“Latest NHS heartburn surgery gives men the freedom to indulge in holiday feasts” | Science and Technology Update

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

A man who suffered from heartburn so severe that he sometimes regurgitated his food has finally been cured with a “revolutionary” new surgical procedure.

Jeff Cohen had difficulty swallowing more than a sip or two because acid had been rising from his stomach for so long that the normal muscle contractions in his esophagus, or esophagus, were impaired.

He told Sky News that he had become uncomfortable eating, especially in public places.

“It was sitting there heavy in my chest like a blockage,” he said.

“But now I can eat without worrying. The food goes straight forward as usual.”

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Mr. Cohen was one of the first patients. NHS A device called RefluxStop must be implanted.

Surgeons at St Mary’s Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare, sewed a small cube of medical-grade silicone into the outer pouch of the stomach in a keyhole surgery that took just over an hour.

This device holds the stomach and esophagus in place so the muscle valves between them function properly to allow food to pass through and prevent acid from escaping.

Ahmed Ahmed, a consultant surgeon at the hospital, said the technology addresses the root cause of severe heartburn and acid reflux.

“The main problem for most reflux patients is that the valve that stops acid from entering the throat is in the wrong position.

“That’s what causes them to have regurgitation on a daily basis.

“The new procedure involves implanting an anti-reflux device to return the valve to its correct position and maintain its natural anatomy.”

Other surgical techniques constrict the floor of the esophagus to stop acid leaking from the stomach, but this can make swallowing more difficult, especially for patients like Jeff who have pre-existing problems. there is.

“For them, this [new procedure] It’s revolutionary because they will now be eligible for surgery,” said Ahmed.

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Around a quarter of adults in the UK suffer from heartburn, with overeating over the festive period being a common trigger.

According to NHS Digital, finally Christmas 1 person views online advice every 13 seconds.

Acid can cause symptoms that can lead to cancer, so you should see your doctor if your symptoms persist for more than 3 to 4 weeks.

Mild symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter medications that neutralize the acid. However, more severe cases may require prescription medication.

Dr Ahmed said surgery should now be considered as an alternative to lifelong drug treatment.

Jeff is now looking forward to his first festive season in many years.

“You can eat whatever you want this Christmas,” he said.

“We’re going to have more pigs in a blanket for dinner than we could have last year.

“I’m able to carry on with my daily life, which I wasn’t able to do before.”

Source: news.sky.com

Utilizing New Technology to Detect Cancer Early: The Impact on Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire

Posted on December 25, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

A West Yorkshire NHS Trust is utilizing advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence and surgical robots, to achieve crucial cancer targets and alleviate widespread pressure on hospitals.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS The Foundation Trust is meeting three important cancer targets established by the government.

These targets include a waiting time of 28 days for patients who receive an emergency referral and are diagnosed with an infection or cancer, a 31-day wait from the patient’s treatment decision to the first treatment, and a 62-day wait from the emergency GP referral to the first treatment.

Sky News was given a tour of the innovations behind the hospital’s results, starting with a diagnostic test called Cytosponge. The Cytosponge is a small capsule with a string attached that is swallowed by the patient. When dissolved in the stomach, a brush collects cells from the esophageal lining, which are then analyzed for abnormalities.

Cytosponges are used as an alternative to longer and more invasive endoscopies. Patients find the cytosponge less invasive and report a quicker procedure time.

…

Source: news.sky.com

Salesforce evades activist pressure and attains stability in 2023

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

The company started the year with a lot of turmoil.

That was the case this year It wasn’t a great start for Salesforce, with an unusual level of turmoil and uncertainty surrounding the company. However, as the end of the year approaches, Salesforce’s financial situation turns out to be surprisingly strong, with the stock up more than 96% since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of this year, such an outcome would have been unimaginable.

Bad news even before the new year started when co-CEO Brett Taylor, who many had speculated was being groomed to be Marc Benioff’s successor, suddenly announced he would be leaving the company at the end of November. started flowing. A week later, Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield announced he was also stepping down. Losing two key executives within a week would be a huge blow to any company, but it’s likely just the beginning of an onslaught of bad news for the CRM giant.

As the year began, we found that activist investors were quite active within the company. These include Elliott Management, Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, Inclusive Capital, and Third Point. When activists emerge, they usually have strong opinions about how to “fix” corporations, and this is no exception.

First, we learned that Salesforce was hiring three new board members, which felt like a way to placate activists. Especially because one of them was Mason Morfit, his CEO and chief investment officer at ValueAct, one of his fellow activists.

Activists typically pressure companies to cut costs, which, in corporate parlance, usually means cutting jobs. Sure enough, Salesforce soon announced that it would cut his 10% of its workforce, or 7,000 people, on January 4, 2023. The excuse was that there was over-hiring during the pandemic, which was a fix, but could also have been problematic. Activists are the backbone of cost-cutting.

Either way, reports say the company is having trouble handling layoffs, engineers are under pressure, Benioff preaches about returning to the office after accepting work from home, and what Salesforce says is I started doing it. digital headquarters in the middle of a pandemic. The company’s reputation as a progressive and employee-friendly organization grew. big hit.

Source: techcrunch.com

Former Apple Employee Shares iPhone Hacks to Extend Battery Life

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

The average American checks their cell phone Average 96 times per dayor once every 10 minutes.

To better cope with such heavy usage, a former Apple employee shared the best battery-saving hacks to help users see and scroll through TikTok texts throughout the day.

Tyler Morgan, who previously worked in sales at Apple and recently received 11.1 million views, has revealed the best tips and tricks to preserve battery power. Check him out @hitomidocameraroll or watch the video on TikTok.

First, Morgan warned users not to charge their iPhones to 100% or overnight. Instead, he recommended only allowing the battery to reach 80% to prevent chemical degradation once it reaches a full charge. Users can go to “Settings, Battery, Battery Health and Charging, [charging optimization]” to set a limit of 80%.

Morgan also recommended turning off background activity by going to Settings, General, and clicking Background App Refresh. He explains that all the apps running in the background use battery power to keep them updated, so users can switch to updating only on Wi-Fi or when opened.

Morgan suggested iPhone users turn off the “Hey, Siri” feature in Siri and Search for those who don’t rely on their personal assistant. He also recommended going to “Accessibility”, “Motion” and clicking “Reduce Motion” to save battery life.

Morgan then advised users to turn off automatic updates and reduce brightness and Bluetooth usage. He acknowledged that it might make the phone experience worse but could be useful in saving battery. He also showed viewers how to use iPhone features more efficiently, such as opening the video feature directly from the camera app and using the one-handed keyboard option.

This helpful hack comes after users experienced rapid battery drain and expressed privacy concerns following the iOS 17 upgrade. The latest software improvements, iPhone Operating System 17.2, include bug fixes related to virtual car keys and financial features, addressing these security concerns.

Source: nypost.com

Mehta’s reversal of the decision to remove two videos about the Israel-Hamas war

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Meta’s oversight board has reversed the social media company’s decision to remove two videos about the Israel-Hamas war from its platform.

One of the videos in question was posted on Facebook of an Israeli woman who was taken hostage in the October 7 attack on Israel and begs her kidnappers not to kill her.

“Another incident concerns a video posted on Instagram during an Israeli ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip that appears to be the aftermath of an attack on or near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.”Yes,” the monitoring committee said.

The semi-independent 22-member board that oversees meth-owned sites Facebook and Instagram ruled that the posts alerted the world to “human suffering on both sides,” the company said in a statement. announced on Monday.

Although “the posts show deaths and injuries to Palestinians, including children,” the committee said Mehta must maintain “freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.”

In both cases, the board “approved the company’s subsequent decision to display a warning screen and reinstate the posts,” and said the company’s initial “expedited review” had concluded.

In an expedited review, the oversight committee must make a decision within 30 days instead of the usual 90 days.

In this case, it took just 12 days for board members to reach a conclusion on the two videos in question, highlighting how quickly social media companies must act when it comes to handling content related to disputes. highlighted.

Oversight Committee Co-Chairman Michael McConnell said, “The Oversight Committee remains focused on protecting the right to free expression of people from all walks of life about these horrific events, while ensuring that any testimony does not preclude violence.” “We assured them that it was not intended to incite hatred or incite hatred.”

“These testimonials are important not only to speakers, but also to users around the world who seek timely and diverse information about groundbreaking events.”

Commenting on the lawsuit’s ruling, Mehta said: blog post On Tuesday, it confirmed that the two posts had been reinstated, saying: “Therefore, no further action will be taken.”

“We welcome the Oversight Board’s decision on this matter today,” Mehta said, adding that “expression and safety are both important to us and the people who use our services.”

The move comes amid increased scrutiny of social media platforms’ moderation policies.

The European Union recently opened an investigation into Company X, owned by Elon Musk, after the site formerly known as Twitter complied with rules requiring social media platforms to combat illegal content and disinformation. I checked to see if it was there.

In its proceedings, the European Commission “assessed whether “I will.”

This is the first investigation of its kind under the new law, with the site submitting a risk assessment report in September, followed by a transparency report a month later, stating that it was This was done after responding to a request for information. Background to Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel, according to a press release.

The committee specifically noted that Musk’s social media platforms may not have taken effective measures to “counter the manipulation of information on their platforms.”

Source: nypost.com

Epic Games CEO Criticizes Google’s $700 Million Settlement with US States as Unjust to Android Users

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Google agreed to pay $700 million and allow more competition within the Android app store as part of a settlement with all 50 states and millions of U.S. consumers, but Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney denounced the deal as “unfair to all Android users and developers.” ”

The exact terms of the settlement, first reached in September, were announced just days after Google was handed a major legal defeat in a related lawsuit with Epic Games, best known as the maker of Fortnite.

As part of the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James Donato is expected to order sweeping changes that could upend Google’s lucrative app store.

In its settlement with states, Google targeted consumers who may have overpaid for apps as a result of Google’s practices, according to terms detailed in documents filed Monday in San Francisco federal court. It plans to contribute $630 million to the settlement fund.

This equates to just $6 per person when divided evenly among 102 eligible U.S. consumers.

All eligible consumers will receive a minimum of $2. The state said at least 70% of consumers should automatically receive their share of the settlement.

The remaining $70 million will be earmarked for the state to use to cover various fines and legal costs.

Google also agreed to a series of time-bound changes to its app store practices.

This includes allowing developers to use other in-app purchase systems for the next five years, dialing back the use of so-called “horror screens” when Android users try to use competing app stores (but This includes making it easier for users to use it. Download apps directly from developers.

A coalition of state attorneys general says Google’s dominance in the Android software market – taking up to 30% fees from big developers in the Play Store – has resulted in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. He claimed to be inviting.

The settlement with the state attorney general is unfair to all Android users and developers. This supports a misleading and anti-competitive fear screen that Google intentionally designed to disadvantage competing stores and direct downloads. https://t.co/HIVhGpxYn4

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) December 19, 2023

Epic used the same argument in its successful battle with the company.

In a series of scathing tweets, Sweeney criticized the states that accepted the deal.

