Over 200,000 banking jobs in Europe could disappear by 2030 as banks invest more in AI and close physical branches according to a new analysis by Morgan Stanley reported by the Financial Times. This is equivalent to around 10% of the workforce at 35 major banks.

The biggest cuts are expected in back-office functions, risk management and compliance, where AI can automate much of the work. At the same time, several banks expect to increase efficiency by up to 30%.

JPMorgan Chase VP for Europe, Middle East and Africa Conor Hillery warns that integrating technology should be done carefully.

“What we have to be very careful about in all this eagerness and enthusiasm around AI in the banking world is that people don’t lose sight of the basics and the fundamentals,” he said, according to the report.

According to Hillery, JPMorgan is trying to strike a balance that allows younger bank employees to gain the experience needed for the financial sector of the future — something that otherwise risks creating big problems further down the line.

Source:: Computer World

By Omair Khaliq Sultan Smart glasses are finally at the point where they don’t scream “tech gadget,” and that’s why a discount like this is worth noticing. The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer with clear lenses is down to $224.25 (was $299.00), saving you $74.75. If you’ve been curious about hands-free photos, quick videos, and audio you can hear without wearing […] The post Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer price drop: get them for $224 and save $75 appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Tom Bedford We’ll explore whether smart rings are ready for mainstream appeal, or what needs to change before they are.
The post Are smart rings finally ready for the mainstream? appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

It’s the calm before the storm.

Today, on New Year’s Day, we have a brief moment to pause and prepare — and set ourselves up for success.

From a tech perspective, that means taking the time to clean up and optimize your smartphone setup. That way, when the inevitable craziness hits, you’ll be ready to tackle whatever comes your way with smart, sensible systems and all the best apps already in place and ready to serve you.

We’ve already thought through the top Android tips and Google Android app tricks from 2025 — and even the most noteworthy Pixel-specific advice from the past year. Today, it’s time to shift our focus and look at some of the most exceptional (and often off-the-beaten-path) third-party Android apps that can really expand your experience and grant you some exceptionally effective new productivity powers.

Take a peek through the following standout suggestions — 47 awesome apps to explore, spread out over a dozen different articles! — and for even more Android Intelligence, make sure you’re set to receive my free Android Intelligence newsletter, too. You’ll get three new things to try in your inbox every Friday, and you’ll get my game-changing Android Notification Power Pack as a special welcome bonus.

Here we go!

2025’s top Android app advice

11 Android Quick Settings additions that’ll supercharge your efficiency

These out-of-sight shortcuts will turn whatever phone you’re using into an even more powerful productivity powerhouse.

7 Android launchers for enhanced efficiency

Save time and make your Android home screen work better with the help of these eclectic tools.

Google Keep, discarded: A smart new source for Android location reminders

Google’s Keep app just lost one of its most useful features on Android — but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on it entirely.

An Android multitasking revelation

Ready to fly around your phone like never before?

An ingenious new Android notification upgrade

Know what new notifications you’ve got pending without ever even glancing at your phone.

The simple Android screen app that saves my sanity

Upgrade your Android-using experience in four minutes flat.

The easiest ways to view, sign, and edit PDFs on Android

Stop making your life difficult and start using these simple, free tools.

A Pixel-inspired productivity upgrade for any Android device

Prepare for a whole new way to think about screenshots.

An eye-opening Android privacy blacklight

This free tool offers up fascinating insight into the typically-invisible ways apps track your activity.

How to bring Google’s custom vibration brilliance to any Android phone today

This buzzworthy new enhancement can work on any phone this instant with a teensy bit of easy tinkering.

A handy new Android memory superpower

Boost your brain with this brilliant new tool for retracing virtual steps and finding anything again.

20 genuinely useful AI apps for Android

These top-notch apps rely on AI in some refreshingly thoughtful ways.

Bonus: The double-sided brilliance of Google’s new native Windows app

This surprise creation is well worth your while to notice — both for your own practical benefit and for appreciating the impossibly clever play behind it.

A very happy New Year to you. Here’s to many new geeky, Googley adventures ahead!

Give yourself the gift of endless Android Intelligence in 2026 with my free weekly newsletter — three new things to try in your inbox every Friday and six powerful new notification enhancements the second you sign up!

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak OPPO India has announced the launch of The Snap Circle, a pan-India initiative to empower young,…
The post OPPO India Introduces ‘The Snap Circle’ for Aspiring Young Photographers appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

Voice-to-text tools have been around for decades, yet there’s little sign that office workers are relying any less on their keyboards. There are various reasons for this: the accuracy of voice dictation compared to typing, for instance, as well as the awkwardness many feel when talking to an AI assistant in an office.

Wispr, a startup with $81 million in funding and a reported $700 million valuation, hopes to change that. Its Flow dictation tool turns speech into text across any desktop or mobile app — from Slack and Gmail to AI assistants such as ChatGPT.

Flow automatically edits the transcript of a user’s speech to remove filler words and typos. Wispr claims its outputs are more accurate than other dictation tools — including those built into AI assistants — thanks to Wispr’s “voice-first models.” These are trained on how people actually speak, according to Wispr, learning transcription, formatting, and intent together, “rather than bolting speech recognition onto a general-purpose language model.” For text editing, it uses the open-source Llama 3.1 model, combined with proprietary models from the likes of OpenAI. 

