🔄 New Social Network, Custom Microsoft Chips, Tech Predictions Unveiled

Happy Friday! Conclude your week with our roundup of key highlights and breakthroughs in technology and AI.

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Today’s pick

• Maven Is a New Social Network That Eliminates Followers-and Hopefully Stress 

• Microsoft's custom Cobalt chips will come to Azure next week 

• What I Got Wrong in a Decade of Predicting the Future of Tech 

• Flock Safety Expands Product Suite with Solar-Powered Condor, an AI-enhanced Video Solution Designed to Help Deter & Solve Crime 

• Hong Kong Officially Launches Pilot for Digital Yuan Payments

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Maven Is a New Social Network That Eliminates Followers-and Hopefully Stress 

By Matthew Hutson via WIRED 

• Maven, a new social network, aims to improve mental health by eliminating likes and followers, inspired by Kenneth Stanley's work in artificial intelligence.

• The platform promotes serendipity by allowing users to follow interests rather than individuals, with Ev Williams and Sam Altman among its backers.

• Maven fosters meaningful conversations and diversity without the pressure of popularity metrics, offering a serendipity slider and AI moderation for content.

𝕏: In Wired today: @kenneth0stanley's Maven (which I am involved in a bit via advising Ken on it). A nice explanation of its motivation and philosophy, which makes it an interesting alternative to mainstream social media. Via @SilverJacket Congrats Maven! - Jeff Clune (@jeffclune)

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Microsoft's custom Cobalt chips will come to Azure next week 

By Frederic Lardinois via TechCrunch 

• Microsoft will launch its custom Cobalt 100 chips at the Build conference next week, promising 40% better performance over other ARM chips.

• Azure will soon support AMD's MI300X accelerators, a real-time intelligence system with native Kafka integration, and Copilot for managing resources using natural language.

• Microsoft Fabric will now support Snowflake's Iceberg format, enabling seamless interoperability with Snowflake and other data analytics systems.

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What I Got Wrong in a Decade of Predicting the Future of Tech 

By Christopher Mims via Wall Street Journal 

• Flock Safety has launched the Solar-Powered Condor, an AI-enhanced video solution designed to help deter and solve crime by providing live and recorded video.

• The Condor can be installed anywhere due to its solar power capability, eliminating the need for AC power, and includes features like LPR, audio detection, and AI-enhanced video streaming.

• Flock Safety's technology helps solve over 700,000 crimes annually, offering a subscription service model that includes installation and maintenance, ensuring high-quality data capture and processing.

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Flock Safety Expands Product Suite with Solar-Powered Condor, an AI-enhanced Video Solution Designed to Help Deter & Solve Crime 

By Flock Safety via GlobeNewswire 

• Flock Safety has launched the Solar-Powered Condor, an AI-enhanced video solution designed to help deter and solve crime by providing live and recorded video.

• The Condor can be installed anywhere due to its solar power capability, eliminating the need for AC power, and includes features like LPR, audio detection, and AI-enhanced video streaming.

• Flock Safety's technology helps solve over 700,000 crimes annually, offering a subscription service model that includes installation and maintenance, ensuring high-quality data capture and processing.

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Hong Kong Officially Launches Pilot for Digital Yuan Payments

By Kiuyan Wong via Bloomberg

• Hong Kong has launched a pilot program for digital yuan payments through major Chinese banks, marking the first deployment beyond mainland China.

• Residents can now open digital yuan wallets with Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

• This initiative is part of China's efforts to increase the yuan's share of global payments.

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Trending in AI

• OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts

• Introducing PaliGemma, Gemma 2, and an Upgraded Responsible AI Toolkit

• Applied AI Software Engineering: RAG

• Bye Bye, AI: How to block Google's annoying AI overviews and just get search results

• Exclusive: Musk pushes plan for China data to power Tesla's AI ambitions

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Thanks for reading to the bottom and soaking in our Newslit Daily fueled with highlights for your morning.

I hope you found it interesting and, needless to say, if you have any questions or feedback let me know by hitting reply.

Take care and see you on Monday!

— Jose Montes de Oca

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