Threads 275 Million Users & Meta AI 500 Million; Microsoft-Win 10 Users $30 for Year Security Updates; Zoox Co-Founder—Tesla Self-Driving Tech Doesn’t Work; Dropbox Chops 20% of Staff

Posted: October 31, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

With the announcement of good earnings…with third quarter earnings up 19% and net income year over year up 35%, Meta also has announced some big increases in usage of its AI and of Threads. Engadget.com reports that Threads is now up to “almost 275 million” monthly users, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “It’s been growing more than a million sign ups per day,” Zuckerberg said, adding that “engagement is growing too.” Meta AI has now passed the 500 million user mark, and Zuck says they are on track to become the most-used generative AI assistant in the world. Meta AI has only been out about a year, too. 

There is always major resistance when Microsoft finally gets serious about dropping support for an operating system in order to get users to move on to the latest one Redmond offers. According to engadget.com, Windows 10 will see support end on October 14, 2025. Now, Microsoft has thrown laggards a lifeline with an Extended Security Updates program for regular users. If you are one of those, you will be able to buy a one year extension for $30. ESU programs have been in place for a long time for commercial users, but this one is for personal users. Commercial users can buy up to 3 years of ESU support, which takes them to 2028…BUT the commercial licenses double in price every year until 2028. Defender Antivirus will get updates for Windows 10 until at least October 2028. Kicking or screaming or not, Microsoft is going to drag all Windows 10 users to Windows 11. 

In his robotaxi presentation, Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would be launching a robotaxi ride-hailing service in California next year. Now, Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson has opined that Tesla won’t be launching anywhere next year. TechCrunch.com says Levinson was quoted as commenting that the “fundamental issue is they don’t have technology that works,” Levinson said Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024.” His remarks came at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 yesterday. Levinson went on to say he was differentiating between a driver assistance system that drives most of the time, but requires human intervention “versus a system that’s so reliable and robust that you don’t need a person in it.” He continued, “Our perspective is you really do need significantly more hardware than Tesla is putting in their vehicles to build a robotaxi that is not just as safe, but as especially safer than a human,” he said. Levinson said he believes that Tesla full self driving is “about 100 times less safe than a human if you look at all the metrics that are publicly available.”

In a statement saying it had over invested and underperformed, Dropbox has chopped 20% of their global staff. Arstechnica.com reports that CEO Drew Houston wrote that Dropbox’s core file sync and sharing “business has matured, and we’ve been working to build our next phase of growth with products like Dash,” an “AI-powered universal search” product targeted to business customers. The company’s “current structure and investment levels” are “no longer sustainable.” With several cloud services offering easier large file sharing, it shouldn’t be a big surprise. Box had things to itself for a while, but competition makes for real challenges. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot Picks Parts Autonomously; Apple Bows New MacBook Pros with M4 Pro Chips; AI Now Writes 25% of Google’s Code; Reddit Shows First Ever Profit With 100 Million Daily Users

Posted: October 30, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

While Elon Musk showed off robots that had to mainly be operated by people behind the scenes, Boston Dynamics plows ahead with their electric version of the Atlas robot. Now, techcrunch.com reports that “The robot is able to detect and react to changes in the environment (e.g., moving fixtures) and action failures (e.g., failure to insert the cover, tripping, environment collision) using a combination of vision, force, and proprioceptive sensors.” This puts Boston’s robot out ahead by a ways form those of Figure, Apptronik, and Tesla. The machine was used to pick parts in an automotive setting. This is logical, since Boston is now owned by Hyundai. Hyundai has also done a deal with Toyota’s research wing, so they are all in on robotics. Large robot units have been used for decades by the auto industry. I can remember in the 1980’s, the CEO of Daimler-Benz (now just Daimler) saying that they used robots to save backs, not replace hands. Even Jelly Belly has robots (one of which tends to leak hydraulic fluid…one of the reasons Boston Dynamics switched Atlas from hydraulic to electric.) Boston claims that Atlas has been improved, and can move accurately and quickly cutting down on unneeded motions as it completes its tasks autonomously. 

