Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
That was fast! Microsoft slips ads into AI-powered Bing Chat
Microsoft is “exploring” putting ads in the responses given by Bing Chat, its new search agent powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. While these sponsored responses are clearly labeled as such,
Saildrone takes the wraps off its Voyager autonomous research vessel
Saildrone has quickly risen to the surface of the growing field of autonomous seagoing vehicles — a category you could be forgiven for not knowing about but that is increasingly important across num
Krisp expands from noise canceling to on-device transcription
Krisp got its start as an AI-powered noise-cancellation service, but now the startup is moving beyond that with instant on-device transcription of all your calls and meetings — and of course it inte
Framework refines its laptops and adds a cute way to reuse old parts
Framework is one of a few companies leading the charge against disposable electronics, in particular laptops. It just showed off some new models, but also a unique case that you can slot your old part
Blue Origin releases report on launch anomaly and plans to fly again ‘soon’
It’s been nearly six months since Blue Origin’s 23rd suborbital launch experienced an anomaly, and the company has finally released the results of its investigation. The good news is the e
Enter the Objaverse: 800,000 virtual props for AIs to play with
If AI is going to work its way out of the chat box and into our living rooms, it will need to understand spaces and objects better. To further that work, the Allen Institute for AI has created a gigan
Pragma Bio is searching for cancer treatments hidden in our microbiome
The natural world has produced many of our most important medicines, but instead of looking under a leaf or rock for the next big cancer drug, Pragma Bio is searching within the human body — its swa
Google’s Bard lags behind GPT-4 and Claude in head-to-head comparison
Google has taken the wraps off Bard, its conversational AI meant to compete with ChatGPT and other large language models. But after its shaky debut, users may understandably be a bit wary of trusting
Amazon kills DPReview, the best camera review site on the web
After 25 years of extremely detailed reviews of digital cameras and accessories, the irreplaceable DPReview is being shut down by Amazon as the company proceeds with a new round of layoffs. DPReview w
The Monarch could be the next big thing in Braille
For many people around the world, braille is their primary language for reading books and articles, and digital braille readers are an important part of that. The newest and fanciest yet is the Monarc
FCC proposes satellite-to-phone rules to eliminate ‘no signal’ once and for all
The FCC has officially proposed, and voted unanimously to move forward with, a framework under which satellites can communicate directly with smartphones in a structured and useful way. The Notice of
Virgin Orbit pauses operations for a week to conduct a search for cash
Virgin Orbit is halting all operations for a week to save money while it “conducts discussions with potential funding sources and explores strategic opportunities,” the company announced i
Behold the new moon suit
NASA and Axiom Space just showed off the latest iteration of the spacesuit astronauts will wear on the surface of the moon when the Artemis III mission takes the first Americans to visit it since 1972
5 ways GPT-4 outsmarts ChatGPT
OpenAI’s new GPT-4 AI model has made its big debut and is already powering everything from a virtual volunteer for the visually impaired to an improved language learning bot in Duolingo. But wha
GPT-4’s new capabilities power a ‘virtual volunteer’ for the visually impaired
OpenAI has introduced the world to its latest powerful AI model, GPT-4, and refreshingly the first thing they partnered up on with its new capabilities is helping people with visual impairments. Be My
With this brain map we are one step closer to total fruit fly simulation
In a way, fruit flies are just like us. They have eyes, legs, nervous systems, and they love fruit. Unlike us, however, they only have a few thousand neurons in their brains, which means scientists ca
‘Pan-variant’ COVID vaccine could defang future strains thanks to machine learning
A new approach to vaccines with a machine learning twist could put an end to boosters and seasonal variant shots, according to MIT researchers. This “pan-variant” vaccine would ignore the
Wonder Dynamics puts a full-service CG character studio in a web platform
The tools of modern cinema have become increasingly accessible to independent and even amateur filmmakers, but realistic CG characters (like them or not) have remained the province of big-budget proje
reMarkable powers up its e-paper tablet with a keyboard case for distraction-free writing
The reMarkable 2 is a great tablet for reading long documents on, annotating them, taking notes, sketching… but not for full-on writing. At least, it wasn’t until they put out this great k
Amazon pauses HQ2 construction after nationwide battle royale over location
Remember when Amazon turned the United States into Thunderdome, making every state battle over the right to host the company’s next big headquarters and 25,000 jobs? Well, after laying off more