It’s also capable of tracking speech at low volumes, according to Wispr CEO Tanay Kothari, which could help alleviate discomfort when talking in an open-plan office.

Wispr CEO Tanay Kothari
Wispr

With around 125 new customers a week, Flow is gaining traction among businesses and being adopted across a range of professions, from legal teams to sales and engineering. Computerworld recently spoke with Kothari about how Flow affects productivity and why voice technology may finally be ready for mainstream use in the workplace.

The interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

What challenges does Wispr Flow address around the use of voice technology in the workplace? “Typing is a big part of everyone’s life: most communication is asynchronous, with lots of documents, and everything we’re doing with AI is also very prompt focused— if you can give AI systems more context, they just perform better. And typing on phones sucks even more than typing on desktops: many people don’t send emails or long messages on their phone.

“People report that their lives look different after using Wispr Flow. On average, they reduce their daily typing time from five hours to three. After about five months, 72% of users’ computer activity happens with Flow, compared to less than a quarter with the keyboard.

“AI tools are the gateway drug for people to start using Flow. They download it, use it with ChatGPT or Cursor, and by week two or three they realize, ‘Why don’t I use this everywhere?’ Then they start using it for all their Slack messages and emails.”

What are some typical use cases? What industries and roles do you see uptake in? “At Yahoo, the chief legal officer used it to draft legal paperwork and commenting on Google Docs and Word. At Ramp, the analytics team use it for all of their engineering workflows and also writing documentation.

“At Upwind, a cybersecurity company, it’s the field sales team. When they go from one meeting to the next, they would have just typed a sentence into the CRM notes: “Good chat with Bob, he wants to buy.” That’s it. Now, they write much more detailed responses to their CRM instead, so their VP of sales started using it and deployed it across the entire sales org.

“This year, Wispr has been growing at about 50% month over month, both in revenue and user base. Primarily it’s driven by word of mouth.”

One of my initial hesitations about using a voice dictation tool is talking aloud in an office environment. Has this discomfort inhibited the adoption of voice tools in the workplace in the past? “It definitely has. I think of it in terms of ROI — how much value does this add for you, versus what is the cost? In this case, the cost is to change your behavior and do something different from everyone else around you. But if what you’re doing adds enough value, then it’s worth it.

“These kinds of changes happen every 10 years or so. The first time phones came around, talking to a metal brick was pretty weird. Wearing AirPods and walking around, talking to nobody in the air, was really weird. But these things just worked, and if something solves a big problem, you’re willing to make the investment.

“I do hear a lot of people say, ‘I don’t know if I want to use this in my office.’ What I often tell them is, ‘Just try it once.’ They usually have an ‘aha’ moment and realize, ‘Okay, this is a big unlock.’ In fact, among all the companies we work with, the majority are in-person, open-office workplaces, with people using voice tools around each other.

“So yes, it’s going to be an uphill battle for us, like it is for any tool that requires behavior change, but it’s one I’m very happy to take on.”

How does Wispr Flow compare to other voice tools in terms of accuracy? “Look at [competitors’] claims: they boast 95% word accuracy, which sounds impressive, but it actually means there’s likely to be a mistake in every sentence. We decided that getting everything perfect is what’s really important.

“We measure Flow’s performance by the percentage of messages users send without making any changes to the output. That tells a very different story when you start comparing models. There are a few reasons for this. First, other models transcribe everything you say word-for-word, but that’s not what people want — you speak very differently to how you write, so the output should reflect how you would actually write.

“The second thing is that context matters a lot. For example, ‘Brian’ can be spelled in five different ways; Flow uses context to figure out which you prefer. Flow also looks at your previous threads: were you formal or super casual? Should it start your message with a lowercase? And it does all of that on your behalf, in the background.”

Wispr claims its speech recognition and editing models result in significantly fewer edits for users, compared with other speech-to-text models.
Wispr

How do you balance user data privacy concerns with some of the more advanced functionality? “Wispr is a tool that people use for many of their private, personal and professional conversations, myself included. We wanted to build it on a foundation of privacy, so we offer every person the ability to turn on privacy mode, which means zero data retention, regardless of whether they are on the free or paid tier. Nothing you say with Wispr is saved on servers or used for training our models.

“About 25% to 30% of our user base opts in to help train our models, and we work with that data. For everyone else, we are very transparent — this is one of the first things you see when signing up for the product.

“For enterprises, we allow them to enable and enforce privacy mode across their entire organization. This has helped us secure some of the largest and most strict financial institutions places where, for example, Otter and several other tools are blocked. We are about to deploy across one of Europe’s largest banks, which is very exciting. Being in Europe and being a bank — I haven’t encountered anywhere with higher requirements.”

Are there any other developments on the roadmap, and could you share your broader perspective on the potential impact that voice technology and Flow might have on the way people work in the coming years? “The main reason I started this company was because I wanted to build J.A.R.V.I.S. [a highly advanced AI assistant in Marvel comics and films]. I want interacting with technology to feel just like talking to a friend. Right now, it feels too mechanical and effortful whenever I see people using their phones or computers.

“The future shouldn’t be one where my kids grow up staring down at their phones all day. That, to me, is just… depressing. I want them to walk with their heads up, not bogged down by screens. The only way to make that happen is to develop a voice interface that people genuinely trust.

