Pinboard (leolaporte)
https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/public/
recent bookmarks from leolaporteMIT Claims Superconducting Breakthrough Means Fusion Power Can Be Practical2024-03-10T19:27:07+00:00
https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-magnets-ready-fusion
leolaporteMore than two years since MIT claimed its scientists achieved a breakthrough in fusion energy, the university is claiming that new research "confirms" that the magnet-based design used in those tests isn't just impressive in a lab setting, but is practical and economically viable, too.
These findings come from a comprehensive report which features six separate studies published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity this month, assessing the feasibility of the...]]>970 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:60b3d829cfe0/Dozens of Top Scientists Sign Effort to Prevent A.I. Bioweapons - The New York Times2024-03-10T17:33:45+00:00
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/technology/biologists-ai-agreement-bioweapons.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bU0.Li-a.cCjeJENTzE8T&smid=url-share
leolaporteDario Amodei, chief executive of the high-profile A.I. start-up Anthropic, told Congress last year that new A.I. technology could soon help unskilled but malevolent people create large-scale biological attacks, such as the release of viruses or toxic substances that cause widespread disease and death.
Senators from both parties were alarmed, while A.I. researchers in industry and academia debated how serious the threat might be.
Now, over 90 biologists and other scientists who spec...]]>twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:ba8785bcf5a3/Uber and Lyft Are Using More Ads on Their Apps. Not All Customers Like It. - WSJ2024-03-10T17:33:06+00:00
https://www.wsj.com/tech/uber-lyft-instacart-app-ads-users-97b096e2?st=09s6v2dxwk1os75
leolaporteGet ready for more ads when ordering a ride or food. The battle for your eyeballs is the latest front in the ride-booking and delivery wars.
Promotions are increasingly popping up on the Uber UBER -0.89%decrease; red down pointing triangle Eats app, tablets inside Lyft LYFT 1.44%increase; green up pointing triangle vehicles and Instacart-sponsored smart shopping carts.
The companies are leaning into the higher margins of advertising as the push to become profitable has intensified....]]>970 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:a5fef42799a3/Palantir wins US Army contract for battlefield AI • The Register2024-03-10T17:32:23+00:00
https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/08/palantir_wins_us_army_contract/
leolaportePalantir has won a US Army contract worth $178.4 million to house a battlefield intelligence system inside a big truck.
In what purports to be the Army's first AI-defined vehicle, Palantir will provide systems for the TITAN "ground station," which is designed to access space, high altitude, aerial, and terrestrial sensors to "provide actionable targeting information for enhanced mission command and long range precision fires", according to a Palantir statement.
TITAN stands for Tac...]]>970 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:553851fe49a9/Germany vs Google: How Street View Won the Privacy Battle in Europe's Most Private Country | PetaPixel2024-03-10T17:31:46+00:00
https://petapixel.com/2024/03/08/germany-vs-google-how-street-view-won-the-privacy-battle-in-europes-most-private-country/
leolaporteWhile attempting to map the country in 2010, Google learned firsthand just how serious Germans are about privacy. The company said it would begin mapping streets in 20 of the largest German cities, and the backlash was fierce and immediate.
The then German Consumer Protection Minister, Ilse Aigner, had said that Berlin and Google reached an understanding earlier that year, and that Google would only start its Street View service when all privacy concerns had been addressed.
“What i...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:26d934cc4c85/“Disgraceful”: Messy ToS update allegedly locks Roku devices until users give in | Ars Technica2024-03-10T17:30:42+00:00
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/disgraceful-messy-tos-update-allegedly-locks-roku-devices-until-users-give-in/
leolaporteRoku customers are threatening to stop using, or to even dispose of, their low-priced TVs and streaming gadgets after the company appears to be locking devices for people who don't conform to the recently updated terms of service (ToS).
This month, users on Roku's support forums reported suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV or streaming device reading: "We've made an important update: We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to agree to these upd...]]>970 atghttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:a313e3853984/TikTok Crackdown Shifts Into Overdrive, With Sale or Shutdown on Table - WSJ2024-03-10T17:30:16+00:00
https://www.wsj.com/tech/why-the-new-effort-to-ban-tiktok-caught-fire-with-lawmakers-7cd3f980?st=jnjw9hqtrb8mfct
leolaporteThe legislation calls for Beijing-based parent ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok or face the platform being banned from app stores and web-hosting services in the U.S. ByteDance would have a little more than five months from the enactment of the bill to comply. TikTok, which is accessed by more than 170 million Americans, sees this as an effective ban, said a spokeswoman. The company says separating the U.S. portion of its app wouldn’t be practical and would undercut the appeal of...]]>970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:0e3a3d146948/Answer.AI - You can now train a 70b language model at home2024-03-09T17:12:55+00:00
https://www.answer.ai/posts/2024-03-06-fsdp-qlora.html
leolaporteBut here’s the key point: the gaming GPUs have similar performance to the data center GPUs that cost over 10x more! It would be great if we could use these 10x cheaper (but nearly as fast) cards to train large language models, but we can’t, because they have much less memory. The best currently available data center cards have 80GB RAM, whilst gaming cards max out at 24GB RAM. Since only the largest models produce the best results, creating the best models has been largely inaccessib...]]>twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:91afa563ee4e/Welcome to the Valley of the Creepy AI Dolls | WIRED2024-03-09T17:12:04+00:00
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-dolls-for-older-adults/
leolaporteMobile World Congress always has more than its fair share of weird. Last week at MWC, the winner’s prize for bonkers went to a Korean company called Hyodol, which proudly showed off a disturbing-looking ChatGPT-enabled companion doll aimed at older adults. Now, this $1,800 AI-enabled doll may well look like something you'd find in a haunted attic, but it’s actually meant to act as an interactive digital pal for people experiencing loneliness or in long term care facilities.
