Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 9/25/24. We aim to educate people about this crucial area along with providing information of what is taking place.
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/mightpossibly/re-leothreads-eeahqfqe?referral=mightpossibly
Cool although I have no idea what you just said.
It's comparable to what you've been talking a lot about lately. As you know, current LLMs are trained on "everything", i.e. not specialized. This is what LeoAI will bring to the table; still trained on everything, but in addition it's specialized on Hive data.
This example is basically the same concept, but for coding. It allows you to locally fine tune your programming environment to gain access to up-to-date documentation for specific software libraries. Very useful when you're building hive applications for instance. Sure, most LLMs can make hive applications without it, but often, specific functions (and especially new ones) are not part of the training data, making it very difficult to create working code. This is a major hurdle that this prompting-tip solves.
Ah okay. Got it now. This is something very cool then. Honing the direction and spreading the development out towards the edges.
Very cool indeed
Can this be done on VSCodium?
Can you install plug-ins on VSCodium? If so (I assume so), the answer is yes. Install the Continue plugin and insert your anthropic (or openai or groq) API key. https://www.continue.dev/
Yes, but for some reason, not all official Microsoft plugins work. Some need the VS Code version.
Give it a go and let me know how it turns out
Continue should not be an official microsoft plugin as far as I know
Ok, then!
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The head of the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday defended a decision to delay a SpaceX Starship launch because the company hadn’t followed permitting and licensing requirements, just days after Elon Musk groused that the FAA’s red tape is getting in the way of the company’s ambitions.
Mike Whitaker, the administrator of the FAA, told lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee that his decision to delay SpaceX’s launch for a few months is grounded in safety, and defended the $633,000 fine his agency has proposed against SpaceX as the “only tool” the FAA has to ensure that Musk’s company follows the rules.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/24/spacex-rocket-launch-delay-faa-00180730
https://inleo.io/threads/view/coyotelation/re-fatxkuprdd?referral=coyotelation
LOL it is amazing what is being made if that is not simply trick photography.
Hey, it's not a trick. LOL
Without a doubt, things are getting more interesting. More "toys" will be built in the future.
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Unlock Customer Insights with AI (for Free!)
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> S👁️URCE <
Big Step for Blue Origin’s Giant Rocket! 🚀
Blue Origin just pulled off a major milestone by successfully testing the second stage of its massive New Glenn rocket. This is the first time they’ve fired an orbital stage, bringing them closer to their November launch goal. At 320 feet tall, New Glenn is no small feat, but there are still some hurdles ahead, like a hurricane headed toward Florida’s space coast later this week. Fingers crossed they stay on track for launch!
> S👁️URCE <
New AI Video Tools Coming to Google Photos!
Starting soon on Android and iOS, Google Photos is launching an AI-powered video editor that’s packed with cool new features. You’ll be able to adjust your video’s speed (hello, slow-mo or fast-forward) and use an “Auto Enhance” tool for instant color and stability fixes. Plus, AI will handle cropping, speed control, and even add effects like zoom and motion tracking—all automatically. Whether you’re a casual user or a video-editing newbie, this update makes polishing your clips easier than ever! Keep an eye out for the rollout.
> S👁️URCE <
TikTok Just Got Even Better for Creators - Here's How!
TikTok is opening up its subscription feature to more creators, not just for live streams anymore! Now, if you’ve got 10K+ followers and over 100K video views in the past month, you can offer your fans exclusive content through a paid subscription. Plus, you can get creative with three customizable tiers, offering perks like private chats or special content just for your subscribers. The best part? It's a new way to build deeper connections with your audience and get paid while doing it! Ready to level up? Make sure you're 18+, and your account’s in good shape.
> S👁️URCE <
mmm, the threshold to start the paid subscription service is pretty low. I guess lots of people will try it!
SpaceX's Big Mars Push: Is 2028 the Year Humans Land?
SpaceX is gearing up for five uncrewed Mars missions over the next two years, taking advantage of the next Earth-to-Mars transfer window. These test flights are crucial in determining when humans could board flights to the Red Planet—potentially as soon as 2028! But before all that, SpaceX is still waiting on FAA approval for Starship’s next test flight, expected in late November. Keep your eyes on the skies, because the future of space exploration is unfolding fast!