“Right now, we’re meeting people where they already are — on their phones and computers. But that’s going to change over the next five to ten years, and we’re building the foundation for that. In the future, it won’t just be that you speak and Flow writes your words, it will also do things for you. Internally, we call this project ‘Wispr Actions,’ which will be a major focus for next year.”

Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc 2025 was the year technology stopped being tomorrow’s promise and became today’s anchor. What began as a surge in generative AI and platform innovation two years prior crystallized this year into concrete shifts in how people work, governing bodies legislate, and markets invest. Across continents and industries, the arc of technology bent toward practical impact, regulatory reality, and economic weight. At the heart of the year’s story was artificial intelligence’s jump from novelty to infrastructure. LLMs and multimodal models moved beyond demos into everyday workflows, influencing how documents are written, campaigns are conceived, products designed, and code generated. Enterprises that…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Microsoft Defender is the built-in anti-malware package that’s included with modern Windows operating systems. It’s alternatively known as Windows Security (it shows up under Settings > Privacy & security as Windows Security), Windows Defender, or Microsoft Defender Antivirus, as on this Microsoft Learn page. But whatever you want to call it, for many Windows users, this tool is the go-to default for handling security on their PCs.

As with Windows Update in general, sometimes Microsoft Defender updates may not work. Normally, Defender updates are handled as part of routine Windows update behavior, run on a daily basis as a scheduled task. But sometimes, Windows Update itself runs into problems and doesn’t do much (or anything).

Should this happen, there are numerous other ways to keep Defender updated, sidestepping any issues strictly related to Windows Update itself. (See the note at end of story for more advice on this topic.)

1. Use Microsoft Defender’s update facility via Windows Security

You can access Windows Security within Settings by typing windows security into the Start menu search box in either Windows 10 or 11. Doing so produces a direct link to that app, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Windows Security app comes right up when you call it by name from Start.
Ed Tittel / Foundry

Once you open Windows Security, you’re presented with an array of choices to dig deeper. Click the item that reads Virus & threat protection. From the top, the third heading down in that window reads “Virus & threat protection updates,” as shown in Figure 2.

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?quality=50&strip=all 588w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=230%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 230w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=534%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 534w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=129%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 129w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=64%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 64w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=368%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 368w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=276%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 276w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-02-virus-threat-protection.png?resize=191%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 191w” width=”588″ height=”768″ sizes=”auto, (max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px”>Figure 2: Click Protection updates (blue link at bottom) to update Windows Defender in Windows 11.
Ed Tittel / Foundry

Click the Protection updates link at the bottom of that section (it reads Check for updates in Windows 10). This forces a manual update of Defender’s security definitions (also known as signatures) and software, when available. Easy-peasy.

2. Update Defender signatures in PowerShell

There’s a special PowerShell command for updating Defender signatures. The simple, basic syntax for this command is to type the command name — Update-MpSignature — in PowerShell. This command works on Windows 10 and 11 versions alike.

Although it doesn’t appear to do much inside PowerShell, the command does indeed update the Defender signatures. If you watch while it runs, it takes a while to complete, and it does report progress.

Figure 3 shows what things look like upon completion; the white diamond in the green glyph at the end of the command prompt indicates that the command complete successfully. I also ran the helpful Get-MPComputerStatus command to display the current Defender version and status, also shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: A single PowerShell cmdlet, Update-MpSignature, does the necessary here.
Ed Tittel / Foundry

Once you’ve updated Defender’s signatures, you can easily check status by returning to the Protection updates item shown earlier in Figure 2. It provides information about last update, creation date and security intelligence version in effect. Figure 4 shows those details. (Indeed, it’s a little easier to read than the preceding Get-MPComputerStatus info shown above in Figure 3.)

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?quality=50&strip=all 547w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?resize=300%2C225&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?resize=224%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 224w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?resize=112%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 112w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?resize=480%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 480w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/update-ms-defender-04-protection-updates-screen.png?resize=334%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 334w” width=”547″ height=”410″ sizes=”auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px”>Figure 4: The “Security intelligence” item shows the version number, creation date, and update time for current signatures.
Ed Tittel / Foundry

3. Update all Defender components using DISM

Microsoft maintains a web page specifically for Defender updates entitled “Microsoft Defender update for Windows operating system installation images.” It identifies three components that make up the Defender environment, all of which are subject to periodic updates:

Platform version: signatures for a specific edition of Windows 10 or 11 (Home, Pro, Education, etc.)

Engine version: specific anti-malware engine version for Windows 10 or 11

Security intelligence version: current security intelligence updates for Defender

Because they change daily (or more often), signatures get updated all the time. But the anti-malware client (the part of Defender that coordinates checks on individual PCs) and the anti-malware engine (the part of Defender that handles defensive maneuvers and cleanups on individual PCs when malware is detected) are also subject to periodic updates. These typically happen anywhere from one to four times a month, depending on malware activity and severity.

Security intelligence updates (labeled as “Windows Intelligence Update” under the “Other Updates” heading in Windows 11 Update History listings) also occur at irregular intervals. (As I write this, the most recent one I can find is dated July 21, 2025: YMMV.)

Installing the update requires picking the appropriate platform version for your target PC(s) — namely, 32-bit, 64-bit, or ARM64. This downloads a ZIP file that includes relevant cabinet files (.cab or .msu), patching files, and a PowerShell script named DefenderUpdateWinImage.ps1.

