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Page 12

Holy Shit Products

Campix brings 36-shot rolls back to a digital camera ↗

A crowdfunded camera pairs a waist-level screen with a film-like shooting routine. Its appeal is the process; finished-product performance remains unverified.

Big Moves

A rocket company is spending $74 billion on AI supercomputers: SpaceX unveils Texas and Arizona campuses, one drawing up to 6 gigawatts ↗

On Nov. 12 at 11:08 a.m. EST, SpaceX laid out plans for two "supercompute" campuses: more than $24 billion near its Starbase site in Texas and about $50 billion in Cochise County, Arizona, for a total above $74 billion. SpaceX says the Arizona site would draw up to 6 gigawatts, include 24 gigawatt-hours of battery storage and use no industrial water. The Arizona project still needs county approval, and residents and environmental groups near the Texas site have raised concerns.

AI WTF

Google puts a cheaper Gemini 4 in front of every Search user: Hydrogen is 2.5x faster and makes up facts 5x less, Google says ↗

Google released Gemini 4 Hydrogen, the fast, low-cost member of its Gemini 4 family, on Nov. 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST and is rolling it out to all Google Search users worldwide and in the Gemini app. Google says it edges out its pricier Argon model on a third-party intelligence index, runs 2.5x faster than Gemini 3.8 Flash and cuts fabricated claims more than fivefold, though its own model card shows it still trails a rival on some coding and computer-use tests.

Big Moves

JD.com completes €1.335 billion takeover of Ceconomy, taking control of MediaMarkt and Saturn ↗

JD.com said in a Hong Kong exchange filing on Nov. 12 that it has completed its voluntary public takeover offer for German consumer-electronics retailer Ceconomy, paying €1.335 billion for 59.8% of the shares and voting rights. Ceconomy is now a JD.com subsidiary. Together with a partner’s stake, the combined holding is 85.2%. The companies say European stores will keep operating independently, with no planned staff changes.

Holy Shit Tech

ESA’s Euclid telescope releases its first major cosmic map: 900 million galaxies, and that’s only 14% ↗

At 19:00 Beijing time on Nov. 12, the European Space Agency published Euclid’s first major data set, DR1-Foundation: about 13 months of observations covering an area of sky equal to 9,500 full Moons, with more than 900 million galaxies, some 15,000 strong-lens candidates, and about 1.7 million GB of data. The rest of Data Release 1 is due in mid-2027.

Holy Shit Products

NTT's 29-gram SonoVo Stick claims to pick a speaker's voice out of 100-decibel job-site noise, and it went on sale in Japan today ↗

NTT subsidiary NTT Sonority said SonoVo Stick, a wearable microphone, is available to order in Japan from Nov. 12 at 24,000 yen before tax. The company says its patented Magic Focus Voice technology can isolate a speaker's voice in noise above 100 decibels. IT Home noted the device was first shown in June and is a microphone only, so it needs separate earphones.

Holy Shit Products

Google opens pre-orders for Gemini-powered intelligent glasses with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, starting at $395 ↗

Google said on Nov. 12 that Intelligent Eyewear, made with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, is available for pre-order, with a planned Dec. 10 launch. The glasses run Android XR and Gemini. Official starting prices are $395 for Warby Parker frames and $449 for Gentle Monster, with availability described for the United States and South Korea.