> S👁️URCE <
Will A.I. Be a Bust? A Wall Street Skeptic Rings the Alarm.
Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs’s head of stock research, warned that building too much of what the world doesn’t need “typically ends badly.”
#technology #ai
Justice Department accuses Visa of debit network monopoly that affects price of ‘nearly everything’
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday sued Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, saying it propped up an illegal monopoly over debit payments.
The DOJ said Visa imposed “exclusionary” agreements on partners and smothered upstart firms.
Visa and its smaller rival Mastercard have surged over the past two decades, reaching a combined market cap of roughly $1 trillion.
#technology #finance #money #visa
For the first time, Blue Origin has ignited an orbital rocket stage
Twenty days after it rolled out to Blue Origin's launch site in Florida, the second stage of the massive New Glenn rocket underwent a successful hot-fire test on Monday.
The second stage—known as GS2 for Glenn stage 2—ignited for 15 seconds as part of the "risk reduction" hot-fire test, the company said. The two BE-3U engines, fueled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen and each producing 173,000 pounds of thrust, burned with a nearly transparent flame that approached a temperature of 6,000° Fahrenheit.
#technology #space #blueorigin
Star FTX Witness Caroline Ellison Sentenced to Two Years in Prison
Caroline Ellison, the star witness in FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in what prosecutors called one of the largest financial frauds in history.
#technology #crypto #ftx #fraud
AI
Duolingo launches AI video calling to practice English, Spanish and French
Duolingo introduced video calls with Lily, one of its main characters, to practice conversation within the app this Tuesday (24). The new feature is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and will be available to those who practice English, Spanish and French.
The new tool guarantees another step in the learning process through the application, which now offers a conversation system in addition to the lessons already available on the trail. According to the company in a note to Canaltech, the resource has technology to “simulate natural dialogues” and offers a “personalized and interactive practice environment”.
#newsonleo #ai #technology
In a demonstration video, Duolingo shows that the option to start a conversation with the platform's character is carried out within the track itself. When you activate it, the application simulates the beginning of a call, by showing the “Calling Lily” notification, and then starts the video conference.
The tool can be used by those who study English, Spanish and French, but will only be available to Duolingo Max subscribers. For now, the company has only announced the new feature in the iOS app.
Duolingo also introduced Adventures, a platform that offers a “gamified experience” for learning new languages within the app. The feature will be available for Android and iOS.
The new feature offers narratives and dynamic scenarios with characters, without being limited to the platform's traditional lessons.
James Cameron Teams Up with AI Company! 🎥🤖
Big news: James Cameron, the mastermind behind Avatar and Titanic, just joined Stability AI’s board! He's stepping in to help the company, known for generative media, take a huge leap into visual storytelling. If anyone knows how to make groundbreaking visuals, it's Cameron. With AI revolutionizing creative industries, this partnership could mean some seriously next-level content is on the way. Imagine AI tools creating stories that feel like your favorite sci-fi blockbuster! Keep an eye on this, Cameron’s vision might change how we experience movies.
> S👁️URCE <
MIT Just Supercharged Medication Manufacturing! 🚀
MIT researchers have turbocharged an AI-based system that helps design medicines, speeding it up by 60 times! Imagine how long it takes to get a new drug to market, this could cut those wait times drastically. The breakthrough focuses on speeding up the estimation process during drug production, making things faster, smoother, and more efficient. Whether it’s finding better treatments or delivering essential meds sooner, this leap in AI tech could transform how quickly we see new therapies. Think of it as going from riding a bike to driving a racecar! MIT is once again
> S👁️URCE <
Apple's AI is Going Global: Here's What You Need to Know!
Apple’s generative AI is set to launch with iOS 18.1 in American English, but that’s just the beginning. By 2025, the AI will expand to more languages like German and Korean. Sounds cool, right? But there’s a catch, Apple is facing some regulatory pushback from both the EU and China. They're in talks with officials to sort things out, so it might take a bit longer to fully roll out globally. Keep an eye on this one, big updates are on the way!
> S👁️URCE <
Candidate Harris Unlikely to Make Full-Throated Crypto Policy Before Election
Senior campaign officials are meeting with a select group of crypto insiders to hash out policy concerns, but those in the discussions aren't expecting a big splash before the vote.
