Google has received FDA clearance for the Pixel Watch 3's Loss of Pulse Detection feature, which will start rolling out to U.S. devices around the end of March. The Verge reports: The Loss of Pulse Detection feature is exactly what it sounds like: if the Pixel Watch 3 senses that you've lost your pulse through an event like a heart attack or an overdose, it'll send you a prompt. If you don't respond, it'll automatically call emergency services on your behalf. Back in August, Sandeep Waraich, Google's senior director of product manager for Pixel wearables, told The Verge that the Pixel Watch 3 is capable of differentiating between a genuine loss-of-pulse event and a person simply taking the watch off.

Inception, a Palo Alto-based AI company founded by Stanford professor Stefano Ermon, claims to have developed a novel diffusion-based large language model (DLM) that significantly outperforms traditional LLMs in speed and efficiency. "Inception's model offers the capabilities of traditional LLMs, including code generation and question-answering, but with significantly faster performance and reduced computing costs, according to the company," reports TechCrunch. From the report: Ermon hypothesized generating and modifying large blocks of text in parallel was possible with diffusion models. After years of trying, Ermon and a student of his achieved a major breakthrough, which they detailed in a research paper published last year. Recognizing the advancement's potential, Ermon founded Inception last summer, tapping two former students, UCLA professor Aditya Grover and Cornell professor Volodymyr Kuleshov, to co-lead the company. [...]

"What we found is that our models can leverage the GPUs much more efficiently," Ermon said, referring to the computer chips commonly used to run models in production. "I think this is a big deal. This is going to change the way people build language models." Inception offers an API as well as on-premises and edge device deployment options, support for model fine-tuning, and a suite of out-of-the-box DLMs for various use cases. The company claims its DLMs can run up to 10x faster than traditional LLMs while costing 10x less. "Our 'small' coding model is as good as [OpenAI's] GPT-4o mini while more than 10 times as fast," a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. "Our 'mini' model outperforms small open-source models like [Meta's] Llama 3.1 8B and achieves more than 1,000 tokens per second."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Following up on Microsoft's announcement of a qubit based on completely new physics, Amazon is publishing a paper describing a very different take on quantum computing hardware. The system mixes two different types of qubit hardware to improve the stability of the quantum information they hold. The idea is that one type of qubit is resistant to errors, while the second can be used for implementing an error-correction code that catches the problems that do happen. While there have been more effective demonstrations of error correction in the past, a number of companies are betting that Amazon's general approach is the best route to getting logical qubits that are capable of complex algorithms. So, in that sense, it's an important proof of principle. Amazon's quantum computing approach combines cat qubits for data storage and transmons for error correction.

Cat qubits are quantum bits that distribute their superposition state across multiple photons in a resonator, making them highly resistant to bit flip errors. Transmons are superconducting qubits that help detect and correct phase flip errors by enabling weak measurements without destroying the quantum state. Meanwhile, a phase flip is a quantum error that alters the relative phase of a qubit's superposition state without changing its probability distribution. Unlike a bit flip, which swaps a qubit's state probabilities, a phase flip changes how the quantum states interfere, potentially disrupting quantum computations.

By alternating cat qubits with transmons, Amazon reduces the number of hardware qubits needed for error correction. Their tests show that increasing qubits lowers the error rate, proving the system's effectiveness. However, rare bit flips still cause entire logical qubits to fail, and transmons remain prone to both bit and phase flips. If you're still entangled in this story without decohering into pure quantum chaos, kudos to you!

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella argues that AI's success should be measured by its impact on economic growth rather than achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), emphasizing that true progress will come when AI finds a transformative application akin to email or Excel. The Register reports: "Us self-claiming some AGI milestone, that's just nonsensical benchmark hacking," the chief executive said during an appearance on podcaster Dwarkesh Patel's YouTube show this month. Nadella thinks a better benchmark for AI's success should be its ability to boost a country's gross domestic product. "When we say: 'Oh, this is like the industrial revolution,' let's have that industrial revolution type of growth. That means to me, 10 percent, seven percent for the developed world. Inflation adjusted, growing at five percent, that's the real marker."

Nadella suggested that growth hasn't eventuated because it's going to take time before folks understand how to use AI effectively, assuming they find a use for it -- just as it took some years for the personal computer to find its feet. "Just imagine how a multinational corporation like us did forecasts pre-PC, and email, and spreadsheets. Faxes went around, somebody then got those faxes and then did an inter-office memo that then went around, and people entered numbers, and then ultimately a forecast came out maybe just in time for the next quarter," Nadella explained. "Then somebody said: 'Hey, I'm just going to take an Excel spreadsheet, put it in an email, send it around, people will go edit it, and I'll have a forecast.' The entire forecasting business process changed because the work artifact and the workflow changed. That is what needs to happen with AI being introduced into knowledge work," the CEO said. [...]

