Amit Yoran, who led Tenable as its CEO and chair, passed away on Friday at the age of 54. His death, described as unexpected, was confirmed by Tenable in a press release on Saturday. Yoran had taken medical leave last […]
The post Amit Yoran, CEO of cybersecurity firm Tenable, dies unexpectedly after battle with cancer first appeared on Tech Startups.
The extradition of Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, to the United States marks a significant milestone in the cryptocurrency industry. For investors, it underscores the importance of identifying the best cryptocurrency to invest in, particularly as the market […]
The post What Kwon’s Extradition Means for Investors first appeared on Tech Startups.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that the company is confident that it knows “how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” referring to the tech industry’s long-sought benchmark of artificial general intelligence. And he predicts that AI agents capable of autonomously performing certain tasks may start to “materially change the output of companies” this year.
Altman made the announcement in a blog post published on Monday, where he discussed the past and future of OpenAI. The company’s next goal is “superintelligence in the true sense of the word,” he says. “We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity.”
Altman’s description of superintelligence, broadly defined as AI agents that surpass human intelligence, sounds much like how OpenAI once described AGI: “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.” OpenAI has repeatedly stated that its foundational goal is to develop an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system that “benefits all of humanity.” But Altman tried to lower expectations for AGI last month, saying it would “matter much less” than people thought.
Downplaying its previous definition of AGI may work in OpenAI’s favor, since the company is tied to Microsoft via exclusivity deals it made in 2023 until OpenAI officially declares that AGI has been achieved. But reports that Microsoft itself classifies AGI as a system capable of generating $100 billion in profits may prove that loophole ineffective. And while The Verge has heard that OpenAI plans to blend its large language models together as an “AGI” offering, potentially to hit this goalpost faster, the company isn’t turning a profit. Altman also says it’s currently losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.
“People use it much more than we expected,” Altman wrote across several posts on X. “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money.”
Altman doesn’t directly address OpenAI’s tight profit-sharing arrangement with Microsoft in his blog post, but he does lament about the confusing events that led to him being fired as CEO of OpenAI, hired by Microsoft, and subsequently returning to OpenAI in November 2023. Altman has since consolidated power at OpenAI, which aims to transition from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit one this year.
“The whole event was, in my opinion, a big failure of governance by well-meaning people, myself included. Looking back, I certainly wish I had done things differently, and I’d like to believe I’m a better, more thoughtful leader today than I was a year ago,” Altman said. “Good governance requires a lot of trust and credibility. I appreciate the way so many people worked together to build a stronger system of governance for OpenAI that enables us to pursue our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits all of humanity.”
Microsoft is pulling yet another trick to get people to use its Bing search engine. If you use Bing right now without signing into a Microsoft account and search for Google, you’ll get a page that looks an awful lot like... Google.
It’s a clear attempt from Microsoft to make Bing look like Google for this specific search query, and other searches just list the usual Bing search results without this special interface. The Google result includes a search bar, an image that looks a lot like a Google Doodle, and even some small text under the search bar just like Google does. Microsoft even automatically scrolls down the page slightly to mask its own Bing search bar that appears at the top of search results.
Image: Tom Warren / The Verge
While Bing still surfaces search results for Google underneath this spoofed Google UI, a lot of people will see this interface when they configure a new PC and search for Google in the address bar of Microsoft Edge. As 9to5Google points out, it’s a sneaky move from Microsoft to try and keep people using Bing instead of switching to Google.
Microsoft has a habit of this kind of behavior, too. We’ve been cataloging every trick Microsoft has used to convince people to switch to Bing or Edge instead of Google and Chrome over the past few years. Microsoft has modified Chrome download sites, added pop-up ads into Google Chrome on Windows, injected polls into Chrome download pages, and even used malware-like popups to get people to ditch Google.
Google also has its own notifications on its websites to encourage people to download Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge, but they’re nowhere near as aggressive as Microsoft’s use of operating system-level popups and website modifications.
Bird Buddy’s smart bird feeders are a perfect confluence of different consumer technologies. Breakthroughs in security cameras, AI, and solar charging have converged into a terrific little product that has captured public imagination. At CES 2025, the startup’s creators announced an expansion into another wing of the animal kingdom. Wonder is a new sub-brand bringing […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Today at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Schlage unveiled its new Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt, marking the company’s first Ultra Wideband-enabled smart lock, complete with support for Matter-over-Thread.
