innovation

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OpenAI Bigwig Wants ChatGPT to Be Unavoidable

Fidji Simo, firm's chief of applications, aims to close the gap between AI potential, real-world use

(Newser) - OpenAI's new applications chief, Fidji Simo, is on a mission to turn ChatGPT into an indispensable tool—one that users will eventually be willing to pay for. Simo, who joined the company in August after stints running Instacart and Facebook's main app, oversees the business side of OpenAI,...

Amazon Prime Video Launches AI Video Recaps

Company says AI tools will determine what viewers should know to get caught up

(Newser) - Can't quite remember the season you binged last fall? AI to the rescue. Amazon Prime Video is going live with Video Recaps, a feature that uses artificial intelligence to generate detailed video recaps of TV show seasons, designed to refresh viewers on key storylines before they start a new...

Russian Robot Strolled Out to Rocky Theme, Fell on Its Face

Nation's first humanoid powered by AI didn't do so hot in its big Moscow debut

(Newser) - Russia's debut of its first AI-powered humanoid robot took an unexpected turn at a Moscow tech event Monday when the machine, named Aldol, toppled over and broke apart moments after its introduction. The incident happened during a showcase featuring the Russian robotics sector, with Aldol entering to the iconic...

Some of the First Humans Used Tools Continuously
Some of the First Humans
Used Tools Continuously
NEW STUDY
Nov 4, 2025 10:45 AM CST

Some of the First Humans Used Tools Continuously

Findings in Kenya challenge idea that only later humans had the brains for the job

(Newser) - A newly uncovered trove of ancient stone tools in northwest Kenya suggests early humans didn't use them sporadically but routinely over hundreds of thousands of years, at the very emergence of humanity. Archaeologists at the Namorotukunan site in the Turkana Basin uncovered 1,300 stone flakes, hammerstones, and cores...

The Top 10 Companies That Have Innovation in Spades

Waymo tops Fast Company ranking of the most groundbreaking firms across the globe

(Newser) - There are global firms that aren't only "keeping up," but also "setting the pace." Fast Company has taken a deep dive into the world's most innovative companies, across all major industries, and come up with the best of the best, many of which are...

These Were 2024's Most Groundbreaking Inventions

Time shares its list of the top 200 inventions of the year

(Newser) - Time released its annual list of the top inventions that emerged in the past year. It includes 200 innovations over 28 different categories, from consumer electronics to food and drink. Here's a sample of what made the cut:

Futuristic Basketball Sells Out—Despite $2.5K Price Tag

Wilson's Airless Gen1 is 3D printed

(Newser) - If you were wowed by former President Trump's $399 limited-edition gold lamé high-tops selling out in just hours , brace yourself. Business Insider reports on another limited-edition success story: Wilson's Airless Gen1 . It's a 3D printed basketball that's covered in hundreds of hexagonal holes, meaning air passes...

This Is the Most Innovative Nation on Earth

Switzerland is No. 1, again, while the US falls one spot

(Newser) - Monday has already proven a banner day for innovation, with the Nobel Prize in medicine bestowed on Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their work that helped develop the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Now, certain nations around the world can crow about their placement on the World Intellectual Property Organization's...

National Inventors Hall of Fame to Induct Its First Black Women

Google exec Marian Croak, ophthalmologist Patricia Bath among 2022 inductees

(Newser) - The nearly 50-year-old National Inventors Hall of Fame will induct its first two Black female members next spring. Engineer Marian Croak and the late ophthalmologist Patricia Bath are two of seven honorees announced this month, who will join the Class of 2022, along with 22 others announced last year, reports...

Floral-Scented Asphalt Is Now a Thing

Road builders have Poland's Budimex to thank

(Newser) - Construction workers know the stench of hot asphalt all too well, and it doesn’t smell like roses. Or does it? Polish construction firm Budimex says it's teamed up with refiner Lotos to create a floral-scented asphalt more pleasing to road builders. Added to the typical bitumen recipe are...

