Dev Brendon Chung explains why old "laser-focused" tech still matters.

A successful reflight of SpaceX's Super Heavy booster would be an important milestone for its Starship program.

The tech market lost 29,000 jobs in March, even as the unemployment rate for tech-related jobs slipped 0.1% to 3.1%, according to an analysis of US Labor Department data released today.At the same time, tech sector employment fell by 8,428 jobs last month, driven largely by job cuts in tech services and telecommunications, according to CompTIA, a non-profit IT trade association that analyzed figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)The BLS data, CompTIA said, sent conflicting signals about the IT job market as uncertainty around it accelerated.With many employers in wait-and-see mode, the jobs data is about in line with expectations for the month, said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA.Overall, US job growth beat expectations, with the broader economy adding 228,000 positions. Thats nearly 100,000 more than the 135,000 economists had predicted would be added. Conversely, the federal government lost 4,000 jobs, due to reduction in force efforts by the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Victor Janulaitis, CEO of IT industry research firm Janco Associates, said DOGEs impact is causing IT contracts to be delayed, leaving government IT professionals uncertain about their future.The overall US unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2% in March, just 0.1% higher than in February. Previous US job gains for January and February were revised down by a total of 48,000, with January reduced by 14,000 and February by 34,000, according to BLS data.In the first quarter of 2025, the IT job market shrank by 34,200 jobs, according to Janulaitis. The number of unemployed IT professionals dropped slightly in March to 133,000 from 148,000 at the start of the year. We believe that many low-skilled, legacy-skilled IT pros, or displaced IT professionals have stopped looking for jobs in the IT sector, he said.CompTIA said new employee job postings for tech occupations rose slightly to more than 213,000. In all, there were nearly 478,000 active tech job postings last month. Industry sectors adding the most new tech job postings included professional, scientific and technical services (52,526), administrative and support services (26,099) and manufacturing (21,975).Software developers and engineers, tech support specialists, systems engineers and architects, and cybersecurity engineers and analysts were in highest demand, according to CompTIA. Positions in artificial intelligence (AI) or that require AI skills accounted for 21% of all active tech job postings. And half of all tech job postings did not require a four-year academic degree.Several industry experts saw the uptick in overall hiring and steady unemployment rates as a good omen.Martha Heller, CEO of executive search firm Heller, called the BLS jobs report healthy, and said it reinforces the plain truth that technology innovation (primarily AI) will drive up employment. In every sector, companies need people to realize the return on their AI investments, and while those people are often technologists, the AI employment boom will expand to include a broader range of skills.With the nearly certain instability that our current economic policy brings, technology and the people who can use it to navigate uncertainty will have job security for a long time, Heller said.Kye Mitchell,head of US tech recruiting firm Experis North America, sees AI as a boon for all businesses. In the tech sector, our real-time data shows that businesses are addressing their AI needs by focusing on their data to be prepared to best leverage AI in this new era, he said.Quarter over quarter, demand for data analysis and cleansing has risen sharply, he said. For example, roles for data scientists are up 238%. Database architect positions rose 142%. And, job openings for mathematicians were up 1,272%, Mitchell said.Additionally, theres a growing need for executive management, indicating businesses are relying on leadership to drive AI integration, he said. The impact of recent economic policy shifts on AI worker demand is still unfolding, and market uncertainty may lead to longer decision timelines and adjustments.Others familiar with the tech industry saw the latest jobs report as positive, including Ger Doyle, US country manager