“The settlement with the state attorney general is unfair to all Android users and developers,” he wrote, adding that the settlement was “intentionally designed by Google to disadvantage competing stores and direct downloads.” It supports a misleading, anti-competitive and scary screen.”

“Previous U.S. lawsuits have made a strong case for $10.5 billion in damages, as well as a 30% fee that Google wrongly collected,” Sweeney added. “I think they would have been satisfied if they had continued to fight for a few more weeks until they won a resounding victory in court. It was a disappointing outcome.”

The terms of the settlement could not be disclosed until the end of the separate Google v. Epic case. Epic was particularly opposed to the settlement when it was first announced in September.

The settlement still needs formal approval from Donato, who presided over each state’s case, before it becomes effective.

During the trial, Donato accused Google of “disturbing” efforts to delete employee chat logs it was ordered to keep.

This is a scandal. Not only was the fine an order of magnitude larger than it should have been (recall that in 2012 RI AG won a $250 million settlement with Company G, which didn’t even split with anyone for not blinking). ), the fine was reduced midway through the statutory period. It’s like the Department of Justice… https://t.co/tO4fFbX2ZN

— Luther Lowe (@lutherlowe) December 19, 2023

Luther Rowe, an antitrust watchdog and longtime Google adversary, said: described the settlement as a “scandal” That could derail another major antitrust battle, the Justice Department’s landmark case targeting Google’s online search business.

“Not only was the fine an order of magnitude larger than it should have been, but[RI AG]won a $250 million settlement in 2012 with Company G, which didn’t even split with anyone for not blinking. (remember), the fine was lowered in mid-2012. The US v. G case was designed to make it seem as though it was unreasonable for the Department of Justice and the state in the case to bring it to the finish line. It seems as if the

Elsewhere, Wilson White, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said he was “pleased” to resolve the dispute with the state and that efforts to challenge the Epic lawsuit verdict were still “not over.” ‘ he claimed.

“We are pleased to be able to reach an agreement on that basis and to advance Android and Google Play for the benefit of millions of developers and billions of people around the world. We look forward to making these improvements that will help.” White said in a blog post..

Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb was among those touting the settlement as a victory for consumers.

“For too long, Google’s anticompetitive practices in app distribution have deprived Android users of choice and forced them to pay artificially high prices,” Schwalb said in a statement.

with post wire

Source: nypost.com

FTX resolves dispute with Bahamian liquidators one month after SBF conviction

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

FTX Trading, a bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Tuesday a settlement with the liquidators of its Bahamas division, putting an end to a long-standing dispute over the precedence of its U.S. bankruptcy proceedings over its Bahamas liquidation.

FTX and FTX Digital Market have agreed to combine their assets and align their approach to evaluating customer claims to ensure equal treatment of customers in both countries’ bankruptcy processes.

According to FTX, the settlement will allow most customers of FTX.com’s international cryptocurrency exchange to choose whether to seek repayment through U.S. bankruptcy or Bahamian liquidation.

FTX CEO John Ray, who succeeded convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, stated that the agreement was a significant step in the company’s efforts to reimburse its customers and an important milestone.

“The unique challenges posed by the conflicting filings of FTX Debtor and FTX Digital Market were among the most difficult our team has ever faced,” Ray said in a statement. “However, we initially recognized that we had an overlapping constituency of FTX.com customers.”

Bahamas liquidators Brian Sims and Peter Greaves said in a statement that the agreement would avoid “years of protracted litigation and expense” and “accelerate the return of funds to customers.” Ta.

FTX has been in a dispute with Bahamian authorities since filing for bankruptcy protection on November 11, leaving a hole in its balance sheet and 9 million customers facing potential losses of billions of dollars. FTX sued Bahamian liquidators in March, seeking a judgment that the liquidators wrongly claimed ownership of exchange assets.

Under the agreement, FTX’s U.S.-based bankruptcy team will lead asset recovery efforts, including the potential sale of the FTX.com exchange or its intellectual property. A Bahamian liquidator is responsible for the sale of Bahamian real estate assets and the pursuit of certain litigation.

The settlement also includes an agreement to treat FTX’s proprietary cryptographic token, FTT, as stock in FTX, which would disappear in the event of FTX’s bankruptcy. The value of FTT tokens was a point of contention between the two sides last year when FTX’s US team claimed that most of the assets seized by liquidators in the Bahamas were worthless FTT tokens.

FTX, which went bankrupt in November 2022, promised to use Repay at least 90% of your assets to your customers. The company plans to repay customers in US dollars rather than cryptocurrencies.

Source: nypost.com

Elon Musk and Bob Iger’s Feud Leads to Tesla Removing Disney+ from Screen

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

The Disney+ app has been removed from video displays in some Tesla cars, with some drivers complaining they were caught in the middle of a nasty feud between CEO Elon Musk and Disney president Bob Iger. It’s leaking out.

A Tesla owner posted on Musk’s social media platform X a screenshot of the vehicle’s video screen showing the Disney+ app missing.

“So, Disney+ has been removed from my Tesla,” an X user using the account name “The Tesla Hoe” posted over the weekend.

“I think this is retaliation for Disney pulling advertising from Company X (which they have a right to do).”

A Tesla owner lamented the fact that “we have to let young children know what’s next.” [that] You can’t sit in a Tesla and watch Disney+ and deal with their upset emotions.

“Because two grown men can’t have a civil discussion and move on. These happens like a tantrum,” @TheTeslaHoe continued. “And now Tesla owners feel like they’re caught in the crossfire of something that’s not their fault at all.”

Another Tesla fan with the username “Hall Mars Catalog” confirmed that the Model S does not include Disney+.

last week, Tesla-centric news site Electrek Tesla reportedly notified Disney of its decision to remove the Disney+ app from video displays, without providing an explanation as to why.

A subsequent post informed Tesla users that they could still access Disney+ by manually entering the URL into their car’s web browser.

But the Disney+ app, which typically appears alongside major platforms like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and TikTok, is no longer visible on theater home screens.

The Post has reached out to Disney and Tesla for comment.

During an appearance at the business conference DealBook Summit on Nov. 29, Musk told companies that have stopped advertising on X to “take a hard look at themselves.”

Earlier in the day, Iger told Dealbook that Disney’s decision to stop advertising on He said it had an impact on him.

“He took a very public position and we felt that the association of that position with Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive thing for us,” Iger said.

Musk has denied that he is an anti-Semite.

Musk was asked about companies that had stopped advertising on the platform following a Media Matters report that said their ads were running alongside pro-Nazi content.

“If someone’s going to blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself,” Musk said, referring specifically to Iger.

A week after Musk appeared on DealBook, the Mouse House began advertising on rival social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, even though those sites had allowed the targeting of underage users. Mr. Musk publicly called on Disney to fire Mr. Iger after a lawsuit alleges that he had published the following.

“Bob Iger thinks it’s cool to run ads next to child exploitation material. A real stand-up guy,” Musk posted, misspelling the longtime media mogul’s name. did.

Source: nypost.com

The Rise of AI-Powered Engineering: Everything You Need to Know about this In-Demand Job

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

According to the experts, this job in technology has the potential to generate significant income.

Artificial intelligence prompting engineers, who create questions and instructions to get sophisticated answers and images from programs like ChatGPT, are highly sought-after, high-paying positions with salaries over $300,000. Forbes reported.

“They just know how to write,” says Greg Belzer, head of technology at RBC Wealth Management, as told to ZDNET. This rapidly growing field has made many professional writers enthusiastic about this field of AI, according to a vice report.

“To help you engineer quickly, you have to put yourself in the user’s shoes. It’s more than just code,” Belzer explained. “It’s not just development. It’s more like a business technology skill set combined with creativity.”

This career advice comes as AI industry leaders warn that rapidly advancing technology could displace white-collar workers.

Experts say people to be concerned about include programmers, computer programmers, journalists, software engineers, data analysts, paralegals, and legal assistants.

Data Scientist, once dubbed “The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century,” earns an average annual salary of $137,000 in New York, according to Built-in NYC.

“Today, a good prompting engineer is more expensive than a data scientist,” Belzer noted.

“It’s very difficult to find people with experience,” he added. “It’s hard to find people with more than five years of experience. You might get two or three years at most, but it’s hard to find.”

That doesn’t mean any old couch potato can make it to six figures. Experience is still preferred, just of a different kind.

“What we’re really looking for are people who are more likely to be on the business side with a technical bent,” Belzer reasoned. “Personally, I don’t want to bet until the tools are a little more advanced.”

Business author Bernard Marr says agile engineers need data, project management, organizational and communication skills.

“Just like you would give instructions and training to a human employee, you need to be able to express precisely and clearly what you want the AI to do,” Marr wrote in a May article for Forbes.

“You have to pay attention to detail. If you can dig deep into exactly what type of response or content you’re looking for, you’ll be more successful at engineering quickly.”

Belzer said there is a “significant need” for training in AI prompt writing, but the technology field is difficult to define to industry standards.

“Is it science? Is it art? Are we going to build more tools?” Belzer questioned, adding that this great gig might also be automated by AI.

“The good news is that once tools are in place, it may be easier to train AI models using prompts that are performed ‘systematically and programmatically,’” he concludes. I attached it.

Source: nypost.com

Wife alleges that her abusive spouse stalked her due to Tesla technology

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

In May 2020, San Francisco Police Department Sergeant David Radford reached out to Elon Musk requesting data regarding remote access to a Tesla vehicle involved in an incident. The automaker was asked to provide information about a suspected stalker’s use of the vehicle. The woman involved in the incident had reported that her abusive husband had been tracking and harassing her using technology in his 2016 Tesla Model X, in violation of a restraining order. She found a metal baseball bat in the back seat of the car, which was the same one her husband had used to threaten her in the past.

Despite the woman’s request for information from Tesla, Radford had difficulty obtaining the data needed for the investigation. According to a lawsuit filed by the woman, a Tesla service manager stated that remote access logs were only available within a certain time frame. As automakers develop more advanced features allowing for remote access and location tracking, the potential for these technologies to be used for abusive purposes becomes a concern. Cases of stalking involving vehicle technology have been reported, prompting increased attention from law enforcement, advocates, and policymakers.

The woman later filed a lawsuit against her husband and Tesla, seeking damages for negligence and failure to restrict her husband’s access to the vehicle’s technology despite the restraining order. The woman’s requests to disable her husband’s account and access remote data logging were denied by Tesla, leading to legal action. The lawsuit was eventually settled, with details of the settlement kept undisclosed.

In other cases, individuals have reported incidents of stalking using vehicle technology, prompting concerns about the potential for abuse and inadequate policies to address such issues. As automakers and tech companies continue to introduce new features and products for tracking and remote access, there is a need for clear policies and safeguards to prevent misuse and protect individuals from potential harm.

Source: nypost.com

Report reveals former employee’s criticism of Instagram chief Adam Mosseri’s track record on youth safety

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has announced that his employees, even as parent company Meta Inc. faces increased legal scrutiny over concerns that the popular social media app is harming young users, have reportedly prevented or weakened the implementation of youth safety features. Mosseri, whose name frequently appears in a high-profile lawsuit brought by 33 states accusing Meta of having addictive features in its apps that harm the mental health of young people, reportedly ignored “pressure from employees” to install some of its safety features as default settings for Instagram users. According to the information.

Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook say their use is fueling a number of worrying trends among young people, including an increase in depression, anxiety, insomnia, body image issues, and eating disorders. This claim has drawn criticism from critics.

Despite this, Instagram executives have rejected pressure from members of the company’s “welfare team” to include app features that encourage users to stop comparing themselves to others, according to three former employees with knowledge of the details. The feature was implemented despite Mosseri himself acknowledging in an internal email that he considered “social comparisons” to be “an existential problem facing Instagram” and that “social comparisons are for Instagram.” It wasn’t done. [what] According to the state’s complaint, the election interference is against Facebook.

Additionally, a Mosseri-backed feature that addresses the “social comparison” problem by hiding Instagram like counts will eventually be “watered down” and an option that users can manually enable. The report states that this has been set up.

Internally, some employees have reportedly pointed out that the “like hiding” tool would hurt engagement in the app, resulting in less advertising revenue.

While some sources praised Mosseri’s efforts to promote youth safety, one told the magazine that Instagram has a pattern of making such features optional rather than automatically implementing them. There was also

A Meta spokesperson did not specifically answer questions about why the company rejected proposals for tools to combat problems arising from social comparison issues.

“We don’t know what triggers a particular individual to compare themselves to others, so we give people the tools to decide for themselves what they do and don’t want to see on Instagram. ,” a Meta spokesperson told the publication.

Mehta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Post.

Elsewhere, Mosseri allegedly objected to the use of a tool that automatically blocks offensive language in direct message requests. The reason for this, The Information reported, citing two former employees, was “because we thought it might prevent legitimate messages from being sent.”

Finally, Instagram approved an optional “filter” feature in 2021, allowing users to block the company’s curated list of offensive words or compile their own list of offensive phrases and emojis they’d like to block. I made it possible.

The move reportedly infuriated safety staff, including former Meta engineer Arturo Bejar. They believed that people of color should not be forced to confront offensive language in order to address the problem. In November, Mr. Behar testifies before Senate committee About harmful content on Instagram.

“I returned to Instagram with the hope that Adam would be proactive about addressing these issues, but there was no evidence of that in the two years I was there,” Bejart said, initially starting Meta in 2015. He retired in 2007 and returned to a safety management role. the team told the outlet in 2019.

Meta pushed back against the report, saying Instagram has implemented a series of safety defaults for teen users, including blocking adults 19 and older from sending direct messages to teen accounts that don’t follow them. It was pointed out that the function has been introduced.

For example, Meta said its tool called “Hidden Words,” which hides offensive phrases and emojis, will be enabled by default for teens starting in 2024. The company said it has announced more than 20 policies regarding teen safety since Mosseri took over Instagram. 2018.

Mosseri echoed this, writing that further investments in platform security would “strengthen our business.”

“If teens come to Instagram and feel bullied, receive unwanted advances, or see content that makes them uncomfortable, they will leave and go to a competitor.” said Mosseri. “I know how important this work is, and I know that my leadership will be determined by how much progress we make in this work. I look forward to continuing to do more.” Masu.”

Mosseri was one of several meth executives who came under scrutiny as part of a major lawsuit filed in October by a coalition of 33 state attorneys general. The lawsuit claimed in part that Meta’s millions of underage Instagram users were the company’s “open secret.” The complaint includes an internal chat from November 2021 in which Mosseri appeared to acknowledge the app’s problems with underage users, saying, “Teens want access to Instagram. , who is my age and wants to get Instagram right now.”

A month later, Mosseri testified before the Senate that children under 13 “are not allowed to use Instagram.” He also told MPs that he believes online safety for young people is “very important”.

Separate from the state legal challenges, Meta is facing a separate lawsuit from New Mexico, alleging it failed to protect young people from alleged sex offenders and flooded them with adult sex material. confronting.

Source: nypost.com

AI Death Calculator: Highly Accurate Prediction of Your Time of Death

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

This is a matter of life and death – no doubt about it. bot it.

Most people aren’t in a huge hurry to know when the big bite is going to bite, but a newly developed AI death calculator can now predict when a person will die with eerily accurate accuracy.

“We use the technology behind ChatGPT (what we call the Transformer Model) to analyze human life by representing each person as a series of events that occur in their life,” December 2023. said Sune Lehmann, lead author of the study.Predicting human life using a sequence of life events” he told the Post.

In their report, the professor of networks and complex systems at the Technical University of Denmark and his co-authors describe a method known as “life2vec,” which uses selected details of an individual’s life, such as income, occupation, place of residence, and health history. Introducing the algorithm that can be used. Determines life expectancy with 78% accuracy.

“We take advantage of the fact that human life in some ways shares similarities with language,” Lehman explained. “Just as words follow one another in a sentence, events follow one another in human life.”

It’s a little different than ChatGPT. It’s the ever-popular bot that tech wizards are employing to land their dream job or curate the perfect outfit. By closely examining a man or woman’s past, life2vec can calculate the outcome of that person’s life.

“This model can predict almost anything,” Lehman told the Post. He said his research team also uses this specialized program to predict people’s personalities and international movement decisions.

“We predicted death because that’s what people (insurance companies, for example) have been doing for years,” he added. “So we were very aware of what could happen.”

From 2008 to 2020, Lehman’s team studied a heterogeneous population of 6 million Danes of different genders and ages. Analysts used life2vec to identify participants who were likely to survive at least four years after January 1, 2016.

“The scale of our dataset allows us to represent individual human life trajectories at the sequence level, providing a detailed representation of how each person moves over time,” the report said. is written. “We’re looking at how an individual’s life evolves across different types of events (information about heart attacks mixed with information about salary increases and moving from urban to rural areas). You can observe it.”

Researchers used plain language such as “In September 2012, Francisco received 20,000 Danish kroner as a guard at Elsinore Castle” and “Hermione followed in her third year at secondary boarding school.” was used to enter AI-specific information about each study participant. 5 elective classes. ”

We then assigned different digital tokens to each piece of data, all of which were categorized very specifically. For example, a forearm fracture is represented as S52. Working in a tobacco store is coded as IND4726 and income is represented by 100 different digital tokens. And “postpartum hemorrhage” is O72.

life2vec used the information provided to predict who would die by 2020 almost perfectly over three-quarters of the time.

Research shows that factors that can contribute to early death include being male, having a mental health diagnosis, and working in a skilled occupation. Earning a higher income or holding a leadership role were both associated with longevity.

However, Lehman stressed to the Post that study participants were not given a prediction of death.

“That would be extremely irresponsible,” he said, adding that he and his team ultimately hope to share details of the results in a way that protects the privacy of study participants.

“But we can still learn from it [life2vec] What are the factors that might help people live longer?” Lehman said. “We haven’t delved too deeply into this, but this is another important application of the model.”

Currently, this bot is not available to the general public or businesses. And even if it were to be deployed at scale, this AI would not be used to notify specific individuals in cases such as writing insurance policies or making hiring decisions. Probably not, says Prober.

“Forecasting is not used for anything,” Lehman argued. “The point of life2vec is to understand what is predictable and what is not.”

Source: nypost.com

Get ready to be naughty with BLOOM’s AI Santa

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Santa isn’t the only one coming soon.

Festive deviants can now flirt with Father Christmas, or one of his mischievous elves. Erotic audio app Bloom features chat and voice message functionality.

“When it comes to sexual content, we all have unique and specific desires that we would like to have fulfilled,” said Hannah Alberthauser, co-founder of the platform. daily mail on Wednesday.

“If you need a festive character to get you in the mood for the holidays, Bloom is here for you,” she added.

Artificial intelligence-powered Saint Nick reveals how he’s “keeping the North Pole interesting during the long winter nights” and keeps users hooked with his passionate one-liners.

“Santa keeps you warm in more ways than one,” writes Kris Kringle in one XXXample. “We will make sure you can spend a comfortable time even on cold winter nights.”

Another quipped: “Santa’s sack is filled with all sorts of naughty surprises.”

Because Christmas is considered one of the least sexy holidays. 2020 survey Albertshauser notes that while intimacy begins to wane about three days before Santa’s arrival, the sultry saint “easily reminds users to have fun and not neglect their sex lives during the Christmas season.” He said that he is fulfilling his role of “helping others.”

Mr. Claus is just one of the many characters featured in Bloom. Its role-playing chatbot uses scripted recordings by voice actors, and AI software repeats messages back to app users.

Since introducing this novel feature in September, users have exchanged over 6 million messages and received over 3,000 hours of voice memos from various AI personas.

Users can get a limited amount of free content by downloading the app. Premium subscription costs $7.99 per month.

Albertshauser said the platform’s array of artificial pen pals “focuses on consensual adult interactions, which sets new and realistic standards of pleasure.”

“It was so much fun making Santa,” she continued. She “worked with one of our most popular voice actors to create the voice and programmed the bot with festive pick-up lines to inject some humor and Christmas spirit.”

And while Kris Kringle’s character is only temporary, like the “real” Mr. Claus, and only active at Christmas time, the company is offering access to the seasonal character for a year. We are deciding whether to allow it.

Source: nypost.com

How to Protect Yourself from iPhone Theft After a $300,000 Theft

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Let’s synchronize his advice.

Homeless turned tech mastermind serves 94 months in prison for year-long smartphone theft case, reveals secrets of criminal dealings To the Wall Street Journal.

Before being arrested as part of a grand theft ring in Minnesota last year, 26-year-old Aaron Johnson stole iPhones and manipulated financial apps to steal an estimated $300,000.

Johnson’s sinister approach did not seem harmless to i-witnesses. His victims often willingly handed over their cell phones to him.

He targeted women in bars and clubs who were inebriated and unguarded.

College men in particular are easily marked because “they’re already drunk and don’t really know what’s going on,” Johnson explained.

He noted that women are more aware of their surroundings and are more alert to suspicious people.

Johnson would often supply his victims with drugs or ask them to add him on platforms like Snapchat.

“I say, ‘Hey, your phone is locked.’ What’s your passcode? I say something like ‘2-3-4-5-6.’ And I just remember that,” Johnson recalls. Johnson would record people entering the codes if possible.

Once inside the house, he quickly accessed the Settings app and changed his phone and Apple ID passwords “faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

It also disabled tracking features such as “Find My iPhone” and added its own biometric authentication to Face ID.

The latter was the “key to everything” because it allowed access to passwords in iCloud Keychain.

For these reasons, Apple is rolling out stolen device protection in iOS 17.3.

This feature intentionally introduces a one-hour delay before implementing password or Face ID or Touch ID changes when the phone or other product is operating in an unfamiliar location.

For Johnson’s victims, the anti-theft measures came too late.

After quickly bypassing the device’s security protocols, he went straight to banking and cryptocurrency apps while simultaneously searching notes and photos for sensitive information such as social security numbers.

