The EU punishes Apple €1.8 billion (£1.5 billion) for streaming violations
The European Commission has fined Apple €1.8 billion (£1.5 billion) for streaming violations. So,1,800,000,000 EUR is equal to 1,952,277,657 USD @ 1.08 US dollars to 1 Euro. Anyway you figure it, this is a significant fine. The reason is that the EU said it’s because the streaming service didn’t inform users of payment options outside the Apple app store. Margrethe […]
The AI wars heat up with Claude 3, claimed to have “near-human” abilities
Enlarge / The Anthropic Claude 3 logo. On Monday, Anthropic released Claude 3, a family of three AI language models similar to those that power ChatGPT. Anthropic claims the models set new industry benchmarks across a range of cognitive tasks, even approaching “near-human” capability in some cases. It’s available now through Anthropic’s website, with the […]
Roundtables – The AI Economy
The AI Economy Speakers: Mat Honan, Editor in chief and David Rotman, Editor at large There’s no doubt that generative AI will impact the economy—but how, exactly, remains an open question. Despite fears that these AI tools will upend workers and exacerbate wealth inequality, early evidence suggests the technology could actually help level the playing […]
Why Signal ‘turned our architecture inside out’ for its latest privacy feature
Adding usernames to a messaging app may seem like a standard feature, but for Signal, such identifiers were anathema to its mission of total privacy and security — until now. The upcoming 7.0 version adds usernames, but the company’s president, Meredith Whittaker, explained that this was nowhere near as simple a decision as it may […]
Preparing for the Time Change? Try Light Therapy
We’re in that seasonal transition again where the days end earlier, night comes sooner and we run out of light faster. It may take several days to adjust to the time change, and many people may feel a little out of whack when first adjusting their routine to the late fall and winter season. However, […]
Forced to Change: Tech Giants Bow to Global Onslaught of Rules
By Thursday, Google will have changed how it displays certain search results. Microsoft will no longer have Windows customers use its Bing internet search tool by default. And Apple will give iPhone and iPad users access to rival app stores and payment systems for the first time. The tech giants have been preparing ahead of […]
I Found Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ Script. ‘Dune: Part Two’ Is Better
As with the book, the script begins with the gom jabbar scene between Paul Atreides and Reverend Mother Mohiam, except in this version the Atreides have already made their trek from Caladan to Arrakis. Right after Paul passes his test with the box, the four wise men of Thufir, Yueh, Gurney, and Duncan present Duke […]