Latest news with #Duplex
Engadget
22-05-2025
- Engadget
Google's most powerful AI tools aren't for us
At I/O 2025, nothing Google showed off felt new. Instead, we got a retread of the company's familiar obsession with its own AI prowess. For the better part of two hours, Google spent playing up products like AI Mode , generative AI apps like Jules and Flow , and a bewildering new $250 per month AI Ultra plan . During Tuesday's keynote, I thought a lot about my first visit to Mountain View in 2018. I/O 2018 was different. Between Digital Wellbeing for Android, an entirely redesigned Maps app and even Duplex , Google felt like a company that had its pulse on what people wanted from technology. In fact, later that same year, my co-worker Cherlynn Low penned a story titled How Google won software in 2018 . "Companies don't often make features that are truly helpful, but in 2018, Google proved its software can change your life," she wrote at the time, referencing the Pixel 3's Call Screening and "magical" Night Sight features. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. What announcement from Google I/O 2025 comes even close to Night Sight, Google Photos, or, if you're being more generous to the company, Call Screening or Duplex? The only one that comes to my mind is the fact that Google is bringing live language translation to Google Meet. That's a feature that many will find useful, and Google spent all of approximately a minute talking about it. I'm sure there are people who are excited to use Jules to vibe code or Veo 3 to generate video clips, but are either of those products truly transformational? Some "AI filmmakers" may argue otherwise, but when's the last time you thought your life would be dramatically better if you could only get a computer to make you a silly, 30-second clip. By contrast, consider the impact Night Sight has had. With one feature, Google revolutionized phones by showing that software, with the help of AI , could overcome the physical limits of minuscule camera hardware. More importantly, Night Sight was a response to a real problem people had in the real world. It spurred companies like Samsung and Apple to catch up, and now any smartphone worth buying has serious low light capabilities. Night Sight changed the industry, for the better. The fact you have to pay $250 per month to use Veo 3 and Google's other frontier models as much as you want should tell everything you need to know about who the company thinks these tools are for: they're not for you and I. I/O is primarily an event for developers, but the past several I/O conferences have felt like Google flexing its AI muscles rather than using those muscles to do something useful. In the past, the company had a knack for contextualizing what it was showing off in a way that would resonate with the broader public. By 2018, machine learning was already at the forefront of nearly everything Google was doing, and, more so than any other big tech company at the time, Google was on the bleeding edge of that revolution. And yet the difference between now and then was that in 2018 it felt like much of Google's AI might was directed in the service of tools and features that would actually be useful to people. Since then, for Google, AI has gone from a means to an end to an end in and of itself, and we're all the worse for it. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Even less dubious features like AI Mode offer questionable usefulness. Google debuted the chatbot earlier this year , and has since then has been making it available to more and more people. The problem with AI Mode is that it's designed to solve a problem of the company's own making. We all know the quality of Google Search results has declined dramatically over the last few years. Rather than fixing what's broken and making its system harder to game by SEO farms, Google tells us AI Mode represents the future of its search engine. The thing is, a chat bot is not a replacement for a proper search engine. I frequently use ChatGPT Search to research things I'm interested in. However, as great as it is to get a detailed and articulate response to a question, ChatGPT can and will often get things wrong. We're all familiar with the errors AI Overviews produced when Google first started rolling out the feature. AI Overviews might not be in the news anymore, but they're still prone to producing embarrassing mistakes. Just take a look at the screenshot my co-worker Kris Holt sent to me recently. I don't think it's an accident I/O 2025 ended with a showcase of Android XR , a platform that sees the company revisiting a failed concept. Let's also not forget that Android, an operating system billions of people interact with every day, was relegated to a pre-taped livestream the week before. Right now, Google feels like it's a company eager to repeat the mistakes of Google Glass . Rather than trying to meet people where they need it, Google is creating products few are actually asking for. I don't know about you, but that doesn't make me excited for the company's future.