By the next day, when the victims had sobered up, Johnson had already sent money through apps like Apple Pay and was able to go shopping. He sometimes bought higher-end devices at the Apple Store, such as the $1,200 iPad Pro model. That he would resell it for cash.

According to WSJ, Johnson plans to drop off 30 iPhones and iPads over a nice weekend, worth up to $20,000.

Johnson said his reason for revealing his nefarious tricks was, “I’m already in prison.”

“I feel like I should be on the other side of things and try to help people,” he added.

Source: nypost.com

Apple releases unexpected iOS 17.2.1 update to address iPhone glitches

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Apple on Tuesday issued a surprise update to all iPhone users that promises to fix a number of bugs. However, what exactly those fixes are remains a mystery.

“This update contains important bug fixes and is recommended for all users.” Poor explanation of iOS 17.2.1 status.

The technology company released iOS 17.2.1 just a week after rolling out iOS 17.2. iOS 17.2 included a number of innovative features, including a new Journal app and upgraded security measures.

This also comes just days after Apple announced the beta version of iOS 17.3, leaving many users confused as to why another minor update would be pushed in before the update was widely released. It becomes.

Technical experts said that while the English release did not include details of bug fixes, both the Japanese and Chinese versions had “an issue that could cause the battery to drain quickly under certain conditions. ”, he said, promising to address the issue.

Rapid battery drain seems to be a widespread issue among users after updating their iPhones to previous iOS updates, with many owners complaining about the X.

No details were provided for the iOS 17.2.1 update other than a promise that it would include “important bug fixes.” apple

“Battery life on iOS 17.2 on iPhone 15 Pro Max is terrible. SOT is barely 5-6 hours. Previously it was like 8-9 hours.” Technology Content Creator Sharon Bava wrote.

Apple did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.

Although Apple recommends the latest update for all users, this update does not appear to be urgent.

This was not released as a quick security response and may indicate that the security issue has not been addressed.

The tech company is releasing iOS 17.2.1 in time for the holiday season so new users can update their devices before the holiday distractions or get a new device ready to give as a gift. It could have been done.

iPhones have recently been the victim of spyware attacks, so Apple is beefing up its security features.

Last week, the company released Stolen Device Protection in iOS 17.3 developer beta, which prevents thieves from accessing smartphones with stolen passwords.

This new feature specifically requires users to use biometric access codes, such as their face or fingerprint, when changing their Apple ID password, removing Face ID, and using other sensitive features.

Whenever a user’s device is in an unfamiliar location, stolen device protection is initiated and the user is then required to complete the aforementioned protocol.

Source: nypost.com

You might be surprised by the number of apps that gather detailed personal data. This includes some of the top apps from the App Store and Google Play Store. As a CyberGuy, my primary goal is to educate people about their power to protect themselves, especially their privacy.

AtlasVPN has published a new report identifying the shopping apps that collect the most data about you. eBay came out on top, with their Android app capturing 28 different data points. The top 10 on the list include eBay, Amazon Shopping, Pay later, Lowe’s, iHerb, Vinted, Home Depot, Alibaba, Poshmark, and Nike. All of these apps collect at least 18 data points about you. Some of that information is related to data performance and app activity, but some apps also collect financial and personal data.

Privacy concerns to consider regarding shopping apps

According to the report, 58% of shopping apps on the Google Play Store share users’ personal information with third-party companies. This includes information like your name, email address, phone number, and even your home address. These companies can use your data in any way they like. Additionally, 52% of shopping apps share your device ID with third-party companies, and over a third of the shopping apps analyzed provide users’ financial data to third parties, including purchase history and payment information.

Responses to privacy inquiries

Home Depot responded by stating that they use customer information to improve the customer experience and personalize it. They also have privacy and security controls in place to protect personal information. Amazon also responded, stating that they collect, process, and share personal information only to provide a great shopping experience and do not sell customers’ personal information to others.

7 ways to protect your privacy when using shopping apps

1) Find out what information each app collects before downloading. Check the app’s privacy section in the App Store or Google Play Store.

2) Avoid downloading unreliable apps. If you have any unreliable apps on your phone, delete them immediately to avoid sharing your personal information with third parties.

3) Check app permissions before installing or updating an app. Deny or revoke permissions that are unnecessary or intrusive to your app’s functionality.

4) Use a VPN when browsing or shopping online to encrypt your internet traffic and hide your IP address.

5) Clear your cache and cookies regularly. These files store information about your browsing history, settings, and login details.

6) Use a password manager to create and store strong, unique passwords for each app and website you use.

7) Opt out of personalized ads and data sharing to reduce the amount of data collected and used for ad targeting.

Cart important points

Most apps we use today collect data about us in some way. It’s crucial to understand what information you’re handing over and how to protect your privacy, especially since 75% of shopping apps share your information with third parties.

Sources tell On The Money that critics have blasted the terms of Google’s $700 million settlement over anti-competitive Android app store practices as weak, leaving the Republican vacant seat at the Federal Trade Commission open. Melissa Holyoake’s bid to become the world’s most successful bidder could face new hurdles.

Holyoak, Utah’s Republican attorney general, said U.S. states have argued that Google’s monopolistic tactics, including charging major developers up to 30% fees in the Play Store, have led to price gouging and lowering prices. As a result, he played a key role in negotiating this deal. Choice for consumers.

The settlement, which Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney decried as “unfair to all Android users and developers,” requires FTC candidates to be “appropriately skeptical of Big Tech.” This could anger some Republicans who want to see more, and even cause some to reconsider their support. An industry source who requested anonymity to discuss the situation told the Post.

“If she was the tip of the spear in an embarrassing reconciliation, that’s not a good thing,” the source added.

As the Post previously reported in June, some Washington insiders were concerned that Mr. Holyoak did not have the antitrust integrity they expected from a new commissioner, and that certain information Sources quipped that FTC Commissioner Lina Khan would “run circles” around the Republican candidate. Regarding antitrust laws.

The Republican-backed litigators will need to be approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in October, followed by a floor vote.

Another person said she “will be confirmed” even if some Republicans complain about the odor, but the process may not be a smooth one.

“if [Sen. Josh Hawley] Or she could delay if someone on the Republican side wants it,” another person said. “I think a scenario where she’s delayed is possible, but it’s unlikely that she won’t be confirmed. But it’s safe to say that her nomination is either delayed or in jeopardy.”

Mr. Hawley’s office did not respond to a request for comment about Mr. Holyoak’s confirmation.

On Wednesday, Hawley sent a letter stating that he plans to block the confirmation of another Republican FTC commissioner nominee, Andrew Ferguson, by the end of the year and asking him “additional questions about his philosophy on Big Tech.” I made it possible.

The Missouri senator also opposes expedited confirmation of Todd Inman to a post on the National Transportation Safety Board. Both Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Inman are former aides to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Capitol Hill insiders blame Hawley’s move on a well-documented rift with McConnell. There was no mention of Holyoak in the letter.

Utah accounted for the highest amount of claims in the lawsuit targeting Google’s Android app store practices, and was one of the few states to spearhead the lawsuit, along with New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and California.Holyoak name appears Court documents detailing settlement terms.

In remarks prepared for the Sept. 20 FTC nomination hearing, Holyoak emphasized his efforts on behalf of Utah and said of the high-profile legal battle, “Our office’s led the work,” he told the Senate committee. Her testimony came just days after the Google settlement was first announced.

“This is a huge benefit for consumers.” Holyoak said at the time:.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The settlement with Google was first announced in September, but specific details were withheld pending the conclusion of Epic Games’ stunning legal victory against Google in a related case. Epic specifically rejected the possibility of a settlement.

In the U.S. state case, Google will pay consumers $630 million (just $6 per eligible U.S. user) to cover state fines and legal costs, according to court filings this week. agreed to pay an additional $70 million for

The company also agreed to a series of time-limited changes to its app store policies. This includes allowing developers to use other in-app purchases and dialing back the use of so-called “horror screens” when Android users try to use competing app stores. It will be.

Critics, including Mr. Sweeney, noted that the states’ previous lawsuits “made a strong case for $10.5 billion in damages.” Epic Games’ CEO called it a “disappointing result.”

Meanwhile, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said the deal includes “many of the injunctive reliefs we sought that would change Google’s behavior,” adding that payments to consumers would be ” “It’s an added bonus.”

“Holyoak is still trying to understand what antitrust law is… She doesn’t have the ability to understand how to enforce the law,” said one longtime antitrust expert.

“What about her actually going after Big Tech?” added a source. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Activision Blizzard executives are considering a possible countersuit against California regulators who claimed the gaming giant had a toxic “frat boy” workplace, but only dropped the lawsuit last week, On The Money reported.

The California Department of Civil Rights, which had been investigating the developer of “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” since 2021, dropped the explosive allegations on Friday.

“Neither the courts nor independent investigations have established systematic or widespread sexual harassment,” authorities acknowledged in court documents last week.

California’s stunning admissions say there is no evidence that “senior executives ignored, condoned, or condoned a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination,” and that neither Activision’s board of directors nor CEO Bobby Kotick responded to complaints of misconduct. He also admitted that he had not handled the matter inappropriately.

Nevertheless, Activision ended up paying a $54 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit ($47 million of which was earmarked for pay disparity claims).

This has angered some Activision executives, who are drafting defamation lawsuits against the company.

The agency’s former director, Janet Whipper, was fired by Gavin Newson a year after she sued Activision, accusing Tesla of “racial discrimination,” a claim that was also unsubstantiated, according to court documents. It turned out that there was no such thing.

Other Activision insiders want to simply put this chapter on the back burner, concerned that an appeal would be tantamount to returning to the belly of the beast, insiders said.

Accusations that women were “subjected to constant sexual harassment, including groping” and that management fostered a “sexist culture” were enough to wipe the company’s market capitalization by $20 billion in a few months. Ta.

The case helped spur Activision’s partnership with Microsoft, which won full regulatory approval earlier this year.

Microsoft reportedly pursued a $75 billion deal after seeing the Diablo maker’s stock price plummet.

An Activision spokesperson declined to comment.

Tesla is recalling 120,423 vehicles in the United States due to the risk of doors unlocking in the event of a crash, according to a report on Friday.

According to Reuters, the country’s traffic safety regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on Friday announced a recall affecting 2021-2023 model year Model S and Model It said it did not meet federal safety standards. .

Tesla has released an over-the-air software update to address this issue.

Tesla last week carried out the largest recall ever in the Elon Musk-led company’s 20-year history, recalling more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. and nearly all vehicles on U.S. roads. Vehicles were targeted.

Federal regulators say Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance system, Autopilot, has “inadequate” safeguards against misuse, and the company is warning drivers to remain on the road even when Autopilot is engaged. A voluntary recall has been launched to carry out “additional inspections” to remind people to be careful.

According to the Washington Post, NHTSA wrote last week that activating the driver-assistance system Autopilot “may increase the risk of a collision,” adding, “The driver is not responsible for operating the vehicle and is at risk of an accident.” “I’m not ready to intervene.” need. “

Other major automakers also announced recalls this week.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it is recalling 1 million vehicles due to a defect that could prevent airbags from deploying if a sensor in the passenger seat shorts out. According to the Associated Press, the recall applies to Toyota Avalon, Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna, Corolla, and some hybrid versions of these models, as well as some Lexus models such as the ES250 sedan and RX350 SUV. It is said that she is a model.