After unpacking, the script must be applied to an offline Windows image inside an administrative Windows Terminal/PowerShell session using the following syntax:

DefenderUpdateWinImage.ps1 -WorkingDirectory [path] -Action AddUpdate -ImagePath [path_to_OS_image] -Package

Replace [path] with the actual path to the offline image to be updated, and [path_to_OS_image] with the path to the working directory for results.

4. Give Microsoft PC Manager a try

Microsoft has a new OS management tool called Microsoft PC Manager that’s available in beta test form. You can download it from the application home page or the Microsoft Store. Once you’ve installed MSPCManager.exe, you can run the application from the Start menu — typing pc man will usually bring up the app name to click on.

If you click the Protection button (upper left) and then Windows Update, it will offer Defender updates if any are available, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: If PC Manager finds any Defender updates pending (shown as “Virus definitions” and “Security Intelligence…” here), click Update to apply them.
Ed Tittel / Foundry

Essentially, this provides another path to the same functionality described for Windows Security in section 1 earlier. But PC Manager does all kinds of other interesting stuff, too, including offering a wicked good Deep Cleanup tool.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Given the various methods to download Microsoft Defender signatures and executables, there’s always a method to bring things up to date. My advice is to let Windows Update do things automatically whenever it can. If that doesn’t work, try the Protection updates (Windows 11) or Check for updates (Windows 10) links in the Windows Security app.

And if that fails, you can turn to PowerShell to update signatures or to the Defender installation images support page. What the heck: you can give Microsoft PC Manager a go, if you’re of a mind to try it out.

Hopefully you won’t have to go that far at all, or not very often. But it’s nice to know there’s another way to update Windows Defender when one is needed.

This article was originally published in January 2022 and most recently updated in December 2025.

Source:: Computer World

By Varun Mirchandani Apple’s latest Apple Watch campaign highlights fitness features designed to keep users motivated and moving.
The post Apple’s Latest Watch Ads Feel Like Your Personal Trainer appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Shikhar Mehrotra Samsung’s latest Galaxy Watch 4 update promised new features, but early adopters instead ran into battery issues and malfunctioning sensors.
The post Samsung halts Galaxy Watch 4 update after users report battery drain and broken sensors appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Manisha Priyadarshini A new Apple Watch concept reimagines Apple’s iconic iMac G3 with a translucent, candy-colored design, showing how bold retro aesthetics are still a big hit.
The post What if the Apple Watch looked like an iMac G3? This concept nails it appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Adarsh Verma In today’s competitive landscape, simply using off-the-shelf software is often not enough. Your company has unique…
The post Custom Software Development Solutions That Drive Business Growth appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

Nvidia has licensed intellectual property from inferencing chip designer Groq, and hired away some of its senior executives, but stopped short of an outright acquisition.

“We’ve taken a non-exclusive license to Groq’s IP and have hired engineering talent from Groq’s team to join us in our mission to provide world-leading accelerated computing technology,” an Nvidia spokesman said Tuesday, via email. But, he said, “We haven’t acquired Groq.”

Groq designs and sells chips optimized for AI inferencing. These chips, which Groq calls language processing units (LPUs), are lower-powered, lower-priced devices than the GPUs Nvidia designs and sells, which these days are primarily used for training AI models. As the AI market matures, and usage shifts from the creation of AI tools to their use, demand for devices optimized for inferencing is likely to grow.

The company also rents out its chips, operating an inferencing-as-a-service business called GroqCloud.

Groq itself announced the deal and the executive moves on Dec. 24, saying “it has entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Nvidia for Groq’s inference technology” and that, as part fo the agreement, “Jonathan Ross, Groq’s Founder, Sunny Madra, Groq’s President, and other members of the Groq team will join Nvidia to help advance and scale the licensed technology.”

The deal could be worth as much as $20 billion, TechCrunch reported.

A way out of the memory squeeze?

There’s tension throughout the supply chain for chips used for AI applications, leading to Nvidia’s CFO reporting in its last earnings call that some of its chips are “sold out” or “fully utilized.” One of the factors contributing to this identified by analysts is a shortage of high-bandwidth memory. Finding ways to make their AI operations less dependent on scarce memory chips is becoming a key objective for AI vendors and enterprise buyers alike.

A significant difference between Groq’s chip designs and Nvidia’s is the type of memory each uses. Nvidia’s fastest chips are designed to work with high-bandwidth memory, the price of which – like that of other fast memory technologies — is soaring due to limited production capacity and rising demand in AI-related applications. Groq, meanwhile, integrates static RAM into its chip designs. It says SRAM is faster and less power-hungry than the dynamic RAM used by competing chip technologies — and another advantage is that it’s not (yet) as scarce as the high-bandwidth memory or DDR5 DRAM used elsewhere. Licensing Groq’s technology opens the way for Nvidia to diversify its memory sourcing.

Not an acquisition

By structuring its relationship with Groq as an IP licensing deal, and hiring the engineers it is most interested in rather than buying their employer, Nvidia avoids taking on the GroqCloud service business just as it is reportedly stepping back from its own service business, DGX cloud, and restructuring it as an internal engineering service. It could also escape much of the antitrust scrutiny that would have accompanied a full-on acquisition.

Nvidia did not respond to questions about the names and roles of the former Groq executives it has hired.

However, Groq’s founder, Jonathan Ross, reports on his LinkedIn profile that he is now chief software architect at Nvidia, while that of Groq’s former president, Sunny Madra, says he is now Nvidia’s VP of hardware.

