ArduinoMania

ChatGPT might be powered by homegrown chips in the future, if OpenAI does indeed decide to make its own. According to Reuters, the company is currently exploring the possibility of making its own artificial intelligence chips and has even evaluated a potential acquisition. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously blamed GPU shortages for users' concerns regarding the company API's speed and reliability, so he reportedly made acquiring more AI chips a priority. 

In addition to being able to address GPU shortages, OpenAI using its own chips could make costs associated with running its products more manageable. Based on an analysis by Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein Research, each ChatGPT query costs the company around 4 cents. The service reached 100 million monthly users in its first two months, which translates to millions of queries a day, though it did lose users for the first time in July. Rasgon said that if ChatGPT queries reach a tenth of what Google gets, then it would initially need $48.1 billion worth of GPUs and would spend $16 billion a year on chips going forward. 

At the moment, NVIDIA controls the market for chips meant for AI applications — the Microsoft supercomputer OpenAI used to develop its technology, for instance, uses 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs. That's why other companies — bigger players in the tech industry — have chosen to start developing their own. Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest backer, has been working on an AI chip of its own since 2019, according to The Information. The product is codenamed Athena, and OpenAI has reportedly been testing the technology. 

OpenAI has yet to decide whether to push through with its plans, Reuters says. And even if it does choose to move forward, it could take years before it can start using it own chips to power its products. 

A common hacker upgrade to an espresso machine is to improve stability and performance with a better temperature controller, but [Schematix]’s Smart Coffee project doesn’t stop there. It entirely replaces the machine’s controller and provides an optional array of improvements for a variety of single-boiler machines (which is most of them).

Smart Coffee isn’t free, it costs 16 NZD (about 10 USD) but there is a free demo version. There is no official support, but there are wiring guides and sources aplenty from which to purchase the various optional parts. It runs on an Arduino MEGA 2560 PRO (or similar microcontroller) and supports a wide array of additional hardware including pressure transducer, water level sensor, flow meter, OLED display, and more.

Modification of one’s espresso machine is a rewarding endeavor, but the Smart Coffee project provides a way for one to get straight to the hacking and function modifying, instead of figuring out the wiring hardware interfacing from scratch.

We’ve seen [Schematix]’s work before with a DIY induction heater which showed off thoughtful design, and it’s clear he takes his coffee at least as seriously. Check out the highly comprehensive overview and installation video for Smart Coffee, embedded just below the page break.

Thanks to [X-Cubed] for the tip!

Biotech company 23andMe, known for its DNA testing kits, confirmed to BleepingComputer that its user data is circulating on hacker forums. The company said the leak occurred through a credential-stuffing attack.

A credential-stuffing attack involves user information that has already been compromised (usernames and passwords, for example) from one organization, which a hacker obtains and attempts to reuse with a second organization — in this case, 23andMe. Because of the nature of credential-stuffing, it does not appear this was a breach of the company's internal systems. Rather, accounts were broken into piecemeal. The perpetrators of this attack appear to have obtained quite sensitive information from the compromised accounts (genetic testing results, photos, full names and geographical location, among other things).

The initial leak comprised “1 million lines of data for Ashkenazi people,” according to BleepingComputer. By October 4, data was being offered for sale in bulk, in increments of 100, 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 profiles. The scale of the attack is as yet unknown, but the scope of its impact has likely been exacerbated by 23andMe's 'DNA Relatives' feature. "Relatives are identified by comparing your DNA with the DNA of other 23andMe members who are participating in the DNA Relatives feature," the company states. After accessing an unknown number of profiles via credential-stuffing, the threat actor behind this breach apparently scraped the 'DNA Relatives' results for those profiles, netting much more sensitive data. According to the same FAQ page, "The number of relatives listed [..] grows over time as more people join 23andMe." For the fiscal year 2023, the company reported it “genotyped” around 14 million customers.

Ever since 23andMe went public in 2021, the company has faced extra scrutiny for its data protection practices — rightly so, since it deals with sensitive medical data derived from saliva sampling, including predispositions for diseases like Alzheimer's, Type 2 diabetes and even cancer. On its website the company claims it "exceeds" data protection standards for its industry.

NASA will give the public a look at the asteroid sample brought back to Earth by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft next week. A livestream of the reveal is set for 11 AM ET on Wednesday, October 11. The capsule containing rocks and dust taken from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid “Bennu” touched down at a Department of Defense training site in the Utah desert on September 24, and scientists have since been at work making their initial analyses.