Thanks t...]]>970 twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:fe5046b9b1da/4D Knit Dress — Self-Assembly Lab2024-03-09T16:59:42+00:00
https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/4d-knit-dress
leolaporte4D Knit Dress, combines several technologies – heat-activated yarns, computerized knitting and 6-axis robotic activation to create a garment that is sculpted to create a personalized fit or style. Heat-activated yarns are embedded within a unique knit structure to create controlled transformation, while maintaining softness, stretch and resilience. Using an efficient tubular knitting technique, a 6-axis robotic arm (commonly used in automotive manufacturing) heats specific areas to t...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:74b7c4468f8e/Microsoft says Russian hackers stole source code after spying on its executives - The Verge2024-03-09T16:56:53+00:00
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/8/24094287/microsoft-hack-russian-security-attack-stolen-source-code
leolaporteMicrosoft revealed earlier this year that Russian state-sponsored hackers had been spying on the email accounts of some members of its senior leadership team. Now, Microsoft is disclosing that the attack, from the same group behind the SolarWinds attack, has also led to some source code being stolen in what Microsoft describes as an ongoing attack.
“In recent weeks, we have seen evidence that Midnight Blizzard [Nobelium] is using information initially exfiltrated from our corporate ...]]>970 sn wwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:7dbd929dca23/AI Marilyn Monroe Marks Another Step Forward In Extending Celebrity Brand Value Beyond The Grave2024-03-09T16:55:50+00:00
https://deadline.com/2024/03/ai-marilyn-monroe-marks-another-step-forward-in-extending-celebrity-brands-1235850875/
leolaporteThe Digital Marilyn is a partnership between Soul Machines, which creates what it calls Biological AI-powered Digital People, and Authentic Brands Group, a company representing such icons as Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham, and many other celebrities and companies.
]]>970 twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:518c7a11d2bc/Why Trump now opposes banning TikTok2024-03-09T16:54:08+00:00
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/09/tiktok-ban-trump-republicans
leolaporteOne potential factor at play is Trump's newly repaired relationship with billionaire Jeff Yass, who has a huge financial stake in Bytedance and has spent millions backing lawmakers who support TikTok.
Days before his TikTok reversal, Trump publicly praised Yass for inviting him to a retreat held by Club for Growth, a powerful conservative group that also opposes banning the app.
Yass had previously donated $4.9 million to Vivek Ramaswamy, who last year became the only Republican pre...]]>970 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:d5a67cb23eb1/OpenAI announces new members to board of directors2024-03-09T16:51:19+00:00
https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-new-members-to-board-of-directors
leolaporteWe’re announcing three new members to our Board of Directors as a first step towards our commitment to expansion: Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, former EVP and General Counsel at Sony Corporation and Fidji Simo, CEO and Chair of Instacart. Additionally, Sam Altman, CEO, will rejoin the OpenAI Board of Directors.
]]>970 twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:74be522e424f/TikTok campaign against ban backfires | Semafor2024-03-08T22:03:15+00:00
https://www.semafor.com/article/03/07/2024/tiktok-campaign-against-ban-backfires
leolaporteA House committee unanimously advanced legislation that would force ByteDance to divest the social media app TikTok, despite congressional offices being bombarded with calls from TikTokers who were urged by the platform to call their representatives to protest the bill.
“Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO,” a pop-up message on the app said, imploring users to “stop a TikTok shutdown.”
Aides from multiple congressional offices told Semafor that they ...]]>970 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:204db5705d8a/CISA forced to take two systems offline last month after Ivanti compromise2024-03-08T22:02:14+00:00
https://therecord.media/cisa-takes-two-systems-offline-following-ivanti-compromise
leolaporteHackers breached the systems of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in February through vulnerabilities in Ivanti products, officials said.
A CISA spokesperson confirmed to Recorded Future News that the agency “identified activity indicating the exploitation of vulnerabilities in Ivanti products the agency uses” about a month ago.
