atmospheric density around satellites. Such monitoring could improve space weather forecasting and contribute to safer more dependable satellite operations in the future. read more >> • UK Scientists To Grow Miniature Human Organs For Drug Testing An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Miniature human organs and other tissues are to be grown from NHS patients' cells in a drive to improve medicine testing and reduce the number of animals used in drug development. Scientists will use the clumps of tissue to learn how diseases vary between patients helping them identify which treatments are best for different people based on the particular pathology underlying their condition. The move marks a shift away from the traditional use of animals as models for human disease towards what researchers believe will be more accurate and reliable tests based directly on human tissues. Researchers have been growing tiny clumps of human organs known as organoids for more than a decade. Tests show that pieces smaller than a millimeter can mirror key features of full-scale organs and tissues including how they falter with disease and respond to drugs. Armed with organoids grown from diseased human tissues scientists can investigate whether new drug candidates reverse pathological changes in all or a subset of patients and quickly identify ineffective drugs early in the process. Historically more than 90% of drugs that clear animal testing go on to fail in human trials raising questions about the value of the tests. US and European medicines regulators now encourage other approaches if available. "It's going to have a major impact on the numbers of animals used and the way we develop new drugs in the future" said Matthias Zilbauer a clinical professor of paediatric gastroenterology at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. "We're not saying there won't be any animal use in the near or foreseeable future because there are still certain issues that cannot be tested in these new models but the reduction is very real." "A lot of human diseases either do not occur in animals or occur in a different way because they're not human" added Zilbauer. "We want tests and models that can tell us which treatments work and in what patients and a mouse cannot tell us that." read more >> • Microsoft Retreats In China Microsoft has been steadily scaling back its China presence closing at least 15 branch offices and joint ventures over the past five years as Beijing favors domestic software. U.S. export controls also make it harder to grow its cloud and AI businesses leaving the market with relatively little economic upside. Reuters reports: Microsoft took a major hit from the erosion of trust between Washington and Beijing the five people said. China has since 2017 pushed the use of domestic software which Beijing sees as more secure and whose quality is increasingly competitive with Windows and Office. U.S. restrictions including export controls on advanced technology have meanwhile hindered efforts to scale Microsoft's lucrative AI and cloud businesses in China. [...] Microsoft ultimately decided to remain because it had carved out a profitable business servicing Chinese companies like TikTok owner ByteDance which need Western technology to manage overseas operations according to three people familiar with the matter. The company also believed that it needed a presence to maintain access to China's world-class engineering talent two of them said. Microsoft had also cultivated a relationship with the government that is among the deepest of any tech company its former China head Alain Crozier told Reuters. "Because of the geopolitics ... some days it's a little bit harder but we never had a crisis" he said. A Microsoft spokesperson did not address questions about the firm's deliberations on its China business but said it operates in a regulatory "environment that applies to every international supplier" and that it remains committed to the Chinese market. The state of Microsoft's China business reflects market competition regulatory demands and technological trends the company said. read more >> • Google's Gemini 3.7 Flash Targets Coding and Agents With a 50% Price Cut Google has released Gemini 3.7 Flash just three weeks after 3.6 Flash focusing on better coding agentic workflows and enterprise automation while temporarily cutting API prices in half through the end of 2026. VentureBeat reports: For enterprise developers the more consequential story may be the combination of those intelligence gains with lower inference costs: through the end of 2026 Gemini 3.7 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens. Starting Jan. 1 2027 pricing rises to $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens. That means the current discount is temporary but it gives teams deploying high-volume coding and business agents several months to evaluate whether Google's claimed reductions in retries and manual oversight translate into lower total operating costs. The launch also underscores Google's rapid iteration on its Flash line while its next flagship Pro model remains absent. [...] Google describes Gemini 3.7 Flash as its "most intelligent workhorse model yet for coding and agents." The company says the model is better at adapting when it encounters roadblocks clarifying intent when necessary and following instructions with greater fidelity. [...] Google's benchmarks show a large generational improvement in several software engineering tests. [...] Google's own results do not show 3.7 Flash universally displacing higher-priced competitors. They instead suggest a model that has become substantially more competitive in coding and agent workloads while occupying a lower price tier. read more >> • Microsoft Is Combining Its Copilot Apps Ahead of a 'Super App' Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps ahead of a broader "super app" launch later this year. "Both personal and work accounts will be moved to the new unified app which recycles the 'Microsoft Copilot' name but features an updated app icon" reports The Verge. "The single app also means there won't be two annoying Copilot icons in the system tray or taskbar anymore." From the report: The updates are intended to be a technical milestone in preparation of the "super app" Microsoft is planning to launch later this year so this is laying the foundations of what will be changing for Copilot products. A worldwide rollout for the mobile and web apps will start in "mid-August" according to Microsoft with a rollout to Windows and Mac apps set for "mid-September." Mobile app users will be prompted to download the new Copilot app and the updates will start appearing for some Windows Insiders this week. What changes you'll see will depend on which Copilot apps you're already using. Existing Microsoft Copilot users will be moved to the updated version along with your chats and content while Microsoft 365 Copilot app users will see "minor navigation changes" the updated Copilot icon and gain access to Copilot chat. If you already use both apps Microsoft says your chats and content will be merged to a single updated Copilot app but notes that chats content and data will remain separate between account types within the app. Microsoft says enterprise security compliance and government controls will remain unchanged and core Copilot features will remain free though usage limits may vary. Podcasts Deep Research and Group Chat content will however be discontinued after August 18. The company also says Shopping and Copilot Health "may be temporarily unavailable" during the transition. read more >> • Amazon Will Train On Twitch Streamers' Content By Default Unless They Opt Out Twitch will begin allowing Amazon to use streamers' content to train generative AI models by default requiring creators to manually opt out if they don't want their videos and audio included. The decision has drawn backlash from creators with Twitch's own product chief acknowledging that an opt-in system would likely attract almost no participants. "Why is it not opt-in? That's what everybody is spamming in chat. I get it. 