at global staffing firm ManpowerGroup. Todays jobs report is a welcome sign, given the negative indicators we saw leading into it. While the US labor market is proving to be resilient, there are signs of cooling that are consistent with employers navigating uncertainty.ManpowerGroup data shows a 2% overall decline in all job postings and a 3% drop in new job postings. While the labor market appears stable, Doyle said employers remain cautious, with the exception of healthcare and education sectors.Uncertainty is keeping both employers and employees from making moves, leading businesses to focus on maintaining current workforces but considering adjustments if the uncertainty persists, he said.Janulaitis said interviews he performed with more than 100 CFOs and CIOs revealed optimism about Trump administration, though many anticipate a mild economic downturn in mid-2025. Unemployed IT pros found jobs faster than expected as CIOs quickly filled positions while hiring was still authorized, he said.`

A Japanese chipmaker you've probably never heard of wants to power Apple's future artificial intelligence server farms.Manufacturing for AppleRapidus, Japan's ambitious semiconductor startup, is moving quickly toward becoming a key supplier for advanced AI chips. The company has reportedly initiated talks with Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft.The supplier is aiming to secure agreements for mass-producing cutting-edge 2-nanometer chips by 2027. Although it trails behind TSMC, Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike believes the company can close that gap with more advanced manufacturing techniques. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The stiff tariffs soon to be imposed on foreign countries at the remit of the Trump Administration will inflate the cost of building a new home by an average of $9,200, according to a recent NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) survey.While nationally the median value of a new home reached $414,500 in March according to U.S. Census Bureau data, the broad-ranging tariffs on goods from China, the EU, Canada, Japan, and Mexico will further increase the cost of doing business for homebuilders with states such as North Carolina, Delaware, and Utah feeling a particular impact due to the share of new construction in their local markets.The ability of domestic building materials manufacturers to fill the need in time is unlikely due to lingering labor and supply chain issues left over from the pandemic. The NAHB estimates that 85% of all softwood lumber products come from Canada alone, turningthe exemptions granted to producersfrom there and Mexicointo at least one "major win...

FromSoftwares The Duskbloods proved one of the bigger surprises for the Nintendo Switch 2, though its also relatively new for the developer. As a PvEvP title, the focus is on multiplayer as you control the Bloodsworn and compete for the First Blood as humanity ends.In a Creators Voice interview with Nintendo, director Hidetaka Miyazaki revealed more details about the Bloodsworn and their abilities. There are several reasons we put the players focus on the Bloodsworn with one of those being character actions.The Bloodsworn possess superhuman abilities thanks to special blood, so their actions are more dramatic than anything seen in our previous titles. Even basic character actions in this game, such as sprinting, super jump, and double jump, are designed to be dynamic and stress-free and are complemented by each characters unique weapons and abilities, allowing for a wide range of creativity.Each Bloodsworn can also attack at range, with some possessing firearms. While each match can have up to eight players, there are over a dozen different characters to choose from, each with their own identity and appearance.I think there are a lot of unique elements to the character designs and the weapons they use, so hopefully, players can find one or two favorites among them, said Miyazaki. He also confirmed that players can customize them to a certain extent and build a character that feels like their own.The Duskbloods launches in 2026 as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. Stay tuned for more details in the coming year. In the meantime, FromSoftware is bringing Elden Ring to the platform with the Tarnished Edition, which includes the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree and some new items.

