Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
🛰️ Apple is reportedly working on more satellite features for iPhone
🩺 OpenAI is exploring AI tools for personal health
🚀 Blue Origin scrubs second New Glenn launch
🤖 EU proposes easing GDPR rules for AI development
🧬 Tech titans are trying to create engineered babies
🧑💻 China creates new visa to attract tech talent
🎁 + 11 other news you might like
🔮 + 5 handpicked research papers and tools
🛰️ Apple is reportedly working on more satellite features for iPhone LINK
Apple is reportedly working to expand satellite features beyond text, planning support for sending photos in Messages and adding direct satellite connectivity to its Maps app for navigation without a signal.
Future iPhones could get 5G NTN support, a feature that allows cell towers to boost their own coverage in remote areas by tapping into an orbiting satellite connection.
The company is also developing an API to let app makers add satellite connections to their software and improving "natural usage" so the phone connects without being pointed at the sky.
🩺 OpenAI is exploring AI tools for personal health LINK
Sources report that OpenAI is exploring its own consumer health tools, weighing options like creating a personal health assistant or a health data aggregator to consolidate individual medical records.
The company's massive scale, with 800 million weekly ChatGPT users already asking medical questions, gives it a unique opportunity to succeed where other big tech companies have previously failed.
To lead its healthcare push, OpenAI hired Doximity cofounder Nate Gross to direct its strategy and brought on Ashley Alexander from Instagram as its vice president of health products.
🚀 Blue Origin scrubs second New Glenn launch LINK
Blue Origin scrubbed the second New Glenn launch on Sunday due to adverse weather, which has postponed NASA's twin ESCAPADE probes mission intended for the red planet's orbit.
The company's next attempt from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for Wednesday, with an apparent exemption from new FAA rules that prohibit most commercial rocket flights.
This flight is also another chance to land the reusable first-stage booster on a sea-based platform, after the booster was lost during its landing descent on its inaugural flight.
🤖 EU proposes easing GDPR rules for AI development LINK
The European Commission's proposal would allow AI training on personal data under the 'legitimate interest' basis, removing the need for explicit consent if safeguards and an unconditional right to object exist.
A planned revision to the GDPR would end the requirement for explicit consent on tracking cookies, permitting websites to process user information by default based on a company's 'legitimate interests.'
The definition for special category data would be narrowed so stronger protections only apply when information directly reveals traits like race or health, excluding data that only implies these characteristics.
🧬 Tech titans are trying to create engineered babies LINK
A company called Preventive, backed by Sam Altman and Brian Armstrong, is quietly working to create the first baby born from an embryo that was edited to prevent hereditary disease.
Meanwhile, separate ventures are selling polygenic screening services that analyze an embryo’s DNA to generate probabilities for traits like intelligence, height, and various potential health conditions.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong floated a plan to work in secret and reveal a healthy genetically engineered child, hoping to shock the world into accepting the controversial technology.
🧑💻 China creates new visa to attract tech talent LINK
China introduced a K-visa for science and technology workers to compete with the US, which is seeing uncertainties around its H-1B program due to tightened immigration policies.
The new program supplements existing schemes like the R-visa but comes with loosened requirements, letting foreign professionals apply for entry even without having a prior job offer in hand.
While intended to fill a skills gap, some young Chinese job seekers worry the policy will threaten local job opportunities in what is already a fiercely competitive employment market.
Other news you might like
- Tesla's top Cybertruck executive is calling it quitsLINK
- The microchip era may be ending – and wafer-scale systems could be what comes nextLINK
- Apple told to remove LGBTQ+ dating apps by ChinaLINK
- Next major MacBook Pro redesign may be exclusive to high-end M6 Pro and M6 Max modelsLINK
- The future of Apple Fitness+ is ‘under review’ amid reorganization: reportLINK
- Microsoft Uncovers ‘Whisper Leak’ Flaw, Exposing Encrypted AI Chats Across 28 LLMsLINK
- Why a lot of people are getting hacked with government spywareLINK
- Scribe hits $1.3B valuation as it moves to show where AI will actually pay offLINK
- TSMC’s Slowing Monthly Sales Fuel AI Sustainability DebateLINK
- Silicon Valley data centers totalling nearly 100MW could 'sit empty for years' due to lack of power — huge installations are idle because Santa Clara can't cope with surging electricity demandsLINK
- Drilling Down on Uncle Sam’s Proposed TP-Link BanLINK
Latest research and tools
The Principles of Diffusion Models: a new overview explains the core mathematical concepts that allow these generative models to create new data.LINK
Bumble Berry Pi: a do-it-yourself project for building a cheap, pocket-sized handheld computer using a Raspberry Pi and 3D printed parts.LINK
runc: a discussion is happening about whether to accept code and bug reports created by AI, following a recent increase in these submissions.LINK
git-rewrite-commits: an AI tool that automatically rewrites messy commit messages into clear and conventional descriptions to clean up a project's history.LINK
pipeflow-php: a PHP tool that lets you build complex automations from simple steps, allowing even non-developers to easily edit the workflow in a clear XML format.LINK
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