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Government Docs Reveal New Details About Tesla and Waymo Robotaxis’ Human Babysitters

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Are self-driving vehicles really just big, remote-controlled cars, with nameless and faceless people in far-off call centers piloting the things from behind consoles? As the vehicles and their science-fiction-like software expand to more cities, the conspiracy theory has rocketed around group chats and TikToks. It’s been powered, in part, by the reluctance of self-driving car companies to talk in specifics about the humans who help make their robots go.

But this month, in government documents submitted by Alphabet subsidiary Waymo and electric-auto maker Tesla, the companies have revealed more details about the people and programs that help the vehicles when their software gets confused.

The details of these companies’ “remote assistance” programs are important because the humans supporting the robots are critical in ensuring the cars are driving safely on public roads, industry experts say. Even robotaxis that run smoothly most of the time get into situations that their self-driving systems find perplexing. See, for example, a December power outage in San Francisco that killed stop lights around the city, stranding confused Waymos in several intersections. Or the ongoing government probes into several instances of these cars illegally blowing past stopped school buses unloading students in Austin, Texas. (The latter led Waymo to issue a software recall.) When this happens, humans get the cars out of the jam by directing or “advising” them from afar.

These jobs are important because if people do them wrong, they can be the difference between, say, a car stopping for or running a red light. “For the foreseeable future, there will be people who play a role in the vehicles’ behavior, and therefore have a safety role to play,” says Philip Koopman, an autonomous-vehicle software and safety researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. One of the hardest safety problems associated with self-driving, he says, is building software that knows when to ask for human help.

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In other words: If you care about robot safety, pay attention to the people.

The People of Waymo

Waymo operates a paid robotaxi service in six metros—Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area—and has plans to launch in at least 10 more, including London, this year. Now, in a blog post and letter submitted to US senator Ed Markey this week, the company made public more aspects of what it calls its “remote assistance” (RA) program, which uses remote workers to respond to requests from Waymo’s vehicle software when it determines it needs help. These humans give data or advice to the systems, writes Ryan McNamara, Waymo’s vice president and global head of operations. The system can use or reject the information that humans provide.

“Waymo’s RA agents provide advice and support to the Waymo Driver but do not directly control, steer, or drive the vehicle,” McNamara writes—denying, implicitly, the charge that Waymos are simply remote-controlled cars. About 70 assistants are on duty at any given time to monitor some 3,000 robotaxis, the company says. The low ratio indicates the cars are doing much of the heavy lifting.

Waymo also confirmed in its letter what an executive told Congress in a hearing earlier this month: Half of these remote assistance workers are contractors overseas, in the Philippines. (The company says it has two other remote assistance offices in Arizona and Michigan.) These workers are licensed to drive in the Philippines, McNamara writes, but are trained on US road rules. All remote assistance workers are drug- and alcohol-tested when they are hired, the company says, and 45 percent are drug-tested every three months as part of Waymo’s random testing program.

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Electricity Sparks Movement in MIT’s New Artificial Muscle Fibers

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Electrofluidic Muscle Fibers Artificial MIT
Scientists from MIT’s Media Lab have developed extremely thin strands that wrap and unravel at the flip of an electric switch. They strikingly resemble your own muscles. When grouped together, they can generate significant force and movement, all while remaining completely silent and hidden.



Each electrofluidic muscle fiber is only 2 millimeters thick and weighs roughly 2 grams. Inside, there’s a little self-contained loop of highly unique liquid and a tiny pump the size of a toothpick. When you run some electricity through the pump, the liquid zooms ahead without any of the rotating elements or big storage tanks you’d expect. On one side, the liquid accumulates and shortens the fiber, while on the other, it is sucked out and the fiber extends out, similar to how your biceps and triceps work together to bend your elbow.


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Before turning on the electricity, the engineers kept everything steady and supplied gentle ongoing pressure to the entire system. Just that simple method prevents the development of microscopic air bubbles, allows the pump to operate at greater voltages, and allows the fiber to contract far more than it would otherwise. As a result, they can now achieve a 20% contraction in roughly a third of a second and generate 50 watts of power per kilogram, which is comparable to human skeletal muscle.