#technology #crypto #election #kamalaharris
Shock-proofing supply chain with AI: a $62 billion opportunity
The Covid-19 pandemic showed how fragile global supply chains could be. To understand how fragile supply chains still are, look no further than the furniture industry, which had record early-pandemic sales but saw a string of bankruptcies recently due to container shortages, scarce raw materials, and long lag times receiving critical components. The most headline-grabbing supply chain crises may be behind us, but a certain degree of fragmentation and chaos in the flow of goods is now the norm. In total, supply chain disruptions have left an estimated $1.6T on the table for the past several years. Looking at a decade’s worth of supply chain disruptions, an average company can expect to lose nearly half of one year’s profit.
When buying factory meat products, you can't be sure of their safety, since factories often don't follow the rules and regulations, as a rule, they first buy the cattle, and then buy health certificates from the farmers. !BEER
All true. The same applies to most of our food sources.
To whom am I saying that sometimes it's better to trust a farm than corporations that don't care about anything and minimize their costs :) !VSC
I already used Duolingo to improve my English, with this new tool, I think I'll even use it again.
I found it to be a very interesting way to use AI for this type of learning.
#technology #ai #duolingo
https://inleo.io/threads/view/coyotelation/re-taskmaster4450le-p8r6bmrt?referral=coyotelation
There are a lot of things coming out.
Or we could just chip your head so it all gets translated.
Has anyone tried the Arc browser?
No I am not familiar with that one.
I just found out about it today. Apparently it's very different from other browsers... they claim they are trying to make it "the operating system of the internet"
I might check it out
It will be good to see you give us feedback about it.
No... Its advantages?
I haven't tried it myself either. The creators claim it's very disruptive and different from all other browsers. They claim to be the "operational system of the internet". I might give it a go later on
Just checked their website. It does look cool! https://arc.net/
If you download it, I'll be waiting for your feedback about it.
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Top 5 biggest technology trends for 2025:
Quantum Computing
Biotechnology
Cybersecurity
Climate Change and
Machine and Human Intelligence.
More details in the link in linked thread..
Quantum Computing will be really interesting, considering what we were able to do even without it.
Definitely, let's hope there will be more bigger news on this after that 2019's news by Google AI and NASA about achieving quantum supremacy with that 54 qubit machine.
#quantum #computing #inleo #threads #2025 #technology
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/09/23/the-5-biggest-technology-trends-for-2025-everyone-must-be-ready-for-now/
Just added 800+ tokens!!
https://inleo.io/threads/view/ahmadmanga/re-leothreads-2rusop59q?referral=ahmadmanga
Exceptional. Do that 100K more times and we have some data brewing.
It is rather fun to watch the token count rising even though there isnt a total count.
Give me time to cook. !LOLZ
Imagine if someone made a tool that calculates the total token count of Hive Blockchain? It won't be hard to program, but it'll need to download all of the blockchain so it'll need SPACE!
LOL when servers get cheaper maybe Khal and the team can pull it down. I would be curious how many tokens it is.
That would be fascinating to figure out (and promote).
Shouldn't LeoAI be able to count the tokens as it works on them?
Well since I dont have access to it, I dont know. But I am sure a there are something things that the devs can tell are being processed. With groq, you see the token counts for different things even on the front end. So imagine the back end people can see a lot more.
I'm pretty sure.
There is about 3 months to load up Leo with data. The goal is to have LeoAI running by the end of the year.
Well, I try to write to blogposts about economy and sports daily. I hope it has some impact…
That will help a great deal. Adding tokens helps a great deal. It is rather easy to get 1K tokens with a long form post.
Allright, glad that I can help train the AI… Makes me feel kind of important! 😎
People need to realize that we are the ones steering the future. What gets developed in the digital world is up to us.
When LeoAI rolls how, bet the ranch people will complain about the results...mainly the people who contributed nothing.
Im thinking about what topics or areas we could fill it up with that makes us stand out from the rest?
What do you mean?
I mean if we just fill the ai with articles from popular media outlets, there is a great chance that someone has already shared the info.
I want to find stuff that might not be in e.g Lama already and by that make LeoAI more unique
You can dig through here and see what you can find each day.
https://tldr.tech/
But we can add a lot more than just technology
Connected fitness startup EGYM is ramping up with $200m at a $1.2B+ valuation
Getting healthy is big business these days. Now a startup that’s come up with a unique approach leveraging tech to help people with their exercise regimes
Getting healthy is big business these days. Now a startup that’s come up with a unique approach leveraging tech to help people with their exercise regimes is announcing a big round of funding, putting some weight behind its own push for growth.
