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En Chine, les robots humanoïdes accélèrent

À Pékin, des centaines d’entreprises présentent des robots capables de préparer un sandwich, trier des colis ou jouer au tennis de table. Portée par les progrès de l’intelligence artificielle physique, la robotique chinoise multiplie les applications, malgré des limites techniques encore bien visibles.

Swarms of Tiny Robots Remove Microplastics From Soil and Water

By: BeauHD
12 August 2026 at 12:00
alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Scientists from the Czech Republic have created microscopic cleanup robots that successfully removed microplastics from both soil and aquatic environments in the lab. Details of their work are published in the journal npg Asia Materials. To build the robots, researchers started with microscopic MXene particles made of ultrathin, stacked layers. The material has a large surface area and surface chemistry that help it attract and hold plastic. They then coated the particles with magnetic nickel nanoparticles so rotating magnetic fields could drive the tiny robots. Then came the testing phase. The team placed swarms of these microbots into water and soil samples contaminated with plastic. The externally generated magnetic fields made the robots spin and tumble through the liquid and squeeze through tiny water-filled gaps in the soil. "In soil environments, the microrobots can navigate through water-permeated soil microenvironments, actively disrupt microplastic entrapment within soil matrices, and extract them," the study authors commented in their paper. As they moved, their sticky surfaces collided with microplastics, binding to them and dragging them along. The researchers then used a magnet to pull the microrobots, along with their trapped plastic cargo, out of the samples. They performed well. In water, they removed about 94% of test polystyrene particles and 89% of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in around an hour. In the model soil, they removed about 81% of the polystyrene and 72% of PET. This outperformed the same MXene material used without magnetic motion, which relied on passive adsorption rather than actively moving through soil and water.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gemini bate 1 bilhão de usuários; base ativa no iOS passa de 100 milhões

11 August 2026 at 23:01

O Gemini, do Google, ultrapassou oficialmente a marca de 1 bilhão de usuários mensais ativos — tornando-se, segundo a própria gigante de Mountain View, o produto de crescimento mais rápido na história da empresa.

Para colocar esse marco em perspectiva, o Gmail levou cerca de 12 anos para conquistar uma base de usuários desse tamanho. Isso também coloca o Gemini no mesmo patamar do ChatGPT (da OpenAI), que atingiu essa marca no início de junho.

O CEO 1Chief executive officer, ou diretor executivo. do Google, Sundar Pichai, utilizou o X para destacar esse marco.

1B+ people are now using @Geminiapp every month to spark new ideas and get things done. It’s our fastest growing product ever, and our 14th to hit the 1B-user mark.

Kudos to @JoshWoodward & the entire Gemini team, and thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with us -… pic.twitter.com/sSWrULX4Qn

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) August 11, 2026
Mais de 1 bilhão de pessoas já usam o @Geminiapp todos os meses para despertar novas ideias e realizar tarefas. É o nosso produto que mais cresce na história e o 14º a atingir a marca de 1 bilhão de usuários.

Parabéns ao @JoshWoodward e a toda a equipe do Gemini, e obrigado a todos que têm feito parte dessa jornada conosco — vem muito mais por aí!

Além do número de usuários, o Google divulgou detalhes sobre como as pessoas interagem com o chatbot no dia a dia. Entre eles, a empresa aponta que os usuários dos dispositivos da Apple estão adotando a ferramenta em grande escala, com mais de 100 milhões de usuários ativos no iOS. Além disso, usuários avançados do macOS acionam o Gemini cerca de duas vezes mais frequentemente do que em outras plataformas.

Eles apontam ainda que interação por voz tornou-se a forma preferida de usar o aplicativo, com 63% dos usuários optando por falar em vez de digitar. Ademais, uma em cada cinco sessões do Gemini Live vai além do áudio simples, envolvendo o compartilhamento de imagens da câmera/tela em tempo real.

Estudantes representam outro grupo importante de usuários: 38% das solicitações acadêmicas incluem o envio de arquivos de tarefas, anotações ou PDFs. A geração de imagens também gera um tráfego enorme, sendo responsável pela criação de mais de 150 milhões de imagens diariamente.

