Tech Giant Surpasses Quarterly Expectations Amid Trump’s Tariff Impact on Sector

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

hWelcome to Ello and TechScape! I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. In this week’s Tech News: Trump’s tariffs are impacting a tech firm that focuses on physical goods more than those solely digital. We dive into two stories highlighting the dark implications of AI on the labor market. Additionally, Meta has launched a standalone AI application, boasting an impressive claim of 1 billion users due to its rapid adoption. OpenAI has backed down from a controversial version of ChatGPT, and we revisit the early terminology surrounding Elon Musk.

High-tech revenue: bits rake it up, atoms face uncertainty

Four out of seven major tech giants reported their quarterly earnings last week. Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon exceeded Wall Street projections, yet their outlooks revealed a clear divide between those moving physical products and those thriving in the digital realm. Atomic vs Bits.

Meta and Microsoft’s earnings skyrocketed, surpassing expectations and offering optimistic guidance for the next quarter.

In contrast, uncertainty loomed over Apple and Amazon. While both companies outperformed Wall Street expectations, recent news emphasized the adverse effects of Trump’s tariffs. At the end of Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook revealed that import tariffs would cost iPhone manufacturers $900 million in the upcoming quarter. Although Apple managed to adapt, planning to ship around $2 billion worth of iPhones from India to the US before tariffs took full effect, it’s still significant.

Last week, Amazon faced backlash from the Trump administration after it was reported that Punchbowl News might begin detailing tariff-related costs for individual items, much like discount retailers Shein and Temu. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned this move as “hostile and political.” Although Amazon considered the idea, it quickly decided not to pursue it and downplayed its competition with Shein and Temu, dubbed Amazon Haul. Following the controversy, the ecommerce titan announced it would cease the initiative.

Is AI taking jobs?

Photo: Science Photo Library/Aramie

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to greatly disrupt the job market. Reports detail the direct impacts on jobs, leaving many employees in the lurch.

Technology skeptic Brian Merchant discusses Duolingo’s recent shift to an “AI-First” model, phasing out contractors for tasks that AI can manage. His piece, titled Machine Newsletter Blood, features a former Duolingo contractor who expressed disbelief at the rapid exchange for AI. Similarly, artists and illustrators reported losing opportunities as clients opted for AI solutions instead.

However, on a larger scale, immediate disruption following the launch of ChatGPT isn’t anticipated. Research indicates AI’s broader market impact has been slower than predicted. A study from the University of Chicago and the University of Copenhagen published in a Working Paper reveals that in Denmark, “AI chatbots have not significantly affected job revenue or recorded hours.” Rather than completely displacing jobs, AI is expected to enhance productivity, streamlining tasks and fostering new ideas. The study analyzed two comprehensive recruitment surveys encompassing 25,000 workers and 7,000 workplaces across 11 occupations considered vulnerable to AI.

Special thanks to Register for their insights in this paper.

Mark Zuckerberg will be speaking at Llamacon 2025, an AI developer conference in Menlo Park, California, on April 29th. Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP

Personally, I’ve never engaged Meta’s AI chatbots intentionally. I accidentally tapped a discreet blue circle in Instagram’s search bar during the spring of 2024, triggering a chat with AI agents. The chatbot enthusiastically prompted me to “imagine paradise” instead of using my recent search queries. Meta has integrated its AI into frequent sections of its core app.

The strategic placement of the Meta AI search bar and its integration into existing apps is evident. For example, you can easily tap the Meta AI button at the bottom right corner of the iPhone’s WhatsApp app. Meta has optimized the search functionalities across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, thereby promoting its rapidly expanding AI user base through prominently featured options. Recently, Meta AI stated it is “on track to become the world’s most utilized AI assistant,” with nearly 1 billion users reportedly engaged with the platform.

Last week, the company unveiled a standalone AI app, raising questions about user engagement without a physical interaction. For now, executives anticipate most users will continue to encounter AI through the conspicuous blue circles within popular social applications. Barge.

Meta isn’t the only player; Google also boasts a significant user base for its AI features, claiming over 1 billion users for AI-driven searches (recently reported as 1.5 billion). While it’s challenging to determine user engagement levels accurately, it’s evident that companies glean benefits from any interactions with their AI tools, making it nearly impossible for organizations like Google or Meta to be compelled to stop using their data for AI training. In the US, users can only request that Meta remove their data or abstain from utilizing it to aid in AI training, alongside chatting with Meta AI, which also includes posts and profile details.

The reality of AI seems grim, as it appears designed to lead users into its ecosystem early on. Within the US, where minimal privacy regulations exist, users often feel as if they are continuously training AI systems without their consent.

Sam Altman’s Rollback and Debut

“We missed Mark”… Sam Altman. Composite: Carlos Barría / Reuters / Guardian Design

Last week, OpenAI confirmed it would retract the latest ChatGPT update, with Sam Altman stating, “I missed the mark with last week’s GPT-4o update.” He described the prior updates as overly sycophantic and bothersome.

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According to a venture capital firm, this update marks an unusual error for the creators of ChatGPT. Andreessen Horowitz is among investors in OpenAI.

The day after announcing the rollback, Altman shared news of the launch of his new startup, World, which specializes in ORBs that scan users’ IRIs for verification purposes. He proudly tweeted, “We did that!” alongside an image of himself in front of an American flag, creatively modified with the logo of another company.

Doge Days

“No modern precedent”… Elon Musk’s extraordinary role in the government. Composite: Guardian/Getty Images

The wealthiest individual in the world and a prominent figure in technology held a position in the White House for roughly 100 days. What impact did he have?

My colleague Nick Robbins notes:

“Musk left little of the federal government intact. In just a few months, he dismantled decades of government agencies and public services, which amassed considerable political power.”

“Musk’s influence within the Trump administration is unparalleled. The world’s richest person took on a role that allowed him to undermine the very institutions overseeing his enterprises. His attempts to radically reshape government branches significantly increased his influence, incorporating allies into key positions across federal agencies and gaining access to personal data from millions of Americans while laying off tens of thousands of workers. His leadership at SpaceX positioned the company to capitalize on billions in government contracts, leaving chaos in his wake.”

Discover more about Doge’s initial 100 days.

If you only read two more Elon Musk stories this week, check these out

Broader Technology Landscape

Source: www.theguardian.com

Ofcom introduces new regulations for tech companies to ensure online safety for children

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

As of July, social media and other online platforms must block harmful content for children or face severe fines. Online Safety Law requires tech companies to implement these measures by July 25th or risk closure in extreme cases.

The Communications Watchdog has issued over 40 measures covering various websites and apps used by children, from social media to games. Services deemed “high-risk” must implement effective age checks and algorithms to protect users under 18 from harmful content. Platforms also need to promptly remove dangerous content and provide children with an easy way to report inappropriate material.

Ofcom CEO Melanie Dawes described these changes as a “reset” for children online, warning that businesses failing to comply risk consequences. The new Ofcom code aims to create a safer online environment, with stricter controls on harmful content and age verification measures.

Additionally, there is discussion about implementing a social media curfew for children, following concerns about the impact of online platforms on young users. Efforts are being made to safeguard children from exposure to harmful content, including violence, hate speech, and online bullying.

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Online safety advocate Ian Russell, who tragically lost his daughter to online harm, believes that the new code places too much emphasis on tech companies’ interests rather than safeguarding children. His charity, the Molly Rose Foundation, argues that more needs to be done to protect young people from harmful online content and challenges.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Microsoft’s future unclear amid escalating tensions in Gaza conflict. “On the brink of uncertainty”

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

fOr, for the second time last month, Microsoft employees disrupted high-level executives speaking at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary on April 4. They were protesting the company’s role in Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza.

AI executive Mustafasleiman was suspended by employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal. The two were fired within a few days. Microsoft president Brad Smith and former CEO Steve Ballmer were yelled at in Great Hall in Seattle on March 20 by current and former employees.

Before the April event, there was an outside gathering that also included current and former Tech Giant employees. Protesters projected a sign onto the wall of the hall called “Microsoft Powers Genocide,” showing that since October 7, 2023, Israel has been extensively using its AI and cloud computing services.

The rally and confusion were the latest in the employee protests at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, urging the company to cut ties with Israel. This comes after years of simmering tensions on the company’s message boards and a recent workplace dispute.

Taken together, the protests indicate that more people have decided to leave the company for good, according to current and past employees who spoke with the Guardian. Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.

The recent events at Microsoft reflect similar incidents at other tech companies, such as Google, where employees were fired as they protested their ties with Israel. In February, Google adjusted its AI guidelines, removing the commitment to not use artificial intelligence for surveillance or weapons.

Anxiety about the increase in Redmond

Former Microsoft software engineer Hossam Nasr described the situation at the company as being close to a turning point. He highlighted the events in February as an example of growing frustration among employees.

The firing of employees who raised concerns has galvanized others in the company who are worried about the issue, along with recent media coverage of Microsoft’s role in the siege of Gaza in Israel.

Aboussad told the Guardian that she had been increasingly at odds over the last few months as a software engineer working for AI. She expressed concerns about Microsoft’s deep ties with the Israeli government.
AP Report

Within days of speaking with the Guardian, Aboussad was terminated. Several colleagues mentioned they were considering leaving the company, she stated.

From Viva to IRL

Before the recent direct protest, Microsoft employees were mainly discussing the Hamas attacks and Israel’s continued retaliation online. Several conversations on Microsoft’s Viva Engage company’s message board sparked controversy. One employee posted about the lack of symmetry in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, which led to heated debates.

Employees critical of Israel’s actions have been vocal about what they perceive as a double standard within the company, especially following events from October 7th. They have accused Microsoft of censoring viewpoints on internal forums while treating Israeli supporters differently.
From immediately after October 7th. One employee shared an email from the company’s Global Employee Relations Team emphasizing the need for respectful discussions on the topic of Israel and Gaza. There were restrictions on postings related to these topics on the company message board.

Online discussions among employees have evolved throughout 2024, according to Nasr. Many employees initially focused on petitions urging the company to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, but the attention gradually shifted to Microsoft’s business practices. By the end of the year, Nasr and others began a campaign to boycott Microsoft’s cloud computing services, cancel contracts with the Israeli military, and gather signatures from colleagues in protest of the company’s ties with the Israeli government.

Reporting Microsoft’s role in Gaza Roil employee discussion

Documents obtained by Drop site, an independent news outlet, revealed that high-tech companies, including Microsoft, are actively seeking to serve the Israeli military. This discovery fueled concerns among some Microsoft employees, leading to internal discussions about the company’s ethics and practices.

Anna Hutt, a long-time employee at Microsoft, highlighted the importance of sharing information about the company’s actions within the organization. She emphasized the need for open conversations and offline organizing efforts to raise awareness among employees.

Nasr mentioned that Apartheid’s Azure has partnered with Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) in adding Microsoft to their boycott campaign list. This move reflects growing discontent among employees regarding the company’s involvement with the Israeli military.

One Microsoft employee expressed frustration over what they perceived as a betrayal of the company’s stated values in its contract with Israel. They cited examples of events where critical perspectives were silenced and called for a boycott of Microsoft’s products that enable military actions.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Elite-backed California city stirs controversy with new development plans

Posted on March 28, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

In 2023, a group called California Forever funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, has introduced a flashy proposal to build a new city on tens of thousands of acres of farmland that has taken northeast of San Francisco.

The Solano County residents and officials, where the city sits, were dissatisfied with the lack of local opinions and concerns of wealthy outsiders with big plans to rebuild the area. California has forever changed its track after months of coverage and efforts to attract local leaders. They quickly tracked the plan and instead retracted voting measures that they had sought approval through the standard county process.

This month, California has been in the spotlight for a new proposal. And they were greeted much warmer, using the land they owned to create the shipbuilding hub. The Trump administration reportedly Presidential Order It will stimulate the US shipbuilding industry.

The company, which currently owns more than 65,000 acres in Solano County, said in a statement that Solano is “in its own craft to answer the call to rebuild our country’s naval power,” and that it can “promote economic revitalization” across the region.

“We are working very early in the process with elected officials and communities to explore ways to use these assets to support American sailors and stimulate economic growth in cities, counties and wider regions,” the company said in a statement.

The artist rendering provided by California shows the main street of the proposed new city in Solano County, California. Photo: AP

Located about 60 miles from San Francisco, Solano County lives around 450,000 people and has a history of shipbuilding. It was the site of the first US naval base in the Pacific, operating for over 140 years. Today, the region’s largest employer is Travis Air Force Base, the country’s busiest, with over 10,000 people.

California began purchasing land within the county to sensitivity before it was made public with plans for the new city. They promoted efforts as a solution to California’s housing crisis, saying the new city has pledged to bring widespread new job opportunities for the area with its green infrastructure and a utopian vision of a walkable area, and that the project will not impose financial obligations or taxes on residents outside the community. However, they soon encountered a fierce pushback.

The Sierra Club’s local branch has stated that the company’s efforts include:Hostile takeover”. Last year, they withdraw the measures from the vote and agreed to an environmental report and development agreement on the project.

Meanwhile, last year, Joe Biden expressed interest in bringing shipbuilding back to the US, so the company was in touch with local officials expressing interest in pursuing such opportunities on the West Coast.

after that last week Edwin Okamura, mayor of the Solano County town of Rio Vista, announced that he met with representatives from California Forever and met with retired military leaders and other officials in the county to discuss the issue.

Vacaville mayor John Carli also visited the area and said he met with retired military officials who described the site as one of the most ideal locations in the United States and described the shipbuilding efforts there as a “unique opportunity.” Its site, California, has forever stated in its statement, with over 1,400 acres of land actively zoned for “maritime industrial use.” Carli said the manufacturing and assembly locations will be used rather than ports.

The effort is still in its early stages, officials said they are holding the executive order.

But so far, officials in the area have expressed enthusiasm for their efforts to expand the maritime industry. Alma Hernandez, mayor of Swissun, about 30 miles northwest of Collinsville, said in a statement that the city supports the expansion.

“Suisun City supports the local efforts to invite the US government and key defense contractors to invest in the future of Solano County,” Hernandez said. “Our area has a proud history of shipbuilding. It’s part of our identity. We are keen to contribute in every way to ensure maritime success in our area.”

Carli said the profits are far beyond shipyards and refer to more than $2.7 billion in economic impacts that air force bases have in the area. And he said that maritime industrial bases would benefit the air force bases.

With the history of shipbuilding in the region and the role it plays in the US defense, it makes sense to have this kind of project here, state Rep. Lori Wilson said, and that would bring great opportunities. Going forward, Wilson hopes the shipyard will become the largest employer in the county.

Wilson said he’s heard of the project from many members, but most of them were supportive. Given the level of distrust present in the organization, some have expressed concern about the environmental impact of the maritime industry and the role of California. Lawmakers were skeptical of themselves about the company.

“It’s something I’m careful about as a legislative representative in this area, but that’s not something I can deal with. It’s up to them to build trust.”

Still, even those who don’t support planning for the new city are interested in the project, Wilson said. “People are really excited about this opportunity. [the potential] For the shipbuilding to return to Solano County. There is a groundwell in support for this project and I am truly excited to do my part to make this happen. ”

Carli hopes the community will see beyond landowners. “We are confident that if the opportunity appears here locally, residents will recognize and support the project,” Kari said. “It deserves a thoughtful discussion with the community to understand that this is different from the city being proposed.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Is it necessary for AI to have such vast amounts of money? (Tech giant labeled as Jesus)

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. ELON MUSK NEWS has already been a few days. Look forward to our news. In my personal news, I deleted Instagram from my mobile phone and tried a month there. Instead of scrolling, I’m listening Shoe girl and Lady Gaga’s new music。

The advantage of American AI?

Last week, DeepSeek has developed a US stock market by suggesting that AI should not be so expensive. The proposal was very wonderful and wiped off about $ 600 million from NVIDIA’s market capitalization in one day. According to DeepSeek, I trained a flagship AI model. This is the top US app store, almost $ 5.6 million, almost equal to the performance of the US top model. (It has been discussed how accurate the numbers are.) For some time, there were no co-announcements of Stargate, a $ 500 million-dollar AI infrastructure project in the United States joining Oracle, Softbank, and Open. It seemed to be a huge overpire. I know what they are talking about. Same as META and Microsoft’s huge ear mark. Hey, large-scale spender: Investors want to see this cash flow in reverse.

