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Amazon has deployed over 750,000 robots to its fulfillment centers over the last decade or so, but now there’s a new, shall we say, more sensitive addition. The company has announced Vulcan, its first robot with a sense of touch. It’s one in a series of new robots introduced today at Amazon’s Delivering the Future event in Germany. 

Vulcan uses force feedback sensors to monitor how much it’s pushing or holding on to an object and, ideally, not damage it. “In the past, when industrial robots have unexpected contact, they either emergency stop or smash through that contact. They often don’t even know they have hit something because they cannot sense it.” Aaron Parness, Amazon director, applied science, stated in the release. “Vulcan represents a fundamental leap forward in robotics. It’s not just seeing the world, it’s feeling it, enabling capabilities that were impossible for Amazon robots until now.” 

Of course, there’s an AI component, with Amazon training Vulcan’s AI on physical data around touch and force. Vulcan also uses algorithms to determine what it can handle, identify different products and find space in the fulfillment center. The machine has “tackled thousands” of objects and tasks, like moving electronics and picking up socks. The system can also learn from its mistakes, with Amazon stating the robot will become more capable as time goes on. 

Amazon, which has faced continual reports of endangering worker safety, also claims it’s introducing Vulcan for efficiency and worker safety. The robot should focus on inventory in the top rows of storage pods, about eight feet in the air, and just above floor level. Theoretically, this means less time employees need to spend on ladders or crouching down, and more time working with product at their level. Amazon says the robot is already in use in Spokane, Washington and Hamburg, Germany. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazons-newest-fulfillment-robot-has-a-sense-of-touch-120050449.html?src=rss 

New photos leaked from the FCC appear to confirm that an Xbox-branded handheld gaming console is coming soon. A listing shows two versions of ASUS’s ROG Ally 2 handheld, a dark model with a dedicated Xbox labeled button at the top left and a white version with the same button blacked out. The latter could carry a different function or be removed altogether from the production model, according to the leak (related to Wi-Fi modules) from Videocardz seen by The Verge. 

The models otherwise look identical but carry different specs, according to other parts of the listing. Both have 7-inch 120Hz displays, but the ROG Ally 2 Xbox version (RC73X1) will come with an AMD 8-Core 36W Ryzen Z2 Extreme and 64GB LPDDR5X memory, while the regular model (RC73YA) will pack an AMD 4-core 20W AMD Aeirth Plus chip (memory unknown). Compared to the ROG Ally, the Rog Ally 2 has a thicker design and more rounded grips. It also offers a pair of USB-C controllers, along with HDMI and 3.5mm connectors, according to the rear view.

It’s not yet known what the Xbox button will do, but Microsoft is expected to add features like support for the Xbox Game Bar, Play Anywhere functionality and Game Pass Ultimate. It could go even deeper, possibly launching the Xbox app on Windows, according to Videocardz. Some peripherals like the Backbone One already carry an Xbox button to open up the Xbox guide, show available games and more.

We’ll have to wait and see more details, but as Engadget’s Sam Rutherford put it, “the case for an Xbox handheld seems so obvious it’s kind of surprising Microsoft didn’t announce one years ago.” 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/asus-and-microsofts-xbox-branded-handheld-appears-in-leaked-fcc-photos-123021510.html?src=rss 

Minecraft is no longer (officially) available on virtual and mixed reality platforms. The change was confirmed in today’s patch notes for the game’s Bedrock edition following an announcement from developer Mojang in October. Those fall patch notes suggested that the platforms would be removed in March, so players who favored VR wound up getting a few extra weeks to fully immerse themselves in their blocky worlds.

Removing entire platforms isn’t a choice game devs make lightly. Especially when Minecraft‘s player base still numbers in the hundreds of millions at any given time, it seems unlikely that Mojang would take away virtual and mixed reality unless it wouldn’t cause a serious disruption for its many fans. There are still plenty of critically received games that make VR ownership worthwhile (Beat Saber, anyone?), but a title as major as Minecraft abandoning the hardware isn’t a great look.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/minecraft-ended-virtual-reality-support-today-224649126.html?src=rss 

A jury has ruled that the company behind the infamous Pegasus spyware must pay Meta more than $167 million in damages for spreading malware via WhatsApp. The ruling is a major victory for Meta after a years-long legal battle with NSO Group.

Meta sued the NSO Group in 2019 over its Pegasus spyware. Meta said at the time that more than 1,400 people in 20 countries had been targeted, including journalists and human rights activists. The company said that the “highly sophisticated cyber attack” spread malware via video calls even when the calls went unanswered. Last year, a judge sided with Meta and found the Israeli company had violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Tuesday’s verdict followed a week-long jury trial to determine just how much NSO should pay in damages to Meta.

The jury ultimately awarded Meta $444,719 in compensatory damages and $167,254,000 in punitive damages. In a statement, WhatsApp’s VP of Global Communications Carl Woog called the verdict “a critical deterrent to this malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and the privacy and security of the people we serve.”

