Deep Dive
What are the key features of Google's Gemini 2.0?
Gemini 2.0 has native image and audio capabilities, external tool integration like Google search, and processes images and audio directly without converting them to text first. It also offers a lighter weight flash model with improved speed and performance.
Why did GM decide to exit the robotaxi market?
GM cited the considerable time and resources needed to scale the business and the increasingly competitive market as reasons for exiting the robotaxi market. However, GM plans to continue developing autonomous vehicle technology.
What major incident led to Cruise's operations being paused?
In October 2023, a Cruise robo-taxi struck and dragged a woman down the street, leading to the suspension of the company's permits and a nationwide pause in operations.
What new features are included in iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2?
iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 introduce features like Image Playground for generating images from custom prompts, Genmoji for personalized emoji, Siri integration with ChatGPT, new AirTag sharing options, and Sudoku puzzles for Apple News Plus users.
What is the significance of Apple's potential satellite messaging feature for the next-gen Apple Watch Ultra?
The satellite messaging feature would allow users to communicate in areas without cell service, independent of an iPhone or other devices, leveraging Apple's 20% stake in satellite service GlobalStar.
What capabilities does the surveillance tool Eagle Message Spy have?
Eagle Message Spy can capture call logs, contacts, GPS coordinates, bookmarks, and messages from third-party apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. It can also initiate screen recordings and capture audio recordings of a device in use.
Why did a California judge issue a preliminary injunction against Automattic?
The judge ruled that Automattic's actions, including blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress.org resources and public criticism, caused irreparable harm to WP Engine and disrupted its business relationships.
Why did Mozilla remove the Do Not Track feature from Firefox?
The Do Not Track feature, which was ineffective as websites did not have to respect it, was removed because it could be used to better identify users for tracking purposes.
What is Instagram's Trial Reels feature?
Trial Reels allows creators to publish content viewable only by non-followers, enabling them to test new ideas and attract potential new followers without feedback from existing ones. After 24 hours, the content can be archived or shared with followers.
How is Microsoft's new data center design environmentally friendly?
Microsoft's new data center design uses a closed-loop system for cooling, meaning it doesn't waste water and doesn't draw water from local supplies, which is particularly beneficial in drier areas.
- Gemini 2.0 processes images and audio natively.
- Lighter weight flash model offers improved speed and performance.
- Outperforms Gemini 1.5 Pro on benchmarks, doubling response times.
Shownotes Transcript
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These are the Daily Tech Headlines for Wednesday, December 11th, 2024. I'm Sarah Lane.
Google announced Gemini 2.0 on its official blog today with native image and audio capabilities and external tool integration like Google search. Gemini 2.0 now processes and generates images and audio directly instead of converting them to text first. The lighter weight Gemini 2.0 flash model offers these features as well with improved speed and performance outperforming Gemini 1.5 Pro on benchmarks while doubling response times.
GM said in a press release Tuesday that it will no longer fund Cruise's robotaxi development work given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market. But GM does plan to develop autonomous vehicle technology. GM's competitor Waymo continues to expand presence in cities, with Uber and Amazon's Zoox in the game as well.
Last year, Cruise got permission to deploy its vehicles on San Francisco roads for around-the-clock commercial use, but after an incident in October of 2023 when a robo-taxi struck and dragged a woman down the street, the company's permits were suspended and Cruise paused operations nationwide.
Apple publicly rolled out iOS 18.2 and iPad 18.2 on Wednesday, with new Apple intelligence features like Image Playground, a tool for generating images from custom prompts, and Genmoji for creating personalized emoji.
Siri now integrates with ChatGPT with limits for free users. Other updates include new AirTag sharing options, Sudoku puzzles for Apple News Plus users, and lock screen volume controls. Availability is still limited to select English-speaking countries, with broader support coming in 2025.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also reports that the next-gen Apple Watch Ultra may get satellite messaging. Apple introduced non-emergency satellite messaging for iPhones earlier this year. The watch integration would let you be out of cell service zones and still get satellite communication without relying on an iPhone or another device.
Satellite service GlobalStar, which Apple acquired a 20% stake in last month, may power the new feature. Apple may also add blood pressure monitoring to its next washes, not providing specific numbers, but sending an alert if a user's blood pressure level indicates a chance of hypertension or something else.
At the Black Hat Europe conference on Wednesday, security researchers at cybersecurity firm Lookout said they found a surveillance tool called Eagle Message Spy, that's MSG Spy, used by Chinese law enforcement to collect sensitive information from Android devices in China. Lookout says it's acquired several variants of the spyware, reportedly operational since at least 2017. The tool can capture call logs,
contacts, GPS coordinates, bookmarks, and messages from third-party apps including Telegram and WhatsApp. Lookout told TechCrunch that Eagle Message Spy can also initiate screen recordings and capture audio recordings of a device while it's in use.
On Tuesday, a California judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering Automatic, parent company of WordPress, to stop blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress.org resources and interfering with its plugins. The court found that Automatic's actions, including public criticism and blocking of WP Engine, caused irreparable harm to WP Engine and disrupted its business relationships.
Automatic must also remove features targeting WP Engine customers. WP Engine unsurprisingly was pleased with the ruling, but Automatic plans to appeal.
Mozilla's Firefox browser has a feature, like many browsers do, called Do Not Track hidden in settings. Or at least it did. Windows Report spotted a change in the upcoming version. The setting is now gone. Do Not Track is supposed to let you decline to be tracked when you load a webpage, but websites don't have to respect that request, and it can end up being a tool to better identify you as a user and track you better.
Apple also removed Do Not Track from Safari back in 2019. Instagram launched a feature called Trial Reels that lets a creator publish a reel that can only be seen by people who don't actually follow that creator. That would let a creator try out new ideas to see what kind of new followers they might bring in without feedback from existing followers. After 24 hours, a creator can choose to archive the whole thing or share it to those existing followers as well.
YouTube is expanding its auto-dubbing tool to hundreds of thousands of channels, letting creators generate translated audio tracks in multiple languages. The feature is powered by Google's Gemini AI and is designed to replicate human speech, but is still being refined for accuracy. Expressive speech is a future update meant to better capture tone and emotions, with broader availability for other content types planned soon.
And finally, Microsoft launched a new data center in August that doesn't waste water for cooling. Microsoft says its data centers each use about 125 million liters of water per year, but the new design uses a closed loop, so water is still being used. But once it goes into the cooling system, it stays there, and the company doesn't have to draw in water from local supplies. That's especially important in drier areas.
New projects in Phoenix, Arizona and Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin will start using the zero water designs in 2026. For more analysis of the tech news of the day, subscribe to DailyTechNewsShow.com. You can find show notes and links to all these headlines there as well. I'm Sarah Lane. Thank you for listening. And we will talk to you next time.
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