Category Archives: Technology

Here’s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan

Here’s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan

One of those systems is Israel’s Iron Dome, in which radar systems detect projectiles and then signal units to launch defensive missiles that detonate the target high in the sky before it strikes populated areas. Israel’s other system, called David’s Sling, works a similar way but can identify rockets coming from a greater distance, upwards […]

Android Back Camera Not Working? 10 Ways to Fix

Android Back Camera Not Working? 10 Ways to Fix

Is your back camera not working on your Android phone? Unfortunately, many Android users report problems with their rear camera, including an all-black screen, a camera app that won’t take photos, or issues with focusing. In this article, we’ll cover the 10 most effective ways to get your Android’s back camera working again, depending on […]

Chatbot answers are all made up. This new tool could help you figure out which ones to trust.

Chatbot answers are all made up. This new tool could help you figure out which ones to trust.

The Trustworthy Language Model draws on multiple techniques to calculate its scores. First, each query submitted to the tool is sent to several different large language models. Cleanlab is using five versions of DBRX, an open-source model developed by Databricks, an AI firm based in San Francisco. (But the tech will work with any model, […]

An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary

An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary

The more data points the AI system has on facial movements, microexpressions, head tilts, blinks, shrugs, and hand waves, the more realistic the avatar will be. DAVID VINTINER He then asks me to read a script for a fictitious YouTuber in different tones, directing me on the spectrum of emotions I should convey. First I’m […]

What tech learned from Daedalus

What tech learned from Daedalus

Of course, Langford’s team modified some of the mythical parameters. The aircraft replaced feathers and wax with carbon-­fiber wings, and the pilot, the Greek cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos, didn’t flap his way into history—he pedaled. Plus, the 500-mile journey to Sicily seemed beyond mortal capacity, so Langford and his team set their sights on Santorini. The […]

This architect is cutting up materials to make them stronger and lighter

This architect is cutting up materials to make them stronger and lighter

To develop Spin-Valence, a novel structural system, Emily Baker created prototypes by making cuts and folds in sheets of paper before shifting to digitally cut steel. By making a series of cuts and folds in a sheet of paper, Baker found she could produce two planes connected by a complex set of thin strips. Without […]

These man-made snowdrifts protect seal pups from climate change

These man-made snowdrifts protect seal pups from climate change

As ice and snow arrive, the teams spring into action, joined by groups run by the charity World Wildlife Fund in southern parts of Lake Saimaa. All of today’s volunteers—including a nurse and yoga instructor—are constructing seal habitats for the first time. Their destinations are plotted on a map kept secret under Finnish law to […]

The Download: Neuralink’s biggest rivals, and the case for phasing out the term “user”

The Download: Neuralink’s biggest rivals, and the case for phasing out the term “user”

In the world of brain-computer interfaces, it can seem as if one company sucks up all the oxygen in the room. Last month, Neuralink posted a video to X showing the first human subject to receive its brain implant, which will be named Telepathy. The recipient, a 29-year-old man who is paralyzed from the shoulders […]