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Microsoft and OpenAI broke up — now they’re ready to fight

At Microsoft's annual Build conference on Tuesday, the company announced a slew of new or expanded AI initiatives, including a super app, in-house reasoning models, a cybersecurity tool, and OpenClaw-esque AI agents. All this news added up to a clear message: Microsoft is positioned to be one of the biggest players in AI, and it's finally acting like it. For years, Microsoft's AI business leaned hard on its early and exclusive partnership with OpenAI. But the drama-filled marriage slowly devolved into a situationship, and the pair effectively separated in late April (though Microsoft is still OpenAI's primary cloud partner - for now). This … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/FOqcbCI
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A first look at Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface Dev Box

The Surface Laptop Ultra. Microsoft has two new Surface devices arriving later this year, both powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark chips. I got a chance to take a closer look at both the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box at Microsoft's Build conference this week, and while both have the same chip inside, they're utilizing Nvidia's RTX Spark in different ways. The Surface Laptop Ultra looks and feels very much like a 16-inch MacBook Pro. There are no transforming hinges, detachable displays, or any other tricks - this is a clamshell laptop built with performance in mind. Microsoft has opted for a 15-inch mini LED panel, which operates at up to 2,000 nits o … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/UK1NY9S

SwitchBot’s acquisition of Nanoleaf is about more than lighting

Nanoleaf has made a name for itself by developing smart color-changing LED lighting products, including wall panels, TV mirroring, and display cases. | Image: Nanoleaf Smart lighting company Nanoleaf has been acquired by OneRobotics , the parent company of SwitchBot. In an exclusive interview with The Verge , Nanoleaf CEO Gimmy Chu says the company will remain independent and that he and his cofounder and COO, Christian Yan, will continue to run it. "Nothing is changing operationally," says Chu, adding that there are plans for product integrations between the two smart home companies. The sale, which Chu characterized as "more of a merger," will provide Nanoleaf with significant resources, including a cash infusion that will, among other things, help the company grow its team at its Toronto headquarters. I … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/pgxFaqJ

Trans teens have something to say

By the time the Children's Hospital closed its doors to trans patients, Sage had already stopped taking testosterone. A nonbinary high school student, they originally received treatment for the rapid onset of puberty. The changes their body experienced felt frightening and sudden. They developed PMOS, a relatively common hormonal disorder that can lead to hair growth and irregular periods. The pandemic didn't help. Too much time to focus on scrutinizing the person in the mirror while doomscrolling. Their doctor first prescribed puberty blockers to help with their PMOS symptoms - not explicitly for trans-related reasons - and eventually recom … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/gxWnvfA

Gemini Spark is the most impressive and terrifying AI experience I’ve had yet

Spark is Google’s new agentic answer for everything. According to every product demo from the last four years, planning a trip is a killer use case for AI. Just tell it where you're going, they all promise, and your chatbot / agent / other buzzword will exhaustively search travel options, read up on all the fun things to do, check all the local hotspots, and offer you a fully fledged itinerary. So far, I've found this to work only in the most generic ways: If you want to do the six most obvious things in any city on planet Earth, AI has you covered, but that's about as far as it goes. I had a very different experience using Spark, Google's new always-on AI agent . Spark is a hugely ambitious … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/G6lvh5Z

People are leaving a lot of weird stuff in their robotaxis

A unicorn Beanie Baby. A 15-pound green bowling ball. A pair of dentures. These are just some of the items left behind in robotaxis in the past year, according to Uber's annual Lost and Found Index . For the first time, the company is expanding its annual of accounting of things forgotten in Uber vehicles to include self-driving cars because, for the first time, Uber has enough self-driving cars on its platform to matter. Uber doesn't deploy its own robotaxis, but in the last few years it's become a clearinghouse for driverless car companies that want access to Uber's millions of customers. Here in the US, that includes Waymo (in Austin a … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/ROlngYz

How to watch Microsoft’s Build 2026 conference

Build 2026 is looking to be another AI-heavy affair. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is kicking off its yearly Build developer conference in San Francisco today, sandwiched between the recent Google I/O and Apple's upcoming WWDC event. While tickets to attend Build in person are sold out, the conference is being streamed for free online, with CEO Satya Nadella opening with a keynote at 12:30PM ET / 9:30AM PT. A cursory glance at the featured speakers and virtual sessions suggests that Build will predominantly focus on AI, which isn't surprising given this is a developer event in 2026. The keynote description also says that Nadella and Microsoft leaders will be sharing "how Microsoft is creating new opportunity for … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/x8zUdCX