Continuing with their week of announcements, Apple today rolled out new 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. Cupertino also showed an entry level 14 inch MacBook Pro rocking the M4 chip. According to Macrumors.com, the new M4 Pro and Max laptops come with 24 gigs of Unified memory…up from 18 gigs of the prior models. They both have 3 Thunderbolt 5 ports, which has 3 times the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt 4. The M4 Pro has a 14 core CPU, and the Max a 16 core CPU. All 3 new models have an HDMI port…the Pro and Max machines can drive up to 3 monitors. Both have SDXC card slots and Mag Safe charging, as well as a headphone jack…just like my seemingly old M1 MacBook I wrote this on. They are available for preorder now, and will be available Friday, November 8th… starting at $1599.

Google is now using AI to write over a quarter of its new code. That’s what Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says. PCmag.com notes that all that code has to be reviewed then accepted by engineers…but Google claims it allows engineers to do more and move faster. It is worth mentioning that using a generative AI model to write code isn’t exactly a new idea…an earlier form of it has bene going on for years. One knotty issue…using AI to write code could pose copyright issues or create security flaws if it’s trained on licensed or old code. And some companies using AI-crafted code have already reportedly experienced outages and cybersecurity problems as a result, primarily due to a lack of adequate human oversight. Alphabet’s stock price is up about 2% in the last day, and 36% in the past year, partly based on the promise of AI.

You may not use or be all that aware of Reddit, but a heck of a lot of people are. Reddit just turned its first ever profit, reporting $29.9 million on $348 million in revenue…that’s up 68% year over year. Reddit has been around for 20 years, and never made money, but is now up to nearly 100 million daily users the last few months…exceeding 100 million on a few days. Reddit just went public earlier this year. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

M4 Mac Launch Soon; Google Messages-New Spam Detection; Anthropic New AI Can Control Your PC; Blade Runner 2049 Producer Sues Musk

Posted: October 23, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The latest from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman points to Apple dropping its M4 Macs next week. Macrumors.com reports that it will likely be an online event like what Apple did with their ‘Scary Fast’ rollout last October 30th. Most Apple watchers are looking for a 14 inch entry-level MacBook Pro with M4 chip and one more Thunderbolt port than the present model. Also, 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros with M4 Pro and Max chip options. A freshened iMac is expected in the mix, too. Most of these new units won’t be in customer hands until November…as is typical for an Apple introduction…generally it is a week or 2  before the devices actually ship.

More and more spam and phishing has moved from email to messaging. Now, Google Messages is bowing new features to fight through all this crud. According to androidpolice.com, the new spam detection should help combat dangerous links, there’s a privacy upgrade for international messages, sensitive image warnings, and contact verification, too. Any message that Google Messages thinks might be scammy will give you a warning or automatically move the message into the spam folder. Besides the spam filter, they will block messages or send them to spam if they are from unknown senders and contain links. Google tested this system out in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, before rolling the feature out worldwide…which will happen over the next couple months. “Sensitive Content Warnings for Google Messages”  will blur potentially sensitive images before viewing, and there will also be a new warning message when such images are being shared or forwarded. Like Google’s other protections, these scans all happen on-device, which means your privacy is ensured.

In a somewhat unsettling bit of news, Anthropic’s new AI model reportedly can have some control over your PC. Techcrunch.com notes that this was teased last spring, and now the latest upgrade of Claude 3.5 Sonnet can understand and interact with any desktop app. By way of a new ‘Computer Use’ API, which is in open beta, the model can mimic keystrokes, button clicks, and mouse gestures…basically emulating a person sitting at a PC. This is not an entirely new concept…it has been done for decades to an extent….but Anthropic is taking it to a new level entirely. Anthropic is not calling this an ‘agent,’ like Microsoft, Salesforce, or OpenAI….instead dubbing it an ‘action-execution layer.’ 

