News/New Launches
Qualcomm targets data centers with new Nvidia-compatible processors
Qualcomm's entry into the data center AI processor market signals a significant strategic pivot for the mobile chip giant, as it positions itself to compete in Nvidia's GPU-dominated territory. By designing CPUs specifically compatible with Nvidia's GPUs and software ecosystem, Qualcomm is acknowledging Nvidia's market leadership while carving out its own complementary role in the AI infrastructure landscape. This diversification effort represents the company's latest attempt to expand beyond its smartphone chip stronghold under CEO Cristiano Amon's leadership. The big picture: Qualcomm announced plans to launch data center processors designed to connect with Nvidia's GPUs, marking the company's re-entry into...
read May 20, 2025AI in Appalachia: University of Charleston unveils AI degree and legal seminar
The University of Charleston is leading the regional AI education landscape with its new artificial intelligence major launching in fall 2025. This strategic academic expansion positions the institution at the forefront of AI education in West Virginia, offering students specialized training in one of technology's fastest-growing fields while simultaneously extending AI knowledge to the broader community through public educational initiatives. The program represents a notable example of how higher education institutions are adapting curricula to prepare students for an increasingly AI-integrated workforce. The big picture: The University of Charleston is launching a new artificial intelligence major in fall 2025, positioning...
read May 19, 2025Artist-curator Adam Heft Berninger sees opportunity in new NYC gallery venture
Against the backdrop of an art market facing slowdown and correction, artist-curator Adam Heft Berninger is boldly launching a new gallery in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The space represents a fresh approach to technology-based art, focusing on artists who use systematic processes like generative code and machine learning while deliberately avoiding the reductive "AI art" label. This venture highlights an emerging countertrend in the art world—creating intimate, in-person experiences with digital art that emphasize artistic methodology over technological tools. The big picture: Heft gallery offers a specialized platform for artists using systematic approaches while resisting categorization as merely an "AI...
read May 19, 2025Toronto AI safety startup Trajectory Labs launches
Trajectory Labs launches in Toronto to accelerate local AI safety initiatives through workspace, events, and community building. This nonprofit, funded by Open Philanthropy and operational since January 2025, aims to tap into Toronto's potential to contribute meaningfully to AI safety. By creating a physical hub for collaboration and knowledge sharing, Trajectory Labs is addressing the practical needs of the growing AI safety community in a tech-forward Canadian city, offering an important model for how local ecosystems can organize to tackle global AI challenges. The big picture: Trajectory Labs has established a nonprofit AI safety hub in downtown Toronto with funding...
read May 19, 2025Symptom Checker? Check! Fitbit Labs unveils 3 AI features to simplify health data
Fitbit is introducing three AI-powered health features that transform how users interact with medical information and track their physical wellbeing. These experimental Fitbit Labs capabilities bring sophisticated health monitoring to consumer wearables, marking a significant step toward personalized digital health management. The new tools aim to bridge the gap between complex medical data and everyday health understanding, though they come with important limitations about their diagnostic capabilities. The big picture: Fitbit announced three Gemini-powered AI features exclusively for Fitbit Labs users that help interpret medical records, check symptoms, and identify unusual health trends. The company's parent Google is leveraging its...
read May 19, 2025Nvidia unveils tech to maintain AI development dominance
Nvidia's strategic expansion with NVLink Fusion represents a significant pivot in the AI chip ecosystem, allowing non-Nvidia processors to interconnect with their technology for the first time. This move positions the company to maintain its central role in AI development even as competitors build custom solutions, effectively acknowledging the hybrid future of AI infrastructure while ensuring Nvidia remains the gravitational center of the industry. The big picture: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced "NVLink Fusion," opening the company's previously closed interconnect technology to competitors' CPUs and custom chips for the first time. The program allows customers to build "semi-custom AI infrastructure"...
read May 19, 2025MuleSoft unveils new AI integration framework for API-centric enterprise
MuleSoft's latest platform update marks a significant shift in how software will interact with APIs, as AI agents become autonomous decision-makers rather than passive tools. This transition from human-directed API connections to AI-driven autonomy represents a fundamental evolution in software architecture, potentially transforming how enterprises build integrated systems and leverage their data across applications. The big picture: MuleSoft is expanding its API-centric platform to embrace agentic AI technologies, moving beyond traditional request-driven software engineering toward autonomous agent-driven connections. The Salesforce-owned company is positioning itself at the forefront of a major architectural shift where AI agents, not humans, will increasingly become...
read May 16, 2025Wix unveils AI-powered “Wixel” for visual design no beginner can hold a candle to
Wix introduces Wixel, a new AI-powered visual design platform that aims to democratize professional-grade design tools for users of all skill levels. This launch represents a significant push to make sophisticated design capabilities accessible through artificial intelligence, potentially disrupting the traditional design software market by removing technical barriers that have historically limited non-designers from creating high-quality visuals for business and personal use. The big picture: Wix has released Wixel, a standalone AI-powered design platform that enables users to perform comprehensive visual design tasks regardless of their creative expertise. The platform combines advanced AI models with an intuitive interface to streamline...
