Author: News Room
China is stepping up efforts to regulate its fast-growing “digital human” industry, as emotionally immersive AI avatars – some modeled after deceased loved ones – gain widespread traction across the country. The move comes as both the technology’s commercial potential and ethical risks become increasingly visible. Grief, Technology And A Growing Industry Zhang Xinyu, a 47-year-old woman from Liaoning province, turned to artificial intelligence after losing her father to cancer. Working with a company called Super Brain, she created a digital avatar that looks and sounds like him, allowing her to continue conversations online. The experience, she told AFP, helped…
Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have developed a breakthrough wearable technology that can convert silent speech into audible voice by reading subtle neck muscle movements. The study, led by Professor Sung-Min Park and Dr. Sunguk Hong, was published in Cyborg and Bionic Systems, marking a significant step forward in human-machine communication. From Muscle Movements To Spoken Words The innovation is built on a simple but powerful idea: speech is not just about sound. When a person speaks – or even attempts to speak silently – tiny movements occur in the muscles and skin around the neck.…
AI chatbot platform Character.AI has introduced a new “Books” feature that allows users to step inside classic literature and interact with characters through roleplay. While the move expands the platform’s creative ambitions, it also arrives against a backdrop of mounting scrutiny over the real-world risks associated with AI chatbots. From Reading To Roleplay The new feature transforms public domain books into interactive experiences, letting users engage with stories like Alice in Wonderland or Pride and Prejudice as active participants rather than passive readers. Users can either follow the original narrative or deviate into alternate storylines, effectively turning literature into a…
Blue Origin has achieved a major milestone in its spaceflight ambitions by successfully reusing a booster from its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket for the first time. The historic launch, conducted on April 19, marks a significant step forward for Jeff Bezos’ space company as it seeks to compete with rivals like SpaceX in the rapidly evolving commercial launch market. A Milestone With A Mixed Outcome The mission represented the third flight of the New Glenn rocket and featured a previously flown first-stage booster, underscoring Blue Origin’s push toward reusable rocket technology. The booster successfully landed after launch, demonstrating that the…
Microsoft is suddenly being a lot more generous with Windows laptops, and the timing is kind of hard not to notice. If you’re an eligible US college student, buying a Windows 11 PC can get you a year of Microsoft 365 Premium, a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a custom Xbox Wireless Controller through Xbox Design Lab. This is the whole Microsoft package, with benefits adding up to $500 in value. This offer is running through June 30, 2026, or till supplies last. It is available through Microsoft, major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, and participating…
Apple’s foldable iPhone leaks are back, and this time, it’s not the design that’s raising eyebrows. It’s what looked like a missing feature… that might not be missing after all. Yup, we’re talking about the whole “missing MagSafe” story. The MagSafe panic was probably overblown When the first iPhone Fold dummy units leaked, many noticed something odd: no visible MagSafe ring on the back. That quickly turned into speculation that Apple might ditch the feature entirely for its foldable. But that assumption never really held up. Dummy units are just shells meant to showcase size and proportions. They don’t include…
Intel’s next-gen CPUs are starting to look… kinda ridiculous. And in this case, that’s a good thing. A fresh Nova Lake leak has spilled a ton of details, and if even half of it holds up, Intel might be gearing up for a serious comeback in high-end desktop CPUs. Nova Lake leak shows Intel going all-in on cache The biggest headline here is cache. A lot of it. The leaked lineup, courtesy of reliable leaker Jaykihn on X, suggests Intel’s top-end Nova Lake chip could pack up to 288MB of total cache, which is actually more than what AMD currently…
Siri has been the punchline of the AI assistant world for years. While it was one of the first voice assistants to launch, it has lagged behind the competition for a while now. With the launch of agentic AI assistants, the gap has only become wider, and a string of upgrade delays has only worsened the situation. While Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude kept getting smarter, Apple’s virtual assistant stayed stuck in 2011. But if fresh reports are anything to go by, Siri’s woes are about to end soon. The impending iOS 27 update might bring the biggest Siri overhaul…
The Windows laptop market has never looked busier. There are more brands, more chips, more AI labels, and more “next-gen” promises than ever. But somehow, for all that noise, the category feels more boxed in than it has in years. That is the irony of the AI PC moment. AI is supposed to be the big upgrade cycle that gives Windows laptops fresh relevance. Instead, it is quietly making them harder to buy into, especially if you are shopping anywhere below the premium tier. And in the middle of all that confusion, Apple’s MacBook lineup suddenly looks like the cleanest,…
It looks like a new member is joining the Pixel family, adding to its resurgent smartphone lineup. Code analysis of the latest Android beta points toward a new Pixel laptop that Google might be planning to launch in the near future. Google last launched a laptop, the Pixelbook Go, in 2019, an affordable version of the Pixelbook it put on the shelves back in 2017. Both the Pixelbook and Pixelbook Go, along with the earlier Chromebook Pixel models, were not what you would call a smash hit with the audience or a runaway commercial success. Ultimately, they triggered Big G’s…