Previously, Elon Musk had asked the producer of Blade Runner 2049 about using imagery from the film…but he was turned down. Now, producer Alcon Entertainment is suing Elon for using what they call “AI-created images mirroring scenes from Blade Runner 2049, including one featuring a Ryan Gosling look-alike.” Engdget.com reports that the images were used in a slide presentation during Musk’s Cybercab event earlier this month. Alcon says in their complaint that the copied scenes made Elon’s event ‘more attractive to a global audience,’ and that he misappropriated “the Blade Runner 2049 brand to help sell Teslas.” One can imagine that if this suit gets into trial, we will see some interesting imagery in the court exhibits!

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

Disney & Hulu-No More Signups via Apple; Meta Bringing Back Facial Recognition; WhatsApp Rolling Out Direct Contract Storage; AT&T and T-Mobile Oppose Unlocking Rule

Posted: October 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

When Mel Brooks teased Spaceballs Two, he subtitled it ‘the search for more money,’ in a poke at Star Trek, the Search for Spock. Now, it looks like Disney is cutting some ties with Apple for…you guessed it…more money. Apple, as you no doubt know, gets a 15-30% cut of all money that comes from sales via their App Store. Macrumors.com reports that by not allowing new sign ups through the App Store, and pushing customers to their website, Disney will cut out those subscription fees for in-app purchases. Disney is already raising prices a couple bucks for Hulu and Disney +, and it looks like they intend to keep all of it! Netflix quit letting subscribers buy over the iOS app several years ago. 

If at first you don’t succeed…Meta is bringing back facial recognition, they say with new safeguards. Engadget.com notes that this comes some 3 years after they first tried it, but backed off after a huge backlash. Meta claims the facial recognition will first be used to detect scam ads that use the faces of celebrities or other public figures. If they confirm it as a scam ad, they will block it. Celebrities will be able to opt out of this use. Meta is also testing facial recognition as a method of account recovery. This time around, users will upload a video selfie…a short clip of themselves, and Meta will match that to their profile photo if the user gets locked out of their account. This should work for all personal accounts, but won’t work on a business page at this point…as they don’t include a profile pic of a person. Some privacy advocates are still skeptical, given the last time around. Meta paid out over lawsuits in Texas and Illinois from that last go around…some $650 million in Illinois and $1.4 billion in Texas. 

WhatsApp has been relying on your phones contact book to sync contacts for the platform. Now, techcrunch.com says WhatsApp will allow users to save contacts within the app, where they will live on cloud servers. That way, if you lose a phone or link a new one to your WhatsApp primary number, you will see all your contacts. Also…it gives WhatsApp possession of the data about all your contacts. They won’t mind, right? WhatsApp claims they have a new encrypted storage system for secure contact saving. In addition, they are saying that the storage feature will make it possible to save contacts by usernames. That way, you won’t need to share your phone number when messaging them. Signal and Telegram both already offer a way to share usernames without sharing contact details. 

In the shock of the century, T-Mobile and AT&T have come out in opposition to a proposed plan by the Federal Communications Commission to require the unlocking of phones within 60 days of activation. Arstechnica.com reports that the carriers are claiming that locking phones to a carrier’s network makes it possible to provide cheaper handsets to consumers. “If the Commission mandates a uniform unlocking policy, it is consumers—not providers—who stand to lose the most,” T-Mobile alleged in an October 17 filing with the Federal Communications Commission. The rule has broad support from consumer advocates, who say it will give consumers more choice and lower costs. The carriers have traditionally said that the locking helped them subsidize providing phones at lower costs. It seems more likely that we the consumers are subsidizing our own discounts. Verizon already unlocks phones after 60 days, due to requirements imposed on spectrum licenses it holds. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

US DOJ May Make Google Spin off Android or Chrome; Amazon Tweaks Ring Subscriptions with AI Video Search; Samsung Drops Support for $2000 Galaxy Fold 2 after 4 Years; Nintendo Motion-Controlled Mario Alarm Clock