#newsonleo #technology #egym
Munich-based EGYM — a startup taking a vertically-integrated approach to connected fitness — has closed a Series G round of just over $200 million from L Catterton and Meritech, both new backers of the startup.
The funding is coming in at a post-money valuation of more than $1.2 billion, CEO and founder Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer confirmed to TechCrunch in an interview, and it will be used in a couple of key areas.
The company has several products and services that it sells and develops in tandem. There are connected workout stations that it sells to gyms, and the software that runs on those machines that people exercising can use to better understand what they are doing and getting out of their exertions. There is a marketplace where EGYM connects those gyms to companies that are building out their own wellness programs for their employees. And most recently, there is a new AI-powered personal assistant that EGYM has launched that individuals users can access to help them track their activity and offer more suggestions to improve their activity and outcomes.
The plan will be to drive more business across all of these areas. One focus will be expansion in its newest markets, the U.K. and the U.S., where it has respectively acquired two smaller companies, Hussle and FitReserve. It also wants to continue building the AI assistant, called Genius, which launched earlier this year. Despite the hype around AI, Genius is no AI gimmick, Roesch-Schlanderer said.
“I don’t really have an opinion about the
Article
Automattic sends WP Engine its own cease-and-desist over WordPress trademark infringement
The brouhaha in the WordPress community looks likely to escalate into a legal battle around trademarks.
The brouhaha in the WordPress community looks likely to escalate into a legal battle around trademarks.
Just a day after WordPress hosting service WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist notice to Automattic asking its CEO to stop publicly trashing WP Engine, now Automattic has sent its own cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, saying the latter has infringed several trademarks like WordPress and WooCommerce.
#newsonleo #wordpress #technology
This comes after Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and co-creator of WordPress, last week criticized WP Engine for profiteering off the open-source WordPress project, called it a “cancer to WordPress,” and accused the company of contributing very little to the community.
In its letter dated Monday, Automattic alleged that WP Engine has built a business of over $400 million in revenue based on unauthorized use of its WordPress trademark, which Automattic claims it has the exclusive commercial rights for from the WordPress Foundation. Automattic also said WP Engine has misled consumers into believing that there is a direct affliction between the two companies.
“Your unauthorized use of our Client’s trademarks infringes on their rights and dilutes their famous and well-known marks. Negative reviews and comments regarding WP Engine and its offerings are imputed to our Client, thereby tarnishing our Client’s brands, harming their reputation, and damaging the goodwill our Client has established in its marks,” the letter read.
“Your unauthorized use of our Client’s intellectual property has enabled WP Engine to compete with our Client unfairly, and has led to unjust enrichment and undue profits,” it added.
Automattic is also demanding compensation for the profits made by WP Engine by using its trademarks, and said that if WP Engine doesn’t amicably solve the matter, the company has the right to file a civil injunction case.
Article
OpenAI just launched advanced voice mode for audio chats with ChatGPT. Here's how to use it
If you're a paying customer, ChatGPT will respond to your spoken questions and comments quickly. But there's a limit to how much you can use it in a single day.
OpenAI said Tuesday that its popular chatbot now has an advanced voice feature for people who pay for the premium service. The tool allows for more fluid conversations.
#openai #technology #audiochat #chatgpt #newsonleo
Article
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The release will continue through the week. The company said it's not yet available in EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland or the U.K.
OpenAI announced the new capability in May. The rollout got plenty of publicity because of a voice called Sky that resembled that of Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 movie "Her." Legal counsel working on behalf of Johansson sent OpenAI letters claiming the company didn't have the right to use the near-identical voice, and OpenAI paused using it in its products, CNBC reported.
In the months since, people have been able to configure ChatGPT to talk to them in other voices through a free tier. The advanced version responds more quickly and will stop talking and listen if you interrupt it. There are now nine voices to choose from, and you can enter instructions for voice chats in the Customizations part of the app's settings.
"Hope you think it was worth the wait," Sam Altman, OpenAI's co-founder and CEO, wrote in an X post on Tuesday.
