a A friend of mine was recently fooled by a fraudulent email purporting to be from her middle school daughter and transferred £100 into her account to cover a mysterious situation, which she described as a very time-sensitive and inconvenient event. That’s it.
You can imagine how the scammers managed to pull it off. Remember the everyday low-level anxiety of parents expecting bad news when their children are further away than the kitchen table? What’s more, the bad news story, which begins with a 19-year-old’s email saying, “I broke my phone,” is completely believable. All the scammer has to do is lean back.
Still, the story isn’t complete, as it neglects to ask basic questions like, “But if your phone is broken, why transfer money to someone else’s bank account?” , and for years afterward we called him a fool. He didn’t even call her number to see if he could talk to her. A 100-pound lighter was probably the best place to land. If someone tries to release his life savings, he will concentrate.
But what happens when you hear your child begging for money just like you? Who has strong enough defenses to withstand voice cloning? Members of Stop Scams UK tried to explain this to me last year. Scammers can extract the child’s voice from her TikTok account. Then all they have to do is find the parent’s phone number. I thought I had gotten the wrong end of the stick and had to piece together the message from recorded words available on social media. Good luck getting some soccer tips and some believable havoc from K-Pop, I thought. When it comes to AI, he didn’t think for 10 seconds about whether it could infer speech patterns from samples. In fact, it’s possible.
I think it’s still pretty easy to get around. Kid Machine is seeking urgent assistance. You say, “Precious and perfect being, I love you with all my heart.” Kid Machine will surely reply, “I love you too.” Why can’t we do that? A real child would claim to have been sick in the mouth. You can’t build an algorithm for this.
I
As we were chopping garlic and herbs at Burning Man, we met Gabriel Metcalf, an urban planner hired to design a new city in California with the backing of a tech billionaire. new york times
The mystery of who was secretly buying up more than 50,000 acres of farmland in Solano County, about 80 miles northeast of San Francisco, has just been uncovered.
The buyers included Silicon Valley investors who were committed to ambitious plans for a new “California Dream” city with walkable neighborhoods, climate-friendly infrastructure, green energy jobs, and affordable housing. It turns out that the list includes celebrities.
Many people are deeply suspicious of tech elites throwing money around thinking they can solve everything. And the way California Forever, an investor-backed company, secretly bought up nearly $1 billion worth of land without the knowledge of local residents or officials, also discouraged people from getting excited about the project. In the months since the project was announced, residents, officials and environmentalists have raised serious questions about the feasibility of turning rural land into a bustling city.
I followed up with Metcalfe to see if what sounded like a bold vision when shared in a pop-up city in the Nevada desert actually makes sense in the real world. . Metcalf, who comes across as more of a pragmatic urban design geek than a Silicon Valley techie, admits he understands where the skeptics are coming from.
“This has never been done before, at least not in this way or on this scale. There's a lot of work to do to get people on board and understand the vision,” he said over coffee in San Francisco's Dogpatch district. he said while drinking. “We're not proposing a utopia. We're just proposing a city. We're not claiming that this will solve all your problems. But this is another tool. I would argue that it can be helpful.”
Farmland in rural Solano County, California. Counties where California Forever wants to build.
Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez/AP
California faces difficult housing issues that Metcalf, a respected urban planner, believes can only be addressed through bold action.
Metcalf ran Spar, a San Francisco-based urban planning think tank, for a decade and a half, where he advocated for building more cities. public housingways to address the region's housing crisis include increasing public transportation and increasing the minimum wage.
OpenAI has taken down the account of the developer of an AI-powered bot that pretended to be US presidential candidate Dean Phillips, citing a violation of company policies.
Phillips, who is challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, was impersonated by a bot using ChatGPT. dean bot site.
The bot is backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krysilov and Jed Summers, who are supporting Phillips with a superpack called “We Deserve Better” that funds and supports political candidates. An organization to do this has been established.
San Francisco-based OpenAI announced it has removed developer accounts that violated its policies against political campaigning and impersonation.
“We recently terminated developer accounts that knowingly violated our API Usage Policy, which prohibits political campaigning, or that impersonated individuals without their consent,” the company said.
The Phillips bot, created by AI company Delphi, is currently disabled. Delphi has been contacted for comment.
OpenAI Usage policy It says developers who use the company’s technology to build their own applications must not engage in “political campaigning or lobbying.” It also prohibits “impersonating another person or entity without their consent or legal right to do so,” although it is unclear whether Minnesota Congressman Phillips gave his consent to the bot.
A pop-up notification on the dean.bot website describes the “AI voice bot” as “a fun educational tool, but not perfect.” It added: “Although the voice bot is programmed to sound like him and elicit his ideas, it may say things that are wrong, incorrect, or shouldn’t be said.” I am.
washington post, The ban was first reported by, reported that Krysilov asked Delphi to remove ChatGPT from its bot and instead rely on freely available open source technology. We have reached out to Krysilov, a former OpenAI employee, for comment.
We Deserve Better received $1 million in funding from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who put it in a post to “It’s the biggest investment I’ve ever made.”
Mr. Phillips, 55, announced his candidacy for president in October, citing Mr. Biden’s age and saying he should be given the opportunity to mentor younger generations. Mr. Phillips, who was campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, described Mr. Biden as “un-electable and weak.”
There are concerns that deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation could disrupt elections around the world this year, with the US, EU, UK and India all planning to vote. On Sunday, the Observer reported that 70% of British MPs are concerned that AI will increase the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
I
Is it a phone call? Is it a tablet? A new group of folding devices, with phone-like screens on the outside and large displays that open like books on the inside, are vying to appeal to consumers who want the best of both worlds.
Each is better in different parts of the equation, but which one is better overall? I tested the most promising devices in a round-by-round contest to find the foldable phone champion. Ta.
contestants
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 – Category Definer, now in its 5th generation
Google Pixel Fold – Android manufacturer’s first attempt at a foldable smartphone
one plus open – A first for the brand, built on parent company Oppo’s 3rd generation technology
Honor Magic V2 – The third generation foldable model will be available in Europe from the end of January
The outer screen is important for phone-type uses such as messaging and calling, but it varies greatly from device to device. From left to right: Honor Magic V2, OnePlus Open, Google Pixel Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The dimensions of the outer screen make a big difference in how much the folder resembles a phone, and is where the devices differ the most.
The Z Fold 5’s outer screen is long and narrow, making typing uncomfortable. The Pixel Fold is short and stubby, so the keyboard is full width, but the apps are a little short and stubby. The Open and Magic V2 are more phone-like and much easier to fold and use.
winner: Honor Magic V2 – The thinnest, most phone-like experience available.
When it opens like a book, the large screen inside takes center stage. Top left to bottom right: Honor Magic V2, Google Pixel Fold, OnePlus Open, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The size and shape of the inner screen is a bit more consistent between brands. The OnePlus and Honor are the most square when unfolded, while the others are slightly longer on one side, similar to the iPad’s display.
Similarly, all screens have high refresh rates and are crisp and bright. Some products are better at preventing fingerprints and glare from lights, while others, like those from Samsung, support stylus input.
The big difference is the feel of the screen under your fingers and the visibility of the crease in the center of the screen. The Z Fold 5 has the most solid-feeling screen, but the Open has less noticeable creases than the others.
winner: OnePlus Open – Less noticeable creases and the smoothest feel.
Thank you, I hate it. However, he has 135 million (!) views, so more information is needed.
Are you okay. “Skibidi Toilet” is an ongoing YouTube animated web series by Georgian content creator Alexei Gerasimov. Since launching in February, his YouTube channel his DaFuq!?Boom! is currently just outside the top 100 of his YouTube channels in the world by number of subscribers. There are currently over 70 episodes, with new videos uploaded every few days, but as the length and quality of production has increased, the period between new episodes has grown longer.
Skibidi Toilet's popularity is primarily driven by kids 13 and under, and it's the first meme to bemoan Gen Z being too old to understand. The fact that most of Skibidi Toilet's fans are young, combined with the show's disturbing aesthetic and violence, has led to a new wave of moral panic about how the internet is poisoning children's brains. It is an excellent material.
Parenting website and TikTok influencerIndonesia in particular has already warned of the clear dangers of “skibidi toilet syndrome”, and Russian authorities are also getting involved.
Skibidi Toilet Syndrome ???? What are the symptoms? please tell me.
It is not yet recognized by DSM-V. This is an umbrella term that describes what parents believe about the behavior their children exhibit after watching the show. Parents have recorded their children becoming 'obsessed' with the Skibidi Toilet. upset or angry after viewing has been restricted or prohibited; or Sits in a basket or box and acts like a skividi pottywhich seems more cute than scary, but what do I know?
Moscow police learn about father's case asked the authorities The purpose is to investigate whether the video is having a negative impact on children.Russian lawmakers are especially likely to look for signs of moral decline in internet culture – in 2015 the State Duma said laws passed Memes that mock or satirize public figures are prohibited.
What is the show actually about?
The first few episodes depict a city and its inhabitants being steadily taken over by Skibidi Toilet. Skibidi Toilet is a scary animated head that lives in a toilet and sings a mashup of Timbaland's “Give It to Me” and Visser King's “Dom Dom Yes Yes” . Cameraheads (the series' main characters, well-dressed men with head surveillance cameras) emerge as an underground resistance movement. It soon becomes an all-out war between both increasingly powerful and destructive sides.
Oddly enough, I found myself drawn into the world of Skibidi Toilet.A clear story is unfolding There are plot twists, betrayals, humor, murderous action scenes, and some moments that probably felt more than I expected..
You mentioned “a new moral panic about how the internet is harming children's brains.” Do you feel like something like this happens once every few months?
Harsh stories about how the Internet turns children into psychopaths have become recurring themes in the modern news cycle.In recent years, social media has been accused of putting children and teens at risk. eat laundry detergent, steal items from their school, and develop symptoms About Tourette syndrome.
There's also a political element. Far-right politicians in the United States and elsewhere have made ridiculous claims that TikTok is brainwashing children into questioning their sexual and gender identities, supporting Hamas, and feeding child sex traffickers. We are raising funds and running a campaign.
None of this is new. Millennials will remember clutching their pearls at strange internet ephemera such as: slender man And as a larger cultural indicator, grand theft auto video game series. This isn't to say there isn't some of his content online that children should be protected from, such as a disturbing pirated YouTube video of Peppa Pig being beaten at the dentist. But if all the content that caused a moral panic had any value, the world's children using the internet would have become children of the corn a long time ago.
So what's the verdict on Skibidi Toilet?
It's kind of fun! There are certainly parts that young children might find scary (many episodes end with Skibidi Toilet charging towards the camera), but once you get past the red-eyed toilet monster, there's a lot of talk surrounding it. Much less creepy than that. I was able to become one.
Either way, much of the best children's entertainment is weird and dark. Roald Dahl's books are full of murderous school principals and children who are mutilated in comedic ways. Hansel and Gretel had to push the witch into the oven. If you're worried about your child suddenly acting like a singing potty, take a look at Skibidi Potty together. You may even feel guilty.
Any university lecturer will tell you that getting students to come to their morning lectures is a real struggle.
But even the most hungover beginner is sure to be captivated by Albert Einstein’s physics lesson or Coco Chanel’s design masterclass.
This could soon be the case for students in the UK, with some universities inviting guest lecturers from around the world using the same holographic technology used to bring deceased singers back on stage. It’s starting to happen.
Loughborough University, which was the first in Europe to consider applying the technology, has used the technology to bring in sports scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to teach fashion students how to create immersive shows and teach management students how to create immersive shows. plans to test how to handle difficult business situations.
Professor Vicky Locke, dean of Loughborough Business School and who is leading the rollout of the technology, said students “absolutely love” the technology and want to take selfies with it. said. They would prefer “a guest speaker from the industry who walks into the classroom with a smile on their face rather than a two-dimensional person on the wall,” she added.
The Zoom calls made students “feel like they were watching TV… it felt distant,” she said. For them, holographic images are more appealing and realistic. ” The technology will be officially introduced into the curriculum in 2025 after a year of experimentation.
The box-based holographic unit is sold by L.A.-based company Proto. The company’s customers include companies such as his BT and IBM, and it is used in meetings to reduce the need for business travel. We are also collaborating with Stockholm fashion retailer H&M to create an interactive product display.
David Nussbaum, who founded Proto four years ago after working on holograms of deceased celebrities, says his company could soon bring some of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers back from the dead. Told.
He added: “Proto has technology that projects images of Stephen Hawking and other people to make it seem as if he’s really there. We use it in books, lectures, social media, etc. You can connect it to something you were attached to, a question you asked, an interaction you had with him, etc. AI Stephen Hawking looks just like him, sounds like him, and interacts as if it were him. To do.
“It’s awe-inspiring and mind-blowing. I’m shocked at how great the interactions are. Whether people like it or not, AI is part of our lives.”
He added that his company’s ambition is to prove that “you don’t have to be an eccentric billionaire or celebrity to have a hologram.”
Gary Barnett, Professor of Digital Creativity at Loughborough University, who is also leading the implementation, said:
“Students need to understand what it means to use them, to be in that world, to experience them, to interact with them, and all that they will need for their future careers.”