There Might Be Something Human in the Way Bonobos CommunicateTheir Calls Share a Key Trait With Our Language, Study SuggestsResearchers attempted to decode bonobo calls by recording their social context, then analyzed how the primates string together these vocalizations A young bonobo female responds to group members. Martin Surbeck, Kokolopori Bonobo Research ProjectScientists have long considered the complexity of language to be an obvious separation between humans and all other life forms on Earth. New research, however, suggests our linguistic abilities might not be as unique as we thought.Researchers studied the vocal behavior of wild bonoboswhich are among humans closest living relativesand concluded their oral communication features complex combinations that are potentially similar to those found in human language. Their work is detailed in a study published Thursday in the journal Science and hints at the evolutionary origin of our own communication.We would never say that bonobos have language, because language is specific to humans. Its our very special communication system, Simon Townsend, a comparative psychologist at the University of Zurich and a co-author of the study, tells NBC News Evan Bush. However, were showing that features of language seem to be present in the communication system of bonobos.In linguistics, compositionality is the principle in which the meaning of a phrase is determined by the meaning of its constituent words and the way they relate to each other. In basic, or trivial, compositionality, the meaning of a phrase is simply the addition of the meaning of its words. For example, a blond dancer is an individual who is blond and a dancer, as explained in a statement from the University of Zurich.In nontrivial compositionality, a word within a phrase modifies another. A bad dancer, for example, is not a person who is bad and also a dancer. Bad specifically relates to the dancing, together meaning an individual who dances poorly. While some animal vocal communication features trivial compositionality, researchers used to assume that nontrivial compositionality was unique to humans.Its the force behind languages creativity and productivity, Townsend tells the New York Times Carl Zimmer. Theoretically, you can come up with any phrase that has never been uttered before. Tupac, a young male bonobo, scratches his head. Lukas Bierhoff, Kokolopori Bonobo Research ProjectThe new study, however, suggests bonobos oral communication relies on both trivial and nontrivial compositionality.To conclude this, Townsend and his colleagues studied adult bonobos at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They recorded 700 vocalizations along with the contexts in which they were used. Then, they borrowed linguistic techniques to investigate the meaning of individual calls.We kind of established this dictionary, Mlissa Berthet, lead author of the study and an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Zurich, tells New Scientists Sophie Berdugo. We have one vocalization and one meaning.The team classified bonobos sounds into various categoriespeep, grunt, yelp, high-hoot and low-hoot. They used the context of each vocalization type to determine what it might mean. Scientists translate the grunt, for instance, as look at me and the yelp as a rigid imperative: Lets do that.With this understanding of individual vocalizations, they relied on yet another linguistic method to analyze call combinations, testing how their meaning relates to the meanings of their component calls. If the meaning of a series of calls was differentbut derivedfrom its two parts, and different from the parts merely added together, the team concluded that it was an example of nontrivial compositionality.They ultimately identified several examples. A high-hoot (pay attention to me) with a low-hoot (I am excited) together appeared to mean something like: Pay attention to me, because I am in distress. And a peep (I would like to) with a whistle (lets stay together) was used in intimate contexts like sex or displays of dominance.While the nontrivial compositionality they detected in bonobos is significantly less complex than the one employed in human language, Townsend tells Scientific Americans Cody Cottier that it represents another layer chipped away from the assumed differences between humans and animals. Olive, a first-time bonobo mother, vocalizes toward distant group members. Lukas Bierhoff, Kokolopori Bonobo Research ProjectTownsend and colleagues had previously detected hints of nontrivial compositionality in chimpanzees. Now, however, its the first time in any animal species that there is an unambiguous evidence for nontrivial syntax, nontrivial compositionality, and so that changes the game, says Mal Leroux, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Rennes in France who was not involved in the study, to New Scientist.Not all researchers agree, though. Thom Scott-Phillips, a cognitive scientist from Central European University who was also not involved in the study, is critical of the teams criteria for detecting nontrivial compositionality, per Scientific American. He thinks even signaling in bacteria might meet most of the authors requirements: If they go and do the same work with [bacteria], and they dont find it, he says, that would be a challenge to someone like me.If confirmed, however, the study would have important implications for the ancient evolution of language. Humans and bonobos might have inherited nontrivial compositionality from our last common ancestor, who walked the Earth around 7 million to 13 million years ago, asMartin Surbeck, a co-author of the study and researcher at Harvard Universitys department of human evolutionary biology, points out in the statement.Thus, the cognitive building blocks that facilitate this capacity is at least seven million years old, says Townsend to the Guardians Nicola Davis. And I think that is a really cool finding.