In MANIA, META, and Microsoft, two high-tech gifts who bet on artificial intelligence have reported a quarterly revenue. Next year, we promise to build hundreds of billions of dollars and build artificial intelligence infrastructure. META promised $ 600 billion and Microsoft $ 800 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg, who was asked about DeepSeek on a phone call with an analyst, refused to suspect.

Satya nadella states: Microsoft has accepted DeepSeek so that Azure customers can be used.

The whole property will live or die with the advantage of American AI: Sam Altman. He responded to Deepseek Mania by announcing that Openai will release a new version of Chatgpt for free for free. Previously, chatbot paid users (some of them pay $ 200 a month) first access to the most advanced features. What Altman did not say was as much as much attention. He did not announce that Openai would reduce a huge amount of spending, and did not say that Stargate needed less cash. He is committed to a large gold game, like Zuckerberg and Nadera.

I will see Google’s profits tonight for Sundar Pichai’s opinion about what DeepSeek means for his company and its huge spending.

AI philosophy and corporate governance are on the stage

Photo: Guardian

I attended my premiere last Thursday Domer A new play set in an open-rit office office on the weekend when Sam Altman was fired as CEO. If I was incomplete and frustrated, it seemed motivated and interesting. We recommend that you look at it if possible.

The play occurs in two acts. First, Altman Analogue’s set is sitting on a long table with executives of other companies. As they talk about, Alina, the company’s safety and consistency…

Source: www.theguardian.com

Unveiling the Mysteries of Deepseek Torn AI: The True Source of High Tech Brothers’ Fear

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

no, it wasn’t the “moment of SPUTNIK”. Last month’s release Deepseek R1 in China generated AI or chatbot has sparked conversations in the high-tech world, speculating on stocks, and suggesting that the United States is losing its edge in AI technology. However, the confusion caused by SPUTNIK doesn’t reveal much about Deepseek beyond American neurosis.

The original SPUTNIK moment occurred when the Soviet Union launched SPUTNIK 1 on October 4, 1957, shocking the world. In the famous words of Neil Armstrong, when he took a “small step” on the moon, it was an anachronistic phrase from a later, even more important milestone, the “Giant Leap for Mankind”.

Deepseek, backed by Chinese hedge funds, is a notable achievement. However, it doesn’t offer any technical advancements in large-scale language models (LLMs) that already exist. It lacks the speed and “wisdom” of Openai’s Chatgpt or Anthropic’s Claude.Vision-All LLMs tend to generate incorrect answers or fabricate facts to fill data gaps. NewsGuard’s evaluation system found that the DeepSeek chatbot made false claims in 30% of cases and failed to provide answers in 53% of cases.

DeepSeek’s high non-response rate may be attributed to censorship, avoiding sensitive issues for China or limiting information on topics like Tiananmen Square and Taiwan.

The true impact of DeepSeek lies in AI economy rather than its technology. It is a chatbot with strengths and weaknesses, like other major models, but it is built with lower costs and inferior technology. The ban on cutting-edge chips and chip manufacturing equipment to China by the Biden administration in 2022 has unintentionally spurred Chinese researchers to be more innovative.

DeepSeek is freely available and open-source, helping to democratize AI technology, especially outside the United States. While US companies create barriers to entry for competitors, it is ironic that China embraces openness.

The impact of DeepSeek goes beyond technology, unveiling the hype and geopolitical tensions surrounding AI. It challenges the notion of building larger AI models with massive computing capabilities and high costs.

The hype around DeepSeek mirrors the hyperbole around AI and reflects geopolitical tensions. If DeepSeek had originated from a US university, it might have gone unnoticed without causing global uproar. Amidst this panic, concerns about DeepSeek’s Chinese origin raise questions about privacy, censorship, and surveillance that affect AI technology as a whole.

Navigating between hype and fear around AI becomes crucial in times of trade wars and threats to democracy. It’s important to recognize the promises and challenges of technology without being swayed by political agendas.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Big Tech Companies Dispute President Trump’s $500 Billion AI Investment Announcement, Involving Elon Musk

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Major technology giants criticized their competitors following Donald Trump’s announcement of significant investments in AI the day before.

President Trump revealed Stargate, a $500 billion initiative funded by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. The announcement featured leaders from both companies: Sam Altman, Larry Ellison, and Masayoshi Son, with Son as the project chairman. A representative from Abu Dhabi’s state-run AI fund MGX, another major investor, was notably absent.

The partnership aims to establish data centers and computing infrastructure crucial for AI development. While the initial investment amount is substantial, estimates suggest that developing AI will require as much funding.

Notably missing from the event was Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, who is also the wealthiest person globally. Despite Musk’s close ties to Trump and rumored office in the White House, he dismissed Stargate as a financial sham the following night.

When OpenAI announced on X (Musk’s social network) that they would immediately deploy $100 billion, Musk countered, stating that they lacked the funds and criticizing SoftBank’s funding of less than $10 billion. Musk, with a net worth of about $430 billion, tweets prolifically on a variety of subjects.

President Trump has yet to respond to Musk’s comments, focusing instead on Melania’s anniversary on his social network, Truth Social.

Musk continued his criticism on Twitter, sharing a leaked image of a research tool supposedly used to calculate Stargate’s $500 billion cost. He spent much of Wednesday afternoon attacking the project.

Sam Altman initially praised Musk’s work but later questioned his motives for criticizing SoftBank. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, responded diplomatically when asked about the situation, emphasizing Microsoft’s plans to invest in Azure.

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The tension between Musk and Altman dates back to their history at OpenAI, where Musk eventually parted ways with Altman. The heads of Oracle and SoftBank involved in Stargate have not yet spoken on the matter.

Source: www.theguardian.com

To build Britain as a leading AI force, we must stand up to tech giants | By John Norton

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Sir Keir Starmer does not create visions. But last Monday, he broke a lifelong habit. Speech at University College London. It was about AI, which he sees as “the defining opportunity of our generation.” He declared that Britain was “the land of Babbage, Loveless and Turing” and, of course, “the country that birthed the modern computer and the World Wide Web.” Please mark my words. Britain will become one of the great AI superpowers. ”

It's kind of exciting. Within days of taking office, the Prime Minister invited Matt Clifford, a clever engineer from Central Casting, to think about “how to seize the opportunity in AI''. Clifford scored 50 points. AI Opportunity Action Plan Starmer fully accepted this, saying he would “take full responsibility for the British state”. He also named Clifford AI Opportunity Advisor Supervise the implementation of the plan and report directly to him. It's only a matter of time until then solar We call him “Britain's AI emperor.”

Clifford's appointment is both predictable and puzzling. That was to be expected, as he had been hanging around government for a while: Rishi Sunak, for example, hosted the AI Safety Summit and approached him to set up the UK Safety Summit. AI safety unit. It's puzzling because he's already made so much money in technology. External Interests Register This will be a fairly long scroll. Several media and technology executives said to financial times They were concerned that Clifford, who had founded a successful investment firm with offices around the world, was being given too much influence over AI policy.

Damian Collins, a former Conservative technology secretary, said Clifford was “clearly a very capable person” but said he was “concerned about the balance of interests represented and how they are represented.” “It will be done,” he said. If Mr Starmer really believes that AI is a game-changing technology, it is strange that his chief adviser would be so involved in such an important game.

Collins was referring to a particularly hot topic. It is a routine copyright violation by tech companies that train AI models on the creative works of others without permission, approval, or payment. The latest revelations about this practice come from new, unredacted documents. US lawsuit This shows that the training dataset for Meta's Llama AI includes a huge database of pirated books collected from the internet.

Recommendation 24 of the plan calls for reform of the UK text and data mining regime. And the argument that “the current uncertainty around intellectual property (IP) is hindering innovation and undermining our broader ambitions for growth in AI and the creative industries” is a strong argument for many in these industries. made people furious. “There is no 'uncertainty' in the UK text and data mining regime,” he said. Creative Rights in the AI Coalition. “UK copyright law does not allow text or data mining for commercial purposes without a license. The only uncertainty is who will use Britain's creative crown as training material without permission and who will That's how you got it.”

Much of Clifford's plan seems sensible (albeit expensive). For example, building a national computing infrastructure for AI. Improving university research capabilities. Train tens of thousands of new AI professionals. Promote public-private partnerships to maximize the UK's interests in 'frontier' AI. Ensure strong technical and ethical standards to oversee the development and deployment of AI.

All of this is a refreshing change from the empty fuss about 'Global Britain' of the Johnson-Snak-Truss era. The plan's stated ambition to position the UK as an “AI maker rather than an AI taker” is that the UK has real potential in this area but lacks the resources to realize that potential. This suggests a candid recognition. But making that happen means we have to face two troubling truths.

The first is that this powerful technology is controlled by a small number of giant companies, none of which are based in the UK. Their power lies not only in their capital and human resources, but also in the vast physical infrastructure of data centers they own and manage. This means that any nation wishing to operate in this field must get along with them.

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The UK Government needs to do a lot in this regard. The current attitude towards business is the snobbish attitude exhibited by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, who said the Government needed to take a 'Government is' attitude.feeling humble” and uses a “national strategy” when dealing with technology giants, rather than using the threat of new legislation to influence developments in areas such as frontier artificial intelligence. In other words, the UK should treat these organizations as nation-states. Clearly, Kyle doesn't realize that appeasement is the art of being nice to the alligator in the hopes that it will eat you in the end.

Another troubling truth is that even though AI is powerful, economists like Nobel Prize winners Daron Acemoglu The general economic impact, at least in the short term, is believed to be significantly smaller than technology evangelists believe. Even worse, Economist Robert Gordon once pointed out thatgeneral-purpose technologies take a long time to have a significant impact. The message to the Prime Minister is clear. Becoming an “AI superpower” may take at least several election cycles.

Source: www.theguardian.com

As tech companies spread more lies, why is the BBC reporting less truth?

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

○On August 4, 2024, the riots and unrest following the murder of three children in Southport, Merseyside, escalated further. That day, violence struck Rotherham, Middlesbrough and Bolton, where people tried to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers, amid chaos amid far-right misinformation and rumors. Elon Musk showed a renewed interest in British affairs, posting a photo of the violence in Liverpool on X with the characteristically cautious caption: “Civil war is inevitable.” And 24 hours later, a wave of unrest reached the city of Plymouth.

It struck the city center throughout the evening of August 5th. To quote the Guardian, “150 police officers in riot gear and with dogs tried to separate the far-right mob and anti-racism demonstrators.” Others defended the mosque. Bricks, bottles and fireworks were thrown. Six people were arrested, several police officers were injured, and two civilians were taken to hospital. local civil servant He said the events were “unprecedented.”

Where should the city's 260,000 residents turn for reliable information? As ever, people's social media feeds are filled with falsehoods and provocations, making more traditional media the obvious choice. But if you had been listening to your local BBC radio station while the riots were going on, you might not have known anything about them. BBC Radio Devon ran reports of the violence on the 6 o'clock news, but Plymouth was not mentioned at all on the 7pm and 9pm news. Other breaking news stories mentioned what was happening but failed to make it into a major story. The violence was horrifying and very important, but the attention of the city's supposedly most reliable news sources was clearly elsewhere.

We now know all this thanks to BBC reaction to Complaint by David LloydHe is a radio veteran who has worked in both corporate and commercial stations. The relevant official document written by the company's complaints manager is very easy to read. It included an admission that “there was little evidence that the BBC was present at the scene” and that some of the content related to “some logistical issues” on the day. . Issues include “securing journalists with the necessary riot training'' and “technical problems with broadcasting kits.''

there were, The report says:“Elements of System Failure.” Even online, where modern businesses say they need to focus most of their efforts, there is no dedicated live coverage of the Plymouth riots, and as the report suggests, major social media platforms lack sufficient updates. Not posted. Regarding the latter point, he said, “If it weren’t for staff vacations, we could have done more.”

A spokesperson said: The BBC accepted the findings of its complaints department and had “already made adjustments to its working practices” before the Plymouth complaint was investigated. But the mix of excuses and admitted shortcomings remains mind-boggling. And the larger story of this corporate degradation of local broadcasting and how it fits into similar changes in commercial radio and the dire state of Britain’s local press is left untouched. As Mark Zuckerberg abandons meta fact-checking and Musk becomes endlessly radicalized by his platform, the result is a growing vacuum in local news. There is a growing susceptibility to online lies that may soon surpass people’s ability to fully understand what is going on in their immediate lives. someone's control.

The story of Plymouth is a case study in the impact of change, which still appears to be chronically overlooked. These include the forced cuts to BBC Radio’s broadcasts in 2023, and the fact that many local stations now only broadcast regionally specific programs until the afternoon. Share produce locally or nationally until breakfast time the next day. Number of spectators This drastic cut has further diminished an already fragile part of the national media landscape, further reduced listeners and hastened the decline of local radio, while our nation’s public broadcasters have The obvious question is whether the survival of such a major broadcasting station can be guaranteed. Grassroots news, who will do it?

It’s certainly not commercial radio. Eight years ago, broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced a relaxation of rules allowing commercial station owners to reduce the minimum hours of daytime local programming from seven hours a day to three. In 2019, radio giant Global consolidated more than 40 independent breakfast shows featuring local news and takeaways into three nationally broadcast programs, exposing its newsroom to fluctuations in efficiency. Since then, a single reporting team has been assigned to cover an area stretching from Cornwall to Gloucester.

And then there is the terrible fate of local newspapers that may have successfully transitioned into the online world, but have been repeatedly mismanaged, cut and wiped out, especially by online giants. Between 2009 and 2019, more than 320 such titles closed in the UK. Just over a year ago, Reach, the owner of Mirror, Express and a number of local titles grouped online under the “Live” banner, announced its third job cuts in a year. This reduced the total number of roles lost. The company's local and regional news websites drew a healthy audience of about 35 million people per month, but its reliance on siphoning digital advertising revenue put its long-term survival at risk. As one anonymous Reach official stated, the results were clear. “Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool, Cardiff and many other major cities will soon no longer have a local newspaper, and it is increasingly likely that they will no longer have a well-known local newspaper.”Local authorities and others Accountable news website. ”

In some areas, nimble local news outlets are beginning to fill the gap. In Hull, a start-up company called story of the hull It was founded in 2020 as an online operation by two former Hull Daily Mail employees and expanded into print last year. Last week's headlines reflected the city's experience with the 2024 riots: “Shame, Resilience, Justice.” won an award On this year’s cover. Bristol Cable has long pioneered a new kind of investigative and political reporting, driven by the fact that its titles are owned by its readers. Manchester has a Substack newsletter The Millis currently setting up branches in Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield and London. Former Guardian staffer Jim Waterson has also started up to fill the void left by the retrenchment of the Evening Standard. central london. All of these projects highlight one stark point: a place not only needs its own journalism, but can provide an audience to support it.

The problem is that they still outnumber some parts of the country, let alone the world, where the worst kinds of news cycles are unfortunately a reality. Something happens, but what do people read or hear about it? Is it nothing at all, plucked from the corners of the internet by some foreign billionaire, or amplified by an algorithm, true or false? It’s such a bad version that the question of whether or not is gone and the deceptive narrative creates its own shockwaves. If that is the future we all need to avoid, then local reporting should be our first antidote.

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK online safety laws are ‘non-negotiable,’ declare tech giants | Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

In the wake of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge to team up with Donald Trump to pressure countries he deems as “censoring” content, efforts to enhance online safety have been emphasized. A government official has cautioned that Britain’s new law addressing hate speech is firm and non-negotiable.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, in an interview with observer, expressed optimism that recent legislation aimed at safeguarding online platforms for children and vulnerable individuals would attract major tech companies to the UK, supporting economic expansion without compromising safety measures.

As Keir Starmer prepares to unveil a significant tech initiative positioning the UK as an ideal hub for AI technology advancement, the government is under scrutiny from Elon Musk, a vocal Trump loyalist.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle is dedicated to positioning the UK as a frontrunner in the AI revolution. Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

Mark Zuckerberg’s recent decision to lift restrictions on topics like immigration and gender on meta platforms has stirred controversy. He emphasized collaboration with President Trump to combat governmental attacks on American businesses and increased censorship worldwide.

Despite not mentioning the UK specifically, Zuckerberg criticized the growing institutionalized censorship in Europe, hinting at potential clashes with the UK’s online safety law.

Peter Kyle, who is set to reveal the government’s AI strategy alongside Keir Starmer, acknowledged the overlap between Zuckerberg’s free speech dilemmas and his own considerations as an MP.