West Australian
30-04-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Drilling blitz to unlock Brightstar 1.5M-ounce WA Sandstone gold hub
A colossal 80,000-metre drilling blitz at Brightstar Resources' Sandstone gold project has the company steaming towards the development of a new 1.5-million-ounce Western Australian gold hub at the long-dormant project. Hot on the heels of its 2024 acquisitions of Alto Metals and the Montague East gold project from Gateway Mining, Brightstar is firming up its drilling and feasibility studies to unlock Sandstone's untapped potential. Brightstar's fully funded exploration juggernaut is set to unlock deeper and potentially highly profitable ounces across the consolidated project, as it eyes a 2.5–3.5 million tonne per annum processing plant option. The company aims to unlock a region unmined for more than 15 years. The company says it has already drilled 23,500m of a broader 134,000m program planned for this year. It has assays pending from high-grade prospects outside of the town of Sandstone, including Lord Nelson, Bull Oak, Havilah and the Indomitable Camp. Early results are lighting up high-grade underground resources, with intercepts returning hits of 3m at 26.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 4m at 59.0g/t. The intercepts hint at never-tested high-grade resources at depth across the project, which could upgrade its economic viability considerably. Brightstar says its prefeasibility study, slated for early next year, is focussed primarily on the existing resources across Sandstone. The resources were chased within the top 150m from surface during times of weaker gold prices that overlooked the region's depth potential. With gold prices soaring at about $5150 per ounce – more than 10 times the $500 per ounce price seen for most of Sandstone's operational era -Brightstar believes it is poised to capitalise on a major production opportunity in one of WA's underdeveloped gold-bearing greenstone belts. Brightstar's exploration team is leaving no stone unturned, with two-thirds of its portfolio-wide 134,000m drilling budget earmarked to expand Sandstone's 33Mt resource, which grades a respectable 1.5g/t gold for 1.5M ounces. Drilling will also focus on greenfield discovery targets across the project, including Hacks West, Bulchina South, Sandstone North and recently uncovered Duplex prospects, which the company says are primed for follow-up testing. Sandstone's historical exploration was a mere teaser, with past owners such as Herald and Troy pulling more than 600,000 ounces from shallow oxide material at a puny 600ktpa plant. Brightstar's bold vision dwarfs that scale, leveraging sealed highways and low-cost ore haulage from Montague, 70 kilometres away, at less than 0.1g/t gold-equivalent to feed a modern 3Mtpa mill near Sandstone town to spit out some 130,000 ounces annually. At the end of the March quarter, the company was sitting pretty with $7M cash in the kitty, not including proceeds from the 100 kilograms of gold it produced through an ore purchase agreement with Genesis Minerals in March. It is also finalising a US$11.5M (A$18M) debt facility with United States-based Ocean Partners, which will be used to fast-track the company's aggressive growth agenda. With Sandstone's 1.5M-ounce resource just scratching near surface, Brightstar believes its aggressive drilling campaign is poised to unlock deeper, high-grade lodes at the long-overlooked Sandstone-Gum Creek greenstone belts. This region is now in the spotlight, thanks to Brightstar, as a prime target for potential major-scale production. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
RTÉ News
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Poetry Day Ireland 2025: Duplex by Stuart Barnes
As part of Poetry Day Ireland 2025, twelve poems have been selected following a national call out to respond to this year's theme, May Day - read Duplex by Stuart Barnes below. Duplex Cleft phlox (Phlox bifida) In spring I fly open and burn pale purple, petal-edges curving like C clef. Curve over pebbles, my little C clef I sing to the skipper (which flocks, which flocks), icing for the skipper (Which phlox? Which phlox?), explosion for root rot, powdery mildew. My taproot powders erosion's eye. Still, you log and you crop and you dam and you mine. You log and you crop———I damn you to mine my oval emerald almanac. My emeralds go across fall———the knack outrages you like the cocklebur's sting. I'm outrageously bright and bursting to fly open in spring and burn pale purple. First published in Modron Magazine, 2024
Associated Press
04-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Redbrick Acquires Quartz from G/O Media To Drive Next Phase of Growth for Pioneering Digital Media Company