What’s left of Groq will be run by Simon Edwards, formerly CFO at sales automation software vendor Conga. He joined Groq as CFO just three months ago.

This article first appeared on Network World.

Source:: Computer World

By Pranob Mehrotra Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new type of lens that can keep all parts of a scene in focus.
The post This camera breakthrough could soon help you take photos where everything is in focus appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Google may be about to let users change their Gmail address. According to Telegram group Google Pixel Hub, via 9to5Google, a Hindi version of Gmail’s support page states that the feature is “being rolled out gradually to all users”.

The feature should make it possible to change one’s current Gmail address to a new address that also ends in @gmail.com, without losing access to previous emails or files.

The old address will continue to function as an alias, and the user should be able to log in with both addresses. However, it will not be possible to create additional new Gmail addresses linked to the same account for the following 12 months.

It is unclear at this stage when this feature will become generally available.

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak Funky Friday is one of the most beloved rhythm games, where players compete against each other…
The post Roblox Funky Friday Codes (December 2025) appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Manisha Priyadarshini A new AI technique promises to generate videos in just seconds, dramatically speeding up a process that has traditionally taken minutes or even hours with existing video generation models.
The post This new technique can generate AI videos in just a few seconds appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

SoftBank Group has announced plans to acquire DigitalBridge Group, an asset manager specializing in digital infrastructure investments such as data centers, cell towers, and fiber networks, in a deal valued at $4 billion. The acquisition underscores SoftBank’s aggressive strategy to dominate the next wave of AI infrastructure globally.

SoftBank said the acquisition is part of its mission to realize Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), a vision that goes beyond current AI capabilities.

“Achieving that vision requires breakthroughs not only in AI models, but also in the platform infrastructure needed to train, deploy, and serve them at a global scale. The planned acquisition of DigitalBridge will strengthen SoftBank Group’s ability to build, scale, and finance the foundational infrastructure needed for next-generation AI services and applications,” SoftBank said in a statement.

SoftBank’s endless appetite for AI

The deal adds another piece to SoftBank’s growing AI puzzle. The Japanese conglomerate has been pouring billions into AI-related ventures, betting that the future of computing will be defined by massive data processing and connectivity.

Its most ambitious initiative so far is Project Stargate, a $500-billion AI infrastructure project aimed at creating hyperscale data centers and advanced compute platforms. SoftBank has already committed $342 billion to the project over the next four years, despite facing delays in execution.

Earlier this year, SoftBank acquired Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, strengthening its position in the Arm-based server processor market — a critical component for AI workloads. SoftBank already holds a significant stake in Arm Holdings, the chip designer powering much of today’s mobile and AI computing.

In 2024, SoftBank added Graphcore, an AI chip designer, to its portfolio and continues to invest in leading AI players such as OpenAI and Nvidia.

AI-driven growth in data centers

The surge in AI and machine learning workloads has triggered an unprecedented boom in global data center investments. Hyperscalers like AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle are committing hundreds of billions to expand their infrastructure to meet soaring compute demands.

In a landmark deal, Oracle signed a $300-billion contract in September to support OpenAI’s cloud computing requirements, marking the largest-ever cloud agreement.

According to UBS, global AI spending is projected to reach $375 billion in 2025, grow to $500 billion in 2026, and exceed $3 trillion by 2030. This spending encompasses AI data centers, power generation, and resource allocation — areas where SoftBank aims to capture significant market share.

For SoftBank, DigitalBridge brings expertise in managing and scaling digital infrastructure assets, including data centers and fiber networks — critical components for AI-driven computing. By integrating DigitalBridge’s capabilities, SoftBank says it can accelerate its infrastructure build-out, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the AI revolution.

The article first appeared on NetworkWorld.

Source:: Computer World

By Omair Khaliq Sultan If you’ve been waiting for a real discount on a dependable pair of noise-canceling headphones, this one is worth a look. The Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones are $199.00 (was $359), saving you $160. That’s the kind of price cut that moves these from “nice someday upgrade” into “buy now if you commute, […] The post Bose QuietComfort headphones drop to $199, saving you $160 on everyday noise cancelling appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

As modern technologies such as artificial intelligence grab today’s headlines, it’s worth remembering that their foundations were being laid more than half a century ago by computer scientists, philosophers, psychologists, developers, entrepreneurs, and more. These pioneers and those who followed tackled issues and solved problems that future generations may never know existed — but without their seminal work, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

As we look back on 2025, Computerworld honors the lives of those we lost, including our own beloved colleague Lucas Mearian. Here are 22 tech trailblazers whose accomplishments helped shape our world.

Steve Langasek: Debian devotee

April 27, 1979 – January 1, 2025

Steve Langasek discusses the Ubuntu release process and what it takes to manage it. Credit: Ubuntu

After experimenting with Slackware and Red Hat as a teenager, Steve Langasek began contributing to Debian Linux at 21 — then dedicated the rest of his life to open-source software. He eventually rose to principal engineer, volunteer release manager for Debian, Ubuntu release manager for Canonical, and maintainer or co-maintainer of packages such as samba, pam, and openldap2.3 — all while serving as a respected Linux leader, organizer, and mentor.

“Steve shone with a clarity of purpose that motivated many others to build the very best open source platforms they could dream about,” wrote Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. “He touched thousands of people’s lives directly, and his work improves the lives of millions.”