However, Kyle assured that he would not compromise on the integrity of the UK’s online safety laws, emphasizing the non-negotiable protection of children and vulnerable individuals.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has raised concerns about European online censorship policies. Photo: David Zarubowski/AP

Amid discussions with tech conglomerates and the unveiling of an AI Action Plan, the UK government aims to leverage its reputation for online safety and innovation. The plan emphasizes attracting tech investments by positioning the UK as a less regulated and more conducive environment for technological advancements.

As big tech leaders engage with President Trump nearing the inauguration, meta is changing its fact-checking approach to a “community notes” system similar to Company X, owned by Musk.

Elon Musk’s vocal criticisms of the UK government, particularly targeting Keir Starmer, have sparked controversy within the Labor Party and raised concerns about safety. Despite disagreements, the government remains committed to enacting robust measures against harmful online content.

While open to discussions with innovators and investors like Musk, Peter Kyle remains steadfast in prioritizing the advancement of technology to benefit British society both now and in the future.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Titans Bowing Down to President Trump in Silicon Valley

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

On January 28, 2017, I hurried to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). That evening, protests were gaining momentum across the United States against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. The night was unusually cold, and I had not brought a proper jacket. Luckily, the train to the airport was warm and filled with nervous and chatty protesters. The airport itself was chaotic. Angry demonstrators blocked roads, causing taxis and Ubers to be stranded with meters still running. A hijab-wearing protester prayed next to a protest sign in the baggage claim area, while others shouted at travelers collecting their luggage. At that time, Trump was the most controversial figure in America, and his election had shocked the world.

Later that night, rumors of a $150 billion face in the crowd started to circulate. Sergey Brin, the founder and co-founder of Google, was present. At that time, he was the president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which also owns YouTube. The impact was electrifying. One of the wealthiest and most influential men in the world was publicly expressing his displeasure with Trump by participating in a protest against him. Brin, originally from Moscow and immigrating to the United States at the age of 6, stated he was at SFO that night “because I’m a refugee,” delivering a personal rebuke to Mr. Trump, whom he described as a complete xenophobe.

Following Brin’s lead, Google and other tech giants condemned Trump’s travel ban. Nearly 100 technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Uber, supported a lawsuit challenging the measure.

However, today’s protests against President Trump’s reelection have had minimal impact. Silicon Valley is shifting its stance to show more deference to Mr. Trump. This week, the tech industry finished its nominations for the upcoming president.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the cessation of the company’s fact-checking operations in the United States. In 2022, Meta had claimed to have built the largest global fact-checking network and spent $100 million on it.

A few days later, Mr. Zuckerberg revealed a reduction in efforts to enhance workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – a move met with controversy. These policies had been disdained by Trump and faced criticism from his prominent supporter, Elon Musk. Zuckerberg, seemingly driven by ambition rather than personal beliefs, took actions such as promoting Dana White to Meta’s board of directors after dining with Trump and supporting his inaugural committee.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s actions seemed to be influenced by Trump’s threats, as the president-elect had warned of dire consequences if Zuckerberg interfered in the election. Mehta, like others, stood to benefit from a friendly Trump administration, particularly concerning Meta’s antitrust lawsuit.

Several tech CEOs, including Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Satya Nadella, also demonstrated support for President Trump, each contributing in different ways. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi donated $2 million to Trump, and even Google made a substantial donation despite being targeted by Trump’s campaign.

The president-elect, noticing his newfound popularity, remarked on the change in attitude towards him. Meanwhile, Musk’s threats loomed over tech leaders like Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang, demonstrating the power dynamics at play in the tech industry.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech giants Google and Microsoft donate $1 million each to President Trump’s inaugural fund

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Google and Microsoft each contributed $1 million to President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Fund, along with companies like Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, and Uber.

“Google is supporting the 2025 Inauguration with a live stream on YouTube and a direct link to the homepage. We are also donating to the inaugural committee,” said Google Government Affairs & Public Policy global head Karan Bhatia in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.

Google made the donation on Monday, as reported by CNBC. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda mentioned that the company had previously donated to the Inauguration Fund and hosted a livestream of the inauguration.

Microsoft confirmed its $1 million donation to President Trump’s inaugural fund in a statement to Bloomberg on Thursday. The company had also donated to Trump’s 2017 inauguration and Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.

Many other major companies made significant donations to President Trump’s inaugural fund last month, including Toyota, Uber, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI.

These donations helped raise funds for President Trump’s inaugural committee, which received a $170 million donation. This appears to be an attempt by tech giants to gain favor with President Trump for his second term in office.

President Trump’s relationship with big tech companies has been contentious, but as his inauguration approaches, there seems to be a shift in tone from both parties.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai criticized the January 6 riot and praised President Trump’s victory. President Trump also noted a change in attitude towards him from various tech companies.

Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Inc. announced changes in the company’s approach to fact-checking and censorship, aiming to reduce censorship and recommend more political content across their platforms.

Experts believe that contributing to Trump’s inauguration is a way for tech companies to gain support from the new administration and avoid being targeted by President Trump in the future.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Ex-European tech leader accuses Elon Musk of lying during AfD interview

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

A former EU leader in the technology sector alleges that the EU attempted to prevent the owner of Company X from meeting with the co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, branding Elon Musk as “outrageous.” He accused, “You’re lying.”

Thierry Breton, who spearheaded the passing of ambitious legislation to regulate big tech and stepped down as European commissioner in September, claimed that the EU was striving to censor Musk’s scheduled meeting with Alice Weidel. He asserted that it was deceitful to suggest otherwise.

The US billionaire asserted on his social media platforms: “First, the EU tried to hinder my online conversation with President @realDonaldTrump. Now they are trying to block people from hearing my discussion with Alice Weidel, a potential future German chancellor. It appears that these individuals truly detest democracy.”

His tweet referred to a letter Breton sent to Musk prior to a similar discussion with Donald Trump in August. In the letter, Breton reminded Musk of his responsibilities under the Digital Services Act (DSA) not to enable the “amplification of harmful content.”

Following Musk’s announcement of his intention to interview Weidel, whose party holds a 19% approval rating and is anti-immigration, Breton issued a similar caution to Weidel via a social media post. “I reached out to him, but it appears to have been a stunt.” This led to accusations against Musk on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Guardian, Breton stated: “[Musk] is trying to portray the EU as stifling conversations. We are distorting information here.”

When asked if Musk could be lying, Breton responded: “No one attempted to prevent him from speaking to Trump, or to Germany.”

The Frenchman mentioned that he has always had a positive and constructive relationship with Musk in person.

X did not provide any comments. Musk recently criticized Breton as “annoying,” and in August referenced a quote from the satirical film Tropic Thunder, telling the then-commissioner to “take a big step back and literally defecate on himself.”

The dispute is the latest in a series instigated by Musk in recent weeks, including hostile remarks towards British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, provoking outrage across Europe.

Breton called on leaders to denounce the propagation of misinformation and hatred. “Leadership is crucial, especially in these times. Europe can only thrive with strong leadership.”

X is currently under investigation by the European Commission under the DSA, partly initiated by Breton. The company mentioned that it is “collaborating with the regulatory process” and is committed to creating a safe and inclusive platform for all users while safeguarding freedom of expression.

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Insiders indicated that the verdict was expected in the fall of 2023, but X needed time to prepare a legal defense. Some anticipated that conclusions would be disclosed soon.

Breton declined to address the investigation but emphasized that the DSA is not intended to silence critics or curb the freedom of speech cherished by all European democracies. He reiterated that such a notion does not exist.

“Freedom of speech is of utmost importance in Europe, vital for democracy across all member states, and non-negotiable for the Court of Justice,” he affirmed.

However, he emphasized that it operates within a legal framework that also prohibits anti-Semitic remarks, racist hate speech, and terrorism apologists, which tech companies must be cautious of.

“These are forbidden by law in physical spaces, on streets, in media, and now in the digital realm,” he stated, pointing out that social media companies, unlike traditional media, wield immense power to disseminate content to audiences and must acknowledge the responsibility that comes with it.

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK considers allowing tech companies to use copyrighted material for AI training

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to proposals from the UK government, tech companies would have the freedom to utilize copyrighted material for training artificial intelligence models, unless creative professionals or companies opt out of the process.

The proposed changes aim to resolve conflicts between AI companies and creatives. Sir Paul McCartney has expressed concerns that without new laws, technology “could just take over.”

A government consultation has suggested an exception to UK copyright law that currently prohibits the use of someone else’s work without permission, allowing companies like Google and ChatGPT developer OpenAI to apply copyrighted content in training their models. This proposal permits writers, artists, and composers to “reserve their rights,” meaning they can choose not to have their work utilized in AI training or request a license fee for it.

Chris Bryant MP, the Data Protection Minister, described the proposal as a “win-win” for both parties who have been in conflict over the new copyright regulations. He emphasized the benefit of this proposal in providing creators and rights holders with greater control in these complex circumstances, potentially leading to increased licensing opportunities and a new income source for creators.

British composer Ed Newton Rex, a prominent voice in advocating for fair contracts for creative professionals, criticized the opt-out system as “completely unfair” to creators. Newton Rex, along with more than 37,000 other creative professionals, raised concerns about the unauthorized use of creative work in training AI models, labeling it as a substantial threat to creators’ livelihoods.

Furthermore, the consultation considered requiring AI developers to disclose the content used for training their models, providing rights holders with more insight into how and when their content is utilized. The government emphasized that new measures must be available and effective before they are implemented.

The government is also seeking feedback on whether the new system will apply to existing models in the market, such as those in ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Additionally, the consultation will address the potential need for “moral rights” akin to those in the US, to protect celebrities from having their voices and likenesses replicated by AI without their consent. Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson had a dispute with OpenAI last year when a voice assistant closely resembling her signature speech was revealed. OpenAI halted the feature after receiving feedback that it sounded similar to Johansson’s voice.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Industry Begins to Support President-Elect as Amazon Contributes $1 million to Inaugural Fund

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Amazon is the latest tech giant to donate to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.

Reports indicate that the company plans to donate $1 million to the fund, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Following in Meta’s footsteps, Facebook’s parent company, which also donated $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural committee, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that he would make a personal donation of $1 million. This was reported by Fox News.

As President Trump prepares for his second term, several major tech companies are showing support in hopes of gaining favor for their businesses. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is scheduled to meet with President Trump next week, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently dined with him at his Mar-a-Lago mansion. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is also expected to meet the president soon, according to reports. Time magazine, owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, even named Trump its “Person of the Year.”

Altman of OpenAI expressed his belief that Trump will lead the country in technological advancement. In a statement to the Guardian, Altman said, “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I look forward to supporting his efforts to ensure the United States stays ahead.”

Donating to inaugural committees is a common practice for large companies seeking to establish rapport with the incoming administration. Amazon, for example, donated $57,746 to President Trump’s first inaugural fund in 2017, according to Open Secrets. Google and Microsoft also made donations, while Mehta confirmed to the Guardian that he did not donate that year.

Amazon stated that during Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, the administration declined donations from technology companies, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Allegedly, Trump plans to offer additional perks to donors who contribute at least $1 million to his inaugural committee, including access to various events around the inauguration, dinners with Trump, Cabinet nominations, and a dinner with J.D. Vance, according to the New York Times.

Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, has been a target of Trump’s criticism. However, before the election, the Washington Post decided not to endorse a presidential candidate, likely in an attempt to avoid provoking Trump, as reported by The Washington Post.

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After Trump’s victory, Bezos and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expressed their support for the new administration. Bezos praised Trump for the opportunities ahead, while Jassy celebrated the victory and expressed eagerness to collaborate with the administration. Amazon’s stock price reportedly rose by 14% after the election.

Source: www.theguardian.com

When will Democrats come to the realization that big tech does not support their agenda?

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

a■ As Democrats consider how to counter the Trump administration, they need to accept a very simple lesson from the past eight years. Big tech and corporations are part of the opposition forces working on behalf of Donald Trump, not allies of the Democratic Party working against Trump and Trumpism.

One would think there is no need to point out what appears to be an obvious fact. Still, some Democrats are trying to get closer to big tech companies and downplaying the importance of antitrust policy regarding authoritarian risks. For example, a few days ago, the largest Democratic superpack, Priorities USA, held a large resistance strategy session sponsored by “friends of google“.

As another example, Adam Jentleson, political writer and former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, writes: recent works The New York Times particularly criticized the fight against monopolies as a “niche issue.” He argued that there was a dichotomy between table issues and challenging corporate power, and that the focus should be on the former.

The belief that big technology, and big business more broadly, serves the Democratic Party has already been tested and turned out to be untrue.

When Trump was elected in 2016, one of the central pillars of Democratic resistance was to use big tech platforms as a counterbalance. If you remember, Google’s CEO also Participated in anti-Trump demonstration. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and pre-Elon Musk’s Twitter have been reprimanded for using technology that enables extremism, but Democrats are pushing for changes to regulation of algorithm design, liability rules, or Instead of moving aggressively to split, it focused on encouraging platforms on editorial policy.

The assumption was that they would be able to defeat Trump and Maga-ism and corral them into a set of “correct” editorial practices that would help limit the scope of his rhetoric in the short term. This is the context in which the “misinformation and disinformation” framework arose.

We use this phrase all the time, but it’s worth thinking about how strange it is. Misinformation can refer to inadvertent lies and disinformation can refer to intentional lies, but the term can also encompass information that is factually correct but misleading, such as information about Barack Obama. there is. claimed In 2022, “suppression of true information” will occur if such suppression is carried out for purposes such as “political gain” or “targeting people you don’t like.”

These new categories not only infuriated those caught up in broad and vague definitions, but also diverted Democratic attention away from issues of power. The misinformation/disinformation framework is partially compatible with partnering with big tech companies as an anti-fascist alliance. We, the science-based Democratic Party, will succeed in working with the world’s largest technology companies to protect America.

Eight years later, Democrats lost the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Major tech platforms are full of extremist content. Big tech companies should no longer look like allies. Not only is Mr. Musk fully entrenched at the top of the power table, right next to Mr. Trump, but the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon all reached out to Mr. Trump before the election. He probably took it seriously. his threat Mark Zuckerberg would go to jail if he opposed it, but he’s probably just recognizing that Trump is the titan of deregulation.

musk He is said to have participated in Recent phone conversation between President Trump and Google CEO. It is expected that dozens of such meetings at the highest level will occur and strong relationships will emerge. And instead of repeatedly claiming that the tech giants have too much power, we have spent eight years arming them with language they can use to suppress dissent.

repetition vote It turns out that voters actually hate corporate monopolies, and that antitrust politics is very popular. I don’t want to overstate this point – for 30 years, from 1980 to 2020, antitrust politics disappeared in America. It’s fair to argue that we can do more experimentation with how we talk about anti-monopoly policy, especially towards big tech companies. that. But we should be very concerned about its content.

Facebook, Google, and Amazon have destroyed local journalism, a real bulwark against authoritarian leaders, while coddling real dictatorships. They currently dominate the digital advertising industry. According to a recent study, if news organizations were paid the profits they made by acting as intermediaries between readers and writers, Expected to be delivered between $12 billion and $14 billion One year. The very journalists and news organizations we rely on for fact-checking and fact-checking fear being shadowbanned. Jeff Bezos’ fear of President Trump shows how it affects editorial content.

Thankfully, thanks to the work of the Department of Justice under Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Cantor, Google has been officially recognized by the courts as an illegal monopoly, and other antitrust cases involving Facebook and Amazon have The case is pending in court. But even if Google is forced to sell Chrome, which seems possible, it now seems grotesque that Democrats in power can’t bring serious tech-disruption legislation to a vote. He didn’t seem to be trying to stop the emerging power couple of Trump and tech.

As experts try to sort out the lessons of how Kamala Harris lost an election she looked like she could win, we look back further and remember the real lessons of 2016. That would be good. The idea is that to align with the big tech oligarchy is to align with the state. Democratic Party and the Destruction of Democracy.

Zephyr Teachout is a professor at Fordham Law School and author of Break ‘Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Resisting the Push for “Smart” Devices in My Home: A Tech Journalist’s Battle by Victoria Turk

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

TThis is one of the battles my husband and I have been fighting ever since we started living together. It’s about whether or not you want to include “smart” appliances in your home. An avid gadget fan, he happily connected all his household items to the internet so he could control them from his mobile phone. As a jaded technology journalist, I’m far too paranoid to have data-hungry surveillance machines around me.

So when I saw a recent article about a seemingly innocuous tool that apparently requires a little too much data, I felt somewhat vindicated. Consumer group “Which one?’ The company found that three of the air fryers it tested were connected to a phone app that requested permission to record audio. This is unlikely to be an important feature for an object whose sole purpose is to cook food. The device also wanted to know the exact location of the user.