Quest for Faster COVID Test Spurs $5M Contest

XPrize is offering big bucks to innovators who can come up with rapid-result virus testing

(Newser) - Last week, the Trump administration's point man on COVID-19 testing acknowledged that turnaround times for test results have been too slow , noting that "we are never going to be happy with testing until we get turnaround times within 24 hours." Now, a nonprofit hopes to help expedite...

The 10 Most Innovative Nations — Plus China

India also climbs the list quickly

(Newser) - The state of innovation is strong around the world, a new report says, despite trade battles and an economic slowdown. There's been a bit of reshuffling this year in the new Global Innovation Index ; Switzerland tops the list for the ninth time, Sweden rose to second place, and the...

Engineer's Award-Winning Idea: Clothes Grow With Kids

UK student Ryan Yasin comes up with Petit Pli

(Newser) - It's an age-old problem for parents: Shell out money for clothes that their young children quickly outgrow. Now, however, 24-year-old London designer Ryan Yasin has put his degree in aeronautical engineering to use to create origami-like pleated clothing designed to grow along with the kids, reports Quartz . The result...

Scientist: I've Fixed Age-Old Problem of Wine Bottles

A small groove eliminates drips after a pour

(Newser) - It may be a first-world problem—that little drip of wine that slides annoyingly down the neck of a bottle after it's been poured—but to one scientist, it was simply a physics challenge waiting to be overcome. Biophysicist Daniel Perlman at Brandeis University, an inventor with more than...

McDonald's Is Putting Chocolate on Its French Fries Now

Ketchup just got served

(Newser) - Let it never be said that innovation is dead. NBC Chicago reports McDonald's will soon be selling its classic French fries drizzled with two kinds of chocolate sauces. The McChoco Potato was announced Tuesday and will be debuting in Japan next week. "Customers will find McChoco Potatoes enjoyable...

Silicon Valley: Lofty Talk, Plodding Walk

Tech capitalists talk a good game, but they're not changing the world

(Newser) - PayPal co-founder Max Levchin once told a tech conference that the key to American innovation was to "aim almost ridiculously high." Levchin went on to develop a photo-sharing service based on "SuperPoke! Pets," and a company that lets you buy things on Facebook. "Neither, it'...

World's Oldest Recording Goes Digital

The century-old soundbite was made on an early Edison prototype

(Newser) - It's not exactly a masterpiece, but a 78-second soundbite that's now been captured by computers (and YouTube) is perhaps the oldest known playable recording of a piece of music, and one of the first American voices to ever be replayed, dating all the way back to 1878, reports...

20 Years of Tech: We've Come a Long Way, Baby
20 Years of Tech: We've Come a Long Way, Baby
Walt Mossberg
Nov 3, 2011 1:41 PM CDT

20 Years of Tech: We've Come a Long Way, Baby

Walt Mossberg looks back on two decades of reviews

(Newser) - Remember when revolutionary dial-up modems arrived on the computer scene or when America Online debuted? Walt Mossberg does, and the Wall Street Journal tech reviewer looks back on 20 years' of columns. Some of the milestones he picks out:
  • His first line in 1991: "Personal computers are just too
...

Your Cell Phone Will Project Holograms in 5 Years

... assuming IBM's scientists are correct

(Newser) - Mobile phones will be able to project 3D holograms in 2015, allowing people to video-chat with virtual images of their friends, say scientists at IBM. In their annual list of tech predictions, the scientists also say:
  • Today's lithium-ion batteries will be replaced with those that run on air and last
...

9 Great Products Launched in Downturns

Recessions don't kill innovation

(Newser) - Who says the worst recession since the 1930s means you can't debut a great product? The Huffington Post lists 9 hugely successful ones launched in tough economic times:
  • iPod: Apple unveiled it less than 2 months after the September 11 attacks, amid the resulting recession.
  • Microsoft Office: Bill Gates launched
...

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