Bundles of these fibers scale up quickly, with one configuration lifting and moving 4 kilograms, or 200 times its own weight, and stretching out around 30 millimeters. Another one, with several more pumps working simultaneously, elevates a lever arm at 180 millimeters per second and flings small items around in less than a tenth of a second. Woven into a cloth sleeve, the same fibers bend a robotic arm 40 degrees while remaining soft enough to allow for a friendly handshake.

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Electrofluidic Muscle Fibers Artificial MIT
Photo credit: Ozgun Kilic Afsar
Traditional motors in robots have large heavy cylinders near each joint, forcing designers to add a slew of gears and other connections that add bulk and make it difficult to achieve the fine movement required. However, these fibers may be stretched the whole length of a limb or an article of clothing, distributing weight evenly and allowing the structure to bend and twist in all the correct places. Everything remains sealed inside, allowing you to operate the device without the noise or mess of compressors and dangling hoses. This makes all types of wearing exoskeletons much more practical, and a sleeve knitted from the fibers allows you to lift huge objects without feeling stiff or being driven insane by incessant whirring. Prosthetic arms can achieve motion that is far more natural, quiet, and obedient.

Electrofluidic Muscle Fibers Artificial MIT
Photo credit: Gabriele Pupillo, Ozgun Kilic Afsar
Ozgun Kilic Afsar, the project’s lead student who also worked with academics from Politecnico di Bari and MIT’s Media Lab, points out that previous fluid-powered systems all required large, heavy support equipment that was difficult to transport or wear. The new fibers address this by putting all of the necessary components directly inside the strand. Vito Cacucciolo, one of the team’s professors, observes that these fibers allow engineers to distribute actuators throughout a robot rather than grouping them all at the joints.
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Playing The Last of Us with friends made my favorite PlayStation game feel brand new again

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This article contains story spoilers for The Last of Us Part 1.

The Last of Us is an institution of modern media – Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic zombie shooter escaped the confines of its PS3 game case almost immediately after its initial release in 2013, and has since spanned live events, comic books, remasters, a full-on sequel, and even a TV series on HBO.

From the Backlog

Every gamer has a backlog — and that’s no different for us at TechRadar Gaming. From the Backlog is a series about overdue first-plays, revisiting classics, returning to online experiences, or rediscovering and appreciating established favorites in new ways. Read the full series here.

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When a franchise becomes this popular, not to mention this critically acclaimed, it can be a little surprising to find that there are people who haven’t engaged with it. Until recently, one of those people was a good friend of mine – let’s call him Ralph, because that’s his name – who, despite having The Last of Us Part 1 installed on his PS5, had never really got into it.

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5 Cool Flags Flown On US Navy Ships Besides The Stars And Stripes

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Flags flown on vessels have been a nautical tradition for centuries. They’ve allowed pirates to project fear, and enabled naval vessels and civilians alike to identify themselves. The United States’ formidable Navy, of course, is no exception to this rule, and its ships will frequently boast the beloved Stars and Stripes. However, there are other important U.S. military traditions that help to vary the flags that its vessels display, such as mascots and emblems.

U.S. Navy ships are typically named for servicepeople or high-ranking officials, as is the case with the service’s formidable USS Gerald R. Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier. Along with this often comes an emblem that emphasizes the connection. These symbols evoke crew pride and togetherness, while also serving as an important identifier. They can take the form of different animals or other symbols, and there are some iconic ones in the U.S. Navy in particular that make for excellent flags. From a legendary pirate symbol to a furious grizzly bear, here are some of the coolest ones that have been sported by U.S. naval vessels besides the Star-Spangled Banner itself.

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1. The grizzly bear flag of USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr

As noted, with the likes of the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln, there have been a lot of U.S. Navy ships named after American presidents. It’s not simply about those who have held the highest office in the land, though. Take the USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr., for instance, a guided missile destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class and one of the more recent additions to the Navy’s arsenal of ships. Its now-retired namesake Colonel Harvey C. Barnum Jr. was a member of the Marine Corps and is a proud Medal of Honor recipient.

