Well, that’s one way to kick off a developer-focused tech event. | Image: Google Developer conferences aren’t exactly known for having an energetic, party-like atmosphere, but thankfully, that didn’t stop Google’s latest hype man. The company’s I/O event this year was kicked off by Marc Rebillet — an artist known in online spaces for pairing improvised electronic tracks with amusing (and typically loud) vocals. He also wears a lot of robes. “If you have no idea who I am, I would expect that,” said Rebillet. He introduced himself as an improvisational musician who “makes stuff up.” That made him a good fit to demo the DJ mode that Google recently added to its generative AI text-to-music tool, MusicFX. Back in February, Google DeepMind’s Adam Roberts described the feature as an “infinite AI jam that you control.” R... Continue reading…

I thought Google killed its augmented reality glasses after they couldn’t live up to the promise of real-time translation. I thought Project Iris was vaporware after the company shed its AR leaders and downsized the division that was reportedly facing internal turmoil. But we may have written off Google’s Glasses too soon — because Google just revealed a new prototype pair in a blink-and-you-missed-it moment at Google I/O. In the heat of the moment, I thought the Googler simply donned a pair of normal glasses before pulling out their smartphone at 1:30 in the Project Astra demo video below. But no, those frames are thick. There’s even a little picture-in-picture moment where you can see them wearing the glasses. Here it is zoomed... Continue reading…

Google made a lot of noise about its Gemini AI taking over search at its I/O conference today, but one of its flashiest demos was once again marked by the ever-present fatal flaw of every large language model to date: confidently making up the wrong answer. During a sizzle reel for “Search in the Gemini era,” Google demoed video search, which allows you to search by speaking over a video clip. The example is a video of a stuck film advance lever on a film camera with the query “why is the lever not moving all the way,” which Gemini recognizes and provides some suggestions to fix. Very impressive! You know, just get in there and nudge the shutter a little bit. The only problem is that the answers it comes up with... Continue reading…

The billboard ads contained messages that seemingly mocked celibate women. | Image: The Verge Dating app company Bumble has issued an apology for running an ad campaign that seemingly shamed women for not being sexually active and mocked people for choosing celibacy instead of dating. After updating its app and brand design in April to try to attract new users who are “exhausted from the dating scene,” Bumble ran a series of billboard ads containing messages like “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” The company faced swift backlash across social media from users who condemned the ads for delegitimizing celibacy as a valid personal choice. “We made a mistake,” the company said via an Instagram post on Monday. “Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt... Continue reading…

The year was 1886 when Egyptologist Gaston Maspero unearthed the remains of what would later be known as Unknown Man E, a chilling discovery Read moreSection: NewsVideosHistoryRead Later 

Wall Street's main indexes all advanced and the Nasdaq scored a record closing high as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reassured investors while they digested Tuesday's data and waited for Wednesday's crucial consumer inflation report.

The U.S. is expanding an Army ammunition plant in southeast Oklahoma to triple monthly production of the US's biggest non-nuclear bomb, which could attack underground nuclear facilities in Iran or North Korea, Bloomberg reported.

Investigators probing the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore said in a preliminary report Tuesday the cargo ship Dali experienced an electrical blackout about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore while undergoing maintenance.The power...

The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that the interest rates on federally backed student loans will increase to 6.53% for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The strongest solar flare in half a decade just launched off the sun from the same sunspot group that triggered dazzling auroras last weekend. But don't expect northern lights this time around.