Posts Tagged: bought
Elon Musk reportedly bought thousands of GPUs for a Twitter AI project
More than a month after hiring a couple of former DeepMind researchers, Twitter is reportedly moving forward with an in-house artificial intelligence project. According to Business Insider, Elon Musk recently bought 100,000 GPUs for use at one of the company’s two remaining data centers. A source told the outlet the purchase shows Musk is “committed” to the effort, particularly given the fact there would be little reason for Twitter to spend so much money on datacenter-grade GPUs if it didn’t plan to use them for AI work.
The project reportedly involves the creation of a generative AI that the company would train on its own massive trove of data. It’s unclear how Twitter would utilize the technology. Insider suggests a generative AI could augment the platform’s search functionality or assist the company in rebuilding its advertising business. In any case, the report colors Musk’s recent decision to sign an open letter calling for a six-month pause on AI development.
Musk has been a vocal critic of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization he co-founded in 2015. “I’m still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated ~$ 100M somehow became a $ 30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Musk said in one of his recent Twitter missives against the lab’s for-profit subsidiary, OpenAI Limited Partnership.
However, a recent report from Semafor suggests his feud with OpenAI is more personal. In 2018, Musk reportedly told Sam Altman, one his fellow co-founders at OpenAI, the lab was falling too far behind Google. Musk then suggested that he should be the one to run the firm, a proposal Altman and OpenAI’s other founders rejected.
The power struggle led to Musk’s departure from OpenAI, though publicly both parties maintain Musk left due to a conflict of interest involving Tesla. At the time, OpenAI said the billionaire would continue to fund its research. However, according to Semafor, Musk’s payments stopped after his departure – despite a promise to provide the firm with roughly $ 1 billion. The sudden shortfall left OpenAI scrambling to raise cash. In 2019, the organization announced it was creating a for-profit subsidiary to secure the capital it needed to fund its work. That same year, the firm announced a $ 1 billion investment from Microsoft. When OpenAI opened ChatGPT to the public in November and the chatbot began to dominate headlines, Musk was reportedly “furious.” One month later, he cut OpenAI’s access to Twitter’s “firehose” of data. And now it would appear he wants to compete against his old organization head-on.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-reportedly-bought-thousands-of-gpus-for-a-twitter-ai-project-214535382.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
What we bought: The standing desk I chose after researching the hell out of the competition
When I started working from home five years ago, my chair was the floor and my desk was a stool. I was allowed to type with two hands when the baby on the floor next to me was napping or otherwise occupied. So really, any desk would have been an upgrade, but once I knew working from home was going to be my reality long-term, I went all in and bought a motorized standing desk.
After some research and lots of YouTubing, I settled on an Uplift V2, opting for the curved bamboo desk top in the 42-by-30-inch size with the standard (non-commercial) C-frame. I sprung for the advanced keypad, as Uplift recommends, and picked the storage grommet inserts, thinking I might want to put pens or a drink in there (I don’t).
I considered a few other companies including Autonomous, Vari and Fully when I was deciding which desk to get. Back when I ordered, the offerings from Uplift felt the most comprehensive, with a slew of size, color and desktop material customization options, and they had the most accessories.
That’s something you’ll notice as you configure your desk: there are a huge number of add-ons available. Probably the most unexpected is the under-desk hammock, but that’s only available for desks 72 inches wide and larger, so I didn’t get one. Plus I own a couch. Mine came with two free accessories when I purchased it a couple years ago, but lucky buyers today get six freebies. I went for the free rocker board, which I don’t use, and now wish I’d grabbed the cushioned standing mat instead. I also picked the bamboo under-desk drawer, which I use daily, filled with a few of these metal storage bins.
If you browse through the image galleries on Uplift’s site you’ll notice idealized office setups, with a curious lack of cables on, under or snaking away from the desks, as if buying one will somehow make wireless energy transmission a reality. Turns out that’s not the case, but Uplift does offer a number of ways to route and hide those still-necessary cords. Every desk comes with a wire management tray that mounts at the rear underside of the desk, along with cable tie mounts to keep wires up and out of the way. I paid $ 35 extra for the magnetic cable channel which keeps the rather thick cable that powers the desk routed against the desk leg.
Once the desk arrived, it was fairly easy to assemble following the video instructions. What stood out to me most about my new office furniture was the weight. It’s heavy. Each leg contains three nesting sections of steel with a steel crossbar up top. I’m sure my bamboo desktop is among the lighter of Uplift’s options, but it’s still substantial. Considering how little anything wobbles as it raises and lowers, or when it’s 45 inches off the ground, I think the heft is a good thing.
After the desk was assembled, it took a little fussing to get the cables hidden in a way that somewhat resembled the minimalism you see in the Uplift gallery photos. It helps to lift the desk to its full height when you’re setting up so you can get under there to work with the plugs, power strips and cable ties – something I wish I’d realized before I spent an hour hunched under there while it was at normal-desk height.