Professor Rachel Thomson, the university’s vice-chancellor and advocate, said the technology could reduce the need to bring in guest speakers at short notice, encourage international research collaboration and reduce the amount of teaching materials used by students. He said it will help achieve sustainability strategies. Building prototypes in engineering, design and creative arts.
It also allows instructors to display complex equipment, such as engines, more easily than over a video call.
Nussbaum said corporations and large institutions such as universities are the first step in his company’s plans, but he hopes to roll out mini-units costing less than $1,000 within the next 18 months, which It will show a miniature image that he likens to the movie “Wonka Vision.” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl.
He added that the technology’s AI capabilities meant it was possible to create an avatar that looked like anyone in the world, but noted that this could come with legal complications.
Why are cars designed to go far above the speed limit? (Don’t tell me they’re built with the Autobahn in mind.) Andy Crosby, North Wales
Please send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
Reader replies
Because for mechanical reasons, a car that can get to 100 will perform better at 70 than a car that can only get to 70. Also, an engine that can only reach 110 mph on flat ground may struggle on hills. I was riding a 1.2 Clio and had to anticipate the hills and lower gears so I wouldn’t run out of breath. My Golf Diesel ran smoothly on the same slope without any complaints. Of course, you can also install a speed limiter on your vehicle (I often drive minibuses with speed limits). But consider the problems that arise when a speed-limited truck tries to pass another truck, slowly weaving in the center lane of a freeway, and the resulting confusion and congestion. yorkshire expatriate
I think the Germans call this the “elephant race”. socialism now
Of course, men are embarrassed to buy Viagra. Greg KZ
Is it because you are selling it? Automotive journalists like to include acceleration and top speed performance as positive in their reviews. So perhaps car buyers want a faster car, even if they can’t use that performance (at least in theory). reggie pudding
I purchased a 2015 Audi A5 3.0TDi Quattro 5 years ago. With 245bhp it will reach 60mph in less than 6 seconds. When you need that oomph to pass a bloke going 40mph on the local highway, it’s also thanks to its bags of torque that it means overtaking is quick and easy.
Top speed is limited to 155 mph, but I’ve never seen one. In France, I hit 132 mph on the motorway, the legal maximum speed.
The best part is that despite the engine’s size, it literally ticks along at 110mph at 1,600rpm and gets over 50mpg on long trips. So it’s a good grand tourer, with the ability to drift, a decent slug of power, and the ability to growl when needed. This is called being flexible. I’m already looking forward to my next road trip to France! Chilled Gibo
You’re Jeremy Clarkson, I charge you £5! Tatty Bogle
I am disappointed that the transition to electric power is not seen as an opportunity to end our obsession with increasingly high-powered cars. We see advertisements boasting extraordinary acceleration rates and high power outputs, but as a result, batteries are increasingly required to be larger and heavier, and have a greater environmental impact during manufacturing and use. This is contrary to the potential of electric vehicles to reduce the impact of personal mobility. We will properly lower speed limits and introduce aggressive punitive taxes on large, powerful personal vehicles. evan 1
Highest efficiency point. Designed for 110 miles per hour, it runs at full capacity. Imagine sprinting endlessly on every trip. It is designed to have a top speed of 160 mph and then cruise at 110 mph. I can run comfortably. Seno j1
A significant number of EVs buck this trend by having very fast acceleration but relatively low top speeds. For example, in my case he is supposed to reach 60 in less than 7 seconds, and this acceleration corresponds to a top speed of 130-140. In fact, its top speed is around 108, more than enough to allow a comfortable margin of stress relief at legal speeds. It is also true that some EVs reach 60 points within his 3 seconds, which begs the question of how many drivers can handle this without crashing into a more solid vehicle. suspicious solipsist
Fuel Efficiency – If a car can go 240 km/h while redlining in 5th, it will rev much lower and consume less fuel, potentially reaching 120 km/h. mcknight
Is it because speeding fines are a valuable source of income? eddie miscellaneous post
Margin of error (also known as safety). You have to turn occasionally (at legal speeds) to avoid accidents, and you always have to use mechanical devices that aren’t working at stress points, because it’s not good for wheels to fall off. Speedy 95060
A car with an engine with a “design” speed of 130 mph can have a “smaller” carburetor fitted to the engine, which will limit power and speed accordingly, but with less impact on the engine and moving parts. It has the advantage of being less stressful. . Of course, this will be about the same price as the “unlimited” version, so boy racers will want to go over the speed limit, so I guess manufacturers choose the faster version to increase sales. balance and reason
Cars are sold as toys, but only incidentally as a means of transportation. Lochaber 1
I hope this is the answer they give as their “last word.” Doralicious
aA big name in the plumbing industry. Patrick Lutz They were used to withstanding floods. But the circumstances led to a completely different kind of soaking, sitting in the rain in a local park and pondering the demise of the business in the dot-com crash. “I lost everything. I had a young child. I was embarrassed and angry that I had let my family down. I couldn't look them in the face,” he said. look back.
His lowest point came just before the patent battle with Apple erupted that would define his life. Nearly two decades later, he's still at odds with his company and the U.S. courts.
He presents an interesting profile. The reputable and established British inventor, who first found wealth and success in the 1980s, now dominates his online reputation, leaving onlookers wondering whether Raz or Apple is in the right. After years of David vs. Goliath dogfights, he was clearly feeling hurt and angry. It's on the right.
Racz is the creator of Triflow, the world's first three-way mixer faucet. This system added additional channels and valves to a typical sink mixer to deliver filtered water along with hot and cold water. A “multi-million pound” sale in 1998 sealed his profits after expanding the business to sell in 45 countries.
But he says the second chapter turned rocky when his dot-com-era venture, a file-sharing and payments technology company, was taken over by Apple's iTunes store. He claims that a US company stole his system.
“I went through a period of severe depression,” Raz said, opening up for the first time about the mental strain. “I'm embarrassed to say that I hit the bottle. I got completely lost in time and didn't remember much.”
It was a patent for the technology, first filed in 1999 and granted almost a decade later, that gave him a “new lease on life” and is still in the process of seeking $18 billion in damages. A large-scale legal battle has begun.
Apple is no stranger to patent disputes like this. U.S. sales of Apple's Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches were suspended before Christmas due to a conflict with medical technology company Masimo. Mr. Lutz has won several rounds of court action against the company, but there is no guarantee that either side will ultimately prevail. The only certainty is that the road ahead will be long, winding and expensive.
Racz grew up on a strawberry farm in Jersey and spent his early career as a salesman. When he sold his tap business, Avillion, he pursued the digital download market in the same way that Napster transformed the music industry with illegal file sharing.
Racz quickly filed a patent for Smartflash, an anti-piracy alternative, and an accompanying system for enabling payments and secure downloads. He has finalized deals with retailers and manufacturers, including French SIM card company Gemplus. Pop star Britney Spears has been appointed as a brand ambassador.
But in the aftermath of 9/11 and the dot-com crash, Spears and GemPlus withdrew, and Luck's said in court that GemPlus, also an Apple partner, subsequently claimed the product as its own. .
The late Apple president Steve Jobs is “soaking in praise” for a series of products, starting with iTunes in 2003, that blended hardware and software in a way Raz claims he first invented. His blood boiled when he saw it. After receiving patent approval in 2008, he achieved an unlikely victory. He sued Apple in Texas in 2015 and won $533 million in damages. According to Lutz, this was one of the largest jury awards for a private inventor.
However, the court's decision was later reversed. He was first hurt by a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruling that his patent was invalid, and then lost when Apple appealed in commercial court. He later lost his case on appeal, but he vowed to keep fighting. He has faced considerable backlash among Apple supporters online in recent years, including receiving death threats via email from unknown individuals.
“When you're told your kids should be burned at the stake and beheaded for what they do, those things start to get hard. My kids were being bullied. The kids said, “Your dad says he invented this, but he didn't steal it. Apple invented it.'' Your dad is a liar.'' The Rats were having coffee in London. I say this while drinking. He's tall and stocky, with close-cropped dark hair, and he's still visibly furious as he tells his story.
Lutz's latest battle is with the U.S. Patent Office, which he is suing for refusing to release uncensored emails and documents related to his intellectual property. He seeks to prove that the group of judges was intentionally populated with former lawyers and close Apple supporters. Lutz argues that the company has used its “wealth and power” to influence the U.S. patent system.
Asked for comment, Apple pointed to a previous statement issued in 2015, saying: “SmartFlash makes no products, has no employees, does not create jobs, has no presence in the United States, and uses our patent system to seek royalties for technology invented by Apple. They are abusing it.”
“We refused to reimburse the company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating. Unfortunately, we are left with no other option but to take this fight to court.”
Gem Plus did not respond to a request for comment.
Away from legal pursuits, he is a supporter of Regent Sounds, a music store on Denmark Street in central London. The music store, once used as a studio by the Rolling Stones, has been locked in its own battle with its landlord behind a major development by media venture Outernet. .
His main mission remains to tell his story.he wrote smart flashHe has written an autobiography titled “, and there is interest from a publisher. His friend Simon Morris, Amazon's former global chief creative officer and the man behind Amazon Prime Video, struck a deal to sell the rights to a documentary about Ratt's life and persuaded the studio to pursue the project. I'm selling it.
Meanwhile, Latz continues to focus on his legal work and is supported by private investors who will share in his winnings. “They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That made me even more determined.”
Since the advent of Midjourney and other image generators, artists have been observing and wondering whether AI represents a major opportunity or an existential threat. Midjourney names 16,000 artists whose work is said to have been used to train its AI, including Bridget Riley, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, and Anish Kapoor. Now that the list has been revealed, the art world is calling to arms. For engineers.
British artists have contacted U.S. lawyers to discuss joining a class action lawsuit against Midjourney and other AI companies, other artists told a U.S. newspaper. observer They argued that they could bring legal action themselves in the UK.
“What we need to do is come together,” said Tim Flack, president of the Society of Photographers and an internationally acclaimed photographer whose name also appears on the list.
“Releasing this list of names to the public is a great opportunity for artists to come together and take on this issue. Personally, I am in favor of doing so.”
The 24-page list of names constitutes Exhibit J in a class action lawsuit filed by 10 American artists in California against Midjourney, Stability AI, Runway AI, and DeviantArt. “We’re seeing interest from artists around the world, including in the UK,” said Matthew Butterick, one of the artists’ lawyers.
Tech companies have until February 8 to respond to the complaint. Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment.
Bridget Riley and her painting Rajasthan (2012)
Photo: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Shutterstock
WWill 2024 be boom or bust for big tech companies? estimate
the industry has seen more than 7,500 layoffs since the start of the year, a spate of pink slips that many had hoped would stop after deep job cuts in 2023.
But as earnings season for major U.S. tech companies begins this week, some analysts are predicting strong numbers. This set of quarterly financial results may indicate that the industry has shed pandemic-era hiring overhangs and reorganized around cloud computing and AI, with cuts in sectors where the outlook is less positive. It has become necessary. Analysts passionate about AI say we are at the beginning of a tech bull market.
Since the beginning of this year, Google has laid off more than 1,000 employees in various departments. The job cuts are small compared to January last year, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned that more layoffs are coming. He told employees in an internal memo last week that Alphabet was “removing layers to simplify execution and increase speed in some areas.”
“We have ambitious goals and will invest in big priorities this year,” Pichai said in the memo. Obtained from Verge.
“The reality is that we have to make difficult choices to create the capacity for this investment.” However, the reductions “are not the size of last year's cuts and will not impact every team.” he added.
Alphabet workers union called dismissal “needless” in Wednesday's post on X (formerly Twitter).
Amazon also announced new layoffs affecting hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions. This is part of a move away from excessive spending on entertainment and a refocus on core priorities such as online shopping logistics and new businesses such as AI.
At Meta, where more than 20,000 layoffs were made last year, departmental cuts appear to have slowed, but have not stopped. Instagram eliminated its management layer in mid-January, cutting 60 technical program managers. Last year, the company announced it was adding employees to support “priority areas” and changing its workforce to include more “high-cost technical roles.”
And that may be the true story of the technology industry in 2024. If Wedbush analyst Dan Ives is right, the layoffs are almost complete and earnings season will be a time for a “popcorn break.”
“Not only will there be companies that will benefit from the AI revolution, but there will also be companies that will be at a disadvantage.Therefore, companies will need to reduce costs in non-revenue-generating areas and redouble their use of AI.” says.
“This is more of a redistribution than anything else because 95% of the cost savings are in the rearview mirror. But the strong will get stronger and the weak will be exposed.”
But which hand is it? Apple may be looking to boost sales that have been lagging behind this month's launch of the Vision Pro headset and new iPhone models with generative AI capabilities. China's economic downturn has forced the company to cut the prices of many smartphones and hope for a recovery.
Last week, Bank of America securities analyst Wamsi Mohan expressed optimism about Apple's year ahead, suggesting that “promising AI capabilities” could lead to “an enhanced multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle.” did.
Ives said increased demand for enterprise software and cybersecurity, as well as a surge in demand related to major AI projects, will be key to earnings season and will continue to do so as the AI revolution gains momentum.
Winners have already emerged. Last week, Microsoft surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company for the first time since 2021, with a market capitalization of nearly $3 trillion. Microsoft cut 16,000 jobs from 232,000 employees last year, but Wedbush recently said that Microsoft's lead in AI will boost the company's revenue by $25 billion by 2025. I calculated that it was possible.