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The ship’s battle flag, Task & Purpose notes, is also designed as a tribute to the colonel, featuring a formidable grizzly bear. It’s an intimidating and imposing sight in its own right, of course, but it serves a secondary function: Those with whom the colonel served knew him well for his words of wisdom, including the pithy “If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly.” Sailors who will serve on the vessel, of course, will surely be inspired to do so boldly, fiercely, and uncompromisingly, like the grizzlies that the former colonel wants them to be. There are few more intimidating flags on the seas than this one, that’s for certain.

As for the ship itself, it’s designed to take on a broader combat role, allowing it to combat a range of nautical threats from above and below the waves, and is set to be commissioned in April 2026. It will be stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, having arrived at the Naval Station there in March.

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2. The flag of the President of the United States

As part of the far-reaching official duties of the office, the president may find themselves on board a naval vessel. When this happens, another particularly notable flag may be seen: the flag of the president of the United States. Simply named for the office and not unique to any particular holder, the president’s flag is a majestic dark-blue design, often featuring a circle of 50 stars (one for each state) encircling an eagle. It grips arrows and an olive branch in its talons, and also features the country’s famous motto, “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”).

The call sign Air Force One is applied to any Air Force aircraft carrying the president, and it’s a similar use case to the flag. It is raised on a naval vessel when the current incumbent arrives aboard. It remains raised while they are aboard, signaling that this particular ship has the current great responsibility and honor of hosting them. As they leave, the flag is then lowered again. It is also prominently displayed on other vehicles the U.S. president travels in, such as the president’s limousine. The Beast, as it’s often dubbed, is frequently seen sporting both the Stars and Stripes and the Commander in Chief’s personal flag.

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3. USS America’s battle standard

Since the advent of the MCU with 2008’s “Iron Man,” the Avengers crew and the broader Marvel characters have embraced the mainstream to an extraordinary degree. One of the clearest signs of this is on the mast of USS America: its flag bears the emblem of Captain America’s shield. Only the most patriotic superhero on the planet will do for such an iconically American vessel, and it’s an astonishing sight to behold to see Cap’s famous red, white, and blue emblem of circles and that central white star on the mast of a warship. 

The America class is a class of amphibious assault ships. Though a very different kind of ship from the USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr., it’s similarly armed with a wide range of weaponry to keep it a formidable foe for all kinds of threats. Its arsenal includes Sea Sparrow and Evolved Sea Sparrow missile capacity, as well as seven .50-caliber machine guns. As a valuable offensive and defensive measure, it’s also equipped with the advanced PHALANX CIWS. This is a sophisticated computer-controlled weapon system used by the Navy to automatically target and destroy threats that have eluded the ship’s other multi-faceted defensive systems. 

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The America class is set to be a considerable part of the U.S. Navy’s force projection into the future, with advanced capabilities beyond simply weaponry. It has a revolutionary secondary means of propulsion aimed at addressing one of the most significant issues affecting the success of many military vessels (and vehicles more broadly): fuel efficiency. It seems that Captain America’s flag and the ship that bears it will be a significant presence going forward.

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4. USS Carl M. Levin’s battle flag

Carl M. Levin is another prominent American who was honored with a military vessel named after him. Levin was not a president but a long-time Michigan lawmaker well known for his efforts in pursuing justice for military veterans. As a result of his tenacity and dedication, his namesake was constructed, boasting a motto appropriate to the man himself: “Tenacious in the fight.” Along with the USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr., it’s one of the most recent additions to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class repertoire. Perhaps its most notable feature is its battle flag, designed by Damage Controlman 3rd Class Hector Mendoza. 

As Fox News reports, Mendoza explained to Military.com that he had a simple objective with the design: to make it as formidable and stand-out as possible, and he certainly succeeded on that score. Perhaps inspired by some of the coolest set-pieces from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, he depicted a phoenix flying above a scene that evokes every sailor’s worst nightmare: a kraken tearing a pirate ship apart.

