AI/ML TechCrunch

Spotify expands AI remix and covers project with Merlin partnership

Spotify is partnering with Merlin and Universal Music Group to launch a paid AI-powered tool for creating music remixes and covers while ensuring artist compensation.

Other TechCrunch

Texas halts new data centers as governor calls for audits

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has paused new data center development pending the completion of an audit.

Tech Business/VC TechCrunch

Walmart completes its acquisition of TV advertising company Vibe.co

Walmart has completed the acquisition of Vibe.co, integrating the TV advertising company into its Walmart Connect platform.

Hardware/Chips The Verge

Samsung’s HDR10 Plus Advanced is launching this month on Prime Video

Samsung is launching HDR10 Plus Advanced on Prime Video, offering improved HDR metadata and tone mapping for its 2026 TV lineup.

Other The Verge

Texas says data centers must pass an audit before connecting to the grid

Texas is requiring new data centers to pass an audit focusing on grid stability, water consumption, and community impact before connecting to the energy grid.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

The Theoretical Foundation of Socratic Tests: Dynamic, Multimodal, Conversational Examinations

A research paper proposes the Socratic Test, an automated conversational assessment framework using Dynamic Assessment and Bloom's Taxonomy to map student cognitive boundaries.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

SATViz: Real-Time Visualization of Clausal Proofs

The paper introduces SATViz, a tool for the real-time visualization of clausal proofs in SAT instances using variable interaction graphs.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

Combining Large Language Models and Symbolic Reasoning for Multi-Robot Temporal Planning through Explainable Knowledge Bases

The PLANTOR framework combines LLMs and symbolic reasoning to generate multi-robot task plans through explainable knowledge bases.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

Shall We Play a Game? Language Models for Open-ended Wargames

A scoping review examines the role of LLMs in open-ended wargames, highlighting the need for models to act as both player agents and world adjudicators.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

Embedded Universal Predictive Intelligence: a coherent framework for multi-agent learning

The paper introduces a mathematical framework for embedded agency in multi-agent learning, extending AIXI theory to enable infinite-order theory of mind.

Open Source Hacker News

FFmpeg 9.0

FFmpeg 9.0 has been released, bringing updates to the industry-standard multimedia framework.

Software Engineering Hacker News

Show HN: Simple algorithm and color space to generate diverse skin tones

A new simple algorithm and color space have been introduced to generate diverse and realistic skin tones.

Other Hacker News

Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

Germany recorded a historic high of 12B KWh of solar feed-in during July 2026.

Cybersecurity Hacker News

Online ad giant Adform was hacked, proving once again why ad blockers are needed

The hacking of ad giant Adform highlights the continuing risks of online advertising and the utility of ad blockers.

Tech Business/VC TechCrunch

Elon Musk spends half his time talking robots and AI on Tesla earnings calls

Analysis shows Elon Musk focuses significantly more on AI and robotics than on Tesla's core car business during earnings calls.

Hardware/Chips The Verge

The Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is at one of its lowest prices

The Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is currently available at significant discounts across various retailers.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

FriendBench: Benchmarking Dyadic Familiarity Inference in Humans and Multimodal Large Language Models

FriendBench is introduced as a new benchmark for measuring how well multimodal LLMs can infer familiarity between two people from video clips.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

A Human-Centered Validation of the Explainability-Performance Coefficient

Researchers propose the EPC score, a model-agnostic metric to quantify the quality of explanations in XAI by balancing sparsity and performance.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

When Does On-Policy Interaction Help? Representational Tradeoffs in Value-Based Imitation Learning

The OVI algorithm is introduced to improve value-based imitation learning by allowing agents to learn the expert's value function instead of the full policy.

AI/ML arXiv cs.AI

CENDRe: Concept Extraction with Natural Domain Representations

CENDRe is presented as a new concept extraction method for CNNs that discovers patterns in both time and frequency domains for time-series classification.