Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
Embodied AI spins a pen and helps clean the living room in new research
Sure, AI can write sonnets and do a passable Homer Simpson Nirvana cover. But if anyone is going to welcome our new techno-overlords, they’ll need to be capable of something more practical — w
FCC begins second quest for net neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission officially began its effort to reestablish net neutrality at its monthly meeting today, with a proposed rule prohibiting broadband providers from favoring or thro
Sequoia faces congressional scrutiny over investments in China
One of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investment firms will face government scrutiny over its investments in China. Sequoia Capital has received a polite but pointed request from Congress to en
Microsoft highlights new Xbox accessibility features and the gamers who use them
Microsoft is always moving forward in the field of accessibility, especially in gaming, where its Xbox Adaptive Controller and other features help gamers with disabilities play however is comfortable
IRS will pilot free, direct tax filing in 2024
The IRS will test a free tax filing service in 2024 for a subset of lucky taxpayers in as many as 13 states, the agency announced today. Direct File, as the service is called, is a shot across the bow
Bandcamp’s new owner lays off half the company
Bandcamp has officially changed hands from its old new owner, Epic, to its new new owner, Songtradr, and lost half its employees in the process. Songtradr confirmed that “50% of employees receiv
This week in AI: AI-powered personalities are all the rage
Keeping up with an industry as fast-moving as AI is a tall order. So until an AI can do it for you, here’s a handy roundup of recent stories in the world of machine learning.
Your website can now opt out of training Google’s Bard and future AIs
Large language models are trained on all kinds of data, most of which it seems was collected without anyone’s knowledge or consent. Now you have a choice whether to allow your web content to be
Medium hints at a nascent media coalition to block AI crawlers
Web publishing platform Medium has announced that it will block OpenAI’s GPTBot, an agent that scrapes web pages for content used to train the company’s AI models. But the real news may be
Mistral AI makes its first large language model free for everyone
The most popular language models out there may be accessed via API, but open models — as far as that term can be taken seriously — are gaining ground. Mistral, a French AI startup that raised a hu
What is Amazon’s [redacted] ‘Project Nessie’ algorithm?
The FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon alleging anti-competitive practices is largely full of things we already knew in a general sense: price hikes, pressure to use Amazon fulfillment and so on. But
FCC announces plans to reinstate net neutrality
Net neutrality is back on the menu, citizens. After a long, long battle ending in eventual defeat during Trump’s presidency, the FCC is set to reinstate rules that broadband providers must treat
Alchemist Accelerator’s latest startups range from sneakernet for energy to solar panel cleaning bots
This morning is Alchemist Accelerator’s demo day, and there are 22 companies making their debut across a wide range of industries. Whether you’re building a construction business, cleaning
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’
Why is it that so many companies that rely on monetizing the data of their users seem to be extremely hot on AI? If you ask Signal president Meredith Whittaker (and I did), she’ll tell you it
Unity U-turns on controversial runtime fee and begs forgiveness
Unity has done a 180 on a controversial new pricing scheme that users of its cross-platform game engine almost unanimously disparaged.
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei on AI’s limits: ‘I’m not sure there are any’
As Anthropic takes on OpenAI and other challengers in the growing artificial intelligence industry, there is also an existential question looming: Can large language models and the systems they enable
Parallel Health takes a biotech-forward approach to skincare with custom phage therapy
Parallel Health turns the microbiome of the skin from creepy fact to potentially transformative skin care with custom phage therapy.
Project Gutenberg puts 5,000 audiobooks online for free using synthetic speech
Open book repository Project Gutenberg has turned thousands of its titles into audiobooks practically overnight using synthetic speech, available now for download or streaming on multiple services. Th
Unity reportedly backtracking on new fees after developers revolt
Unity, the popular cross-platform game and media development engine, is on the defensive after receiving intense backlash over a controversial new fee structure, which developers using the platform de
California hits Google for $93M over deceptive location data options
A lawsuit filed against Google by California’s Attorney General over the company’s deceptive and misleading options for managing location data has resulted in a $93 million settlement —