SSPAI

Tag: Windows 11

  • SSPAI Morning Brief: Claude Code Leak, OpenAI Valued at $122 Billion, and More Tech Headlines

    SSPAI Morning Brief: Claude Code Leak, OpenAI Valued at $122 Billion, and More Tech Headlines

    Morning Brief

    1. Claude Code source code accidentally leaked
    2. OpenAI raises $122 billion in funding
    3. Sony to continue raising PlayStation Plus subscription prices
    4. Microsoft confirms development of fully native system apps for Windows 11
    5. Meta releases Ray-Ban Optic Styles smart glasses
    6. SSPAI gets early hands-on with iPhone 18
    7. SSPAI Otter addresses ecological pollution concerns with lobster community
    8. Google releases Veo 3.1 Lite video generation model
    9. News Worth a Quick Look

    Claude Code source code accidentally leaked

    On March 31, Anthropic inadvertently included source map files when publishing the ClaudeCode npm package, leading to the exposure of its complete source code. The leak involves nearly 2,000 TypeScript files and over 512,000 lines of code, including core components such as a ~46,000-line query system and a ~40,000-line plugin-based tooling system. Security researcher Chaofan Shou first flagged the issue on X, after which the code was mirrored to public GitHub repositories and quickly amassed tens of thousands of forks.

    Anthropic responded that the incident was a packaging error rather than a security breach, and did not involve any customer-sensitive data or credentials. Developer analysis suggests the code reveals a complex memory architecture—including background memory rewriting—and validation mechanisms. While trade secrets remain legally protected, the exposed architectural design could potentially help competitors optimize similar tools, or enable malicious actors to identify vulnerabilities to bypass safety guardrails. Source

    OpenAI raises $122 billion in funding

    On March 31, OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round, reaching a post-money valuation of $852 billion. The round was led by SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon. Of the total, $3 billion came from individual investors via banking channels, alongside an expansion of its undrawn revolving credit facility to $4.7 billion.

    Business data shows OpenAI generates $2 billion in monthly revenue, with 40% coming from enterprise services. Weekly active users exceed 900 million, with over 50 million subscribers. Its advertising pilot program has generated more than $100 million in revenue in under six weeks. Source

    Sony to continue raising PlayStation Plus subscription prices

    Sony Interactive Entertainment stated in a blog post that data from the past two years of player testing shows around 59% of PlayStation users who subscribed to PlayStation Plus at discounted rates chose to renew at higher prices, indicating a recovery in the appeal of PlayStation content and subscription services. Based on this, Sony has internally planned a tiered pricing strategy that includes annual increases of HKD 125 for PS Plus subscriptions. Source

    Microsoft confirms development of fully native system apps for Windows 11

    As part of a broader “cleanup” of Windows 11, Microsoft has committed to developing fully native system applications and has formed a new team to drive the initiative. According to Rudy Huyn, Partner Architect responsible for Microsoft Store and File Explorer, the team will focus on Windows 11 app development. Currently, the proportion of native apps in Windows remains relatively low, with some system apps—such as Clipchamp and the Copilot series—still based on web technologies. While it remains unclear whether all new apps will adopt the WinUI framework, Microsoft has confirmed that at least some will no longer rely on web components. Windows 11 itself will also receive major updates, including improved context menu loading, faster File Explorer startup times, migration of the Start menu to WinUI, and support for taskbar resizing and compact layouts. Source

    Meta releases Ray-Ban Optic Styles smart glasses

    On March 31, Meta introduced the Ray-Ban Optic Styles series of smart glasses, optimized for prescription lenses. The lineup includes the square-framed Blayzer and the round-framed Scriber. Both models feature a slimmer, lighter design, along with flexible hinges, adjustable temples, and replaceable nose pads. In terms of hardware, they include a camera, privacy LED indicator, open-ear audio, and AI capabilities, with battery life exceeding 8 hours. Users can choose from standard, thin, or ultra-thin lenses at the time of purchase, all supporting anti-reflective coatings.

    The Optic Styles series comes with a dark brown charging case, starts at $499, and is now available for pre-order, with shipping expected to begin in April. Source

    SSPAI gets early hands-on with iPhone 18

    On April 1, we got our hands on the yet-to-be-released iPhone 18 ahead of schedule. The iPhone 18 is powered by the new A25 Bionic chip, delivering exceptionally smooth multitasking and near-instant loading in demanding games, with outstanding overall performance. Despite a slim 7.4mm body, it packs a high-density 4500mAh battery, significantly improving battery life. It features a 6.2-inch Super Retina XDR display using quantum dot self-emissive technology, achieving 100% color accuracy and near-infinite contrast, along with an ultra-high 800Hz refresh rate for incredibly smooth scrolling. The rear camera system upgrades the main sensor to 120MP, with up to 20x optical zoom, producing sharp and detailed long-range shots. The frame adopts an innovative flexible material that not only enhances drop resistance but also conforms better to the hand for a more comfortable grip.