Posted: October 9, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The US Department of Justice is weighing asking a federal judge to make Google spin off Android and/or Chrome among other possible antitrust solutions in the aftermath of Google being found to have a monopoly over online search. 9to5google.com reports that Google, to the surprise of no one, is arguing against such moves. Ahead of a deciding trial scheduled for this coming spring, the DOJ offered an outline of what it might recommend: “…considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features—including emerging search access points and features, such as artificial intelligence—over rivals or new entrants.” The DOJ outline continues: “Breaking them (referring to Android and Chrome) off would change their business models, raise the cost of devices, and undermine Android and Google Play in their robust competition with Apple’s iPhone and App Store.” the government might also make Google offer an API that lets competitors access indexes, data, feeds, and models used for Google search, as well as their search results, features, and ads…including underlying ranking signals! Google is arguing that the government’s proposed remedies are much too broad. After a trial this spring, the judge should issue a decision by August 2025. No matter the outcome, expect Google to immediately appeal, with remedies on hold throughout the appeal process. 

Amazon has rebranded the Ring Basic Plan as Ring Home Basic, and it’s $4.99 a month. Not that long ago, it was less than $3 a month. Ring Protect Plus is not Ring Home Standard, and it’s $5.99 a month, while Ring Home Premium is now $19.99 a month with professional alarm monitoring. According to techcrunch.com, all subscribers will get person and package alerts, video preview alerts, and 180 days of event history. Home Standard customers can now see up to 30 minute streams, and there’s a continuous stream for Home Premium. Now, with Home Premium, subscribers will get Smart Video Search, which lets them find specific moments in recorded footage. Coming on the heels of Smart Video Search…AI updates that will bring detailed captions for cam footage and natural language search functionality. Because you know you need that AI to scroll back through the footage from earlier today to see if a porch pirate ripped you off. 

Samsung has outrageously quit updating the Galaxy Z Fold 2. the $2000 folding phone just came out in 2020, 4 years ago. that’s a pretty expensive paperweight. Ok, not a paperweight yet, but will be as more updates leave it behind. Arstechnica.com notes that newer Samsung phones are promised 7 years of updates. I’m sure that some people will keep using the pricy phone and risk hacking and data theft, considering what they paid, but no security updates after 4 years is the height of corporate arrogance and irresponsibility. Apple promises 5 years of security updates, but generally has to go longer…usually 7 years… under California’s ‘legacy’ device law. 

In the product in search of a market department, Nintendo has rolled out a motion-controlled alarm clock, so you can awaken to the sounds of Super Mario and Zelda. It’s complete with chunky low resolution looking display that resembles 8 bit, too. Theverge.com reports that the $99.99 clock…called Alarmo…responds to your movements. That means you can snooze it without getting out of bed. You can order right now, and it will be out in early 2025. Honestly, if they can’t make it jump like Mario when making the sound effect, why make it? It does at least feature sounds from 5 different Switch games: Breath of the Wild, Pikmin 4, Splatoon 3, Super Mario Odyssey, and Ring Fit Adventure. You can connect it to your Nintendo account for even more. The clock is supposed to also track movement so you can check your sleep. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

It’s October Prime Days; Fourteen State Attorneys General Sue TikTok; China Hacked Verizon and AT&T; Google-Must Open Android for 3rd Party Stores

Posted: October 8, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s here…Christmas in October for a lot of folks. Amazon’s October Prime Days…or Big Deal Days, as they are trying to re-brand them. Engadget.com reports that as usual, many of the best deals are on Amazon’s own hardware…like an Amazon Echo Spot for $45…$35 off. They are also shaving prices on Apple gear, with AirPods Pro for $169, an $80 discount. You can score and Anker MagGo 3-in-1 charging stand for $72, which is $28 off. Looking for a robot vacuum….well you can buy an iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ vacuum and mop for $799…that’s a whopping $600 off. Oh, and can’t forget Lego…a number of Lego sets are 20% off, including a Star Wars set and a Super Mario set. 