Mendoza’s depiction of these two mythical creatures also boasts considerable symbolism. He explained to Military.com that the addition of these creatures both sets the design apart and, through the phoenix, “symboliz[es] how the crew will persevere through any hardships or challenges.” Life on such a vessel is not for the faint-hearted when it comes to long deployment, but it’s certainly true that Navy sailors are as committed as they come. Who wouldn’t have their spirits lifted when serving under such a flag? Hopefully, though, the hardy crew doesn’t encounter any krakens in real life.

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5. USS Kidd’s Jolly Roger

When it comes to captains called Kidd, many would immediately think of the Scottish-born privateer turned notorious pirate William Kidd. However, there’s another Captain Kidd, an honorable naval officer named Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd, Sr. The latter, tragically, was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He had been on his ship, USS Arizona, at the time of the attack. As such, USS Kidd, which was first launched in February 1943, was named for the rear admiral. This meant the ship was associated with two famous Kidds, which could have been problematic. Instead, the crew embraced the connection, as did the rear admiral’s widow, Mrs. Inez Kidd. Together, they secured something unique from naval authorities: the official right to fly the Jolly Roger. This is a right that vessels named USS Kidd still hold today, over eight decades after the original Kidd’s debut.

The current iteration of the USS Kidd that serves in the U.S. Navy, as of the time of writing, is a member of the Arleigh Burke class, one of the most powerful destroyer classes in the world. Constructed by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and having been commissioned in 2007, it’s a 509.5-foot-long powerhouse capable of traveling at more than 30 knots, propelled by gas turbines of approximately 100,000 horsepower. Its pirate theme isn’t only symbolized by the vast skull-and-crossbones flag it sometimes flies, either. It also sports, according to the United States Navy, an “iconic drawing … [of] the Jolly Roger on the rear of the 5-inch gun on the ship’s forecastle,” by Fire Controlman 1st Class Juan Morales, whose work adorns several Navy ships.

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US court won’t pause Anthropic ban, but wants case expedited

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A Washinton DC appeals court has declined to pause the US administration’s Anthropic ban, but recommended that the case be expedited.

Anthropic won its first round in court on 26 March, when a district judge granted a temporary injunction against the US administration’s decision to designate the Claude creator a ‘supply chain risk’, something normally reserved for foreign actors.

However, last night the Pentagon succeeded in a related but distinct case, as a Washington DC appeals court declined to pause the effective ‘ban’ on government use of Anthropic products. The court did, though, recognise the likely damage caused to Anthropic, and recommended the case be expedited.

The court substantially sided with the US administration in its order, saying: “In our view, the equitable balance here cuts in favour of the government. On one side is a relatively contained risk of financial harm to a single private company. On the other side is judicial management of how, and through whom, the Department of War [sic] secures vital AI technology during an active military conflict. For that reason, we deny Anthropic’s motion for a stay pending review on the merits.”

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However, the court also recognised the potential harms that were being done to Anthropic and recommended the case be expedited: “Nonetheless, because Anthropic raises substantial challenges to the determination and will likely suffer some irreparable harm during the pendency of this litigation, we agree with Anthropic that substantial expedition is warranted.”

That latter request to expedite the process had been made by Anthropic’s legal team as an alternative to any stay, should that be unsuccessful, and the AI company welcomed that element of the order.

“We’re grateful the court recognised these issues need to be resolved quickly and remain confident the courts will ultimately agree that these supply chain designations were unlawful,” an Anthropic spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com.

“While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI.”

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The judgement also found that “Anthropic’s petition raises novel and difficult questions, including what counts as a supply-chain risk under section 4713 and what qualifies as an urgent national-security interest justifying the use of truncated statutory procedures”, and that will be the fundamental question as the case proceeds.

US district judge Rita F Lin had found in the first court case, when granting a temporary injunction against the ban last month, that: “These broad measures do not appear to be directed at the government’s stated national security interests. If the concern is the integrity of the operational chain of command, the Department of War [sic] could just stop using Claude. Instead, these measures appear designed to punish Anthropic.”

