News/New Launches
Geekom’s $1.9K mini PC packs AMD’s flagship AI chip into compact design
Geekom has announced the A9 Mega, a compact mini PC powered by AMD's flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, launching via Kickstarter with pricing starting around $1,899. The system represents the 20th product to feature AMD's 16-core, 32-thread Strix Halo chip and positions itself as an alternative to traditional workstations and Apple's Mac Studio for AI workloads and creative applications. What you should know: The A9 Mega packs serious computing power into a compact CNC-machined aluminum body measuring 171x171x71mm. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor includes Radeon 8060S graphics and an XDNA 2 NPU (neural processing unit) capable of 126...
read Aug 28, 2025xAI launches free agentic coding model to challenge Microsoft and OpenAI
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has launched grok-code-fast-1, a new "speedy and economical" agentic coding model that can autonomously perform coding-related tasks. The release marks xAI's entry into the competitive AI coding assistant market, where companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are already established players vying for developer mindshare. What you should know: The grok-code-fast-1 model will be available for free for a limited time through select launch partners including GitHub Copilot and Windsurf. xAI describes the model's "strength lies in delivering strong performance in an economical, compact form factor, making it a versatile choice for tackling common coding tasks...
read Aug 28, 2025WhatsApp launches AI writing assistant with privacy-focused processing
WhatsApp has launched Writing Help, an AI-powered tool that can adjust the tone of messages or completely rewrite them to sound more professional, funny, or supportive. The feature leverages Meta's AI technology while using Private Processing to ensure message privacy, marking another step in Meta's integration of AI assistance across its messaging platforms. How it works: Users can access Writing Help through a new pencil icon on their keyboard in both individual and group chats. The tool can modify message tone or provide alternative ways to convey the same message, similar to Instagram's existing writing assistant. Writing Help is powered...
read Aug 28, 2025stupidDOPE launches clever AI-focused SEO services for ChatGPT visibility
Digital publication stupidDOPE has launched specialized SEO services designed to help brands gain visibility not just in traditional search engines, but in the artificial intelligence tools that increasingly shape how people discover information online. The service represents a strategic pivot toward what the company calls "AI-focused SEO"—optimizing content specifically for large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. This development reflects a broader shift in digital marketing as AI-powered search tools become mainstream alternatives to Google. When users ask ChatGPT to recommend products or services, these systems draw from indexed web content to generate responses. Companies that aren't optimized for...
read Aug 28, 2025Microsoft unveils in-house AI models that run on fewer chips, free it from overreliance on OpenAI
Microsoft has unveiled two powerful AI models it developed in-house, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview, marking the company's strategic shift away from relying solely on OpenAI's technology. The move positions Microsoft's AI division, led by Mustafa Suleyman, in direct competition with OpenAI and other industry leaders while giving the tech giant greater control over its AI destiny. What you should know: Microsoft's new models prioritize cost-effectiveness over raw computational power, using significantly fewer resources than competitors. MAI-Voice-1 is a speech model that runs on a single GPU (a specialized computer chip for AI processing) and can produce a minute of audio in...
read Aug 27, 2025Rokid’s $599 AI glasses challenge Meta with built-in displays
Rokid has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new AI Glasses, featuring dual micro LED displays that provide heads-up functionality for navigation, real-time translation, and teleprompter capabilities. Priced at $599 with November shipping, these glasses directly challenge Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses by offering visual displays that Meta's current $299 model lacks, potentially positioning Rokid advantageously ahead of Meta's rumored $800 AR glasses launch. What you should know: Rokid's AI Glasses combine familiar smart glasses features with breakthrough display technology that sets them apart from existing competitors. The glasses include a 12MP camera, open-ear speakers, and ChatGPT integration for capturing moments,...
read Aug 25, 2025Perplexity launches $5 monthly Comet Plus sharing 80% revenue with publishers
Perplexity has launched Comet Plus, a new $5 monthly subscription that shares revenue with publishers when AI agents use their content to answer questions. The initiative addresses growing concerns about AI companies using publisher content without fair compensation, offering an 80% revenue split to participating publications. What you should know: Comet Plus represents a new approach to compensating publishers for AI-driven content usage beyond traditional web traffic. Publishers will receive 80% of the $5 monthly subscription fee, with the remaining 20% allocated to computing costs. The subscription gives users access to premium content from a group of trusted publishers and...
read Aug 25, 2025Nvidia’s Jetson Thor delivers 7.5x AI boost for robotics at $3.5K
Nvidia has launched its Jetson AGX Thor developer kit and production modules, a next-generation robotics platform powered by Blackwell GPUs designed to enable millions of robots, including humanoids, with advanced AI capabilities. The platform delivers record-breaking performance and efficiency, reinforcing Nvidia's position in AI infrastructure as analysts project stronger earnings driven by its GB200 and Blackwell product ramps ahead of the company's August 27 earnings report. Key performance specs: The Blackwell GPU-powered platform delivers up to 2,070 FP4 teraflops of AI compute with 128GB of memory in a 130-watt power envelope. This represents 7.5 times the AI compute and 3.5...