“The impact was limited to two systems, which we immediately took offline. We continue to upgrade and modernize our systems, and ...]]>970 snhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:96b2e666ffa5/Epic says Apple will reinstate developer account, clearing path for Epic Games Store on iPhone - 9to5Mac2024-03-08T21:59:33+00:00
https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/08/epic-says-apple-will-reinstate-developer-account-clearing-path-for-epic-games-store-on-iphone/
leolaporteApple has told us and committed to the European Commission that they will reinstate our developer account. This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable. We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe. Onward!
]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:2237dd7a6732/classvsoftware/under-new-management: Detect when your installed Chrome extensions have changed owners.2024-03-06T19:57:37+00:00
https://github.com/classvsoftware/under-new-management
leolaportetwighttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:b4867a8fc079/FDA Clears First Over-the-Counter Continuous Glucose Monitor | FDA2024-03-06T19:53:22+00:00
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-over-counter-continuous-glucose-monitor
leolaportetwig 970https://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:f2c1a0e9576f/Spain tells Sam Altman, Worldcoin to shut down its eyeball-scanning orbs | Ars Technica2024-03-06T17:18:27+00:00
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/spain-tells-sam-altman-worldcoin-to-shut-down-its-eyeball-scanning-orbs/
leolaporteSpain has moved to block Sam Altman’s cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, the latest blow to a venture that has raised controversy in multiple countries by collecting customers’ personal data using an eyeball-scanning “orb.”
The AEPD, Spain’s data protection regulator, has demanded that Worldcoin immediately ceases collecting personal information in the country via the scans and that it stops using data it has already gathered.
The regulator announced on Wednesday that it had taken t...]]>twig 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:1b7825933799/Microsoft engineer who raised concerns about Copilot image creator pens letter to the FTC2024-03-06T17:17:40+00:00
https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-engineer-who-raised-concerns-about-copilot-image-creator-pens-letter-to-the-ftc-165414095.html?src=rss
leolaporteMicrosoft engineer Shane Jones raised concerns about the safety of OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 back in January, suggesting the product has security vulnerabilities that make it easy to create violent or sexually explicit images. He also alleged that Microsoft’s legal team blocked his attempts to alert the public to the issue. Now, he has taken his complaint directly to the FTC, as reported by CNBC.
“I have repeatedly urged Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safe...]]>twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:6ee769abe4f0/AWS follows Google in announcing unrestricted free data transfers to other cloud providers | TechCrunch2024-03-06T17:16:12+00:00
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/05/amazon-follows-google-in-announcing-free-data-transfers-out-of-aws/
leolaporteAmazon’s cloud computing subsidiary AWS has revealed that it will allow customers to transfer their data out of its ecosystem with no so-called “egress fees” attached.
The news follows some two months after Google announced similar plans, though in Google’s case as the third-biggest player in the public cloud triopoly after AWS and Microsoft, it was heavily incentivized to “lead by example” — if it’s cheaper to leave AWS or Azure entirely, then a company might just be more inclined ...]]>twig 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:bd5dedeec209/Something Like Fire | City Journal2024-03-06T17:15:43+00:00
https://www.city-journal.org/article/something-like-fire
leolaporteOur information technology is currently advancing at a double-exponential rate; but even if it were doing so only at a single-exponential rate, 30 years from now we will have the equivalent of a billion years of progress based on our current rate of speed, unless, for the first time ever, the growth curve finally—and dramatically—slows.
Nearly all forecasters fail to account for this. They assume that the next decade of progress will basically match the last one—but this has never h...]]>twig ai 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:3ba13a6f8dd5/Top AI researchers ask OpenAI, Meta and more to allow independent research - The Washington Post2024-03-06T17:14:32+00:00
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/05/ai-research-letter-openai-meta-midjourney/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzA5NjE0ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzEwOTkzNTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDk2MTQ4MDAsImp0aSI6ImMwOWMzOWE1LWVkNzgtNGJkZS1hY2QzLTFlMDQ0N2U1N2E0ZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjQvMDMvMDUvYWktcmVzZWFyY2gtbGV0dGVyLW9wZW5haS1tZXRhLW1pZGpvdXJuZXkvIn0.YPO-P4j7G5oQx-uKb7IQuhyJYnFWVGCxV-NHFGkHErA
leolaporteMore than 100 top artificial intelligence researchers have signed an open letter calling on generative AI companies to allow investigators access to their systems, arguing that opaque company rules are preventing them from safety-testing tools being used by millions of consumers.
The researchers say strict protocols designed to keep bad actors from abusing AI systems are instead having a chilling effect on independent research. Such auditors fear having their accounts banned or bein...]]>twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:43ddd24d8f63/Apple Terminated Epic’s Developer Account - Epic Games2024-03-06T17:13:43+00:00
https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/apple-terminated-epic-s-developer-account
leolaporteIn terminating Epic’s developer account, Apple is taking out one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store. They are undermining our ability to be a viable competitor and they are showing other developers what happens when you try to compete with Apple or are critical of their unfair practices.
