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A new airplane silently broke the sound barrier. It looks nothing like NASA’s X-59

Fast Company Tech

From the moment Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time in 1947, zipping from New York to Paris in less than three hours became every travelers dream. On our first flight, we expected to break the sound barrier without a sonic boomthat was our prediction, Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, tells me.

Sound 144
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These 5 simple ideas could fix our food system

Fast Company Tech

Extracted from the complexity of foods impact on health, economy, wellbeing, nature, civil strife, and so on, there are common principles that characterize food systems that work for us and for the planet. These are not bugs in the food system; they are features of it. We all know this, even if we choose to look away.

Ideas 89
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Company apologizes after AI support agent invents policy that causes user uproar

Ars Technica

Confabulations are a type of "creative gap-filling" response where AI models invent plausible-sounding but false information. Instead of admitting uncertainty, AI models often prioritize creating plausible, confident responses, even when that means manufacturing information from scratch.

Policy 143
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Why do LLMs make stuff up? New research peers under the hood.

Ars Technica

From a human perspective, it can be hard to understand why these models don't simply say "I don't know" instead of making up some plausible-sounding nonsense. While human understanding of this internal LLM "decision" process is still rough, this kind of research could lead to better overall solutions for the AI confabulation problem.

Research 133
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A cappella group covers iPhone tones after nailing Windows sound effects

The Verge

In January, South Korean a cappella group Maytree wowed us with their spot-on vocal interpretations of Windows sound effects, and on Friday, the group released a video of their next impressive showcase: interpretations of sounds from iPhones. Image: Maytree. I think it’s even better than their iPhone video.

Sound 141
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The best soundbars to boost your TV audio in 2025

Engadget

TVs are getting slimmer and sleeker, but that often comes at the expense of sound quality. Thats where a good soundbar comes in an easy space-saving way to dramatically improve your TVs audio without the hassle of a full home theater system. These are essential if you want truly cinematic sound for your living-room setup.

Audio 113
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NASA Signs Contract for Elon Musk's Starship, Even Though It's Never Launched Without Exploding

Futurism

While it may sound like it on the surface, the space agency's latest announcement is far from a full-throated endorsement. NASA is still hoping to tap Starship to deliver astronauts from lunar orbit down to the Moon's surface under its Human Landing System (HLS) program.