    To better protect this flagship device, we have specially customized a dedicated screen protector for the iPhone 18, using an ultra-thin plastic material derived from food wrap. The design prioritizes an extremely lightweight and close-fitting experience, offering basic protection while preserving the original naked feel of the device as much as possible. The material is highly flexible, conforming to the device’s curves without easily forming bubbles. In addition, this material choice aligns with environmental considerations by reducing time and material waste caused by failed applications. This custom solution has already attracted significant attention, and many users are looking forward to versions for more models. There’s no need to rush—we will gradually roll out a complete lineup of professional tempered glass protectors for the full iPhone series, along with synchronized support for multiple models in upcoming official announcements.

    SSPAI Otter addresses ecological pollution concerns with lobster community

    Recently, the head otter of SSPAI’s aquatic ecosystem department held a meeting with the chief of a newly migrated lobster community, addressing repeated incidents of ecological pollution and territorial encroachment caused by its members, and ordering immediate rectification along with strict accountability for those responsible.

    The otter emphasized that SSPAI waters welcome the migration of new species, provided they adhere to principles of fairness, friendliness, and responsibility. According to the SSPAI Aquatic Ecology Regulations, any non-native species entering SSPAI waters must truthfully and accurately declare its origin and behavioral traits. The ecosystem department retains full discretion over the conditions and scope of permitted residence, and all species must comply strictly with these conditions. Violators will face prosecution and expulsion.

    The department stated it will continue to manage water resources in accordance with regulations, strengthen oversight, enforce accountability among newly introduced communities, and maintain a clean and orderly aquatic environment.

    Google releases Veo 3.1 Lite video generation model

    On March 31, Google launched the Veo 3.1 Lite video generation model, designed to support high-throughput video application development. It is now available to developers via the paid tier of the Gemini API and Google AI Studio.

    Veo 3.1 Lite supports both text-to-video and image-to-video generation, offering 720p and 1080p resolution options, and compatibility with both 16:9 landscape and 9:16 portrait formats. Developers can customize video durations of 4, 6, or 8 seconds. In terms of performance, the model maintains the same generation speed as Veo 3.1 Fast while reducing costs by at least 50%. At the same time, Google announced it will lower the pricing of Veo 3.1 Fast starting April 7 to further reduce the barrier to adopting video generation technology. Source

    News Worth a Quick Look

    • On March 31, ollama announced backend support for the Apple MLX framework, further leveraging unified memory architecture, with specific optimizations for the GPU neural accelerators in M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chips. The update also introduces support for NVIDIA’s NVFP4 format to balance model accuracy and VRAM usage, and upgrades the caching system to enable cross-session cache reuse, intelligent snapshots, and smart eviction algorithms. Source
    • Bloomberg reports that Nothing plans to release its first AI smart glasses in 2027. The product is expected to include a microphone, speakers, and a camera, but may not feature a display, instead relying on smartphones and cloud services for AI processing. Founder Carl Pei, who was previously skeptical of the category, has now shifted to support it and has outlined a strategy to expand beyond smartphones and audio products. Before that, Nothing will continue its current roadmap, updating its phone and earbud lineup in the first half of 2026. Source
    • An internal memo obtained by Android Authority suggests that due to declining user satisfaction with the design of recent Google Pixel hardware, Google plans to adjust its product strategy starting in 2028. The new approach will adopt a five-year release cycle (referred to as LTSM—Long-Term Servicing Model devices) to reduce design costs. Future revenue for the Pixel hardware division is expected to shift toward relatively closed, subscription-based software update services. Source
    • Reports suggest that after discontinuing the Mac Pro, Apple is planning to reintroduce its rack-mounted server, Xserve. The product, reportedly codenamed A3174, may support up to four Apple M2 Ultra chips and include a BMC controller with 16GB memory and 1TB SSD, potentially powered by M1 or M2 series chips. Apple originally introduced its first 1U rack server in 2002 for file services, web hosting, and cluster computing, but discontinued the line in 2011. Earlier reports indicated Apple has been developing a new server hardware lineup for its Intelligence cloud models, and A3174 could be one such variant. Some analysts also suggest it may serve as a home-based Apple Intelligence hub for local AI inference. Source
    • Following a PR crisis triggered by controversial social media remarks—“players become dogs after price cuts”—Logitech China responded to media on April 1, stating that those responsible have been dealt with. The company acknowledged the harm caused to the gaming community and announced it will suspend promotion of its peripheral product lines in mainland China, shifting instead toward real estate and senior care businesses. Plans include launching subscription-based retirement communities equipped with esports centers and daily care services, aiming to “act as children” for gamers and take on caregiving responsibilities. Source
    • On March 30, OpenAI Codex launched an official plugin for its competitor Claude Code, named Codex-Plugin-CC. The plugin allows developers to invoke Codex directly within Claude Code without switching tools, enabling tasks such as code review, adversarial review, and task handoff. Users can install the plugin via the marketplace in Claude Code and access commands like /codex:review, /codex:adversarial-review, and /codex:rescue. Source
  • SSPAI Morning Brief: Microsoft Improves Windows 11 as Android Tightens App Sideloading Rules

