5 best news for February
Windows 11 will have an “AI guide”
In the Windows 11 operating system, the “Explorer” will be updated. It will receive AI functions, which will require new processors, writes Windows Central.
AI Explorer will run constantly in the background. It will allow the user to search for any information or files on the computer using text queries. According to preliminary data, the service will be in the upper part of the screen. There will be a window for entering queries where you can write “Find a document that was sent to me a few weeks ago” or similar text.
The search works based on neural networks, which record all the user’s actions on the computer for all programs. For example, it will allow us to show a specific conversation in some messenger and remind us when the user looked at certain information in the browser the day before yesterday. At the same time, the “AI guide” not only remembers actions but also analyzes what is happening on the screen. Thanks to this, the system will be able to issue contextual sentences. Neural networks will help answer an e-mail or cope with another task.
It is assumed that the “AI conductor” will not work on regular Intel and AMD processors. According to unconfirmed information, the chip will be exclusive to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series. Also, the neural network requires at least 16 GB of RAM. Microsoft is expected to unveil AI Explorer at a special event on May 20.
Micron will receive up to $13.6 billion in US grants and loans
Micron has pledged to invest about $125 billion to build four factories in New York state and one in Idaho. The company, America’s largest memory chip maker, has separately applied for federal funding to support the Virginia project, according to documents filed last week.
“We’re bringing advanced chip manufacturing back to America after 40 years,” President Joe Biden said in the West in Syracuse, New York. “This transforms our semiconductor industry, a pillar of the modern economy, and will create a new ecosystem of research, design, and manufacturing of advanced chips here in America.”
Biden thanked Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra for investing in the company, joking: “We tried to attract you a little with a couple hundred billion dollars, but you came. It seems to have worked.”
One plant already under construction in Micron’s hometown of Boise will receive funding and be ready for production in 2026. Two more in the Syracuse, New York area will be built and ready for production in 2028 and 2029. Micron also plans to build two factories.
The four major advanced manufacturers building in the US are Micron, Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and Samsung Electronics Co. — will receive a total of $27.6 billion in grants.
Shares of Meta and Amazon rose by $279 billion – Bloomberg
Share prices of Meta and Amazon rose by a combined $279 billion after both companies cut staff and posted strong earnings.
Meta and Amazon both reported better-than-expected earnings, sending their shares soaring by a total of $279 billion in premarket trading, according to the news agency. In particular, earnings rose thanks to tens of thousands of job cuts starting in 2022, as well as strong sales that beat analysts’ estimates.
Meta, which cut staff by 22% last year, unveiled plans for a $50 billion share buyback and announced its first quarterly dividend.
According to the publication, the owner of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, will receive about 700 million US dollars a year from his first dividends.
While Amazon posted its best growth in online sales since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was helped by faster delivery of goods.
In addition, the company, which initiated its biggest round of job cuts starting in 2022, affecting 35,000 people last year, announced plans to eliminate more positions at Prime Video, studios and businesses related to Twitch’s live streams.
As explained in the media, the results of these actions led to a 17% increase in Meta shares in pre-market trading before the opening of exchanges in New York, and a 7% increase in Amazon shares.
GOOGLE created AI TRAINER of conversation english language
Google Search Labs has unveiled a new Speaking Practice feature that uses generative AI to help English learners.
AI is used to create realistic dialogues. Users can interact with dialogs by typing on the keyboard or speaking responses. The feature recognizes the user’s language and provides feedback, helping to improve pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
To activate the feature, the user needs to enable Search Labds in the settings of the Google Search application. You can practice the language by clicking on “Try an example” inside the function itself. Users also got access to the practice of spoken language on Android during translation using search.
The feature is currently being tested in Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela. In the future, it will become available in other regions. The company notes that the AI is still in the development stage, so the quality and availability of practice may vary
How China is becoming the world’s leading automobile country
An auto show opened in Beijing where China showed how far ahead of German, Japanese, and American automakers it is on the road to an electric future.
The salon left no doubt that the Chinese decided to switch to their electric cars, and then flood the Western markets with them. This is despite attempts by the US and Europe to save their car factories and internal combustion engines by shielding themselves from cheap imports with tariffs.
At the Beijing salon, Chinese manufacturers presented electric cars that accelerate to 100 km/h in 2 seconds, and showed miracle batteries that charge at a kilometer per second. And they even promised a pre-order for flying cars already next winter.
The rapid expansion of the Chinese auto industry displaced the traditional leaders of the world market — Germans, Japanese, and Americans — at the Beijing Salon. And the main competitor of the Chinese in the electric car market – the American Tesla of Elon Musk – is not represented at all in the salon.
Musk recently warned that without the protection of the government, the Western auto industry will lose competition to the Chinese.