It’s a view held by many. Anthropic drew the ire of the US administration after a standoff with the Pentagon, where Anthropic refused to change its safeguards related to using its AI for fully autonomous weapons, or for mass surveillance of US citizens. The relatively ethical stance in the face of huge pressure from the US administration has earned the company many defenders, and indeed a slew of new customers.

Project Glasswing

Anthropic again flexed its ethics and safety chops this week as it declined to release its powerful new Claude Mythos model to the public, as many fear the consequences of it falling into the hands of bad actors.

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Instead, its Project Glasswing will bring together leading businesses, including Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JP Morgan Chase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Nvidia and Palo Alto Networks, allowing them to access the Mythos preview (released on 7 April) to boost their cyber defences.

According to Anthropic, its unreleased Claude Mythos has already found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities, including some in every major operating system and web browser.

Anthropic’s Mythos preview is significantly capable at generating exploits. In its research, the company noted that Mythos developed working exploits 181 times out of the several hundred attempts, while Opus 4.6 had a near 0pc success rate.

“AI models have reached a level of coding capability where they can surpass all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities,” said Anthropic, which has promised to share learnings from Project Glasswing to benefit the wider industry.

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Zuvi ColorBox Review: A Hair Dye Printer That Struggles

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I will say that I think this product could be neat in a few scenarios. If you like to dye your own extensions, or you continually change the color of a streak and don’t need to buy oodles of full-size dye containers, or you’re a parent with kids that are always dip-dying their bleached ends, then it might make sense. And the resulting product does smell good. I also like the included container that lets you store leftover dye. If you’re specifically seeking washed-out, pastel tones, I still think you should just … get some hair dye and dilute it with conditioner.

Image may contain Cecil Kishimoto Text Adult Person Face and Head

ScreenshotZuvi app via Louryn Strampe

In the end, based on my assessment, the product fails to do its job. And even if this improves—even if eventually, you can get a black pigment to help darken the shades, or Zuvi moves from using primary colors to using cyan, magenta, and yellow, or the company starts making the process of bleaching your hair at home easier, or the use of generative AI stops and Zuvi starts actually standing behind its own results … at the end of the day, you’re still left with a proprietary machine that uses proprietary cartridges, all of which will become paperweights if the company folds.

I’ve combed through every single result I can find of other reviews on the Internet. I’m not a licensed cosmetologist, but I have been coloring my own hair for around 20 years, and I have yet to see a result that’s more impressive than one the user could have achieved for less money from their local beauty supply. Semipermanent fashion dyes are available in hundreds and hundreds of shades, all of which can be mixed together. It may take some trial and error to dial in your perfect pink or blue or red, but it can be done without a machine. Your local beauty supply store likely has an associate who’s been dyeing their own hair for decades and would be happy to point you in the right direction. And respectfully, if you can’t figure out color theory or add conditioner little by little to dilute your own dye, perhaps you should go to a professional and save yourself the trouble of doing it incorrectly. The Zuvi ColorBox adds more guesswork instead of taking it away.

While I do like the initial low price, color corrections from a professional are very expensive, and the refill cartridges from Zuvi (around $22 each) could easily cost the same amount as the supplies would for dyeing your hair with products from the local beauty supply, especially if your hair is long, thick, and/or curly. And I like the idea of reducing leftover dye waste, but again, you don’t need to buy a gadget for that.

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Anthropic temporarily banned OpenClaw’s creator from accessing Claude

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“Yeah folks, it’s gonna be harder in the future to ensure OpenClaw still works with Anthropic models,” OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger posted on X early Friday morning, along with a photo of a message from Anthropic saying his account had been suspended over “suspicious” activity.

The ban didn’t last long. A few hours later, after the post went viral, Steinberger said his account had been reinstated. Among hundreds of comments — many of them in conspiracy theory land, given that Steinberger is now employed by Anthropic rival OpenAI — was one by an Anthropic engineer. The engineer told the famed developer that Anthropic has never banned anyone for using OpenClaw and offered to help.