It's an increasingly competitive space for OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft.
For the past couple weeks, Google has been releasing its own Gemini Live voice feature in English on Android devices. And on Monday, Reuters reported that Meta will introduce celebrity voices later this week that can be accessed through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Reddit is bringing AI-powered, automatic translation to dozens of new countries
Reddit is bringing machine learning-powered translations to more than 35 new languages, including Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish.
Reddit is bringing machine learning-powered translations to more than 35 new locales in Europe, Asia and Latin America in a move designed to open the largely English-centric social network to more users.
#reddit #translation #newsonleo #technolgoy #ai
The service comes nearly five months after Reddit first introduced site-wide translation for French-speakers, though the company had previously enabled users to translate individual posts across several languages. Reddit already allows users to stipulate their preferred content language for post recommendations, as well as set their display language which translates the Reddit interface itself.
Today’s announcement follows seven months after Reddit went public, and although the company has said its user base and ad revenue continue to grow, the most obvious conduit for attracting a larger base is to make all its content available in more languages.
The big selling point of Reddit’s new translation feature is that users can configure both posts and the corresponding comments to auto-translate from a community’s original language to the user’s own language according to their Reddit settings. This means that a conversation can flow in a given subreddit between two different languages, and users won’t have to manually translate every response. You can post in whatever language you want, and as long as Reddit supports it, it will automatically be translated into the community’s pre-set language.
To do this, users in supported locales will see a new translate icon in their menu that will let them view content in their preferred language.
Posts that have been translated by Reddit will be labeled as such, and users will be able to choose to view posts in the original language if they wish.
Similar to what it did with translating posts in French earlier this year, Reddit said that the content will be indexed in the supported languages for search engines, meaning people Googling for answers to questions in their own tongue will see results from Reddit, too.
Article
Meet the Latin American e-commerce platform that's outperforming Amazon this year
MercadoLibre has emerged as a top pick on Wall Street as investors search for tech opportunities beyond the Magnificent Seven.
One of the world's largest e-commerce companies is emerging as a top pick on Wall Street as investors look for tech opportunities beyond the Magnificent Seven.
#amazon #ecommerce #rechnology #mercadolibre #newsonleo
MercadoLibre, an Argentinian e-commerce and payments platform that's incorporated in Delaware and actively traded on Nasdaq, is up 34% in 2024, compared to a roughly 27% rise for Amazon, and 20% for the S&P 500. The company was founded 25 years ago by CEO Marcos Gaplerin at the height of the dot com boom. It now dominates online sales in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and makes up roughly half of online sales in South America, according to eMarketer. It also operates a digital payments platform called Mercado Pago.
Roughly 90% of Wall Street analysts who cover the stock rate it a "buy," with an average price target of $2,268 — about 8% upside from where it was trading this week, according to FactSet. There are no sell ratings.
Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital is one such bull. He highlighted expanding profit margins and MercadoLibre's AI potential as reasons he's "excited" by the stock.
"You look at companies like MercadoLibre ... a lot of companies that people have kind of forgotten about as [investors] moved in to the Magnificent Seven -- I think there are going to be a lot of internet companies that are benefited by AI," Gerstner told CNBC's Scott Wapner at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference this month. "It's not only margin expansion, but reacceleration at the top, where they can acquire customers, improve products in a way that make it easier for customers to buy, and take friction out of the system."
Article
Salesforce snatches up Zoomin, a tool for organizing company knowledge
Salesforce has bought out Zoomin, a startup developing a tool to organize all the knowledge and documentation across an organization.
Salesforce is on a buying spree.
After snatching up data management firm Own earlier in the month, Salesforce today announced its plans to buy Zoomin, an enterprise knowledge platform. Zoomin — which we’ve covered a handful of times before — unifies a company’s docs, like product user guides and tutorials, in one portal.
#newsonleo #salesforce #technology #zoomin
That's smart. Salesforce's current solution for knowledge base management and automation is functional, but it requires a lot of manual configuration and can be tricky to work out. This should make things easier
Yeah. Of course, the big get bigger. This is why we need to do all we can to distribute things.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Salesforce expects it to be finalized in Q4 of its fiscal year 2025 (January 31), subject to customary closing conditions.
