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Woke Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson launches latest ‘task force’ as key election pledge on housing flops
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has launched a new “housing production task force” after a promised plan to cut developer fees, one of her key election pledges, failed to materialise. Wilson campaigned on tackling affordability and housing supply, but new housing applications have continued to fall sharply, prompting criticism that her flagship policy area has produced…
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‘Not perfectly aligned’ with human values: Anthropic admits security failures behind AI hacking incidents
Anthropic, the US company behind the Claude chatbot, has admitted that a series of hacking incidents involving its AI models during testing stemmed from a “failure of operational security”, and says it has since tightened its testing procedures. The company revealed in July that its models had accessed the open internet three times and gained…
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Fambot introduces an ‘AI chief of staff’ for families
Fambot, a new startup, has launched what it calls an “AI chief of staff” for families, aiming to help parents manage the mental load of children’s schedules, school communications and household logistics. The company was founded by former Instagram engineer Greg Karlin and CEO David Reich, an ex-Uber product head and father of three, alongside…
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Dwarf Fortress creator says we have a natural lean towards human-made stories, but ‘but we’re all going to be very sorely tested in the coming years’ by AI
Tarn Adams, co-creator of the acclaimed procedurally generated game Dwarf Fortress, has said that while people naturally gravitate towards stories made by humans, this preference is likely to face serious pressure as artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in creative industries. His comments touch on a growing debate within game development and the wider creative sector…
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Macquarie University swaps in-person psychology classes with AI chatbot for two subjects
Macquarie University in Australia has replaced in-person classes in two mandatory psychology subjects with an AI chatbot called “Virtual Peer”, alongside online quizzes and optional tutorials, as part of a broader trend of universities expanding AI’s role in teaching. The university says the AI activities merely “supplement” core online learning and are not compulsory, with…
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Perplexity launches Mac AI feature to keep data local
Perplexity has launched Hybrid Compute, a new feature for its Mac-based AI agent platform that splits a task between a powerful cloud-based model and a smaller AI model running locally on the user’s computer. The system is designed so that sensitive information stays on the user’s own machine while less sensitive parts of a task…
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NASA panel confirms Orion heat shield performed well on Artemis II
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has confirmed that the heat shield on the Orion capsule performed well during the Artemis II mission, resolving a major point of concern that had lingered since problems emerged during Artemis I in 2022. On that earlier uncrewed test flight, the ablative heat shield unexpectedly lost large chunks of char,…
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Sonos’ Ace Ultra headphones can swap audio with any Sonos speaker
Sonos has unveiled the Ace Ultra, an upgraded version of its over-ear headphones that can now swap audio directly with any Sonos speaker or soundbar in a household, not just a limited range of compatible soundbars. This marks a significant expansion of the headphones’ role within a Sonos system, letting users move sound from a…
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‘Sonos 27’ brings a refreshed UI to the app and lets AI agents control your system
Sonos has unveiled “Sonos 27,” a major overhaul of the operating system underpinning its speakers, soundbars and headphones, alongside a redesigned app. It marks the company’s most significant software update since its troubled 2024 app relaunch, which led to widespread bugs, the departure of chief executive Patrick Spence, and a year without new product releases…
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Sonos unveils new Beam Ultra soundbar with ‘true 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos’
Sonos has unveiled the Beam Ultra, a new premium version of its mid-size soundbar, delivering genuine Dolby Atmos surround sound through dedicated upward-firing drivers rather than the software-simulated spatial audio used in the outgoing Beam. The launch marks a notable step forward for the company after a difficult period marked by strategy shake-ups, giving buyers…