OSIRIS-REx grabbed its sample from Bennu back in 2020 and spent the subsequent year-and-a-half observing the asteroid from above, before starting to make its way back toward Earth in May 2021. After its dropoff last month, the canister was brought to Houston, Texas to be opened at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. OSIRIS-REx, on the other hand, is still in space, now heading to an asteroid called Apophis under a new mission name, OSIRIS-APEX.

Asteroid Bennu is estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old, meaning its materials could hold clues into the formation of the solar system and how the building blocks of life made it to Earth. And, to scientists’ delight, the mission managed to capture more material than anyone expected. “The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” said Christopher Sneadr, NASA’s deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead. With the livestream coming up, we’ll soon know more about what they’ve found in that material so far.

Car dealers can give buyers an instant rebate for purchasing certain electric vehicles starting in January of 2024, according to new guidance released by the IRS. The memo says eligible vehicles may qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500. However, the credit amount will depend on whether an EV and its buyer meet certain requirements, and when a car is actually purchased. 

For an electric car to qualify, it needs to have a minimum battery capacity of seven kilowatt hours. Buyers can’t claim the credit if their adjusted gross income exceeds certain thresholds – $300,000 if married and filing jointly, and $150,000 for the majority of single taxpayers. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the EV also can not exceed specific price points. For sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, the cap is $80,000, for example. But for average electric vehicles to qualify, they can't be more than $55,000, which really narrows the benefit for cheaper car makers. While it’s a bummer that you can't get the rebate for an $81,000 Porche Taycan, you can probably get the benefit for something like the Nissan Leaf S that goes for $27,400.

Some EVs bought before 2024 might qualify for the rebate too, if they were bought and weren't intended for resale. For vehicles placed in service on or after April 18, 2023, the IRS says the potential rebate will depend on a variety of factors including the vehicle’s make and battery capacity. There are also requirements in place for length of ownership to prevent unscrupulous buyers from snapping up an EV, reselling it and pocketing the rebate.

The IRS lists eligible vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles on FuelEconomy.gov. It says the list will be updated as more vehicle eligibility requirements take effect.

All in all, the proposed guidance by the IRS is in line with the Biden administration’s goal of having 50 percent of new car sales be driven by EVs before 2030. The hope is an instant rebate will incentivize more buyers to purchase an electric car rather than having to wait to see any tangible reward for their purchase when they file their taxes. Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association, commends the IRS’ memo stating, “This guidance makes it easy for everyone to access the IRA’s new and used electric vehicle tax credits at the point of sale.”

Amazon's first satellite launch was a success, according to United Launch Alliance. The aerospace manufacturer's Atlas V rocket took the first two Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit on Friday. The mission, which is named Protoflight, lifted off at 2:06PM ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

Amazon has been working on Project Kuiper, its Starlink-esque internet satellite initiative, for quite some time. It previously planned to launch the prototypes by the end of last year.

The company sees Protoflight as a key learning opportunity, giving it the chance to record real-world (or, more accurately, offworld) data from space and add that to findings from lab and field testing. Amazon expects to gain more insight into how the network will perform across ground and space. This is also a test of satellite processing, launch and mission operations. Once the mission is over, Amazon will actively deorbit both satellites before they burn up in the atmosphere.

“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology, said. “This is Amazon’s first time putting satellites into space, and we’re going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds.”

Amazon says the aim of Project Kuiper is to offer fast and affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities across the world. It plans to deploy more than 3,200 satellites over the next six years after it obtained FCC approval, and the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototypes are the first iterations. It expects to launch production satellites in the first half of 2024 and start beta tests with some customers by the end of next year.

If you missed the launch, you can watch a replay of the livestream below. The rocket launches at around 26:05 into the video.

Tesla is cutting prices on some Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the US, as spotted by CNBC. The automaker’s move, its second price drop in just over a month, comes after it fell short of market estimates for deliveries.

Tesla’s website now lists the Model 3 starting at $38,990, down from its previous $40,240. Meanwhile, the Model 3 Long Range is now $45,990 (down from $47,240), and the Model 3 Performance has a new price of $50,990 (from $53,240). In addition, the Model Y Performance SUV has fallen from $54,490 to $52,490.

These are minor cuts compared to the nearly 20 percent price drops it issued in September on Model S and Model X EVs. They also pale in comparison to the March price cuts that dropped Model X costs by up to $10,000. Tesla began toying with pricing in late 2022 when it lowered costs to face a consumer spending slowdown and increased EV competition. The automaker attributed its third-quarter slump to factory upgrades, leading to manufacturing downtime. Since January, Tesla has cut the cost of the Model 3 by about 17 percent and the Model Y by 26 percent.