read Aug 22, 2025In the know: Anthropic provides 3 free AI fluency courses for educators
Anthropic has launched three new free AI Fluency courses designed specifically for educators and students, co-created with university partners and available under a Creative Commons license. The initiative comes as AI literacy becomes increasingly valuable in the job market, with LinkedIn research showing employers prefer candidates comfortable with AI tools over those with more experience but less AI confidence. What you should know: The courses target different audiences within higher education and focus on responsible AI integration rather than basic tool usage. AI Fluency for Educators helps teachers integrate AI into their teaching methods, from creating materials to enhancing classroom...
read Aug 22, 2025Google’s AI Mode now books restaurants for $250/month subscribers
Google has introduced agentic AI capabilities to its AI Mode search feature that can help users find restaurants and make reservations automatically. The new functionality, currently limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers paying $250 per month, represents Google's latest attempt to bring AI agents into practical consumer applications after previous efforts like Duplex failed to gain widespread adoption. How it works: AI Mode now leverages Project Mariner, Google's AI agent technology, and partnerships with booking platforms to streamline restaurant discovery and reservation booking. Users provide details like party size, date, time, location, and preferred cuisine in a single text prompt....
read Aug 21, 2025ESPN launches AI-included $20-30 streaming service with 47K live events
ESPN launched its revamped streaming service today, marking a significant shift in how the sports media giant delivers content to cord-cutting audiences. The updated app integrates live streaming capabilities with ESPN's existing digital platform, offering sports fans a comprehensive alternative to traditional cable subscriptions. This launch represents ESPN's most aggressive push into direct-to-consumer streaming, positioning the network to compete directly with other sports-focused streaming services while capitalizing on the ongoing decline of traditional pay-TV subscriptions. Two-tier pricing structure targets different viewer segments ESPN's streaming service offers two distinct subscription options designed to capture both casual and dedicated sports fans. The...
read Aug 20, 2025ByteDance releases Seed-OSS-36B with 512K token context window
ByteDance has released Seed-OSS-36B, a new family of open-source large language models featuring a 512,000-token context window—twice the length of OpenAI's GPT-5. The release continues a trend of Chinese companies shipping powerful open-source AI models under permissive Apache-2.0 licensing, allowing free commercial use without API fees or licensing costs. What you should know: The Seed-OSS-36B collection includes three variants designed for different use cases and research applications. Seed-OSS-36B-Base with synthetic data delivers stronger benchmark performance for general-purpose applications Seed-OSS-36B-Base without synthetic data provides a cleaner research baseline free from potential synthetic data bias Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is post-trained for instruction following and...
read Aug 20, 2025Intel’s new feature boosts AI performance by allocating more RAM to integrated graphics
Intel has introduced "Shared GPU Memory Override," a new feature for its Core Ultra systems that allows users to allocate additional system RAM for integrated graphics use. This capability mirrors AMD's earlier "Variable Graphics Memory" feature and targets compact laptops and mobile workstations that rely on integrated solutions rather than discrete GPUs, potentially improving AI workload performance where memory availability is often the limiting factor. What you should know: The feature requires the latest Intel Arc drivers to function and is specifically designed for systems without dedicated graphics cards.• Bob Duffy, who leads Graphics and AI Evangelism at Intel, confirmed...
read Aug 20, 2025Insta360’s $150 AI webcam uses gimbal tech to fix video calls
The remote work revolution has fundamentally changed how professionals present themselves on camera, making webcam quality a crucial factor in career success and business productivity. While most built-in laptop cameras deliver grainy, poorly lit video that can undermine professional credibility, a new generation of AI-powered webcams is changing the game entirely. Insta360, a company known for innovative camera technology, has developed the Link 2 4K webcam that addresses the core limitations of traditional webcams through hardware innovation rather than software workarounds. Currently available for $150 (down from its usual $200 price), this device represents a significant leap forward in how...
read Aug 20, 2025Meta launches AI tool that dubs and lip-syncs Reels in multiple languages
Meta has launched an AI-powered translation tool that automatically dubs and lip-syncs Reels videos in different languages, starting with English and Spanish translations. The feature, which was previewed at Meta Connect last year, aims to help creators expand their global reach by making their content accessible to international audiences while maintaining authentic voice characteristics and synchronized mouth movements. What you should know: The tool requires creators to have either 1,000 Facebook followers or a public Instagram account to access the feature. At launch, Meta AI Translations only supports English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English conversions, though more languages will be added in the...
read Aug 20, 2025Pixel Watch 4 adds curved display and satellite communication for $349
Google unveiled the Pixel Watch 4 at its Made by Google event, featuring a striking curved domed display beneath the signature teardrop glass design. The smartwatch maintains the same $349 starting price as its predecessor while delivering enhanced AI capabilities through Gemini integration, improved battery life, and upgraded internals including emergency satellite communication. What you should know: The Pixel Watch 4's most distinctive feature is its Actua 360 domed display that curves beneath the glass, creating better visibility at angles. The display offers 10% more active area and 15% smaller bezels compared to the Pixel Watch 3, with maximum brightness...