Honda on Monday said it was shutting down more than 2.5 million vehicles due to fuel pump problems that could cause the engines to not start or stall while driving, increasing the risk of crashes and injuries, NHTSA said. announced that it had been recalled.

General Motors is discontinuing sales of some 2024 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks due to concerns about cracking metal in the passenger-side roof, according to a document released Wednesday by NHTSA. As a result, approximately 3,067 vehicles will be inspected.

Last month, Toyota recalled 1.9 million RAV4 SUVs due to battery deterioration that could cause a fire.

Welcome everyone to Week in Review (WiR). This is TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that recaps the top tech and tech-related stories from the past few days. With the holidays approaching, reporters expected a quiet week. But the opposite happened. I have no shortage of stories to write.

In this WiR, we learn that Comcast and Mr. Cooper’s customer data was stolen, electric scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy, Adobe ends its plan to acquire Figma, and Apple The report deals with the fact that the company is being forced to suspend sales by the International Trade Commission (ITC). apple watch. Also: Nikola founder Trevor Milton’s securities fraud conviction, Microsoft’s chatbot CoPilot now adding music-generating capabilities, and Consumer Reports’ impressions of Tesla’s Autopilot recall fix (spoiler: good news) We also highlight the

There are many things we need to overcome, so let’s do our best. But before that, if you haven’t already, here’s a reminder to subscribe here so you can receive his WiR in your inbox every Saturday.

well read

Hackers target Comcast: Comcast has confirmed that hackers who exploited a security vulnerability rated critical gained access to sensitive information of approximately 36 million Xfinity customers. The vulnerability, known as “CitrixBleed,” was discovered in Citrix networking devices commonly used by large enterprises and has been heavily exploited by malicious actors since August, Carly reports.

Mr. Cooper under fire: In related news, hackers stole sensitive personal information of more than 14.6 million of Cooper’s customers, Zack wrote. The mortgage and loan giant admitted that criminals stole customers’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers, as well as social security numbers and bank account numbers.

Adobe gives up: Adobe finally makes a huge $20 billion bid to acquire rival Figma officially dead This comes after the companies announced this week that their acquisition plans had been scrapped due to regulatory resistance in Europe. The deal, first announced last September, has always attracted regulatory scrutiny due to its size and the fact that it removed one of Adobe’s major rivals from the shadows. Paul points out.

Apple stops selling Apple Watch: Apple has stopped selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches following an October ruling by the ITC over a patent dispute with California-based medical technology company Masimo. The controversy revolves around the blood sensor monitor in the latest flagship Apple Watch. Apple is appealing the ITC’s ruling.

Nikola’s founder declared: Trevor Milton, the disgraced founder and former CEO of electric truck startup Nikola, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for securities fraud. Rebecca wrote that the ruling ended a years-long saga in which Nikola’s stock soared as much as 83% at one point, only to plummet months later amid fraud charges and contract cancellations.

The co-pilot learns the composition skill. Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered chatbot, can now compose songs through integration with generative AI (GenAI) music app Suno. Users can enter prompts into Copilot, such as “Create a pop song about my adventures with my family,” and have her Suno bring their musical ideas to life through the plugin.

Tesla fixes ‘inadequate’: After the test, consumer report He said Tesla’s fixes for the Autopilot recall of more than 2 million vehicles were “insufficient.” Sean noted that while the test is not comprehensive, it shows that questions remain about Tesla’s approach to driver monitoring, the technology at the heart of the recall.

Bird files for bankruptcy: bird Submitted Under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Code, capping off a turbulent year for the electric scooter company.in press releaseBird confirmed it had entered a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet” and said the company was continuing business as usual with the aim of “long-term, sustainable growth.”

audio

Want a listening ear as you prepare your holiday dishes? You’re in luck — TechCrunch’s podcasts are just the ticket.

this week’s capitalthe second in a two-part series looking back at 2023, in which our staff recapped the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the long and tedious trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried, and the wild office politics of OpenAI .

meanwhile, found We focused on Charlie Hernandez and his journey building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform aimed at giving people who can’t afford a lawyer democratic access to legal advice and guidance . Hernandez talked about why he decided to use his law degree to tackle this issue.

and Chain reaction Featuring Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the layer 1 blockchain Algorand. Algorand is a Singapore-based blockchain that aims to be fast, secure, decentralized, and “the greenest” with a carbon negative network.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers have access to in-depth commentary, analysis, and surveys. You probably know these if you’re already a subscriber. If not, please consider signing up. Here are some highlights from this week.

Etsy headcount reductions: Etsy recently announced it would lay off 11% of its workforce, which comes as no surprise to those who follow the e-commerce space closely, Anna writes. She predicts that “junkification” and fierce competition will chart a difficult future.

DEI backlash: Dom writes about the dispiriting backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), a framework for creating more conscious workplace efforts to support marginalized communities in the tech sector. I am.

Figma’s rosy outlook: Anna writes that things don’t seem too bad for Figma even without Adobe. CB Insights estimates that the startup’s value is still between $8.3 billion and $9 billion.

Hyperloop One, the high-speed rail startup backed by Elon Musk whose plans were derailed by project delays and bizarre sexual harassment allegations against some executives and backers, plans to shut down.

The company has ordered its remaining employees, about 100, down from 200 at the beginning of this year, to oversee the sale of assets before their employment ends on Dec. 31, according to reports. bloomberg.

Hyperloop, which has raised more than $450 million since its founding in 2014, has gained public attention with its promise to modernize transportation technology with trains that travel at airplane-like speeds through major U.S. cities, according to Pitchbook. Collected.

The company is based in Las Vegas, where it has a small test track to develop a “vacuum tube” transportation system in which pods travel at 1,260 miles per hour.

In 2019, the company announced that Hyperloop technology could transport passengers from New York City to Washington, D.C., in just 30 minutes. By contrast, Acela trains typically take three and a half hours to travel between the two hubs.

At the time, the company touted a deal in the works to install a hyperloop system between Mumbai and Pune in India, but that ambitious plan was abandoned last year.

The startup’s remaining intellectual property will now be transferred to DP World, which will also serve as title partner for the DP World Tour, part of a new golf entity between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf.

It’s unclear whether the shell company deal was an attempt to take Hyperloop public, with the futuristic company having acquired the backing of a Shaquille O’Neal-backed special purpose acquisition company just a few months ago. I was trying that.

Hyperloop has struggled to make any progress for years, despite backing from Richard Branson (who briefly led the company to adopt the name Virgin Hyperloop One) and Elon Musk. Not yet.

According to Bloomberg, in the early days of Hyperloop, co-founder Brogan Bambrogan would arrive at work to find a rope tied to a chair.

And in 2017, co-executive chairman Shervin Pishevar came under fire after at least six allegations of sexual harassment and assault by women, including rape at a luxury London hotel, all of which he claimed I’m denying it.

Pishevar’s brother, Afshin Pishevar, was the one who left the rope that Bambrogan found on his office chair. Mr. Bambrogan was visiting from his home in Washington to join the company as general counsel, and he overstayed his welcome as a guest. bloomberg report.

Branson took the job in 2017 after Shervin Pishevar resigned from the company to recuse himself from the charges, shortly after his own sexual misconduct allegations became questionable.

Singer Antonia Ienae claims the British millionaire stuck his face between her breasts and “motorboated” her while she was attending a party on Necker Island in the Caribbean in 2010. did.

“We were by the bar and he was saying goodbye to everyone. He came up to me and shoved his face into my chest,” she told the London Sun at the time. Ta. “He said, ‘Brrrrrrrr,’ and walked away. It was surreal and completely out of the blue.”

Jenna also claimed that her shaggy-haired boss at Virgin begged her to go topless at a party, according to The Sun, which is owned by the Post’s parent company News Corp.

A year after allegations of sexual misconduct, Russian billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, one of Hyperloop’s directors, has been arrested in Moscow on charges of fraud and embezzlement unrelated to his work with Hyperloop, according to Bloomberg. was arrested.

At the time, Magomedov’s lawyer said he was appealing his arrest.

Dubai-based logistics company DP World has been backing Hyperloop since 2016 and orchestrated Hyperloop’s merger with a shell company in April, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

At the time, the value of most types of stock was valued at zero, making the shell company’s shareholders the sole owners of Hyperloop, the media reported.

The Post has reached out to Hyperloop and DP World for comment.

O’Neal’s deal with Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II would have listed Hyperloop on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of $600 million, but the deal fell through and tied it to Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Serious doubts arose as to whether a 300-mile freight system would become a reality. It was a realistic goal.

art kreiskorn
Contributor

Tatchapong “Art” Climbing Cone Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Amity. Art earned her MBA from Cambridge University, where she worked for five years at IBM.

have something in common A story that repeats itself in the tech industry. A fast-growing startup emerges with a breakthrough concept, succeeds in raising incredible VC funding, and rockets to unicorn status. The company then fails to achieve sustainable profits and falls from glory within a few years (or even months). Despite a relative slowdown in VC activity, that story has continued over the last year, and usually reaches the same conclusion.
90% of startups fail 10% of them die within a year.

The numbers paint a grim picture, but one thing we know as innovators is that every challenge has a unique solution. Often, what holds entrepreneurs back is not money, but rather rapid growth and an over-obsession with flashy technology. This leads to neglecting to solve core business challenges and ultimately leads to a lack of stability and long-term profitability. Before investing in an attractive technology product, it is important to change this approach and prioritize providing reproducible solutions to relevant problems.

Suppose your objective is to introduce an innovative solution to a new niche problem in a way never seen before in the market. In that case, you don’t have to be bold. You need to be bold enough to believe in the company’s clairvoyance, and know enough about your field to maintain that level of confidence even to your face. A strong headwind.

Here’s how to start your own category to solve a niche problem

Identify your unique value proposition

When faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges or unexpected investments, the most important thing is to remain true to the company’s mission.

The most loved and valued companies have built categories that didn’t exist because they offer solutions that other companies can’t even imagine. There’s a reason Apple remains the most valuable company on the planet. The advent of iPhone happened when the user had to carry her iPod, mobile phone, laptop and planner separately. For the first time, a device has appeared that allows him to achieve all these items in one device.

Compare this to products like Threads. Threads is a simple modification of existing products. Unable to retain users. A sales pitch that says, “We’re offering the same product that’s already on the market, but with a few changes,” is much weaker than, “This is a solution that didn’t exist before.” In my career helping brands connect with their communities on platforms, I’ve seen this strategy yield greater benefits than copying existing solutions.

In 2018-2019, I began a journey to take on traditional social giants and provide an alternative way for brands to develop brand-centric communities online. At the time, Facebook had some notorious scandals regarding the misuse of personal data. Amity has set out on a mission to improve and democratize social networks, with the goal of building better social networks that foster active user interaction while respecting the privacy of user data.