“The move to cloud and AI is having a huge impact on technology, including the reallocation of jobs and many changes to Apple and Google,” Ives said. “AI monetization has begun with his Nvidia and Microsoft, and we believe we are seeing the beginning of a new tech bull market starting in the summer of 2023.”
Ccountry singer songwriter margo price Born in Illinois in 1983, she studied dance and theater at Northern Illinois University. She was a fixture in the Nashville music scene for years, waiting in line and working odd jobs while playing in various bands, before releasing her debut album. Midwestern Farmer’s Daughter, in 2016. In 2018 she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and in 2022 she published her memoir. maybe it will be successful. her fourth album, Straysreleased last year, she Tour the UK and Ireland From January 26th (Gorilla, Manchester) to January 30th (Coco, London).
1. movie
Murderer of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, 2023)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon. Photo: Landmark Media/Alamy
I recently read a book by David Grann. This is one of the saddest true stories I’ve ever read and one that more people should know about. Martin Scorsese’s movies were great. This is a story about the Osage His Nation, a Native American tribe who lived in Oklahoma in the 1920s and became the richest people in the United States, attracting some pretty evil people. Lily Gladstone played the lead role and her performance was breathtaking. Fun fact: They asked me to audition for the role of Robert De Niro’s wife. Of course I didn’t understand it, but it was fun to be a part of it.
2. hobby
of dulcimer
“Easier than lugging your guitar around at the airport”: the traditional Appalachian mountain dulcimer. Photo: Picture Partners/Alamy
I started playing the dulcimer about a year ago and it’s really fun. She started looking for information online, figured out the chords, took one lesson, and then decided to boldly take it on tour and perform in front of people. There are only three strings, so it is very easy to pick up the melody. Now you know why Joni Mitchell travels with her guitar. It’s small and light, so it’s easier than lugging your guitar around at the airport. I hope this will be an opportunity for people over 40 to pick up a new musical instrument.
Host Dan Harris was a former news anchor who left the media after suffering panic attacks and battling drug addiction. Although he describes himself as a “fidgety skeptic,” this is a Buddhist-leaning podcast. He has interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama, monks, nuns, and guests such as: Esther Perel and La Sarmiento. He’s speaking to people who have gone through some pretty awful things and lived to tell about it, and that gives me perspective. He seems like an honest person and has a dark and dry sense of humor.
Samsung’s popular folding screen foldable phone now has a larger outer screen in its fifth generation, making it even easier to use, while still maintaining a stylish look with a sleek design that leaves no gaps when closed.
The new Z Flip 5 costs £1,049 ($999/AU$1,649), £50 more than last year’s model. It also comes with double his initial capacity of storage and a number of small but meaningful upgrades. There’s no question that folding technology still commands a premium price, with prices similar to high-end Android and iPhones.
The Flip 5 feels like a gorgeous piece of technology and is more sophisticated than previous versions. The new hinge allows the two halves of your phone to close flush on one end without leaving any gaps, which looks great and prevents pocket lint.
In contrast to the wedge shape and gap of flip 4 (left), flip 5 (right) closes flat and flush. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The new design also makes the phone thinner and slightly reduces the size of the screen crease, similar to the one seen on the Oppo Find N2 Flip. You can still feel the indentation in the center of the fold and see it in the glare of light, but it is usually not noticeable during use.
The large 6.7-inch screen is great: bright, crisp, smooth, and responsive. Samsung says the screen is 25% more durable than previous models, but it’s still made of softer materials than traditional phones, so it needs to be handled more carefully to avoid scratches. That’s what it means.
A big new 3.4-inch cover screen on the outside of the phone is the standout feature. It shows the time, notifications, and other types of information typical of a regular cell phone’s always-on display. There’s also an eight-button quick settings panel for toggling Wi-Fi and other bits, which is useful but annoyingly not customizable. When you have a notification, you’ll see a retro little red dot. There are many ways to customize the look of your display with different designs, images, and animations.
Spotify’s cover screen mini player is great (top left), with widget options like calendar, weather, and timer, as well as apps like Google Maps and YouTube (bottom right). Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The cover screen also has a collection of useful widgets, and you can also access a full keyboard to reply to messages and run a handful of apps like WhatsApp without opening your phone.
specification
Main screen: 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED Infinity Flex display (425ppi)
Cover screen: 3.4 inch AMOLED
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 2nd generation
Ram: 8GB
storage: 256 or 512GB
operating system: One UI 5.1 based on Android 13
camera: Dual 12MP rear, 10MP front
Connectivity: 5G, nano sim+esim, wifi6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSS
water resistance: IPX8 (30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters)
Patrick, I don’t pretend to understand the esoteric machinations behind the TikTok algorithm, but these days you keep giving me video after video of people sailing around the world on nine-month cruises. They’re all on the same cruise, and behind each blank stare is the same quiet desperation. what’s happening?
Michael, what’s happening now is essentially a social experiment being broadcast in real time, and some of us just can’t get enough of it.
Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise is a nine-month cruise on a ship called Serenade of the Seas that aims to visit more than 60 countries on all seven continents and is touted as the world’s longest cruise. I don’t know the official number of passengers, but 1 TikToker reports that there are approximately 1,000 people. Most of them are regular cruise types, but some of them have started documenting on TikTok. It basically just describes the day’s action and shows viewers the cabins, meals, and other passengers. Even though it sounds like the worst reality show premise, you’ve heard it before, it became all the rage.
Two months have passed and we now have a boat full of influencers stuck on the high seas. This place is famous for the fact that people love to go crazy and get hooked on hunting huge and sexy whales. Nothing has actually happened yet, butIt’s a perfect recipe for disaster. Terrible maritime affairs guaranteed.
How did this start? And who are the main characters?
Most of the content is daily style videos and confessionals, similar to the TikToks created by @sisters.swan color mode … and posts to his 7,000 followers.
Being on a ship for nine months sounds like an old-fashioned punishment. But people are actually paying for this, right?
Yes, it’s not cheap. You can join part of the tour or stay for the entire tour. The cheapest option for 9 months starts at $59,999 per person and the highest costs him $117,999. A couple who call themselves “Cruise Mom and Dad”I started an account @ while on board.spend our children’s money. They gained nearly 90,000 followers.
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But what’s interesting is how… junky it looks. Many university dormitories have common rooms. In fact, after the cruise started blowing up, TikTok influencer Marc Sebastian begged to be put on the ship and ended up getting sponsored by a publisher to go on an 18-night cruise. What’s his review? “I don’t like it here.”
he captioned video I went around my room writing the following: Are you okay. But for 9 months? You can’t do that, baby. ”
He also claimed that the showers were small and unreliable, that trips to see penguins were often canceled and that music was constantly blaring everywhere. nightmare.
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Once again, what’s on board now is a shady mix of old, wealthy cruisers, digital nomads, and influencers, almost exactly like the plot of Triangle of Sorrow. Has there been any real drama so far?
No, but everyone is preparing for it. It’s like we’re in the opening scene of a disaster movie right now. There, everyone is still cheerful and happy, we meet all the characters, and scientists continue to discover strange things that no one has noticed.
But we have a lot of gossip and it can lead to real drama – 1 account They claimed the passengers were infected with the coronavirus and were actually hiding it, which could lead to a new Ruby Princess-type plague ship.
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Another recent video Despite sharing rumors that the cruise may end much earlier than expected due to conflicts in the Middle East, a Royal Caribbean representative confirmed that they plan to continue the trip as scheduled.
Of course, even if nothing major happens, that doesn’t mean the entire ecosystem of gossip, comments, and criticism from stranded TikTok users has stopped. The passengers become characters in a soap opera, and the viewers write the story.
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It feels like being in the middle of a season of Real Housewives when nothing is happening and everyone is talking in sharp whispers as if something is happening. Why are we still investing so much?
I think it’s a combination of factors. There’s something truly intoxicating about watching rich people eat it while being trapped on a big ship – think “Below Deck” and “Triangle of Sorrow” – and the big ship itself, which has been ravaged by COVID-19. Virus cruises and stranded ships took center stage.
On top of that, people are fed up with the way reality shows are planned and produced these days, and there could be some real real chaos on this trip. It’s like putting a box full of bats, spiders, eggs, and fireworks and shaking it up. Something will happen. And we will watch.
History isn’t full of glorious Indiana Jones video games. The Fate of Atlantis, a beautiful adventure from LucasArts. A pretty good Lego game. A proper imperial tomb. A great-looking SNES side-scrolling game, Greatest Adventures… good There are games, but very few of them are classic games that transcend the brand like Knights of the Old Republic. Maybe that is about to change.
At Microsoft’s latest Developer Direct online event streamed Thursday night, we saw: 12 minute preview Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a globe-trotting first-person adventure set between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. The project was revealed three years ago by him, but this is the first footage we’ve seen, and what we can expect. There are Nazis, there are whips, there is Dr. Jones in the desert and in a tomb, and there is an argument with Denholm Elliott in an old university building. And it includes a story about stolen artifacts that are somehow connected to an international network of ancient sites along a circle that stretches around the world.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Photo: Microsoft/MachineGames
Interestingly, much of the lengthy promotional video shown during the event went to developer MachineGames explaining why the game uses a first-person perspective. “Our game is all about putting yourself in the shoes of an indie and letting him see what he sees and feel what he feels,” said Senior Narrator his designer Edward Curtis-Syves. says. “For us at MachineGames, it’s best to do it from a first-person perspective. We believe it’s important to experience the adventure up close.” Perhaps of concern is the appearance of Indiana Jones. is so iconic that fans may miss seeing him move around on screen. In fact, his two major game franchises, Uncharted and Tomb Raider, which owe most to Raiders of the Lost Ark, both use a third-person perspective. , Indy mimics the cinematic feel of his series.
In fact, this game is going to do a great job of crawling out from under the legacies of these two series. Both have worked on the cinematic, puzzle-filled action-adventure genre and established much of its promise. For example, in The Great Circle, Indy is accompanied by a hard-nosed journalist named Gina Lombardi, not unlike Elena Fisher, Nathan Drake’s partner in colonial crimes. It also looks like there will be some environmental puzzles, with one section taking place inside a tomb and requiring you to place a stone gear, presumably to open a door. This will be very familiar to anyone who has played Uncharted 3 or Tomb Raider, for example. : Anniversaries and adventures inspired by Indiana Jones. The video also promises multiple routes through key set-piece locations, including the chance to sneak in and study enemy patrol routes. Again, Nathan and Lara have been doing this for years.
But this is MachineGames’ brilliant reboot of the Wolfenstein series. It’s a studio that’s used to taking established concepts and giving them strange new twists. For those worried about not seeing Indie on screen, the team brought real detail and character to protagonist BJ Blazkowicz, who rarely appears in games.And we teeth Go see Indy. The video highlights that the camera switches to a third-person perspective during certain sections of gameplay, and of course there’s a very convincing Harrison Ford model present in the cutscenes. The character is expertly voiced by video game actor Troy Baker, best known for his role as Joel in The Last of Us.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Photo: Microsoft/MachineGames
More promising, however, is the implementation of classic Indie tropes. It seems that his whip can be used not only as a weapon but also as a crossing device, and you can enjoy full-fledged punching with thunderous punch sound effects. Additionally, the arrogant Nazi antagonist Emmerich Voss is a classic indie film. It’s also great to see the role of horror movie stalwart Tony Todd, who is seen stealing a seemingly minor artifact from Indy’s workplace, Marshall University, at the beginning of the game.
It seems unfair that Great Circle has to contend with two games that plundered Indiana Jones’ treasure trove of ideas, images, and action. But of course, what’s there is the Lucasfilm legacy: the character and his worldview, the whip, that score, and decades of goodwill. Additionally, MachineGames is a really interesting studio that isn’t afraid of compelling and idiosyncratic ideas. Indy is going to need a lot of them if it’s going to win against the young usurpers.
Mark Zuckerberg has faced accusations of being irresponsible in his approach to artificial intelligence after working to develop AI systems as powerful as human intelligence. The Facebook founder has also raised the possibility of making it available to the public for free.
Meta’s CEO announced that the company intends to build an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system and plans to open source it, making it accessible to outside developers. He emphasized that the system should be “responsibly made as widely available as possible.”
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg stated that the next generation of technology services requires the creation of complete general-purpose intelligence.
Although the term AGI is not strictly defined, it generally refers to a theoretical AI system capable of performing a range of tasks at a level of intelligence equal to or exceeding that of humans. The potential emergence of AGI has raised concerns among experts and politicians worldwide that such a system, or a combination of multiple AGI systems, could evade human control and pose a threat to humanity.
Zuckerberg expressed that Meta would consider open sourcing its AGI or making it freely available for developers and the public to use and adapt, similar to the company’s Llama 2 AI model.
Dame Wendy Hall, a professor of computer science at the University of Southampton and a member of the United Nations advisory body on AI, expressed concern about the potential for open source AGI, calling it “really, very scary” and labeling Zuckerberg’s approach as irresponsible.
According to Mr. Hall, “Thankfully, I think it will still be many years before those aspirations become a reality.” She stressed the need to establish a regulatory system for AGI to ensure public safety.
