Zoox chooses Washington DC as its next autonomous vehicle testbed
The Amazon-owned company will start by mapping public streets of the nation’s capital before testing begins later this year.
ALS stole this musician’s voice. AI let him sing again.
There are tears in the audience as Patrick Darling’s song begins to play. It’s a heartfelt song written for his great-grandfather, whom he never got the chance to meet. But this performance is emotional for another reason: It’s Darling’s first time on stage with his bandmates since he lost the ability to sing two years…
The Download: our thawing permafrost, and a drone-filled future
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Scientists can see Earth’s permafrost thawing from space Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, sewage has leached into the earth. The ground can feel squishy, sodden. This small…
Nothing launches AI tool for building mini apps using prompts
Nothing on Monday revealed Playground, an AI tool that lets users create apps with simple text prompts and deploy them to a platform of sorts known as Essential Apps.
Spotify’s founder and CEO Daniel Ek is stepping down
The company is replacing Daniel Ek with two co-CEOs: Gustav Söderström, currently co-president, and chief product and technology officer; and Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer.
Hinge is taking a fairer approach to account banning
Hinge won’t kick you off the app if just one thing on your profile breaks the rules but remove the content and prompt you to change it.
Whoop opens blood-testing service to what it says is a 350,000-person waitlist
Whoop Advanced Labs marries subscription blood tests with its fitness device monitoring for tech-powered wellness advice.
The US may be heading toward a drone-filled future
On Thursday, I published a story about the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to track shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock’s drone efforts, described the ideal scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting…
Scientists can see Earth’s permafrost thawing from space
Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, a crack has formed in the middle of a house. Sewage has leached into the earth. Soil has eroded around buildings, leaving them perched atop precarious lumps of dirt. There are eternal puddles. And mold. The ground can feel squishy, sodden. This small town…
Opera launches its AI-centric Neon browser
Neon will write code snippets, includes an agent that will do tasks for you, and handles repeatable prompts.