'Let me opt in versus making me opt out'" said Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton. "Well there's an honest answer... If this was opt-in nobody would opt in. That's honestly the answer." TechCrunch reports: For Amazon these stream recordings are incredibly valuable offering thousands of hours of audio and video content to help train AI models. But Twitch users worry that since creators have to manually opt out they might be surrendering their content to train Amazon's AI content models without even knowing it. This is especially concerning on a platform like Twitch where creators are often recording livestreams of themselves and their voices for many hours per week. [...] Twitch knows that its community of streamers is largely opposed to the use of generative AI since the most prevalent generative AI products are trained on books images videos and other materials scraped from the internet without consent. Even Twitch's approach to breaking this news shows that the company is braced for backlash. Instead of telling the community that Amazon would begin training on Twitch users' content Twitch framed this change as "[adding] a setting that lets you opt out of having your channel content used to train generative AI content models across Amazon." In some cases this created confusion among streamers about whether their content had already been fed to Amazon without their knowledge. When one user asked if their videos had already been used for training Minton responded "I don't actually know the answer to that question because I don't know what Amazon [...] has done in terms of model training and what they've used and not used." read more >> • Anthropic Could Be Worth $2 Trillion When It Goes Public An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Anthropic investors expect the AI startup to float at a valuation of $2 trillion or more in October a dizzying figure that would eclipse SpaceX and make the AI lab's debut the largest-ever initial public offering. Half a dozen of the company's backers told the FT that Anthropic's rapidly rising revenue would enable it to more than double its current valuation in a planned autumn float. A listing at that level could unlock billions of dollars in gains for the five-year-old company's early investors but would also test public markets that are growing more nervous about the AI boom. Anthropic's backers say booming demand for the lab's advanced AI models and tools justifies their lofty expectations. Investors expect the Claude maker's annualized revenue to be between $100 billion and $120 billion by the end of 2026 -- using the startup's preferred measure which infers full-year sales from recent performance -- up by more than 10 times over the course of 2026. "If Anthropic is growing 800 percent a year you'd think at the incredibly low end they would trade at 30 times [revenue]" said one investor in the group. "That would make them a $3 trillion company." According to Bloomberg (paywalled) Anthropic is currently in talks to acquire Decart AI for roughly $6 billion. "Decart develops world models alongside software designed to lower AI training expenses by improving how efficiently chips are utilized" reports Quartz. "That capability could allow Anthropic to get more out of its current infrastructure as demand grows. If the deal closes Decart's team would join Anthropic's inference and performance organization." read more >> • World's Largest 106-Foot Electric Plane Takes Maiden Flight In New York Heart Aerospace's X1 billed as the world's largest battery-electric aircraft completed a 27-minute maiden flight in New York using more than 1 MW of power and only about $5 worth of electricity. The 106-foot-wingspan demonstrator is a precursor to the company's 30-seat hybrid-electric ES-30 regional airliner targeted for service in 2031. Interesting Engineering reports: Developed by Heart Aerospace the X1 demonstrator lifted off from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York on Wednesday August 12. The piloted aircraft remained in the skies for about 27 minutes and made it to a 1100-foot altitude above ground level (AGL). According to the Swedish aerospace company the aircraft has a wingspan of 106 feet (32 meters). It's additionally 76 feet (23 meters) long and has a takeoff weight exceeding 25000 lbs (11340 kilograms). "With the first flight of X1 Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner" said Anders Forslund Heart Aerospace founder and CEO. "Electric commercial aircraft have the potential to fundamentally reshape airline economics and ultimately lower the cost ofÂair travelÂfor passengers." "This is at the heart of our vision for abundant air travel with electrification enabling more affordable frequent and cleaner air service to and from airports closer to home." You can watch the first flight on YouTube. read more >> • Apple Turns to Publishers For Help With Siri AI Apple is reportedly negotiating multi-year deals with news publishers to give its redesigned Siri access to current news and other information with payments potentially tied to how often publishers' content is used. The talks come as Apple prepares to launch its long-delayed Siri AI later this year after partnering with Google to use distilled Gemini models. Engadget reports: [The Wall Street Journal] did not reveal the specific publishers Apple reached out to but did note the company has proposed structuring payments around a variable compensation plan which would see it pay those organizations when their content is used. By contrast most large AI labs like OpenAI have typically offered guaranteed fees in exchange for broad access. According to the The Journal Apple has paid publishers for access to their content in the past as part of earlier agreements that saw the company secure AI training rights. read more >>
coming soon...
coming soon...
Philadelphia Tech News:<< Next Page >> |
login | register
Interact: Chat Room
| ||||||||
|
 | • Weather |
| • Forums |
| • Chat |
| • Directory | | • Classifieds | |
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
Home | Privacy | Forum Map | Contact Us Copyright © 2003 Philly Spot. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
|
City of Philadelphia International Airport Philadelphia University University of Pennsylvania | |