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The Roundup
February 23rd, 2025
Microsoft is COOKING
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I hope your sunday scaries aren't hitting too bad on this fine morning. In today's Roundup, we've got a fresh DeepSeek model, Microsoft flexing on everyone, some trending discussions, and of course, some of the most stand out products from this week. Let's go.

Weekly
Leaderboard highlights
Grok 3
Grok 3 ā€” "The worldā€™s smartest AI" ā€” Elon Musk
Grok 3 is xAI's latest model, trained with significantly more computing power than its predecessor. It claims to outperform GPT-4o in reasoning, math, and coding, with features like real-time search.
Lingo.dev ā€” āš”ļø Ship apps translated in every language, in minutes!
Lingo.dev is an AI-powered localization tool that generates pull requests for translations, helping developers integrate multilingual support faster. It analyzes UI context to improve translation accuracy.
Chance AI for iOS
Chance AI for iOS ā€” AI-Powered Visual Search
Chance AI for iOS is a visual search engine that identifies objects in photos, providing information on art, architecture, and nature. It's designed for creatives, designers, and learners seeking to uncover the history and meaning behind various subjects.
Perplexity Deep Research ā€” Save hours of time in-depth research and analysis
Perplexity Deep Research is an AI-powered tool that automates comprehensive research by performing multiple searches, analyzing numerous sources, and delivering expert-level reports within minutes. It is available for free, with unlimited access for Pro users.
Midlife Engineering
Midlife Engineering ā€” Interactive synth for sound therapy & a harmonious mind
Midlife Engineering is an interactive synthesizer that lets users create ambient soundscapes for relaxation, focus, or creative exploration. It offers a hands-on way to experiment with sound as a tool for mental clarity.
From The Frontier
Sir, another DeepSeek model just dropped

DeepSeek just introducedĀ Native Sparse AttentionĀ (NSA), a new way to make long-context AI models faster and cheaper. It reduces the compute needed for training and inference while keeping up with full-attention models in benchmarks. If it works as advertised, it could make large-scale AI more accessible without the usual hardware demands.

But the timing isnā€™t great. The U.S. government is already scrutinizing DeepSeek, with the National Security Council reviewing its risks and multiple states banning it from government devices. NASA and the Department of Defense have followed suit, and other countriesā€”including Italy, Australia, and South Koreaā€”are placing restrictions over privacy and security concerns.

WAIT, WHAT?
Microsoft is cooking

Microsoft just dropped what might be their wildest claim yet: theyā€™ve invented a whole new state of matter. While Apple is busy shaving millimeters off the iPhone, Microsoft says theyā€™ve built a quantum chip powered by ā€œMajorana particlesā€ (which, if real, would mean a massive leap in quantum computing). Their new Majorana 1Ā chip uses a topological core to create more stable qubitsā€”essentially the key to making quantum computers practical instead of just expensive science projects.

The stakes? If this works, quantum computers could one day crack problems todayā€™s supercomputers wouldnā€™t solve before the heat death of the universe. That includes AI breakthroughs, next-gen materials, and, probably, some wild cybersecurity implications. But hereā€™s the catch: the physics world isnā€™t entirely convinced yet. Microsoft has been betting on Majorana particles for years, but proving their existence (and their usefulness) is still up for debate.

So, either weā€™re on the verge of a quantum revolutionā€”or Microsoft just pulled the tech equivalent of claiming to have seen Bigfoot.

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The Roundup
Every Sunday
Everything you missed this past week on Product Hunt: Top products, spicy community discourse, key trends on the site, and long-form pieces weā€™ve recently published.