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Nintendo says Switch 2 preorders won't go live in the U.S. on April 9, citing President Trump's newly revealed tariffs.Read More

President Donald Trumps 25 percent tariffs on all auto-related imports have been called a debacle of epic proportions and a sure-fire way to tank the auto market by crushing demand. Analysts have been predicting everything from $12,000 per vehicle price hikes to the possible Cubanization of the US car fleet.Now that theyve had a few days to process the news, the automakers are starting to get their ducks in a row and make some moves.Heres how each company is responding:AudiNow that the tariffs are in effect, the German automaker is holding all vehicles assembled in Mexico and overseas at US ports until further notice, according to Automotive News. Audi currently has 37,000 units in dealer stock and at port which remain unaffected by the new import fees and are ready to sell. Audi reportedly said it would be marking unaffected units with a $0 No Added Import Fee option code for easy tracking.We are evaluating how to best proceed for our customers and our dealers, Audi spokesperson Mark Dahncke said.BMWBMW hasnt announced any specific response yet, but the company said last month that it expected a 1 billion hit to its 2025 earnings as a result of tariffs.BMW spokesperson Phil DiIanni declined to comment, aside from sending a statement highlighting the automakers commitment to making cars in the US.FordFord was first out of the gate with a response geared toward people panic shopping, hoping to capitalize on pre-tariff sticker prices. The automaker launched a new program called From America, For America that offers employee pricing to everyone.The promo runs April 3rd through June 2nd and offers significant savings on a number of 2024 and 2025 gas, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and diesel Ford and Lincoln vehicles, according to the company. EV customers will get the discount on top of the Ford Power Promise deal, which extends through June 30th and includes a complimentary home charger. Excluded from the limited-time offer are Ford Raptor models, 2025 Expedition and Navigator SUVs, and Super Duty trucks.We understand that these are uncertain times for many Americans, Ford says on its website. Whether its navigating the complexities of a changing economy or simply needing a reliable vehicle for your family, we want to help.The discount may help Ford clear out some of its ample inventory, which stood at a 74-day supply of vehicles on its dealers lots at the end of March, compared to 50 days for GM, according to JP Morgan Global Research.Image: Getty ImagesGMGeneral Motors responded by telling employees at its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that it would increase production of light-duty trucks and add some temporary hourly workers to backfill for employees during summer vacation. The company is also considering shifting some of its truck production from Mexico to the US. GM is not making any physical upgrades to the plant, just adding additional temporary people to support it.The Fort Wayne plant makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, which GM also manufactures at plants in Mexico and Canada. About half of GMs large pickup truck production is done in Mexico and Canada, according to a recent Barclays report.HondaThe Japanese automaker may not be merging with Nissan, but its already making moves to adjust to the tariffs. The company is planning on producing its next-generation Civic hybrid in Indiana instead of Mexico to avoid import duties, Reuters reported last month.Meanwhile, Honda dealers are reassuring their customers that most of their most popular vehicles are made in the US. And spokesperson Chris Martin referred to the Autos Drive America trade group, which asserts that it is impossible to rebuild those supply chains in a matter of weeks, especially with the added financial burden of tariffs.Hyundai / KiaHyundai gets the award for most Trump-appeasing announcement, with a commitment to spend $21 billion in the US (despite most of that investment already being underway). But while Trump was happy to brandish the announcement as proof his tariffs were working, the Korean automaker was also reportedly warning its dealers that prices could go up as a result of the new import duties.Hyundai Motor, including Kia, Hyundai and Genesis, remains committed to the long-term growth of