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Today’s Storystream

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Maybe don’t listen to NYC’s AI bot.

The city’s chatbot for business owners is telling people to break the law, including telling bosses they can take employees’ tips (they can’t), and that stores can go cashless (also wrong, as of 2020). The chatbot is powered by Microsoft Azure AI.

Mayor Eric Adams has announced other AI tools recently, including a gun detection system that will soon be installed at subway turnstiles.


xAI claims Grok’s first update will make it much better at doing math.

The company said Grok 1.5, the first release since open-sourcing the model, performed significantly better in coding and math-related reasoning than its previous version. xAI’s testing showed Grok 1.5 outdid models like Claude 2, Gemini Pro 1.5, and GPT-4 in some problem-solving benchmarks.

Grok 1.5 will be available to early users of the model on X soon.


Screenshot of the chart released by xAI
Grok 1.5 performance benchmarks compared to other models.
xAI

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is a photography nerd’s dream

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra’s formidable phone camera is made even better with an upgraded grip and photo accessory kit.

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Sports betting is changing the game.

The Shohei Ohtani multimillion dollar gambling scandal made headlines last week — but it’s a symptom of a larger environment where online betting has become ubiquitous and perhaps too easy.

In The New Yorker, Jay Caspian Kang writes about the legalization of sports betting, the gamified apps, and the effects on players, fans, media, and the integrity of the game.


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“The house always wins.”

This WSJ report details the chaos that went on behind the scenes when hackers broke into MGM’s network using social engineering techniques, bringing down its systems for days.

As executives scrambled to lock out the hackers, MGM decided to rebuild its entire system rather than pay the over $30 million ransom requested by hackers:

The company’s task had become more daunting. Instead of simply cleaning up infected parts of the computer systems, now they’d have to rebuild the thousands of servers the company used from scratch, installing clean versions of the operating system and other software. The cost would far exceed the ransom request. MGM decided to do it anyway.


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Gemini will now automatically pull up Google Maps when you ask for directions.

This is according to the Play Store release notes for the Gemini mobile app. The updated voice command will save drivers a step if they use Google’s AI chatbot app for navigation.

Although Gemini hasn’t outright replaced the voice assistant Google Assistant, Google now lets users make Gemini the primary assistant on Android phones.


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Star Trek: Discovery’s final season is going to have an Indiana Jones vibe to it.

Star Trek: Discovery really found its own voice once it leaped forward almost 1,000 years into the future, but for the series’ final season, showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise say they looked to classic Indiana Jones movies for a new sense of adventure.


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Youtube
The final season of Rooster Teeth’s Red vs. Blue is being released as a movie.

The 19th and final season of Red vs. Blue, the sci-fi comedy show set in the world of Halo, will be released as a feature length film on all major PVOD platforms. Red vs. Blue: Restoration will be available for purchase on May 7th and as a digital rental on May 21st.

Earlier this month Warner Bros. Discovery shut down Rooster Teeth, the production company behind Red vs. Blue.


The principles of wearable etiquette

First adopters are ambassadors for the future. Glassholes need not apply.

Live updates from the trial and sentencing of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried

The former crypto billionaire’s punishment of 25 years in prison could have huge implications for the industry.

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Twitter
Elgato’s updated Facecam adds a privacy shutter and new HDR mode.

The $150 Facecam MK.2 is cheaper than its $200 predecessor and includes the virtual Pan-Tilt-Zoom tech that was previously only available on the Facecam Pro.

The field of view has also been increased from 82 to 84 degrees, alongside other visual improvements mentioned in the post below. There’s still no built-in mic, but good riddance because webcam mics tend to suck anyway.


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The Verge
Sam Bankman-Fried is about to find out how much prison time he’s facing.

The FTX founder is in court now, waiting to see whether Judge Kaplan hands the 40 to 50 years in prison prosecutors recommend — or if his decision is closer to the more lenient five- to six-year sentence that Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are pushing for.


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An AI junk site used AI to rip off an AI ethics guide.

A Poynter article about using AI in newsrooms was ripped off and rewritten by a pink slime site called Tech Gate. Guess they didn’t read the guide.

I took a browse around the site and saw some familiar faces — Tech Gate also republished a mangled version of a Vergecast segment, including using our image. My favorite line:

Simply after that, we launch Nilay Patel into his Mexican vacation, and we do a newsy lightning spherical.


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Twitter
Microsoft delights IT admins by removing Copilot from Windows Server 2025.

Microsoft is working on finalizing its Windows Server 2025 release and IT admins discovered last month, in disbelief, that Copilot was added to a server OS that’s usually free of additional Windows features. A month later and Microsoft has removed Copilot from test builds of Windows Server 2025. We’ll keep an eye out to see if it manages to sneak back in for the final release.


Microsoft is removing WordPad from Windows 11 later this year.

The basic WordPad app has shipped as part of Windows since Windows 95. but Microsoft announced last year that it’s removing it from Windows 11. Now we have a rough date for the removal. “WordPad will be removed from all editions of Windows starting in Windows 11, version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025,” says Microsoft. We’re expecting version 24H2 of Windows 11 later this year, and hopefully with a much better update name.


Farewell, WordPad.
Farewell, WordPad.
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
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Twitter
Sega is laying off 240 staff in Europe.

The company’s latest cost-cutting efforts — which include selling off Vancouver-based Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment — impact the Sega Europe office, and UK-based Sega Hardlight and Creative Assembly studios.

In an email to staff seen by Eurogamer, Sega Europe CEO Jurgen Post said that “change is necessary to secure the future of our games business.” The news was announced less than a day after Sega’s US union ratified its first contract.


US v. Apple: everything you need to know

It’s all about Apple’s vise grip over the smartphone market and the iPhone’s locked-down ecosystem.

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Galaxy AI starts rolling out for the S23.

Are you’re using an older Samsung device and jealously eying up the Galaxy AI features available with this year’s phones? Well good news; Samsung has started rolling out its AI-equipped One UI 6.1 update to the Galaxy S23, S23 FE, Z Flip 5, and Z Fold 5, starting today. SamMobile reports that the update has arrived for Verizon devices in the US, and unlocked devices will follow next month.


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