All posts tagged: proof

Miami startup Subquadratic claims 1,000x AI efficiency gain with SubQ model; researchers demand independent proof.

Miami startup Subquadratic claims 1,000x AI efficiency gain with SubQ model; researchers demand independent proof.

Published by skeptic

A little-known Miami-based startup called Subquadratic emerged from stealth on Tuesday with a sweeping claim: that it has built the first large language model to fully escape the mathematical constraint that has defined — and limited — every major AI system since 2017. The company claims its first model, SubQ 1M-Preview, is the first LLM built on a fully subquadratic architecture — one where compute grows linearly with context length. If that claim holds, it would be a genuine inflection point in how AI systems scale. At 12 million tokens, the company says, its architecture reduces attention compute by almost 1,000 times compared to other frontier models — a figure that, if validated independently, would dwarf the efficiency gains of any existing approach. The company is also launching three products into private beta: an API exposing the full context window, a command-line coding agent called SubQ Code, and a search tool called SubQ Search. It has raised $29 million in seed funding from investors including Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, former SoftBank Vision Fund partner Javier …

Commentary: Cherry blossoms are proof of a planet going awry

Commentary: Cherry blossoms are proof of a planet going awry

Published by Sam Flores

Some of the attendees of that “Climate Realism” conference at the Hotel Washington, sponsored by fossil-fuel-friendly groups such as the Heartland Institute and the CO2 Coalition, would deny any of this.  Current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who addressed the reported dozens of attendees, once acknowledged the reality of a changing climate. But lately he has helped marshal President Donald Trump’s attacks on every government effort to ameliorate it, including by rescinding his agency’s finding that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant that needs regulation. Zeldin and climate sceptics have shifted tactics in recent years, from questioning climate change’s reality to questioning its seriousness. Conveniently, both stances argue for the continued use of fossil fuels.  Cherry blossoms arriving a couple of weeks early would seem to fall on the “not very serious” end of the spectrum of climate consequences – at least until you remember that cherry trees are plants, as are corn, wheat and other food crops also being affected by warped growing seasons. Cherry blossoms are just photogenic bellwethers of an atmosphere going awry. …

SOLARAMA – big proof from Aptera and big savings for solar + EV drivers

SOLARAMA – big proof from Aptera and big savings for solar + EV drivers

Published by skeptic

On today’s solar-powered episode of Quick Charge, Aptera’s CEO shares more proof that his company’s solar car concept has legs, joining dozens of Electrek readers who are topping off their car (and home) batteries with the power of the sun! We also talk about why backup power is the least interesting thing you can do with a home backup battery, and celebrate an absolutely massive win for every American as five offshore wind projects the Trump Administration has been pushing back against since day 1 get the go-ahead to continue. PLUS: enjoy up to $10,000 off a new, 300-mile Chevy Equinox EV (trusted affiliate link) Source Links Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Advertisement – scroll for more content New episodes of Quick Charge are (allegedly) recorded several times per week, most weeks. We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage podcast series. Got news? …

Son of Nobody review: More proof that Yann Martel is a literary paper tiger

Son of Nobody review: More proof that Yann Martel is a literary paper tiger

Published by Sam Flores

The Booker is much to blame. Yann Martel was almost entirely unknown as a writer when, in 2002, he won the prize for Life of Pi, the story of an Indian boy castaway in a boat for 227 days with a big Bengal tiger for company, an allegory of the hazardous odyssey of the soul. Shortly after his victory, Martel said: “I feel like Jesus Christ after he’s done his three days in Hell, I feel like a boy who has just discovered the joys of self-abuse, I feel like Sir Edmund Hillary after he’s stumbled to the top of Everest, all three joys all at once.” Justifiably, perhaps. For Life of Pi went on to sell 15 million copies in 50 languages and to be filmed in 3D by Ang Lee — the movie took $609 million at the box office. No other author’s fortunes have been so transformed by a prize. Yann Martel Tammy Zdunich Photography Martel’s subsequent career has been less brilliant. His proposal for a follow-up, a flip book about the …

ABC conjecture: The secret project to settle controversial maths proof with a computer

ABC conjecture: The secret project to settle controversial maths proof with a computer

Published by skeptic

In 2012, Shinichi Mochizuki published a paper claiming to provide a proof for the ABC conjecture in number theory Newscom/Alamy One of the most bitterly contested proofs in modern mathematics may be on the verge of being untangled. Two projects, both aiming to use a computer program to cast new light on the controversy, are now up and running – with one having operated in secret for more than two years already. The developments are a positive sign that the row might find a solution, say mathematicians. The saga began in 2012 when Shinichi Mochizuki at Kyoto University, Japan, claimed to have proved a famous idea called the ABC conjecture, posting a 500-page proof online. The conjecture is simple to state, concerning prime numbers involved in solutions to the equation a + b = c and how these numbers relate to each other. But solving it requires deep insights into the nature of how addition and multiplication interact. The answer also has far-reaching implications for other mathematical disciplines. Mochizuki’s proof was a mathematical bombshell, but …

Surprise: Not every Lenovo laptop is worth recommending in 2026 – the Yoga 7i is proof