Langasek was 45 when he passed.

Mike Maples Sr.: The adult in the room

August 25, 1942 – January 9, 2025

Mike Maples, Sr. discusses the early days of Microsoft on the Legends & Losers Podcast. Credit: Legends & Losers Podcast

In 1988, Microsoft hired Mike Maples Sr., a decades-long veteran of IBM, to serve as the executive vice president of the Worldwide Products Group. Microsoft “was just a bunch of kids struggling to figure out how to do things,” said Maples, who, at 46, was more than a decade older than co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Maples restructured Microsoft so it could evolve from startup to enterprise, and he raised the bar for quality assurance and customer commitments, reducing defects and release delays for products as vital as Windows and Microsoft Office.

Maples headed the products group at Microsoft until his retirement in 1995. He was 82 when he died.

Cordell Green: Theoretical logician

December 26, 1941 – February 12, 2025

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Kestrel Institute

Logic programming dates to the 1970s with Prolog and Datalog, languages that presented radically different approaches to programming. Still used today in applications such as big data processing, these languages, as well as modern, inference-based AI systems, were made possible by Dr. Cordell Green, who established the theoretical basis for the field of logic programming. His work earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1985.

Green also worked at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where he assisted those who were creating ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. And in 1981, Green founded the Kestrel Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to software program synthesis, refinement, analysis, and verification. He died at 83.

Rod Burstall: AI educator

November 11, 1934 – February 13, 2025

Rod Burstall’s career at the University of Edinburgh spanned from 1964 to his retirement in 2000. In the late 1960s, he contributed to the creation of programming languages COWSEL and POP-2, which persisted for decades and were used to teach early AI programming to college students in the 1980s. And in 1987, Burstall and three colleagues founded the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), a collaborative community of scientists exploring the analysis and design of computing systems. The lab exists to this day, having researched such fields as blockchain technology, quantum computing, and secure voting models. Burstall was 90 when he passed.

Ronald A. Katz: Inventing connections

March 10, 1936 – March 28, 2025

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 720w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=200%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 200w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 683w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=465%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 465w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=112%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 112w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=56%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 56w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=320%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 320w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=240%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 240w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-ronald-katz.jpg?resize=167%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 167w” width=”683″ height=”1025″ sizes=”auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px”>Ronald Katz
UCLA

Ronald Katz began innovating in the phone industry at the age of 25, when he co-founded Telecredit, a company that provided vendors with automated phone verification of personal checks. A prolific inventor, Katz held more than 50 US patents involving phone-routing systems, speech recognition, video monitoring, and more. Call centers that relied on his inventions included those of IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, HP, and Citibank.

Katz used his fortune to fund the establishment of the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health Operation Mend, supporting the physical and mental health needs of veterans; and UCLA’s 3 Wishes Project, helping end-of-life patients achieve their final wishes. He died at 89.

David Täht: Battling bufferbloat

August 11, 1965 – April 1, 2025

Dave Täht relates his conversation with Elon Musk about Starlink’s bufferbloat on TWiT.tv’s FLOSS Weekly show.Credit: TWiT Tech Podcast Network

If you’ve ever streamed a movie, hopped on a video call, or played an online game, you can thank Dave Täht — CEO of TekLibre and chief science officer at LibreQoS — for that seamless experience. Täht tackled the issue of network latency by zeroing in on “bufferbloat,” the tendency of internet routers to buffer too much data, resulting in lag. With Jim Gettys, he co-founded the Bufferbloat Project to address this flaw at the software level, leading to improvements across many Linux distributions powering today’s routers. The beneficiaries of his work range from consumers to corporations such as Netflix and Microsoft. Täht was 59 when he died.

Lee Yong-tae: Korea’s PC pioneer

August 18, 1932 – April 14, 2025

In the 1970s, while the United States was adopting computers that used the Roman alphabet, Lee Yong-tae was developing the first terminals to accept Hangul, the Korean alphabet. In 1980 he founded Sambo Computers, Korea’s first dedicated computer company, which released the first Korean-made PC in 1981; an Apple II clone in 1982; a PC-compatible in 1984; and, in 1989, a laptop that supported MS-DOS, Mac OS, and Unix. By 1990, Sambo also controlled 80% of the country’s printer market, and it proceeded to manufacture millions of laptops a year and to provide broadband internet access through its ISP, Dru-net.

After facing stiff competition in the 2000s, the company was broken up in 2010, with some assets now managed by Lee’s son. The founder died at 92.

David Cope: Music modeler

May 17, 1941 – May 4, 2025

Computer History Museum interview with David Cope. Credit: Computer History Museum

In 1981, UC Santa Cruz music professor David Cope found himself creatively blocked and unable to compose an opera he’d been commissioned to write. So he instead developed software  to write the music for him. The result was EMI, or Experiments in Musical Intelligence, a program that could ingest an artist’s work and then create a new score in the same style. Cope used EMI to create new works in the style of Mozart, Brahms, and other classical greats, with results so stylistically similar to those of the original artists that even trained listeners couldn’t tell the difference. AI-generated music is practically a parlor trick today, but 40 years ago, Cope’s work was an unprecedented crescendo. He was 83 when he passed.