If Apple maintains its power to kick a third party marketplace off iOS at its sole discretion, no reasonable developer would be willing to utilize a third party app store, ...]]>mbw 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:77cd27b8c290/OpenAI Responds to Elon Musk's Lawsuit2024-03-06T17:11:49+00:00
https://openai.com/blog/openai-elon-musk
leolaportetwig 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:cdb5cd0bd6d7/Former Twitter Executives Sue Musk Over Unpaid Severance - WSJ2024-03-05T04:42:07+00:00
https://www.wsj.com/tech/former-twitter-executives-sue-elon-musk-for-over-128-million-in-severance-ea10f43a?st=1oe3cfhunzeqnqk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
leolaporteThe lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in California, escalates a more than yearlong dispute between the former executives and the billionaire.
The plaintiffs are Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s former chief executive; Ned Segal, its former chief financial officer; Vijaya Gadde, its former chief legal officer; and Sean Edgett, its former general counsel.
]]>twig 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:c378bc612c8d/Pixel phones just got next-gen call screening2024-03-05T04:41:07+00:00
https://www.engadget.com/pixel-phones-just-got-next-gen-call-screening-190034396.html
leolaporteGoogle just announced that some Pixel phones are getting next-gen call screening. This improves on the pre-existing Call Screen feature by implementing a new Hello button. Once tapped, the system will deploy Google Assistant to speak on your behalf.
The digital assistant will ask the caller why they’re trying to reach you, and you’ll be able to hear the response in real-time. If it sounds important, you can interrupt and begin the call. If not, you can kick them to the curb and go b...]]>twig changeloghttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:fe10eed7ff9d/The App Store, Spotify, and Europe’s thriving digital music market - Apple2024-03-05T04:40:16+00:00
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/03/the-app-store-spotify-and-europes-thriving-digital-music-market/
leolaporteThe primary advocate for this decision — and the biggest beneficiary — is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world, and has met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation.
Today, Spotify has a 56 percent share of Europe’s music streaming market — more than double their closest competitor’s — and pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped make them one of the most recognizable brand...]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:42c6fa59a7b0/Meet the Disney Imagineer Building You a Real-Life Holodeck | WIRED2024-03-04T15:18:32+00:00
https://www.wired.com/story/lanny-smoot-disney-imagineer-lightsaber-holodeck/
leolaporte“I’ve become a bit of a role model for young Black kids and people of color and women who have been looked over or not been in the room where things are done,” Smoot says. “I came from Brownsville, and I didn’t have a lot of money. Even today, I am one of the most thrifty people when it comes to building things. Some people say, ‘I can't start my work unless I have this much money,’ but I'm like, ‘OK, I have a broomstick and I can take the keyboard apart …’”
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:36566dfd97ec/Rogue Editors Started a Competing Wikipedia That’s Only About Roads2024-03-04T15:10:49+00:00
https://gizmodo.com/competing-wikipedia-editors-only-about-roads-aaroads-1851298769
leolaporteFor 20 years, a loosely organized group of Wikipedia editors toiled away curating a collection of 15,000 articles on a single subject: the roads and highways of the United States. Despite minor disagreements, the US Roads Project mostly worked in harmony, but recently, a long-simmering debate over the website’s rules drove this community to the brink. Efforts at compromise fell apart. There was a schism, and in the fall of 2023, the editors packed up their articles and moved over to ...]]>twig Pickhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:9cc24c6342fc/Apple launches new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 chip, support for two external displays, faster Wi-Fi - 9to5Mac2024-03-04T15:07:50+00:00
https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/04/apple-launches-m3-macbook-air/
leolaporteApple today announced its next-generation M3 MacBook Air range, in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. The new models are available to order today, and will start shipping March 8.
]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:591601448d6e/Apple hit with €1.8bn fine for breaking EU law over music streaming2024-03-04T15:07:12+00:00
https://www.ft.com/content/05606b16-8c4d-4535-893e-af909fcf22f0
leolaporteBrussels has fined Apple more than €1.8bn for stifling competition from rival music streaming services, the first time the iPhone maker has been punished for breaching EU law.
Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said the tech giant had broken EU antitrust rules for a decade by “restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside of the Apple ecosystem”.
She said this amounted to abuse of the group’s dominant posi...]]>mbw 970https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:37f7aa93d310/Music Is TikTok's Past. Sounds May Be Its Future | WIRED2024-03-03T16:16:11+00:00
https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-music-umg-sounds-future/
leolaporteWith so many popular songs still blocked from TikTok, it’s possible that smaller artists and songs from other labels, like Beyonce’s new music, might fill the gap, but the more likely scenario is that royalty-free, almost-contextless sound clips will become the new hot commodity on the platform.