Notas de rodapé

  • 1
    Chief executive officer, ou diretor executivo.

SpaceXAI lança Grok Bot, app de IA agêntica, para Mac e iPhone

11 August 2026 at 20:20

A SpaceXAI liberou hoje, ainda em fase beta, um novo aplicativo de inteligência artificial (IA) agêntica para Mac e iPhone chamado Grok Bot.

Nascido como uma ferramenta interna, ele permite que usuários criem “colegas de trabalho de IA”, os quais contam com seus próprios computadores e são capazes realizar uma série de tarefas de ponta a ponta, além de acessar as ferramentas (apps, emails, etc.) que você já utiliza.

Introducing Grok Bot, now in early beta.

Bots are AI teammates that do real work for you. They sign in to your tools, use them just like you do, and come back with finished work. pic.twitter.com/uyfA97yo98

— Grok Bot (@bot) August 11, 2026
Apresentamos o Grok Bot, agora em versão beta antecipada.

Bots são colegas de IA que realizam tarefas reais para você. Eles acessam suas ferramentas, as utilizam como você e retornam com o trabalho concluído.

A ideia, segundo a SpaceXAI, é que o usuário converse com esses “colegas” como se eles fossem pessoas reais, seja por mensagem de texto ou por voz.

“Usuários com acesso antecipado dizem que o Grok Bot parece menos com dar instruções a um agente e mais com delegar tarefas a um colega de equipe altamente capacitado”, comentou a empresa.

Grok Bot
Divulgação/SpaceXAI

Assim que a IA recebe uma tarefa, ela toma conta de tudo automaticamente, de modo que o usuário só precisa intervir caso uma ação requeira a sua autorização. Ela também pode se lembrar de conversas passadas, enviar mensagens para outros bots e ser adicionada a grupos.

Na SpaceXAI, é comum que várias equipes executem bots em paralelo, com uma delas gerenciando as demais. Um chefe de gabinete supervisiona tudo, com um especialista para cada área: gerenciamento de emails, despesas, recrutamento, correção de bugs ou operações. Em vez de gerenciar vários agentes, o Grok Bot oferece uma pequena equipe que pode trabalhar em paralelo, eliminando a necessidade de você ser o intermediário.

A SpaceXAI disse ainda que esses bots conseguem aprender com seus hábitos, o que significa que seu desempenho nas tarefas melhorará com o tempo. Isso também fará com que eles fiquem mais proativos com o passar dos dias, assumindo tarefas antes mesmo de você precisar falar com eles.

Por enquanto, o Grok Bot está disponível para Mac, iPhone, Windows e Linux, para assinantes do SuperGrok Heavy, Cursor Ultra e Cursor Teams Premium — mas a empresa do bilionário Elon Musk pretende lançar uma versão para Android em breve.

The Roboguard Revolution Is Short-Circuiting

By: BeauHD
11 August 2026 at 09:00
alternative_right shares a report from 404 Media: Robotics companies promise that video-camera-toting security robots can deter and detect crime. But many companies are rethinking the approach after a trail of canceled contracts and questions about whether the artificial intelligence-powered bots are meeting the needs of businesses and local governments. Proof News found evidence of at least 21 security robot deployments since 2015. We contacted contract holders and combed news articles and determined that at least 13 of those programs have ended. Silicon Valley-based Knightscope secured the most security robot contracts, according to Proof's analysis, and also suffered the bulk of cancellations. For example, New York City's then-Mayor Eric Adams installed a Knightscope robot on the overnight shift at the Times Square subway station, but the program was scrapped when the pilot expired in 2024. City leaders did not respond to Proof News' questions about why the robot wasn't renewed. By the end of its assignment, it was reportedly gathering dust in an empty storefront. Outside Columbus, Ohio, the city of Dublin pulled the plug on a Knightscope robot in May, ending its two-year pilot program after less than 10 months. The city enlisted the robot, dubbed DubBot, to patrol a downtown park, but city spokeswoman Robyn Gray said it "did not fully meet our operational needs," and failed to identify any criminal incidents or lead to any tickets or arrests. [...] Seeking a new path forward in the security industry, Knightscope CEO William Santana Li said the company is forging a new model, combining its robots and AI-powered software with another key ingredient: human security guards. Knightscope announced it purchased Event Risk LLC, a national security guard firm, earlier this year. Knightscope has incurred net losses since inception in 2013, according to its most recent quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is $273 million in debt. Knightscope hopes its pivot to incorporate people will give it a greater share of the physical security market -- which the company believes is worth an estimated $230 billion annually. Li declined to answer questions about the disbanded programs, but said in an email, "Technology cannot do everything -- and neither can people -- but the combination can be very powerful."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment

7 August 2026 at 12:00

In the mid-'90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door. Unlike now, when Google is widely seen as both portal and gatekeeper, sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its own suite of quirks, charms, and flaws.

The real story of pre-Google search is not that early engines were inferior. It's that they reflected a different Internet entirely, one where directories mattered, crawling was still an art, ranking was fragile, and the idea of “search” had not yet hardened into a single dominant interface.

A different kind of web

The first thing to remember about the pre-Google Internet is that there was no built-in assumption that you could search for everything. Many users found pages through Yahoo-style directories, bookmarks, newsgroups, email signatures, and links from site to site because the web was still small enough that human organization could compete with machine indexing. It was an era of Wild West-style discoverability. Search engines existed, but they were only one part of a larger ecosystem that blended curation and accident.

Read full article

Comments

© Aurich Lawson

Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment

7 August 2026 at 12:00

In the mid-'90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door. Unlike now, when Google is widely seen as both portal and gatekeeper, sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its own suite of quirks, charms, and flaws.

The real story of pre-Google search is not that early engines were inferior. It's that they reflected a different Internet entirely, one where directories mattered, crawling was still an art, ranking was fragile, and the idea of “search” had not yet hardened into a single dominant interface.

A different kind of web

The first thing to remember about the pre-Google Internet is that there was no built-in assumption that you could search for everything. Many users found pages through Yahoo-style directories, bookmarks, newsgroups, email signatures, and links from site to site because the web was still small enough that human organization could compete with machine indexing. It was an era of Wild West-style discoverability. Search engines existed, but they were only one part of a larger ecosystem that blended curation and accident.

Read full article

Comments

© Aurich Lawson

Chatbot integrado ao Google Maps é lançado no Brasil e ganha mais novidades

6 August 2026 at 15:36

O Google lançou uma nova atualização do Maps com uma novidade muito bem-vinda para usuários brasileiros: a chegada ao Brasil do recurso Pergunte ao Maps (Ask Maps), que permite obter informações sobre locais com facilidade usando inteligência artificial.

Lançado no início deste ano especificamente para usuários dos Estados Unidos e da Índia, o Pergunte ao Maps está sendo expandido agora também para Austrália, Canadá, Indonésia, Japão e México, além de mais de 150 países e territórios — por enquanto só em inglês.

A expansão para novos locais, porém, está longe de ser a única novidade relacionada ao recurso, que está mais inteligente e agora conta com características agênticas que o tornam capaz de executar tarefas complexas com várias etapas.

Divulgação/Google

Com essa novidade, passa a ser possível pedir comida em um restaurante, descobrir informações atualizadas sobre hotéis e eventos locais, comparar preços em tempo real, mostrar shows em determinado local, dentre outras tarefas.

Divulgação/Google

A Inteligência Personalizada (Personal Intelligence), por sua vez, permite integrar o recurso ao Gmail para que o chatbot tenha um maior contexto na hora de realizar tarefas — inclusive com a possibilidade de relembrar conversas anteriores, caso o histórico esteja ativado.

Divulgação/Google

O Google também está expandindo as atualizações em tempo real do Pergunte ao Maps para transporte público, além de permitir que usuários contribuam com informações sobre locais conversando ou enviando uma foto de uma placa, por exemplo.

Divulgação/Google

As atualizações sobre transporte público, as respostas mais contextuais e a capacidade de relembrar conversas anteriores estão sendo disponibilizadas a partir de hoje para todos os locais onde o Ask Maps está disponível (o que agora inclui o Brasil).

