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State Department Reverts to Times New Roman: A Shift Towards Tradition, Accessibility, and Cost Concerns

Googles CEO, Sundar Pichai, has appointed Amin Vahdat as the first Chief Technologist for AI Infrastructure, a new role reporting directly to him. Vahdat, a computer scientist with a PhD from UC Berkeley, has been instrumental in building Googles AI backbone for the past fifteen years. He previously worked as an associate professor at Duke University and a professor at UC San Diego, publishing over 395 papers. Vahdats expertise lies in making computers work efficiently at a large scale. He unveiled Googles seventh-generation TPU, Ironwood, at Google Cloud Next, delivering 42.5 exaflops of compute power. He also oversees the Jupiter network, Googles super-fast internal network, and has been deeply involved in the development of Borg and Axion, Googles cluster management system and custom Arm-based CPUs, respectively.

State Attorneys General Issue Stern Warning to AI Companies: Delusional Outputs from Chatbots Pose Mental Health Risks

Protons spam watch report reveals alarming use of hidden trackers in retail marketing emails during the holiday season. Eighty percent of retailers are embedding these trackers, which can monitor email opens, device usage, and link clicks. The study identified worst offenders like CB Two, Anthropologie, and Victorias Secret, while most respectful brands included Nike and Bass Pro Shops. This highlights a growing concern about privacy in our inboxes, with Proton and DuckDuckGo offering email protection services.

YouTube TV is entering the subscription bundle market with ten new genre-specific packages, including a highly anticipated Sports Plan featuring a wide range of sports programming. This move comes as skinny bundles gain popularity, offering fewer options at lower price points. Other streaming services like DirecTV, Fubo, and Apple TV are also making moves in this direction. YouTube TV, currently costing $83 per month, has not yet revealed details on the other nine bundles, but hints at plans focusing on news, family, and general entertainment content. The specific costs and release dates for these additional bundles have not been announced.

U.S. Government Proposes New Rule: International Visitors May Need to Share Social Media History for ESTA

The United States Customs and Border Protection agency is proposing a new rule that could require international visitors from forty-two countries, including the UK, Germany, and Australia, to share five years of their social media history, email addresses from the past ten years, and detailed personal information about their family members. This change is part of a broader effort to gather more personal information from these visitors and follows earlier announcements of stricter immigration policies. The public has sixty days to comment on this proposed change, with the deadline set for February ninth.

Nvidia, the top AI chip manufacturer, is developing software to track its chip locations due to smuggling concerns. The new system, initially optional, uses performance monitoring and communication delays to pinpoint a chips location. Recent reports suggest Chinese AI models might have been trained with smuggled Nvidia chips, but Nvidia denies evidence of widespread smuggling. The US government recently approved selling older H200 chips to China, but not the newer Blackwell series.

Google introduces Android Emergency Live Video: a game-changing feature that allows users to stream real-time video to emergency responders during calls for help. This tool, available on Android eight or newer devices in the US, Germany, and Mexico, provides dispatchers with immediate visual information, enabling them to assess situations and guide users through critical steps until professional help arrives.