read Aug 19, 2025Spotify’s new mixing tool lets users customize playlist transitions
Spotify has launched a new feature that allows Premium users to create custom transitions between playlist songs, arriving just weeks before Apple Music's similar AutoMix feature debuts in iOS 26. The timing suggests Spotify is proactively responding to Apple's AI-powered DJ-like transitions by offering its own take on seamless playlist mixing. What you should know: Spotify's transition feature is now rolling out in beta to Premium subscribers, focusing specifically on playlist customization rather than system-wide functionality. Users can access the feature by selecting a playlist and tapping the new "Mix" option in the toolbar. The tool offers both an "Auto"...
read Aug 19, 2025Adobe unveils Acrobat Studio with AI-powered document workspaces
Adobe has unveiled Acrobat Studio, a comprehensive document management platform that combines familiar PDF tools with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This isn't simply another incremental update to Adobe's document software—it represents a fundamental reimagining of how professionals interact with business documents. The platform merges Acrobat Pro's established PDF editing capabilities with Adobe Express design tools and specialized AI assistants, creating what Adobe describes as an integrated workspace for document-heavy workflows. For businesses drowning in contracts, proposals, reports, and client files, Acrobat Studio promises to transform static documents into interactive, searchable knowledge bases. According to Abhigyan Modi, Adobe's senior vice president...
read Aug 19, 2025Zoom launches AI virtual receptionist for 24/7 phone support in 6 languages
Receptionists are not going to be receptive to this. Zoom has launched Virtual Agent for Zoom Phone, an AI-powered receptionist that can handle customer calls 24/7 without human intervention. The no-code tool allows companies to replace or supplement traditional receptionists by greeting callers, processing requests, and routing calls autonomously across six languages at launch. What you should know: Virtual Agent operates as a fully automated digital receptionist that promises to reduce missed calls and hold times for businesses. The AI agent can greet callers naturally, process their requests, and initiate next steps without requiring human pickup. Available in English, Spanish,...
read Aug 19, 2025Nvidia’s 9B parameter AI model offers toggleable reasoning on single GPU
Nvidia has released Nemotron-Nano-9B-v2, a compact 9-billion parameter language model that features toggleable AI reasoning capabilities and achieves top performance in its class on key benchmarks. The model represents Nvidia's entry into the competitive small language model market, offering enterprises a balance between computational efficiency and advanced reasoning capabilities that can run on a single GPU. What you should know: Nemotron-Nano-9B-v2 combines hybrid architecture with user-controllable reasoning to deliver enterprise-ready AI at reduced computational costs. The model was pruned from 12 billion to 9 billion parameters specifically to fit on a single Nvidia A10 GPU, making deployment more accessible for...
read Aug 18, 2025Notion Mail brings AI-powered email management to iPhone
Notion has launched its AI-powered email client, Notion Mail, on iPhone, expanding the platform beyond its initial Mac release from April. The app joins Notion's growing suite of mobile productivity tools and leverages artificial intelligence to automatically organize and personalize email management for users. What you should know: Notion Mail positions itself as "the inbox that thinks like you," using AI to automatically sort and label incoming messages based on user preferences. Users can train the system to recognize which types of emails matter most, though initial setup still requires the Mac version of the app. The app allows users...
read Aug 18, 2025Not WWE: AMD’s new 64-core “Threadripper” 9980X offers local AI alternative for $5K
AMD has launched its Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series workstation processors, featuring the 32-core Threadripper 9970X ($2,499) and 64-core Threadripper 9980X ($4,999). The processors target enterprise developers building AI applications locally, offering a cost-effective alternative to cloud-based solutions while addressing security concerns and providing the computational power needed for large language models and intensive development work. What you should know: These workstations bridge the performance gap between consumer PCs and enterprise servers, specifically designed for AI development, STEM applications, and content creation. The Threadripper 9970X delivers 32 cores and 64 threads, while the flagship 9980X offers 64 cores and 128 threads...
read Aug 18, 2025Grammarly launches 8 AI agents to automate writing tasks. Meet the team.
Grammarly has unveiled eight new AI agents designed to transform how students and professionals approach writing tasks. Unlike traditional AI chatbots that require careful prompting, these automated assistants activate contextually and provide targeted support without manual intervention. This development represents a significant shift for Grammarly, the writing assistance platform founded in 2009. The company is repositioning itself around AI agents—autonomous software programs that can perform specific tasks with minimal human oversight. For business professionals, this means access to specialized writing support that adapts to different contexts and requirements automatically. The timing is particularly relevant as organizations increasingly integrate AI tools...
read Aug 18, 2025Android 16 QPR2 brings AI agents, flexible parental controls, and UWB upgrades
Google is accelerating Android development with a new twice-yearly release schedule, and the upcoming Android 16 QPR2 update represents the company's first "minor" release under this faster cadence. QPR stands for Quarterly Platform Release—Google's system for delivering significant updates between major Android versions. This December release will introduce three substantial improvements that signal Google's broader push into AI-powered mobile experiences and enhanced device connectivity. While these updates may seem technical on the surface, they represent meaningful shifts in how businesses and consumers will interact with their Android devices. 3 major features coming to Android 16 QPR2 1. AI agents that...
read