Ask Maps is getting an upgrade. 🔍✨

Now powered by agentic capabilities, real-time information, and Personal Intelligence, Ask Maps is transforming how you plan and move through the world. pic.twitter.com/XadDCw44uu

— Google Maps (@googlemaps) August 6, 2026

Os pedidos de comida, a descoberta de hotéis e eventos, e as contribuições dos usuários, por sua vez, estão começando a ser disponibilizados apenas nos Estados Unidos, com previsão de uma expansão gradual para outros países no futuro.

SwitchBot Introduces Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro with Matter over Wi-Fi in North America

29 July 2026 at 19:01

SwitchBot, a leading provider of AI-enabled embodied home robotics systems, today announced the launch of SwitchBot Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro in North America, a new smart air circulator fan that combines cordless portability, powerful airflow, intelligent connectivity, and everyday convenience in one compact design. Designed for modern homes, it delivers refreshing air wherever it is needed while integrating into today’s smart home ecosystems.

Cordless Freedom with Airflow Anywhere

Unlike traditional fans that are confined to power outlets, Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is designed to bring refreshing airflow wherever it is needed. Featuring a built-in rechargeable battery, it can easily move between bedrooms, home offices, kitchens, patios, balconies, and even outdoor camping trips without being limited by outlet locations.

Supporting battery, AC, and USB-C power options, the fan delivers up to 70 hours of cordless operation on a single charge*. For extended outdoor use or emergency situations, it can also be powered by a portable power bank, providing continuous airflow wherever extra comfort is needed.

Smarter Control with Matter over Wi-Fi

Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is the world’s first battery-powered air circulator fan to support Matter over Wi-Fi, allowing users to connect directly to major smart home platforms without requiring an additional hub. Compatible with Apple Home, Alexa, Google Assistant, Home Assistant, Homey, and more, it fits seamlessly into existing smart home ecosystems.

Using the SwitchBot App or voice assistants, users can remotely turn the fan on or off, adjust wind speed with precise 1–100% control, switch between multiple airflow modes, create schedules, and automate operation together with other SwitchBot devices. Whether cooling a room before arriving home or creating personalized routines, Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro makes everyday comfort smarter and more effortless.

Powerful Air Circulation for a Fresher Home

Rather than simply blowing air toward users, Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is designed to circulate and refresh the entire living space. Powered by a high-performance DC brushless motor, it delivers up to 6.5m/s wind speed, 33.5m (110ft) air delivery distance, and 811m³/h airflow volume*. Turbo Mode quickly accelerates indoor air circulation, while automatic 90° horizontal and 90° vertical oscillation helps distribute airflow evenly throughout the room.

To further improve indoor comfort, the fan features a removable pre-filter that captures visible dust, pet hair, and other larger particles before they enter the fan, helping maintain stronger airflow while reducing maintenance. An integrated fragrance box also allows users to add their favorite essential oils, gently dispersing pleasant scents throughout bedrooms, living rooms, pet areas, or other everyday spaces as air circulates.

Designed for Quiet, Year-Round Comfort

Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is built to deliver comfortable airflow throughout every season. During summer, it helps circulate cool air from air conditioners more efficiently for faster cooling. In spring and autumn, it improves indoor ventilation by keeping air moving throughout the home. During winter, it can also work alongside humidifiers to distribute warm, humidified air more evenly, creating a more comfortable indoor environment year-round.

For quieter everyday use, SwitchBot SilenTech™ technology reduces operating noise to as low as 21dB in Sleep Mode*, making it ideal for bedrooms, nurseries, home offices, and pet spaces. An upgraded ambient light bar with improved brightness provides gentle illumination at night, making late-night movement around the home more comfortable.

Designed with everyday maintenance in mind, the fan also features a fully detachable structure. The front cover, rear cover, fan blades, and pre-filter can all be easily removed for cleaning, helping keep the fan performing at its best while maintaining fresher airflow over time.

* Battery life, airflow performance, and operating noise are based on SwitchBot laboratory testing under controlled conditions. Actual performance may vary depending on usage and environmental conditions.

