Fitbit has reached a settlement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, agreeing to pay a $12.25 million penalty. This settlement comes after a long-standing defect in their Ionic smartwatch caused some wearers to sustain burns. As part of the agreement, Fitbit aims to address these safety concerns comprehensively.
Meanwhile, a recent report from Wired uncovered significant security vulnerabilities within Subaru's web portal. Hackers exploited these flaws to remotely unlock, start, and track millions of Subarus. Two security researchers discovered the vulnerabilities, allowing them to hijack car controls and track driver location data. Subaru has since resolved these issues after the researchers responsibly disclosed their findings.
In the realm of artificial intelligence, Perplexity has launched its new AI agent, Perplexity Assistant. This innovative tool utilizes reasoning, search, and apps to assist with daily tasks and is currently available for Android devices. The assistant possesses the capability to perform "multi-app actions," enhancing user experience by streamlining various tasks.
Simultaneously, YouTube celebrity MrBeast is reportedly in discussions to join several bids for TikTok's U.S. operations. This move comes as TikTok faces removal from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store due to a U.S. ban. The absence of TikTok in these platforms has spurred competitors like Tumblr to innovate, launching Tumblr TV—a GIF discovery feature that now hosts short-form videos to fill the void left by TikTok.
In the financial sector, Stripe has announced plans to increase its workforce by 17% in 2025. This expansion reflects Stripe's ongoing commitment to growth and innovation within the digital payments space.
Meta, not one to be outdone, has introduced a new video editing app called Edits. This announcement follows the removal of ByteDance’s video editing app CapCut from major app stores. Edits aims to capture the market share left vacant by CapCut's absence, offering users advanced editing capabilities.
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have debuted Power-Over-Skin technology. This groundbreaking innovation allows electrical currents to travel through human skin, powering devices such as blood sugar monitors, pacemakers, and consumer wearables. This development could revolutionize how wearable technology interfaces with the human body.
In another stride towards AI innovation, a team at Hugging Face has released SmolVLM-256M and SmolVLM-500M—billed as the smallest AI models capable of analyzing images, short videos, and text. These models promise efficient processing without compromising on performance.
OpenAI is planning a massive infrastructure project that could see investments of up to $500 billion funneled into data centers supporting its AI workloads. Backed by investors like SoftBank and Middle Eastern AI fund MGX, this project underscores OpenAI's ambition to expand its capabilities and maintain its leadership in the AI domain.
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