    SSPAI Morning Brief: Microsoft Improves Windows 11 as Android Tightens App Sideloading Rules

    Morning Brief

    1. Microsoft promises multiple improvements to Windows 11
    2. Android may require a “cooling-off” day before installing apps from outside official stores
    3. Halide CEO accuses former co-founder poached by Apple
    4. U.S. tech companies see rising competition in “token farming”
    5. Meta’s metaverse plans move toward an end
    6. Preprint platform arXiv to operate independently from Cornell University
    7. News Worth a Quick Look

    Microsoft promises multiple improvements to Windows 11

    On March 20, Pavan Davuluri, Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices division, announced that Windows 11 will receive major quality upgrades. The promised measures include—

    • The taskbar will once again support docking at the top, left, or right of the screen;
    • AI integration will be more restrained, with unnecessary Copilot shortcuts removed from core apps such as Screenshot, Photos, Widgets, and Notepad;
    • Users will be able to skip updates during initial setup on new devices, and in daily use can choose to shut down or restart without installing updates;
    • Core Windows experience components, including the Start menu, will be migrated to the WinUI3 framework to reduce interaction latency, with a focus on improving File Explorer launch and search performance;
    • The Widgets panel will adopt a quieter, less intrusive default design;
    • Stability improvements will be made to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), Windows Hello biometric authentication, and peripheral connectivity.

    As background, Windows 11 has recently pushed AI features heavily across its interface while also facing frequent stability issues, leading to user complaints. These optimizations will be rolled out for testing to Windows Insider Program members between March and April this year.

    Android may require a “cooling-off” day before installing apps from outside official stores

    On March 19, Google unveiled a new proposal targeting Android app “sideloading” (installing apps from non-official stores), which includes a so-called mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period.

    According to the developer identity verification policy announced by Google last August, developers will be required to submit real names and identity verification documents to the platform. This mandatory verification will first be implemented in countries such as Brazil and Singapore starting this September, with a global rollout planned for 2027. The new sideloading process, including the cooling-off period, will be made available earlier in August as an optional setting for advanced users. The high threshold has drawn widespread criticism, and Google later promised in November to continue allowing sideloading for power users.

    Under the newly outlined process, users who wish to enable sideloading must first activate Developer Mode, confirm they are not being coerced, reboot their device, and then wait 24 hours before verifying their identity via fingerprint or facial recognition. Once completed, users can choose to enable sideloading for either 7 days or indefinitely. Google states that the reboot step is intended to interrupt potential scammer activities such as ongoing calls or remote screen monitoring, while the cooling-off period is designed to break the sense of urgency often exploited by fraudsters, giving users time to think more carefully.

    Halide CEO accuses former co-founder poached by Apple

    According to The Information, after failing to acquire the developer behind the well-known photography app Halide, Apple instead recruited one of the startup’s co-founders. The move has since triggered a fierce legal dispute within the original team, with both sides accusing each other of misappropriating funds and stealing trade secrets.

    The lawsuit was filed by Ben Sandofsky, CEO of Halide’s parent company Lux Optics, in the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County, California. He alleges that former co-founder and designer Sebastian de With misappropriated over $150,000 of company funds for personal expenses since 2022, and, after joining Apple, disclosed confidential materials and source code to the company. De With was dismissed in December last year following these allegations and officially joined Apple’s design team in January this year. In response, de With’s legal counsel strongly denied any intellectual property theft and counter-accused Sandofsky of financial misconduct, claiming the lawsuit is retaliation for de With’s request to review company financial records.