the U.S. automotive industry through localized production and innovation, spokesperson James Bell said in an email.Jaguar Land RoverJLR is holding off on any immediate decisions, telling UK-based media that its local business remains resilient. But residents of the town where Jaguar operates its factory were dour about the news.Im appalled. It will kill Jaguar Land Rover here in the town, one resident told The Guardian. There could potentially be job losses because JLR export enormously to America. The knock-on effect is going to be enormous.Mercedes-BenzThe luxury automaker is reportedly considering pulling its least expensive models, like its entry-level GLA, from the US market, Bloomberg said. But no decisions have been made yet, as spokesperson Amanda Painter said that Mercedes-Benz was still currently assessing the impact of the US-tariff lines.Image: Bloomberg via Getty ImagesNissanNissan initially said that it would cut a shift at the Smyrna, Tennessee, assembly plant where it makes its popular Rogue SUV once Trumps tariffs went into effect. But now that the tariffs are here, the company reversed itself, committing to keeping two shifts at the factory.Nissan is making some other hard decisions, though. The automaker said it would pause orders of the Infiniti QX55, which is built at its COMPAS plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan said production is expected to continue for those models sold in other markets.We are reviewing our production and supply chain operations to identify optimal solutions for efficiency and sustainability, spokesperson Lloryn Love-Carter said in a statement. Our objective is to implement the most effective industrial strategy to offer Nissan and Infiniti customers great product and strong value.PorschePorsche has never been the cheapest sports car on the block, but tariffs are likely to put renewed pressure on its prices. Last month, the companys executives told reporters that it was likely to pass the cost of tariffs along to its customers, according to The Wall Street Journal.StellantisThe parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Maserati, and others has good news and bad news to share in response to the tariffs. The good news is that its copying Fords idea of employee price discounts to the public. The bad news is that its temporarily laying off 900 workers while pausing production at several factories.Stellantis said it would be pausing production at its Windsor, Ontario, plant for two weeks, from April 7th to April 14th, with operations resuming on April 21st. Its also pausing production at its Toluca, Mexico, plant for the month of April. The layoffs will affect workers at the Warren Stamping and Sterling Stamping plants in Michigan, as well as the Indiana Transmission Plant and Kokomo Transmission Plant and Kokomo Casting Plant in Indiana.We understand that the current environment creates uncertainty, Antonio Filosa, chief operating officer for the Americas at Stellantis, said in an email to employees. Be assured that we are very engaged with all of our key stakeholders, including top government leaders, unions, suppliers and dealers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as we work to manage and adapt to these changes.Stellantis employee pricing program will run through April 30th. Discounts vary based on model and location.TeslaTesla, which is dealing with its own problems, hasnt immediately responded to the news of the tariffs. That said, CEO Elon Musk has made several comments in response to commentary on X that Tesla is better insulated from the new fees as a result of selling only vehicles made in the US to American customers.Important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here, Musk said. The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.Image: Getty ImagesToyotaThe biggest automaker in the world is keeping its cards close to its vest for now. Toyota has no immediate plans to raise prices as a result of the tariffs, both Japanese media reports and Reuters confirm. Spokesperson Rick Bourgoise declined to comment further.VolkswagenVW is adding import fees to the price of imported cars sold in the US, The New York Times reported. The exact amount will be determined later this month. It was the clearest example yet of Trumps tariffs leading to higher costs for consumers.VolvoVolvo is thinking about boosting its US-based production, including bringing new models to the factory it operates in Ridgeville, South Carolina, the companys CEO told Bloomberg. Volvo already builds the EX90 SUV and Polestar 3 at the plant in order to take advantage of the federal EV tax credit.Volvo spokesperson Sophia Durr declined to comment on any further plans.See More:

AI agents are increasingly vital in helping engineers efficiently handle complex coding tasks. However, one significant challenge has been accurately assessing and ensuring these agents can handle real-world coding scenarios beyond simplified benchmark tests.Augment Code has announced the launch of theirAugment SWE-bench Verified Agent, a development in agentic AI tailored specifically for software engineering. This release places them at the top of open-source agent performance on the SWE-bench leaderboard. By combining the strengths of Anthropics Claude Sonnet 3.7 and OpenAIs O1 model, Augment Codes approach has delivered impressive results, showcasing a compelling blend of innovation and pragmatic system architecture.The SWE-bench benchmark is a rigorous test that measures an AI agents effectiveness in handling practical software engineering tasks drawn directly from GitHub issues in prominent open-source repositories. Unlike traditional coding benchmarks, which generally focus on isolated, algorithmic-style problems, SWE-bench offers a more realistic testbed that requires agents to navigate existing codebases, identify relevant tests autonomously, create scripts, and iterate against comprehensive regression test suites.Augment Codes initial submission has achieved a 65.4% success rate, a notable achievement in this demanding environment. The company focused its first effort on leveraging existing state-of-the-art models, specifically Anthropics Claude Sonnet 3.7 as the primary driver for task execution and OpenAIs O1 model for ensembling. This approach strategically bypassed training proprietary models at this initial phase, establishing a robust baseline.One interesting aspect of Augments methodology was their exploration into different agent behaviors and strategies. For example, they found that certain expected beneficial techniques like Claude Sonnets thinking mode and separate regression-fixing agents did not yield meaningful performance improvements. This highlights the nuanced and sometimes counterintuitive dynamics in agent performance optimization. Also, basic ensembling techniques such as majority voting were explored but ultimately abandoned due to cost and efficiency considerations. However, simple ensembling with OpenAIs O1 did provide incremental improvements in accuracy, underscoring the value of ensembling even in constrained scenarios.While Augment Codes initial SWE-bench submissions success is commendable, the company is transparent about the benchmarks limitations. Notably, SWE-bench problems are heavily skewed toward bug fixing rather than feature creation, the provided descriptions are more structured and LLM-friendly compared to typical real-world developer prompts, and the benchmark solely utilizes Python. Real-world complexities, such as navigating massive production codebases and dealing with less descriptive programming languages, pose challenges that SWE-bench does not capture.Augment Code has openly acknowledged these limitations, emphasizing its continued commitment to optimizing agent performance beyond benchmark metrics. They stress that while improvements to prompts and ensembling can boost quantitative results, qualitative customer feedback and real-world usability remain its priorities. The ultimate goal for Augment Code is developing cost-effective, fast agents capable of providing unparalleled coding assistance in practical professional environments.As part of its future roadmap, Augment is actively exploring the fine-tuning of proprietary models using RL techniques and proprietary data. Such advancements promise to enhance model accuracy and significantly reduce latency and operational costs, facilitating more accessible and scalable AI-driven coding assistance.Some of the key takeaways from the Augment SWE-bench Verified Agent include:Augment Code released Augment SWE-bench Verified Agent, achieving the top spot among open-source agents.The agent combines Anthropics Claude Sonnet 3.7 as its core driver and OpenAIs O1 model for ensembling.Achieved a 65.4% success rate on SWE-bench, highlighting robust baseline capabilities.Found counterintuitive results, where anticipated beneficial features like thinking mode and separate regression-fixing agents offered no substantial performance gains.Identified cost-effectiveness as a critical barrier to implementing extensive ensembling in real-world scenarios.Acknowledged benchmark limitations, including its bias towards Python and smaller-scale bug-fixing tasks.Future improvements will focus on cost reduction, lower latency, and improved usability through reinforcement learning and fine-tuning proprietary models.Highlighted the importance of balancing benchmark-driven improvements with qualitative user-centric enhancements.Check outthe GitHub Page.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,feel free to follow us onTwitterand dont forget to join our85k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqWebsite| + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Meet Open-Qwen2VL: A Fully Open and Compute-Efficient Multimodal Large Language ModelAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Researchers from Dataocean AI and Tsinghua University Introduces Dolphin: A Multilingual Automatic Speech Recognition ASR Model Optimized for Eastern Languages and DialectsAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Introduction to MCP: The Ultimate Guide to Model Context Protocol for AI AssistantsAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Snowflake Proposes ExCoT: A Novel AI Framework that Iteratively Optimizes Open-Source LLMs by Combining CoT Reasoning with off-Policy and on-Policy DPO, Relying Solely on Execution Accuracy as Feedback