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Dominating the headlines this week was the long-awaited verdict against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried. A year and a half after his arrest in the Bahamas, Bankman Freed, who had previously been convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges, was sentenced in a Manhattan court.
Elsewhere in the tech industry, Apple appears to be experimenting with new gadgets. It's like a toaster for wirelessly updating a boxed iPhone. On the AI front, Elon Musk's xAI shared plans to launch an updated version of his Grok chatbot designed to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT and bots from Google and Anthropic. .
Below, Hypebeast has compiled this week's top technology articles to help you stay on top of the latest trends in the industry.
Apple is reported to be releasing an iPhone update machine that looks like a toaster oven.
Stanislav Kokiku/Sopa Images/Lightrocket/Getty Images
Apple has developed a new tool that lets you update your iPhone with the latest software without taking it out of the box, French tech site iGeneration first reported. This device resembles a toaster oven and appears to be called “Presto.”
With the ability to accommodate six phones in each rack, Presto is a streamlined way to ensure that your devices offer the latest iOS when your customers pick them up. Updates can be delivered wirelessly in just 20 to 30 minutes.
[Club] Apple Store: Post a comment about iPhone https://t.co/VJCJ5pIGKj pic.twitter.com/pog9GRk0PE
— MacGeneration (@MacGeneration) March 26, 2024
Sam Bankman Freed sentenced to 25 years in federal prison
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Sam Bankman Freed was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. After being arrested in late 2022, the FTX founder was convicted last year of defrauding users of $8 billion on the cryptocurrency exchange. Most of the money went to FTX's sister site, Alameda Research, and was also used to fund the lavish lifestyles of executives and Bankman Freed.
The prosecution in this case had argued for a sentence of 40 to 50 years in prison, while the defense had argued for a maximum of six and a half years. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Bankman Fried lied during the trial and showed little remorse for his actions.
“He knew it was wrong,” Kaplan said. “He knew it was a crime. He regrets taking such a bad bet on his chances of getting caught. But he's not going to admit anything because it's his right. do not have.”
Elon Musk's xAI reveals plans to launch improved version of Grok chatbot
Rafael Enrique/Sopa Images/Lightrocket/Getty Images
Two weeks after its general release, Grok is receiving an update. Elon Musk's xAI announced earlier this year that it would launch a bot to rival ChatGPT and Claude. The original His Grok was released in mid-March, but is only available to His X Premium+ subscribers.
The upcoming Grok 1.5 promises “improved inference capabilities” and other advances. According to xAI's data, Grok's performance is already very similar to the level of accuracy offered by Claude, his ChatGPT, and even his Google Gemini.
The schedule for the revamped bot is currently unknown. xAI says a beta version of Grok 1.5 will be released to a group of testers prior to its general release.