CEO Elon Musk has signaled he is willing to prioritize volume and market share over profit margins in the near term. “I think it does make sense to sacrifice margins in favor of making more vehicles,” he said in July. However, the automaker believes it will still reach its 2023 goals. “A sequential decline in volumes was caused by planned downtimes for factory upgrades, as discussed on the most recent earnings call. Our 2023 volume target of around 1.8 million vehicles remains unchanged,” Tesla wrote in a statement this week.

Atari just announced preorders for a physical cartridge for the company’s once-ubiquitous 2600 console. You read that right. A gaming console that counts 1982 as its most successful year is releasing another new cartridge in the year 2023. The game-in-question is called Save Mary and was actually developed during the console’s golden years, before being shelved when the 2600 went the way of the dodo.

Save Mary was in development for two whole years, which is a lifetime in the generation of gaming that preceded the NES. The normal timeframe to produce a game back then was six to nine months, with some notorious titles taking just five or six weeks. Save Mary was originally developed by veteran Atari staffer Tod Frye, the guy behind the 2600 version of Pac-Man and the Swordquest series.

Preordering one of these cartridges for $60 nets you a silver collector’s edition box and a full-color manual, in addition to the game itself. There are only 500 of these carts available, making them an attractive collector’s item for Atari diehards.

Atari

As for the game, Save Mary tasks you with, well, saving a lady named Mary. She’s stuck in a steep canyon that’s rapidly filling with water. You use a crane to build platforms to help her escape the dire predicament. Power-ups appear on the cliffside to help you out, an idea that Atari says was likely inspired by Pac-Man. Atari’s founder Nolan Bushnell lauded the title in a 1989 interview, saying that it was the “first game in which you rely on construction rather than destruction to save the princess.”

Save Mary joins several other recently-manufactured Atari 2600 cartridges, many of which are brand-new titles like Mr. Run and Jump or unreleased “lost” games like Aquaventure. Each cartridge in the Atari XP line is “manufactured to exact standards” from yesteryear with some modern flourishes like beveled edges to prevent pin damage and gold-plated connectors. You don’t have to track down a dusty old 2600 to play these games, as Atari currently sells an upgraded version of the console, called the 2600+.

Yes, Techtober is in full swing! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro’s temperature sensor will actually be useful. Also, we dive into Samsung’s latest FE devices, Apple’s fix for overheating iPhone 15s, and Google’s Chromebook Plus initiative.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

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Topics

• Google announces the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2 and Buds Pro, along with a slew of AI features – 1:05

• Engadget’s first take on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro – 7:15

• Samsung announces new FE devices – 58:51

• Apple says iOS 17 update should fix those hot iPhones – 1:02:45

• Google could be directing users to advertisers using semantic match algorithm – 1:12:33

• Quantum Dot inventors win Nobel Prize – 1:21:11

• Working on – 1:23:12

• Pop culture picks – 1:25:55

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Guest: Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Kia drivers that own electric vehicles will be able to use 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the United States, Canada and Mexico. This is taking place, just as the company rolls out its EV9 electric SUV, which we dubbed “one of the most important electric SUVs” earlier this year. This move aligns with a broader industry trend of automakers collaborating with Tesla to enhance EV charging options. We have seen competitors including Hyundai, Ford and General Motors take similar steps all within the past year.

Kia said it plans to build the NCAS port, which is the most common charging standard, into all of its new electric vehicles that go on sale in North America starting in the fourth quarter of 2024. This will ensure its EV drivers will gain access to high-speed chargers networks, like the ones being offered by Tesla. Kia also plans to offer adapters for the existing Niro EV and EV6, as well as any EV9s produced before the change, in the first quarter of 2025.

The availability of charging stations is a crucial factor in driving EV adoption. Many American and foreign carmakers have looked to Tesla’s network of 50,000 superchargers across North America as a crutch. When Tesla first started building out its network of Supercharger stations in 2012, they were solely meant for Tesla drivers. But healthy demand for charging station access has skyrocketed as more and more electric vehicles have debuted in the mainstream market. The North America electric vehicle charging stations industry is projected to reach $17.6 billion by 2030, according to a report by Meticulous Research.

Given the current market dynamics, it's reasonable to expect that other automakers will also move in the same direction as Kia. But it may be too soon to tell if Tesla will continue to lead the effort in making charging stations accessible. Notably, seven major automakers, including Kia, are working to establish a new charging network in North America that may rival Tesla’s current web. The new joint program aims to set up around 30,000 high-powered charging points near cities and highways, all in pursuit of the same goal of speeding up the adoption of electric vehicles.