Technologies
The Northern Lights Could Transform the Skies in 15 States Tonight. Find Out Where
Solar activity could cause the aurora borealis to light up the skies in several northern US states.
In a year that’s been full of spectacular northern lights, we’ve got at least one more big night to watch the amazing colors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting that a recent geomagnetic storm will create a visible aurora borealis in several states tonight.
This most recent aurora event comes to Earth courtesy of a coronal mass ejection from the sun on Sunday. Coronal mass ejections are massive bursts of plasma and other solar materials that are forcibly blasted from the star. These events occur fairly consistently when the sun is at its solar maximum, which it will be through the end of the year and into 2026.
Where will the aurora be visible tonight?
NOAA predicts that people in 15 US states could be able to see the aurora tonight. Residents in Washington state, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula should get a good look, and it may also be visible in Oregon, Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, if you can get to high ground and look north. The very northern reaches of Indiana, Illinois and New York may also see some action. As always, Alaska and Canada offer the best view.
This round of aurora borealis isn’t likely to be quite as far-reaching as the massive aurora that hit in early November. Those were caused by X-Class coronal mass ejections, which are a level above the M-Class. Aurora predictions are much like the weather, so they may change depending on whether the geomagnetic storm is weaker or stronger than its current forecast.
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Tips for watching the aurora borealis
Your standard aurora-watching tips all apply for this one. You’ll want to get as high as you can and face north to get your best view of the aurora from your location. The further away you are from the Canadian border, the higher up you’ll need to go to see it. You will also want to get out of the city and suburbia to minimize light pollution.
The bad news is that December’s full moon, which was also a supermoon, was just a few days ago, so it’s still mostly full in the night sky. The light pollution from the moon will almost certainly harm your ability to see the northern lights, especially if you’re in one of the southernmost states in NOAA’s prediction area.
Should you decide to head out, keep an eye out for meteors as well. The Geminids meteor shower began on Thursday and is nearing its peak on Saturday and Sunday, so you may see a few shooting stars while you’re out looking for the aurora.
Technologies
Fitbit Launches Luffu, AI-Powered Health Tracking for the Whole Family
Soon, you may be able to access every family member’s health data in one place.
If you’ve ever wanted a way to keep all of your family’s health records in place, Fitbit may have come up with a solution. Fitbit, well-known for its fitness wearables, announced the launch of its own health care system on Wednesday.
Luffu, which translates to the Old English word for «love,» uses AI to create what it calls an «intelligent family care system.» The platform allows family members to share all their health information through an app.
It’s unclear when Luffu will be officially available, but you can sign up for the waitlist to get access to the limited public beta. Pricing or other details have not been announced.
Luffu will allow families to keep track of everyone’s doctor’s appointments, test results, vaccine records, medications, symptoms, diet and more. The platform uses AI to learn your family’s health history and patterns, and to alert you to any changes that should be addressed, such as missed medications or abnormal vitals. The AI function organizes the data submitted into the system. The app will also connect to third-party apps and wearables, such as the Fitbit.
Luffu is meant to lighten the mental load of family care by organizing all this health data in one place, its co-founder said.
«I was caring for my parents from across the country, trying to piece together my mom’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it hard to get a complete, timely context from her about doctor visits,» said Luffu co-founder James Park.
Luffu will include alerts and a space to log health and medication information via voice, text, photos, and other health portals and devices. The key medical information can be shared across the platform with spouses, caregivers and parents.
A representative for Fitbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Technologies
These New AI Transcription Models Are Built for Speed and Privacy
Mistral AI’s new Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 and Voxtral Realtime are intended to run on your device, meaning your conversations never find their way to a data center.
Sometimes you want to transcribe something, but don’t want it to be hanging out on the internet for any hacker to see. Maybe it’s a conversation with your doctor or lawyer. Maybe you’re a journalist, and it’s a sensitive interview. Privacy and control are important.
That desire for privacy is one reason the French developer Mistral AI built its latest transcription models to be small enough to run on devices. They can run on your phone, on your laptop or in the cloud.
Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2, one of the new models announced Wednesday, is «super, super small,» Pierre Stock, Mistral’s vice president of science operations, told me. Another new model, Voxtral Realtime, can do the same thing but live, like closed captioning.
Privacy is not the only reason the company wanted to build small open-source models. By running right on the device you’re using, these models can work faster. No more waiting on files to find their way through the internet to a data center and back.
«What you want is the transcription to happen super, super close to you,» Stock said. «And the closest we can find to you is any edge device, so a laptop, a phone, a wearable like a smartwatch, for instance.»
The low latency (read: high speed) is especially important for real-time transcription. The Voxtral Realtime model can generate with a latency of less than 200 milliseconds, Stock said. It can transcribe a speaker’s words about as quickly as you can read them. No more waiting two or three seconds for the closed captioning to catch up.
The Voxtral Realtime model is available through Mistral’s API and on Hugging Face, along with a demo where you can try it out.
In some brief testing, I found it generated fairly quickly (although not as fast as you’d expect if it were on device) and managed to capture what I said accurately in English with a little bit of Spanish mixed in. It’s capable of handling 13 languages right now, according to Mistral.
Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 is also available through the company’s API, or you can play around with it in Mistral’s AI Studio. I used the model to transcribe my interview with Stock.
I found it to be quick and pretty reliable, although it struggled with proper names like Mistral AI (which it called Mr. Lay Eye) and Voxtral (VoxTroll). Yes, the AI model got its own name wrong. But Stock said users can customize the model to understand certain words, names and jargon better if they’re using it for specific tasks.
The challenge of building small, fast AI models is that they also have to be accurate, Stock said. The company touted the models’ performance on benchmarks showing improved error rates compared to competitors.
«It’s not enough to say, OK, I’ll make a small model,» Stock said. «What you need is a small model that has the same quality as larger models, right?»
Technologies
Don’t Miss Out on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $25 Per Month
With this StackSocial offer, you’re getting access to hundreds of games for either $25 for one month or $74 for three months.
Right now at StackSocial, you can get a three-month membership for just $74, which brings each month to $25. Normally $30 per month, you can also opt for a single-month plan for $25. I’ve been following Xbox Game Pass pricing for a while, so this is a great deal. Just keep in mind, once you get your download code via email, the purchase cannot be changed or returned.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate lets you access games not only on your console but also on a PC or mobile device. Basically, you can play what you want, when you want, where you want. Game Pass adds new games all the time, with not only older titles making their way to the service but also brand-new Xbox games, including releases from Microsoft’s own studios on the day of release.
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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is a brilliant way to save cash while playing fantastic games, including Black Ops 6, Halo: Infinite, Hellblade 2, Starfield and tons more. While the lineup changes each month, more than 500 games are available to play. It’s the closest thing to a Netflix for games.
Please note that Microsoft allows prepayment for up to 36 months of access, so 12 is the maximum number of subscriptions you should purchase. You can check out our full roundup of all the best Xbox deals for more savings on games and accessories.
Why this deal matters
The last time we saw the Game Pass subscription discounted was around the holiday season. Right now, you can get access to hundreds of games for essentially the price of one. Whether you choose the one- or three-month option, the price is the same at $25 per month. Since most games aren’t usually priced below $25, this is a steal.
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