A new study has found that people who are unable to burp due to a rare health condition feel more anxious, depressed and embarrassed.

Published on December 20th, the study was conducted by experts from around the world to investigate the social impact of retrograde cricopharyngeal muscle dysfunction (R-CPD), also known as “inability to burp syndrome.”

R-CPD involves dysfunction of the cricopharyngeus muscle, which prevents the patient from relaxing enough to expel gas. It was first reported in 1987, but it wasn’t given an official name until 2019.

Out of the 199 people who participated in the study, 98% reported feeling bloated, 93% reported a “socially unpleasant rumbling sound,” 89% reported excessive flatulence, and 55% reported difficulty vomiting.

R-CPD patients often have to lie down or force themselves to vomit to relieve painful symptoms.

Although the condition can be treated by injecting Botox into the affected muscles, the treatment is not available on the NHS in the UK and must be carried out in private.

Researchers found that participants reported high levels of embarrassment, anxiety, and depression, which also negatively impacted their relationships and work lives.

Read more from Sky News:
There’s a risk of painful injuries in the bedroom this Christmas
Christmas vegetables that may help fight cancer

“R-CPD is a disease that is unfamiliar to many healthcare providers and leaves patients underserved. It affects not only their daily lives but also their personal and professional relationships. It will affect you.”

“Understanding and raising awareness of the basic characteristics of the disease has the potential to improve diagnosis and treatment rates and improve quality of life.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Clinical evidence for this condition is very limited due to the small number of people coming forward with the condition, but NHS staff have been advised by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) to Establishing clinical advice, providing care and services appropriate to patients with specific conditions and needs.”

Millions of mobile phone users have been warned about possible text scams in the run-up to Christmas, reaching a peak today on what has been dubbed “Super Saturday.”

The BT-owned EE network says cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of the busy last-minute shopping season to carry out delivery-style scams that suggest packages are waiting to be dropped off or have been delayed. He said there is a possibility.

This technique tricks recipients into clicking a link that unknowingly installs malware (malicious software) or leads them to a phishing page designed to collect personal or financial data. There is likely to be.

EE said it had successfully blocked around 3 million SMS scams sent to customers’ mobile phones on this day last year.

The company expects to stop up to 5 million such scams this month. It also announced that it has blocked more than 45 million fraudulent texts so far in 2023.

EE said in a statement: “December’s most common SMS scams were delivery-related, as shoppers scrambled to organize their packages at the last minute in time for the holidays.”

“These include missed delivery or tracking text scams that prompt customers to click on a link that gives criminals the opening they need to steal consumer data and money.”

The company is urging consumers to be wary of scams, especially in the coming weeks, as the stress of preparing for the holidays can “impair your judgment and make you less alert.”

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Johnny Bunt, director of regulation at BT Group’s consumer arm EE, said: “Super Saturday is set to be the busiest day of the year for mass retailers.”

“With deliveries piling up on doorsteps, scammers will be looking for ways to capitalize on the festive enthusiasm.

“As one of the UK’s front lines against SMS scam texts, we have a clear picture of the threat level here at BT and EE, and we have already seen an alarming spike in delivery fraud in particular.”

We’re sharing some tips to help you stay safe from scams.

• Never click on links in text from unknown sources.
• Trust your intuition. If something is questionable, there is probably a catch.
• Keep your device software up to date
• Never give out your bank account details, passwords, or security codes on linked websites.
• If you receive a call from your bank, consider calling back on the published number or using the 159 service.
• If someone calls you as scheduled, if in doubt, hang up and call back to a trusted number.
• If you receive a suspicious text, please forward the number and incident to 7726 toll-free for investigation by your mobile phone provider.
• Once reported, block the number and notify others about the scam to avoid falling victim to it.

The teenager behind the infamous hacking incident in which footage of the unreleased Grand Theft Auto VI game was leaked online has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

Arion Kurtaj, 18, a “principal figure” in the Lapsus$ group, has hacked into major technology companies, including Rockstar Games, the developer of the highly successful video game series.

He stole code and footage from the unreleased Grand Theft Auto VI. The long-awaited sequel It will be in stores next year, more than 10 years after it was last released.

Kurtaj Some of the stolen footage has been released In an online forum, he blackmailed developer Rockstar, threatening to release its source code if it did not contact him last September.

Judge Patricia Rees said the hack “cost Rockstar a significant loss of incalculable marketing opportunities,” adding that in addition to thousands of hours of employee labor, the company lost more than $1.5 million in outside help alone. It said it cost about $1.2 million (approximately £1.2 million).

Kurtaj also said that over a 14-month period from July 2021 to September last year, when he was 16 and 17 years old, he had access to broadband provider BT, mobile phone operator EE, software companies NVIDIA and Uber. targeted and demanded millions of dollars.

Psychiatrists had ruled that Kurtaj, who is autistic, was unfit to face charges or stand trial.

However, the jury found he had committed 12 criminal acts. The charges included six counts of committing a fraudulent act to interfere with the operation of a computer, three counts of extortion, two counts of fraud, and failure to comply. After a two-month incident, he served a Section 49 notice to disclose the keys after failing to hand over his mobile phone password when asked by police.

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The judge ordered him to remain in hospital indefinitely, with restrictions under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act, meaning he could only be discharged if the Attorney-General gives permission.

Courtaj, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and one count of fraud and was sentenced along with a 17-year-old boy who was also convicted of one count of fraud. received. He committed extortion and fraudulent activities that interfered with the operation of computers.

“You two were at the center of a series of cyber crimes carried out by a group of hackers calling themselves Lapsus$,” the judge said.

“The group targeted major technology companies, subjecting them to hacking, blackmail, and fraud.”

The court heard that the young man was a member of the group from July 2021, when he was 15, to February last year, and was involved in crimes against EE/BT and Nvidia, with the hack costing the company $5 million (approx. The court found that the remediation costs amounted to $1. .

The judge said the boy, who has been diagnosed with autism, also carried out a “brazen hack” into the City of London Police system to access CCTV footage.

This teenager used an international government official’s email address to send emergency disclosure requests to companies including Discord, Google and Uber, obtaining personal information about the people he targeted before scamming youth courts. He was also found guilty of stalking, the court heard.

He was given a Youth Rehabilitation Order including an 18-month supervision requirement and a six-month prohibited behavior requirement to stop using VPNs.

Five new species of hedgehogs have been discovered by scientists in Southeast Asia.

These are all types of hedgehogs that have soft, spineless fur, and are more hairy than spiny.

Two of the species discovered by researchers are completely new, and the remaining three are subspecies that have been upgraded to species level.

Researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History used DNA to identify different genetic lineages, which were later confirmed as different species by comparison with museum specimens.

One completely new species, Hylomys vorax, is found in the rainforest on the slopes of Mount Leuser in northern Sumatra.

It is approximately 12 cm (4.7 inches) long, has dark brown fur, a very thin snout, and a completely black tail.

Another completely new species, the H. macaron hedgehog, also has dark brown fur, but is larger than the Hylomys vorax hedgehog, at about 14 cm (5.5 inches) long.

Found in southern rainforests. Vietnam Males of this species have long fang-like incisors, hence their name from the Vietnamese word for vampire (Ma cà rồng).

The researchers said further research would be needed to determine what purpose the tusks serve.

Lead author Dr. Arlo Hinckley said the findings “highlight that even in well-studied animal groups like mammals, there are discoveries still waiting to be discovered.”

The other three new species were previously considered subspecies of Hylomys suillus but have now been elevated to species in their own right and have been named H. dorsalis, H. Maxi, and H. peguensis. Masu.

The H. dorsalis hedgehog is found in the mountains of northern Borneo, and the H. maxi hedgehog is found in the mountains of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.

Both are about 14 cm long, but H. dorsalis has a prominent black strike that starts at the head and reaches the middle of the body.

The H. pegwensis species is small, usually about 13 cm (5 inches) long, and has slightly more yellow fur than other species.

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It is found in many countries in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.

Each of the five species are active during the day and night and, like all other hedgehog species, are omnivorous. They probably eat a mixture of insects and other invertebrates, and fruit whenever possible.

Dr Hinckley said: “Based on field observations and the lifestyle habits of their relatives, these hedgehogs tend to forage in hollow areas, foraging among tree roots, fallen logs, rocks, grassy areas, undergrowth and leaf litter. It is highly likely that they build nests and hide.

“But they are so poorly studied that we are limited in speculating about the details of their natural history.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su expressing concerns about the disproportionate impact high-tech layoffs could have on Black workers, according to a letter obtained by TechCrunch. expressed.

It was first reported The GrioThe letter includes steps the Department of Labor has taken to monitor the impact of technology layoffs on African Americans, regulations regarding business practices, and recent Supreme Court precedents to ensure that they are not treated unfairly. Contains a list of questions regarding Used to undermine a company’s DEI practices and budgets.

The technology industry has cut more than 240,000 jobs this year due to layoffs. The concern here is that the “last-in, first-out” approach to layoffs commonly adopted by companies may not be effective for new employees and less senior “non-essentials”, who are most likely to be in the minority. This could potentially affect employees in an emergency.

“Laying off the most recent hires directly impacts a group of people who have benefited from new diversity policies introduced in response to heightened race-based conversations in 2020,” the letter said. “have a significant impact.”

“While corporations reap billions in profits, Black, brown, and women tech workers bear the brunt of layoffs,” said Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC. We’ve seen it happen,” Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC, told TechCrunch. “Member of Parliament [Barbara] Lee and I as co-chairs CBC TECH2025is calling on governments to take steps to address this harmful and troubling trend. ”

The Ministry of Labor has not yet responded to the letter dated December 15th. A Ministry of Labor representative said, “We can confirm that we have received the letter and are considering it.”

The technology and venture industries have been facing a recession in recent years. In response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd, many companies pledged to support the Black community.But as the market slumps, the diversity pledge lack of fundsDEI jobs are being cut, and venture capital funding to Black founders continues to decline every quarter.

CBC is also being strengthened.Last week, it was I have written It called on Sam Altman and the OpenAI board to “quickly diversify the board to include subject matter expertise with perspectives from the African American community.” OpenAI Board of Directors I don’t have it at the moment Whether it’s women or people of color.

Updated to add comment from DoL. The headline has been updated to reflect that they are representatives, not senators.

Decentralized social networks and Twitter rivals blue sky finally allows users to view posts on the platform without logging in. You still need an invitation to create an account and start posting, but you can read posts through a link.

The move will allow publishers to link to Bluesky’s posts and embed them in their blogs. Additionally, users can share them individually or in group chats.

Bluesky users can toggle their settings in the following ways: [設定]>[モデレーション]>[ログアウト時の公開設定] Prevent social networks from displaying posts to users who are logged out. However, this restriction only applies to his Bluesky’s website and its own app. The company said other third-party clients may not honor this switch and not display your posts. Therefore, if you don’t want to share your posts with more users, you should make your profile private.

Bluesky's logout display settings apply to its own apps and websites

Bluesky’s logout visibility settings apply to its own apps and websites Image credits: blue sky

In a blog post, the company’s CEO Jay Graeber also announced a new butterfly emoji logo, replacing the more common “clouds and blue sky” logo.

