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Confectionery giant Lotte has launched Shu-Chew Beats, a concentration-boosting tool that pairs custom-composed tracks with syncopated chewing to help office workers regain their focus. In response to a survey revealing that nearly 80% of Japanese employees struggle to concentrate in office environments, Lotte is pitching its gum as a functional candy that can serve as a 'brain warm-up exercise' for workers who feel distracted.The project, developed under the supervision of neuroscientist Professor Yoshikuni Edagawa of Ritsumeikan University, offers three hour-long soundtracks at different beats and chews per minute, each designed for specific concentration needs. Chill runs at 66 BPM for precision and accuracy, Hyper at 120 BPM for efficiency, and Extreme at 140 BPM for processing speed (and a decent jaw workout). Japanese electronic music artists Shohei Amimori, Shinichi Osawa and Pasocom Music Club created the tracks, which have racked up hundreds of thousands of views since they were uploaded to YouTube last month.Shu-Chew Beats answers a widespread consumer need for clarity, calm and control in increasingly overwhelming environments. Combining gum (a physical anchor) with neuroscience-informed audio (a cognitive anchor), Lotte positions itself not just as a candy brand, but as a tool for self-optimization. As the lines between wellness, productivity and entertainment continue to blur, how can your brand hit its own sweet spot by turning an everyday product or habit into a mindful ritual?
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Marketing and Advertising
The push for the latest, greatest and most feature-packed gadgets often results in so much pressure that buying anything else can feel like self-betrayal. And while the Pixel 9a is technically a new device, its chip is six months old. The same goes for its design, which is nearly a carbon copy of its older sibling. To make matters even worse, this phone is meant to be a more affordable entry into the Pixel phone family, which feels like a death sentence for anyone who cares about keeping up with the Joneses (or just the most up-to-date specs). But you know what? That's okay, because starting at $500, the Pixel 9a offers the best value of any Android phone today. Design and display: Simple but sturdy The Pixel 9a looks so similar to the standard model especially from the front that it's hard to tell them apart until you put them side by side. Once you do, you'll notice the 9a features slightly thicker bezels. But aside from that, there aren't a ton of differences. You still get a relatively compact 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,700 nits, just like on the regular Pixel 9. It's sharp, it's colorful and it's simply one of the best displays in this price range. If you pick both of them up, you may also notice that the 9a is also a touch lighter (6.56 ounces vs 6.98 ounces). That discrepancy is due to Google forgoing Gorilla Glass 3 for the backpanel in favor of recycled polycarbonate (aka plastic). That said, you still get a sturdy aluminum frame (also made from recycled materials) and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The 9a's biggest departure by far is that unlike every other Pixel dating back to the Pixel 6, it doesn't have a large bar or visor housing its cameras. Instead, you get a small teardrop-shaped protrusion that houses the main and ultra-wide shooters. The module is so shallow it practically sits flush against the phone, which makes this one of the few handsets in recent memory that actually sits flat on a table. Granted, this is a really minor design tweak, but as someone who doesn't like cases, I think it's a nice touch. Performance: Good enough speed Sam Rutherford for Engadget Just like the rest of the Pixel 9 family, the 9a is powered by Google's Tensor G4 chip. The major change is that instead of featuring 12GB of RAM, you only get 8GB. That said, unless you're frequently switching between apps or doing more intense things like gaming or video editing, you aren't really going to notice a huge difference. In Geekbench 6, both phones posted very similar results with a multi-core score of 4,294 for the 9a and 4,360 for the standard Pixel 9. The biggest potential impact of this for most people is that you won't be able to have quite as many apps running in the background, and if you switch between them often, you may spend some extra time reloading. The Pixel 9a also supports nearly all of Google's AI-powered tools including helpful stuff like car crash detection and Call Assist. You also have access to more advanced tools like Gemini Live (including camera and screen sharing) and Pixel Studio (now with the ability to generate images of people), the latter of which can be a fun way of creating silly custom images to troll your friends. Well, at least that's what I use it for. Sam Rutherford for Engadget However, software support