read May 16, 2025Evernote adds AI-powered transcription for audio, video, and images
Evernote's new AI Transcribe feature represents a significant value addition to the note-taking platform following its difficult transition under Bending Spoons ownership. The multimodal transcription tool, which quickly and accurately converts audio, video, and image files to text, marks a notable technological advancement for the service that has recently faced criticism for staff reductions and price increases. The big picture: Evernote has launched a powerful AI-based transcription tool that works across multiple media formats with impressive speed and accuracy. The feature is available both within the main Evernote application and as a standalone web tool for easy access. Users can...
read May 16, 2025YouTube’s Gemini AI targets ads to viewers’ favorite video moments
YouTube is leveraging Gemini AI to strategically place video advertisements by identifying the moments when viewers are most engaged. This new ad insertion strategy, called "Peak Points," aims to maximize advertising effectiveness by targeting emotional high points in videos, such as the moments just after a proposal. By placing ads after—rather than during—these pivotal moments, YouTube seeks to balance advertiser needs with viewer experience while potentially reducing the frustration of ads interrupting critical content. The big picture: YouTube has unveiled "Peak Points," a Gemini-powered advertising system that identifies optimal ad placement based on viewer engagement patterns. The system analyzes videos...
read May 16, 2025Too much of a good thing? Motorola Razr 2025 impresses, but AI features overwhelm
Motorola's 2025 Razr lineup resurrects an iconic design with impressive hardware innovation but stumbles with its AI implementation. The new foldable phones combine nostalgic appeal with modern technology through spectacular displays, pocket-friendly form factors, and distinctive design elements. While the phones excel in style and usability, Motorola's excessive AI features and limited long-term support policy detract from an otherwise compelling package that might just be the coolest option on the market despite its compromises. The big picture: Motorola has refined its foldable Razr series into stylish, functional devices that balance nostalgia with cutting-edge technology. The 2025 Razr models feature large...
read May 16, 2025Qualcomm unveils AI-powered Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip
Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset marks a significant mid-range processor upgrade, promising substantial performance improvements and bringing generative AI capabilities to more affordable smartphones. Built on a 4nm process, this new platform narrows the gap between mid-range and flagship devices with its upgraded CPU architecture, enhanced graphics capabilities, and expanded AI features. The announcement signals Qualcomm's continued push to democratize advanced mobile technologies beyond premium devices. The big picture: Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 mobile platform delivers significant performance upgrades while bringing generative AI capabilities to mid-range smartphones. The 4nm chipset promises 27% faster CPU performance, 30%...
read May 16, 2025AI-powered Box agents automate document management tasks
The simply named company "Box" is joining the competitive race to develop AI agents, introducing a new suite of autonomous tools designed to tackle enterprise content management challenges. These Box AI Agents aim to transform how organizations handle information by automating document summarization, information retrieval, and cross-platform integration, positioning Box to capitalize on the growing enterprise demand for AI-powered workflow solutions. The big picture: Box is launching AI Agents as part of its content management platform to help enterprise customers organize and retrieve critical information across their digital ecosystems. The agents are designed to reduce time spent on mundane tasks like...
read May 15, 2025Zoho enhances CX platform with AI-driven workflow improvements
Zoho's AI-powered CRM expansion aims to democratize customer data access across organizations, breaking down traditional barriers that confined CRM systems to sales teams. The new "CRM for Everyone" platform leverages Zoho's proprietary AI engine Zia to enable any employee to create customized workflows, reports, and visual elements without technical expertise, making customer data more accessible and actionable throughout the entire business. The big picture: Zoho Corporation has enhanced its customer experience platform with deeper AI capabilities and workflow orchestration tools designed to extend CRM functionality beyond traditional sales departments. The expanded platform leverages Zoho's proprietary AI engine, Zia, to enable...
read May 14, 2025TikTok’s new AI photo tool turns normie cats into hydra-headed felines
TikTok's new AI Alive feature transforms still photos into animated videos, but the results often veer into unsettling territory rather than enhancing images as intended. The feature, part of the broader integration of AI into everyday apps, produces bizarre distortions that highlight the current limitations of generative AI technology when applied to common personal content like pet photos. The big picture: TikTok has joined the AI race with its new AI Alive feature, which transforms static images into short video clips based on user prompts. The tool represents another step in the widespread integration of AI features across popular social...
read May 14, 2025We’ve got our A-Eye on you: LastPass targets employees’ unauthorized AI tool use
LastPass is expanding beyond password management into SaaS application monitoring, directly targeting the growing challenge of shadow IT and unauthorized AI tool usage in small and mid-sized businesses. By leveraging its existing browser extension infrastructure, LastPass aims to democratize SaaS monitoring technology previously available only to large enterprises with substantial security budgets. This move represents a strategic pivot to help organizations gain visibility into which cloud services their employees are using—particularly as AI adoption accelerates in workplace settings. The big picture: LastPass has announced a new SaaS monitoring capability specifically designed for small to midsize enterprises struggling to track employee usage...
