Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 07. Today we are covering:
Amazon makes 'fundamental leap forward in robotics' with device having sense of touch
Saying 'hi' to Microsoft's Phi-4-reasoning
Jesse Levinson of Amazon Zoox: 'The public has less patience for robotaxi mistakes'
Quantum Computers: The $1 Billion Tech Revolution Reshaping the Future of Computing
Patreon's app can now accept web payments after U.S. App Store changes
Let’s dive in
Amazon makes 'fundamental leap forward in robotics' with device having sense of touch
By Sarah Butler via The Guardian
Amazon unveiled Vulcan, a next-generation warehouse robot with a sense of touch, capable of handling about 75% of items using AI to determine how to grasp them—marking a major step beyond vision-only systems.
Designed to augment, not replace, human workers, Vulcan helps with physically demanding tasks like reaching high or low shelves, while Amazon asserts people remain essential for oversight, problem-solving, and cybersecurity resilience.
The move comes amid rising automation investment across retail, labor tensions over pay, and concerns about job displacement, with Amazon also expanding machine-learning packaging systems and launching its low-cost Amazon Haul platform to compete with Shein and Temu.
𝕏: This week, @amazon introduced Vulcan! Amazon has created a new robot called Vulcan, and it's the first one with a real sense of touch. I visited one of the fulfillment centers of Amazon to shoot their latest picking robot for you!... - Lukas Ziegler (@lukas_m_ziegler)
Saying 'hi' to Microsoft's Phi-4-reasoning
By Simon Willison via Simon Willison's Weblog
Microsoft has launched a new trio of small language models—Phi-4-reasoning, Phi-4-reasoning-plus, and Phi-4-mini-reasoning—all released under the MIT license and available via Ollama, showcasing a deliberate emphasis on systematic, structured reasoning.
The Phi-4-reasoning model responds to even simple prompts like “hi” with an exhaustive internal reasoning chain, reflecting its system prompt's design that mandates a verbose, step-by-step thought process before delivering final output.
While reasoning models excel at complex code analysis and debugging, their verbose default behavior can feel excessive for simple tasks, leaving their broader utility context-dependent and sometimes more amusing than practical.
𝕏: Published some notes on Microsoft's phi4-reasoning model, an 11GB download (via Ollama) which may well overthink things... it produced 56 sentences of reasoning output in response to my prompt of "hi" - Simon Willison (@simonw)
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Jesse Levinson of Amazon Zoox: 'The public has less patience for robotaxi mistakes'
By Rafe Uddin via Financial Times
Zoox, the Amazon-owned robotaxi startup, is preparing to launch its steering wheel-free, bidirectional vehicles in Las Vegas by late 2025, emphasizing a pod-shaped design for better social interaction and rider comfort, backed by active suspension and a proprietary architecture with full redundancy.
Co-founder Jesse Levinson stresses Zoox’s commitment to safety, reliability, and full vertical integration, distinguishing it from rivals like Waymo and Tesla, while acknowledging the public's lower tolerance for robotaxi errors and the importance of transparent regulatory engagement.
Despite high development costs, Levinson argues Zoox's ground-up manufacturing model will pay off through long-term efficiencies, U.S.-based production scalability, and a ride-hailing business model that prioritizes cost-per-trip economics over vehicle sales.
Quantum Computers: The $1 Billion Tech Revolution Reshaping the Future of Computing
By Mustavi Tonoy via Medium
Quantum computing is redefining modern tech with qubits, superposition, and entanglement, enabling breakthroughs in medicine, security, finance, and even climate modeling far beyond the capabilities of classical computers.
Major players like IBM ($30B+ investment), PsiQuantum (~$1B in Australia), and Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are racing to commercialize quantum machines by the 2030s, aiming to solve real-world problems at scale.
Despite its promise, the field faces steep challenges: fragile qubits, massive operational costs, usability barriers, and the urgent need for global regulations and ethical safeguards as quantum power inches toward everyday impact.
Patreon's app can now accept web payments after U.S. App Store changes
By Sarah Perez via TechCrunch
Patreon has updated its iOS app to support web-based payments, including credit cards, PayPal, and Venmo, following a major court ruling that forced Apple to allow in-app links to external payment systems.
The app now minimizes the visibility of Apple's in-app purchase option, encouraging users to choose web payments—potentially helping creators avoid Apple's commission fees.
This update follows the Epic Games v. Apple decision and means Patreon will likely no longer need to switch all creators to Apple’s billing system by the previous November 2025 deadline.
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