The Attorneys General of 14 states have sued TikTok, claiming it damages young users’ mental health and that the platform collects the kids data without consent. According to NBC, the states say TikTok violated their laws by falsely claiming the service is safe for young people. The suits are all separate, but the Attorneys General of New York and California have taken the lead. TikTok put out a statement saying  “We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product.” The states include California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington state and the District Of Columbia.

Chinese government hackers pierced AT&T and Verizon’s networks and were able to snoop around for months. Arstechnica.com says they were likely able to access information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping requests. The hacking group has been named Salt Typhoon. Investigations are proceeding by the FBI and other intelligence agencies, but they are apparently in early stages. The hackers were able to get some of Verizons data by reconfiguring Cisco routers…which they did without detection. Of course the Chinese Embassy, when reached for comment, claimed this was all false information made up by the US intelligence community and cyber security companies.  

In a final court ruling in the Epic v. Google case, Judge James Donato ordered Google to effectively open the Google Play app store to competition for 3 years. Theverge.com reports that Google will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually. These were Epic’s biggest asks. A permanent injunction was also issued blocking Google from other behavior that the court found to be anticompetitive. As you might imagine, Google has said it will appeal.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

New Macs & iPad Mini November 1st; Android Rolling Out New Anti-Theft Features; Supremes Turn Away Suit Over Special Counsel Demanding Trump X Info; GM Working on Hands AND Eyes-Off Driving System

Posted: October 7, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Last month, we got the new iPhones, Watches, and Apple ear buds upgrades. Now, macrumors.com reports that Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is saying we will probably see updated bigger Apple Hardware as early as November 1st. This will include new M4 low-end 14 inch MacBook Pros, and the higher end 14 and 16 inch models…and also a refreshed Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro chips. The iMac will get the upgrade as well. One iPad seems to be in the mix for sure…the Mini. It is due for it, as the Mini hasn’t seen an upgrade in 3 years. Don’t expect Mac Studio or Mac Pro models with more powerful M4 chips quite yet. Those won’t be out until mid 2025 for the Studio and the Pro at the tail end of that year. 

Google is now releasing anti-theft protection features in the US. They had previously only been available in Brazil. According to androidpolice.com, not all US users are seeing all of them even after the rollout. The 3 features are Theft Detection Lock, Offline Device Lock, and Remote Lock. So far, some Pixel users are getting Remote Lock, but not the other two. Other Pixel users are seeing all three protective features. You can check your phone to see what you have…go to the Settings app, and search for ‘theft protection’ to see if the 3 features are available for your phone. Theft Detection Lock determines if the phone is forcefully taken from your hand, and automatically locks it. Offline Device lock automatically locks your phone’s screen when “a thief tries to disconnect your phone for prolonged periods of time.” Remote Lock is for when you know when you phone is gone for good…you can remotely lock the screen with just your phone number and a security challenge. You use the website android.com/lock.

The Supreme Court is back in session, and promptly refused to take a case disputing special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to get the records of former President Trump from Twitter (which, of course, is now X) and keep that platform from letting him know about the demand for production. In refusing to take the case, the lower court ruling stands that upheld a nondisclosure order, which Elon Musk claimed violated his platform’s First Amendment right to communicate with Trump. Bloomberg says a judge decided the order was valid, and fined X $350,000 for civil contempt. Twitter eventually turned over 32 direct messages, which the special counsel’s office said was a ‘minuscule proportion’ of the information they requested. 