Surprise: Not every Lenovo laptop is worth recommending in 2026 – the Yoga 7i is proof

Published by skeptic

pros and cons Pros OLED screen Impressive 5MP webcam Accurate stylus Cons Subpar performance Low screen brightness more buying choices Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. It’s been a while since I last reviewed a laptop, and I’m jumping back on the horse with the new Lenovo Yoga 7a 2-in-1, a solid midrange laptop that handles daily office workloads without much friction. It features the flexible hinge devices this model is known for, which let the PC switch between laptop, tablet, and tent modes. Its versatility offers users a range of ways to work and consume media. Also: I used an M.2 PCIe enclosure for data storage, and it made file transfers so much faster At first, I had a great time, but as time went on, its shortcomings became harder to ignore. While it performs well for a midrange laptop, the Yoga 7a doesn’t feel like a product that belongs in 2026. Instead, it feels like a 2024 laptop — decent, but nothing mindblowing. Best laptop deals of the week Deals are …

Block introduces Managerbot, a proactive Square AI agent and the clearest proof point yet for Jack Dorsey’s AI bet

Block introduces Managerbot, a proactive Square AI agent and the clearest proof point yet for Jack Dorsey’s AI bet

Published by skeptic

Block today unveiled Managerbot, a new AI agent embedded in the Square platform that proactively monitors a seller’s business, identifies emerging problems, and proposes actionable solutions — without the seller ever having to ask a question. The product marks the most tangible manifestation of CEO Jack Dorsey’s controversial bet that artificial intelligence can fundamentally reshape how his company operates, builds products, and serves the millions of small businesses that depend on Square to run day-to-day commerce. In an exclusive interview with VentureBeat, Willem Avé, Block’s head of product at Square, described Managerbot as a decisive break from the company’s earlier Square AI assistant, which functioned as a reactive chatbot that answered seller questions about sales, employees, and business performance. “The big shift from Square AI to Managerbot is really from reactive to proactive,” Avé said. “What that means is the primary interface is not a question box. You assign tasks to Managerbot, and that could be based on data, an insight, or a signal from your business.” The product is beginning to roll out now, …

A million prize awaits proof that quantum computers are useful for health care

A $5 million prize awaits proof that quantum computers are useful for health care

Published by skeptic

Unfortunately, those patterns are hidden inside data sets so large that they overwhelm classical solvers. Infleqtion uses the quantum computer to find correlations in the data that can reduce the size of the computation. “Then we hand the reduced problem back to the classical solver,” Teague says. “I’m basically trying to use the best of my quantum and my classical resources.” The Nottingham-based team, meanwhile, is using quantum computing to nail down a drug candidate that can cure myotonic dystrophy, the most common adult-onset form of muscular dystrophy. One member of the team, David Brook, played a role in identifying the gene behind this condition in 1992. Over 30 years later, Brook, Hirst, and the others in their group—which includes QuEra, a Boston company developing a quantum computer based on neutral atoms—has now quantum-computed a way in which drugs can form chemical bonds with the protein that brings on the disease, blocking the mechanism that causes the problem. Low expectations  The entrants’ confidence might be high, but Shihan Sajeed’s is much lower. Sajeed, a quantum …

Support of AP schools is proof they play a crucial role

Support of AP schools is proof they play a crucial role

Published by skeptic

Local authority leaders defied DfE pressure to swap AP free school projects for spending on mainstream provision because they know some children need a specialist setting, says Meg Powell-Chandler. “This school has changed his life,” says Elliot’s mum as she tearfully describes how St Wilfrid’s Academy in Doncaster rescued her son from bullying, misunderstanding and misadventure at his previous mainstream school. St Wilfrid’s is an alternative provision (AP) free school that the Department for Education highlighted as providing best practice when it launched the 2022 wave of special and AP free schools. Yet previously approved specialist free school projects like St Wilfrid’s were thrown into uncertainty in December when the government told local authorities that had co-bid for 59 special and AP free schools that they had two months to decide whether to proceed with the projects. Alternatively, councils could take per-place funding to create “specialist places” themselves by expanding existing special schools or creating inclusion units in mainstream settings. Private provision costs Demand for specialist provision has been rising for years. Around two thirds …

Beth Moore to end Living Proof events in 2027

Beth Moore to end Living Proof events in 2027

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Bible teacher and bestselling author Beth Moore announced Thursday (March 5) that her ministry will stop holding large-scale Living Proof events in 2027. The decision to end Living Proof Ministries events, which feature Moore’s Bible teaching and worship music, will coincide with her 70th birthday. She plans to continue speaking and writing but will no longer host events. “Though it may sound like retirement, unless the Lord wills it, it’s meant to actually delay retirement, making the best use of my remaining energies in the last chapter of ministry,” Moore, the founder of Living Proof Ministries in Houston, said in a video announcement. For decades, Moore taught at stadiums and megachurches and sold millions of Bible studies and books, in a remarkable career that started when she began teaching a Bible study at a church in Houston. One of her studies, “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place,” wound up in the hands of an editor at Lifeway, the Southern Baptist Convention publishing arm, which led to a publishing deal that lasted for decades and …