Pricing and Availability

SwitchBot Battery Circulator Fan 2 Pro is available for purchase through SwitchBot’s official website, and availability through Amazon stores will be coming soon, with an MSRP of USD 119.99 / CAD 149.99.

Pastebot 3 for Mac

31 July 2026 at 19:31

John Voorhees:

What sets Pastebot 3 apart is its addition of deep automation tools. Not only does the update add MCP support, making it an excellent tool to use with Claude or ChatGPT/Codex, but it includes a brand new CLI that you or an agent can use from Terminal or incorporate into scripts you build.

[…]

New filters have been added that allow you to transform clippings using text transformations and even shell scripts. Using the ability to script custom filters, I’ve begun adding a few of my own to Pastebot for things like adding and removing bullets from multiple lines of text.

I’ve long been aware of this app but hadn’t paid much attention because I’m happy using LaunchBar as my clipboard and snippet manager. LaunchBar has some transformations built-in, and I’ve built up a collection of my own scripts, but it’s appealing that Pastebot comes with so many out of the box.

From Pastebot’s main UI, you can select multiple items at once and right-click to add them to a Stack, or you can pick them one at a time in any order you’d like. As you select items, they’re numbered in the order you’ll paste them into a document using a keyboard shortcut. It’s an excellent feature for filling out forms or copying data from one spreadsheet to another.

Juli Clover:

There are also rule-based Smart Pastebins for automatic organization, like every link or image copied from Safari. Smart Pastebins can be filtered by clipping size, type, file extension, creation date, text, text length, and more. Multiple parameters can be combined for detailed filtering, and custom notes can be added to clippings to make them easy to find via search.

[…]

Tapbots says Pastebot 3 was built to work with Apple's Universal Clipboard feature, and when enabled and active, anything you copy on your iPhone is saved in Pastebot automatically.

John Gruber:

Chief among my favorite features:

  • Remembers up to 1,500 clippings (up from a mere 1,000 in v2).
  • Syncs via iCloud. If I copy something on one Mac, it’s in my Pastebot history on my other Macs.
  • That sweet Tapbots UI.

Marcus Mendes:

Importantly, Pastebot 3 requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later and comes with a 14-day free trial. Users can buy the app directly from Tapbots for $39 or subscribe through the App Store for $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year.

[…]

The direct purchase includes one year of updates, with additional years available for $19 each. Users who stop paying for updates can continue using the latest version covered by their purchase. Pastebot 2 owners can also get a $12.99 upgrade discount by entering their existing license key at checkout.

scottybee:

They are not offering any upgrade path for MAS customers. The reason they stated was “upgrade pricing has always been our way of thanking people who bought directly from the site.”

Paul Haddad:

I generally try to avoid complaining about App Store review, since I do think they have a really hard job to do. But I’m about 2 more PB3 rejections from just giving up.

Previously:

“It’s Obviously Quite Over the Top”: We Talked to the Company Behind This Eerie Four-Legged “Centaur” Robot That’s Going Viral

31 July 2026 at 13:47

A teleoperated centaur robot dubbed “Threehalves” could represent the future of manual work in some of our planet’s most dangerous environments, according to Satyress Robotics, the California startup behind the project. In disasters such as mudslides, wildfires, and rubble searches, the company says its robot can keep workers safe from on-site hazards.

The other side of the story is the robot’s creepy, almost demonic appearance, as conveyed on the provocative Satyress Robotics website, the imagery for which is so unusual that it almost gives the impression of being a parody—particularly in an age of breathless reporting on corporate claims, and sudden appearances of “viral” news stories.

Therefore, The Debrief decided to take a deeper look at this mechanical oddity that more closely resembles something out of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey than a project in development in a California robotics lab.

An Unsettling Robot

Threehalves isn’t exactly news; all of the available information on the robot was posted on the company website over a year ago, around the time of their only post on X. Yet it’s recently been discovered by internet outlets noting the creepy design of this robot that the company claims is here to help.

