Microsoft has announced launch details for its forthcoming line of Zune personal media devices: the device will go on sale to consumer November 14, 2006, at an estimated retail price of $249.99.
“On Nov. 14 we’re delivering not only a device, but a shared, social experience that will be shaped by the collective imagination of consumers,” said Chris Stephenson, Zune’s general manager of global marketing. “We’re infusing the spirit of discovery and sharing into everything we do—from the experience we crafted around the device and service to pre-loading music and videos on every device to expose people to something new.”
Microsoft also revealed pricing information for its music subscription service for the Zune—$14.99 per month—and pricing for individual song purchases through the online Zune Market place: 79 Microsoft Points. Microsoft Points will operate in a way similar to pre-paid phone cards—users give Microsoft real money, and Microsoft gives them points which can be redeemed in either the Zune Marketplace or the Xbox Live Marketplace. Microsoft says Microsoft Points can also be redeemed at a “growing number of online stores.”
Contrary to some expectations, Microsoft’s initial pricing on the Zune and music offerings does not throw down the glove in a pricing war with Apple’s iPod and iTunes Music Store—the Zune’s initial pricing is essentially parallel to that of a 30 GB iPod, despite the Zune offering Wi-Fi sharing capabilities—and the per-track music purchase price is expected to be similar to Apple’s famous $.99-per-song pricing, although the Microsoft Points system does provide Microsoft the opportunity to offer sales incentives through discounts and special offers without altering its advertised prices.
The initial Zune devices will carry a 30 GB hard disk pre-loaded with music, images, and video content from Microsoft’s partners. The “Zune preload” set for the products launch includes the following items:
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.