Lifting and lowering the desk is a simple push-button operation. The standard (aka free) keypad only has up and down buttons, which you press and hold to adjust the desk’s height. Uplift “recommends” paying the extra $ 40 for an advanced keypad that lets you program four different height settings; I gave in to the upsell, but I’m glad I did. If you need to go from sitting to standing or the other way around, just push a numbered key and the desk adjusts all by itself. I only use two pre-programmed positions – a sit and a stand height – but it’s nice to have the option of more settings. For example, if I ever want to make use of that balance board, I might need a couple extra inches.
The operation is impressively smooth and almost silent. During working hours, my cat stations himself at the corner of my desk and doesn’t wake from a nap when I change heights. I adjust the desk four times a day, starting off standing, switching to sitting for lunch and staying seated for an hour or two after. When I start to feel that afternoon slump, I’ll raise the desk back up to standing, which (paired with a cup of tea) usually helps with focus. Then just before quitting time, I sit down for the last hour or so, pushing the standing button when I log off so it’s ready for tomorrow. I’ve been more or less following that pattern for two years and the motors are performing exactly as they did when I first got the desk. Aside from a little dulling in the desktop finish where I have my mouse, everything still feels and looks new.
You’ve probably heard it said that your healthiest working position is your next one, meaning you shouldn’t stay in any posture for long. Having an adjustable desk doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of bad ergonomics – standing still all day is nearly as bad as sitting – but I’ve found when I’m standing, I’m much more apt to step away and get in a stretch, or even pace a bit when I’m searching for my next word. The Uplift desk is worlds away from a stool on the floor, and I don’t think I could ever go back to just a regular desk again.
What we bought: This LED desk lamp gave me the best lighting for video calls
Over the past two years, my work-from-home situation morphed from temporary to permanent, and I’ve had to reconfigure my home office as a result. I purchased a standing desk, a monitor, and spent countless hours rearranging my furniture. One of my primary concerns is that I have a relatively small space, and therefore prefer things that can pull double duty. So when I decided to update my desk lamp, I knew I needed a multi-tasker that wouldn’t take up a lot of real estate. For me, the Edge Light from Lume Cube ended up being the perfect solution.
Prior to purchasing the Edge Light, I relied mostly on a lamp that I bought from CB2 nearly twenty years ago. It’s good looking but it has a large six-inch base that takes up quite a bit of space. It also doesn’t provide the right lighting environment for video calls. While it’s serviceable enough as a desk lamp, the light is just too warm and subdued for Zoom sessions. Plus, it’s not flexible enough for me to angle the light to illuminate my face properly. That’s a problem when, like most everyone else, I was suddenly having multiple video meetings a week. I really noticed it when I was a guest on a podcast; watching the video back made me realize how poor the lighting was.
That prompted me to purchase a cheap ring light from Amazon, but I soon realized that was a mistake. Suddenly I had not one but two lamps taking up residence on my small desk. I knew I needed to rethink my entire lighting situation.
That’s why I was glad when I saw that Lume Cube, which is known for its portable photo/video lighting rigs, had come out with the Edge Light late last year. It’s essentially an LED desk lamp that also doubles as a video conferencing light. On top of that, it’s a clamp-on model, which means it wouldn’t take up a lot of space. It is fairly pricey at $ 120, but since it appeared to solve so many of my pain points, I decided it would be worth it.
I’ve now had it for a few months, and I absolutely love it. It has freed up so much real estate on my desk. It’s tall enough to position behind my webcam when I need it for video calls, and thanks to its five pivot points, I can easily swing it around so that I can use it to illuminate my desk. The lighting is fantastic, too – I can adjust both the brightness and the warmth so that it’s bright but not too harsh. According to the company, it provides multi-level diffusion for soft light and has a color adjustability between 3200 and 5600K.
The controls are pretty intuitive – simply tap the circular button to switch between brightness and warmth, and then tap the plus and minus signs to adjust the levels to your liking. The buttons are all “soft touch,” meaning they don’t need any pressure. On top of that, the lamp actually comes with two charging ports – one USB-A and one USB-C – which I am always using to charge up all of my various devices and accessories.
Perhaps my one complaint is that the light does produce a tiny bit of glare on my glasses when it’s positioned directly in front of me. The company suggests getting two Edge Light lamps to reduce this effect, but that’s a little too rich for my blood. I’ve since managed to angle the light so that the glare isn’t as bad, which is good enough for me.
Ford bought a robotics company to boost its self-driving cars
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[Review] I bought a bunch of shoes and Sperry sent me a free Bluetooth speaker
During the week of the 4th of July, Sperry was running their semi-annual sale on shoes. I like Sperry shoes, and I needed some new shoes, so I bought a few pairs. But on the way to checking out, I noticed a promo where Sperry was gifting a free Bluetooth speaker when you spent more […]
Come comment on this article: [Review] I bought a bunch of shoes and Sperry sent me a free Bluetooth speaker
If you bought a Nexus 6P, you might now be eligible for up to $400 back
The Nexus 6P was a bit of a mixed bag. Not only was it among the last Nexus phones before Google shifted over to the Pixel line, it was really hit or miss on whether it worked well for users. It was a great phone, honestly, but was plagued with a ton of boot looping […]
Come comment on this article: If you bought a Nexus 6P, you might now be eligible for up to $ 400 back