Schlage has consistently been at the forefront of connected home smart locks. In March 2022, it made history as the first company to launch an NFC-assisted Apple Home Keys-enabled smart lock solution, the popular . Now, let’s take a closer look at the features and capabilities of the upcoming Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt.
more…We may be just a few days into 2025, but Apple thinks it can already tell which upcoming music artists are set to make a breakthrough this year. The company shared its predictions as the Shazam Fast Forward 2025.
Apple looked at the trending artists in the first five days of music Shazammed by users, and had its own music editors review them …
more…
It’s a bit of a moment for the humble door lock. Schlage, one of the oldest lock makers in the US, just launched its first-ever smart door lock without a keyway. But that’s not the most exciting part: the Schlage Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt is the company’s first lock to support the new smart home standard Matter and one of the first ever to use ultra wideband technology (UWB) for hands-free unlocking.
Along with the Sense Pro, Schlage also announced a new entry-level smart lock. The $199 Schlage Arrive Smart WiFi Deadbolt does have a keyway, along with a push button keypad for the touchscreen-adverse. The new locks join the company’s existing Encode smart lock line.
Image: Schlage
While it’s nice to see a more affordable smart lock option from Schlage (its Encode deadbolts start at $274), the Sense Pro is the headliner. A radical redesign for the company, the new touchscreen lock has a completely smooth face and no keyway. While there are plenty of smart locks without keyways, this is a first for the 100-year-old Schlage. There’s also no fingerprint reader — a technology Schlage seems to have skipped over entirely.
Instead, it appears to be betting on UWB as the best option for seamlessly unlocking your door. Along with a numeric code and NFC-powered tap-to-unlock (similar to Apple’s Home Key), the Sense Pro can open automatically as you approach your door. Here’s how Schlage says it works:
This feature uses Ultra Wideband and the user’s paired and authorized personal device to intelligently calculate speed, trajectory and motion, ensuring seamless, intuitive entry that understands intent to enter and unlocks precisely as the user reaches their door.
Your phone or smartwatch will need to have UWB technology to support the hands-free unlocking, and Schlage said details on which specific models will be compatible with Schlage’s implementation will be announced closer to its retail launch.
While, initially, the lock will work over Schlage’s new Schlage Converge technology, Schlage has said that the Sense Pro will support Aliro. The open standard, which is due to be released this year, will add support for NFC and UWB unlocking across ecosystems and hardware. Theoretically, any Aliro lock will work with any Aliro-enabled smartphone — Apple, Samsung, and Google are all involved in developing Aliro.
Speaking of ecosystem support, the Sense Pro is Schlage’s first lock to work with Matter, which means it’s compatible with any Matter ecosystem, including Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Home Assistant.
Matter support is over Thread, a low-powered, low-latency smart home protocol designed for battery-operated devices like locks. It should ensure the Sense Pro gets decent battery life, although the company hasn’t released details yet. Thread is used in the Schlage Encode Plus, but that model doesn’t support Matter. As with the Encode Plus, the Sense Pro will also work with built-in Wi-Fi to connect to the Schlage Home app.
Schlage says the Sense Pro will launch this year but hasn’t provided a date or price.
Image: Schlage
The entry-level Arrive doesn't have any of the bells and whistles of the Sense Pro, but it is Schlage’s first push-button keypad deadbolt equipped with built-in Wi-Fi. You can program up to 250 codes in the newly updated Schlage app or unlock it with a physical key. It also works with Amazon Alexa or Google Home — but there’s no support for Matter. Schlage says it will be available in late spring 2025.
Image: Schlage
It’s 2025, and Microsoft is kicking off the year by reminding everyone that support for Windows 10 ends in October. While the company has been trying to entice Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 with full-screen prompts throughout 2024, it’s now calling 2025 “the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh.”
Last year, Microsoft kicked off 2024 by declaring it was “the year of the AI PC,” before launching a range of Copilot Plus PCs several months later. As Microsoft edges closer to the end of Windows 10, it’s making its presence at CES felt this week by declaring that refreshing a Windows 10 PC will be more important than buying a new TV or phone in 2025.
“As CES 2025 begins, showcasing the latest innovations in technology, we are excited for the advancements our industry will offer to people around the globe,” says Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft. “And we believe that one of the most important pieces of technology people will look to refresh in 2025 isn’t the refrigerator, the television or their mobile phone. It will be their Windows 10 PC, and they will move forward with Windows 11.”
Mehdi believes that “Windows 11 is available at a time when the world needs it most” and that “the forefront of AI innovation will be realized on Windows.” 2025 should be a bigger year for Windows AI features, particularly after Recall was delayed enough times that it didn’t launch fully in 2024. Microsoft also hasn’t delivered its improved AI-powered Windows Search features to Insiders yet after unveiling them in October.