Last year, Meta participated in the Global AI Safety Summit in the UK and committed to help governments scrutinize artificial intelligence tools before and after their release.
Another UK-based expert emphasized that decisions about open sourcing AGI systems should not be made by technology companies alone but should involve international consensus.
In an interview with tech news website The Verge, Zuckerberg indicated that Meta would lean toward open sourcing AGI as long as it is safe and responsible.
Meta’s decision to open source Llama 2 last year drew criticism, with some experts likening it to “giving people a template to build a nuclear bomb.”
OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, defines AGI as “an AI system that is generally smarter than humans.” Meanwhile, Google DeepMind’s head, Demis Hassabis, suggested that AGI may be further out than some predict.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that further advances in AI will be impossible without energy supply breakthroughs, such as nuclear fusion.
Zuckerberg pointed out that Meta has built an “absolutely huge amount of infrastructure” to develop the new AI system, but did not specify the development timeline. He also mentioned that a sequel to Rama 2 is in the works.
A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday accused Coinbase and U.S. securities regulators of disagreements over whether digital assets are and are not securities in a case closely watched by the crypto industry.
Coinbase opposed classifying cryptocurrencies as securities, arguing that digital coins are like Beanie Babies and more like collectibles than company stock.
“There’s a difference between buying Beanie Babies and buying Beanie Babies,” said William Savitt, a lawyer for Coinbase.
Coinbase has asked a court to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit alleging that the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange is selling unregistered securities in defiance of regulations.
The SEC countered this argument by arguing that purchasing the token amounted to acquiring the issuer’s company.
The SEC argued that the crypto tokens at the center of the lawsuit support larger “companies” and are akin to investment contracts.
“When they buy this token, they are investing in the network behind it. You cannot separate one from the other. As the value of the network or ecosystem increases, [associated] It’s a token,” SEC attorney Patrick Costello said.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla heard arguments from both sides on Wednesday, focusing her questions on case law defining what securities regulators consider investment contracts and the attributes of some crypto tokens traded on platforms such as Coinbase. did. Failla said he was still considering several questions after a hearing that lasted more than four hours and did not decide the issue in court.
The judge’s ruling helps clarify the SEC’s jurisdiction over this area and is likely to impact digital assets. This case is one of many filed by the SEC against the crypto sector. The agency initially focused on companies selling digital tokens, but under the chairmanship of Gary Gensler, it has targeted companies that provide trading platforms, clearing activities, and act as broker-dealers.
The SEC sued Coinbase in June, accusing it of facilitating trades in at least 13 crypto tokens, including Solana, Cardano, and Polygon, which should have been registered as securities.
Although the Securities Act of 1933 outlined the definition of the term “security,” many experts rely on U.S. Supreme Court precedent to determine whether an investment product qualifies as a security. Masu. The key test is whether people are contracted to invest in common companies with the expectation of profit.
Coinbase argued that unlike stocks and bonds, crypto assets do not meet the definition of an investment contract, a position held by the majority of the crypto industry.
SEC lawyers argued that securities are different from buying collectibles like baseball cards or Beanie Babies, citing a 1990s trend in which Americans bought stuffed animals in hopes of rising prices.
“When you buy a collectible item, like a baseball card or some kind of figurine, you’re just buying that item. You’re buying something,” Costello said.
Still, Feira told SEC lawyers that he is “concerned” that the agency is seeking to “expand the definition of what constitutes a security.”
The SEC said buyers of digital assets, even on secondary markets like Coinbase’s platform, are buying tokens as investments similar to stocks and bonds.
However, Coinbase’s lawyers disagreed, pointing out that purchasers of such tokens did not sign a contract giving them the right to receive public corporate profits.
“Let me just say this: I would have been shocked to learn that the investment agreement had nothing to do with the contract,” said William Savitt, a lawyer for Coinbase.
The judge appeared to reject Coinbase’s argument that the case involved the so-called material issue doctrine. This legal principle is based on the Supreme Court’s decision that federal agencies cannot be regulated without specific authorization from Congress.
In its lawsuit, the SEC also targets Coinbase’s “staking” program, which pools assets and charges fees to verify activity on the blockchain network in exchange for “rewards” to customers. The SEC said the program should have been registered with the SEC.
According to an internal document released late Wednesday, Meta estimates that about 100,000 children on Facebook and Instagram are subjected to online sexual harassment every day, including “pictures of adult genitalia.” The unsealed legal filings include several allegations against Meta, based on information the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office learned from presentations and communications between Meta employees. These allegations describe an incident in 2020 in which the 12-year-old daughter of an Apple executive was solicited via Instagram’s messaging product, IG Direct.
In testimony before the US Congress late last year, a senior Meta employee described how his daughter was recruited through Instagram. His efforts to resolve the issue were ignored, he said. This suit is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office on December 5, alleging that Meta’s social network has become a marketplace for child predators. The state’s attorney general, Raul Torrez, accused Meta of allowing adults to find, send messages to, and groom children. Meta released a statement in response to Wednesday’s filing, stating, “We want to provide teens with a safe and age-appropriate online experience, and we have over 30 tools to support them and their parents.”
The lawsuit also referenced a 2021 internal presentation on child safety, in which Meta states that it has “poorly invested in the sexual expression of minors on IG, with significant sexual commentary on content posted by minors.” The complaint also highlights Meta employees’ concerns about the safety of children. Meta’s statement also said the company “has taken significant steps to prevent unwanted contact from teens, especially adults.”
The New Mexico lawsuit follows a Guardian investigation in April that revealed how Meta failed to report or detect the use of its platform for child trafficking. According to documents included in the lawsuit, Meta employees “coordinate human trafficking operations” and ensure that “every step of human exploitation (recruitment, conditioning, and exploitation) is expressed on our platform.” But an internal email from 2017 said executives opposed scanning Facebook Messenger for “harmful content,” citing the service’s desire to “provide more privacy.” In December, Meta received widespread criticism for introducing end-to-end encryption for messages sent via Facebook and Messenger.
MArc Zuckerberg hired Sheryl Sandberg as Facebook’s chief operating officer in 2008 as the social network grew rapidly and sought to attract investment. Zuckerberg was just 23 when he founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, but Sandberg, 38, was considered the “adult in the room.”
The former head of sales at Google and chief of staff at the U.S. Treasury has become one of the most influential people in global technology and one of the few women at the top of the industry. She also made a lot of money – which she is now worth after selling most of her stake in Meta, her Facebook parent company that also owns Instagram and her WhatsApp. Nearly $2bn (£1.6bn).
Mr. Sandberg, now 54, stepped down from his role a year and a half ago, and announced Wednesday night that he would also step away from Meta’s board. “We feel now is the right time to exit,” she wrote in a Facebook post, noting that Mehta is “well positioned for the future.”
“Sheryl, thank you for your extraordinary contributions to our company and our community over the years,” said Zuckerberg, the world’s sixth-richest man with an estimated personal fortune of $133 billion. “Your dedication and guidance have contributed to our success, and I appreciate your unwavering dedication to me and Meta over the years.”
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Mr. Sandberg was one of six executive officers. Name as it appears in the prospectus When Facebook filed for an initial public offering in 2012. With her resignation, Zuckerberg is the only one left among the six. She was considered so important to the company’s success that she was named, along with the founder, as one of the key people who posed a potential risk to investors’ funds in the event of their departure.
Google’s CEO told employees to expect additional layoffs this year following recent layoffs that affected 1,000 employees.
In a memo to staff on Wednesday, Sundar Pichai said departments within the tech company continue to make changes and “some roles may be affected.”
Pichai’s memo acknowledged further layoffs reported last week, with the Alphabet Union, which represents workers within Google and its parent company Alphabet, announcing that 1,000 employees were affected.
“We have ambitious goals and will invest in big priorities,” he said in a memo reported by technology news website The Verge. “The reality is that we have to make hard choices to create this investment capacity.”
Pichai said the difficult choices so far include job losses at Google’s divisions, which include search, ad sales and the YouTube platform.
He noted that Alphabet cut 12,000 jobs across Alphabet in January last year, and said the job cuts would not reach that level. The company employed 182,000 people as of September 30 last year, according to its latest quarterly results.
“These role reductions are not at the scale of last year’s reductions and will not affect all teams,” Pichai wrote. “But I know it’s very difficult to see your colleagues and teams affected.”
Pichai announced the layoffs last year, saying Alphabet experienced a hiring boom as demand for tech companies surged during the coronavirus pandemic. He acknowledged that the company had overexpanded and wrote that it “hired for a different economic reality” than the one Alphabet faces now.
Pichai’s Wednesday memo was not on par with 12 months ago, when Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and Meta made tens of thousands of layoffs to adapt to the post-lockdown economy, sent to employees against the background of technical layoffs elsewhere. In December, Spotify announced it would cut 17% of its global workforce, while Amazon cut hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and Studio divisions, as well as about 500 employees at live streaming platform Twitch announced that he would be fired.
According to a website that tracks job losses in the technology industry. layoff.fyi, the sector has made 7,785 job cuts globally so far this year. By the same time last year, tech companies had laid off even more employees, about 38,000.
Pichai said Wednesday that the latest job cuts are focused on “reducing tiers to simplify execution and increase speed in some areas,” with more role cuts to come. Stated.
“While many of these changes have already been announced, we want to say upfront that some teams will continue to make specific resource allocation decisions throughout the year as needed and some roles will be affected. “There is a possibility that we will be subject to this,” he added.
In an attempt to ignite fading consumer interest, Samsung is heavily emphasizing AI technology for its latest premium S24 Android phone. This includes instant phone translation, new Google search, and advanced image and video editing features.
The Galaxy S24 series was announced at an event in California and is led by the largest and most expensive titanium-clad Ultra. It features the latest Qualcomm chip, brightest screen and most powerful camera. However, in a change for the dominant Korean company, hardware updates are taking a backseat to flashy features that leverage the new Galaxy AI branding.
Many of its additions, including the use of the Android maker’s Gemini AI model, keep it competitive with products such as Google’s Pixel series. Samsung’s new Live Translate feature enables real-time two-way phone, voice, and text conversations between 13 different languages, similar to what Google Translate offers, and its “Chat Assist” allows for simple spelling. Additionally, it helps ensure message tone and grammar are appropriate.
Display with a variety of Samsung smartphones with AI-powered features. Photo: Jennifer Dudley Nicholson/AAP
The phone’s video and photo editing features are packed with generative AI technology, including regular object, background removal, and image retouching. The AI can create instant slow-motion videos from regular videos by generating additional frames that slow down the action. Samsung’s image editor will add watermarks and metadata to AI-altered content, a move widely welcomed by analysts.
Ben Wood, principal analyst at CCS Insight, said: “The Galaxy S24 series of devices, along with Google’s Pixel series, mark the dawn of the consumerization of AI in smartphones. This means that all smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, are adding AI-powered features to their new devices.”
Google has partnered with Samsung to bring new ways for Google to: Search by circle, which will launch on January 31st on select Android devices including the S24 and Pixel 8 series. Users simply press the home button or gesture bar, circle what they want to search for on the screen, and Google’s AI does the rest.
Samsung has also partnered with Google to provide seven years of software support to help users use their new phone for longer and more safely. The S24’s construction includes a wider variety of designs to soften its impact on the environment, using tons of recycled materials.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Photo: Jennifer Dudley Nicholson/AAP
Samsung is aiming to boost mobile phone sales through its AI efforts, as it recently lost its top spot in the mobile phone market to Apple for the first time in 12 years. Analysts believe Samsung’s sales growth will depend largely on its ability to effectively market its mobile phone to raise awareness and break consumer apathy.
Samsung has a nine-month window to regain leadership in the premium segment, especially in its biggest markets, the US and China, before the expected launch of Apple’s next-generation iPhone in September.
IIt’s hard to believe that The Last of Us Part II was first released almost four years ago, right in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown period. There was a haunting irony in the idea of people stuck at home due to a global pandemic playing an apocalyptic video game about a global pandemic. Well, the coronavirus never went away, and neither did The Last of Us. In 2021, a free upgrade will allow new PS5 owners to play a tweaked version of the PS4 original, followed by the arrival of the critically acclaimed TV drama series and new You’ve got an audience. A desperate story of Ellie and Joel.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered is now available, an overhauled version of this great game. This adds a new fidelity mode that offers his 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, and a performance mode at 1440p, 60 fps. You’ll need a decent display to notice the difference from older PS5 upgrades, but the difference is there. Movement is smoother, the lighting is brighter, and the details of the scenery, especially the foliage, are brought to life, further increasing the immersion in this muddy, desolate world. What struck me most were the game’s epic battle scenes, which now feel completely fluid and intense, and the emotional cinematic moments that the game already achieved so well.
“Emotional movie moment”…The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
More importantly, the controls change with the complete implementation of the Dual Sense controller. Detailed haptic feedback and adaptive triggers make the differences in the feel of various weapons obvious, increasing the sheer physicality of combat. The addition of a guitar mode, where you can use the touchpad to strum Joel’s old acoustic, is a peripheral but very fun feature.
What really makes the game exciting is the abundance of bonus content. The new mode, named No Return, is a roguelike survival game where you aim to survive as long as possible through waves of multiple enemy attacks. You can choose a path through a series of procedurally generated stages. Each stage is based on an area from the main game. If you die, it’s game over. Once you reach the end, a huge boss battle awaits you.
