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All the news from Apple’s ‘Welcome Home’ event

Apple’s October 13th launch event — given the tagline “Welcome Home” — is all about its efforts for the smart home. The event was headlined by the debut of the HomeView, Apple’s first smart home display. It also launched a collection of smart home devices, including cameras, thermostats, and a smart lock, in partnership with other companies. On top of the new device categories, Apple also refreshed two familiar ones. The HomePod Mini 2 was announced with support for Siri AI, and the Apple TV 4K also received a Siri AI-focused refresh. You can follow along with all of our coverage right here. Where to preorder the new Apple TV 4K Watch Apple’s reveal video for the HomeView The new Apple TV 4K has built-in microphones so you can talk to Siri AI Apple announces the HomePod Mini 2, but it isn’t ready for Siri AI at launch The new Apple Home Collection includes a ...
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Character.AI files for bankruptcy

Character.AI, one of the first breakout startups of the generative AI boom, has filed for bankruptcy and is selling some of its assets to Disney. The company, which builds various online bots for users to chat or roleplay with, has faced mounting scrutiny and lawsuits over the safety of its chatbots , but has continued releasing updates and products in recent months. In a press release and blog post published Monday, Character said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US to facilitate the sale of the company and its assets. "Over the past year, we've taken meaningful steps to sustain and improve our business amid signific … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/JOfnVo5

Microsoft’s new AI chip makes it less reliant on Nvidia’s GPUs

Microsoft’s Maia 300 chip. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is announcing its third-generation Maia in-house AI chip today, designed to be the "primary AI inference system" for Microsoft's products and services. Maia 300 not only improves the cost and efficiency of running AI workloads in the cloud, it's also more capable of handling the latest reasoning models and agentic tasks. Maia 300 will start being rolled out to production in 2027, and it has been designed with efficiency in mind. "We expect Maia 300 to deliver 40 percent more tokens per megawatt compared to leading GPU-based systems," says Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud group. "And in a full 96-acceler … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/fYLzFU9

How Apple can win the smart home

Apple’s second-gen HomePod. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge This week, Apple is hosting its first-ever dedicated smart home event. While the company hasn't shared details about what it will reveal at the "Welcome Home experience" in New York City on Tuesday, October 13th, it doesn't take an army of internet sleuths to deduce we'll get news about Apple Home - specifically, new hardware. Apple finally seems to be taking the smart home seriously. According to Bloomberg , Apple will release a smart home display alongside a refreshed HomePod Mini and Apple TV. The display, which MacRumors reports may be called HomeView, is arguably Apple's first dedicated Apple Home hardware since it launched the HomeKit … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/t1PuUD7

Inside the mini factory where GM builds its EV future

If you're driving through GM's sprawling campus in Warren, Michigan, you'd likely ignore the pair of adjacent, anonymous white buildings tucked away in the upper reaches of the 710-acre space. Inside those buildings, which total half a million square feet together, is a massive construction project that's still in progress. Once completed, it will house GM's new Battery Cell Development Center, where the automaker is working furiously to build new prototype cells with the goal of slashing the cost of its EVs. GM has to build faster and cheaper to meet its goal of selling affordable EVs in much higher volumes. Those EVs will have to compete … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/l0YNt2i

What to expect from Apple’s ‘Welcome Home’ event

We are quickly coming up on Apple's " Welcome Home " launch event, where we expect a host of smart home-related announcements. We are expecting refreshes to Apple TV and HomePod Mini, as well as a brand new smart home hub . We could also see the debut of a new platform called homeOS, and some partner devices from LG. What we probably won't be seeing is the long-rumored touchscreen MacBook, which Cupertino whisperer Mark Gurman says will debut later this month . "Welcome Home" will officially kick off in New York on October 13th at 9AM ET. Here's more about what to expect. A proper smart home hub Until now, Apple has primarily relied on the … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/bXgqT8R

Why the LeapPad couldn’t survive the iPad

For multiple years, the hottest toy in the United States was a book. But not just any book: a smart book that could play sounds and respond to taps and help kids learn to read. However, buying it came with a high price and big parenting questions. On the next episode of Version History , David Pierce is joined by The Verge 's Andru Marino and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy to explain how the LeapPad worked, why it was so enticing to both kids and adults, and why the company that made it could never quite follow it up. We're almost finished with our fifth season of Version History , all about the most iconic school tech. We've heard Nilay Patel pit … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/pQN1IUe