Apple Vision Pro Sales Slump, Robot Weapons Get Scarier, TikTok Ban Is Here and More

This week Apple got a dose of reality as people are caring less about its Vision Pro. A robot tank with green eyes and a robo dog with a flamethrower show that the future of warfare is here. And to round things out, Elon Musk’s AI bot isn’t that smart. Here’s all the big tech news for the week.

Apple’s Vision Pro debuted just two months ago, drawing crowds of people to sign up for demos and almost immediately selling out. Since then, interest in Apple’s premiere mixed reality headset has plummeted and sales are grinding to a halt at some retail stores, Bloomberg reports on Monday. So, what happened to Apple’s latest hardware device? - Maxwell Zeff Read More

A 28-year-old motorcyclist died in Washington State on Friday afternoon because a dipshit Tesla driver rear-ended him at speed. A Snohomish man, 56, was commuting in his 2022 Tesla Model S when he activated the car’s camera-based advanced driver assist system and according to his statements to police, began looking through his phone. With nobody paying attention to the car’s actions, the Tesla software ignored Jeffrey Nissen on his motorcycle and continued on at speed. The car rear-ended the two-wheeler, Nissen was flung from the bike, and his life ended pinned underneath the electric car, where he was still lodged when police arrived to the scene. - Bradley Brownell, Jalopnik Read More

The year is 2024 and technology is doing incredible things. For the first time ever, you can purchase a walking robot dog with a flame thrower on its back. Yes, the Thermonator, which was announced late last year, is finally available for purchase in the United States. Shockingly, the product can be yours for a mere $9,420—which is a lot of money but still seems like a weirdly low price for a fire-breathing robot. I’m not sure what you’ll do with this fire-spouting contraption once you’ve bought it, but I know one thing: you’ll never, ever, ever use it to cause anyone any problems, right? - Lucas Ropek Read More

DARPA announced successful tests of its new autonomous vehicles on Wednesday, all part of the agency’s Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program. And while the tests sound impressive, we found ourselves transfixed by one little visual detail: The tank’s glowing green eyes. - Matt Novak Read More

Many of us have moved on from the Vision Pro less than three months after its buzzy launch, but Apple can not. The company slashed its 2024 sales expectations for the Vision Pro to nearly half what the market expected for this year, according to a new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Tuesday. As initial hype fades, we may be entering the much-anticipated “flop era” for Vision Pro. - Maxwell Zeff Read More

A study recently published in the peer-reviewed American Psychologist journal claims that a combination of facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology can accurately assess a person’s political orientation by simply looking at that person’s blank, expressionless face. - Lucas Ropek Read More

Non-compete clauses are a thing of the past thanks to a new ruling from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The FTC issued a rule to ban non-compete clauses for employees, according to a release from the commission on Tuesday. It first proposed the rule to get rid of the practice last year. - Oscar Gonzalez Read More

Flawless is using AI technology to visually redub performances for different languages, avoid costly reshoots and censoring for rating systems.

The United States is forcing the Chinese company Bytedance to sell TikTok to a US owner or risk a ban from American app stores.