“It’s obviously quite over the top, but ultimately, this is at the extreme end of humanoid robotics in size and capability,” a company representative told The Debrief.

“People may be familiar with humanoid robots from TV/movies or product videos, but likely don’t understand just how powerful and heavy they are (especially ours, which is coming in at just under 7ft tall and 240 lbs currently),” the rep added. “Our thought is someone who didn’t know what it is should definitely stay away from it, and those that do know or are operating the machine should be reminded it’s quite dangerous.” 

“If you look at something like a lathe or mill, they generally look intimidating, for good reason, even though they could be dressed up to look friendly and soft,” the rep concluded. “We’ll point out, though, that the ‘evil’ look is mostly from it being pitch black; with different colors or a wrap on it, it does not put off that vibe.”

Robot “Superpowers”

Part of Threehalves’ sales pitch is that it won’t replace jobs, but instead will merely transfer them to robotic operators using a joystick to guide Threehalves through manual work in dangerous environments. The website claims that this amounts to granting workers “superpowers,” allowing them to focus on honing their craft in new extreme situations. However, while the operator won’t have to directly get their hands dirty, Satyress Robotics told The Debrief that Threehalves is designed for line-of-sight, close-proximity operation.

“We don’t have any plans to develop much autonomy above what’s needed to keep the robot from damaging itself,” the Satyress Robotics representative said. “Our goal is to have experienced trade experts in control of the bots at all times. Forestry, for instance, is the deadliest job in the US – our goal is to save lives first and foremost, and we believe that is also enough economically to justify the cost of the bot without any autonomous productivity gain.”

Two of the robots can fit in a standard truck bed, allowing them to be easily transported to remote locations. Lacking hands, the robot can be fitted with a variety of unique attachments to hold various tools from chainsaws to drills. Of note, the robot is shown holding a gas-powered chainsaw. Exactly how it would manage to get the chainsaw started without an obvious way to pull the ripcord is unclear.

Safety First

With fears of a demonic Terminator immediately conjured up by Threehalves’ appearance, the company informs us that although “this robot is more dangerous than it looks,” the same is true of any humanoid robot, and this one comes equipped with a variety of safety features.

Ironically, one of these is the robot’s menacing horns, which significantly slow the robot down in moving through standard-size door frames, and can even be replaced with larger horns that make traversing such portals impossible.

“It’s another way to make it clear this isn’t a toy, [a] security guard, etc,” the Satyress Robotics representative said. “It’s built for one reason, for a teleoperator to do dangerous work or heavy lifting from a safe, in line of sight distance.”

“We are not looking at any use cases in commercial buildings, and certainly not residential,” they added.

The recommended methods to halt the robot may be as disconcerting as its appearance. Credit: Satyress Robotics

A Violent Stop

Additionally, air reservoirs in the chest cavity and on the robot’s back are designed to activate pin locks on all its joints, rendering the robot immobile if air pressure is lost. Imagery on the website suggests this can seemingly be accomplished by stabbing Threehalves with a knife or shooting it with a gun. Fortunately, a more pacifist option to halt the robot also exists: simply by hitting an e-stop button located on its stomach.

When pressed on why the company would design their robot to be susceptible to gunfire specifically, the representative didn’t seem to find this the least bit unusual.

“Nothing software wise/control wise, whether autonomous or teleoperated, can be guaranteed to never have any kind of control issue,” the Satyress Robotics representative said. “This gives a means to lock the brakes remotely without necessarily damaging the robot beyond repair.”

Robot Reality or Hoax?

With the unsettling design and suggestion that the robot may eventually have to be shot to stop it from injuring a human, one of this reporter’s main questions became: “Is this a joke?” The outlandish nature of the project reminds one of prankster Joey Skaggs’ tricks on the media, such as the time he convinced WNBC-TV in New York and United Press International that he had recently developed a cure-all derived from roach hormones, which he was injecting into his followers.

However, the Satyress Robotics representative confirmed that the company’s new quadrupedal working robot is no joke.

“It’s not a prank. Also, we’re building it with the goal of keeping workers safe, so we just want to make it clear we’re thinking of every edge case and looking for ways to solve them outside of software,” the representative explained. “We are quite a ways away from showing the robot in any kind of elegant motion, thus the static renders/photos.”