isn't quite the same as you get on more expensive models. That's because one app that I've grown quite fond of on recent Pixels Google's Screenshots app isn't available on the Pixel 9a. This is definitely a bummer, because I found the ability to use AI to quickly search through all the screencaps I've taken is way better than doing it manually. I'm not entirely sure why it's not available considering some of the other machine learning-based features that do work. But when asked, a Google representative told me that in order to "maintain a $499 starting price, the company did have to make some trade-offs. As a result, some [of the standard Pixel 9's] features won't be available on the Pixel 9a." Cameras: Better image quality than phones twice its price Sam Rutherford for Engadget When it was first announced, Google claimed the 9a would have the best cameras of any phone under $500. And after considering the Pixel family's pedigree for excellent image quality, I pitted the phone's 48-MP main camera and 13-MP ultra-wide cam up against the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to give it a real challenge. And despite costing $800 less, it acquitted itself with aplomb. In a daytime photo of a cozy coffee shop, the Pixel 9a preserved more details and produced a generally better looking image than a similar pic taken by the S25U (though part of that is due to Samsung's tendency to oversharpen). But perhaps an even better example of this was when I took photos of a croquette. Not only did the Pixel 9a's shot look more accurate, it featured better colors and was generally much more appetizing. And in low light, I got similar results with the 9a doing a great job with white balance while capturing sharp, detailed images despite the tough conditions.
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Marketing and Advertising
OpenAI has filed a countersuit against Elon Musk, accusing him of staging press attacks and malicious campaigns on "the social media platform he controls," as well as of making "harassing legal claims" and a "sham bid for OpenAI's assets." In its filing, courtesy of TechCrunch, the ChatGPT-maker said Musk could not tolerate seeing such "success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed" and had made it his own project to take down the organization. It also said that Musk's efforts have ramped up in recent months after it announced its plans to restructure and become a for-profit entity with a non-profit division. Last year, Musk sued OpenAI, accusing it of ditching its nonprofit mission, becoming a "closed-source de facto subsidiary" Microsoft and of violating its foundational agreement to develop generative AI "for the benefit of humanity." But Musk, OpenAI said in its new lawsuit, is only pretending to represent the public and in truth is seeking to stop it from restructuring. Musk "advised that a similar reorganization was needed to salvage OpenAI's mission" years ago when he was still part of the company, it said. After Musk filed a lawsuit last year, OpenAI published old emails from when he was still involved in its operations. The organization said Musk was there when it first started talking about going for-profit and even wanted majority equity, control of the initial board of directors and the CEO position. It also published an email wherein Musk suggested merging OpenAI with Tesla so that the automaker could fund its work. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and eventually founded his own generative AI company, xAI. The AI company recently purchased X, formerly known as Twitter, for $33 billion. In a tweet, OpenAI said that Musk's actions are just "bad-faith tactics to slow down OpenAI" and that he's spreading false information about the organization, as well as aiming to seize control of its technology for his personal benefit. In its lawsuit, it said that Musk "should be enjoined from further unlawful and unfair action" and should be "held responsible for the damage he has already caused." OpenAI has to complete its reorganization by the end of this year or its private funding could be cut by as much as $10 billion. Hes been spreading false information about us. Were actually getting ready to build the best-equipped nonprofit the world has ever seen were not converting it away.More info here: https://t.co/oCHU0MUAoL OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) April 9, 2025 In response, Musk's legal team told Reuters that if OpenAI had taken a close look at his offer for the company, then it would know that the bid was serious and not a sham. "It's telling that having to pay fair market value for OpenAI's assets allegedly 'interferes' with their business plans," Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff told the news agency. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-files-countersuit-against-elon-musks-bad-faith-attacks-123030861.html?src=rss
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