Robotics

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?Amazon is currently selling the Doogee S200 for $90 off More

Screenshot by David Grober/ZDNETWith the holiday season upon us, many companies are finding ways to take advantage through deals, promotions, or other campaigns. OpenAI has found a way to participate with its “12 days of OpenAI.” On Wednesday, OpenAI announced via an X post that starting on Dec. 5, the company would host 12 days of live streams and release “a bunch of new things, big and small,” according to the post. Also: I tried a free AI clothing search tool, and it makes online thrift shopping much easierHere’s everything you need to know about the campaign, as well as a round-up of every day’s drops. What are the ’12 days of OpenAI’?OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a bit more details about the event, which kicked off at 10 a.m. PT on Dec. 5 and will occur daily for 12 weekdays with a live stream featuring a launch or demo. The launches will be both “big ones” or “stocking stuffers,” according to Altman. 🎄🎅starting tomorrow at 10 am pacific, we are doing 12 days of openai. each weekday, we will have a livestream with a launch or demo, some big ones and some stocking stuffers. we’ve got some great stuff to share, hope you enjoy! merry christmas.— Sam Altman (@sama) December 4, 2024

What has been dropped so far?Monday, December 9OpenAI teased the third-day announcement as “something you’ve been waiting for,” followed by the much-anticipated drop of its video model — Sora.  Here’s what you need to know:Known as Sora Turbo, the video model is smarter and cheaper than the February model that was previewed. Access is coming in the US later today; users need only ChatGPT Plus and Pro.Sora can generate video-to-video, text-to-video, and more. ChatGPT Plus users can generate up to 50 videos per month at 480p resolution or fewer videos at 720p. The Pro Plan offers 10x more usage. The new model is smarter and cheaper than the previewed February model. Sora features an explore page where users can view each other’s creations. Users can click on any video to see how it was created. A live demo showed the model in use. The demo-ers entered a prompt and picked aspect ratio, duration, and even presets. I found the live demo video results to be realistic and stunning. OpenAI also unveiled Storyboard, a tool that lets users generate inputs for every frame in a sequence. Friday, December 6:On the second day of “shipmas,” OpenAI expanded access to its Reinforcement Fine-Tuning Research Program:The Reinforcement Fine-Tuning program allows developers and machine learning engineers to fine-tune OpenAI models to “excel at specific sets of complex, domain-specific tasks,” according to OpenAI. Reinforcement Fine-Tuning refers to a customization technique in which developers can define a model’s behavior by inputting tasks and grading the output. The model then uses this feedback as a guide to improve, becoming better at reasoning through similar problems, and enhancing overall accuracy.OpenAI encourages research institutes, universities, and enterprises to apply to the program, particularly those that perform narrow sets of complex tasks, could benefit from the assistance of AI, and perform tasks that have an objectively correct answer. Spots are limited; interested applicants can apply by filling out this form. OpenAI aims to make Reinforcement Fine-Tuning publicly available in early 2025.Thursday, December 5: OpenAI started with a bang, unveiling two major upgrades to its chatbot: a new tier of ChatGPT subscription, ChatGPT Pro, and the full version of the company’s o1 model.  More

wildpixel/Getty Images OpenAI just released the full version of its new o1 model — and it’s dangerously committed to lying.  Apollo Research tested six frontier models for “in-context scheming” — a model’s ability to take action they haven’t been given directly and then lie about it. After being told to achieve a certain goal “at all costs,” […] More

Sign up for Costco and get a $45 gift card — cutting down your membership price to just $20 for the year. Stack Social Thinking about joining Costco to save ahead of the holidays? Or, have you been sharing a membership card with your parents or friends? Now that Costco is starting to crack down […] More

Bunson Labs Linux is as beautiful as it is easy to use. Jack Wallen/ZDNETEvery so often, I’m surprised by a Linux distribution. After working with and reviewing these things for the past few decades, you’d think there aren’t any surprises left. That’s why it’s always a special experience when I do come across a distribution, unlike anything I’ve seen to date.Also: Want to save your old computer? Try these 5 Linux distributionsThat’s what happened when I installed and first logged into Bunson Labs Linux.Bunson Labs Linux is a continuation of what was once a popular distribution within the Linux community called CrunchBang Linux. For those who aren’t aware, CrunchBang refers to #!, which are the first two characters in Linux scripts, as in:#!/bin/bashThis Linux distribution uses a Debian base (with zero changes in the way the OS is managed) and uses the Openbox window manager with the addition of the tint2 panel (a desktop panel), conky (a desktop widget that displays various bits of information), and jgmenu (a user-friendly desktop menu). When you combine all of those things together, you get a desktop operating system that is as beautiful as it is easy to use.Don’t get me wrong, Bunson Labs Linux might look like a take on the Ubuntu desktop (what with the vertical panel), but it’s very much not that desktop environment. Openbox is a lightweight DE that helps to make Bunson Labs Linux perform like a beast. Even as a virtual machine (with just 3GB of RAM and 2 CPUs), my test installation performed brilliantly. This is a result of Debian and Openbox, both of which offer outstanding, out-of-the-box performance. Also: The next LTS Linux kernel is no surprise but it is packed with goodiesEven better, it took me seconds to figure out how to use this desktop operating system. I’ll admit, at first, I assumed the panel was as straightforward as any. I was wrong. The vertical panel found on this desktop is reserved for multi-tasking, which means any open app will appear as an icon in the top portion of the panel. When you open an app, the app icon will appear in the panel, allowing you to minimize the app and bring it back with a single click.  More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Woburn 3 is the most expensive home audio speaker from Marshall. It has fantastic sound quality, strong bass, and clear mids. However, the system only supports the SBC codec. –> What’s the deal? The Marshall Woburn 3<!–> is still on sale at Amazon for $499, saving you $80. It might […] More

Maria Diaz/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?The Amazon Echo Hub More

Matthew Miller/ZDNETAmazon just released its newest Kindle Scribe last week, but I’ve been using the older Scribe model for two years now, and I don’t plan on upgrading any time soon. Sure, it’s tempting to spring for a new device, but Amazon released a handful of hardware and software updates for the first-generation Kindle Scribe that significantly improve its functionality. I updated my original Kindle Scribe to the 5.17.2 software and am very pleased that Amazon continues to enhance this pen-enabled e-reader on a regular basis. If you haven’t seen the update pop up on your own Kindle, you may have to run it manually. Just visit this Amazon page More