Gail Wellington: Herding CATS 

January 14, 1940 – May 14, 2025

Gail Wellington recounts stories from her time at Commodore. Credit: Amiga Bill

The Commodore PET was one of three computers that launched the personal computing revolution in 1977. In 1981 Commodore hired Gail Wellington, who had a degree in tech writing, to produce user manuals for third-party software that ran on the PET. She rose through the company’s ranks to become head of software operations and later worldwide Amiga product manager. She oversaw the 1985 launch of the Amiga computer, the 1987 formation of the Commodore Applications and Technical Support (CATS) group, and the development of the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision (CDTV), a home entertainment and gaming console that was released in 1991 but was a commercial flop.

Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, but not before redefining the home computing landscape — and modern versions of its hardware are still available. Wellington was 85 when she died.

Peter Lax: Explosive equations

May 1, 1926 – May 16, 2025

Peter Lax in 1969
Konrad Jacobs

Hungarian mathematician Peter Lax was a child prodigy who, at the age of 19, worked on the Manhattan Project, calculating shockwaves from nuclear bombs. After the war, Lax earned his PhD and joined the faculty at NYU but continued to work for Los Alamos and the US Atomic Energy Commission.

While he was best known for his mathematical breakthroughs in the field of hyperbolic partial differential equations, for which he was awarded the prestigious Abel Prize in 2005, he had a profound impact on information technology through his early and ongoing application of supercomputers to a variety of mathematical problems. Throughout his career, Lax used computers to analyze complex data, effectively demonstrating the value of computers in science and engineering and laying the groundwork for their use across a wide variety of disciplines today. He was 99 when he passed.

Jean-Raymond Abrial: A model scientist

November 6, 1938 – May 26, 2025

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Dinesbjorner

Computer scientist Jean-Raymond Abrial developed Z notation — not a programming language, but a series of mathematical rules and specifications for how a computing system should operate. He later created B method — a way to define and refine mathematical models that ultimately results in software development. These approaches to software engineering are still in use today, having been used to develop the code for the Paris Métro Line 14 train, which runs through the center of Paris. The B-Book, which details his method, is still in print. Abrial died at 86.

George E. Smith: Picture perfect

May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025

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Prolineserver

In 1969, George E. Smith and his Bell Laboratories colleague Willard S. Boyle developed the charge-coupled device (CCD), an integrated circuit the size of a dime that converts photons to electrons. Bell used the CCD to showcase a video telephone at the 1964 World’s Fair — decades before Zoom or FaceTime.

But the CCD was no mere novelty: it became the basis for digital photography and is used in millions of modern devices, from smartphones to x-rays to the Hubble Space Telescope. The global impact of this small invention earned Smith and Boyle the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Smith was 95.

Bill Atkinson: Graphical visionary

March 17, 1951 – June 5, 2025

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Jay Cross

Bill Atkinson joined Apple Computer as employee #51 at the age of 27. He designed and developed both a graphical user interface (GUI) and its underlying technology, LisaGraf (later QuickDraw), for the Apple Lisa — a commercial flop, but also a proving ground for nascent technologies for Apple’s next product. Atkinson then became one of the founding members of the team developing the Macintosh, the success of which was in large part owed to its intuitive GUI.

Atkinson also developed MacPaint, which shipped with the Mac, and HyperCard, a hypermedia database program, which Sir Tim Berners-Lee cited as an inspiration in his original proposal for what became the World Wide Web. Without Atkinson, neither Apple nor the Web would be what they are today. He was 74 when he passed.

Barry Vercoe: Audio engineer

July 24, 1937 – June 15, 2025

Barry Vercoe’s TEDx Talk about lessons learned from founding the MIT Media Lab. Credit: TEDx Talks

New Zealand-born Barry Vercoe joined MIT in 1971, where he spent the next five decades researching, developing, and teaching digital audio analysis and processing. In 1984, he became a founding member of the MIT Media Lab, where he developed Csound, an open-source programming language for audio programming. Csound is still used by computer music composers today, and it powers the audio aspects of the One Laptop Per Child project. Structured Audio Orchestra Language (SAOL), derived from Csound, is a key component of the MPEG-4 compression codec used in almost all modern audio and video formats. Vercoe passed at age 87.

Mike Woodger: ACE pilot

March 28, 1923 – July 14, 2025

A history of the Pilot ACE, narrated by Mike Woodger and James Wilkinson. Credit: National Physics Laboratory

While at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory in the 1940s, Alan Turning designed the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) computer. When he left in 1947, it fell to Mike Woodger and his team to complete the project, which culminated in a scaled-down prototype in 1950. The Pilot ACE, one of the UK’s first computers, was so practical that a full-fledged ACE was never built; instead, the Pilot ACE was adapted for commercial use under the name DEUCE.

Woodger later contributed to the development of the programming languages ALGOL 60 and Ada. The latter was commissioned by the US Department of Defense to replace over four hundred different programming languages then in use across the DoD; the department still uses Ada today. Woodger was 102.

Margaret Boden: AI philosopher

November 26, 1936 – July 18, 2025

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Bengt Oberger

As a philosopher and cognitive scientist, Margaret Boden dedicated her life to studying artificial intelligence. She theorized not only what AI could and could not be capable of (such as various kinds of creativity), but also how it could serve as a model for the human condition and thought processes.

