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Amid signs of a stagnating economy, the UK is going all-in on AI. On Monday, British Minister Keir Starmer announced a new AI Opportunities Action Plan. At the center of the initiative are AI Growth Zones, which the government plans to establish in de-industrialized areas throughout the country. In these areas, the Labour government will fast-track planning approvals for data centers and offer better access to the national energy grid. Starmer said the UKs first AI Growth Zone would be established in Culham, Oxfordshire, home to the countrys Atomic Energy Authority. More zones will be announced in the summer. At the same time, Starmers government plans to increase state-owned compute capacity by a factor of 20, starting with the immediate construction of a new supercomputer with enough AI power to play itself at chess half a million times a second. As of November 2024, the UK has 14 supercomputers on the TOP500 list, putting it behind by a significant margin the US and China. Additionally, the plan will see the government establish a National Data Library, which it says will make the country more attractive to investors by allowing private industry to safely and securely unlock the value of public data. Finally, a new AI Energy Council will work with energy companies to meet the power demands of the AI industry in a way thats in line with the governments clean energy strategy. Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people, Starmer said. But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that wont sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. Over the next 10 years, Starmers government estimates that its strategy could generate as much as 47 billion ($57 billion) in annual economic growth. The announcement comes after the UK economy failed to grow in the third quarter of last year. From that perspective, making the country more attractive to outside investment isnt the worst idea especially with companies like Microsoft planning to spend $80 billion on new data centers this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/uk-to-fast-track-data-center-approvals-as-part-of-ai-action-plan-163753744.html?src=rss
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Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is stepping down from the company after eight years on the job, according to reporting by Bloomberg. This follows last years disastrous app launch, in which a redesign was missing core features and was broken in nearly every major way. The company has tasked Tom Conrad to steer the ship as interim CEO. Conrad is a current member of the Sonos board, but was a co-founder of Pandora, VP at Snap and product chief at, wait for it, the short-lived video streaming platform Quibi. He also reportedly has a Sonos tattoo. The board has hired a firm to find a new long-term leader. I think well all agree that this year weve let far too many people down, Conrad wrote employees in a letter. Getting back to basics is necessary, but clearly not enough to unlock the future we all envision for Sonos. He also suggested that he wants the company to expand well beyond home speakers and related gear. As for Spence, hell be just fine. His payout package includes $7,500 per month until June, a cash severance of $1.9 million and his unvested shares in Sonos will vest. He was with Sonos for more than a decade. The decision to swap leadership comes after months of turmoil at the company. It rolled out a mobile app back in May that was absolutely rife with bugs and missing key features like alarms and sleep timers. Some customers even complained that entire speaker systems would no longer work after updating to the new app. It was a whole thing. Sonos tried to win back customer trust by extending the manufacturer warranty for home speaker products and creating an advisory board that would provide the company with "feedback and insights from a customer perspective to help shape and improve our software and products before they are launched. That didnt ease the financial burden faced by the company. The stock price has fallen by around 13 percent since the app launched. Sonos laid off over 100 people in August as it tried to fix the software and revenue fell 16 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on September 28. Analysts project an additional 15 percent decline throughout the holiday period.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-ceo-patrick-spence-falls-on-his-sword-after-horrible-app-launch-160704330.html?src=rss
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Folks who are in the market for a good deal on a dedicated machine for playing Balatro tablet might be interested in taking a peek at Apple's iPad mini 7. The company's latest compact tablet has dropped to its lowest price to date at $399. That's a cool $100 discount. Apple refreshed the iPad mini last October with upgraded internals and support for the Apple Pencil Pro. This configuration has 128GB of storage and Apple's A17 Pro chip. It also boasts 8GB of RAM, which is enough to support Apple Intelligence features The iPad mini 7 is our pick for the best compact iPad in part because it's the only one. We gave it a score of 83 in our review. The device has an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display which is, sadly, limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. The lack of a Face ID sensor and one of the M-series chips that are present in Apple's flagship iPads are our other major drawbacks with this one. But it's a solid tablet otherwise. The iPad mini 7 runs on the same chipset as the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple doubled the base storage from the previous generation. It weighs 0.65 pounds, so you may not have too much trouble holding it in one hand. The Touch ID sensor is encased in the power button, and there are stereo speakers and decent cameras (12MP on each side). Like pretty much all of Apple's other devices these days, the iPad mini 7 has a USB-C port rather than a Lightning one. Speaking of which, the tablet should run for up to 10 hours before you need to recharge it. And although there's no cellular connectivity here, the iPad mini 7 supports Wi-Fi 6E. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-ipad-mini-7-is-100-off-right-now-155549086.html?src=rss
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