OpenAI has started rolling out GPT-4.5, its latest AI model with advanced vision capabilities and agentic functions. For now, only ChatGPT Pro users can access it under a research preview, which has sparked user debates. Some are excited about the […]
Following prior leaks of the device earlier this month, a new set of Motorola Razr+ (2025) images show the foldable in a new colorway, as well as revealing that it has an extra button.
Alibaba is giving people free access to its generative artificial intelligence models that can produce highly realistic videos and images from both text and image input. The company has announced that four variants of its Wan 2.1 series, the latest version of its generative AI technology, are now open source and can be downloaded and modified by users. Researchers, academics and commercial entities can all get them from Alibaba Cloud's ModelScope and Hugging Face platforms, both of which give people access to open-source AI models. As Reuters said, the models Alibaba has open sourced are called T2V-1.3B, T2V-14B, I2V-14B-720P and I2V-14B-480P, with the 14B indicating that the model can accept 14 billion parameters.
Last month, Chinese company DeepSeek made its R1 reasoning model free to download and use, creating a clamor for more open-source AI technologies. DeepSeek even expanded its commitment to the open-source community and is in the process of releasing five code repositories behind its service.
Alibaba was one of the companies that joined the fray to develop generative AI tech following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT two years ago. Just recently, Alibaba Group's Chairman, Joe Tsai, said that the company's generative AI technology will power artificial intelligence features for iPhones meant for sale in the Chinese market. Apple couldn't use the same AI tech for phones released in China due to strict regulations surrounding AI products, so it has to look for local partners, Alibaba being one of them.
🌟 Big News from @alibaba_cloud! 🌟 Meet WanX - our next-gen AI model redefining video generation !
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alibaba-offers-free-access-to-its-ai-model-that-can-generate-realistic-video-and-images-133045633.html?src=rss
SHANGHAI, CHINA - FEBRUARY 24, 2025 - An interior view of Alibaba's headquarters in Shanghai, China, February 24, 2025. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Late last year, I published a long post that criticized the user unfriendliness of passkeys, the industry-wide alternative to logging in with passwords. A chief complaint was passkey implementations tend to lock users into whatever platform they used to create the credential.
An example: when using Chrome on an iPhone, passkeys were saved to iCloud. When using Chrome on other platforms, passkeys were saved to a user’s Google profile. That meant passkeys created for Chrome on, say, Windows, wouldn’t sync to iCloud. Passkeys created in iCloud wouldn’t sync with a Google account.
GPM and iOS finally play nice together
That headache is finally over. Chrome on all platforms now uses the Google Password Manager, a tool built into Chrome, to seamlessly sync keys. GPM, as it’s abbreviated, will sync passkeys to all Chrome browsers logged in to the same user account. I’ve spent a few days testing the new capabilities, and they mostly work hassle free. The tool can be accessed by opening this link in Chrome.
More Android phones could soon provide longer lifetime support updates thanks to a new agreement between Qualcomm and Google. Qualcomm announced on Monday that “up to eight consecutive years of software and security updates” will be available to Android phones running on future Snapdragon 8 and Snapdragon 7-series chips.
As Android specialist Mishall Rahman points out, the “eight consecutive years” is a little misleading here because Qualcomm includes the year on which a device is released. That means the device can be supported for eight years, but receive seven years of Android version upgrades — bringing more Android phones in line with the seven years of support provided on Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 lineup.
Qualcomm mentioned its support expansion plans in October, which started with devices running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform. That includes the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, Xiaomi 15 Series, OnePlus 13, and Asus ROG Phone 9.
Today’s announcement extends that service to additional chipsets, but it’s important to note that eligible phones aren’t guaranteed to receive expanded support updates. This update makes it easier and more affordable for phone manufacturers to provide users with longer support, but Qualcomm says that it’s ultimately up to device makers to decide whether they offer it on specific phone models.
“Support for platform software included in this program will be made available to OEMs for eight consecutive years, including both Android OS and kernel upgrades, without requiring significant changes or upgrades to the platform and OEM code on the device,” Qualcomm said.
Phones running older Snapdragon chips won’t be eligible for future support upgrades according to Qualcomm. The biggest caveat to all this beyond hoping device makers actually implement the expanded support update is that very few phones are likely to keep running for the full eight years. But if you’re committed to reducing e-waste and continually repairing your Android phone, at least the option will be there.
In a world in which privacy is a hot-button issue, we might have expected Brits to be outraged that their government was responsible for Apple withdrawing Advanced Data Protection from the UK. In reality, it’s gone largely unremarked.
A new Bloomberg piece suggests that’s because people care far less about privacy than they claim. While I do think there’s some truth to that, it’s not the primary reason …
Apple is far from saintly, but, compared to its fellow tech giants, it did something right. The company's shareholders have voted to keep its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, following a push by conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), to remove them, Reuters reports. The Center's proposal, Request to Cease DEI Efforts, failed 8.84 billion votes to 210.45 million votes — or about 2.3 percent of the vote.
Many of these programs emerged or expanded when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded onto the global stage in 2020. However, President Trump's criticisms and threats that DEIs could violate the law — along with spineless greed from executives — has seen companies like Meta and Google reduce or even fully remove these programs. Those in favor of the proposal at Apple argued that the company could face an uptick in discrimination cases if current policies remain.
At the meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate."
Now, none of this is to say that Apple has incredible DEI efforts. Previously, its shareholders rejected greater transparency about its racial and gender gaps. They also voted down a measure that would require Apple to further investigate the risks of its AI efforts.
Cook is also doing plenty of appeasing when it comes to Trump. The pair reportedly met last week and Apple has announced $500 billion in US-based spending over the next four years. He also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and attended it alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other tech executives.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-is-keeping-its-dei-program-130033491.html?src=rss
Every day for the last few weeks, I’ve received a notification on my phone at 7:30 in the morning. The notification comes from ChatGPT, and it always contains the same thing: instructions for a 20-minute full-body workout and a 10-minute meditation. The instructions are simple, and I’ve actually come to appreciate the daily prodding. I do wish it would stop recommending the exact same thing every damn day, though. The mountain climbers and positive intentions are getting a little old.
OpenAI has added a number of new features to ChatGPT in the last few weeks, a couple of which attempt to turn the chatbot into a straightforward productivity app. Thereâs Tasks, which all paid users can access and allows you to set reminders and make to-do lists in ChatGPT; and thereâs Operator, a so-called âagenticâ model for Pro subscribers that attempts to actually accomplish tasks on your behalf. As an incorrigible tester of to-do list apps, I decided to throw my life into ChatGPT and see if it could help me get more done.
After using it for a while, I’m sold on the idea of AI-capable task apps. The best way to use AI is simply as a way to get you started â it’s a brainstorming partne …
There’s no sure-fire approach to sales enablement, the process of providing a sales team with the resources it needs to close deals. Some teams are deficient on the prospecting side — that is, identifying and contacting potential customers. Others require help getting deals over the finish line. To meet these diverse wants, founders Matt Millen […]
Despite employers requiring their employees to complete yearly cybersecurity training courses, human-driven cybersecurity breaches still happen. The problem could even get substantially worse as generative AI increases the scale and personalization of social engineering campaigns. Anagram, formerly known as Cipher, is taking a new approach to employee cybersecurity training that the company hopes can keep […]
A new market intelligence report indicates that Mac market share grew at a faster rate that the top three PC brands during the final quarter of last year.
Apple also dominates the AI-capable computer market, with a 45% share against 15% for the nearest Windows PC competitor …
-SOURCE-Matthew-Korfhage.jpg)