    The dispute stems from acquisition talks between Apple and Lux Optics last summer. Apple had initially hoped to strengthen its native iOS camera app through the acquisition, explicitly stating that Lux’s intellectual property was a key consideration. However, the Lux team believed that future app updates could secure a better valuation, leading to the collapse of negotiations. Just two months later, Apple began recruiting de With independently. Apple is not named as a defendant in the case.

    Sources indicate that upgrading the native camera app is currently a top priority within Apple. To enable the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro to rival professional-grade cameras in certain advanced features, Apple is actively seeking to absorb both the underlying technical expertise and design talent from specialized imaging apps.

    U.S. tech companies see rising competition in “token farming”

    According to The New York Times, major Silicon Valley companies such as Meta, Shopify, and OpenAI have recently begun incorporating AI usage into employee performance evaluations, sparking an internal competition among programmers dubbed “token farming” (or “Tokenmaxxing”). In an effort to demonstrate productivity to management, some employees are aggressively invoking AI tools, with individual usage reportedly exceeding $150,000 worth of compute in a single month. One OpenAI engineer processed as many as 210 billion tokens in just one week—equivalent to roughly 33 full Wikipedia texts.

    Traditional prompt-and-response usage of AI is unlikely to reach such scale. Instead, employees are primarily relying on the rising class of agentic programming tools. These systems can operate autonomously around the clock without human supervision, spawning multiple sub-agents to handle tasks in parallel—continuing to consume vast amounts of compute even while the user sleeps.

    According to reports, generous token budgets have effectively become a new form of employee perk, akin to free lunches. To encourage adoption of new technologies, companies have introduced internal leaderboards tracking AI consumption and even reward top users. This incentive structure has also given rise to opportunistic behavior.

    Industry observers note that behind this frenzy of compute consumption lies a growing sense of “token anxiety” among white-collar workers. As AI becomes increasingly capable of independently writing code, programmers face the looming threat of replacement. To avoid falling behind in the wave of automation, employees are treating the operation of large-scale AI agent systems as a form of career self-defense—signaling to management that they are keeping pace with cutting-edge technology, even as the actual quality of code output takes a back seat.

    Meta’s metaverse plans move toward an end

    According to The New York Times, Meta has effectively brought an end to Mark Zuckerberg’s virtual reality (VR)-based metaverse vision. Last week, Meta announced that starting June 15, users will no longer be able to access its “metaverse social app” Horizon Worlds via VR headsets. Although Meta later clarified that it will continue to support some existing VR experiences within the app, it made clear that no new applications will be added.

    Behind this retreat is a comprehensive shift of resources toward AI. The division responsible for metaverse projects has laid off around 10% of its staff in recent months. At the latest developer conference, Zuckerberg mentioned the “metaverse” only twice, compared to 23 mentions of “AI.” He is now betting on “superintelligence,” with Meta expected to invest at least $115 billion this year, primarily in AI development and large-scale data center infrastructure. Meanwhile, the company’s hardware focus has shifted to AR smart glasses equipped with built-in AI assistants.

    Meta acquired VR headset company Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion, rebranded itself as Meta in 2021, and has accumulated approximately $80 billion in losses on its metaverse initiative. During the pandemic, the demand for remote work and contactless social interaction briefly propelled the metaverse concept into the spotlight. However, Meta’s virtual world repeatedly ran into technical limitations, with its crude floating avatars becoming a frequent subject of online ridicule. Additionally, the high cost of hardware has hindered broader adoption. Even Apple’s Vision Pro has yet to break into the mass consumer market, and VR has not replaced smartphones as the next computing platform.

    Preprint platform arXiv to operate independently from Cornell University

    According to Science, the globally renowned preprint platform arXiv has announced that it will officially separate from Cornell University on July 1 and become an independent nonprofit organization. The move aims to broaden funding channels in response to the surge in paper submissions in recent years and to invest resources in combating “AI slop.” arXiv allows scientists to share research findings quickly and freely before formal peer review, serving as a foundational platform for scholarly communication in fields such as physics, computer science, and mathematics.

    Since its founding in 1991, the platform has grown rapidly, with the recent AI boom significantly accelerating submission volumes—expected to exceed 300,000 papers this year. To cope, the arXiv team has expanded to 27 members, driving its annual operating costs to $6.7 million and resulting in deficits over the past two years. Cornell officials stated that spinning off into an independent entity would alleviate concerns among potential donors about funds being controlled by the university, enabling arXiv to more directly attract financial support from libraries, research institutions, and foundations worldwide.