"Don't conflate knowledge worker with knowledge work," he said. "The knowledge work of today could probably be automated, [but] who said my life's goal is to triage my email?" Instead, he argues AI agents will allow workers to focus on higher-value tasks. Whether this is actually how it'll play out, or whether enterprises will take this as an opportunity to reduce costs by cutting staff remains to be seen. ... "Today, you cannot deploy these intelligences unless and until there's someone indemnifying it as a human," he said.

Google has updated its Results About You tool with a redesigned hub, easier removal requests directly from Search, and the ability to refresh outdated results. Engadget reports: Today, the tech giant is announcing the latest changes, including a redesigned hub and the ability to update outdated search results to reflect the latest changes.

The redesign isn't only for show. You can now submit removal requests directly from Search with fewer actions by clicking or tapping the three dots beside a search result. If you manage to have content about you deleted or changed from a website but Google Search hasn't caught up, you can refresh the search, which will "recrawl the page and obtain the latest information." In other words, you can always see the most up-to-date results about you.

ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols shares some of the latest improvements to ExpressVPN following its codebase transition from C to Rust. An anonymous reader quotes an excerpt from the report: ExpressVPN is one of ZDNET's favorite Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The popular VPN's transformation of its Lightway codebase from C to Rust promises to make the service faster and more secure. For now, the updated Lightway 2.0 is only available via ExpressVPN's Aircove router with the February 4 AircoveOS v5 update. The Aircove, which we rate as the best VPN router, costs $189. With this device, you can protect your tech from unwanted snoopers without installing a VPN on each gadget. So, how much faster is the updated ExpressVPN? In my tests, I connected to the internet via my updated router over my 2 Gigabit per second (Gbps) AT&T Internet using a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet-connected Linux Mint desktop with a Wi-Fi 6 connection over my Samsung Galaxy 25 Plus smartphone.

Without the VPN engaged, I saw 1.6 Gbps speeds, which is about par. With the VPN switched on and using Lightway 2.0, I saw speeds in the 290 to 330 Megabit per second (Mbps) range to Toronto and London, England. Farther afield, I saw speeds around 250 to 280Mbps to Hong Kong and Seoul. That's about 20% faster than I had seen with earlier Lightway versions. I was impressed. This version of the VPN should also be more secure. As Pete Membrey, ExpressVPN's chief research officer, said in a statement: "At ExpressVPN, we innovate to solve the challenges of tomorrow. Upgrading Lightway from its previous C code to Rust was a strategic and straightforward decision to enhance performance and security while ensuring longevity."

The updated Lightway VPN protocol also uses ML-KEM, the newly finalized NIST standard for post-quantum encryption. This feature, wrote Membray in a blog post, "ensures your connection is secured by encryption designed not just for today's threats but for the quantum-powered challenges of the future." To ensure the integrity of the recoded Lightway protocol, ExpressVPN commissioned two independent security audits from cybersecurity firms Cure53 and Praetorian. Both audits yielded positive results, with only minor vulnerabilities identified and promptly addressed by ExpressVPN. In short, ExpressVPN is technically about as safe a VPN as they come.

Cellebrite says it has stopped Serbia from using its technology following allegations that Serbian police and intelligence used Cellebrite's technology to unlock the phones of a journalist and an activist, and then plant spyware. From a report: In December 2024, Amnesty International published a report that accused Serbian police of using Cellebrite's forensics tools to hack into the cellphones of a local journalist and an activist. Once their phones were unlocked, Serbian authorities then installed an Android spyware, which Amnesty called Novispy, to keep surveilling the two.

In a statement, Cellebrite said that "after a review of the allegations brought forth by the December 2024 Amnesty International report, Cellebrite took precise steps to investigate each claim in accordance with our ethics and integrity policies. We found it appropriate to stop the use of our products by the relevant customers at this time."

An anonymous reader shares a report: People now watch so many programs at so many different times in so many different ways -- with an antenna, on cable, in an app or from a website, as well as live, recorded or on demand -- that it is increasingly challenging for the industry to agree on the best way to measure viewership. In some cases, media executives and advertisers are even uncertain whether a competitor's show is a hit or something well short of that.

The scramble to sort out a suitable solution began nearly a decade ago, as Netflix rose to prominence. It has only intensified since. "It is more chaotic than it's ever been," said George Ivie, the chief executive of the Media Rating Council, a leading industry measurement watchdog. For decades, there was no dispute -- Nielsen's measurement was the only game in town.

But things started to go sideways after the emergence of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. Nielsen had no ability -- at least at first -- to measure how many people clicked play on those apps. The streamers, of course, knew exactly how many people were watching on their own service but they either selectively disclosed some data or did not bother releasing it at all.

Over the past two years, as nearly all the major streaming services have introduced advertising, they have released more data. But the data they release makes apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. Netflix discloses what it calls "hours viewed" and "views" for its shows. Prime Video and Max prefer to describe how many million "viewers" watched a hit of their choosing. The disclosures can be helpful to compare one show with another on the same streaming service. Yet those figures, too, can lead to disagreements.

