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The design hasn’t changed much from the original Proteus, which was announced in 2022. | Image: Amazon Amazon has announced a new version of its fully autonomous warehouse robot, Proteus , that will can interact using language instead of code. The expanded capabilities come as part of a growing pivot toward automation as the e-commerce giant replaces its human workers with robots. Amazon says the AI-powered upgrade means its human employees can assign the robot tasks in the same way they'd communicate with colleagues. Previously, workers would need to use specialized software to direct the floor-level, tortoise-like systems, which are designed for heavy lifting and moving large carts throughout Amazon's warehouses. "You tell it what needs to … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/IgSJadv

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

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

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

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

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