This kind of “horde mode” isn’t new, but Naughty Dog has done a great job of transferring the main game’s narrative tension into these enclosed gunfights. Instead of just standing in the shadows and blowing up anything that moves, you’ll have to sneak through abandoned stores and backyards, listening for signs of enemies. Also, there are stages where you are dealing with infected people, and there are stages where human soldiers appear, and the tactics change accordingly. You get a fascinating mix of stealth and all-out action, and you can upgrade your weapons and items at the end of each stage. It’s also fun to play as different characters for the first time, such as Dina or Tommy, as each trait affects gameplay differently. Unfortunately, there’s no multiplayer co-op here. It would have been fun to share the experience with friends, The Last of Us’ problems online are well knownThat’s not surprising.
Stay alive as long as possible… No Return Mode in The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
However, my favorite addition is the Lost Levels, which are a selection of three playable stages cut from the game. There’s additional build-up to the Jackson party where Dina and Ellie kiss, an extended section of the Seattle sewers, and finally a final scene where Ellie hunts a boar. These short sequences are unfinished and understandably rough at times, but they offer a truly fascinating glimpse into the development process. This kind of content is rarely shared with players (or journalists, for that matter).
Every scene also has audio commentary from the lead designer, who explains how much detail goes into every little section of the game, from how the designer establishes the emotional context of a scene to determining the exact length of a fire escape ladder. Gain insight into how much thought and planning goes into it. , thereby emphasizing the player’s sense of security and escape.What I remember from Lost Level great story At the GameCity festival a few years ago, Uncharted lead designer Richard Lemarchand talked about the development of Uncharted 3. Game design students should jump at this learning opportunity.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered feels like the video game equivalent of a Criterion Collection Blu-ray, hand-picked to celebrate a groundbreaking release. Reliving this brutal adventure in a visually and haptically enhanced format was just as exhausting, moving, and exhilarating as my first playthrough. It’s nice to see a video game treated this way, but it’s also a reminder of how few studios and releases see this kind of respectful repackaging.i love that kind of thing Limited run game That will be the case with the physical release, but imagine if all the remasters and reboots show deleted scenes and developer insights. There’s so much nonsense about the game development process on forums and social media, and so many assumptions that are completely wrong. Improved access to the process will benefit everyone.
For those who have never played the game or experienced it on PS5, this is a must-have experience. This is the cutting edge of mainstream narrative gaming, lovingly reincarnated.
I
If you listened to Stephen Fry's recent podcast, you may have been confused. The recording of MS Singh's The Missing Lines was cut off after just 2 minutes and 48 seconds and his next 9 chapters were left silent. However, this was not a mistake. It was a trick to raise awareness of the people who go missing every 90 seconds.
This isn't the first time a podcast has been used as a stunt. Joe Lycett recently announced Turdcast. This is a podcast where celebrities talk about their poop, including Gary Lineker and his amazing 1990 World Cup pitching poop. However, this footage was never made public. Lycett used this as an opportunity to highlight the government's response to the sewage leak crisis.
“For you, it probably means something like frustration,” Frye said of his “Broken” podcast. Sure, it might be a slightly annoying realization that makes you feel a little silly after hooking up on a walk, but it's definitely an effective way to get your message across.
The five podcasts are absolutely This week's picks include a fascinating series about Eunice Carter, the first black woman to serve as a prosecutor in the United States. Keep reading to find out the best podcasts that ended right away.
Holly Richardson TV Deputy Editor-in-Chief
This week's picks
Oona Chaplin, host of Hollywood Exiles. Photo: Antonio Olmos
Nicole Perkins' new podcast is set in 1936 New York, where gangster Lucky Luciano is on trial, but there's a much more interesting story behind it: that of lawyer Eunice Carter. It's about time Carter, who has been described as “the spark that started the fire” as America's first black female prosecutor, gets props. Perkins portrays an outspoken lawyer who brought Luciano to court, but was sidelined and kept out of the spotlight by the rules of the day. Hannah Verdier
In this exasperating mini-series that brings the housing crisis to a close, one housing association reveals that when low-income people apply for affordable housing, they can be forced to wait eight to 10 years on a waiting list along with 800 others. It says that there is a sex. Jeevan Basagar speaks to people who rely on public housing and those who work in the system, showing them exactly how bad the situation is. Holly Richardson
Oona Chaplin from Game of Thrones hosts this podcast and talks about how her grandfather Charlie was forced out of Hollywood during the anti-communist movement. From her life in a workhouse in Lambeth to owning a Hollywood studio, Chaplin achieved her American dream until she was investigated by the FBI. HV
There has been an uproar after 19-year-old Belgian cyclist Femke van den Driesche was found to have a motor installed on her bike. But was she a scammer, or was she a victim? Kris Marshall Bell tells this very strange story with passion, chronicling death threats, unbelievable allegations about doped pigeons, and anger from his competitors. HV
Revealed: The Ashley Madison Hack Widely available, all episodes released on Wednesdays When no-strings-attached dating site Ashley Madison was hacked, scammers were horrified as their personal information and desires were exposed. The series tells elaborate hacking stories with subtlety and a touch of romance, while explaining the connections users have made and the fear they've felt in the face of moral judgment. HV
There's a podcast for that
Phoebe Robinson (left) and Jessica Williams in 2019. Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for HBO
this week, Hannah Verdier Choose the 5 best podcasts it ended too soonfrom Starry Cain's weird and wonderful investigations to Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams' comedy masterpieces.
mystery show Starry Cain's offbeat investigation was the perfect antidote to the true crime reign of 2015 in the podcast world. Cain's storytelling is impeccable, but her podcast ended after her six sweet episodes due to what Gimlet mysteriously described as “business reasons.” During that season, a big question was asked: “How tall is Jake Gyllenhaal?” More complicated questions, like why Britney Spears was photographed holding an obscure self-help book by Andrea Siegel. There is also a search for a treasured belt buckle, a missing video store, and a lunch box.
It’s been about two years since Sheryl Sandberg stepped down from the board of Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
As Chief Operating Officer of Meta, Mr. Sandberg was the lead architect of Facebook’s digital advertising-driven business model.
The 54-year-old announced he would step down from his role in June 2022 and step down from the Meta board after his term ends in May.
“The Meta business is strong and well-positioned for the future, so we feel now is the right time to exit,” Sandberg said in a Facebook post, adding that he has asked the company’s advisors to He added that he will take office.
Sandberg joined Facebook from Google in 2008 and will step down as head of operations at Meta in 2022, a position he held for 14 years.
In response to Sandberg, Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said he looked forward to “a new chapter together.”
Sandberg, once Zuckerberg’s second-in-command, was one of the company’s most visible executives.
While serving as chief operating officer of Mr. Zuckerberg’s social media empire, she covered the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the use of the Facebook platform in organizing the 2021 Capitol riot, and Facebook’s massive success. faced a number of controversies, including continued concerns about mining user data to power its advertising business.
Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and served as chief of staff at the U.S. Treasury under former President Bill Clinton.
Sandberg, a Harvard graduate, is the author of several books, including the 2013 feminist manifesto “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”
The pursuit of profits from artificial intelligence by big technology companies is reckless. Urgent action is necessary to mitigate the risks from this rapidly growing sector, the UN chief has warned.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a scathing attack on technology multinationals during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. He stated that each advance in generative AI has heightened the threat of unintended consequences.
Guterres connected the risks related to AI to those posed by the climate crisis, highlighting that the international community lacks a strategy to address either issue.
During the WEF in Switzerland, the UN Secretary-General appealed to technology industry representatives in the audience to collaborate with governments in establishing guardrails for AI.
He referred to a warning in an IMF report, saying, “This technology has great potential for sustainable development, but it is very likely to exacerbate inequality.”
Guterres argued that influential technology companies are prioritizing profits without regard for human rights, personal privacy, and social impact.
While tech companies claim to have preventive measures in place to stop AI from being used for crime or other nefarious purposes, Guterres insisted that more action is necessary, urging governments and international organizations such as the United Nations to play a role in ensuring that AI is a force for good.
He emphasized the need for governments to work with technology companies to develop a risk management framework for current AI developments and to monitor and mitigate future damage, as well as to increase access to AI to bridge the digital divide.
Sam Altman, an executive at OpenAichief, highlighted the requirement for energy breakthroughs to meet the future demands of AI. He underlined the need for climate-friendly energy sources such as nuclear fusion, cheap solar power, and storage.
Guterres also criticized fossil fuel companies for impeding progress on climate change and stressed the importance of phasing out fossil fuels for a just and equitable transition to renewable energy.
In summary, Guterres highlighted the need for a significant global strategy to address the threats posed by climate change and uncontrolled AI.
Apple overtook Samsung as the world’s top smartphone seller, ending the South Korean tech company’s 12-year reign as the industry leader.
According to statistics from International Data Corporation (IDC), iPhone sold 234.6 million units in 2023, overtaking Samsung’s 226.6 million units.
IDC said Apple’s laurels with the launch of the iPhone 15 in September were due to trends such as the growing popularity of high-end devices, which now account for more than 20% of the market.
“The last time a company other than Samsung topped the smartphone market was in 2010, and in 2023, it is now Apple,” IDC said. “A sort of change in power at the top in the largest consumer electronics market was propelled by Apple’s record market share, putting it on top for the first time.”
The $2.8 trillion (£2.2 trillion) US tech company had a 20.1% market share, ahead of Samsung’s 19.4%, according to IDC. Apple has established itself as the largest smartphone maker in terms of sales and profits, but this is the first time it has led the market in terms of unit sales.
The sales data was released ahead of the launch of Samsung’s latest models on Wednesday, with the South Korean conglomerate expected to launch the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus and S24 Ultra with features powered by artificial intelligence.
Ben Wood, principal analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said the IDC data was a “mental” blow to Samsung, but he expected the competition to remain close this year.
“While I think it will remain a close race throughout 2024, there is little doubt that Apple is on a strong trajectory, and the loyalty that consumers have for Apple devices will continue to grow once they are acquired,” he said. This means that they rarely switch to something else.”
Wood said this data further emphasizes the importance of Samsung’s new product announcements on Wednesday.
“This means Samsung needs to do everything it can to not only attract new customers for its devices, but also to retain existing users.”
IDC also pointed to the increasing fragmentation of the smartphone market running on the Android operating system, citing low-end Samsung rivals such as Transsion, Xiaomi, Honor and Google.
IDC said the success of Huawei products, which were well-received in China, also contributed to Samsung’s sales decline. The data provider added that Huawei remains a competitive threat to Apple in China, the US company’s biggest market.
Global smartphone shipments fell 3.2% to 1.17 billion units in 2023, according to IDC, but the group said the industry is recovering after a downturn.
IDC added: “Growth in the second half of this year solidified the recovery expected in 2024.”
Last week, Apple was overtaken by Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company at $2.9 trillion.
Google made a promise in July 2022 to remove location data of users who visited abortion clinics. However, little progress has been made in fulfilling this promise. This move would make it more difficult for law enforcement to use this information to investigate and prosecute people seeking abortions in states where abortion is banned or restricted. Recent research shows that Google still retains location history data in 50% of cases.
Google originally made this promise shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision to end federal abortion protections. The company stated it would remove entries for locations considered “private” or sensitive, including “health care facilities such as counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, and abortion clinics.” However, as of now, there has been no implementation of this policy. A study conducted by tech advocacy group Accountable Tech found that Google does not mask location data in all cases, even after claiming to prioritize user privacy and implement changes to its location retention policy “as promised” in early 2022.
Accountable Tech’s latest study revealed that while Google’s location retention rates had improved slightly, the company was still not deleting location history in all cases as promised. Google Maps’ Director of Products, Marlo McGriff, disputed this finding and stated that any claims of non-compliance are false.
Researchers used her latest Android device to guide her to an abortion clinic and tested what location data it stored about her trip in the latest study. The study also found that Google still holds data on the location search queries and other criminal data as well, from emails to Google search data. Law enforcement’s use of reverse search warrants and geofence location warrants have raised new concerns about user data privacy.
Recently, Google announced plans to change the way it stores location history data for all its users. This change includes storing location data on users’ devices by default and encrypting and deleting all location data backed up to Google’s cloud storage after three months. However, Accountable Tech remains skeptical of Google’s promises to protect location data, based on its history of unfulfilled commitments.
The Guardian has revealed that social media companies relying on artificial intelligence software to manage their platforms are producing unworkable reports on child sexual abuse cases, leaving U.S. police unable to uncover potential leads, which is delaying the investigation into suspected looters.
By law, U.S.-based social media companies are required to report child sexual abuse content detected on their platforms to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which serves as a national clearinghouse for child abuse information and forwards information to relevant law enforcement agencies in the United States and around the world. The company said it received more than 32 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation and approximately 88 million images, videos, and other files from businesses and the general public in 2022.
Meta is the largest reporter of this information, with over 27 million (84%) generated by Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms in 2022. NCMEC is partially funded by the Department of Justice and also receives private sources of corporate donations.
Social media companies, including Meta, use AI to detect and report suspicious content on their sites and employ human moderators to send some flagged content to law enforcement. However, U.S. law enforcement agencies can only disclose AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by serving a search warrant on a company that has filed a report, which can add days or even weeks to the investigation process.