To me, there’s no need to connect your air fryer, refrigerator, washing machine, or toaster to the internet, but I can see some merit to the concept. The main advantage of smart home appliances is that they can be controlled remotely. So you can finish a big load of laundry as soon as you get home from work, or check for missing groceries while you’re at the supermarket. However, many of these devices and the apps connected to them collect high levels of personal information with little transparency, despite regulations limiting the data they process.

All smart appliances need to collect some data in order to perform their promised functions. For example, voice activation services require audio access (obviously, some people want to talk to their light switches). However, devices often request more permissions than they actually need or use. Which are the most items? Reviewed also includes smart TVs, speakers, and watches
Connected to a third party tracker Data from your device can be monitored and used for various purposes such as marketing and advertising.

Many of us have a general feeling that technology is collecting more personal data than we are comfortable with. There’s a popular conspiracy theory that social media apps are spying on our private conversations, serving us ads, and secretly using our phones’ microphones to pick up on our consumer desires. I was talking to a friend about the tools I needed for a DIY project when I suddenly came across something. An ad for a power drill appears on your social feed.

“Consumer groups, which one?’ We found that the three air fryers we tested were connected to a phone app that requested permission to record audio.” Photo: Grace Carey/Getty Images

But if that sounds reassuring, all it really shows is that advertisers aren’t. need To listen to your private chatter in order to provide you with advertisements that are relevant to points that you find intrusive. They already have enough other data about you. And now it turns out that the innocent-looking appliance you bought to make dinner doesn’t respect personal boundaries either.

The problem is not just the possibility of eavesdropping. Smart devices can monitor us in all kinds of ways. A smart doorbell might monitor your coming and going from your home, and a fitness watch might track your location at all times. Even seemingly innocuous data collection can reveal more information than you expected. Robot vacuum cleaner can map and share the floor plan of your home. Connected sex toys can reveal your bedroom habits. Running the app could reveal the location of secret military bases. This also creates the possibility of abuse. Domestic abusers used
Smart doorbell, thermostat And even more
kids toys To stalk, surveil, and gaslight their victims.

As more and more things become “smart”, it becomes difficult to resist. My husband managed to sneak a color-changing light bulb into the house with an app, but I drew the line at Ring doorbell. I felt it was excessive to equip the door furniture with eyes and ears.

But in reality, you don’t have to completely avoid smart appliances just to protect your privacy. Despite my groaning, I actually like technology. We all want to use smart devices that make our lives easier without giving up a lot of personal data. In theory, regulations already cover this.
GDPR status What companies must do
be transparent about the data they collect, and
Limit data collection to what you need. But what is “required” is open to interpretation, and even if companies are honest about how they use data, how many people read the fine print when they’re just trying to set up an air fryer? Is it?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, plans to issue new guidance specifically for smart device manufacturers in spring 2025. Workshops with citizen juries earlier this year found that more people are learning about how smart devices handle personal information. They stopped trusting them. “The overwhelming feeling among participants was that IoT [Internet of Things] Products collect excessive and often unnecessary amounts of personal information.”
said
report We have prepared for the ICO.

This report includes a clearer privacy policy with bullet points and larger text, audio or visual signals that indicate a smart device is collecting information, and data not only during setup but also periodically over the life of the product. Some common sense solutions have been proposed, including collection reminders. Specific and prominent controls to opt-in or opt-out of having your personal data used for advertising.

It’s not exactly rocket science. The problem is that regulations are only effective if they are enforced. Editor, Harry Rose;
point out
to companies operating from other countries.

In the meantime, it might be a good time to check your phone’s settings to see what each app linked to your appliance can access. Or join the ranks of grumpy Luddites like me and think about how smart your kitchen appliances need to be.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Consultant on Trial for Cash App Founder’s Death Defends Himself as Trial Begins

Posted on October 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Nima Momeni’s lawyer asserted in his opening statement that the technology consultant accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee had no motive to kill him and was actually defensive during a multi-day drug raid, claiming he needed to defend himself from Mr. Lee on Monday.

Prosecutors claim that Momeni, 40, orchestrated the April 4, 2023 attack following an altercation over his sister, Hazard, who was acquainted with Lee. Allegedly, Momeni retrieved a knife from a special kit in his sister’s apartment, pursued Lee to a secluded area, stabbed him three times, and fled.

“He was stabbed in the heart and left for dead,” Assistant District Attorney Omid Tarai stated. “The victim sustained multiple stab wounds, including one to the chest, one to the lower back, and crucially one to the heart.”

Lee’s untimely death at 43, after seeking aid on a vacant street in downtown San Francisco, deeply impacted the tech sector, with colleagues remembering the charismatic entrepreneur’s benevolence and skill. At the time of his demise, Lee held the position of chief product officer at the cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin and was a father of two.

Judge Alexandra Gordon informed the jury that the highly anticipated trial, commencing Monday at the San Francisco Superior Court, is anticipated to span two months. Momeni, a resident near Emeryville, California, has been detained since his apprehension shortly after Lee’s passing in a San Francisco medical facility.

Momeni has pleaded not guilty, and if convicted, he faces a potential sentence of 26 years to life imprisonment.

Attorney Saam Zangeneh told the jury that Mr. Momeni harbored no animosity towards Mr. Lee and that the circumstances compelled him to safeguard himself after brandishing a knife while under the influence of drugs and sleep-deprived. Zangeneh indicated that the defense would substantiate his claims that Momeni had indulged in an extended narcotics binge.

“We believe that once the evidence is presented and any ambiguities resolved, the only justifiable verdict in this case is one of innocence,” Zangeneh declared. “A life has been lost. No one condones that, but the right to self-defense must be recognized.”

Throughout prior court appearances, Momeni, dressed in an orange prison garment, attended with his lawyer donned in a formal ensemble. His mother, a constant presence at hearings, was also in attendance.

Seated on the opposite side of the courtroom were Mr. Lee’s relatives, including his ex-wife, father, and brother. As a recording of Lee’s distress call played in court, Lee’s brother comforted their father. In the call, Lee implored for assistance while unable to provide his location or identity, conveying that he had been attacked.

Assistant District Attorney Tarai mentioned that the jury would hear testimony from a friend present with Lee and Momeni’s sister a day before the altercation. Tarai alleged that Momeni verbally attacked Lee over the phone that evening, discussing his sister, drugs, and inappropriate subjects, with Lee exhibiting composure. Tarai insinuated that the friend would portray Momeni as a possessive individual striving to display toughness.

Mr. Zangeneh dismissed the credibility of the friend as a witness and contended that Momeni and Lee had exchanged amicable emails on that evening. Zangeneh suggested that Lee probably invited Momeni to the club.

CCTV footage from Lee’s final night depicted his entry into the opulent Millennium Tower where Momeni’s sister and her spouse, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon, resided. The footage captured Lee and Momeni departing the premises around 2 a.m. and driving off together in Momeni’s vehicle.

Tarai noted another video depicting two individuals exiting a car at a remote location along the Bay Bridge, with Momeni stabbing Lee thrice and discarding a knife from his sister’s kitchen set moments later, followed by his escape. Tarai revealed intentions of unveiling text messages sent by Momeni to his sister, alleging a harassment claim the subsequent morning when Momeni expressed uncertainty regarding Lee’s fate but accused Lee of assaulting Hazard.

The defense cited a video capturing Momeni being surveilled by San Francisco police detectives pre-arrest, purportedly reenacting the stabbing outside his former law firm thrice. However, the defense noted a lack of reenactment concerning the initial knife confrontation as claimed by Momeni’s attorney.

A knife with a 10cm blade was recovered at the remote location where Lee was assaulted. Prosecutors asserted that forensic tests exhibited Momeni’s DNA on the weapon handle and Lee’s DNA on the blood-stained blade.

Zangeneh indicated on Monday that the police should have screened the steering wheel for Lee’s fingerprints. He derided the notion that Momeni employed a trivial kitchen knife to perpetrate the assault, emphasizing Momeni’s perceived unawareness of Lee’s dire condition.

He expressed Momeni’s desire to elucidate his perspective yet remained undecided on Momeni’s potential testimony for the defense.

Momeni and Lee’s families opted not to comment on Monday.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Throoples Dating App Feeld Sees Revenue Soar to £39.5m, Doubles Previous Year’s Earnings

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The alternative relationship dating app has experienced global expansion and nearly doubled its revenue last year, thanks to non-monogamous, queer, and kinky users.

Founded by an entrepreneurial couple in an open relationship, Feeld is “on a mission to elevate the human sexual and relationship experience” from its registered office in Carlisle, Cumbria.

Feeld has surged in popularity due to the increasing interest in non-traditional relationship structures like polyamory. Last year marked its first time filing full accounts with Companies House.

The company’s revenue increased from £20.7 million to £39.5 million, with profits rising from £2.4 million to £5.5 million in 2023.

Most revenue comes from outside the UK, with £33 million in sales from overseas. The app is free to download globally but charges users for full services.

Founded in 2014 by Dimo Trifonov and Ana Kirova, Feeld (formerly 3nder) arose from their openness about their relationship.

Ana Kirova is CEO of Feeld, a company founded by her partner Dimo Trifonov. Photo: Field

Kirova joined the company early on when it faced legal issues with Tinder. She became CEO in 2023 and led a rebranding and tech upgrade to resolve initial glitches.

Company filings show ownership shifts since Kirova’s appointment, with Trifonov transferring shares to her. Previously, Trifonov owned the majority of shares.

Feeld’s growth involves strategic decisions rather than aggressive expansion. The company values member feedback and aims to support their personal journeys.

The company’s innovative approach has set it apart in the dating app industry, reflecting changing trends and member response.

Feeld’s growth story includes overcoming challenges, like a lawsuit from Tinder, to expand its team from eight in 2016 to nearly 50 employees.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The arrest of Telegram CEO proves tech giants are not exempt from the law

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

ohOn August 24, when the Russian tech tycoon’s private jet landed at Le Bourget airport northeast of Paris, officers from the French judicial police were waiting for him. He was duly arrested and taken in for questioning. Four days later, he was indicted on 12 charges, including distribution of child exploitation material and complicity in drug trafficking, banned from leaving France, placed under “judicial supervision,” and required to report to the gendarmes twice a week until further notice.

The tycoon in question, Pavel Durov, is a tech entrepreneur who collects nationalities the way he collects airline miles. His Nationality Durov is French and was generously donated by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2021. Durov also appears to be a fitness fanatic with a strict daily routine: “After a recorded eight hours of sleep, Financial Times According to the report, “Without exception, he starts his days with 200 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and an ice bath. He doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke, eat sugar or meat, and takes time to meditate.” When he’s not engaged in these demanding activities, he’s also found time to be a sperm donor, father over 100 children, and rival Elon Musk as a free speech extremist.

Durov’s media profiles recall Churchill’s famous description of Russia as “an enigma wrapped in an enigma.” Durov left Russia after the Facebook clone he co-founded with his brother Nikolai in 2006 brought him into conflict with the Kremlin. He eventually emigrated to the United Arab Emirates, where he launched Telegram, a private social media platform that is as mysterious as its founder.

Telegram has around 950 million regular users. It is also a messaging system like WhatsApp, but allows groups up to 200,000 people, whereas WhatsApp has a limit of 1,024, so in that sense it is also a broadcasting system like X. One-to-one communication is only end-to-end encrypted if the user selects the “Secret Chat” option, but since many internet users do not change the default settings, in effect, According to one security expert“The vast majority of Telegram one-to-one conversations, and literally all group chats, are likely viewable on Telegram’s servers.”

Given that, it’s puzzling why there are so many bad actors on the platform. After all, rats generally hate sunlight. One critic says:“Telegram is the closest thing to a widespread dark web. Nearly a billion ordinary people are in contact with criminals, hackers, terrorists and child abusers. Despite the lack of technical security and privacy, the platform is a honeypot for people operating in the shadows.” And the reason they stay may be because Durov doesn’t believe in content moderation. In fact, he sometimes boasts about how lean he is running his operation. Like Musk, he doesn’t believe in expensive moderation teams. And it is believed that one of the reasons France prosecuted him is the way his company refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies investigating criminal activity on the platform.

Telegram’s finances are also shrouded in mystery. Financial Times A detailed look at the company’s 2023 business plan reveals a loss of $173 million for that year. The company’s business model is vague, consisting of basic advertising, subscriptions, and (wait for it!) Toncoin cryptocurrency. There was talk of an IPO before Durov’s arrest, but that now seems like a pipe dream.

But all this is just noise obscuring the landmark importance of Durov’s arrest in a broader context. For the past 30 years, the democratic world has been gloomy about two challenges posed by technology and its corporate-controlled world. The first is the immunity given to tech tycoons by Article 230 of the Constitution. The Communications Decency Act of 1996,This absolved them from responsibility for the content displayed on their ,platform.,The second concern was the conflict between local laws and ,global technology that transcends borders.

Now, just as Durov’s plane landed in Le Bourget, a U.S. district court judge Landmark ruling This signals that the free ride given to companies by Section 230 may be coming to an end. French law officials have also signaled to tech moguls that while they may think they rule the world, France controls its own airspace. That’s why Musk might have to think twice about flying over Europe in the future. Long live France!

What I’m Reading

Hold that thought
Those who think think A lovely, quirky essay by Joseph Epstein. London Review of Books On the art of difficult thinking.

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Authority
read The dangers of state powerA transcript of a wonderful interview that Yasha Maunk conducted with the late, great anthropologist James C. Scott.

Black Book
Roland Allen’s entertaining essays Moleskine Mania: How the Notebook Conquered the Digital Age of Walrus His eyes turn to the strange persistence of the black notebook.

Do you have an opinion on any issue raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of 250 words or less for consideration for publication, please email it to observer.letters@observer.co.uk

Source: www.theguardian.com

Top tech discounts for Black Friday 2024

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you’re looking to upgrade your home with some new tech gadgets, Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to do so. With a wide range of deals available, you’re bound to find some great discounts on everything from phones and laptops to electric scooters and smart home devices.

Keep an eye out for sales starting as early as November, with Black Friday falling on November 29th and Cyber Monday on December 2nd this year. Sales can start much earlier, so be sure to stay informed and bookmark this page for updates on the best tech deals.

When is Black Friday 2024?

This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th and Cyber Monday on December 2nd. Sales can start much earlier in November, so be sure to keep an eye out for deals throughout the month.

How to save money on Black Friday shopping in 2024

With so many promotions available, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Before the sale begins, make note of the prices of items you’re interested in to ensure you’re getting a true bargain. Bookmark this page to stay updated on the best deals throughout the month.

Signing up for retailer newsletters and using tools like Camel Camel Camel or Keeper for Amazon shopping can also give you an edge in securing the best deals.

Jump to:

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the UK

Amazon – Offers end at midnight on November 27th
ao – Save on games consoles, white goods, and more
Sonos – Upgrade your home sound system
Emma – Up to 65% off on mattresses
Very – Great deals for gamers
Currys – Up to 40% off mobile phones, TVs, and more
Robert Dyas – Discounts on vacuum cleaners, air fryers, and more
Carphone Warehouse – Savings on monthly plans
Argos – Deals on Lego, gadgets, and more
Jessop’s – Save on cameras

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the US

LG – Discounts on laptops, monitors, and more
Amazon – Tech deals for every room in your home
Breville – Deals for foodies
Samsung – Savings on smart TVs
Walmart – Discounts on audio and home appliances

Looking for speakers? Check out our top Sonos deals for Black Friday.

The best Black Friday tech deals in the UK for 2023

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G 128GB – £339 £269 (20% discount)

The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G (Awesome Silver) with 128GB storage and a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display is a powerful and stylish device perfect for capturing every moment with its 48MP triple camera.

