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Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

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Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236.

General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple
The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS and the Apple Devices or iTunes apps on Windows at this time. Apple has not made the new builds available over the air in the Settings app on the iPhone and iPad.

It is unclear what changed between the builds, if anything, but any potential differences are likely very minor. For those curious, we have confirmed that the new builds do not contain any references to unreleased iPad models.

There have been sporadic reports on social media about iOS 17.4 and iOS 17.4.1 causing some iPhones to get stuck in a boot loop, so perhaps the new build will allow those devices to be properly restored, but this is merely speculation.

iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 were first released last week with bug fixes and security patches.

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Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

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Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

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macOS Sonoma 14.4 Bug ‘Destroys Saved Versions in iCloud Drive’

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Apple’s latest macOS Sonoma 14.4 software update appears to be guilty of another bug, this time affecting saved versions in iCloud Drive.

iCloud Bug Feature Green
Versions are normally created automatically when users save files using apps that work with the version system in macOS. (To check if your Mac is using the past versions system, look for a “Revert To” option in the app’s File menu.)

According to The Electric Light Company‘s Howard Oakley, users running macOS 14.4 that have “Optimize Mac Storage” enabled should be aware that they are at risk of losing all previously saved versions of a file if they opt to remove it from iCloud Drive local storage.

In previous versions of macOS, when a file is evicted from local storage in iCloud Drive [using the Remove Download option in the right-click contextual menu], all its saved versions have been preserved. Download that file again from iCloud Drive, and versions saved on that Mac (but not other Macs or devices) have remained fully accessible. Do that in 14.4, and all previous versions are now removed, and lost forever.

Oakley said his own tests confirmed that this behavior does not happen in macOS Sonoma 14.3 or macOS Ventura, so it is exclusive to macOS 14.4. For users who have already updated, he suggests either not saving files to iCloud Drive at all, or turning off Optimize Mac Storage.

To perform the latter in System Settings, click your Apple ID, select iCloud, and then toggle off the switch next to “Optimize Mac Storage.” You may need to perform this action twice – reports suggest it can turn back on by itself. For a more exhaustive account of the problem, see Oakley’s subsequent post.

There are several bugs reported in macOS 14.4, and we have recorded some of the most prominent issues in a dedicated article that we have updated since this story was published. Have you been affected by the latest bug? Let us know in the comments.

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Life Style

Meet the real-life versions of Dune’s epic sandworms

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The film Dune: Part Two might feature human actors Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, but the biggest stars — at least literally — are the sandworms. The sandworms are central to the desert ecosystem of the fictional planet Arrakis, the film’s main setting, and to the culture of its inhabitants, the Fremen. Sandworms live underground and excrete a substance that becomes the all-important drug called the spice, and the Fremen ride them like giant sandy freight trains. In the film’s first glamour shot of a sandworm, a house-sized mouth ringed with teeth erupts out of the sand to swallow a whole platoon of soldiers.

To find out whether the fictional worms in Dune have anything in common with real worms, Nature spoke to palaeontologist Luke Parry at the University of Oxford, UK. He studies worms from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, which together lasted from roughly 540 million to 444 million years ago.

Dune’s sandworms can grow to at least 450 metres long, about 15 times the size of the longest blue whale. How big do real-life worms get?

There are annelid worms that get up to several metres in length called eunicid worms, a type of bristle worm. They’re pretty gnarly — they have big jaws, they look a bit like Graboids from the 1990 film Tremors. Some of them are ambush predators. They eat octopuses, squid, vertebrates.

There are some earthworms that get really big, as well. Megascolides reaches up to 2 metres. The biggest ones are from Australia.

A worm with iridescent pale body, lots of appendages and wide jaws emerges from sediment.

The ambush predator called the bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) can reach 3 metres long.Credit: Constantinos Petrinos/Nature Picture Library

Do any of them have teeth?

The worms in Dune have lots of teeth around their mouths, and that’s what the Fremen use to make their crysknives. There are worms like that, called priapulids. These are the sorts that were making the first complex burrows in the early Cambrian. They use all of these teeth, called scalids, on a proboscis to drag themselves through burrows. Alitta worms — sandworms — and ragworms have teeth for catching prey. Some leeches have teeth.

The sandworms in Dune have totally changed their planet by excreting the valuable drug called the spice, making the weird blue liquid called the Water of Life and more. Have worms on Earth changed our planet?

Worms on Earth were responsible for burrowing into sediments over half a billion years ago and changing marine ecosystems forever. It’s part of what we call the Cambrian explosion, one of the most profound changes on the planet.

Before the advent of worms, the sea floor would have been smothered with what are called microbial mats. All the sediment would have been anoxic, without oxygen. If you’ve ever gone swimming in a river or a lake and it’s muddy and you plunge your foot into it, and it’s smelly and anoxic, that’s basically what the entire sea-floor environment would have been around the world.