]]>969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:9c87626b2421/Why Was Apple Car Canceled? The Hubris in Apple Thinking It Could Outdo Tesla - Bloomberg2024-03-03T16:15:15+00:00
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-03-03/why-was-apple-car-canceled-the-hubris-in-apple-thinking-it-could-outdo-tesla-ltbke5ut
leolaportembwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:205fa0fc7fdd/The Audio Drama Directory – The Guide to Audio Drama Websites2024-03-03T01:56:59+00:00
https://audiodrama.directory/
leolaporteThe Audio Drama Directory is a online resource with the goal of offering the most comprehensive listings of websites for audio drama enthusiasts.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:2037ab0790b6/Here Come the AI Worms | WIRED2024-03-03T01:53:21+00:00
https://www.wired.com/story/here-come-the-ai-worms/
leolaporteMost generative AI systems work by being fed prompts—text instructions that tell the tools to answer a question or create an image. However, these prompts can also be weaponized against the system. Jailbreaks can make a system disregard its safety rules and spew out toxic or hateful content, while prompt injection attacks can give a chatbot secret instructions. For example, an attacker may hide text on a webpage telling an LLM to act as a scammer and ask for your bank details.
To cr...]]>969 twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:8165f1aaf254/Why Elon Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit Leans on A.I. Research From Microsoft - The New York Times2024-03-03T01:48:28+00:00
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/technology/elon-musk-openai-lawsuit-microsoft-research.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk0.M61l.NCnK2nvYNoUS&smid=url-share
leolaporteIn the “Sparks of A.G.I.” paper, Microsoft’s research lab said that — though it didn’t understand how — GPT-4 had shown “sparks” of “artificial general intelligence,” or A.G.I., a machine that can do everything the human brain can do.
It was a bold claim, and came as the biggest tech companies in the world were racing to introduce A.I. into their own products.
Mr. Musk is turning the paper against OpenAI, saying it showed how OpenAI backtracked on its commitments not to commerciali...]]>969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:f4e283250d66/Robert "Bob" G. Heil - Kurrus Funeral Home in Belleville, Illinois2024-03-01T19:43:23+00:00
https://kurrusfh.com/obituaries/robert-bob-g-heil/
leolaporteRobert “Bob” G. Heil, 83, of Belleville, IL, peacefully passed away February 28, 2024 with his loving family at his side at Belleville Memorial Hospital after a very brave battle with cancer.
]]>969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:4ab1d3ebe868/Bob Heil, Silent Key - Announcements - TWiT.Community2024-03-01T17:19:46+00:00
https://www.twit.community/t/bob-heil-silent-key/15930/1
leolaporteJust learned of the passing of Bob Heil, legendary sound guy, ham radio mentor, and good friend.
Bob hosted our show “Ham Nation” for ten years and we’ve been using his PR-40 mics exclusively on TWiT ever since I met him at the second Podcast Expo in 2006.
RIP Bob. A great man. You will be missed. But at least the Heavenly Choir will sound a lot better now.
]]>969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:7f32830287da/Progressive Web Apps in EU will work fine in iOS 17.42024-03-01T16:59:31+00:00
https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/03/01/apple-reverses-course-on-death-of-progressive-web-apps-in-eu
leolaporteAfter a few weeks of internet drama, Apple has responded to complaints about the death of Progressive Web Apps in the European Union and is restoring them to how they worked in iOS 17.3 and before.
When the first iOS 17.4 beta launched, European Union users were hit by problems with Progressive Web Apps that weren't working properly. Further iterations of the beta, including the release candidates on February 27, made this worse.
And now, Apple has changed its mind on the matter. Ap...]]>969 mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:efd0c93cf1e6/Apple (AAPL) Shareholders Reject Request for AI Transparency Report - Bloomberg2024-03-01T16:54:02+00:00
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-28/apple-shareholders-vote-down-request-for-ai-transparency-report?sref=iXl9PBjy
leolaporteApple Inc. shareholders rejected a labor-backed request for an artificial intelligence transparency report, which would have delved into whether the company is using the technology ethically.
The proposal, submitted by AFL-CIO Equity Index Funds, was voted down at Apple’s annual meeting on Wednesday. Shareholders also rejected measures about equal employment policies, civil liberties, racial and gender pay gaps, and human rights. They approved the board slate and the company’s execu...]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:d511ce5092f2/Behind Apple’s Doomed Car Project: False Starts and Wrong Turns - The New York Times2024-03-01T16:33:58+00:00
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/technology/behind-the-apple-car-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZE0.kpB9.K2bWkAIMuLLr&smid=url-share
leolaportembw 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:3205051da87b/South Korean streamers struggle with Twitch’s sudden exit - Rest of World2024-03-01T16:12:51+00:00
https://restofworld.org/2024/south-korea-twitch-exit-problems-stream/
leolaporte969 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:00bba3b78f61/Push alerts are latest technique FBI uses to track criminal suspects - The Washington Post2024-03-01T16:04:06+00:00
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/29/push-notification-surveillance-fbi/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzA5MTgyODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzEwNTYxNTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDkxODI4MDAsImp0aSI6IjE0NTY5OTA4LTA5YjAtNDkzZS05Mjc4LTM5M2Y4MGQwNTMzYSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjQvMDIvMjkvcHVzaC1ub3RpZmljYXRpb24tc3VydmVpbGxhbmNlLWZiaS8ifQ.kkVqXKCQDXnatT6SaGCgkwqp84D8KHIL_Q4dH810X0k
leolaporteThe breakthrough relied on a little-known quirk of push alerts, a basic staple of modern phones: Those tokens can be used to identify users and are stored on servers run by Apple and Google, which can hand them over at law enforcement’s request.