In 2010, Boden contributed to “Principles of Robotics,” an influential paper proposing five rules for responsible robotics development, such as “the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users” and “robots should be designed and operated to comply with existing law, including privacy.” These standards became the basis for UNESCO’s official recommendations for laws to govern our growing use of AI tools such as large language models — tools that Boden herself predicted but never experienced firsthand, as she was already in a care home by the time LLMs emerged. Boden was 88 when she passed.

Gilles Dowek: Formal unifier

December 20, 1966 – July 21, 2025

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Sébastien Dolidon

Gilles Dowek was a researcher at the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria), a French computer science and applied mathematics research institute. There, he observed that Inria’s different teams were siloed, using different organizational methods and proof systems to conduct their research. Dowek set out to unify these formal logic systems to improve communication and discoverability between teams. His later work focused on programming languages for quantum computers and logic as a field of thought.

Dowek was also a tireless human rights advocate who chaired the Association for the Recognition of the Rights of Homosexual and Trans People to Immigration and Residence (Ardhis), ensuring that French citizens and nationals, at home or abroad, have the right to residence and asylum. He was 58 when he died.

Morton Meyerson: The outsourcer

June 3, 1938 – August 5, 2025

Morton Meyerson discusses his biggest mistakes and lessons learned as part of Next Jump’s CEOTalks series. Credit: Next Jump

H. Ross Perot may have revolutionized IT outsourcing when he founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS), but Morton Meyerson was the brains of the operation. Hired in 1966 as EDS’s 54th employee, Meyerson swiftly secured the company a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Meyerson used this opportunity to implement a business model that became known as IT outsourcing, leading EDS’s profit to increase a hundredfold in just two years. Meyerson eventually became the president of EDS, remaining in the role even after General Motors bought EDS for $2.5 billion in 1984.

He later founded a family investment firm, 2M Companies, and a philanthropic nonprofit, Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation. He was inducted into the Outsourcing Hall of Fame in 2013. Meyerson died at age 87.

Stephanie Shirley: Call me Steve

September 16, 1933 – August 9, 2025

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Lynn Hart

Born in Germany to a Jewish family in 1933, Stephanie Shirley escaped to the United Kingdom, where she became a gifted and determined mathematician and computer scientist. After being subjected to the sexism that was rampant in a male-dominated industry, Shirley set out to ensure a different experience for those who followed. She founded Freelance Programmers, an outsourcing company that hired women, especially mothers, almost exclusively. Contracts came more easily when she signed her name “Steve,” and Freelance Programmers eventually grew into Xansa, a multi-billion-dollar company whose projects included the Concorde airplane’s “black box” flight recorder.

Shirley gave away most of her fortune to charities and even to her own employees, making millionaires of countless other women. Shirley was 91.

Warren Brodey: Enhancing AI

January 25, 1924 – August 10, 2025

Warren Brody reflects on his long and unusual life on his 100th birthday. Credit: Post-Utopia

Trained as a psychiatrist, Warren Brodey nonetheless focused on cybernetics and artificial intelligence throughout his life. Starting in 1965, he spent most of his career at MIT, where he worked alongside famed AI researcher Marvin Minsky. Whereas Minsky advocated for AI based on large quantities of existing data, thus reinforcing existing norms, Brodey campaigned for AI that, by being creative and revolutionary, would rethink and enhance humanity.

Brodey co-founded two labs, the Environmental Ecology Lab and later Ecology Tool and Toy, where he further explored materials and environments that responded to and improved human behavior — concepts he still believed possible, even with the rise of modern AI that followed Minsky’s model. He died at 101.

Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman: India’s grandfather of IT education

September 8, 1933 – November 8, 2025

Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman reminisces about establishing India’s first computer science education program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Credit: DoRA IITK

As a student at the Indian Institute of Science (IIsc) in 1956, Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman was instrumental in designing the Philbrick Rideout Electronic Differential Analyzer (PREDA), India’s first analog computer. He went on to establish the country’s first formal computer science program of study at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in 1965. In 1987, he helped the government found the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, bringing supercomputer development to India.

Over the course of his long career in academia, Rajaraman wrote 23 computer science textbooks on topics ranging from Fortran to ecommerce, informing and influencing generations of computer scientists worldwide. Some of his own students went on to lead Indian IT giants Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys. He was 92 when he passed.

Rebecca Heineman: Burger Becky

October 30, 1963 – November 17, 2025

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2442w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=292%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 292w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=768%2C790&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=995%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 995w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1493%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1493w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1990%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1990w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=677%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 677w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=163%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 163w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=82%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 82w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=466%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 466w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=350%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 350w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=243%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 243w” width=”995″ height=”1024″ sizes=”auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px”>Rebecca Heineman
Ken Gagne

In 1980, a teenage Rebecca Heineman was crowned Space Invaders champion in the first-ever national video game tournament. Her star continued to rise from there: in 1983, Heineman was one of four co-founders of Interplay Entertainment, where she developed such games as The Bard’s Tale and Battle Chess. Later games from Interplay included Wasteland, Fallout, and Baldur’s Gate. Many of these franchises exist to this today, having inspired countless sequels, copycats, and television adaptations.

Heineman later founded Contraband Entertainment, MacPlay, Logicware, and Olde Sküül, and she was a trans advocate on Amazon’s LGBTQ+ group and with organizations such as GLAAD and Press XY. Through her memorable games, public advocacy, and “Burgertime” YouTube series, “Burger Becky” inspired countless developers, gamers, and members of the queer community. She was 62 when she died.

Source:: Computer World