In this episode, Ray covers the fight that broke out after Anthropic published five case files on scientists using Claude for pathogen research, and the virologists who read the same files and called the work basic research. Additionally, he digs into DeepMind's AlphaGenome Atlas mapping nine billion DNA variants, OpenAI's numbers-free customer story about Perplexity, Gemini's late arrival on Windows, and John Deere's self-repair service that almost nobody uses. Finally, the show closes with Europe's new plant-fluorescence satellite, a super El Niño already collecting damage, and a plankton shell that may be hiding a second species.
The European Parliament posted: “Right to repair: Making repair easier and more appealing to consumers”. The new rules reinforce the right to repair, aim to reduce waste and bolster the repair sector by making it easier and more cost-effective to repair goods. On Tuesday, Parliament adopted the directive on the so-called “right to repair” for consumers with 584 votes in
Several months back, Apple refurbisher John Bumstead received a batch of about 20 MacBooks from an e-waste recycler. Bumstead, who routinely refurbishes MacBooks that are more than 10 years old, shouldn’t have had a problem salvaging these computers, the oldest of which were from 2018. But only half of them were fully restorable, The Verge reported. Five of the MacBooks
IFixit wrote: Today (October 10) marks a monumental step forward in the Right to Repair movement. We’re elated to announce that Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed the California Right to Repair Act, SB 244, into law. This groundbreaking legislation passed the legislature almost unanimously last month. It has been championed by state Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman and is cosponsored
John Deere is rolling out self-driving tractors that can plow fields by themselves, and sprayers that distinguish weeds from crops. Deere, which helped make satellite-guided tractors ubiquitous in the U.S. Farm Belt over the past 20 years, is investing billions of dollars to develop smarter machines that the company said will make farming faster and more efficient than it ever
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously voted to ramp up law enforcement against repair restrictions that prevent small businesses, workers, consumers, and even government entities from fixing their own products. This decision essentially puts the “right to repair” in place. The Commission voted 5-0 to approve the policy statement during an open Commission meeting that was live streamed to its