It won’t be a first, but it will certainly be the most widely used when it hits the road. General Motors is working on a hands AND eyes-off driving system. Techcrunch.com reports that this will be a step up from their 7 year old Super Cruise hands-off system that is currently available. This would be what is known as a Level 3 or L3 system…not quite self-driving cars like Waymo is running in several cities or even like GM’s Cruise division has…which are just getting back on the streets of San Francisco after an accident earlier this year where a woman was dragged. Right now, the only L3 system is Mercedes-Benz’ Drive Pilot. Even Tesla’s Autopilot and so-called ‘Full Self-Driving’ system are only Level 2. No word on how soon the Level 3 setup would be available from GM, but since they are teasing it, it should be sooner, not later. GM says Super Cruise will have about 750,000 miles of roads it can use by the end of 2025. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Ca Governor Newsom Vetoes AI Safety Bill; Arm Predicts AI Will Turn Smartphones into ‘Proactive’ Assistants’; Apple’s ‘Home Accessory’ May have Square Display; Huge Verizon Outage Monday Morning

Posted: September 30, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In a disappointment to many, but a victory for Big Tech, California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday vetoed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. No, he actually didn’t veto it for being a mouthful of word salad! Theverge.com reports that the governor felt the bill was well-intentioned, but would have possibly wiped out the lead California companies have in AI. He also said in a statement that the bill was just too broad. One safeguard that it required which still sounds like a good one was a so-called ‘kill switch,’ which would have required protocols for testing to reduce the chance for a cyberattack or a pandemic. It also had protections for whistleblowers. Expect changes and a fresh bill next term. The feds are also looking into ways to regulate AI.

Arm, the chip designer who’s chips run most of our mobile devices, is looking to upgrading the brains of smartphones and other gadgets to harness the power of AI…perhaps bringing a new series of breakthroughs to our mobile devices. According to thenextweb.com, with more compact, text-based large language models like Meta’s latest Llama iterations, which are optimized for Arm mobile chips, you can get faster user experiences. Arm also says the compact models can run more AI directly on smartphones. Arm sees new helpful mobile apps as a result. LLMs will perform tasks on your behalf by understanding your location, schedule, and preferences. Routine tasks will be automated and recommendations personalised on-device.Your phone will evolve from a command and control tool to a “proactive assistant.” Arm is shooting for 2025 to have over 100 billion Arm based devices to be ‘AI ready.’

Apple is still working on a new home accessory that rolls up the capabilities of an iPad, AppleTV, and a HomePod. People sifting through Apple’s back end code have seen a ‘HomeAccessory’ in that code the last couple months. 9to5mac.com says it appears that it will be powered by an A18 chip, which would support Apple Intelligence, and that it has more of a square display than the rectangular one on iPads. It also apparently sports a camera that will work with FaceTime and other video conferencing apps. The cam can also identify hand gestures from a distance, which would be handy (ok, sorry about that!) for controlling it in the kitchen where you might have wet or food covered hands and not want to touch the screen. It isn’t clear if this device would be something to replace the HomePod, or something different. If that is the case, it seems that a display on top might make it less stellar at reproducing great spacial audio.

By the time you watch or read this, it likely will be resolved, but Verizon has had a huge, nationwide outage Monday morning. Mashable.com reports that over 100,000 have reported outages for their mobile phones, 36 percent of those had no signal, and 14% a total blackout….this all noted by DownDetector. the worst outages were coming in from New York, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, and North Carolina. Reports started coming in at about 9am Eastern time…leaving a lot of people with just SOS mode on their phones. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now. 

YouTube Hype-To Boost Small Creators; Discord Rolls Out End-To-End Chat Encryption; CA Gov. Newsom Signs AI Bills; Biden Admin. Awards $3 Billion to Intel

Posted: September 18, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube is making a move to help out smaller creators. Apparently when a YouTube creator hits 500,000 subscribers, it is a real tipping point as far as growth and revenue. Theverge.com reports that the new feature is called Hype, and it is aimed at smaller creators and helping people discover and share new creators. Hype is an entirely new promotional system inside of YouTube: there’s a new button for hyping a video, and the most-hyped videos will appear on a platform-wide leaderboard. It’s a bit like Trending, but it’s focused specifically on smaller channels and on what people specifically choose to recommend rather than just what they watch.