Given that the company hasn’t posted on social media in over a year and has no LinkedIn presence, it was unclear who was behind the operation and if it was still underway. According to the company, they will shortly be making a video to introduce themselves.

While one picture on the website appears to show a live test with a joystick, there are no videos of Threehalves in motion on the website, and our email conversation confirmed it is not yet a functional robot.

For now, the company tells The Debrief that they are currently working on component-level testing and any commercial version of the Threehalves is more than two years away.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

Amazon lâche une remise exceptionnelle de 70 % sur cet aspirateur robot idéal contre les poils d'animaux

30 July 2026 at 13:00
Quand un aspirateur robot perd 70 % de son prix, difficile de ne pas lever les yeux de son balai. Le Lefant M210 passe à 89,95 € chez Amazon, un tarif qui change la donne pour automatiser le ménage au quotidien.

Agora dá para conversar com a Meta AI pelas DMs do Threads

27 July 2026 at 19:21

Usuários do Threads em todo o mundo já podem enviar mensagens para a Meta AI por meio da área de mensagens diretas (direct messages, ou DMs) da rede social, segundo informações do Engadget.

Antes disso, já era possível interagir com o chatbot da empresa comandada por Mark Zuckerberg em certos mercados por meio de menções em posts, mas essa nova opção permite iniciar conversas mais privadas com a ferramenta.

Segundo a Meta, é possível compartilhar posts do Threads, imagens, links e vídeos com a Meta AI, bem como manter conversas duradouras e explorar tópicos de interesse do usuário. “A experiência de mensagens diretas (DMs) oferece às pessoas maior flexibilidade sobre como e onde interagem com a Meta AI”, afirmou a companhia em um comunicado.

Meta AI nas DMs do Threads
Divulgação/Meta

O próprio sistema de DMs é uma adição relativamente recente ao Threads, que só foi ganhar esse recurso no ano passado. Com essa atualização, a rede social fica em paridade com as outras plataformas da Meta (Facebook, Instagram e WhatsApp), que já permitem o envio de mensagens privadas para a Meta AI há algum tempo.

A empresa disse ainda que pretende continuar testando a interação com a Meta AI em feeds públicos em mercados selecionados e que considera aumentar sua disponibilidade. Nos lugares nos quais essa função já pode ser acessada, basta incluir @meta.ai na sua postagem com o prompt. Para diminuir a frequência com que ela aparece no seu feed, selecione a opção “Não tenho interesse”.

Pastebot 3, gerenciador de área de transferência, é lançado para macOS

24 July 2026 at 13:00

A Tapbots revelou o Pastebot 3, uma nova versão do seu gerenciador de área de transferência para o macOS.

A empresa anunciou a nova versão no seu perfil do Mastodon, juntamente com um relato sobre questões pessoais que impactaram o trabalho da empresa recentemente. Ela ainda mencionou que trabalha em novidades para o Ivory e o Phoenix, seus clientes do Mastodon e do Bluesky, respectivamente.

Entre as funções presentes na nova versão, o site oficial do utilitário destaca recursos como o histórico da área de transferência, Pastebins customizados, um menu de colagem rápido para acesso instantâneo das funcionalidades do Pastebot, filtros avançados para aplicar a um determinado conteúdo copiado (antes de colar) e até mesmo a criação de stacks para copiar/colar conteúdos em lote.

Outros recursos (de maneira geral, presentes em versões anteriores) incluem o bloqueio de apps com conteúdos sensíveis (como credenciais ou senhas, impedindo que sejam capturados pelo Pastebot), sincronização com o iCloud, atalhos, uma espécie de “cola” dos seus comandos, bem como acesso à CLI e ao app Atalhos (Shortcuts) da Apple.

O Pastebot 3 ainda está em análise na Mac App Store, mas ele já pode ser baixado no site oficial da Tapbots. Ele possui um teste gratuito de 14 dias e pode ser adquirido tanto com uma licença vitalícia de US$40 (com suporte a um ano de atualizações) quanto com uma assinatura de US$3/mês ou US$25/ano.