read May 14, 2025AI-powered Lenovo, AMD ThinkPad elevates mobile productivity
Lenovo's new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 brings powerhouse AI capabilities to an ultra-portable business laptop, targeting professionals who need performance without sacrificing mobility. Weighing just over 2 pounds, this AMD Ryzen AI-powered device represents a significant evolution in the ThinkPad lineup, combining the brand's legendary durability with neural processing capabilities that can handle up to 50 trillion operations per second. As AI-enabled computing becomes increasingly essential for business users, this device highlights how hardware manufacturers are integrating dedicated AI acceleration into mainstream professional laptops. The big picture: Lenovo is positioning its lightest-ever ThinkPad as a premium AI PC designed specifically...
read May 14, 2025AI agent AlphaEvolve creates algorithms surpassing human expertise
Google DeepMind's AlphaEvolve represents a significant leap in AI's ability to create novel algorithmic solutions rather than simply remixing existing knowledge. By combining Gemini's coding capabilities with evolutionary design methods, this system has created provably new algorithms that outperform human-designed approaches that have remained unchallenged for decades. This breakthrough demonstrates AI's emerging capacity to generate genuinely innovative solutions to computational problems, particularly those relevant to advancing AI itself. The big picture: Google DeepMind has developed AlphaEvolve, an AI system that designs algorithms that surpass human expertise in specific computational domains, including improvements to a matrix calculation method that has remained...
read May 14, 2025Patronus launches AI monitoring tool Percival for enterprise use
Patronus AI's new Percival platform aims to solve a growing crisis in enterprise AI reliability by automatically detecting and fixing failures in agent systems. As companies increasingly deploy autonomous AI agents for complex tasks, these systems face compounding error risks that can damage brand reputation and increase customer churn. Percival represents a significant advancement in AI oversight technology, particularly as agent applications become more mission-critical for businesses. The big picture: Patronus AI has launched Percival, positioning it as the industry's first automated monitoring platform that can identify failure patterns in AI agent systems and suggest optimizations to address them. The...
read May 13, 2025Notion unveils comprehensive AI toolkit to boost productivity
Notion is bolstering its AI capabilities with a new suite of intelligent features designed to transform collaborative workspaces. The productivity platform is doubling down on its AI integration through "Notion AI for work," which aims to streamline teamwork across its document, project, calendar, and email applications. This expansion represents Notion's strategic push to position itself as an all-in-one AI-powered workplace solution that competes with standalone productivity tools. The big picture: Notion is launching enhanced AI capabilities integrated throughout its workspace, promising to make its platform twice as powerful for teams. The company is introducing new tools that help teams more...
read May 13, 2025Coming down: AI hallucinations drop to 1% with new guardian agent approach
Vectara's new "Hallucination Corrector" represents a significant advancement in AI reliability through its innovative approach to not just detecting but actively correcting hallucinations. While most industry solutions focus primarily on hallucination detection or prevention, this technology introduces guardian agents that automatically identify, explain, and repair AI-generated misinformation. This breakthrough could dramatically improve enterprise AI adoption by addressing one of the technology's most persistent limitations, potentially reducing hallucination rates in smaller language models to less than 1%. The big picture: Vectara has unveiled a new service called the Hallucination Corrector that employs guardian agents to automatically fix AI hallucinations rather than...
read May 13, 2025Gigabyte launches X870 and B850 Aorus Stealth Ice motherboards in India
Gigabyte's X870 and B850 Aorus Stealth Ice motherboards represent a significant advancement in clean, cable-free PC building technology. Launching in India with support for AMD's latest processors, these boards combine aesthetic appeal with practical features like reverse-connector designs, AI-powered memory tuning, and enhanced cooling capabilities. As custom PC building continues to evolve toward more streamlined installations, these motherboards address both performance demands and the growing preference for minimalist aesthetics. The big picture: Gigabyte has designed these motherboards specifically for cable-free PC builds, partnering with major case manufacturers to ensure widespread compatibility. The boards are compatible with Gigabyte's own C500P stealth...
read May 9, 2025Zencoder unveils Zen Agents for AI-driven team software development
Zencoder's Zen Agents platform represents a significant evolution in collaborative AI development tools, shifting focus from individual productivity to team-based workflows. By creating an open-source marketplace for custom AI agents that can be shared across organizations, the platform addresses a crucial gap in modern software development where delays often occur between coding and feedback loops. This approach could fundamentally change how development teams collaborate and leverage AI throughout their workflows. The big picture: Zencoder has launched Zen Agents, a platform enabling teams to create, share, and deploy specialized AI tools for software development across entire organizations. The platform includes an...
read May 9, 2025AI headphones clone multiple voices for real-time translation
Yes, please do listen to the voices in your head. Researchers have developed a groundbreaking AI headphone system that can simultaneously translate multiple speakers in real-time, potentially eliminating language barriers in multilingual group conversations. The Spatial Speech Translation system not only converts foreign languages into English text but also preserves each speaker's unique vocal characteristics and emotional tone, creating a more natural translation experience than existing technologies. This innovation could transform international communication by enabling people to confidently express themselves across language divides. How it works: The University of Washington's Spatial Speech Translation system uses AI to track and translate...
read