“We noticed early on that people were naturally using the butterfly emoji 🦋 to indicate their Bluesky handle,” Graber said. “We liked it and adopted it as it spread. This butterfly speaks to our mission to reinvent social media.”

This year, Bluesky released iOS and Android apps and reached 2 million users. The social network also rolled out various moderation tools after facing criticism over the type of content allowed on its platform. Bluesky is currently the only instance of the AT protocol, but aims to enable federation “early next year.” This means that there may be more servers and instances compatible with his Bluesky with their own rules.

Bluesky’s announcement comes at a time when Meta’s Threads has begun experimenting with ActivityPub integration. Following Meta’s announcement earlier this month, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and other everyone from thread team has started making your accounts and posts visible in Mastodon and other compatible apps.

When Hellsing raised $223 million in a Series B round, the tech industry saw it as continued confirmation that defense is definitely back on the investment agenda.

Further confirmation came today in the form of a $5.5 million seed round for the British defense technology startup, in news shared exclusively with TechCrunch. Labris Technologies, led by Germany’s Project A Ventures. MD One Ventures, Marque VC, Offset Ventures and Expeditions Fund also participated. The funding will be used to expand the development and research and development team, as well as strengthen the commercial sales team.

Labrys is perhaps best described as a service that blends Slack, location, and payments for both military and humanitarian scenarios. This may seem a bit tedious, but it starts to make more sense when you look at the problem the product is intended to solve.

WhatsApp is commonly used in fast-moving situations like humanitarian crises. And although I declare some interest in this subject, I have personal experience with this. Since 2015, when I founded the nonprofit Techfugees, we found that refugees and humanitarian workers almost always use WhatsApp to coordinate their responses. It was simple, worked even on bad networks, was fast, and could reveal my location. However, its limitations are all too obvious. How do you know you’re dealing with a legitimate humanitarian worker? What if they don’t reveal their location? How can we provide them with resources and money? These are important questions to solve.

Co-founder and CEO August Larsten said in an interview: In some cases, it can be very difficult to actually verify and see who the person on the other end of the phone is actually talking to. And you can’t integrate all these different chats into something called a network coordination tree. If he wants to talk to 133 people in Indonesia, he doesn’t necessarily want 133 individual communications. ”

Therefore, the Labrys client displays on-screen dashboards that allow users of apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams to send messages to entire teams or individuals, and see where they are. And you can (fashionably) pay for it.

Labrys Technologies mobile platform. Image credits: Labris Technologies

The veteran-owned startup’s platform effectively “scratched an itch” that the founders discovered through their own work “on the ground.” Mr Larsten is a former Royal Marine Special Forces officer who led teams across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Luke Wattam (Co-Founder and COO) has worked across the UK Ministry of Defence, the FCDO and the UK’s Allies.

The Labrys platform, Axiom C2 and Axiom Communicator, enables KYC/E verification, encrypted communications, task management, and geographic location of individual users. Finally, it also encompasses digital payments via crypto stablecoins. In other words, you know who you’re dealing with, where they are located, and how you can pay them. This is especially important when dealing with humanitarian disasters.

Larsten said to me: “I see people through a geospatial interface. Having that interface differentiates me from communication channels like WhatsApp or Slack. The second element is that no matter where they are in Afghanistan, for example, those And we want to pay our employees, all through the same interface in USD stablecoins.”

Labrys claims the platform has already proven its value in the field.

It was used in Afghanistan to help evacuate 5,000 persecuted Afghan minorities, as well as by the Ukrainian National Emergency Service during the Kakhovka Dam collapse.

Mykola Taranenko, commander of the Kherson regional emergency response team of the Ukrainian Red Cross (also a Labrys customer), told TechCrunch in an email: High-risk environments like Ukraine. With the help of Axiom, you can securely monitor your team’s location and status, manage donations, quickly translate digital payments into real-world impact, and purchase equipment locally. [and] Donors can see where their money went. ”

Labrys operates in a unique environment where many civilian and military solutions overlap. for example, everbridge is an enterprise software solution that provides users (often military or NGOs) with an understanding of global flashpoints. However, unlike Labrys, it does not have the equipment to connect with humans “on the ground” so to speak. Another of his TAKs is known as the “Blue Force” tracking system. meanwhile, Premises datahas raised $146 million and has a software platform for humanitarian organizations that provides analytics on assets on the ground.

This latest funding is one of the largest seed rounds ever for a European defense tech startup and symbolizes that defense is no longer off-limits for investors, as we saw this year at TechCrunch Disrupt. ing.

Additionally, “dual-use” products that coordinate either civilian or military teams are a growing market. As of 2022, the global command and control systems market will be Estimation Its size is $22 billion and is expected to reach $28 billion by 2028.

Meanwhile, Improbable, EclecticIQ, Living Optics, and Preligens are all European companies that have raised tens of millions of dollars, and in some cases more, in the past year or so.

The news reflects an established trend from last year, when venture capital-backed companies injected $7 billion into U.S. aerospace and defense companies.

Spotify is withdrawing support from two music festivals in protest of a controversial new tax on the French-operated music streaming platform, with further action expected in the coming months. is threatening.

Antoine MoninManaging Director of Spotify in France and Benelux, took me to X This week we will criticize new tax All music streaming services will be subject to a levy of 1.5% to 1.75%, the proceeds of which will be donated to the National Music Center (CNM). Founded in 2020 To support the French music sector.

All major music streaming platforms have joined together to oppose the new law, including Apple, Google’s YouTube, and local company Deezer, but Spotify has been the most vocal.Following last week’s announcement, Spotify the movement said said it was a “real blow to innovation” and was assessing its next move.

The company has now given a first look at what these moves will look like, with Monin saying it will withdraw its support: Francofolie de la Rochelle And that Printemps de Bourges We are supporting the festival starting in 2024 through financial and other on-site resources. “Other announcements will follow in 2024,” Monin added, but did not elaborate on what those measures would be.

Tete a Tetes

It’s worth noting that Spotify has recently gotten into trouble. Tete a tete Negotiations are underway with the Uruguayan government over a new law that promises “fair and equitable” remuneration for all artists involved in recordings. Spotify would have to pay rights holders twice for the same track under this law, Therefore, stop operating in that country. The company then made a 180-degree turn after receiving assurances from the government that music streaming platforms would not be expected to incur any additional costs resulting from the law.

France is different in that it is probably a much larger market for Spotify and an exit is not a viable course of action. And, as Monin hinted last week, that action plan is likely to focus on reallocating resources to other markets.

“Spotify will have the means to absorb this tax, but Spotify will stop investing in France and invest in other markets,” Monnin said. in an interview Last week on France Info. “France does not encourage innovation or investment.”

Originally Facebook The group was started by people during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown to make healthy meals for those close to them. home cook has evolved into a comprehensive marketplace for chefs. We facilitate the entire process from chef preparation to delivery, offering over 200 meal options. The company recently raised $3.2 million in crowdfunding on Seedrs.

HomeCooks positions itself as the “Etsy of food” and has grown rapidly and now serves approximately 7,000 customers. Take a look at how the company told its story with its crowdfunding campaign.

Quick spoiler alert here: This deck is way too long at 25 slides, but it’s also one of the best pitch decks I’ve seen in this heat of the moment.

It was a complete coincidence that a few months before the pandemic spread across the world. indie bio — A startup accelerator specializing in startups that use biology to solve big problems — expanded Its authority was to add a New York division to operations already conducted outside San Francisco. Of course, thanks to what the world has endured, life sciences startups are in the spotlight now more than ever. So readers thought he might be interested in giving a sneak peek at the latest startups that IndieBio NY is preparing to introduce to investors.almost One month.

If you’re a founder, a venture capitalist, or just an interested industry observer looking for insight into what’s happening in a variety of related fields such as agriculture, diagnostics, carbon and methane upcycling, cancer treatment, etc. If so, check out what the nine teams have been up to so far. I’m working on it.

IndieBio’s previous breakthrough startups include cultured meat company Upside Foods. $400 million Led by two sovereign wealth funds that valued the company at more than $1 billion last year, MycoWorks, a company that makes leather from fungi, closed a $125 million Series C round last year at an undisclosed valuation. did.

Here’s a quick snapshot of each:

***

FREZENT Biological Solutions

FREZENT said it is developing a new class of bispecific antibodies that target dormant cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and can cause recurrence. The approach is to block the metabolism of dormant cancer cells, preventing their reactivation and survival. The team is currently focused on monoclonal antibody discovery and proof-of-concept studies. Click here for details.

***

Xias Bio Limited

according to Cias Bio, the three most important proteins in skin and hair care products, collagen, keratin, and elastin, are typically derived from cow skin, chicken feathers, and meat processing by-products (breck). In light of growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution and deforestation, a new generation of cosmetics consumers want the industry to replace animal proteins with sustainable alternatives, and Xias Bio We are responding to that request. Specifically, we developed a molecular platform to create and license multifunctional proteins that are free of animal-derived components. L’Oreal buys what it already sells. The startup’s founders have since said that the idea is to go beyond cosmetics to replace animal protein in many other sectors, including the pharmaceutical and food industries.

***

serious farming

Earnest Agriculture says it has engineered a microbial consortium that protects crops from disease, pests and drought while improving soil health. The group claims that applying these patented microorganisms as a seed coating will increase yields seven times, reduce the use of synthetic chemicals and make crops more resilient to climate change. Click here for details.

***

biometallica

biometallica’s pitch That means tens of millions of tons of electronic equipment are thrown away every year, much of it incinerated, releasing billions of dollars of recoverable material in the smoke. Not to mention the release of toxic gases. This startup’s eco-friendly solution to recovering some of these rare metals (palladium, platinum, rhodium) is a biochemical that separates palladium group metals (PMG) from e-waste, including used catalytic converters. It uses genetically modified bacteria that produce .

***

Affinia

Affinia has developed and patented a blood test for early diagnosis of endometriosis. This blood test will provide results within a few days. The company says it will be available starting next year in clinics and through home collection kits. As with many women’s health startups, if all goes to plan, the team’s endometriosis testing will be just the beginning. The idea is to build a digital platform that provides diagnosis, virtual care, and prescription delivery for endometriosis and other conditions. Click here for details (Note that the startup was originally called AIMA and has not updated its site yet).

***

carbon bridge

Freight carriers are already ordering methanol-powered ships to meet EU emissions standards, but uptake has been slow because green methanol cannot compete with oil on price. carbon bridgeThe solution to the challenge is described as a low-temperature, low-pressure microbial process that uses a bioreactor to upcycle carbon dioxide and methane into liquid methanol. Furthermore, it is said that gas can be procured cheaply from all over the world. 16,000 Wastewater treatment facilities in the United States typically burn it off.

***

Equol

Aequor has discovered a marine microorganism that produces a molecule that removes bacterial slime in minutes, and when applied to water treatment facilities, the concentrate reduces traditional chemical usage by 90% and reduces energy usage. It says that it can reduce the amount of slime by up to 15% and prevent the formation of slime. The filter may become clogged and cause a shutdown. The larger goal is to enable access to safe and affordable drinking water while reducing the cost and environmental impact of water treatment. Click here for details.