Microsoft isn’t at CES this week in the traditional sense of having a booth on the show floor or even announcing product news, but its influence will be felt in the myriad laptops that get announced this week, and even unusual announcements of its Copilot AI assistant coming to LG and Samsung TVs. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some Microsoft executives jump onstage during CES press events this week. Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s vice president of “next generation,” is already confirmed to appear at Lenovo’s handheld gaming PC event, and Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has been appearing at partner keynotes in recent months.
With Windows 11 adoption still lagging behind Windows 10, it’s no surprise to see Microsoft dedicating the year to making sure people upgrade to Windows 11 or buy a new PC. Windows 11 is now the most popular OS for PC gaming on Steam, but with Microsoft offering Extended Security Updates to consumers for the first time ever later this year, it will be interesting to see how many opt to pay $30 for an extra year of updates instead of moving to Windows 11.
Barbecue tech startup Brisk It has unveiled its latest smart grill at CES, which uses generative AI to automate cooking and create personalized recipes. The $399 Zelos 450 electric wood pellet smoker features 450 square inches of cooking space and Wi-Fi connectivity for remotely adjusting settings and monitoring food as it cooks via a mobile app.
That’s pretty affordable for a smart wood pellet grill — the cheapest Wi-Fi-controlled offering from Traeger starts at $800, and that doesn’t include any generative AI cooking features. The Zelos is also substantially cheaper than previous AI-powered grills from Brisk It, which start at $849.99.
Whether you actually want AI to get in between you and your grilling is the bigger question. Brisk It says its Vera AI can “monitor, control, and automate the cook for you” at the push of a button, sending users notification updates on the cooking progress and reminders to do things like wrap or spritz ribs with water. If these prompts are missed or ignored, the AI will automatically adjust the grilling temperature to prevent food from being ruined. Ridiculous as it sounds, the company’s earlier models have received some positive reviews for their helpful automation.
Image: Brisk It
The latest Vera 2.0 model on the Zelos 450 includes new features like Smart Image Recognition, which uses photos of ingredients to generate recipes, and Recipe Re-creation, which can turn existing recipes into versions that can be automated on the grill.
The Zelos 450 has a temperature range of 180–500 degrees Fahrenheit that supports both slow cooking and high-heat grilling. Brisk It says it’ll be available to purchase at Amazon, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, and the Brisk It Grills webstore sometime in Q1 2025.
Intel is announcing the rest of the Arrow Lake family of CPUs at CES today, with options for thin-and-light laptops all the way up to gaming notebooks. These mobile processors will appear in many of the computers being announced at CES this week, with the 200HX series being paired with next-gen GPUs we’re expecting Nvidia to announce later today and the 200H and 200U series of chips destined for thin-and-light and premium laptops.
While Intel will continue to supply Lunar Lake CPUs for its range of Copilot Plus laptops, the Arrow Lake mobile family won’t be ditching memory sticks after Intel confirmed in October that the Lunar Lake chips were a one-off experiment.
Image: Intel
The new Core Ultra 200HX series will be targeted at gaming laptops and should deliver around 5 percent better single-thread performance and 20 percent multithread performance improvements over previous Raptor Lake-H Refresh processors.
Intel says new gaming laptops with the “latest discrete GPUs” (read that as Nvidia’s RTX 50-series) will be coming in late Q1. The flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX has 24 cores (8 performance and 16 efficiency cores), can boost up to 5.5GHz, has 4 GPU cores, and a 13 TOPS NPU. That’s enough to meet Intel’s definition of “AI PC” but not enough for Microsoft’s Copilot Plus features.
Consumer laptops that aren’t gaming-focused will come with Intel’s 200H or 200U series of processors. The H variants have a base power of 28 watts, apart from the flagship Core Ultra 9 285H that pushes the power requirements up to 45 watts. These H-series CPUs have a new Intel Arc GPU inside that delivers around 15 percent better graphics performance over previous Meteor Lake chips.
Image: Intel
CPU performance on these H chips should be around 15 percent better, too, for single-thread tasks. There are five chips available for laptop makers here, including the flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 285H with 16 cores (6 performance, 8 efficiency, and 2 low-power efficiency cores), a boost clock of 5.4GHz, and 8 GPU cores.
Intel will also release the U series of its Core Ultra 200 processors for laptops that are much more focused on battery life and thin-and-light designs. These chips have a base power of just 15 watts and only turbo up to 57 watts. The top Intel Core Ultra 7 265U processor includes 12 cores (2 performance, 8 efficiency, and 2 low-power efficiency cores) and can boost up to 5.3GHz.