It’s not clear if that was the key that restored the account. (We’ve asked Anthropic about it.) But the whole message string was enlightening on many levels.

To recap the recent history: This ban followed news last week that subscriptions to Anthropic’s Claude would no longer cover “third-party harnesses including OpenClaw,” the AI model company said.

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OpenClaw users now have to pay for that usage separately, based on consumption, through Claude’s API. In essence, Anthropic, which offers its own agent, Cowork, is now charging a “claw tax.” Steinberger said he was following this new rule and using his API but was banned anyway.

Anthropic said it instituted the pricing change because subscriptions weren’t built to handle the “usage patterns” of claws. Claws can be more compute-intensive than prompts or simple scripts because they may run continuous reasoning loops, automatically repeat or retry tasks, and tie into a lot of other third-party tools.

Steinberger, however, wasn’t buying that excuse. After Anthropic changed the pricing, he posted, “Funny how timings match up, first they copy some popular features into their closed harness, then they lock out open source.” Though he didn’t specify, he may have been referring to features added to Claude’s Cowork agent, such as Claude Dispatch, which lets users remotely control agents and assign tasks. Dispatch rolled out a couple of weeks before Anthropic changed its OpenClaw pricing policy.

Steinberger’s frustration with Anthropic was again on display Friday.

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One person implied that some of this is on him for taking a job at OpenAI instead of Anthropic, posting, “You had the choice, but you went to the wrong one.” To which Steinberger replied: “One welcomed me, one sent legal threats.”

Ouch.

When multiple people asked him why he’s using Claude instead of his employer’s models at all, he explained that he only uses it for testing, to ensure updates to OpenClaw won’t break things for Claude users.

He explained: “You need to separate two things. My work at the OpenClaw Foundation where we wanna make OpenClaw work great for *any* model provider, and my job at OpenAI to help them with future product strategy.”

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Multiple people also pointed out that the need to test Claude is because that model remains a popular choice for OpenClaw users over ChatGPT. He also heard that when Anthropic changed its pricing, to which he replied: “Working on that.” (So, that’s a clue about what his job at OpenAI entails.)

Steinberger did not respond to a request for comment.

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Some Mac Studio, Mac mini configurations are not available from Apple online

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Some configurations of Mac mini and Mac Studio aren’t available in Apple’s online store. It’s an indicator that a desktop Mac refresh is on the way.

Silver Mac Studio desktop computer on a desk below a monitor, with front ports visible, next to a red smart speaker and other tech accessories against a colorful brick wall background
Mac Studio

So far, Apple’s updates to bring its products up to the M5 chip generation has involved portable products, like the MacBook Pro. While the world waits for desktop Macs to get the same treatment, it seems that Apple is preparing for its own product launches.
Customers attempting to buy some models of Mac mini and Mac Studio from the online Apple Store in the United States are seeing some configurations marked as “Currently Unavailable.” Spotted by 9to5Mac, some listings are showing extremely long lead times or are outright unavailable.
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The AI RAM Shortage is Also Driving Up SSD Prices

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In 2024 the Verge’s consumer tech reporter paid $173 for a WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD. But “now that same SSD costs $649…”

“Like with RAM, demand from the AI industry is swallowing up supply from a limited number of manufacturers, leading to a drastic reduction in the inventory that’s available to consumers” — and skyrocketing prices:

The price on my WD Black drive nearly quadrupled since November 2025, and consumer SSDs across the board are seeing similar increases, much like with RAM. The 4TB version of the popular Samsung 990 Pro SSD previously cost $320, but will now run you nearly $1,000. External SanDisk SSDs saw a 200 percent price hike at the Apple Store in March….

According to price trends from PC Part Picker, NVMe SSD prices began ticking upward in December 2025, with prices on 256GB to 4TB SSDs now double or triple what they were just a few months ago, and continuing to climb.

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DJI ‘confirms’ the Osmo Pocket 4 with a tempting teaser

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DJI has all but confirmed that the Osmo Pocket 4 will be unveiled later this month, and we can’t wait.

launch event is scheduled for April 16 at 12PM GMT. The company’s teasers also suggest this will be a global release, rather than a China-only debut.