This Android 13 smartphone offers 5G connectivity for fast speeds and an immersive experience, making it a great choice for tech enthusiasts.

buy now from Amazon (£244.00), AO (£269.00)

Amazon Fire Max 11 Tablet – £249.99 £134.99 (46% discount)

The Amazon Fire Max 11 Tablet boasts an 11-inch screen with 2.4 million pixels for incredible detail in movies and games, along with a powerful octa-core processor and 4GB of memory for responsive performance. It also features Alexa for smart home control and up to 14 hours of battery life.

buy now from Amazon (£134.99), Very (£134.99)

Ring Video Doorbell – £99.99 £49.99 (50% discount)

If you’re looking to enhance your home security, the Ring Video Doorbell is a great choice, allowing you to see and speak to visitors at your door. With a 50% discount, it’s a must-have smart home device for added convenience and security.

buy now from Amazon (£49.99), Ebay (£63.49)

T-fal Easyfry Classic 2in1 Air Fryer – £99.99 £49.00 (51% discount)

Exploring Tech Trends: From the TikTok Debate to Foldable Phones, We’ve Got Your Tech Questions Covered

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

aAfter three years, over 100 issues, two parental leaves, two AI summits and a cycle of cryptocurrency booms and busts, this will be my last newsletter. It also marks the end of 11 years at The Guardian. My first day was the launch of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 16 launches on September 9th. It’s been an eventful time.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been asking readers for questions and I’ve been bombarded with them. I apologize if I wasn’t able to answer all of your questions, but I’m so grateful to everyone who asked.

What was the most shocking thing you discovered in the TechScape study/report? – Alexandria Weber

In 2019, I received leaked internal TikTok moderation documents that revealed for the first time that the company had a written, global policy to enforce Chinese foreign policy on its platform. According to the leaks, the company censored videos that mentioned Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and the banned religious group Falun Gong.

TikTok argued that the document was outdated at the time and had been revoked several months ago, replaced with new, more locally sensitive guidelines. As a sign of the direction the company was heading, it was a good sign. But the leak remains grounds for concern to this day that the company may not be all that independent from the Chinese government.

Computer Scientist Ray Kurzweil He says that within 20 years, we will have the ability to replicate the human mind with a computer.including all memories, Their personalities and Consciousness. Do you think this claim is credible? – David

Kurzweil’s “singularity” has been around 20 years into the future for the past 30 years, so I don’t see much reason to attach much importance to his predicted date, but my bigger issue with his predictions is that the order has changed somewhat over the last few years.

The traditional singularity theory holds that computers will continue to get faster and faster until they are finally fast enough to mimic the brain, at which point uploading will become possible. This is because AI will continue to become more and more powerful, eventually AI Solving the problem of uploading human brains.

In that vision of the future, brain uploading will only be possible after a superintelligent AI has already been created and remade the world. That seems like an odd thing to focus on.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a U.S. Senate hearing. Photo: Brendan Smiarowski/AFP/Getty Images

Do you think Facebook and Google have peaked?and slowly but inevitably slide towards relative insignificance? – Bernie

Never say never. Companies are constantly reinventing themselves. Of course, the tech industry is the best example of this. Apple almost lost its leading position in the 1990s, but has since made a remarkable comeback, from the iMac to the iPhone. Meta and Google are both competing to assume leadership positions in AI, which could once again make them some of the most important companies on the planet.

But I agree with the premise of the question: excitement and attention around technology is shifting, and Google and Meta’s existing businesses are on the downside of that shift. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Search will continue to make money for the foreseeable future, but none of them are at the exciting forefront of their industries anymore.

And, of course, it’s hard not to peak when your company is the fourth or sixth largest in the world – there’s only so much room to “rise” further.

Where is the smartphone going from here? How can new smartphone models differentiate themselves from other models? – John Brown

The boring but true answer is that foldable phones will steadily fall in price and improve in quality until hardware design creativity suddenly blossoms again. Samsung has led the way with two approaches: the clamshell-style Flip, popular around the time of the Olympics, and the folio-style Fold. The screen technology is still not perfect—there’s a noticeable bump in the middle of the unfolded phone—and prices range from high to eye-wateringly expensive, but the devices are the only truly novel design the industry has seen in the past decade.

Then, in a year or two, Apple will release a foldable phone and everyone will know it exists.

The atmosphere surrounding technology seems to have changed dramatically over the last five years or so. There seems to be more anxiety about how technology will develop. Society is deteriorating, and few people are optimisticDo you think the industry can overcome it? – Ido Vock

I think the tech industry is in a very similar place to where the finance industry was 15 years ago. It will continue to attract smart, talented people because the work is interesting and the pay is good, but the atmosphere has clearly changed. I don’t think the industry can turn back the clock, but I wonder how much it needs to. Money solves a lot of problems, and it’s better to be rich than to be optimistic.

The real question for me is whether these changes in technology threaten to spill over into widespread skepticism about the whole notion of science and technology improving the world. I hope not. I remain fundamentally optimistic about human progress and think some of the upcoming breakthroughs in areas like health, green energy, and even space flight will be exciting.

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Photo: Nintendo

The Greatest Game of All Time (And Why It’s the Best) Soulsborne)? – Chris M

For those unfamiliar, Soulsborne games are a genre created by developer FromSoftware and its director Hidetaka Miyazaki, characterized by a punishing difficulty curve, an indirect narrative structure, and a tone that can be memorably summed up as “a goddamn little man snickering at you from behind a locked door.” I personally have a soft spot for the series’ Bloodborne, which released on PlayStation 4 in 2015, but I’ve just spent 50 hours playing the latest Soulsborne entry, Elden Ring, and it’s fantastic.

But the greatest game of all time is still The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Six years on from the release of the Switch and the console’s defining launch title, nothing has yet surpassed that game, not even its perfect sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. That said, Elden Ring is a great game for adults who feel embarrassed about playing an all-ages title, but it does have a bit of a goth Zelda about it.

If I continue any more I’ll have to co-brand my last newsletter with Pushing Buttons, so I’d like to stop here.

During the time you’ve worked in this role, what’s the best example of where technology has made a real, valuable, positive difference to the world? – Steve Parks

In my professional life, the answer is undoubtedly machine transcription. It’s not flashy, but being able to generate imperfect real-time transcripts from recorded interviews is truly transformative for reporting, speeding up the process of turning an idea into a published news story by hours.

More broadly, I think the rise of machine translation is a similar answer. These tools have improved slowly and steadily over the past 20 years, to the point where a significant portion of humanity is now able to communicate with one another in a basically intelligible way, in near real time. One of the most interesting consequences of this is that, at least in the short term, nothing has actually changed: language ability is still valuable, people still consume content primarily in their own language or that has been professionally translated, and online communities have not consolidated into one giant global conglomerate.

Maybe it will be. Or maybe this science fiction-turned-reality technology will continue to be useful mainly for making my holidays more comfortable and for reading funny Bluesky posts from Japan.

What’s next? Thank you to all 17 readers

After 11 years at The Guardian, I’m not jumping right into another job and will be taking six weeks off. In the meantime, you can keep in touch with me on these unconventional social networks: Blue Sky or Backlog; I don’t plan on returning to writing a weekly newsletter anytime soon, but I do plan to post occasional round-up articles if you’re interested in occasional updates on where I’ve posted articles. My dormant Substack.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many of you TechScape readers over the years, and thank you for reading, emailing, sharing your stories, and continuing to support me. I have some great writers who will be taking over for me.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Nvidia surpasses Wall Street’s expectations with big tech AI investments in Technology sector

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Nvidia, the chipmaker, revealed its latest financial statements on Wednesday, with revenue reaching $30.04 billion in the last three months. This is a significant increase of 122% compared to the previous year, indicating sustained growth in their artificial intelligence investments.

Despite analysts’ projections of $28.7 billion in sales, the company’s shares dropped more than 3% in after-hours trading.

Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, announced plans to ship a greater number of chips and hardware next year than in the company’s 31-year history during an earnings call.

Huang highlighted the importance of fast development due to the increasing complexity of their models. He stated that the company aims to lower costs while scaling AI models to unprecedented levels for the next industrial revolution.

Analysts, while optimistic about the results, acknowledged signs that Nvidia’s exceptional revenue growth might be slowing down. Major tech companies’ aggressive AI investments are driving demand for Nvidia chips, but these companies are also investing in their own silicon development.

The company informed customers about a delay in the launch of their next-generation AI chip, known as Blackwell. Early samples have already been sent to a limited number of customers. Despite this, the current graphics processing unit, Hopper, continues to sell well according to CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia reported record revenue with a 154% increase in data center revenue year over year, amounting to $26.3 billion, reflecting the demand for accelerated computing and generative AI in data centers globally.

Nvidia’s earnings results hold great significance on Wall Street, as the company accounts for 6% of the total value of the S&P 500 and is the third-largest company globally with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion.

Recent reports from major tech customers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google, show increased capital spending as they utilize Nvidia chips to develop and train their AI models.

The company’s earnings per share were $0.68, and they announced a $50 billion share repurchase. Profit is expected to rise to $15.1 billion, up from approximately $6.2 billion in the same period last year.

Ives, a Wedbush analyst, emphasized the importance of Nvidia’s earnings report on the stock market, estimating that every dollar spent on Nvidia’s GPU chips contributes $8 to $10 to profits across the tech sector.

The market’s focus on Nvidia’s performance stems from the belief that AI advancements will boost global productivity for years to come.

Comparisons to the Internet bubble of the late 1990s have emerged, with concerns that the AI boom might peak if Nvidia’s results disappoint investors.

Regulators are closely monitoring Nvidia, following an antitrust investigation launched by the Department of Justice after allegations from rival chipmakers. The investigation claims Nvidia is using its market power to monopolize markets and compel customers to continue buying its products.

Source: www.theguardian.com

In Search of Mavis Beacon: Uncovering the Enigmatic Black Tech Hero | Documentary Film

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

BBefore the era of thumb-typing emails and text messages, typing was a manual skill reserved for those who could type 40 words per minute in the ’80s. If you’re reluctant to attend an in-person class, you can opt for a software program like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for $50. This application was the Typing class at the Catholic high school I attended when the priests just introduced the use of computers.

Mavis Beacon, launched in 1987, gamified typing exercises and carefully tracked typing progress. The software featured an elegant black woman on the cover, but it would take years to realize the implications of using one’s image for corporate gain.

The documentary “Searching for Mavis Beacon” sheds light on this lesson and the filmmakers’ struggle with the irony of their pursuit. The filmmakers embarked on a quest to uncover the woman behind Mavis Beacon: Haitian-born model Renée L’Esperance.

The film delves into Beacon’s influence as a pioneer of “obedient female robot assistants” and the challenges faced in exposing her true identity. The narrative unfolds like a detective story, drawing parallels to contemporary online identity politics and queer culture.

The filmmakers uncover L’Esperance’s background working in a department store perfume department where she was paid to pose as Mavis Beacon. Despite legal battles with the software company, her impact remains profound.

The documentary explores themes of privacy, representation, and cultural appropriation while honoring L’Esperance’s legacy. It concludes with a hint at future projects to explore the lives of those who followed in Beacon’s footsteps.

Ultimately, the film serves as a heartfelt tribute to Mavis Beacon’s legacy and the complexities of her story. It aims to provoke thought and reflection on the intersection of race, gender, and technology in society.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Kamala Harris’ Silicon Valley connection: Exploring her tech ties in the 2024 US election

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

aAbout 700 well-heeled Democrats packed San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on Sunday to see Kamala Harris return to the city for the first time since launching her presidential campaign. The crowd at the fundraiser, where the cheapest tickets cost $3,300 and the highest was $500,000, included tech billionaires, corporate executives, and Silicon Valley venture capitalists who are quick to endorse Vice President Harris in her bid for the White House.

The event, which raised more than $12 million, was the latest in the Harris campaign’s outreach to tech Democrats and an extension of ties to Silicon Valley elites that go back more than a decade.

Harris, a former California attorney general and then senator, has extensive ties to some of the tech industry’s most influential figures and big donors. Her campaign has yet to release detailed policy positions on issues such as tech regulation, but tech executives speculate that her track record suggests she could take a more industry-friendly approach than Joe Biden.

Democrats from the tech industry who have promoted or donated to the Harris campaign include former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg; LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who attended the fundraiser in San Francisco; philanthropist Melinda French Gates; IAC Chairman Barry Diller; and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway. Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of Apple’s Steve Jobs, is a longtime friend of Harris’ and held a fundraiser for her at her home in 2013. Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings, who publicly called on the president to drop out after his disastrous debate performance, publicly endorsed Harris for the race. Donated $7 million It funded a pro-Harris super PACac within days of her becoming the presumptive nominee.

Some of these donors have come to Harris’ campaign with their own agendas. Most notably, Hoffman and Diller have called for the removal of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, whose agency has aggressively regulated big tech companies, angering the industry with lawsuits against companies like Microsoft and Amazon. (Hoffman sits on the Microsoft board of directors.) Targeted of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.

That Hoffman and Diller are donating heavily to Harris while also calling for the removal of Khan gives the appearance of billionaire donors trying to sway policy for their own benefit. Hoffman’s denial Harris claims Hoffman’s donations were made in exchange for influence. While she has not yet commented on the donations from Khan or her critics, her campaign hosted him at an organizing event in early August after his attacks on the FTC chairman.

Harris has received public pledges of support from big-name donors as well as hundreds of venture capitalists and technology industry insiders. “VCs For Kamala” website More than 800 signatures were collected from various companies. Bloomberg reported Tech4Kamala’s open letter has garnered more than 1,200 signatures, and the two groups are planning to hold an event later this month.

Trump battles Harris to build new relationships in Silicon Valley

Harris may have more vocal tech advocates than Biden, but the industry has also seen a shift toward conservatism and embrace of far-right ideology, and she faces a host of strong opponents. Last month in San Francisco, venture capitalists David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump that raised about $12 million, while Silicon Valley powerhouses Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced plans to make large donations to the former president.

Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, also ran his Ohio Senate campaign with roughly $15 million in contributions from tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who was briefly employed by Thiel’s venture capital firm in 2015. Before becoming a senator, Vance worked in Silicon Valley and was connected to a wide network of wealthy conservatives in the tech industry.

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has openly supported Trump while promoting attacks on Harris and the Democratic Party on his social media platform, X. Last month, Musk shared a deepfake parody video on the platform that showed manipulated footage of Harris saying, “I’m the ultimate diversity hire.” Musk’s Grok chatbot has also Spreading disinformation Harris drew condemnation from Democrats after suggesting she was ineligible to appear on the ballot in some states.

On Monday, Musk spoke with Trump in a more than two-hour interview in which he praised the president and did not refute a variety of falsehoods and baseless election conspiracy theories.

“The Trump campaign is run by self-centered rich people like Elon Musk and Trump himself who have betrayed the middle class and won’t be able to live stream in 2024,” Joseph Costello, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement after the interview.

California’s ties to big tech companies

Harris, who served as California’s attorney general and then senator from 2010 to 2020, served during a pivotal period in the rise of Silicon Valley’s largest social networks, including Facebook. Her record on tech legislation and litigation has been praised by regulatory and privacy advocates, but she has also been criticized for not trying to rein in companies that have accumulated monopolies.

Harris, as attorney general, had close ties to the industry, and had been close to Sandberg, who was Facebook’s COO, and had worked on the PR campaign for her memoir, “Lean In.” Sandberg made the maximum legal individual contribution to Sandberg’s 2016 Senate campaign, Emails obtained by HuffPostsent Harris a message two days after the election saying, “Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! We need your help now,” but Harris did not respond.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Giants’ Disregard for Democracy Seen in Resistance to Delivery Drones | by John Norton

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

vinegarFlip digital capitalists over and you find technological determinists: people who believe technology drives history. These individuals view themselves as agents of what Joseph Schumpeter famously called “creative destruction.” They take pleasure in “moving fast and breaking things,” a phrase once used by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, until their representatives convince them that this approach is not ideal, not only because it means taxpayers will bear the consequences.

Technological determinism is, in fact, an ideology that influences your thoughts even when you’re not consciously aware of it. It thrives on a narrative that argues: Technical necessity Whether we agree or not, this narrative suggests that new innovations will continue to emerge. LM Sacasas explains “Every claim of inevitability serves a purpose, and narratives of technological inevitability serve as a convenient shield for tech companies to achieve their desired outcomes, minimize opposition, and persuade consumers that they are embracing a future that may not be desirable but is deemed necessary.”

However, for this narrative of inevitability to resonate with the general public and result in widespread adoption of the technology, politicians must eventually endorse it as well. This scenario is currently observable with AI, although the long-term implications remain unclear. Yet, some indications are troubling, like the cringe-worthy video incidents involving Rishi Sunak’s fawning over the world’s wealthiest individual, Elon Musk, and Tony Blair’s recent heartfelt conversation aired on TV with Demis Hassabis, the well-known co-founder of Google DeepMind.

It’s refreshing to encounter an article that explores the clash between deterministic myths and democratic realities, as seen in “Resisting Technological Inevitability: Google Wing Delivery Drones and the Battle for Our Skies.” Noteworthy academic papers soon to be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, a reputable journal. Written by Anna Zenz from the University of Western Australia’s School of Law and Julia Powles from the Technology & Policy Lab, the paper recounts the narrative of how major tech firms attempted to dominate a new market with a promising technology – delivery drones – without considering the societal repercussions. It reflects how a proactive, resourceful, and determined public successfully thwarted this corporate agenda.

The company in question is Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet. Their objective is to develop delivery drones to facilitate the transportation of various goods, including emergency medical aid, creating a new commercial industry that enables broad access to the skies. This is evident in Australia, which hosts Google’s largest drone operation in terms of deliveries and customer outreach. It is endorsed by both state and federal governments, with the federal government taking the lead.

Zenz and Powles argue that by persuading Australian politicians to allow the testing of an Aerial Deliveroo-like service (under the guise of an “experimental” initiative), Google heavily relied on the myth of inevitability. Officials who already believed in the inevitability of delivery drones saw the potential benefits of embracing this trend and offered their support, either passively or actively. The company then leveraged the perception of inevitability to obtain “community acceptance,” manipulating the public into silence or passive tolerance by claiming that delivery drones were an inevitable progression.

One of the test sites for this project was Bonython, a Canberra suburb where the trial commenced in July 2018. However, the project faced immediate challenges. Numerous residents were perturbed and bewildered by the sudden appearance of drones in their neighborhood. They expressed outrage over the drones’ impact on their community, local wildlife, and the environment, citing issues like unplanned landings, dropped cargo, drones flying near traffic, and birds attacking and disrupting the drones.

While many communities might have simply grumbled and overlooked these issues, Bonython took a different approach. A group of proactive residents, including a retired aviation law expert, established a dedicated online presence, distributed newsletters, conducted door-to-door outreach, engaged with politicians, contacted media outlets, and submitted information requests to local authorities.

Their efforts paid off eventually. In August 2023, Wing quietly announced the termination of operations in the Canberra region. This decision not only marked the end of the project but also triggered a congressional inquiry into drone delivery systems, scrutinizing various aspects such as pilot training, economic implications, regulatory oversight, and environmental impacts of drone delivery. This investigation shed light on the blind acceptance of the myth of inevitability among public officials, prompting critical questions that regulators and governments should consistently pose when tech companies champion “innovation” and “progress.”

Echoing Marshall McLuhan’s sentiments in a different context, it’s crucial to acknowledge that “there is absolutely no inevitability if there is a willingness to reflect on unfolding events.” Public resistance against the myth of inevitability should always be encouraged.

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What I’m Reading

The Thinker’s Work
There are fascinating essays in New Statesman about John Gray’s exploration of Friedrich Hayek, one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic thinkers.

Turn the page
Feeling pessimistic? Check out what Henry Oliver has to say in this insightful essay.

A whole new world
Science fiction writer Karl Schroeder shares some provocative blog posts contemplating the future.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Big 7 tech companies are questioning the potential of the AI boom – What’s driving the doubt? | Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

It’s been a tough week for the Grand St. Seven, a group of technology stocks that have played a leading role in the U.S. stock market, buoyed by investor excitement about breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.

Last year, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, chipmaker Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and Elon Musk’s Tesla accounted for half of the S&P 500’s gains. But doubts about returns on AI investments, mixed quarterly earnings, investor attention shifting elsewhere and weak U.S. economic data have hurt the group over the past month.

Things came to a head this week when the shares of the seven companies entered a correction, with their combined share prices now down more than 10% from their peak on July 10.

Here we answer some questions about Seven and the AI boom.

Why did AI stocks fall?

First, there are concerns that the huge investments being made by Microsoft, Google and others in AI will pay off. These have been growing in recent months. Goldman Sachs analysts The memo was published In June, the Wall Street bank released a report titled “Gen AI: Too Much Spending, Too Little Reward?” which asked whether $1 trillion in investment in AI over the next few years “will ever pay off,” while an analysis by Sequoia Capital, an early investor in ChatGPT developer OpenAI, estimated that tech companies would need $600 billion in rewards to recoup their AI investments.

Gino said “The Magnificent Seven” is also hit by these concerns.

“There are clearly concerns about the return on the AI investments that they’re making,” he said, adding that big tech companies have “done a good job explaining” their AI strategies, at least in their most recent financial results.

Another factor at play is investor hope that the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, may cut interest rates as soon as next month. The prospect of lower borrowing costs has boosted investors’ support for companies that could benefit, such as small businesses, banks and real estate companies. This is an example of “sector rotation,” in which investors move money between different parts of the stock market.

Concerns about the Big 7 are affecting the S&P 500, given that a small number of tech stocks make up much of the index’s value.

“Given the growing concentration of this group within U.S. stocks, this will have broader implications,” said Henry Allen, macro strategist at Deutsche Bank AG.Concerns about a weakening U.S. economy also hit global stock markets on Friday.

What happened to tech stocks this week?

As of Friday morning, the seven stocks were down 11.8% from last month’s record highs, but had been dipping in and out of correction territory — a drop of 10% or more from a recent high — in recent weeks amid growing doubts.

Quarterly earnings this week were mixed. Microsoft’s cloud-computing division, which plays a key role in helping companies train and run AI models, reported weaker-than-expected growth. Amazon, the other cloud-computing giant, also disappointed, as growth in its cloud business was offset by increased spending on AI-related infrastructure like data centers and chips.

But shares of Meta, the owner of advertising-dependent Facebook and Instagram, rose on Thursday as the company’s strong revenue growth offset promises of heavy investment in AI. Apple’s sales also beat expectations on Thursday.

“Expectations for the so-called ‘great seven’ group have perhaps become too high,” Dan Coatsworth, an analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, said in a note this week. “These companies’ success puts them out of reach in the eyes of investors, and any shortfall in greatness leaves them open to harsh criticism.”

A general perception that tech stocks may be overvalued is also playing a role: “Valuations have reached 20-year highs and they needed to come down and take a pause to digest some of the gains of the past 18 months,” says Angelo Gino, a technology analyst at CFRA Research.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that hedge fund Elliott Management said in a note to investors that AI is “overvalued” and that Nvidia, which has been a big beneficiary of the AI boom, is in a “bubble.”

Can we expect to see further advances in AI over the next 12 months?

Further breakthroughs are almost certain, which may reassure investors. The biggest players in the field have a clear roadmap, with the next generation of frontier models already underway to train, and new records are being set almost every month. Last week, Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind announced that its system had set a new record at the International Mathematical Olympiad, a high school-level math competition. The announcement has observers wondering whether the company will be able to tackle long-unsolved problems in the near future.

The question for labs is whether these breakthroughs will generate enough revenue to cover the rapidly growing costs of achieving them: The cost of training cutting-edge AI has increased tenfold every year since the AI boom really began, raising questions about how even well-funded companies such as OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed startup behind ChatGPT, will cover those costs in the long run.

Is generative AI already benefiting the companies that use it?

In many companies, the most successful uses of generative AI (the term for AI tools that can create plausible text, voice, and images from simple prompts) have come from the bottom up: people who have effectively used tools like Microsoft’s Copilot or Anthropic’s Claude to figure out how to work more efficiently, or even eliminate time-consuming tasks from their day entirely. But at the enterprise level, clear success stories are few and far between. Whereas Nvidia got rich selling shovels in the gold rush, the best story from an AI user is Klarna, the buy now, pay later company, which announced in February that its OpenAI-powered assistant can: Resolved two-thirds of customer service requests In the first month.

Dario Maisto, a senior analyst at Forrester, said a lack of economically beneficial uses for generative AI is hindering investment.

“The challenge remains to translate this technology into real, tangible economic benefits,” he said.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Struggling to find the perfect gift for your teenager? Discover the top tech gifts for teens in 2024

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

When it comes to choosing gifts for teenagers, gift cards are often the go-to option. With new technology constantly emerging, it can be challenging to find products that are both worth buying and will be loved by your teen.

Our list features a variety of fantastic tech gifts for teenagers, from cutting-edge gadgets for amazing selfies to popular items that can transform a regular bedroom into the ultimate teen hideaway. These products cater to every budget and level of tech knowledge – you don’t have to be a tech expert to enjoy these innovative devices.

These tech gifts are truly inspiring.

If you know a teenager who’s into science, don’t miss out on these amazing science gifts for teens.

Best Tech Gifts for Teens

TP-Link Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Multi-Color Light Strip

Adding a color-changing LED light strip can instantly elevate a dull bedroom into a vibrant, multi-colored space. Perfect for adding a touch of excitement to a sleepover, gaming session, or just a relaxing night at home. This LED light strip may be one of the best tech gifts for teenagers.

Philips Hue Series Tapo is a well-known name in smart LED strips, and this version of Tapo is a great budget-friendly choice.

Setting up is easy – simply stick the strips on shelves, screens, or other bedroom furniture. The strips are five meters long and can be cut to any desired size. Use the Tapo app to select preset lighting moods, effects, and timers to automatically control the multicolored LEDs. It works over standard home Wi-Fi and is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.

For more gift ideas, check out our guide to the best sci-fi games.

Latest Philips Hue Lightstrip deals:

Tapo Light Strip Latest Deals:

Insta360 X3

At first glance, this small gadget may seem expensive, but its impressive features speak for themselves.

The Insta360 X3 features a 5.7K 360° camera with useful functions like image stabilization, horizon lock, and HDR mode. With the extended selfie stick, the camera intelligently edits your footage to provide a unique third-person perspective, almost like having your personal videographer.

Don’t miss out on the best instant cameras for more photo gift ideas.

While the camera captures the action in 360°, you have the freedom to choose the best angle for your video.

Additional features include:

8K quality 360° time lapse video
Automatically saves 15 or 30 seconds of footage before hitting the shutter button
Convenient automated editing and live 360° streaming allow viewers to see from every angle
Focus on a single person, animal, or moving object and keep it centered in the frame.
Waterproof up to 10m, extendable to 50m with a diving case (sold separately)

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Crosley Voyager Portable Turntable

A portable record player like the Crosley Voyager makes a fun and unique gift for teenagers. Music enthusiasts will appreciate having a stylish turntable in their room.

This turntable’s portability is a standout feature – easily pack it up and take your music with you to parties, vacations, and other gatherings.

Despite its vintage look, the turntable is equipped with modern features: Built-in stereo speakers and Bluetooth for streaming music from your phone, plus a headphone jack for private listening. The turntable also offers three speed settings for playing traditional records.

The Crosley Voyager is an affordable turntable option. If you’re unsure about it, explore our top record players currently available.

While you’re here, check out the best sunrise alarm clocks too.

Mini projector

A portable projector is a must-have for sleepovers or movie nights at home. Whether your teen has a TV in their room or not, this gadget will enhance their viewing experience with a projection size of up to 210 inches.

This is also perfect for PlayStation and Xbox enthusiasts.

While projectors can be pricey, this one offers a balance of affordability and quality. Highly rated by customers, it supports Full HD with 7500 lumens and allows you to choose your preferred projection size from 35 inches to 210 inches, from a distance of 3.7 feet from the wall.

Featuring built-in Hi-Fi speakers, it also has an audio-out port for connecting external speakers or headphones. Once set up, you can connect your phone, tablet, laptop, or gaming console to enjoy TV shows, movies, and photos (some devices may require an HDMI cable).

Explore our guide for the best projectors for your home for more options.

Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

There are few speakers that deliver both style and sound quality, but the Ultimate Ears Boom 3 manages to do just that. With its unique “unicorn” appearance, this speaker stands out from the crowd. It also boasts impressive technical specifications.

The Boom 3 is fully waterproof, allowing you to play music underwater for 30 minutes, and it floats to the surface when released, making pool parties even more enjoyable. Moreover, if your recipient or their friends own other Ultimate Ears speakers, you can link up to 150 of them to synchronize music in one location.

This speaker delivers 360° sound and is made with a highly elastic material used in motorcycle jackets and firefighting gear. Ultimate Ears has conducted over 25 durability tests, ensuring it can withstand even the most energetic users.

The rechargeable battery provides up to 15 hours of playtime on a full charge. Power Up Dock for a seamless charging experience. For speaker options, explore our selection of portable speakers, shower speakers, or noise-canceling headphones.

Auraglow LED USB Wall or Tabletop Word Clock

Looking for a great gift under £25? Consider this unique clock from Auraglow. Instead of traditional numbers, this clock displays the time in 5-minute intervals. LEDs light up the relevant letters on a black panel to indicate the time.

The clock comes with a USB cable for connecting to various power sources, and you can add an adapter for more flexibility. It can be wall-mounted with a hanging slot or propped up on a desk or shelf thanks to its flat base.

If black isn’t your style, the clock is also available in copper. Explore our guides for the best wireless phone chargers, power banks, portable chargers, and charging stations for more useful tech ideas.

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Apexel 10-in-1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit

For Instagrammers, photographers, or selfie enthusiasts, a smartphone lens attachment is an ideal choice if you want to enhance your phone’s camera capabilities without investing in a new camera. This set, with 10 different lens attachments stored in a convenient pouch, is compatible with most smartphones and tablets, including iPhone, Samsung, Huawei, and Sony models.

The kit includes macro, wide-angle, and telephoto lenses, along with fun accessories like a fisheye lens, a star filter, a kaleidoscope attachment, and even a polarizing filter to reduce glare and reflections for sunny days.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Wizz, a cybersecurity company, turns down $23 billion acquisition bid from Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company

Posted on July 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Cybersecurity company Wizz has turned down a $23bn (£18bn) takeover offer from Google’s parent Alphabet, making it the largest takeover bid ever for a tech company, and has opted for a stock market listing instead.

Alphabet had been in discussions with Wizz, a company established by graduates of Israel’s cyber-intelligence program, in an effort to catch up with competitors Microsoft and Amazon in the competitive cloud-services market.

Wiz provides a service that scans data on cloud storage platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure for potential security threats.

The New York-based startup, which is financially backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital and Thrive Capital, was last valued at $12 billion.

In an internal email to employees, the company expressed gratitude for the offer but decided to remain committed to its mission of building Wiz. CEO Assaf Rapaport outlined the company’s objectives of reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and going public.

Despite the tempting offer, the company’s trust in its skilled team reaffirmed their decision. The positive response from the market further reinforced their aim to create a platform that is loved by both security and development teams.

As of Tuesday morning, neither Wizz nor Google have released an official statement regarding the end of the acquisition negotiations.

There are concerns that the deal may face regulatory challenges as authorities seek to tighten their control over acquisitions involving major tech companies.

Last month, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to investigate leading players in the AI market, including Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia.

Established in 2020, Wizz was valued at $12 billion in a funding round in May, attracting investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive.

Wiz claims to have 40% of the Fortune 100 as clients and boasts an annual recurring revenue of $350 million.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Flipping Your Phone: Transform Your Unwanted Tech and Donate Your Dongle to Make a Connection

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Many of us have a collection, known as the Shame drawer, tucked away in our homes. This dusty cavern is filled with old phones, tablets, dongles, and various knick-knacks that were once cherished but are now obsolete. While it may seem difficult to part with these items, the reality is that they are unlikely to serve any purpose in the future.

By letting go of our outdated devices, especially those with the latest iOS updates, we can give them a new lease on life. This could make a significant impact if they are passed on to individuals who can benefit from them.

Vodafone’s Great British Tech Appeal is an organization that accepts donations of used mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. Explore how these donated devices are helping to bridge the digital divide.

Reduce, reuse…reconsider?

The amount of electronic waste generated by the rapid cycle of mobile technology is staggering, especially in the UK, which is among the top producers of e-waste per capita globally. As a result, many individuals in the UK lack access to smartphones, tablets, and laptops, exacerbating the digital divide.

It’s essential to consider donating devices to extend their life and help those in need. Each device donation can make a meaningful difference to individuals who are currently on the wrong side of the digital divide.

left behind

A significant percentage of households in the UK cannot afford or choose not to subscribe to telecommunications services, preventing them from accessing the internet. This lack of connectivity impacts various demographics, including children and families in need of support.

The Great British Tech Appeal aims to address these gaps by repurposing old devices for those who require them the most, such as refugees, individuals at risk, and children in care.

Push forward

Barnardo’s is a recipient of the Great British Tech Appeal, which aims to repurpose unused devices for charitable causes. The campaign has already made a positive impact by donating thousands of devices to various organizations.

Despite the progress made, there is still a vast number of discarded devices in UK households. It’s crucial to encourage people to donate their old gadgets to support those in need and reduce electronic waste.

Clearing the Past

Recycling old tech can seem intimidating due to varying regulations and disposal methods. Initiatives like Vodafone’s Great British Tech Appeal aim to simplify the process by providing guidance on how to donate devices and ensure they are properly handled.

By following recommended steps, such as factory resetting phones and removing personal data, individuals can contribute to a sustainable recycling process that benefits those in need.

Old Phone, New Start

Vodafone’s efforts to bridge the digital divide have had a significant impact on communities in need. By donating devices and providing connectivity, the organization has supported vulnerable individuals, including refugees and children in care, during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

These donations have facilitated vital communication between separated families and provided essential support to those facing adversity. By participating in the Great British Tech Appeal, individuals can contribute to transforming lives through technology.

Answering a call

Donating old devices to initiatives like the Great British Tech Appeal is not only rewarding but also impactful. By following a simple donation process, individuals can help close the digital divide and support those in need.

Vodafone’s commitment to providing free connectivity and devices to millions of people underscores the importance of ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age. By donating and participating in such campaigns, individuals can make a significant difference in bridging the digital gap.

Learn more here about Vodafone’s pledge to help millions bridge the digital divide.

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK tech startup secures £5m funding to eradicate hazardous mould in social housing

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

An innovative British startup focusing on technology to prevent cold and damp in rental homes has received new funding to expand its operations. This comes as landlords are now recognizing the importance of addressing mold issues in older social housing units.

Switchey has raised £5 million, with existing investors AXA IM Aults and Octopus Ventures each contributing. The company aims to use this funding, combined with a previous investment round of £6.5 million led by AXA, to install its technology in 1 million UK social housing units.

Switchey’s technology, utilized by over 130 social housing providers, monitors humidity, temperature, and pressure to prevent mold, lower heating costs, and enhance communication between tenants and landlords.

The quality of social housing has been under scrutiny following the tragic death of a two-year-old who succumbed to mold in his rented flat. Switchy’s CEO Tom Robbins stated that there is a growing demand for improved housing standards, prompting landlords to seek technology-driven solutions.

The company aims to address the disparity in access to cost-saving technology, particularly for those struggling with heating bills. Switchey’s equipment has already made a significant impact, helping families living in unsafe conditions due to damp and mold.

In addition to reducing heating costs and improving housing conditions, Switchey’s technology contributes to environmental sustainability. The company is part of initiatives like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to promote energy-efficient solutions.

Revenue at Switchey has doubled over the past three years, reaching £10 million in the last fiscal year. While focused on scalability, the company remains committed to its social and environmental mission.

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Edward Kieran, a partner at Octopus Ventures, highlighted Switchey’s focus on social housing and environmental impact. The company has achieved B Corp Status and counts AXA as its largest shareholder.

Founded in 2015 by Adam Hudakowski and Ian Napier, Switchey has connected 35,000 devices in homes to date. The company aims to reach a million homes over the next five to ten years as a tribute to Napier, who tragically took his own life in 2019 but played a crucial role in shaping the company’s vision.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Chinese tech company promises to combat online hate speech following knife attack

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Chinese internet companies have made a commitment to combat “extreme nationalism” online, specifically targeting anti-Japanese sentiment. This decision comes after a tragic incident in Suzhou, where a Chinese woman lost her life while trying to protect a Japanese mother and child.

The leading companies Tencent and NetEase have stated that they will actively investigate and ban users who promote hatred and incite conflict.

A spokesperson for Tencent, the operator of messaging app WeChat, mentioned that the incident in Jiangsu province has garnered significant public attention, with some internet users fueling tensions between China and Japan, leading to a surge in extreme nationalism.

Following the arrest of an unemployed man for the stabbing incident, which resulted in the death of the Chinese woman who intervened, there has been a mix of reactions online ranging from celebrating heroism to expressing nationalistic sentiments.

Social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin have highlighted the presence of extreme nationalistic and xenophobic content and are actively working to address these issues. This move marks a significant shift as such sentiments have been prevalent on China’s internet with minimal intervention.

In the wake of the Suzhou tragedy, online users have drawn parallels between xenophobic content online and real-world violence, emphasizing the need for regulation to prevent further incidents. Internet companies have reported removing a substantial amount of illegal content and taking action against violating posts.

Despite the efforts by internet companies, some individuals have criticized the crackdown on anti-Japan content, revealing differing perspectives within the online community. Chinese authorities have labeled the knife attack as an isolated event, in contrast to previous incidents involving foreigners.

Further research by Lin Zhihui

Source: www.theguardian.com

Uber and Lyft reach agreement to increase driver pay: a victory for major tech corporations

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

When the Minneapolis City Council announced agreements with Uber and Lyft last month to increase wages and enhance working conditions for drivers, who emerged as the winner?

On May 20, the city council revealed a compromise with ride-hailing companies: Uber and Lyft would adhere to an inflation-linked minimum wage aligning with Minnesota’s $15 hourly minimum wage post expenses. Although some lawmakers touted this as a 20% pay surge for drivers, the agreed rate was lower, surpassing nearly all proposals from the previous two years amidst a contentious battle involving Uber, Lyft, drivers, and lawmakers.

Key elements of the deal include the allowance for drivers to contest firings due to opaque algorithms, funding for a non-profit driver center for driver rights education, and a raised insurance coverage requirement to $1 million for ride-hailing drivers to address post-trip medical expenses and lost wages following an assault or accident.

However, since the deal remains a vital component of digital ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft can sustain operations and potentially reverse the compromise in the future.

Over the course of two years, ride-hailing driver groups engaged in protests, advocacy efforts, and negotiations with Uber as the companies threatened capital strikes and announced withdrawal from the state multiple times due to the bill, causing political strife for both entities.

By resorting to capital strikes, these companies narrow the scope of our political discourse while bolstering their own influence. The digital ride-hailing model perpetuates worsened working conditions for drivers through misclassification and algorithmic control, and the Minneapolis deal fails to address data transparency, constituting a significant setback according to expert Veena Duvall from the University of California, Irvine.

While the deal provides instant benefits for drivers by averting Uber and Lyft’s potential exit from the state, it falls short of addressing fundamental structural challenges within the on-demand labor model.

The on-demand labor model relies on maintaining an asymmetric power balance between companies, passengers, drivers, and cities, sidestepping issues of misclassification, data extraction, and algorithmic control.

Uber and Lyft exhibit adeptness in reducing arguments to superficial levels, deterring meaningful change and reform within the industry. Despite the evident need for intervention to improve drivers’ conditions, the omnipresent influence and evasion of billions in taxes by such companies underscore the challenge of enacting lasting reform.

Ultimately, the digital ride-hailing model remains fundamentally flawed, necessitating a comprehensive reevaluation of its impact on urban transport, working conditions, and financial practices, urging a departure from the prevailing exploitative dynamics in favor of sustainable alternatives.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Innocent: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Tech Mogul Mike Lynch’s Fortune

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

“This is a landmark day in Autonomy’s history,” Mike Lynch declared in a press release on August 18, 2011, as he announced the sale of his software company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.

June 6, 2024, will be an even more significant date for Lynch.

After nearly 13 tumultuous years and a drawn-out trial in the heart of Silicon Valley, Lynch, once known as the “British Bill Gates,” has been cleared of fraud charges. The verdict marks a stunning reversal of fortune for the entrepreneur.

Lynch said Thursday he was “overjoyed” at his acquittal. “The truth has finally prevailed,” his lawyers declared.

He is now due to return to Britain, but the fight to clear his name continues. HP nearly won a civil lawsuit against Lynch and another Autonomy head, Sushoban Hussain, in London two years ago. The company is seeking $4 billion in damages. Lynch had previously said he would appeal the decision.

By all accounts, the acquisition was a disaster. Just five weeks after it was announced, HP’s CEO, who had signed the deal, was fired. Lynch left Autonomy less than a year later. The lucrative acquisition briefly cemented Lynch’s reputation as Britain’s most successful tech mogul. Its real legacy was more than a decade of bitter legal battles.

In November 2012, HP’s new management wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8 billion, alleging “significant” accounting irregularities, disclosure deficiencies, and “plain misrepresentations” prior to the acquisition. After years of investigations and legal proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic, a US federal grand jury indicted Lynch on criminal charges in November 2018. After the civil proceedings were concluded, the UK agreed to Lynch’s extradition.

His legal troubles grew last year. Having nearly lost a British civil lawsuit, Lynch also lost an appeal against his extradition in the UK High Court. A few weeks later, he was on a plane to California.

The trial in San Francisco has been a tough test for Lynch, who has been fighting to avoid extradition to the U.S. to face more than a dozen fraud charges. Federal prosecutors have a horrific record of convictions, forcing Lynch’s defense team to adjust their defense ahead of the trial.

From the start of the saga, Lynch has maintained that Autonomy’s collapse was the result of mismanagement of valuable HP assets, not fraud, but rather the failure of HP to provide evidence to support that claim, but U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over the case, has barred Lynch’s lawyers from presenting evidence to support that claim.

Failing to focus on the post-acquisition situation, Lynch’s defense was based on three main arguments: first, that running a company like Autonomy is much more complicated than the prosecution would have the jury believe, second, that Lynch is a very different person to the person he has been portrayed to be, and third, that HP rushed to conduct its due diligence and close the deal.

One of Lynch’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten, declared on the first day of the trial that the government’s case was “black and white,” “and this trial is going to show that that’s not how the world works. The world works in shades of gray. The world is complicated.”

Life is “delicate and messy”, Lynch told the court, suggesting that his trial is effectively “like peering through the door to watch sausages being made. The thing you have to bear in mind is that if you take a microscope to a clean kitchen, you’re going to find germs. And I think Autonomy is no exception.”

Prosecutors tried to portray Lynch as an intimidating, ruthless businessman responsible for every aspect of the Autonomy empire. Jurors heard about the piranha tank in the atrium of the company’s headquarters and conference rooms named after James Bond villains.

Lynch said he found it “surreal” to hear government witnesses testify about many discussions and decisions he was unaware of. He said he delegated work that was outside his expertise and spent “about 30 percent” of his time at Autonomy in his later years spending time with his family and pursuing other hobbies.

“I believe the more you know about him, the better it is for us,” Weingarten told jurors before Lynch’s testimony.

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Prosecutors said Mr Lynch had “half a billion reasons” to commit the fraud – one for every pound he claimed to have made from HP’s acquisition of Autonomy – but Mr Lynch said the company wanted to remain independent.

Autonomy is one of the stars of London’s FTSE 100 stock index and is still in the process of acquiring itself. Lynch says he only started considering the idea after meeting with HP executives at a luxury home in the English countryside. It was the 64% premium on Autonomy’s shares that ultimately convinced the company to accept the deal.

Lynch argued that HP was determined to rapidly transform itself from a hardware maker into a software giant. press release It was only when it was released that the company announced it was buying his company, a process he recalled on the stand as “total chaos.”

Prosecutors argued that HP’s handling of the proceedings was irrelevant: They alleged that Lynch orchestrated a massive fraud over years and that Autonomy used a variety of accounting tricks to inflate sales growth.

But Lynch stressed that HP was “not at all” misled about Autonomy’s value. A California jury believed Lynch and dismissed the case, which the U.S. government had detailed, calling more than 30 witnesses.

Six years ago, a jury in the same court came to a different conclusion about one of Lynch’s closest business partners. Hussain, who served as Autonomy’s chief financial officer, was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud in connection with the deal in 2018. He was released from a U.S. prison in January after serving a five-year sentence.

Lynch, who was awarded an OBE at the height of his career and served as an adviser to the British prime minister, spent much of the year before his trial under effective house arrest, guarded around the clock by two armed guards, and the threat of more than 20 years in prison loomed large if convicted.

The businessman left court a free man on Thursday. “I look forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most – my family and innovating in my field,” he said.

Another important day.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Nvidia reveals cutting-edge AI technology at Taiwan Tech Expo

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to the CEO of the AI hardware company, the next industrial revolution has already begun. The announcement was made at a crowded stadium in Taipei on Sunday by Nvidia, as they revealed new products and plans to drive advancements in artificial intelligence.

Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, is currently attending Computex, Taiwan’s largest technology exhibition, alongside CEOs from major semiconductor companies such as AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm. The focus of the event is on establishing AI as a mainstream technology in the industry.

Having been born in Taiwan, Huang is a prominent figure on the island, and his presence has generated significant interest from the media and the public. Nvidia is recognized as the leader in specialized chips and hardware essential for the development and operation of cutting-edge AI systems.

During his address at the National Taiwan University’s Sports Center, Huang mentioned the collaboration between companies and countries with Nvidia to revamp their traditional data centers into high-speed computing facilities, focusing on creating an AI factory for the mass production of artificial intelligence.

He introduced the Nvidia ACE generation AI, which can generate lifelike human avatars for industries like customer support. Several top technology companies, including Foxconn and Siemens, are leveraging Nvidia’s platform to develop AI-driven autonomous robots.

Nvidia recently unveiled its Blackwell platform, and Huang disclosed plans to launch an “Ultra” version in 2025. He also provided a glimpse of their upcoming graphics processing unit architecture, codenamed Rubin. Huang emphasized Nvidia’s commitment to accelerating the release of new GPU products annually.

In his forward-looking speech, Huang predicted that generative AI would play a significant role in almost every interaction with the internet or computers in the future. He concluded by praising Taiwan’s advanced semiconductor industry, which plays a crucial role in manufacturing essential components for various technologies.

Keynote addresses at Computex are also expected from AMD’s Lisa Su and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, outlining their companies’ plans in AI. Other speakers include Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger and Arm’s president Rene Haas, highlighting the significance of AI-accelerated technologies.

Taiwanese manufacturers are pivotal to technology companies’ AI strategies as they produce advanced semiconductors required for powerful AI applications. Foxconn, known for electronics production, has shifted towards AI hardware, with their CEO projecting substantial growth in the AI server market.

Despite Taiwan’s crucial role in the global supply chain, there are concerns over China’s territorial claims and potential use of force. Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have escalated, with China conducting military exercises near Taiwan, including simulated blockades.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Alphabet Embraces Rare AI Opportunity as Revenue Rises

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Shares of Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube, surged following the company’s announcement of its inaugural dividend and a substantial increase in profits for the last quarter.

CEO Sundar Pichai lauded the shift to artificial intelligence as a rare opportunity and emphasized the company’s swift adoption of technology across all sectors.

Investors were pleased with the company’s financial results and the news of a $70 billion share repurchase.

Google’s Q1 2024 revenue reached $80.5 billion, with earnings per share ranging from $1.17 to $1.89, marking a 15% year-over-year increase, surpassing analysts’ expectations on both fronts.

Alphabet’s shares climbed approximately 15% in after-hours trading. An initial dividend of $0.20 per share was declared, with payments scheduled quarterly.

“Our first quarter results reflect strong performance in search, YouTube, and cloud services. We are propelling into the Gemini era with significant momentum across the organization,” Pichai stated in a press release.

Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat noted that revenue from Google Search ads and Google Cloud contributed to overall positive growth. Revenue from YouTube and Google Cloud surpassed Wall Street’s estimates, with Cloud’s operating profit quadrupling to $900 million. Despite a 10% increase in traffic acquisition costs, Alphabet saw strong financial performance.

Analyst Nikhil Rai from Forrester Research commented on Alphabet’s exceptional quarter driven by robust search and YouTube advertising revenue, though challenges remain in monetizing conversational search and measuring branded media impact.

Recent internal and external controversies have disrupted Google’s operations, with financial results coinciding with employee protests, antitrust concerns, and the delayed rollout of the Gemini AI tool.

Google’s stock price has continued to climb despite ongoing legal battles and internal turmoil, positioning the company for potential growth pending the outcome of key antitrust proceedings.

Despite setbacks related to Gemini AI and controversies surrounding business contracts, Google remains resilient in the face of challenges and is actively reshaping its operations in response to market dynamics.

Source: www.theguardian.com

No WhatsApp in China, No TikTok in the US, and the Return of the Llama: A Tech Update

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

aOne day, a new issue arose in Apple’s App Store. This time, the company complied with the Chinese government’s orders to remove WhatsApp and Threads, two of the last meta apps available in China.

From our story:

Apple has removed two apps, both owned by Meta, which also owns Facebook, following the instructions of the Cyberspace Administration of China, which oversees internet and online content censorship in China.

“The Cyberspace Administration of China has mandated the removal of these apps from Chinese app stores due to national security concerns,” Apple stated in an email to Reuters. “We are required to comply with the laws of the countries where we operate, even if we do not agree with them.”

It’s implied that Apple disagrees with this order, considering the last part of that statement. It’s unlikely that the company is pleased to bow down to significant censorship, even if it means removing a competitor’s app.

Notably, Apple did not repeat its strategy in the European Union this time. The company did not release a 12-page report detailing the forced changes and the potential negative impact on the Apple customer experience or regulatory goals. Apple did not take a confrontational approach, nor did it express disagreement with regulators’ interpretations of the law and pledge to challenge them in court.

While it might be unrealistic to expect Apple to challenge the Chinese government in court, the contrast is evident. Apple’s response to dictatorial orders regarding the App Store is brief compared to its response to democratic trade unions’ demands.

This comparison does not favor the European Union. Advocates for digital market regulations would hesitate to equate Apple’s treatment by the Chinese Communist Party with any other government. Yet, it’s a necessary observation. Apple faces little resistance when complying with the Chinese government, which is not the scenario one would desire.

TikTok’s Time is Up

'Foreign enemy'… TikTok could be shut down in the US. Photo: Dado Lubitsch/Reuters

China is not the only government imposing bans. According to the Guardian:

The House passed the latest measure to sell or ban with a vote of 360-58. [TikTok] This legislation could result in the first social media platform shutdown by the U.S. government.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week, with President Joe Biden indicating his intention to sign it.

While I am not a member of Congress, the bill itself appears flawed. To avoid appearing as a targeting act (a bill aimed at individuals and typically disliked in the US legal tradition), the bill avoids singling out TikTok and instead targets “managed” platforms. The determination of what constitutes an “adversary” as a national security threat is left to the president’s discretion. This broad definition grants significant power to ban entities, especially considering the vague criteria for being “controlled” by a state. The term “foreign enemy” is further defined by other laws, now including Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea.

However, these legal nuances are not the focus here. What interests me is the impact of a TikTok ban in the US. The dominance of U.S.-based platforms on the English-speaking internet is evident. Despite geographic variations in platform popularity, American influence is pervasive.

It seems improbable that TikTok will vanish entirely due to a ban. The platform’s dedicated users may find ways to continue using it, whether through workarounds, web apps, or persistence. Nevertheless, the ban may prompt less committed users to migrate to alternative platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts, which have capitalized on TikTok’s restrictions in other markets, notably India.

In the short term, the TikTok experience is bound to deteriorate for all users, regardless of their location. The removal of desired content and delays in reposting may erode the platform’s appeal. However, the long-term consequences fascinate me. Will other English-speaking nations follow the U.S.’s lead in abandoning TikTok? Or does TikTok’s culture reflect a unique global perspective that diverges from mainstream internet trends? Are there discernible differences emerging?

My prediction leans toward a resolution through negotiations, lobbying, or activism rather than a ban enforced indefinitely. Nevertheless, if all efforts fail, witnessing the outcome of this experiment will be intriguing.

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Fugitive Llama 3

Three real llamas running free in Russia. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

AI’s second phase has begun. The scaled-down version of Facebook’s large language model, Llama 3, has been unveiled, likely for the final time this year. From our report:

The social media titan has enhanced Llama 3 with new coding capabilities, including image delivery in addition to text, although the current model only produces text, according to Chris Cox, Meta’s chief product officer, in an interview.

Further advanced features, such as long-term planning capacity, are expected in future versions. An upcoming iteration will also support “multimodality,” generating both text and images..

Llama is Facebook’s proprietary counterpart to GPT, Gemini, and Claude. Unlike these competitors, Llama is available under a relatively open license, enabling users to download the core model. If building your own AI system, particularly for local use over server reliance, is desired, Llama serves as a solid foundation.

The accidental public release of the initial Llama version was followed by an official second version. Facebook clearly benefits from this move. Developing fundamental technology driving the AI revolution could offer substantial advantages. While Llama allows for expansion, it retains certain restrictions, preventing complete replication and removal from Facebook. Importantly, without access to the original training data and method specifics, repeating the initial training run is unfeasible without significant computing resources.

However, the drawbacks are evident. Facebook profits from platform usage, not AI model training directly. This lack of direct financial incentive has hindered efforts to stay at the forefront, resulting in Llama trailing behind its competitors historically.

Nevertheless, the current landscape is different. Despite over a year of development, the free-licensed model from Facebook is now competitive with GPT4, possibly even surpassing it, with larger versions anticipated soon. Of course, progress in the industry is rapid, as evidenced by OpenAI’s anticipated GPT-5 release, expected to reshape the field once again.

Broader Tech Landscape

Next Level…Why the Game Boy still means so much to so many people 35 years later. Photo: Nintendo

35 years have passed since the Game Boy‘s release. Keza MacDonald explores the enduring impact of this iconic console that introduced gaming to millions and continues to influence the industry today.
Elon Musk is embroiled in a dispute with the Australian government over restrictions on sharing footage of a church stabbing in Sydney. This has led to a series of mundane memes targeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
In the Guardian US Wellness section, Madeline Ageler discusses the transformative power of disconnecting from social media.
The legalization of sports betting in the U.S. has led to an addiction crisis, with technology playing a significant role in exacerbating the issue.
The Internet Watch Foundation uncovered a manual on the dark web detailing the use of AI to “undress” children’s images, highlighting the challenges in combatting such illicit activities.
Meanwhile, in the New Statesman (£), Swedish author Catherine Kieros-Marsal argues convincingly that the real issue with AI lies in its control by men.

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK watchdog may thwart big tech companies’ ambitions for AI dominance.

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

“MMonopoly is Silicon Valley’s answer to Darth Vader and is “a condition of all successful business,” said Peter Thiel. This aspiration is widely shared by Valley giant Gamman, his new acronym for Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia. And with the advent of AI, each one’s desire to reach that blessed state before others gets there is even greater.

One sign of their anxiety is that they are spending insane amounts of money on the 70-odd generative AI startups that have proliferated since it became clear that AI was going to be the new thing. Microsoft, for example, reportedly spent $13bn (about £10.4bn) on OpenAI, while leading a $1.3bn funding round for DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleiman’s startup Inflection. He was also an investor. Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic, a startup founded by refugees from OpenAI. Google invested $500 million in the same business, he pledged an additional $1.5 billion, and he invested an unknown amount in A121 Labs and Hugging Face.
(Yes, I know the name doesn’t mean anything.) Microsoft also invested in his French AI startup, Mistral. and so on. In 2023, only $9 billion of the $27 billion invested in AI startups was invested. From a venture capitalist company –Until recently, the company was by far the largest funder of emerging technology companies in Silicon Valley.

what’s happening? After all, the big tech companies have their own “fundamental” AI models and don’t need what smaller companies have built or are building. And every penny drops. We’ve seen this strategy before. An existing company discovers and captures potential competitors at an early stage. For example, Google acquired YouTube in his 2006. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 when it had only 13 employees, and WhatsApp in 2014 (for $19 billion, which seemed an exorbitant amount at the time).

With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, we now see that these were all anti-competitive acquisitions that should have been resisted at the time and were not. That’s why it’s so refreshing to know that at least one regulator, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), seems determined to learn from its history.

in Speech given at a gathering of American antitrust lawyers Just over a week ago in Washington, CMA CEO Sara Cardel called for ensuring the market for fundamental AI models is supported by fair, open and effective competition and strong consumer protections. announced that he had decided to do so. Her concern is that the growing presence of a few large incumbents across the AI value chain (the series of steps required to turn inputs into usable outputs) will undermine competition and limit companies’ options. This meant that there was a possibility that these markets could be formed in a way that degraded quality. and consumers.

She cited three major risks to competition. One is that companies that control critical inputs for developing the underlying model may restrict access to protect themselves from competition. Powerful incumbents may exploit their positions in consumer and business markets to limit competition in model deployment and thereby distort choice. And we believe that partnerships between key players have the potential to strengthen or expand existing market power across the value chain.

He also said the CMA would take action to assess and mitigate competition risks from new technologies through its formidable investigatory powers, including merger control reviews, market investigations and possible designations under new digital competition laws. I warned you.

It was truly amazing to hear a major regulator speak like this about the technology industry. Cardel said the CMA will be a technology industry that believes in being proactive and (as is often said) moving quickly to break things, rather than waiting for problems to arise before acting. He suggested that he would try to stay ahead of the big players rather than lag behind them. He said the CMA is already preparing for this task based on what it has learned so far from adapting to technology platforms. Rather than focusing only on individual parts of the chain, the value of AI model deploymenthe aims to look at the entire chain holistically. It also plans to use its merger review powers more aggressively to assess the impact of alliances and AI investments on competition.

Isn’t that exciting? But in some ways it is no surprise as it is one of the few British institutions that seems able to use the post-Brexit freedoms as an opportunity for creativity and innovation. And bigwigs who are tempted to dismiss Cardel’s speech as mere fiery rhetoric should reflect on the CMA’s recent track record. A thorough investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, for example; or how Meta forced the sale of Giphy, an online database and search engine that allows users to find and share animated GIF files. Cardel may be lower profile than her U.S. FTC counterpart Lina Khan, but it’s clear she means business. People with strong possessiveness should be careful.

Source: www.theguardian.com

U.S. states and big tech companies clash over online child safety bills: Battle lines drawn

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

○On April 6, Maryland passed the first “Kids Code” bill in the US. The bill is designed to protect children from predatory data collection and harmful design features by tech companies. Vermont’s final public hearing on the Kids Code bill took place on April 11th. This bill is part of a series of proposals to address the lack of federal regulations protecting minors online, making state legislatures a battleground. Some Silicon Valley tech companies are concerned that these restrictions could impact business and free speech.

These measures, known as the Age-Appropriate Design Code or Kids Code bill, require enhanced data protection for underage online users and a complete ban on social media for certain age groups. The bill unanimously passed both the Maryland House and Senate.

Nine states, including Maryland, Vermont, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Nevada, have introduced bills to improve online safety for children. Minnesota’s bill advanced through a House committee in February.

During public hearings, lawmakers in various states accused tech company lobbyists of deception. Maryland’s bill faced opposition from tech companies who spent $250,000 lobbying against it without success.

Carl Szabo, from the tech industry group NetChoice, testified before the Maryland state Senate as a concerned parent. Lawmakers questioned his ties to the industry during the hearing.

Tech giants have been lobbying in multiple states to pass online safety laws. In Maryland, these companies spent over $243,000 in lobbying fees in 2023. Google, Amazon, and Apple were among the top spenders according to state disclosures.

The bill mandates tech companies to implement measures safeguarding children’s online experiences and assess the privacy implications of their data practices. Companies must also provide clear privacy settings and tools to help children and parents navigate online privacy rights and concerns.

Critics are concerned that the methods used by tech companies to determine children’s ages could lead to privacy violations.

Supporters argue that social media companies should not require identification uploads from users who already have their age information. NetChoice suggests digital literacy education and safety measures as alternatives.

During a discussion on child safety legislation, a NetChoice director emphasized parental control over regulation, citing low adoption rates of parental monitoring tools on platforms like Snapchat and Discord.

NetChoice has proposed bipartisan legislation to enhance child safety online, emphasizing police resources for combating child exploitation. Critics argue that tech companies should be more proactive in ensuring child safety instead of relying solely on parents and children.

Opposition from tech companies has been significant in all state bills, with representatives accused of hiding their affiliations during public hearings on child safety legislation.

State bills are being revised based on lessons learned from California, where similar legislation faced legal challenges and opposition from companies like NetChoice. While some tech companies emphasize parental control and education, critics argue for more accountability from these companies in ensuring child safety online.

Recent scrutiny of Meta products for their negative impact on children’s well-being has raised concerns about the company’s role in online safety. Some industry experts believe that tech companies like Meta should be more transparent and proactive in protecting children online.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Learn about five pioneering women making waves in the tech industry

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Gender gaps within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) still persist despite significant advancements. Women continue to be underrepresented, with only 29.2% of STEM employees being women compared to nearly 50% in non-STEM occupations, as reported in the Global Gender Gap Report (2023).

However, the urgent need to address goes beyond just getting women into STEM. A recent study at UCL revealed that female she-STEM students are twice as likely to have experienced sex discrimination compared to non-STEM students.

With advancements in hackers and digital technologies, the demand for cybersecurity professionals is on the rise to combat digital threats. The global cybersecurity market is projected to reach $424.97 billion by 2030, highlighting the importance of closing the gender gap to address this deficit.

Throughout history, women in STEM fields have overcome barriers, but there is still a long way to go. Here are five remarkable women who have significantly contributed to STEM:

5 women who advanced STEM

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)
Dame Stephanie Shirley “Steve” (1933-present)
Michelle Zatlin (1979-present)
Elizabeth Coulon (1994-present)

Ada Loveless

Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) British mathematician and writer. – (Photo courtesy of Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Ada Lovelace, a prominent figure in computer engineering, was ahead of her time. She envisioned a steam-powered flying machine at 12 and played a significant role in Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, laying the foundation for modern computing.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician, played a crucial role in NASA’s early missions, including Glenn’s orbit in 1962 and the Apollo 13 mission. Her calculations contributed to landing humans on the moon and creating a flight plan for crew safety.

Mrs. Stephanie Shirley

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley has been appointed a Member of the Order of the Brotherhood by the Duke of Cambridge. – Photo credit: John Stillwell – WPA Pool / Getty Images

Stephanie Shirley, a work-from-home pioneer, founded Freelance Programmers and overcame industry obstacles through her innovative approach, paving the way for equal labor rights. She also founded Autistica, a charity dedicated to autism research.

Michelle Zatlin

Michelle Zatlin, a technology pioneer, co-founded Cloudflare, a cybersecurity company that prevents cyberattacks and safeguards internet traffic. Cloudflare’s projects, such as “Athenian” and “Project Cyber Safe Schools,” focus on election integrity and cybersecurity in schools.

Elizabeth Coulombe

Elizabeth Coulombe, the CEO of Tero, developed a device that recycles food waste into organic fertilizer in hours, addressing global food waste issues. Her innovation has prevented significant waste from reaching landfills, contributing to environmental sustainability.

Women have played pivotal roles in shaping a better world, from cybersecurity to environmental sustainability, demonstrating their impact and contributions to solving pressing global issues.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

High-tech revenue: bits rake it up, atoms face uncertainty

Is AI taking jobs?

Sam Altman’s Rollback and Debut

Doge Days

If you only read two more Elon Musk stories this week, check these out

Broader Technology Landscape

Anxiety about the increase in Redmond

From Viva to IRL

Reporting Microsoft’s role in Gaza Roil employee discussion

The advantage of American AI?

AI philosophy and corporate governance are on the stage

What I’m Reading

When is Black Friday 2024?

How to save money on Black Friday shopping in 2024

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the UK

Where to find Black Friday tech deals in the US

The best Black Friday tech deals in the UK for 2023

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G 128GB – £339 £269 (20% discount)

Amazon Fire Max 11 Tablet – £249.99 £134.99 (46% discount)

Ring Video Doorbell – £99.99 £49.99 (50% discount)

T-fal Easyfry Classic 2in1 Air Fryer – £99.99 £49.00 (51% discount)

Amazon Fire TV 43″ 4 Series 4K UHD Smart TV – £429.99 £299.99 (30% discount)

Sony WH-1000XM4 Noise Cancelling Headphones – £249.00 £197.99 (20% discount)

JLAB AUDIO Go Air Sport Wireless Bluetooth Earphones – £29.99 £24.00 (20% discount)

Metaquest 2 VR Headset – £299.99 £249.99 (16% discount)

BREVILLE Barista Max Coffee Machine – £449.00 £299.00 (34% discount)

Samsung 50-inch Q80C 4K QLED HDR Smart TV (2023) – £799.00 £699 (12% discount)

Trump battles Harris to build new relationships in Silicon Valley

California’s ties to big tech companies

What I’m Reading

Why did AI stocks fall?

What happened to tech stocks this week?

Can we expect to see further advances in AI over the next 12 months?

Is generative AI already benefiting the companies that use it?

Best Tech Gifts for Teens

TP-Link Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Multi-Color Light Strip

Insta360 X3

Crosley Voyager Portable Turntable

Mini projector

Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

Auraglow LED USB Wall or Tabletop Word Clock

Apexel 10-in-1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit

Reduce, reuse…reconsider?

left behind

Push forward

Clearing the Past

Old Phone, New Start

Answering a call

TikTok’s Time is Up

Fugitive Llama 3

Broader Tech Landscape

5 women who advanced STEM

Ada Loveless

Katherine Johnson

Mrs. Stephanie Shirley

Michelle Zatlin

Elizabeth Coulombe