While the 200HX series of chips won’t appear until late Q1 in gaming laptops, the 200H and 200U chips should start shipping in thin-and-light laptops in the coming weeks.
Home security company Kami Vision is introducing a new camera that’s designed especially for seniors living on their own. The Kami Fall Detect Camera monitors for falls and can alert families or caregivers to take action. The company has been offering similar fall detection systems for senior living communities, but this is its first product designed with private homes in mind.
The Fall Detect Camera offers an 87-degree view and can rotate 360 degrees. The owner can authorize other users to receive alerts if a fall is detected or access the camera’s live view to check on them — there’s even two-way audio communication built in. Kami Vision claims the camera detects falls with 99.5 percent accuracy and uses AI to identify a fall even if the person is partially obscured.
Kami Vision offers a subscription service at $45 per month that includes professional monitoring to verify falls and automatic calls to emergency services if there’s no response to a fall. The camera itself costs $99 and can be used on its own, but the subscription is required to get the fall detection features.
Kami isn’t the first company to introduce tech to help people age in place. Both the Apple Watch and Google Pixel Watch include fall detection features that allow the wearer to call for help when a fall is detected. But those devices need to be on your body to work and need to be kept charged, which might not be practical for someone whose age or condition puts them at risk for falls. As baby boomers reach their senior years, something like Kami Vision’s approach will probably look awfully appealing to caregivers and those wanting to age in place alike.
Ring is doing something rare for a technology brand: upgrading devices that customers have already purchased. The company is updating its outdoor cameras to boost video resolution, but it’s not just new customers who will benefit — existing owners of the floodlight and spotlight cams will get the upgrade, too.
Ring’s series of outdoor cameras currently support 1080p video. The Floodlight Cam Pro and the Spotlight Cam Pro are getting the boost to 2K video, while the Plus versions of those cameras will remain at 1080p. It’s a significant jump in resolution for the Pro models considering that most other Ring cameras top out at 1080p, with the exception of a few doorbells that do 1440p and 1536p.
Across Ring’s product line, these outdoor cameras are good candidates for a resolution bump. Since they’re typically mounted higher and farther away from the subjects they’re meant to record, a little extra resolution can make a significant difference in image detail. Digital zoom, which was already pretty good on the Floodlight Cam Pro, should get a little sharper, too.
Existing Floodlight and Spotlight Cam Pro owners will be able to upgrade their devices through the Ring app when the update starts rolling out on January 8th.
Ring has announced a new partnership with fire safety brand Kidde to launch smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that connect to the Ring app via Wi-Fi and send alerts to your phone when the alarms are triggered.
The Kidde Smart Smoke Alarm with Ring ($54.97) and the Kidde Smart Smoke and CO Alarm with Ring ($74.97) are hardwired alarms with battery backup. They will launch this April at The Home Depot and come to more retailers later in 2025, according to Kidde.
Image: Kidde
The alarms connect to the Ring app and, as well as sending alerts when triggered, will notify you about a low battery to help avoid those 2AM chirps. But the Ring alarm can’t hush an active alarm, you’ll have to do that manually. If you have other compatible hardwired Kidde smoke alarms in your house, adding one of these Ring-powered alarms will enable your existing alarms to also connect to the Ring app.
Unlike the First Alert Z-Wave smoke and CO alarms that also work with Ring, the Kidde alarms do not need a Ring Alarm hub to connect to the app and don’t require a subscription to receive alerts. Ring will offer the option go 24/7 professional monitoring of the smoke alarms for $5 a month; if you already have Ring Professional Monitoring for your Ring Alarm, smoke alarm monitoring is included. (Ring also sells a $35 smoke alarm listener that can alert the Ring app if it hears an alarm in your home, which also requires a Ring Professional Monitoring subscription.)
Smart smoke alarms are critical devices, as they can alert you to danger at home when you’re not there. There really aren’t many choices on the market today. While Amazon, Apple, and others offer services through smart speakers and home security systems that listen for your existing smoke alarms and send alerts to your phone, actual connected alarms are few and far between.
Google’s Nest Protect is one of the best options, but at $149, it's very expensive. While it has some excellent features, including a motion-activated nightlight, voice alerts, and the option to silence the alarm from the Nest app, the product hasn’t been updated in several years. Google also doesn’t offer professional monitoring. First Alert’s OneLink smart alarm line has been discontinued. Kidde sells a stand-alone line of Wi-Fi-connected smart smoke alarms that work with its app to send alerts and integrate with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. According to Kidde, these new alarms will only work with the Ring app at launch and will not integrate with Amazon Alexa or any other smart home systems.