]]>969 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:ba2dc8d69880/Photomath is officially Google's latest app on the Play Store2024-03-01T16:01:44+00:00
https://9to5google.com/2024/02/29/photomath-google-app/
leolaporteIn May of 2022, Google announced that it was acquiring a math solver app called Photomath. The deal closed last year after regulatory review, but Google only just brought the application under its Play Store publisher account today.
Photomath lets you take a picture of a math equation, including word problems, to get step-by-step explanations of how to solve. It supports elementary math, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, and calculus.
Based in Croatia, the free app launc...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:bf01e7adea49/Dell Technologies AI optimized server backlog swells to $2.9 billion exiting Q4 | Constellation Research Inc.2024-03-01T16:01:12+00:00
https://www.constellationr.com/blog-news/insights/dell-technologies-ai-optimized-server-backlog-swells-29-billion-exiting-q4
leolaporteDell Technologies reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter as the company saw strong demand for AI-optimized servers.
Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer, Dell Technologies, said orders for AI-optimized servers grew 40% sequentially and backlog doubled to $2.9 billion. "We've just started to touch the AI opportunities ahead of us, and we believe Dell is uniquely positioned with our broad portfolio to help customers build GenAI solutions that meet performance...]]>969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:1238411a3552/TinyLetter: looking back on the humblest newsletter platform - The Verge2024-03-01T15:58:21+00:00
https://www.theverge.com/24085737/tinyletter-mailchimp-shut-down-email-newsletters
leolaporteToday the service shuts down for good, a dozen years after it was acquired by Mailchimp, which itself was acquired by finance software behemoth Intuit two years ago. Its death is not exactly a surprise. The company cited low usage and the shifting needs of writers and readers. Both are true — and as the landscape has shifted and commercialized, TinyLetter has languished over the past decade. But it’s hard not to be a little sad when even a humble little service is sunsetted, especial...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:aee62ef37c55/Court orders maker of Pegasus spyware to hand over code to WhatsApp | WhatsApp | The Guardian2024-03-01T15:56:57+00:00
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/29/pegasus-surveillance-code-whatsapp-meta-lawsuit-nso-group
leolaporteNSO Group, the maker of one the world’s most sophisticated cyber weapons, has been ordered by a US court to hand its code for Pegasus and other spyware products to WhatsApp as part of the company’s ongoing litigation.
The decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, the Meta-owned communication app which has been embroiled in a lawsuit against NSO since 2019, when it alleged that the Israeli company’s spyware had been used against 1,400 WhatsApp users ov...]]>969 twig snhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:adc99b0523c7/Number of agencies have concerns about 'sideloading' on iPhone, Apple says | Reuters2024-03-01T15:55:34+00:00
https://www.reuters.com/technology/number-agencies-have-concerns-about-sideloading-iphone-apple-says-2024-03-01/
leolaporte"These agencies - especially those serving essential functions such as defense, banking, and emergency services - have reached out to us about these new changes," Apple said in a guidance paper.
It said the agencies wanted assurances that they would be able to prevent government employees from sideloading apps onto government-purchased iPhones and that several said they planned to block sideloading on every device they manage.
"One EU government agency informed us that it had neither...]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:1dff210e5e1d/Google Messages RCS is not working on rooted Android phones2024-03-01T15:54:07+00:00
https://9to5google.com/2024/02/29/google-messages-rcs-rooted/
leolaporteIn recent weeks, Android users with rooted or bootloader unlocked phones have found that RCS in Google Messages does not work.
Specifically, users cannot send or receive RCS messages. According to one report, a phone number might pass verification, but Rich Communication Services functionality does not actually work. Another example shows messages disappearing after tapping the send button.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:ee9871767f91/Australia threatens action against Meta after Facebook news payments axed2024-03-01T15:53:41+00:00
https://www.ft.com/content/4ae8b51e-311b-4a6f-b569-107ca3650262
leolaporteAnthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, said he was “very concerned” about the impact of Meta’s move. His government said it would “work through all available options under the News Media Bargaining Code”.
