Information Weekly is our column the place we spotlight and summarize a number of the week’s prime tales so you’ll be able to compensate for the most recent tech information.
That is Android Central’s Information Weekly, your go-to supply for a concise roundup of the week’s most vital tech tales. That is the place we delve into the highest headlines that present the most recent developments and improvements contributing to the digital panorama.
This week we get into the nitty-gritty of the brand new AI on the block Deep Search, Garmin watch homeowners had a tough few days, Samsung and the S Pen saga, Meta introduced its earnings, and Pebble watches made a comeback. Let’s get into it.
DeepSeek within the highlight
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DeepSeek is what’s been on most individuals’s minds this previous week as a Chinese language AI mannequin has determined to go head-to-head with its U.S.-rival AI firms. So what precisely is that this?
DeepSeek is an open-source AI ChatBot primarily based on Meta’s free and open-source Llama 3.3, skilled by the DeepSeek crew. However what’s fueling the hype is that the corporate claims they developed this LLM at an exponentially lower cost than most different LLMs we all know of at present. By comparability, OpenAI prices $200 a month for ChatGPT Professional, whereas DeepSeek R1 offers you an identical expertise because the LLM without spending a dime.
Whereas understanding how this huge language mannequin is gaining its expertise, AI analyst Alexander Doria confirmed in a latest X submit the chip powering the DeepSeek R1 mannequin, stating that DeepSeek’s R1 large-language mannequin (LLM) was first skilled utilizing NVIDIA’s H100, however now it absolutely capabilities on Huawei’s Ascend 910C chip to generate responses.
DeepSeek appears to be shifting the norm by making well-developed AI accessible to everybody without spending a dime and being impartial of U.S-based chip firms placing them in danger. For the primary time, NVIDIA took an enormous hit on Monday, shedding $593 billion in market worth as their shares tanked.
It stays to be seen how this AI mannequin will tackle the large gamers within the enterprise and whether or not it will likely be capable of sustain its hype.
Garmin’s blue triangle of demise
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Garmin watch customers had a tough 2-day interval coping with their wearables, as most of them have been in a frozen state.
A number of customers globally have been impacted by a Garmin GPS-related outage that made these wearables virtually ineffective and caught on the boot display or displaying a blue triangle. A number of Forerunner fashions (265, 965, 255, and 955), the Garmin Venu 2 and three, the Garmin Fenix 7, and the Epix Professional Gen 2, and extra confronted this challenge.
Initially, Join Garmin’s Standing web site indicated that Exercise Uploads are down, with the warning “We’re conscious of a problem inflicting some units to be caught on the start-up display or a blue triangle.”
The corporate additionally issued a brief repair to these affected, asking them to laborious reset their units. DC Rainmaker reported that the problem stems from a foul “satellite tv for pc pre-cache file” that was placing these watches in a bootloop.
The advice continues to be to carry down your watch’s Mild or Energy button for as much as 30 seconds to show it off, then flip it again on and see if the issue is resolved. After two days of experimenting with a repair, Garmin stated, “We’ve resolved the underlying challenge inflicting some units to be caught on the startup display or a blue triangle” on a banner situated on its Garmin Assist web page.
And in the event you “Press and maintain the facility/mild button on the system till the watch shuts off,” flip it again on, then sync it together with your Join app or plug it into your pc’s Garmin Specific app, it ought to clear up your watch’s challenge and substitute the malicious file that induced this challenge.
Samsung and the S Pen saga
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Earlier this week, Samsung needed to do a bit of injury management on the S Pen scenario. All of it started when a Samsung weblog and a few Amazon listings recommended {that a} Bluetooth S Pen that’s appropriate with the Galaxy S25 Extremely may very well be purchased individually.
The Galaxy S25 Extremely launched with no Bluetooth-enabled S Pen, built-in or bought individually. For this reason, when a Samsung Enterprise Insights weblog recommended that Galaxy S25 Extremely homeowners may purchase a Bluetooth S Pen individually, it got here as a reduction for some. Moreover, some Amazon listings for the official S25 Extremely S Pen in sure areas additionally point out Bluetooth assist. Samsung’s official listings did not point out this; nevertheless, the scenario rapidly snowballed for the reason that itemizing reveals solely the usual Galaxy S25 Extremely S Pen and the S Pen Professional.
Later, makes an attempt to hyperlink the S Pen Professional to the S25 Extremely throughout a media briefing failed, and a Samsung exec ultimately confirmed the 2 aren’t appropriate.
Quick ahead two days, Samsung needed to take away all mentions of a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen from the weblog submit.
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On Thursday (Jan. 30), Meta reported one other record-breaking quarter for This fall 2024, displaying a 21% uptick in income over the identical quarter in 2023. Meta earned $48 billion in income throughout This fall 2024, and the corporate’s full-year earnings totaled $164 billion, a 22% improve over 2023’s $134 billion in total income.
Meta attributed these huge numbers to adverts income, bringing in a record-breaking $46.7 billion, whereas Meta’s Actuality Labs division additionally broke information with $1.08 billion in income. CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that ad income was up for 2 main causes: 3.35 billion folks used Meta services and products in 2024, delivering extra ad impressions, whereas the common value per ad concurrently elevated 14% YoY.
Trying into 2025, Meta shall be launching “a brand new, extra customized AI,” and the corporate expects to succeed in 1 billion customers by 12 months’s finish. The corporate teased 2025 because the 12 months “we get again to the OG Fb” however did not develop on that. Instagram, Reels, WhatsApp, and Threads are also anticipated to proceed to develop all through 2025.
Moreover, Meta revealed that it plans to have billions of sensible glasses available on the market, which seems like a hefty aim given the present progress trajectory of the market.
Pebble watch resurrection
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Pebble watches have been extinct, so to talk, for the reason that previous decade, and this week, PebbleOS’s code was made open-source by Google. The Google Open Supply Weblog introduced that it will likely be sharing the Github repository for the PebbleOS supply code.
Though some “proprietary supply code” was eliminated, anybody can take the remaining code and generate a brand new model of PebbleOS, with performance like “notifications, media controls, health monitoring, and assist for customized apps and watch faces” accessible.
Now Pebble’s former founder, Eric Migicovsky, has introduced plans to carry again the model, launching a brand new watch with “the identical specs and options as Pebble, although with some enjoyable new stuff as nicely.”
Now that PebbleOS is formally open supply, Migicovsky and his “small crew” can work on bringing us a brand new and improved Pebble-like watch.
“Classes have been discovered final time,” Migicovsky admits in his weblog submit, referring to how he oversaw Pebble’s reputation on Kickstarter and the rise and fall of the corporate — having to promote it to Fitbit.
Extra tales this week
These are a number of the greatest tales from this week. In the meantime, listed here are another tales which might be price catching up on:
