In 2016, three New York commodities traders — Michael Intrator, Brian Venturo and Brannin McBee — fell in love with cryptocurrencies. They were using Bitcoin to bet on pool games and fantasy football and were captivated by its wild swings in price. They soon decided to create more digital currencies through a process called “mining,”…
Earlier this year, I was thumbing through Facebook Marketplace when I came across a “fire piano” for sale. I clicked the listing expecting that “fire” meant “cool,” but found something far more literal: a pyrotechnic piano, MacGyvered to spit flames from its top whenever a player tickled the keys. In the brief description that accompanied…
In 2009, when Nvidia held its first developer conference, the event was something of a science fair. Dozens of academics filled a San Jose, Calif., hotel decorated with white poster boards of computer research. Jensen Huang, the chipmaker’s chief executive, roamed the floor like a judge. This year, Nvidia’s developer conference is far different. More…
Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the government since Mr. Musk joined the Trump administration as an unpaid adviser. It was not immediately clear when the White House complex was fitted with Starlink…
Pavel Durov, the founder of the messaging app Telegram who was charged in France last year with a range of crimes related to illicit activity on the app, has been allowed to temporarily leave the country. Mr. Durov had been barred from leaving France, but the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday that the investigative…
Even chatbots get the blues. According to a new study, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT shows signs of anxiety when its users share “traumatic narratives” about crime, war or car accidents. And when chatbots get stressed out, they are less likely to be useful in therapeutic settings with people. The bot’s anxiety levels can be…
This is the most fundamental change to computing since the early days of the World Wide Web. Just as companies completely rebuilt their computer systems to accommodate the new commercial internet in the 1990s, they are now rebuilding from the bottom up — from tiny components to the way that computers are housed and powered…
After climbing into a Tesla Model S last week, President Trump pledged to buy one. The next day, the Fox News host Sean Hannity said he had bought a Model S Plaid to support the embattled company, saying a Tesla “has more American parts in it than any other car made in our country.” In…
Here are some things I believe about artificial intelligence: I believe that over the past several years, A.I. systems have started surpassing humans in a number of domains — math, coding and medical diagnosis, just to name a few — and that they’re getting better every day. I believe that very soon — probably in…
Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the latest version of its least expensive sedan would be available first as an all-electric car and then as a hybrid. And the company will no longer sell a gasoline-only version of the car. That’s a big break from how Mercedes and other established carmakers have typically operated. Until recently,…