“Journalism is important and the idea that research and work done by others can be taken for free is simply intolerable,” Albanese said in an interview with The Australian newspaper. “We will respond in the national interest,” he said, describing any situation where a compa...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:c867b3e10cb0/Meta to Wind Down Facebook News Feature in US, Australia - Bloomberg2024-03-01T15:50:14+00:00
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-01/meta-to-wind-down-its-news-feature-in-the-us-and-australia?sref=iXl9PBjy
leolaporteMeta Platforms Inc. is winding down its news feature in the US and Australia, part of a broader shift away from the category for the social media giant.
The Facebook News tab, which lets users see headlines and stories, will be “deprecated” in those two countries in early April, Meta said in a blog post on Thursday. That means the company is withdrawing support for the feature, but news won’t disappear from the site.
“People will still be able to view news on Facebook in feed in th...]]>969 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:e6ef1b3d9715/Elon Musk sues OpenAI over AI threat | Courthouse News Service2024-03-01T15:49:01+00:00
https://www.courthousenews.com/elon-musk-sues-openai-over-ai-threat/
leolaporte969 twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:eeecd1a973be/Threads widens the gap with X, with triple the daily downloads on iOS | TechCrunch2024-02-28T15:28:44+00:00
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/27/threads-widens-the-gap-with-x-with-triple-the-daily-downloads-on-ios/
leolaportethings began to change near the end of last year.
By late December, Threads was seeing more than half a million installs per day on Google Play and iOS. The latter has since fallen a bit during the month of January but, across both platforms, Threads now consistently sees more daily downloads than X and appears to be widening that gap.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:90c690a4199a/TikTok Begins Removing Universal Music Publishing Songs2024-02-28T15:27:14+00:00
https://variety.com/2024/music/musicians/tiktok-removing-universal-music-publishing-songs-1235923848/
leolaporteSources close to UMG claim that it has a share in a majority of the songs on the platform, while ones close to TikTok places the number much smaller, between 20% and 30%. The latter sources also claim that TikTok has seen no drop in users since UMG music began to be removed earlier this month.
]]>twig 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:95c5ade4d271/Apple Met With Justice Department in Final Bid to Avoid Antitrust Suit - Bloomberg2024-02-28T15:25:45+00:00
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-27/apple-met-with-justice-department-in-final-bid-to-avoid-antitrust-suit?sref=iXl9PBjy
leolaporteThe company and its lawyers met with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who will make the final call on whether to file a suit, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential meeting. Such “last rites” meetings are often one of the final steps before a lawsuit is filed.
Antitrust enforcers, who have been probing the company since 2019, allege that Apple has imposed software and hardware limitations on its iPhones and iPads to impede rivals from ...]]>mbw 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:cc7c7ef2a658/Meta Wants Llama 3 to Handle Contentious Questions as Google Grapples With Gemini Backlash — The Information2024-02-28T15:24:53+00:00
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-wants-llama-3-to-handle-contentious-questions-as-google-grapples-with-gemini-backlash?rc=lykptg
leolaporteSafeguards added to Llama 2, which Meta released last July and which powers the artificial intelligence assistant in its apps, prevent the LLM from answering a broad range of questions deemed controversial. These guardrails have made Llama 2 appear too “safe” in the eyes of Meta’s senior leadership, as well as among some researchers who worked on the model itself, according to people who work at Meta. The company declined to comment.
]]>twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:1099a096ed8b/Biden signs executive order to stop Russia and China from buying Americans’ personal data2024-02-28T15:22:18+00:00
https://www.engadget.com/biden-signs-executive-order-to-stop-russia-and-china-from-buying-americans-personal-data-100029820.html
leolaportePresident Joe Biden has signed an executive order that aims to limit the mass-sale of Americans’ personal data to “countries of concern,” including Russia and China. The order specifically targets the bulk sale of geolocation, genomic, financial, biometric, health and other personally identifying information.
]]>twig 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:ba570c370718/Google Maps is finally making glanceable directions widely available2024-02-28T15:21:59+00:00
https://www.androidpolice.com/google-maps-is-finally-making-glanceable-directions-widely-available/
leolaporteIn the February launch, Google confirmed glanceable directions would arrive on Android and iOS devices worldwide in the coming months. June 2023 rolled by, and the company reassured us the feature would start rolling out that month, and it may have reached a handful of users. Until January 2024, nearly a year to the day Google first spoke of glanceable directions, there was no sign of it on the Maps settings page.
Now, several people on the Android Police team can confirm they are s...]]>twig changeloghttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:931246b92913/Klarna says its OpenAI virtual assistant does the work of 700 humans2024-02-28T15:20:54+00:00
https://www.fastcompany.com/91039401/klarna-ai-virtual-assistant-does-the-work-of-700-humans-after-layoffs
leolaporteThe app-based AI chatbot already handles two-thirds of all customer service chats, the company said Tuesday—some 2.3 million conversations so far—with the virtual assistant earning customer satisfaction ratings at the same level as human agents. Klarna, which is expected to go public this year and will need all the hype it can get at a time when investors have been generally frosty toward IPOs, estimates that the chatbot could help improve its profits by $40 million in 2024.
twig aihttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:44f5183ebdd3/Google CEO Sundar Pichai calls AI tool’s responses ‘completely unacceptable’ | Semafor2024-02-28T15:20:03+00:00
https://www.semafor.com/article/02/27/2024/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-calls-ai-tools-responses-completely-unacceptable
leolaporteBased on my understanding of this saga, nobody at Google actually set out to force Gemini to depict the Pope as a woman, or Vikings as Black people, nor did anyone want it to find moral equivalency between Musk and Hitler. This was a failed attempt at instilling less bias and it went awry.