NSO Group, which describes itself as a “cyber intelligence” firm, has said that it’s not possible to use Pegasus on US phone numbers. In court, lawyers for the firm argued that WhatsApp wasn’t harmed in any way by Pegasus, according to Courthouse News Service.

In a statement, NSO’s Gil Lainer said the verdict was “another step in a lengthy judicial process” and said it would pursue “further proceedings” or an appeal. “We firmly believe that our technology plays a critical role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is deployed responsibly by authorized government agencies,” Lainer said. “This perspective, validated by extensive real-world evidence and numerous security operations that have saved many lives, including American lives, was excluded from the jury’s consideration in this case.”

WhatsApp’s Woog said Meta knows it has “a long road ahead” to collect damages from NSO. “Ultimately, we would like to make a donation to digital rights organizations that are working to defend people against such attacks around the world,” he said. He added that Meta plans to pursue a court order to prevent NSO from targeting WhatsApp in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/meta-wins-more-than-167-million-in-damages-from-spyware-maker-that-targeted-whatsapp-215459438.html?src=rss 

OpenAI has abandoned its controversial restructuring plan. In a dramatic reversal, the company said Monday it would no longer try to separate control of its for-profit arm from the non-profit board that currently oversees operations. “We made the decision for the nonprofit to retain control of OpenAI after hearing from civic leaders and engaging in constructive dialogue with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California,” said Bret Taylor, the chairman of OpenAI.

OpenAI had originally argued its existing structure would not allow its nonprofit to “easily do more than control the for-profit.” It also said it needed more money, a mere two months after securing $6.6 billion in new investment. “We once again need to raise more capital than we’d imagined,” the company wrote in December. “Investors want to back us but, at this scale of capital, need conventional equity and less structural bespokeness.”

OpenAI’s previous plan called for the nonprofit to cede absolute control of the for-profit, in return for whatever degree of control came with the amount of stock it was granted through the reorganization process.

This was the controversial part of OpenAI’s plan, with many, including former employees, labor and nonprofit groups and even Elon Musk, voicing opposition to the proposal. Now, the company says its nonprofit will retain control and become a “big shareholder in the PBC.”

“How is the nonprofit going to maintain control? How will that purpose be advanced?” asks Jill Horwitz, a visiting professor of law at Northwestern University. “We know from the press that OpenAI plans to appoint all the board members of the operating entity. Will that happen forever? Who will they be? Will it be self-perpetuating? Will the for-profit investors have a say in who those board members are?”

Put another way, OpenAI hasn’t said the exact structure that it intends to implement. According to Professor Michael Dorff, executive director of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy at UCLA, the company could adopt one of a few different options.

“If you had one class of stock, one vote per share, they would elect a board. You could just give the nonprofit the majority of the shares, and then they would then elect a majority of the board. They would therefore be in charge, at least for a while,” he says.

“More stable governance arrangements could be done by having dual class shares, where the nonprofit would have a class of stock and they would be the only owners of that class of the stock that is either super voting shares, again, giving it a majority, or even better, you can define a class of stock and say it has the right to elect a majority of the board.”

In short, the company hasn’t said how it plans to ensure its nonprofit maintains control. The nonprofit may have a “big” stake to start, but there are a few different ways that stake could be diluted. Even if you set aside the idea of an IPO for now, the company could still issue new shares or carry out a stock split. In those scenarios, if OpenAI’s non-profit doesn’t own special shares, its control of the company would be weakened.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has yet to sign off on OpenAI’s proposal. The company has invested nearly $14 billion into OpenAI. Under the terms of its October funding round, OpenAI had two years to transform itself into a for-profit business. If it failed to do so, the $6.6 billion it secured would turn into debt. We don’t know for sure, but the question of control is likely front and center in the negotiations between Microsoft and OpenAI, with the company’s financial future at stake. Complicating matters is that whatever arrangement the two come to, it needs to be rubber stamped by the state attorneys general of California and Delaware.

“We look forward to advancing the details of this plan in continued conversation with [the state AGs], Microsoft, and our newly appointed nonprofit commissioners,” Altman wrote in his letter.

Parts of OpenAI’s previous plan remain unchanged. As before, the company will reorganize its for-profit subsidiary into a public benefit corporation. In doing so, OpenAI still plans to eliminate the current capped profit structure that limits investor returns to 100x, with excess profits reserved for the nonprofit. OpenAI has yet to record a profit; as of last year, the company recorded around $5 billion in losses.

“This is not a sale, but a change of structure to something simpler,” wrote OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a letter to employees shared by the company. “Instead of our current complex capped-profit structure—which made sense when it looked like there might be one dominant AGI effort but doesn’t in a world of many great AGI companies—we are moving to a normal capital structure where everyone has stock.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-new-for-profit-plan-leaves-many-unanswered-questions-193942365.html?src=rss