“If a company reports a file to NCMEC and does not indicate that it viewed the file before reporting, we will not be able to open the file,” said Staka Shehan, vice president of analytical services at NCMEC.
To protect your privacy under the Fourth Amendment, neither law enforcement officials nor the federally funded NCMEC will issue a search warrant unless the contents of the report are clear and first reviewed by a social media company representative.
NCMEC staff and law enforcement agencies cannot legally see the content of AI-generated content that is not seen by humans, which can stall investigations into suspected predators for several weeks, resulting in the loss of evidence that may be possible to connect.
“Any delay [in viewing the evidence] “The longer criminals go undetected, the more detrimental it is to ensuring community safety,” said an assistant U.S. attorney in California, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They are dangerous to all children.”
In December, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging that its social network has become a marketplace for child predators and that Meta has repeatedly failed to report illegal activity on its platform. woke up. In response, Meta said its priority was to combat child sexual abuse content.
The state attorney general laid the blame for the fight to send actionable information at the feet of Meta. “Reports showing the inefficiency of the company’s AI-generated cyber information systems prove what we said in the complaint,” Raul Torrez said in a statement to the Guardian.
To ensure the safety of children, keep parents informed, and enable law enforcement to effectively investigate and prosecute online sex crimes against children, the company is reforming, staffing levels, and policies. , it’s long past time to implement algorithmic changes,” Torrez added.
Despite legal limitations on moderation AI, social media companies are likely to increase its use in the near future. In 2023, OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT, announced they claimed that large-scale language models can do the job of human content moderators and have roughly the same accuracy.
However, child safety experts say that the AI software used by social media companies to moderate content already knows the digital fingerprints of images, known as hashes, and that the AI software used by social media companies to moderate content cannot be used to detect known cases of child sexual abuse. It claims to be effective only when identifying images of Lawyers interviewed said AI would be ineffective when newly created images or when known images or videos are altered.
“There is always concern about cases involving newly identified victims, and because they are new, the materials do not have a hash value,” said the director of the Zero Abuse Project, a nonprofit organization focused on combating child abuse.
said senior lawyer Kristina Korobov. . “If humans were doing the work, there would be more discoveries of newly discovered victims.”
TikTok’s tarot card reader looks at me through the screen and draws a card.
“If you’re watching this, this is made for you,” she said. And in a way, she’s right. But it wasn’t fate that brought me here, it was an algorithm.
spirituality and mysticism, Found a home online for a long timeBut with the rise of generative AI and personalized content recommendation systems, it’s easier than ever to project a sense of magic into technology.
As Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Anyone who has been offered content that feels eerily tailored to them will appreciate the mysticism of algorithms. You may have wondered about omnipotence. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with experiencing a sense of wonder in the face of technological advances, or using digital technology to enhance spiritual practices, it is important to note that there is nothing inherently wrong with experiencing a sense of wonder in the face of technological advances, or using digital technology to enhance spiritual practices, but when magic and technology collapse Doing so can be dangerous.
Many religious and spiritual spin-off chatbots have emerged leveraging OpenAI’s large-scale language model GPT-4. Get BibleGPT to write personalized Christian verses, use the Jesus AI to have “meaningful conversations with Jesus Christ,” as the website claims, or talk to him about paganism. You can chat with WitchGPT.
“Welcome to the Void” invites the latest chatbot feature from popular astrology app CoStar, encouraging users to seek generated guidance for a fee of about $1 per question. Choose from a list of suggested prompts to “Ask the Stars” if they have a secret fan. “no,”That tells me (rude).
In true CoStar fashion (the app is notoriously cheeky), it scolds you for even asking the question in the first place and suggests that you should instead find gratitude for what you already have.
These examples are a little silly at best, and probably harmless. At worst, it exposes scammers who exploit the human tendency to anthropomorphize technology or gamify social media engagement algorithms to make money by fabricating a sense of insight and enlightenment.
However, there are also people among the chavs who form genuine spiritual communities and engage in witchcraft, etc. sacred traditions online. Like many subcultures, social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Group to connectHowever, it can also lead to the reduction and impurity of cultural practices.
Feminist anthropologist Dr. Emma Quilty, whose forthcoming book on magic and technology, describes a “neoliberal spirituality” that aligns with its collective focus and hyper-individualistic ideas of self-improvement. It distinguishes between things that promote
This is uncomfortably close to commercialized self-care. severed from its black radical feminist roots and was redirected to Capitalist health choices. Kirti believes that trends promoted by social media are resulting in customs becoming disconnected from the (usually Eastern) religious traditions and cultures from which they are imported, and in some cases creating an unsustainable market for products such as crystals and quartz. It emphasizes that this could lead to increased demand. white sage smudging stick.
This is not to say that it is impossible to develop meaningful spiritual communities and practices online, or that it is impossible to have deep experiences using digital tools.
I’m not interested in denying where and how people derive meaning. However, it’s important to remember that technologies such as large-scale language models and personalized recommender systems are ultimately designed to generate value from users.
Deep experience from these tools comes from us humans, not the tools. Mr Quilty said: “Sometimes something can be positive, helpful, or empowering on an individual level, but it can still be harmful at a broader societal level due to the underlying interests and obligations of those who build and implement the technology.” There is a possibility.”
In fact, mistakenly attributing magic to technology can quickly lead us into dangerous waters. It surprises us with its glossy user interface and smooth convenience, and makes us want to peek from behind the curtain at the grumpy old man holding things together with bombastic marketing language and the usual profit-driven old data extractions. It falls directly into the hands of companies that do not.
Magical thinking about technology can be dangerous when it extends to the level of policymaking. Governments and businesses alike are often quick to turn to technology as a silver bullet to complex social problems. And when the true limits and consequences of technology are ignored, e.g. Automation could worsen social inequalityor how ChatGPT did not work without stealing copyrighted material. Automated content moderation relies on exploited invisible workers – that we adopt policies that fail to cure technology’s worst woes, relegating more complex but necessary policy interventions to the background, and all eclipsed by the magical allure of technology; It will be.
Technology is not a panacea to solve social problems and, like magic, can cause great harm when misused for personal gain.
I
He grew up in an era when preadolescent friendships were formed by huddled around a desktop computer and watching YouTube video after YouTube video. unicorn charlie (It was more interesting than I remembered) and harry potter puppet friends (It was less funny than I remember) It was considered the height of comedy. Other than the occasional 6pm viewing of ‘Australia’s Funniest Home Videos’, my comedy diet was limited to his 240p internet videos, passed around like schoolyard contraband.
I have to admit that not much has changed. I still spend a lot of time on the internet, and my friends and I constantly quote obscure pop culture references that have become memes. Sometimes I worry that this has rotted my brain. For now, I will carefully select videos that I found interesting.
1. Would you like to be a guest?
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I love musical theater! I love the thrill of secondary embarrassment! I literally gasped every time I watched this video. Performers, Tay Martinwas involved in 24 hoursbeauty and the beastThe Musical – Casting, direction, costumes and memorization were all done in one day. result? unstable.
2. Shawn Mendes' anxiety failure
This clip of Shawn Mendes 2019 interview It shouldn’t be this funny, but it is. It’s in his choice of words, the way he speaks, and the interviewer’s half-second silence.
3. Homosexuals, straight people, and people in between.
Almost every clip of Tyra Banks feels like a fever dream to me. Making viewers wear slogan T-shirts on national television that color-coded their sexuality? The ’00s were wild. As someone who doesn’t like being in the middle, I appreciate your half-hearted support.
4. Tour of Myra Magdalen's room
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OK, this video is simply iconic. I think about that (and Jimmy Neutron’s father) a lot. For those who don’t know, Myra Magdalene is a TikTok creator and designer who is known for posing in chaotic handmade outfits in front of a wall of keyboards. Here, she takes us on a tour of her bedroom. This is no ordinary bedroom vlog and she is no ordinary girl. You’ll find out soon.
5. I really appreciate it.
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Who among us has not burst into tears or muttered to ourselves at the dinner table? As a water sign, this is relatable, nay, ambitious. Gratitude Diary is afraid of this boy.
6. How to become the #1 fake restaurant on TripAdvisor
If there’s one thing our modern society lacks, it’s a good prank. We need more pranks! Author and filmmaker Uber Butler spent eight months creating a fake restaurant in a bid to steal the number one spot for London’s restaurant on TripAdvisor. This mini-documentary about him is both silly and wise.
BIt's easy to feel a kinship with pop star Selena Gomez, considering her 430 million Instagram followers, reported net worth of $800 million, and close relationship with Taylor Swift. rare. However, 11 days have passed since the new year started, heading “Selena Gomez returns to Instagram, 18 hours after announcing social media hiatus.''
I feel extra conscious of my bad habits – probably due to my depressed body evidence suggests We usually give up on our New Year's resolutions by mid-January.
Info about Selena Gomez
It's not even noon yet and I've spent 45 minutes on Instagram today. She drank two cups of coffee, but I can't rule out the possibility of a third one. My mild headache is a solemn reminder that I ended up having three drinks last night after a sudden hinge date ruined my plans for a quiet evening. And I just took a small swig from her nearly empty vape, which I had vowed to buy one last time.
At least I'm not eating sugar yet.
As you can see, I'm ambivalent about what I consider to be my vices, and I'm more or less attached to them. Most of the time I can ignore them as reliable pleasures in life and they are reasonably tolerable.But peer pressure to be better is always insidious and becomes especially acute at the beginning of a new year..
My newsfeed is full of stories about financial goal setting, improving fitness, non-alcoholic drinks, and sugar substitutes.Friends are pledging to spend the month of dry January taking 10,000 steps a day and cutting out junk food. On the other hand, I think I may be missing out on the tricks of the trade by missing out on the opportunity for a fresh start.
“hand“At this time of year, the focus is on what to start doing and what to stop doing,” says the counselor. georgina starmer. She links it to the excesses of the just-past Christmas season: What do you change? ”
But the flip side of this focus on self-improvement is the need for self-monitoring. We become more aware of our supposed flaws and shortcomings, which may not be particularly harmful and may even bring us joy.
PIf you're of a certain age, there's no doubt that you have fond memories of the paper instruction manuals that once came with every video game. Dan Marshall, author of The Swindle and Lair of the Clockwork God, certainly does. He remembers the ritual of poring over a new game's manual on the bus ride home from the store, trying to absorb all of the information in preparation for playing the game itself.
He vividly remembers receiving Bullfrog's 1993 game Syndicate by mail order early one morning and waiting for hours until his younger brother woke up to play it on the PC in his room. “And during that quality time, I did nothing but read the manual over and over and over again,” Marshall says.
Although Marshall has now gotten rid of most of his old DVDs, games and magazines, he still maintains a shelf of treasured physical items that remind him of a time in his life. It's the book he used when he first learned to code, 1989's Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles LCD Handheld, a strange game box he couldn't part with. “They’re nice to walk past and they bring a smile to your face,” he says. “And a well-made manual or a well-made box is fun in that sense.”
A box of fun…early video games came with a set of instruction manuals
Photo: Stephen Cooper/Alamy
In the early days of home video games, manuals were essential. Every byte of memory is valuable, and even adding a simple command like “press A to jump” takes up memory that could be better allocated elsewhere. Information about how to play the game can instead be moved to a manual, which also provides an opportunity to provide a story or background to accompany simple on-screen sprites. There may be other interesting things in the game box. Memorably, Revolution's 1994 adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky It came with a comic by Dave Gibbons of 2000AD., described several events leading up to the start of the game. His pioneering 1984 BBC micro-title, Elite, came with an entire novel called The Dark Wheel, which provided insight into the world of Elite.
However, as consoles and computers became more powerful throughout the 1990s, it became increasingly possible to include instructions on how to play within the game itself. In-game tutorials quickly became mandatory, allowing players to jump right into new games without having to stop to read the manual first. Then, in the 2000s, digital downloads started to become popular. Initially, publishers often offered him PDF versions of game manuals, but eventually even this tradition fell out of fashion. The instruction manual was redundant and dead.
However, several developers have been working hard to revive this lost part of gaming tradition. His 2021 strategy title HighFleet: Deus in Nobis by Konstantin Koshutin has arrived with his lovingly crafted 92-page PDF manual. Downloaded from Steam. The game was published by the newly reformed Microprose, a company that has historically specialized in simulation and strategy games such as F-15 Strike His Eagle and Civilization. All of them came with correspondingly large manuals (his Civilization manual was well over 100 pages long).
And earlier this year, Media Molecule released Tren for the Dreams gaming platform. The game is based on his Brio-style wooden railway tracks, and the company Beautifully crafted digital manual I'm going to talk about the fictional toy “Tren Modular Play System” manufactured by a company called BeechCorp. Best of all, the manual even features realistic-looking tear tracks and children's doodles.
We've seen some developers venture into physical manuals as well. In July, The Banished Vault from Lunar Division added an in-game manual. This manual is printed on demand and can also be ordered in paper form for £4.99. The developers were surprised at how many players did just that. Approximately 10% of those who purchased a digital game also purchased a paper manual. “We've found that people never get tired of beautiful game manuals.” Mike Bissell said. Head of publisher Bithell Games, on X/Twitter. This is perhaps part of a broader trend at the moment, where physical objects are revered by a generation that has seen movies, music and video games disappear into the digital realm. Check out the unexpected love for records among the younger generation.
Tunic's manual is authentic in another way, in that you actually need it to progress through the game. Otherwise, little guidance is provided on how to progress through the game. Manual pages are scattered throughout the in-game world, and each page contains important information. Perhaps providing a map, revealing a plot, or even revealing a special move. Each page is written in indecipherable runes, except for the odd intriguing English word here and there, playing imported games and deciphering Japanese manuals for hints on what to do. It reminds me of the days when I tried.
Shouldice worked hard to make the in-game manual look really beat up. “I made a physical booklet, damaged it, tore parts off, spilled stuff on it, then put a little bit in the tumble dryer and messed it up,” he says. “We then scanned every page.” The text was added digitally later to make it easier to translate the manual into different languages. It's certainly a beautiful thing, and Fangamer physical version It's available for purchase by players.
Beautiful things…Fangamer's printed tunic manual.
Photo: Fangamer/ISOMETRICORP Games Ltd./FINJI
Banished Vault also requires players to read the manual carefully. This turn-based title involves leading a gigantic space monastery as it flees from solar system to solar system, harvesting resources from planets, closely monitoring fuel levels, and attempting to escape. malicious phenomenon. Nick Tringali, the game's director, is not nostalgic for manuals. He became interested in games because they were becoming obsolete. Instead, he was inspired by his board game and his table talk role-playing game (TTRPG). “In his modern TTRPG, this book is very well designed to teach you the system and help you navigate this experience smoothly,” Tringali says. His idea was to use the same technique for a complex strategy video game.
“[In-game] “The tutorial is very complex and very likely to break if the interface or design changes,” Tringali said, noting that it may eventually have to be completely reworked later in development. Did. “So I looked at all of this and thought, okay, it's going to be less effort to actually make the book.”
Developers and players may still have a soft spot for game manuals, but it's hard to imagine manuals making a comeback outside of a few niche games. Dan Marshall thinks that's a shame. “I want to make games that come with a physical manual, so make sure you read it,” he says. “There's no tutorial, no explanation of what the buttons do…Imagine releasing a game where you can do things like: only I have a physical copy. Yes, it would be an economic disaster, but a very small number of people our age would be very happy.
WWhen the weather is nice, Buxton Boarding School moves lunch outside. Students, faculty, staff, and guests grab food from the kitchen and eat together under a white tent overlooking the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts.
As the end of the school year approached last June, conversation turned to final assignments (English class was finishing Moby Dick) and year-end fun (a trip to the local lake was planned). Ta. It was, in most ways, a typical teenage afternoon. However, no one was using a cell phone.
Buxton was completing the first year of a simple but novel experiment: banning cell phone use on campus. Or rather, a smartphone.
Instead, the school will require everyone on campus, including staff, to light phone, that is, a “dumb” phone with limited functionality. The device can make calls and send texts (slowly), but it cannot load modern applications. Instead, it comes with intentionally cumbersome versions of the Music and Maps apps. They are about the size of a deck of playing cards and have black and white screens.
One student said: “It's like the devil's baby of the iPad and Kindle.”
But most people agree that schools are better off with these infernal devices. (Yes, that includes students.) There are fewer interruptions during classes, more meaningful interactions on campus, and less time spent on screens.
“We've found a pretty good way to deal with this problem,” said Scott Hunter, who teaches English and music, about smartphones. Buxton senior Bea Sass added: “I think people are a lot more social.”
FFor many teachers, students' cell phone use is frustrating. “That's every class, every time period,” said Mark McLaughlin, a math teacher at Near Car Knee High School in Oregon. “The worst part of my job is being the cellphone police.”
Educators across the country report fighting a near-constant battle with their phones.school districts in virginia The survey found that about a third of teachers asked students to put away their phones five to 10 times during class, and 14.7% did so more than 20 times during class. .
When I was in junior high school in Canada investigated According to staff, 75% of respondents believe that mobile phones have a negative impact on students' physical and mental health. Nearly two-thirds believed the device was also having a negative impact on their academic performance.
“This is a big problem,” said Arnold Glass, a psychology professor at Rutgers University. Researched the impact of mobile phones on student grades. “If they are allowed to look at their cell phones during class, they will drop half to the entire grade.”
Ian Tomonblak, a career guidance counselor at Lamoille Union High School in northern Vermont, is also faced with the proliferation of cell phones at his school. “There are kids who get Snapchats or text messages during the day and it just ruins their whole day,” he says. Another problem he sees is students using their cell phones to coordinate trips to collective restrooms in order to hang out during class. “I feel like it distracts me from learning on an academic level.”
Lunch time at Buxton School.
When I told Tromblak about Buxton's experiment, he was intrigued. He noted that one of the things this would address is the argument from students that they need a phone to contact their parents. And teenagers often adapt to new parameters relatively quickly, he said. He remembers learning at the last minute on a field trip with his students that not everyone was allowed to use cell phones. At first, the news was apocalyptic.
“They were very upset. They didn't know how to handle themselves. It was really tense,” Tromblak said, recalling the drama. However, during the trip, the kids almost forgot about their cell phones, and at one point they took it upon themselves to police a girl who secretly tried to call the source of the rope.
“At the end of the first day, we were sitting around the campfire and they were saying, 'I haven't thought about my phone all day,'” Tomblak said. “It was really cool.”
TTo some extent, Buxton experienced a similar progression through stages of panic, grief, and ultimately some acceptance. “When it was announced, I was almost sick,” then-senior Max Weeks said. And while he's still not happy about the switch to Litephone, saying it was a “unilateral” decision, he said overall it was “not as bad as I expected.”
It's an open secret that students still sneak cell phones into their rooms on campus, and some are testing the limits more than others. “People get pretty temperamental and get caught,” said Yamaira Marks, also a senior at Buxton. But smartphones are generally difficult to find on campus.
That includes staff. The school's principal, Peter Beck, said he ditched his iPhone for a Litephone and installed his old GPS system in his car for when he needed to go out into the world. He is thrilled with how his first year went.
Because Buxton uses a narrative evaluation system, it is difficult to determine how the new phone policy is impacting academic performance. But culturally, Beck says, the movement has often led to changes in small but cumulatively meaningful ways.
“People are crazy about the lounge. They stay after class and chat,” says Beck, who estimates they are now having more conversations than ever before at school. “The frequency of all these face-to-face interactions is orders of magnitude higher.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that in order to help Tesla become a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics, he would require at least 25% of voting power, which is almost double his current holdings. He mentioned facing resistance in achieving this goal.
On a social media platform, Musk mentioned that it is not impossible to achieve this goal. Tesla aims to have its products manufactured outside of electric car manufacturers.
Musk has been promoting Tesla’s partially automated “fully self-driving” software and prototype humanoid robots. However, the majority of Tesla’s revenue comes from its auto business.
According to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, some analysts have highlighted the significance of technology such as Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer, used to train its AI models, in the valuation of the EV maker. He mentioned that “Dojo could add nearly $600 billion to the company’s market value.”
Following Musk’s comments, Tesla shares dipped about 2% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
As the world’s wealthiest individual, Musk currently owns approximately 13% of Tesla shares. He had sold billions of dollars in stock in 2022 to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
In another post, Musk mentioned, “A crazy meta multi-class stock structure that gives control to the next 20+ generations of the Zuckerberg family is fine before the IPO, but even a rational dual class is not allowed after the IPO. That’s strange,” referencing Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook’s parent company.
A dual-class structure in a company involves two or more classes of stock with different voting rights, typically giving more voting rights to the founders and early investors than to other shareholders.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk is currently facing a lawsuit over his compensation package. In 2018, Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta sued Musk and the board, alleging that Musk had used his advantage over Tesla’s board to secure excessive compensation without being required to work full-time at the EV maker. They are aiming to demonstrate that he has earned the package.
With regards to Company X, Musk stated that there was no “dispute” with the board over the new compensation package, and mentioned that the pending verdict was affecting discussions.
TThe Post Office Horizon scandal has long been a frustrating one to follow as a technology reporter. Because even though it stems from the failure to deploy a large-scale government IT project, it’s not about technology at all.
In such stories there is a desire to uncover the specific fault lines that caused the disaster to occur. Taking Grenfell Tower as an example, the entire system was flawed and the investigation into the fire revealed gory details, but it is also clear that the fatal error was in covering the building with combustible panels. Identifying that fulcrum leads both ways to further questions (how were the panels deemed safe, and was the building able to be safely evacuated despite their flaws?), but the catastrophic It is clear where it is.
I feel like there should be comparable focus points in the Horizon system. “What happened at Horizon that led to so many false accounts?” is a question I’ve asked many times over the decade since I first learned of the scandal. Thanks to Computer Weekly for the coverage. I searched for systems in the hopes of finding some important crux, a terrible decision around which all subsequent problems swirl, that could be sensibly explained to provide a technical foundation for a very human story of malice and greed. I’ve been looking into architecture.
Still, the conclusion I’m forced to draw is that Horizon was really, really broken. From toe to toe, the system was terrible. Each postmaster had fundamentally different flaws, so a plethora of technical errors, worst practice decisions, and lazy cutbacks were probably part of the reason the Postal Service continued to fight for so long. Masu.
One system continued to accept input even when the screen froze, writing transactions to the database invisibly, while other systems simply had edge-case bugs in the underlying system that caused transactions to change. It just couldn’t lock when it shouldn’t have. There was also a problem with the network with the central database, causing transactions to be dropped without warning whenever there was a problem with the data connection.
Still, if you want to trace the point in time when bad IT became a crisis, you need to look completely into the technology past. The Post Office declared Horizon to be functional as legal tender. Everything that happened after that was a logical conclusion. If Horizon works, the cause of the error should be in the subpostmaster operation. If they say they haven’t made a mistake, they must have committed fraud. If they committed fraud, a conviction is morally right.
But Horizon didn’t work.
Today’s big technology companies aren’t so cocky as to claim that their software is perfect. In fact, the opposite is accepted as reality. The phrase “all software has bugs” is repeated too often and casually, implying that users are demanding too much of the technology they rely and work reliably on.
But they often still act as if they believe the opposite. My inbox is constantly filled with unmanageable people who have been falsely flagged as spammers, scammers, or robots by Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple’s automated systems. These people have lost years of shopping, lost access to friends and family, and lost the pages and profiles on which they built their careers. I can’t help them all and still do my day job, but strangely enough, the cases I decide I can contact a large company for are almost always easily resolved. It turns out.
No one would argue that even the worst software Google has put out is as broken as Horizon. (The Post Office says the current version of the software, created in 2017, has been found to be “robust compared to comparable systems.”) But the real culprit is broken software with flaws. If you’re acting like something isn’t supposed to be there, that’s serious. The tech industry may have more lessons to learn from this scandal than it’s willing to admit.
IIn early November, I was standing in a long line at Van Gogh’s gift shop in Amsterdam to buy a Pokemon ballpoint pen. It was one of the few items left in the store – this was in its second month of establishment Pokemon collaboration, but the craze for limited edition merchandise continued. Everything from T-shirts with pictures of Pikachu on the front to notebooks to shoulder bags was stripped away, leaving only prints and postcards behind the cash register. It was just after noon, but the number of people inside the store quickly led to the area being cordoned off and other people being denied access until things calmed down.
This has become a familiar sight for participants and staff alike. Launched in September to commemorate the museum’s 50th anniversary, the collaboration aims to introduce the Dutch artist’s work to a new audience, and since its inception, the collaboration has had enthusiasts and scalpers clamoring for the best. It caused a commotion and caused a huge mess of Pokemon goods. But the main culprit was in one item – limited edition. “Pikachu wearing a gray felt hat” trading card. The card sold out online as soon as it went on sale, with desperate gallery visitors having to scrum to get their hands on the card. Footage of the poke riot was quickly posted to Twitter. (now known as X), the card has since sold for up to $900 in eBay listings. This card was discontinued in mid-October.
“Bedroom” at the Pokemon x Van Gogh Museum exhibition, Munchillax and Snorlax inspired by Sow (1988). Photo: Pokemon International Co., Ltd.
So, what was it like actually working there? “Her first week was pretty bad,” recalls one of her employee girlfriends. “It’s just been too busy. A lot of people are trying to come four times a day just to get their cards.” The cards are aimed at children aged 6 to 12 and will be on display. Awarded after the conclusion of a Pokémon treasure hunt where participants learned about Van Gogh’s history from a new set of Van Gogh-inspired Pokémon drawings that were temporarily added to the Society.
“In the morning, people were rushing to the store at once, even though there was only one item per person,'' the employee said. They describe the scene as more like a “theme park” than a museum, with at least 2,000 of the 5,500 tickets sold by card alone. Many people who came that day had to be turned away.
“It was total chaos,” explains another. “What did people expect? You’re taking out something from the ’90s that people were fans of. You get the idea, but it doesn’t work with Pokémon.”
To meet demand without compromising the experience, trading cards were replaced with postcards. Additionally, in order to prevent scalpers, limited edition items were moved from the gift shop on the first floor to the first floor, a rule of one item per person was introduced, and customers were required to wait in line. However, when I visited, the Pokémon Adventures treasure hunt flyer was also out of stock, and I was told it would be reprinted. When I told him I was a journalist, he found me behind the counter. The Van Gogh Museum later told me that they had enough treasure hunt leaflets (in Dutch and English) until the end of the collaboration, but that’s not what I found.
Pokemon Adventure Treasure Hunt Leaflet. Photo: Matt Poskitt
In any case, shortages and overcrowding led to an increase in dissatisfied visitors. “Usually a month he gets two complaints,” says one of his staff members. “Most of the time, it’s important to have a lot of people here. [During the Pokémon exhibition] There were 12 pieces a day. First, it was about the line.after that [because] We didn’t hand out any more cards…so they felt like they bought a ticket and thought they didn’t get anything.”
The situation has improved somewhat with the removal of trading cards from the Van Gogh Museum. “I think we drew the wrong crowd for the first few weeks,” the staffer says. “[Afterwards] I was happy. All the kids would do was come and leave with a postcard and happy.”
“I think it’s been that way for the last few weeks.” [successful], yes,” they say. “There were a lot of families who wanted to go on a treasure hunt. Even though there are no more treasure hunts, regular art treasure hunts are still held. Usually we give out about 20 or 30 tickets, but yesterday we handed out about 50. I did. The kids are in.”
IDuring the blissful summer that Hemesh Chadarabada spent with his grandmother in 2018, they watched endless movies and ate her grandmother's chicken biryani. Late one evening, while Chadaravada, then 12, was sitting alone in front of the television, Jayasree got up in her nightgown and went to her home in Guntur, southern India, to make her a cup of tea. Ta.
After returning to her bedroom, Chadarabada went into the kitchen and noticed that her grandmother, then 63, had left the gas on.
“She was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and I was still in shock. What would have happened if I hadn't been there?” Chadaravada says.
Chadarabada shows her grandmother the prototype of the device. Photo: Handout
Chadaravada knows that Jayasree is not only a loving grandmother but also a dynamic and successful woman with a high-profile career as a civil servant who interacted with Telangana's top politicians and policy makers. Ta.
But Alzheimer's disease changed her forever. “She would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and she would go outside thinking she was on the train,” he says.
During that happy summer, Chadarabada, a self-confessed geek from Hyderabad who loves robotics, decided he wanted to invent a device to help people like his grandmother.
Now 17 years old, Chadarabada is ready to start building a device to detect falls and wandering in Alzheimer's patients, something that is not possible with currently available devices.
Light and compact, Alpha Monitor can be worn as a badge or armband and sounds an alarm when the wearer begins to move, alerting caregivers if the patient falls or wanders.
Most similar devices work over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so if a person moves outside of the frequency's restricted range, they lose connectivity and, with it, monitoring. However, Alpha Monitor Lolait uses.
Chadarabada taught himself by watching YouTube videos about robotics and electronics and developed 20 prototypes.
Understanding the needs of Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's disease in India) patients Estimated 8.8 million people), spent time at a day center run by the Alzheimer's Disease Related Disorders Association of India.
According to the Director-General of the International Monetary Fund, artificial intelligence will impact 40% of jobs around the world, and countries need to build social safety nets to reduce the impact on vulnerable workers. “Very important.”
AI, a term that refers to computer systems capable of performing tasks typically associated with a level of human intelligence, is poised to significantly change the global economy, with a growing risk of disrupting developed economies.
Analysis by IMFThe last international financial institution says that around 60% of jobs in developed countries such as the US and UK are exposed to AI, and half of them could be adversely affected. But as AI improves performance, the technology could also help some humans become more productive, the report said.
According to the IMF, the safest jobs at risk are those that are “highly complementary” to AI, meaning that the technology supplements rather than completely replaces jobs. This includes roles that involve a high degree of responsibility and interaction with people, such as surgeons, lawyers, and judges.
High-risk jobs that are “low complementarity” (i.e., could be replaced by AI) include telemarketing or cold calls to solicit people to offer goods or services. According to the IMF, low-exposure occupations include dishwashers and performers.
According to the IMF, AI will account for 40% of job opportunities in emerging market countries (defined by the IMF as countries including China, Brazil, and India) and 26% in low-income countries, for a total of just under 40%.
Generative AI (a term used to describe technologies that can generate highly plausible text, images, and even audio from simple manual prompts) has emerged on the political agenda since the advent of tools such as ChatGPT chatbots.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the ability of AI to impact high-skilled jobs means developed countries face greater risks from the technology. She added that in extreme cases, jobs could be lost in some major economies.
“About half of the exposed jobs could benefit from AI integration and increase productivity,” Georgieva said in a blog post accompanying the IMF study. “For the other half, AI applications could perform key tasks currently performed by humans, which could reduce demand for labor and lead to lower wages and fewer jobs. In extreme cases, some of these jobs may disappear.”
He added that in most scenarios, AI would likely exacerbate inequality across the global economy and could cause social tensions without political intervention. AI is expected to be high on the agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, where top technology industry leaders are expected to attend.
“It is important for countries to establish comprehensive social safety nets and provide retraining programs for vulnerable workers,” Georgieva said. “Doing so can make the transition to AI more inclusive, protect livelihoods, and limit inequality.”
According to the IMF's analysis, high-wage workers in jobs that are highly complementary to AI can expect to see higher incomes, which could lead to higher inequality.
“This will further widen income and wealth inequality resulting from higher returns to capital accruing to high-income earners,” the IMF report said. “Countries' choices regarding fiscal policy, including the definition of AI property rights and redistribution, will ultimately shape the impact on the distribution of income and wealth.”
The report found that the UK workforce, with a high proportion of university graduates, is under no obligation to do so, although older workers may struggle to adapt to new jobs, move on to new jobs or retrain. They say they may be ready to switch from a job that risks leaving them to a job that is “highly complementary.”
Last year, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said the occupations most at risk from AI automation are high-skilled occupations, which account for about 27% of all agency jobs. 38 member countriesThis includes the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, United States, Australia, and Canada. He said skilled professions such as law, medicine and finance are most at risk.
Is there a bigger hypocrite in the world when it comes to free speech than Elon Musk?
I say this as someone who wishes Elon Musk really cared about free speech. In my opinion, social media companies are censoring their users excessively. Countless restrictive rules often backfire on those who promote them. The suspension process is often opaque and arbitrary. After all, a public forum filled with the frank and free exchange of opposing views, one that clearly favors allowing more fringe speech than prohibited speech, , that's a good thing.
But it was not created by Mr. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist.” He has built a system that is the exact opposite of what he stands for, and is more arbitrary and opaque than the old Twitter, which he has relentlessly criticized, or even Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. is. And he uses his power more than anyone on Donald Trump's side to retaliate against his critics.
The most recent example came earlier this week when a group of left-wing journalists and commentators, including The Intercept's brilliant reporter Ken Klippenstein, mysteriously stopped From Twitter (sorry, I always refuse to call you “X”) without any warning or notice as to why. The only thing all the testimonies had in common was that they criticized Israel's war in Gaza.
After sustained protests, their accounts were eventually restored. Musk claimed, without any evidence, that it was due to a spam filter that captured real accounts. If you want to claim it's a coincidence, it might make sense without thinking about it. But this isn't his worst offense in the past six weeks.
When the liberal advocacy site Media Matters published a report alleging that Musk was allowing ads to run next to hate speech, Musk did not simply denounce hate speech on his platform. Without, sued them.too It's not the first time Musk sued the advocacy group last year. Apparently, it's okay to criticize him. “The whole point of free speech is to allow people who disagree with you to express their opinions.” He said This week – unless you also send criticism to potential ad buyers.
Making matters worse, some Republican states attorney general Perhaps seeking favors to later pad his campaign coffers from the world's richest man, he is trying to capitalize on Musk's enemies this week. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an “investigation” into media matters, and Missouri's attorney general is following suit.
Even if you're not a Media Matters fan, you'll know how incredibly chilling this would be if the shoe was on the other foot. Imagine if George Soros tried to bankrupt every right-wing website that accuses him of being behind various left-wing conspiracies. I visit these sites almost every day.
Examples of Mr. Musk's hypocrisy are so frequent that it's difficult to keep track of them all. Musk was once caught taking advice from a right-wing online friend about which left-wing accounts to access. No next time. Sometimes it looks like he's doing it on purpose throttled link Go to the news site he hates. Former Twitter employers say that early in his tenure as owner, Musk made a 180-degree break from his own supposed principles when faced with pressure from advertisers. go from From a stance of entrusting everything to a stance of lowering everything.
The most egregious episode was the controversy surrounding the account @ElonJet that tracked Musk's private jet. First, Musk insisted he would allow it. And the moment he felt he was in even the slightest danger, he renamed the private jet data, which has been published on every plane for decades, “assassination coordinates.”And he Paused Journalists who tweeted about the account were not given any warnings.
While his content moderation decisions have garnered the most attention, what he's done behind the scenes is arguably even more nefarious. He regularly dismantled Twitter's excellent legal department. stuck It violated users' actual free speech rights in court and sought to protect their anonymity in the event a powerful organization filed a lawsuit to expose them. And after Musk's first six months at the helm, Twitter has challenged numerous legal orders against its users. 100% compliance!
Mr. Musk's huge business interests in China mean he doesn't care about the Chinese people's right to free speech (or lack thereof). He refuses to weigh in on the many controversies of the world's largest dictatorship, which has complete authoritarian control of the Internet. It's very likely that defenders of free expression will wholeheartedly welcome his voice, but then again, he doesn't actually care about free speech, so no one should hold their breath. not here.
Of course, this was all completely predictable.in his own companymusk force on employees sign a restrictive non-discrimination agreement; He tried to destroy the whistleblower. Tesla once reportedly tried to get customers to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in order to have their cars repaired. There is no indication that his professed principles are genuine.
Imagine if Musk's professed love for free speech wasn't entirely false. As the world's richest person, he could have great influence. He could create a strong, transparent appeals process for those suspended for allegedly violating the rules. He could hire a large legal team to protect users' anonymity from litigants while defending censorship orders from all governments around the world. If it means that some right-wing bastards and trolls are returned to service as a byproduct of a principled decision supporting freedom of expression, that might be a good deal.
Instead, Mr. Musk took what could have been a powerful strategy and principle for him, as well as for true defenders of freedom of expression, and turned it into a snake oil salesman's marketing plan. I changed it to
I
It's hard to say when it became a daily habit. There were stops and starts. Days when I couldn't think of anything. But little by little, it became non-negotiable. Wake up. Please check the time. Send a snap. Every day for 2,450 consecutive days. I sent fleeting moments spanning almost seven years to a friend on the other side of the world.
Sarah has seen my sleepy eyes and the view of my dresser from my bed more than anyone else on earth. I don't know why I decided my Snapchat streak would be most important, but it became a priority in April 2017, almost four years after I downloaded the app and started using it haphazardly.
We are currently experiencing one of the longest snap streaks in the history of the app. Snapchat doesn't make that information public, so we don't know where they are on the ladder, but they recently ranked among the top 10 sites that collect that data.
Guardian Australia political blogger Amy Lemeikis and her friend Sarah are on a road trip together.
Photo: Amy Lemeikis
Sarah and I met while teaching English in Korea. An American and an Australian, they were excited to be so far away from home. We forged a friendship over BBC's Pride and Prejudice and Korean sheet masks. Eventually, we both returned to real life, me in journalism, she in grad school, but we continued to communicate sporadically. Days, then weeks, then months passed before we spoke.
.
.
.
She was severely affected by the coronavirus. She kept on ringing until she stood up and her words were breathtaking. She found medical help for her and I sent food and Amazon care packages to her home. This is America's online artery that connects us across closed borders. Her recovery from coronavirus was long and scary, and I woke up in a panic, but it wasn't until I saw her open the app that I felt relieved and went back to sleep.
When I recently asked her what this streak meant to her, she said, “Tangible proof that someone special is thinking of you at least once a day, even on your worst day.” “It's very reassuring to have that,” she said, and it's true. During some particularly difficult moments, that was the only voice I heard outside of my head.
After enduring a severe cyber attack, the British Library is now in the process of restoring its main catalog online. This is a significant milestone as the catalog contains 36 million records of printed and rare books, maps, magazines, and sheet music.
Despite this progress, access is currently limited to a “read-only” format, and it may take until the end of the year for the National Library’s services to be fully restored.
Sir Rory Keating, the library’s chief executive, confirmed that the full restoration of all services will be a gradual process. This has been particularly challenging for researchers who rely on the library’s collections for their work and livelihood.
The devastating cyber attack, which occurred on October 31st and was claimed by the ransomware group Rhysida, caused the main catalog to be inaccessible online and led to the theft of some employee data.
Upon restoring the online catalog, users will have the ability to search for materials. However, the process for checking inventory and ordering materials for use in the library reading room will differ from before. Users will also need to visit the library in person to view offline versions of the specialized catalog.
The library has also acknowledged the financial impact of the attack, stating that significant spending will be required to rebuild its digital services and complete the technological recovery. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the impact of the attack on payments to authors through the UK’s public lending rights system.
Despite the challenges ahead, the library is committed to restoring its services to their full capacity and continues to work with cybersecurity experts to address the aftermath of the attack.
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