Redbrick, a company that builds, acquires, and supports innovative businesses, today announced the acquisition of pioneering digital media company Quartz and The Inventory, the consumer product media company, from G/O Media for an undisclosed amount. The addition of Quartz to Redbrick's portfolio of forward-looking tech and media properties brings renewed momentum to the trusted publisher and will serve as the foundation for expanding into next-generation media strategies. Amid the ongoing transformation of the media industry due to evolving consumer behaviors and emerging technologies such as AI, Redbrick sees a new opportunity to help shape the future of media. Redbrick's previous digital media investments include the launch of Digital Entrepreneur in 2024, a biweekly interactive magazine aimed to help entrepreneurs. 'As the media landscape continues to shift, the only way to survive and thrive is by embracing the advancements in innovation to connect and engage with audiences,' said Tobyn Sowden, CEO at Redbrick. 'Redbrick's portfolio will serve as the foundation for the future of media, enabling media companies like Quartz to develop direct relationships with audiences, deliver personalized experiences wherever people are watching, and create a more sustainable ecosystem with better advertising touchpoints.' Quartz marks Redbrick's fifth major acquisition. Last month, the company acquired Paved, a newsletter advertising platform connecting publishers and advertisers, which Redbrick will integrate with Quartz. This will enable Quartz to connect with Paved's premium marketplace of top advertisers like Uber, DoorDash, and Salesforce, and better monetize its newsletter subscription base of more than one million opt-in members. 'For over a decade, Quartz has covered the biggest news stories essential to the business leaders of today and tomorrow,' said Dan Hirschhorn, editor in chief, Quartz. 'The way we connect with audiences is evolving and today marks a new chapter for Quartz as we work with Redbrick to help shape the future of media as the landscape rapidly transforms.' Redbrick is a Certified B Corporation™, demonstrating its commitment to building an equitable and sustainable future. The Redbrick technology portfolio aims to give entrepreneurs, teams, and companies the competitive edge they need, and includes Animoto for video production, Delivra for email and SMS marketing, Duplex for syndicated news discovery, Leadpages for sales enablement, Paved for newsletter advertising, and the Shift 'power browser.' Oaklins worked with both Redbrick and G/O Media throughout the acquisition. About Redbrick Redbrick builds, acquires, and operates innovative companies, providing the strategic guidance and shared resources that enable them to scale. With expertise in finance, people and culture, and marketing, Redbrick fuels the success of its portfolio—Animoto, Delivra, Duplex, Leadpages, Paved, and Shift—while supporting long-term sustainability. Headquartered in Victoria, BC, Redbrick is a Certified B Corporation and has been recognized as one of Canada's Top Small and Medium Employers for five consecutive years. About Quartz SOURCE: Redbrick Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 04/04/2025 03:28 PM/DISC: 04/04/2025 03:28 PM
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon's generative AI vision for Alexa is appealing, but unproven
Amazon's long-awaited update to its assistant is almost here. About 18 months after the company first previewed the 'next-gen Alexa' built with generative AI, it unveiled Alexa+, and early access will be available starting in March. Alexa+ will exist alongside the older Alexa and will cost $20 a month, unless you have a Prime membership, which will make it free to use. The new assistant will come with all the modern upgrades that its contemporaries like the redesigned Siri or Gemini offer, like more conversational interaction, better contextual understanding and the ability to 'summarize complex topics' and 'make suggestions based on your interests.' But it does one thing differently, and it's the way Amazon purports to integrate with third-party apps and the rest of the internet that could set it apart. At the presentation, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV Daniel Rausch outlined three ways the new assistant can integrate with other services you use. Firstly, it already works with 'tens of thousands' of integrations already available, with Uber, Sonos, Samsung and Xbox being a few of the many logos that were displayed when Rausch said this. Presumably, that means Amazon worked with these partners to get their apps to play nicely with Alexa+ through their APIs. Secondly, for the large swath of the online world that doesn't have apps or the resources to code an API just for Alexa+, the assistant should be able to scour the internet for their website and navigate it on your behalf. During the presentation, Rausch demonstrated how Alexa+ was able to go to the Thumbtack website to hire a professional to fix his oven. Instead of having to whip out a phone or laptop to click through menus himself, Rausch could just verbally tell Alexa+ what he needed and what times he was available, and the AI did the rest. This example in particular struck me as very similar to Google's restaurant-reservation system Duplex, which, since way back in 2018, could call businesses on your behalf to book a table. All you had to do was tell Google what date and times you were considering, how many people were in your party and it would make the call for you, even speaking in a human-sounding voice to the restaurant. The way Alexa+ would click around websites on your behalf seems like Duplex on steroids. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Finally, Alexa+ can work with the 'AI agents' on other sites, so you can talk to just one assistant instead of dozens of chatbots. In the presentation, Rausch got Alexa+ to work with the AI music generator Suno to come up with a country-style song about bodega cats. After the company's presentation, I spoke with Rausch to get more clarity on how Alexa+ will work with the rest of the online world. For one, I wanted to know for sure if that third method would work with customer service chatbots from companies like Capital One, United Airlines and more. While Rausch said that he had no details to share on specific names or services, he did confirm that 'the SDK is all about integrations like that,' saying it's for people to use Alexa to connect with agents on their behalf to complete tasks. Rausch is aware that any friction at all in the adoption and setup process can turn people away. To that end, upgrading to Alexa+ should not require any additional sign-ins or authentication. You should be able to have all your connected appliances, security cameras and home routines carry over without any effort. 'The reason that customers love Alexa is it takes away all the complexity,' Rausch said. People don't need to remember the brand of the WeMo plug they bought, for example, to be able to tell Alexa to turn off a lamp. 'We would never take that away,' he said. When you're adding new services after upgrading to Alexa+, Rausch said you'll either do so 'in the ways that you do it today' or that it'll get even easier, since 'Alexa can walk you through those setups in many more cases.' According to Rausch, instead of having to 'dig around in the Alexa app, you just say 'Alexa, I want to set up a streaming account with Hulu' or something.' You'll be presented with a QR code on an Echo device with a screen to facilitate that, and the assistant should guide users along the way. 'We like to say Alexa is an expert, and now an expert on herself.' Amazon isn't the only company that has made its assistant perform tech support for users. This approach is very similar to how Siri can teach you how to, say, shoot a video in Cinematic mode or create a Genmoji. Where better to get help about a product you're using than the product itself? Why make me go to a different place for information? 'From a customer experience perspective, customers just want the thing done,' Rausch said. 'They don't have to be responsible or care about any of these things, right?' He believes people just want the plumber or a reservation booked, and don't want to fuss around with websites and phone calls. People do want their digital assistant to be helpful and easy to use, but isn't it equally important that these AI services are accurate and reliable? When I asked Rausch how Amazon worked around the tendency of generative AI to hallucinate and sometimes spread misinformation, he said 'I actually think in the industry, there's been a mistake of thinking a model is a product.' He also said 'LLMs are at the foundation of the architecture, but they're not the only thing answering the question.' In other words, Alexa+ is using a combination of Amazon's knowledge graphs, reliable sources on the internet and partnerships with authoritative outlets. 'Other products will simply give you an answer out of the LLM. If you're asking for an authoritative answer, that's not actually sometimes the way to get one. and I think that's what you're highlighting,' he said. Rausch added that Amazon has 'taken great care' with Alexa. 'Will it make mistakes? Every piece of software makes mistakes,' he said. 'But we're working hard to ground it in knowledge.' I've yet to try out Alexa+ for myself, and everything we've seen so far has been in highly controlled demos, so it's hard to tell what real world performance will be like. But if the new Alexa is truly able to work with third-party services in a way that's seamless and effective, it would not only bring Amazon back into the consumer AI race, but could possibly give it an advantage over the likes of Google, Apple and OpenAI. Considering Amazon really brought the idea of a virtual assistant into homes around the world, this could also have an impact that goes beyond the tech-savvy users of today's AI services. Amazon has unveiled Alexa+. Follow the Alexa+ launch event liveblog for real-time analysis and commentary.