If anything, this debacle shows how fast Google is moving. Like all large companies, Google has slowed down over the years. But the generative AI race has forced it to speed up product development...]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:3a4cb07e2118/Elon Musk Asks Satya Nadella for Tech Support: 'I Don't Mean to be a Pest'2024-02-27T22:22:49+00:00
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-satya-nadella-microsoft-account-tech-support-1851287867
leolaportetwig ww 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:7d3103e7f23b/Cops Called to 'Willy Wonka Experience' as Crying Children Realize AI Ads Were Lies2024-02-27T22:09:42+00:00
https://gizmodo.com/cops-called-to-willy-wonka-experience-as-crying-childre-1851290088
leolaportetwighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:e595f101bb93/MWC 2024: Motorola’s Rollable Concept phone laughs at your silly foldable | TechCrunch2024-02-27T15:29:04+00:00
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/27/mwc-2024-motorolas-rollable-concept-phone-laughs-at-your-silly-foldable/
leolaporteThe Rollable Concept Phone (as Lenovo is currently calling it, in lieu of giving it an actual marketing-approved name at this stage) isn’t drawing quite the same crowd as the transparent laptop we told you about yesterday, but it’s a prime example of what concept devices can and should be.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:8dc5f0df4f01/Apple’s FineWoven iPhone 15 case draws poor reviews, criticism - O'Grady's PowerPage2024-02-27T15:19:30+00:00
https://www.powerpage.org/apples-finewoven-iphone-15-case-draws-poor-reviews-criticism/
leolaporteThere it is, everyone. My iPhone 15 Pro Max’s FineWoven case after five months of use. The edges are peeling, the fabric is scratched up like an old CD and it’s browning like a rotten banana. I’ve been waiting for the CDC to show up at my house to declare it a biomedical concern.
]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:bcc5b361edaf/The Vice Media Collapse Was Entirely The Fault Of Incompetent, Fail-Upward Brunchlords | Techdirt2024-02-27T15:12:29+00:00
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/27/the-vice-media-collapse-was-entirely-the-fault-of-incompetent-fail-upward-brunchlords/
leolaporteAs we survey the rubble that once was the U.S. journalism industry, a common refrain involves lamenting that “online journalism just isn’t profitable.” But as the recent collapse of outlets like Sports Illustrated and The Messenger illustrate, the real culprit often isn’t that journalism isn’t profitable, it’s that U.S. media is predominantly run by utterly incompetent individuals who fail upward into positions of power.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:0dce641caf47/Google says Microsoft offered to sell Bing to Apple in 20182024-02-27T15:04:25+00:00
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/24/google-says-microsoft-offered-to-sell-bing-to-apple-in-2018.html
leolaporteMicrosoft
offered to sell its Bing search engine to Apple
in 2018, Google
said in a court filing earlier this month. The document, from Google’s antitrust case against the U.S. Justice Department, was unsealed on Friday.
The legal battle over whether Alphabet has a monopoly in web search advertising touches on key agreements Google has in place with Apple and Android phone makers to ensure exclusivity of its search engine. In 2021, Google spent more than $26 billion to keep its s...]]>mbwhttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:b06aa4cb3ec0/How Europe learned to stop worrying and love TikTok – POLITICO2024-02-27T15:03:18+00:00
https://www.politico.eu/article/how-europe-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-tiktok-china-bytedance/
leolaporteA year after EU governments moved to restrict the use of the Chinese-owned social media app over security concerns, politicians and parties are flocking to TikTok in droves. Behind their renewed love for the platform is their pursuit of the youth vote in June's EU election.
]]>twighttps://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:be913f981793/Peering through Lenovo’s transparent laptop into a sci-fi future - The Verge2024-02-27T15:02:02+00:00
https://www.theverge.com/24082244/lenovo-concept-transparent-laptop-mwc-2024-drawing-tablet
leolaporteThe key draw is its bezel-less 17.3-inch MicroLED display, which offers up to 55 percent transparency when its pixels are set to black and turned off. But as its pixels light up, the display becomes less and less see-through, until eventually, you’re looking at a completely opaque white surface with a peak brightness of 1,000 nits.
Although the appeal of transparent screens in sci-fi films and TV shows is obvious (opaque screens are boring, actor’s faces are interesting), it’s a lot...]]>ww twig 969https://pinboard.in/u:leolaporte/b:e58bc2400401/