The Osmo Pocket 4 has been a long time coming. Early references to the device date back to mid-2025.

There were multiple sightings of test units surfacing in the months that followed. It’s expected to replace the popular Osmo Pocket 3. That camera helped cement DJI’s position in the compact vlogging camera space.

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While DJI hasn’t shared full specifications yet, early details point to a meaningful upgrade rather than a minor refresh.

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The Osmo Pocket 4 is expected to feature improved camera hardware. In addition, it should have better subject tracking and built-in storage, which could make it a more self-contained option for creators on the go.

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There have also been rumours of a more advanced “Pro” variant, though DJI has yet to acknowledge its existence. For now, the company is keeping the focus firmly on the standard Osmo Pocket 4 ahead of its official reveal.

If the leaks hold up, pricing is expected to land at around $499 in the US, putting it in line with its predecessor. That would position it as a competitive option for vloggers. It will appeal to those looking for a compact, stabilised camera without stepping up to larger mirrorless setups.

Reaction online has been quick, and in some cases, already looking ahead. Some users welcomed the long-awaited announcement but noted that attention may soon shift to a rumoured Pro version. Others pointed to teaser imagery that might hint at a dual-lens design, fuelling speculation that DJI could expand the Pocket range further.

There’s also a knock-on effect for the current model. Several users mentioned snapping up discounted Pocket 3 bundles, while others are now tempted to buy one outright or hold off in anticipation of price drops once the new model lands.

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With just days to go before the announcement, the Osmo Pocket 4 looks set to build on DJI’s existing formula. However, there are enough upgrades to keep it relevant in an increasingly crowded creator market.

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Meta’s Superintelligence Labs debuts first product Muse Spark

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Muse Spark is part of a ‘ground-up overhaul’ of Meta’s AI efforts, the company said.

Nearly a year after being established, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) has finally debuted its first product, a multimodal model “purpose-built” for Meta’s products.

Muse Spark is the first in the family of Muse models and represents a “ground-up overhaul” of the company’s AI efforts, Meta said in a statement. The launch comes after the company poured multiple billions into its supposed efforts towards ‘superintelligence’, a hypothetical AI system with abilities beyond human intelligence.

Muse Spark is the “first step toward a personal superintelligence”, Meta said. The model can be accessed via Meta.ai and the Meta AI app.

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According to the company, Muse Spark achieves strong performance on visual STEM questions, entity recognition and localisation. It performs on par with existing models from AI rivals such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.4, Anthropic’s Opus 4.6 and Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro.

Muse is also marketed as a way to “learn about and improve” user health, Meta added, and is expected to be rolled out to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and the company’s AI glasses in the coming weeks.

The company said it collaborated with more than 1,000 physicians to curate training data that enables “factual and comprehensive” responses. For comparison, OpenAI said it worked with 260 physicians to develop its ChatGPT Health offering.

Moreover, Meta found that Muse Spark demonstrated a “strong refusal behaviour” across high-risk areas such as biological and chemical weapons. The model also does not demonstrate requisite autonomous capability or hazardous tendencies to realise threat scenarios around cybersecurity, Meta added.

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Meanwhile, Anthropic’s new Claude Mythos, released in preview to select users earlier this week, was found to be significantly more capable at generating exploits than other models.

Concerned that Meta was lagging behind the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, CEO Mark Zuckerberg set up MSL last June after acquiring Scale AI for $14.3bn and hiring its CEO Alexandr Wang to lead the team.

“This is only the start. As we expand these features, expect richer, more visual results, with Reels, photos and posts woven directly into your answers,” Meta said.

MSL has continued to make big-name hires to add to the efforts, including Moltbook founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr, co-founder of Safe Superintelligence Daniel Gross and Apple’s former AI lead Ruoming Pang. The company cut 600 jobs at MSL in October.

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Earlier this year, Meta said that it is budgeting up to $135bn in total expenses for 2026. The growth, it said, is driven by an increased investment to support MSL as well as its core business.

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