YouTube has surpassed 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content, the video platform announced on Wednesday, cementing its position as the most frequently used podcast service in the United States. The Google-owned platform reported viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices last year.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has condemned a British order requiring Apple to break its encrypted storage worldwide as an "egregious" violation of American rights that could breach the CLOUD Act facilitating cross-border investigations. In a letter [PDF] to Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Andy Biggs, Gabbard revealed she has directed a legal review of the secret order, which she learned about through media reports.

"This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans' privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors," Gabbard wrote. The UK Home Office, under the Investigatory Powers Act, prohibited Apple from disclosing the order to Congress or U.S. regulators. The directive would have forced Apple to compromise its Advanced Data Protection encryption, enabling officials to access individual data. Apple refused compliance, instead withdrawing the secure storage option from UK customers while maintaining it elsewhere globally. Despite Apple's pullback, the UK demand for backdoor creation remains. Gabbard pledged to ensure UK actions protect American privacy rights "consistent with the CLOUD Act and other applicable laws."

A Disney employee's download of an AI image generation tool from GitHub led to a massive data breach in July 2024, exposing over 44 million internal Slack messages. The software contained infostealer malware that compromised Matthew Van Andel's computer [non-paywalled source] for five months, giving hackers access to his 1Password manager.

The attackers used the stolen credentials to access Disney's corporate systems, publishing sensitive information including customer data, employee passport numbers, and revenue figures from Disney's theme parks and streaming services. The breach also devastated Van Andel personally. Hackers exposed his Social Security number, financial login details, and even credentials for his home's Ring cameras. Shortly after the incident, Disney fired Van Andel following a forensic analysis of his work computer, citing misconduct he denies. Security researchers believe the attacker, who identified as part of a Russia-based hacktivist group called Nullbulge, is likely an American individual.

BP has announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production. The energy giant revealed the shift in strategy on Wednesday following pressure from some investors unhappy its profits and share price have been lower than its rivals. From a report: BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10bn a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5bn. The move comes as rivals Shell and Norwegian company Equinor have also scaled back plans to invest in green energy and US President Donald Trump's "drill baby drill" comments have encouraged investment in fossil fuels.

Amazon has launched a comprehensive AI overhaul of Alexa, representing the voice assistant's most significant update since its 2014 debut. The new "Alexa Plus" enables multi-turn conversations without repeating wake words, replacing the previous command-response interaction model.

The system now handles complex tasks including booking concert tickets, making restaurant reservations via Yelp integration, and creating smart home routines autonomously. Technical capabilities include image analysis, content-aware movie navigation, and semantic music search that processes vague descriptors rather than exact titles. Originally announced in September 2023 for early 2024 release, the update faced prolonged delays as Amazon engineers struggled with technical challenges.

Internal testing revealed the new AI-powered assistant performed inconsistently against OpenAI's ChatGPT and suffered from verbose responses. Amazon's legacy architecture -- designed to retrieve predefined answers rather than generate responses dynamically -- complicated the transition to generative AI models. The launch represents a critical test for Devices & Services chief Panos Panay, who replaced Dave Limp amid reorganization following layoffs that affected the division.

More than 90% of UK undergraduate students now use AI in their studies, up from two-thirds a year ago, according to a Higher Education Policy Institute survey released Wednesday. The poll of 1,041 full-time undergraduates found 88% used generative AI such as ChatGPT for assessments, compared with 53% in 2024, with science students more likely to use the technology than humanities peers. Half of students cited "saving time" and "improving work quality" as their primary motivations.

The proportion considering it acceptable to include AI-generated text after editing rose to 25% from 17% last year, while only 6% approved using AI content without editing. "Every assessment must be reviewed in case it can be completed easily using AI," said Josh Freeman, policy manager at Hepi. The report identified "persistent digital divides" in AI competency, with men and students from wealthier backgrounds more likely to be frequent users.

The Guardian: For some, the adverts that precede the start of a film are the bane of a trip to the cinema; for others, they are a useful buffer as you stand in the popcorn queue. But for one man in India, the lengthy marathon of cinema advertising was so infuriating that he took the matter to the courts -- and won. Abhishek MR, a 30-year-old man from the southern city of Bangalore, had booked a trip to the cinema with friends in December last year to watch wartime drama Sam Bahadur.

But while the scheduled time he had booked the ticket for was 4.05pm, he had to sit through 25 minutes of adverts for upcoming features and commercial items such as homewares, mobile phones and cars before the film actually began. Having planned to return to work straight after the film, Abhishek MR was angered by what he felt was a costly disruption to his life. He filed a lawsuit against PVR Inox, India's largest cinema multiplex chain, stating that: "The complainant could not attend other arrangements and appointments which were scheduled for the day and has faced losses that cannot be calculated in terms of money as compensation." Bruce66423 adds: Great outcome -- and only 25 minutes of garbage punished. Note that Indian cinemas also make patrons sit through 15 minutes of adverts in the middle of the film.