Google Labs introduces Opal for developing AI mini apps
Google Labs has announced the public beta of Opal, an experimental tool for building AI mini apps by chaining together prompts, tools, and models, using natural language and visual editing. Currently available in the United States only, Opal was intro...
Hacker inserts destructive code in Amazon Q as update goes live
A hacker managed to insert destructive system commands into a version of Amazon’s AI-powered coding assistant, Q, which was later distributed to users through an official update, according to a media report. The unauthorized code instructed the AI a...
Microsoft’s action-focused small language model Mu
If you’re running on the bleeding edge of Windows, using the Windows Insider program to install developer builds, you may have spotted a change in how Windows Settings works. Its search function is now an AI application: a new, highly focused small ...
XMLUI builds React-based UIs with simple markup
A newly introduced open-source project, XMLUI, promises to allow developers to build React-based user interfaces with clean and modern themes without requiring React or CSS expertise. The XMLUI framework provides a catalog of components and a theme sy...
Microsoft Fabric to lose auto-generated semantic models
Microsoft Fabric users will soon face more work to set up analytics workflows for new datasets, as Microsoft is retiring a feature that automatically creates semantic models on enterprise data. Semantic models are structured representations of data th...
Amp your Python superpowers with ‘uv run’
Astral’s uv tool makes setting up Python environments and projects fast and easy. It also gives you tools for running existing Python packages and libraries without having to formally install them. When you use uv run to execute a Python program, uv...
Are coding interviews necessary?
Hiring good software developers is hard. Getting them to apply to your job listings is hard. Getting them to agree to an interview is hard. And of course, once you interview them, deciding if they are worth an offer is hardest of all. Can they wri...
Rethinking and realigning IT for the AI era
As far as Jason Johnson is concerned, AI is as transformative as the invention of the tractor. “Just as farmers expanded their operations from two acres to 200 acres upon the tractor’s introduction, our role is to equip our staff to explore their ...
Java Applet API removal slated for JDK 26
Even though the next version of Java, JDK (Java Development Kit) 25, is not due to arrive as a production release until September 16, work has begun on the planned subsequent release, JDK 26. That update, anticipated to arrive next March, already has ...
A pragmatic approach to enterprise AI
2024 is over. So, too, should be the approach to AI of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. It’s 2025, and to get the most out of AI, businesses must be more pragmatic.Early investments yielded small successes in the market. But the j...
AI coding at the command line with Gemini CLI
When I started out developing software back in the Cretaceous Period, my input device was a Teletype connected to a remote mainframe over a 300 baud modem, with a paper tape punch/reader. Later I had access to Hollerith cards and keypunches, and Tektr...