Discord, a platform widely used by gamers, which is one of the largest group chat apps in the world, has announced that audio and video calls will all be end-to-end encrypted. According to techcrunch.com, even Discord won’t know what users talk about in the conversations. Many other popular chat apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, and Facebook Messenger already have end-to-end encryption. Discord has 200 million monthly users. 

California Governor Newsom has signed a couple of AI bills that had the strong backing of the SAG-AFTRA entertainment union. Variety says that the bills build on the protections the union got following signing of deals after the 4 month actors strike against major studios last year. The studios’ Motion Picture Association had initially opposed the bills, but dropped its opposition after changes that were put in that protect standard post-production techniques and free speech rights. SAG-AFTRA is not trying to prevent producers from using AI to replicate performances. But it does want to ensure that actors and other performers don’t see their likenesses used without their consent and reasonable payment for their use. One bill basically applies to living actors and their likeness and voices, while the other puts protections in place for dead performers…granting their rights to their estate, so the heirs can give or withhold consent…and get paid. James Earl Jones, who just recently passed, had signed an agreement allowing AI to imitate his Darth Vader voice, which should provide a nice little income stream for his heirs. 

The Biden Administration has awarded Intel another $3 billion under the CHIPS and Science Act for the ‘Secure Enclave’ program. CNBC reports that Intel is building foundry plants in 4 states to ramp up domestic semiconductor manufacturing. They had already received $8.5 billion under the CHIPS act. The Secure Enclave program is the latest development in the relationship between Intel and the Department of Defense, which includes projects to build Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes, or RAMPs, and State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integration Prototypes, or SHIPs.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

Instagram Moves Teens into Private, Restrictive Accounts; Meta Bans Russian Media RT; Amazon-Back to Office 5 Days; Google Plan to Reveal AI Images

Posted: September 17, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Instagram has started putting all users….both current and new ones that are age 18 or under…into new ‘Teen Accounts.’ Theverge.com reports that the move will affect how tens of millions of teens are able to interact with Instagram. The new account type automatically applies a set of protections to young users, and only users 16 years of age and older can loosen some of these settings. The most notable thing for the teen accounts is that all the minors will have private accounts by default, and will prevent strangers from direct messaging them. Also on the way will be a Sleep Mode that silences interactions between 10 PM and 7 AM. Instagram is also updating parental controls. Parents that want to supervise their kids on the app will be able to see who the child has messaged in the past 7 days (but not the contents of the messages.) They can also view what topics their teens have looked at most often. The Teen accounts are rolling out to users in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.  They will show up in the EU later this year. 

Meta has banned Russian media outlet RT, and other Russian state media outlets from all its platforms. According to 9to5mac.com, that includes Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. The reason? Meta says ‘foreign interference activity’ in the US presidential election. in a statement, Meta said “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.” Just a few days ago, the US Department of Justice announced charges against two employees for allegedly funneling almost $10 million to a Tennessee-based shell company that was providing controversial and misleading online content. 

You may have heard that after getting non-warehouse workers back in the office 3 days a week, that Amazon will now require staff to be in the office 5 days a week beginning the first of the year. Geekwire.com says that the company is planning to flatten management layers, and that they actually expect the return to office mandate to get staff to self-separate. Sounds like a neat way to do a layoff without having to get hit for an increase in your unemployment insurance contributions, actually. Amazon is really swimming against the tide on this return full time to the office….time will tell if it works for them, or if they lose top talent who will flee to the open arms of startups and other tech companies that are still doing partial or total work from home.

Google (as well as Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI) has been working on tech to watermark AI created images or modified content. Engadget.com reports that Google is touting its latest version of Content Credentials as more secure and tamperproof. They claim it should soon be easier to tell if an image was created or modified using generative AI tools in your Google search results. If an image pops up that has C2PA metadata…C2PA is the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity…you should be able to find out what GAI has been used on it and how much with Google’s ‘About this Image’ tool. It will also be available in Google Images, Lens, and Circle to Search. They are working on how to use C2PA to tell YouTube viewers when footage was captured with a camera. Expect more on that later this year. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.

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