Then, all of a sudden, some animals evolve a wormy body plan that allows them to move in three dimensions. They start burrowing into sediments, and that means that oxygen can get into the sediments and complex animal life can live there. It opens up new ways of making a living. Worms are part of this fundamental restructuring of the world.

When the Fremen in Dune want to ride a sandworm, they summon one with a device called a thumper that drums the ground. Do real worms sense vibrations?

Yeah, a common thing that birds do for catching earthworms is drumming on the ground, to bring them to the surface of the soil. Seagulls do it. Unfortunately, I don’t think the seagulls ride around on them.

If you were the right size to ride on a worm, do you think it would be similar to riding a sandworm in Dune?

It depends what sort of worm it was and where it was going. There are lots that crawl around on the surface of sediments — maybe you could ride those around. For worms that burrow, I think you’d find it quite uncomfortable and confining.

Any other favourite worm facts?

There are about 30 animal body plans — what we call the animal phyla, the big groups that we chop up animal diversity into — and more than half of them are worms. It’s a really good, versatile way of making a living. Lots of things that didn’t start off as worms just become worms. There are groups of lizards that lose their limbs, like snakes and amphisbaenians, worm lizards. There are worms that live in hydrothermal vents in the deep sea.

How do you feel about having the organisms you study portrayed on screen?

I think it’s awesome. Although there’s nothing like the worm in Dune that’s alive today, some of the things that it does, or some of the ways it looks, are actually like some of these really unfamiliar organisms that we find in the ocean. If a handful of people find out about those animals as a result of watching Dune, I think that’s awesome, because these things are — life is — amazing and diverse.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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New OpenAI GPTs custom versions of ChatGPT roll-out this week

New OpenAI GPTs models,custom versions of ChatGPT

At the first ever OpenAI DevDay Keynote Sam Altman introduced a new addition to the services offered by OpenAI in the form of customizable versions of its ChatGPT, simply called GPTs. These adaptable AI models offer you the ability to shape OpenAI’s AI models to fit specific tasks or objectives. Providing the ability for to create your own GPTs without needing any coding expertise. This broadening of AI technology makes it more accessible to a larger audience, removing obstacles and unlocking new opportunities. For instance, you could employ these GPTs for a variety of tasks, from explaining mathematical concepts to crafting creative stickers, all based on your unique needs and preferences. You can even try it out for yourself here.

OpenAI explain more : “We’re rolling out custom versions of ChatGPT that you can create for a specific purpose—called GPTs. GPTs are a new way for anyone to create a tailored version of ChatGPT to be more helpful in their daily life, at specific tasks, at work, or at home—and then share that creation with others. For example, GPTs can help you learn the rules to any board game, help teach your kids math, or design stickers.

Anyone can easily build their own GPT—no coding is required. You can make them for yourself, just for your company’s internal use, or for everyone. Creating one is as easy as starting a conversation, giving it instructions and extra knowledge, and picking what it can do, like searching the web, making images or analyzing data.”

GPT Store

Looking forward, OpenAI plans to launch a GPT Store soon. This new e-commerce platform will serve as a marketplace where you can display and monetize your custom GPTs. This initiative not only offers a platform for you to present your AI models to a larger audience but also introduces a new path for monetizing your creative and technical endeavors. It’s a distinctive opportunity to transform your AI creations into a potential income source.

Alongside these advancements, OpenAI has also put in place strong privacy and safety measures to safeguard user data. These data protection measures are crucial in preserving user trust and ensuring the ethical use of AI technology. The company has set forth clear and comprehensive usage policies that provide guidelines for GPT usage. These guidelines ensure that the technology is used responsibly and ethically, underscoring OpenAI’s dedication to the ethical use of AI.

GPTs APIs

For developers, OpenAI has enabled the connection of GPTs to real-world applications via third-party APIs. This external data integration allows GPTs to interact with other software and services, greatly extending their functionality and usability. For example, you could integrate a GPT with a weather forecasting service to provide personalized weather updates, enhancing the user experience with a touch of personalization.

For enterprise customers, OpenAI provides the option to deploy internal-only GPTs for specific business needs. These business-specific AI models can be shaped to perform specific tasks, such as analyzing customer feedback or predicting market trends. This allows businesses to utilize AI technology in a way that is directly relevant and beneficial to their operations, boosting efficiency and productivity. OpenAI also offers an admin console, a comprehensive management tool for GPTs. This console allows you to manage your GPTs, including setting custom actions, installing plugins, and monitoring performance. This tool is crucial for maintaining control over your AI models and ensuring they perform as expected, providing you with the necessary oversight to manage your AI models effectively.

OpenAI’s rollout of customizable versions of ChatGPT, the forthcoming launch of the GPT Store, and the implementation of robust privacy and safety measures represent significant progress in the field of AI. These developments not only make AI more accessible but also ensure that it is used responsibly and ethically. By engaging the community in AI development, OpenAI is ensuring that AI technology is developed in a way that benefits all of humanity, reinforcing its commitment to the ethical and responsible use of AI. Other articles you may find of interest on the subject of OpenAI :

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