ChatGPT Voice está agora disponível no app reformulado para desktop

24 July 2026 at 00:08

Pouco mais de sete meses após descontinuar o modo de voz no então aplicativo do ChatGPT para desktop (atualmente, chamado de ChatGPT Classic), a OpenAI anunciou hoje que a mais nova versão do app do chatbot agora suporta o ChatGPT Voice, alimentado pelo novíssimo e versátil modelo GPT-Live.

Graças a essa versatilidade, o novo modo de voz pode fazer bem mais que apenas conversar. Além de poder ser usado em chats, ele também está integrado ao Work e ao Codex — o que significa que você pode usá-lo para coordenar e acompanhar tarefas, sem usar texto.

ChatGPT Voice is now in the desktop app.

Control your computer and direct multiple agents running in ChatGPT Work or Codex, using just your voice.

It's powered by GPT-Live, so it can speak, listen, and coordinate work in the app at the same time.

Rolling out globally today… pic.twitter.com/ODZWKqecCf

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 23, 2026

Para usar a novidade, é necessário abrir um novo chat ou uma nova tarefa vazia no app e selecionar a opção “Iniciar nova conversa por voz”. As conversas ou tarefas precisam necessariamente ser iniciadas nesse modo — caso contrário, apenas o ditado por voz estará disponível.

O ChatGPT Voice oferece suporte a uma alternância natural entre as falas. Você pode interromper o ChatGPT durante uma resposta, fazer uma pergunta complementar ou mudar de direção. Se o ChatGPT começar a executar uma tarefa, continue falando para verificar o progresso ou orientar o trabalho.

Além disso, a OpenAI destaca que é possível iniciar conversas separadas para conversas mais longas, enviar ao app uma screenshot para apresentar o contexto do que está na tela, bem como usar o recurso pelo Remote do iOS com o iPhone emparelhado ao computador.

O ChatGPT Voice no desktop está sendo disponibilizado gradualmente para os planos Plus, Pro, Business, Edu e Enterprise. Nos dois últimos, há um período inicial de duas semanas com acesso antecipado antes de o recurso ser ativado por padrão.

É possível baixar o novo app do ChatGPT para macOS nessa página.

Aplicativo Apple Store poderá ganhar assistente alimentado por IA

22 July 2026 at 23:37

A Apple estaria testando um assistente de inteligência artificial para o aplicativo Apple Store — aparentemente nos mesmos moldes do recurso que a empresa tem testado desde o ano passado no app Suporte.

A maior evidência do futuro assistente já está disponível na página de privacidade do app Apple Store, o que indica que ele também está sendo testado com um grupo seleto de usuários.

Na descrição do assistente, a Apple também destaca que ele coletará e armazenará dados para personalizar a experiência do chat e possivelmente otimizar o assistente — inclusive compartilhando o chat com parceiros.

Como observado pelo MacRumors, isso pode indicar que a Apple usará um modelo de IA de terceiros para alimentar esse assistente.

Eis a descrição da novidade:

Caso o assistente virtual de compras do app Apple Store esteja disponível, a Apple coletará e armazenará as informações da sua conta, identificadores do dispositivo, informações da operadora e do chat, e, se habilitados, dados da localização para personalizar a experiência do chat, fornecer respostas relevantes e, caso opte, otimizar o assistente virtual de compras. Antes de compartilhar o chat com nossos parceiros, a Apple remove os identificadores pessoais do chat. Nossos parceiros usam tais informações somente para ajudar a Apple a fornecer respostas conversacionais. A Apple salvará as transcrições para nossa análise comercial, disponibilizando-as assim que você retornar ao app Apple Store, e, caso opte, para otimizar o assistente virtual de compras. É possível controlar se o uso que você faz do assistente virtual de compras será aproveitado para oferecer uma experiência melhor, basta acessar Conta » Configurações e selecionar “Otimizações de Chat” no app Apple Store.

Detalhes sobre o funcionamento do recurso em si ainda não foram divulgados pela Apple.

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