***

unibio

Almost all farmers$230 billion Herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers designed to increase crop yields are used every year, but the unintended consequences are well documented. not good. unibio They say there are better alternatives. The company says it has developed natural microparticles that can enhance biological crop protection agents by allowing them to penetrate plants more efficiently and reducing the amount of traditional chemicals required by up to 80%. It is said that it was developed.

***

Terra Bio Industries

discarded food account 8-10% As the founder of Terra Bioindustries talks about greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why the company has developed a platform to upcycle brewing spent grain, a byproduct of beer that is difficult to sell. It works through a low-energy enzymatic process that separates the grain into edible sugars and proteins, which are then sold to food manufacturers and precision fermentation companies. Installation costs are also low by using commercial equipment found in most food processing facilities. Click here for details.

Arduino is considering manufacturing in India. The startup, best known for its open source microcontroller boards, wants to limit the rise in counterfeit boards and meet growing demand from India’s youth.

The Italian company is currently exploring partnerships with electronic manufacturing services (EMS) companies in South Asia to start local production as early as the first quarter of next year, CEO Fabio Violante said in a virtual interview. told TechCrunch. This marks a significant change from the company’s current practice of producing all its boards in Italy.

India is the largest market for Arduino IDE downloads with 3.2 million. The country also has local branches of global Arduino distributors such as DigiKey, Mouser Electronics, and Avnet. However, India’s contribution to the customer base is currently less than 1%. Violante believes that her fake Arduino board is the main reason for this discrepancy.

“The strange situation for us in India is that even though the community is very large and the user base of the Arduino IDE is very large, we have no original product to sell to the Indian market, especially because people can’t afford the original product. “The amount is very small because finished electronic products are subject to high import duties,” he said. “So people mainly buy substitute products or clones, and in some cases those counterfeit products are made in China.”

Arduino clones are currently available for less than half the price of the original board. The latter also includes import duties. Therefore, by starting local manufacturing, Arduino will be selling its boards in India at the same low prices as their Chinese counterparts.

However, the problem with cloned boards is not limited to India, Biollante acknowledged, adding that the company currently sells one original board for every five to six clones in the market.

“This is difficult because we are open source and we make money by selling our original hardware,” he said. “So clones and counterfeits are a big part of the market.”

Arduino is trying to address the problem of counterfeit boards around the world by making its hardware more sophisticated and harder to counterfeit.

“Continuous innovation gives us a competitive edge,” Biollante said. “[The new boards] It uses a more sophisticated microcontroller, a more sophisticated power section that is not as easy to copy and paste. ”

The executive was in New Delhi last week to attend an investor-focused event organized by state agency Invest India, where he met with government officials and members of parliament, including India’s Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. did.

To compete with China, India has been offering cashbacks and subsidies to global manufacturers to become production hubs. As a result, the country’s domestic electronics manufacturing increased by more than 111% to $99 billion in fiscal year 2022-23, from $47 billion in 2017-18, according to government data shared in parliament last week. However, most of this is due to growth in local mobile phone manufacturing. The country is already the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with Indian-made handsets accounting for more than 99% of domestic mobile phone sales. The government wants to expand local production not just for mobile phone assembly, but also for components including displays and semiconductors.

Violante told TechCrunch that Arduino is currently considering both large international EMS companies and small local companies in India that specialize in manufacturing electronic circuit boards and development boards.

The executive indicated that the company may initially consider making a $27 product. Uno R4 WiFi It was launched globally earlier this year. It aims to appeal to the masses with specifications such as a 32-bit Cortex M4 processor, 32KB RAM, and 256KB flash storage. However, over time, it may start producing the enterprise-oriented Pro series model that was launched last year.

Violante said Arduino is also looking to work with educational institutions in India to increase brand awareness among students and become part of local curricula. Additionally, partnerships with research institutions help the company connect with companies that collaborate with those institutions. The company already has a partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the US, and plans to expand that partnership in India as well. Furthermore, Arduino specifically plans to cater to local demand, and its initial start in the country means that, unlike many other startups, it does not rely on China for manufacturing, so over time it will grow locally. There is a possibility that the company will move towards exporting the manufactured boards to other countries.

The Christmas present for the EU’s precarious gig workers can’t come soon enough: a political agreement announced in the middle of this month aims to strengthen the rights of platform workers across the European Union by establishing a legal presumption of employment. However, it does not have the support of the necessary qualified majority among the people. Dear Member States, that is clear today.

A quick update to the European Council online press release had promoted previous political dealings on file, the agency wrote.[O]On December 22, 2023, the Spanish Presidency concluded that it was not possible to reach the necessary majority for a provisional agreement among the representatives of the Member States (Coreper). The Belgian Presidency will resume negotiations with the European Parliament to reach an agreement on the final form of the directive. “

This development was previously covered bloomberg and Euractic — reported that the deal failed to secure a qualified majority at core par on Friday.

Euractic cited information that the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary and Italy had “formally said no to the deal they believe in”, adding: “As it became clear that a majority would not be reached, the document There was not even a formal vote taken.” It was too far removed from the board’s directives. “

France has been cited as being at the forefront of resistance to the deal announced mid-month by exhausted parliamentary negotiators, with parliamentary co-representatives also on file. Blaming French President Emmanuel Macron for opposition to deal Early this month.

Depending on the changes requested by the blocking Member States, the file could be forced back into the EU’s tripartite legislative negotiation process known as the Trilogue, where the European Parliament, Council and Commission The co-legislators will have to try again. To find a compromise that they can all agree on.

However, with European elections looming, there will be the added complication of tight deadlines if the Estates-General has to reconvene in January.

Unless a way can be found to move this file forward in the coming months, gig worker labor reform will be at the mercy of reconfigured political priorities under the new European Commission and Parliament. It is likely that the current system will lean even further to the right.

In a thread posted on He then announced on December 13 that an agreement had been reached on the platform worker file, and he blamed the Conservative and Liberal governments for blocking the reforms.

‼️ The Conservatoire and Liberals of Los Gobiernos stop the criminal acts of Plataformas Digital against the President of the UE.

🇪🇺 You give 30 million dollars of trabajador and 5,5 million dollars of autonomy to Pionera que Orgaba Derechos.

— Joaquín Perez Rey (@jperezrey) December 22, 2023

“The Spanish Council Presidency has reached an agreement with the support of all political groups in the country. [the European] Parliament other than the far right,” he also wrote [translated from Spanish using AI]. “This directive is inspired by the directive known as the Lidar Law, which came into force in Spain on August 12, 2021.”

“This pioneering regulation at international level, which positions the EU as a leader in a just digital transition, must continue to be discussed in the next Belgian Presidency, based on the agreement reached by the Spanish Presidency and the European Parliament.” he said. Added. “Spain and the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy will continue to defend an ambitious directive that truly improves the situation of workers on digital platforms.”

Congressional negotiators said at a press conference earlier this month to announce a tentative agreement on the file that estimates of the employment relationship between gig workers and platforms are among a list of five “indicators of control or direction.” He said it will be triggered if two of these conditions are met. However, he declined to provide details on what these standards would be.

Opposition to the deal is likely to focus on this element of the reform, with reports suggesting that bloc member states are seeking to raise the threshold before employment estimates begin.

Asked about this, a council spokesperson told TechCrunch: “We acknowledge that the disagreement centers on the issue of legal presumption.”

The council’s position is that came back in june, At least three of the seven criteria set out in the Directive had to be met for the employment presumption to be triggered. An interim agreement (now unsuccessful) had lowered the threshold to two out of five levels. However, the agreement announced earlier this month also allowed member states to expand the list of criteria, so disabled people are likely to only have two criteria to trigger employment presumptions instead of three. .

Lawmakers who touted the deal earlier this month called it “historic” and “ambitious” and said it “shifts the burden of proof” and burdens on precarious gig workers. It suggested that this would prevent them from being “incorrectly considered to be self-employed”. Prove on the platform that the employee is truly self-employed.

Paid by Pornhub’s parent company Aylo Holdings $1.8 million to the US government To resolve charges of profiting from sex trafficking. The company, formerly known as MindGeek, will enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, which means a monitor will be appointed to monitor Aylo and its compliance efforts for three years.

Aylo-owned Pornhub and other adult content sites have come under fire for failing to control third-party uploads of adult content. In the worst-case scenario, sex trafficking victims may end up appearing in these adult girlfriend videos against their will or without their knowledge.

This particular investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York focuses on a network called GirlsDoPorn (GDP), which has been posting videos to Pornhub and other Airo websites since 2009. By 2019, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California had issued an indictment. GDP and other charges related to sex trafficking. But Mr. Airo’s own court papers filed this week show that he profited from the contents of GDP. In a press release, authorities said they were “not aware” that Airo hosted videos in which many women had no idea they were being filmed or that these videos would be shared with the public. or should have known,” he said in a press release. The release also states that many of these women filed complaints with Airo between 2016 and 2019 and that the videos were posted without their consent. However, the network’s videos were removed from Pornhub and other sites months after GDP was convicted of sex trafficking.

“This resolution would not only monitor the world’s largest online content distribution companies and ensure their lawful conduct, but also establish industry-wide standards for safety and compliance,” U.S. Attorney Brion Pierce said in a statement. I will do it,” he said.

2020, Pornhub introduced A number of new features have been added, including preventing video downloads and requiring users to authenticate before posting videos.platform too hired a law firmKaplan Hecker & Fink LLP will conduct an independent review of the company’s content compliance.

The newly renamed Aylo had a turbulent few years. MindGeek’s CEO and COO both left the company before the company was sold to a brand new private equity firm, strategically named Ethical Capital Partners.

Earlier this week, Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos were added to the list of platforms subject to the most stringent regulations under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The law requires platforms to comply with certain child protection regulations, among other safeguards. Once the EU code of conduct on age-appropriate design is finalized, it could mean these platforms will have to carry out strict age checks. This means users must verify their age and identity through official means (instead of simply checking a box indicating they are an adult).

Already in the US, many states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia and Utah, require adult websites to perform age verification checks before allowing users access.

When either of these measures first went into effect in Louisiana, Pornhub required visitors to verify their age. LA wallet app, a digital wallet for Louisiana driver’s licenses. However, when these laws were expanded to other states, Pornhub chose to completely block access in those locations.

“Since [adding age verification]traffic in Louisiana decreased by approximately 80%,” Pornhub wrote in the article. statement. “Those guys didn’t stop looking for porn. It just transitioned into place.”

privacy advocate People are speaking out against these measures because of the potential consequences of sharing government IDs to use the internet. Although these measures are intended to protect children, they have the unintended effect of compromising their online anonymity. Additionally, it is not at all uncommon for hackers to break into government databases, and if these verification tools are not secure, data about who is accessing what kind of content on the internet can easily fall into the wrong hands. There is a possibility that the

This puts MPs in a difficult position. It is difficult to promote internet regulation and safety without creating a slew of new problems.

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