    In response to the transition, some researchers have expressed concerns on social media, including criticism of the proposed CEO salary of up to $300,000 and worries about whether the platform might eventually be acquired by a commercial entity. Management responded that arXiv will maintain its successful nonprofit model, with no noticeable changes for users in the short term, and no immediate increase in institutional membership fees. Cornell University, the Simons Foundation, and others have already secured initial funding to ensure the new organization begins operations without a deficit.

    Last year, bioRxiv and medRxiv—preprint platforms in biology and medicine inspired by arXiv—also separated from their academic hosts for similar reasons. As arXiv founder Paul Ginsparg has noted, while universities offer many advantages, historical experience suggests they are not well-suited to provide long-term, comprehensive support for global research infrastructure of this kind.

    News Worth a Quick Look

    • According to PBX SCIENCE, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, set to be released on April 23, will break a 46-year Linux tradition: when users enter their password with the sudo command, the terminal will display asterisks (*) to indicate input, instead of remaining blank. Since its introduction in 1980, sudo has provided no visual feedback during password entry, originally to prevent observers from inferring password length. In this update, Ubuntu adopts sudo-rs, a Rust-based reimplementation of sudo focused on security. The development team argues that modern graphical login interfaces already display password placeholders, making the terminal’s invisible input offer minimal security benefits, while often confusing newcomers into thinking the terminal has frozen or their keyboard is unresponsive.
    • According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI plans to integrate ChatGPT, Codex, and the Atlas browser into a single desktop “super app.” The move aims to streamline user experience, consolidate internal engineering resources, and refocus strategy on enterprise clients and developers. In an internal memo, OpenAI’s Head of Applications, Fidji Simo, noted that the team’s efforts are currently too fragmented, slowing development and making quality harder to maintain. The new app will emphasize AI agent capabilities. The existing ChatGPT mobile app will remain unchanged.
    • According to The Verge, Google is testing AI-generated rewrites of webpage titles in search results. The outlet found that titles of multiple articles were replaced with AI-generated versions without any indication of modification. A Google spokesperson confirmed this is a “limited” experiment using generative AI, intended to better match user intent and improve engagement. However, Google stated that if the feature is officially launched, it will not rely on generative models—without explaining how titles would then be rewritten. Google has previously adopted a similar approach in its Discovery feed.
    • According to Reuters, more than a decade after the failure of the Fire Phone, Amazon is planning a return to the smartphone market under the codename “Transformer.” The company aims to create a mobile device deeply integrated with AI and the Alexa voice assistant, focusing on AI-native features. Amazon is exploring multiple design directions, including minimalist “dumbphone”-style devices inspired by the Light Phone.
    • On March 21, the co-founder and COO of the AI coding app Cursor confirmed that its new model, Composer-2, is fine-tuned from Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.5 model. Cursor released Composer-2 on March 19, claiming performance between OpenAI GPT-5.4 (high) and Anthropic Claude Opus 4.6 (high) at a lower cost. However, developers noticed the model ID in code as “Kimi-k2p5,” leading to speculation that Composer-2 was essentially a reinforced-learning version of K2.5. Cursor acknowledged that failing to mention Kimi as the base model in its launch blog was an oversight and said it would correct this in future releases. Kimi responded that Cursor accesses K2.5 via the FireworksAI inference and deployment platform under a licensed commercial partnership, and welcomed its integration into the broader open model ecosystem.
    • On March 21, China’s Cyberspace Administration stated that current standards for labeling short video content across platforms are inconsistent. Some videos involving fictional narratives, staged marketing, or AI-generated content lack proper labeling, misleading the public, disrupting social order, and polluting the online ecosystem. In response, regulators plan to standardize content labeling: first, by defining required label categories; second, by making labeling a mandatory step before publishing; and third, by retroactively reviewing and labeling existing content in phases. Authorities will soon issue detailed requirements and timelines, implement nationwide enforcement, and conduct inspections—penalizing accounts and platforms that fail to comply, with public disclosure of violations.
    • On March 22, Tencent announced the launch of a new tool called ClawBot, officially integrating OpenClaw into WeChat. Once added, ClawBot will appear in users’ contact lists like a regular contact. Earlier this month, Tencent also introduced QClaw for individual users, Lighthouse for developers, and WorkBuddy for enterprise services.