Founded in 2019 by Gal Oron, Hannan Saltzman, and Joe Gelb, Zoomin applies AI and big data to help companies build self-service documentation search and support experiences. The Israeli startup’s customers range from tech brands like McAfee and Dell to fast-food franchises including Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes.
Zoomin’s investors — among them General Atlantic, Bessemer Ventures Partners, Viola Growth, and Salesforce’s own venture org, Salesforce Ventures — poured $73 million in capital into the firm.
Rahul Auradkar, EVP of unified data sources at Salesforce, says that post-acquisition, Zoomin will augment Salesforce’s Data Cloud platform to power use cases like using a company’s knowledge base to automate customer service interactions.
“Proprietary unstructured data is powerful fuel our customers can use for AI agents and customer experiences,” Auradkar said, “and Zoomin’s proven expertise and technology will accelerate Data Cloud’s innovation and enable our customers to get better value.”
Salesforce’s acquisition of Zoomin comes after the tech giant pledged to spend $500 million in additional cash on AI startups through Salesforce Ventures.
Article
From groq:
What is Web 3.0?
Here is a rewritten version with more details:
Web 3.0, also known as the third generation of the World Wide Web, is a term used to describe the next phase of the internet's evolution. This decentralized, blockchain-based, and AI-driven Internet aims to provide a more secure, transparent, and user-centric experience. The key characteristics of Web 3.0 include:
This means that data is stored and managed by a network of nodes, rather than a single central authority. decentralization enables greater autonomy, security, and resilience, as well as reduced reliance on centralized systems.
Some of the potential benefits of Web 3.0 include:
However, Web 3.0 is still in its early stages, and its development is ongoing. As the technology evolves, we can expect to see more widespread adoption and innovative applications across various industries.
Businesses compete by building better services, not on the network effects. The web captures the network effects.
There is always a network effect, the only question is where it is captured (and by whom).
Visualizing The Extreme Cost Of Training AI Models
The cost of training AI models has exploded in just the past year...
The cost of training AI models has exploded in just the past year, according to data released by the research firm Epoch AI.
This development aptly shows how much more complex and capable AI models have gotten in a short time span.
#newsonleo #ai #technology
Last year saw the release of ChatGPT-4 in March by OpenAI, which kickstarted the global AI hype. Google followed suit with its advanced AI model, Gemini, in December.
As Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, both systems have been much more expensive to train than previous AI models and their development has potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Epoch AI release.
The cost of training Gemini, which is a large language model that can be inputted with text, voice commands and images, reportedly stood between $30 and $191 million even before taking staff salaries into consideration.
According to Epoch AI, these can make up 29 percent to 49 percent of the final price. ChatGPT-4, the latest edition, had a technical creation cost of $41 million to $78 million, according to the source. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has in the past said that the model has cost more than $100 million, confirming the calculations.
Looking back, the cost of earlier AI models was much lower. ChatGPT-3 cost only around $2 million to $4 million make in 2020, while Gemini's precursor PaLM in 2022 took between $3 million and $12 million to train when only looking at the cost of computing.
Even at these price points, keeping up with cutting-edge AI development might have proved difficult for academic or other public institutions that have traditionally been active in AI research.
While it was updated to support voice and images in fall 2023, ChatGPT-4, like its name suggests, started out based around its central text input, while Gemini and its app have been designed as a multimodal LLM from the get-go.
This explains why ChatGPT's initial training cost might have been lower.
On the other hand, Gemini's general focus on app delivery - for example, prompting users to snap pictures with their smartphones, pick out features in them and have them analyzed - could have warranted a higher cost.
Article
Airtel fights spam with AI, seeks WhatsApp oversight in India
Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, is rolling out an AI-powered spam detection solution to all its customers.
Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, launched a free AI-powered spam detection system for all customers on Wednesday, aiming to curb the country’s raging unwanted calls and messages while also calling for stricter regulation of WhatsApp and other messaging platforms.
#newsonleo #airtel #spam #technology #hotel
The company claims the solution is India’s first network-based, AI-powered, spam detection system. The feature will alert Airtel’s customers in real-time to suspected spam calls and text messages, and will automatically activate for all users at no additional cost. Airtel has about 387 million wireless subscribers in India.
Indians have long grappled with a relentless barrage of spam. A recent survey by startup LocalCircles found that a staggering 95% of users report receiving unwanted calls every day, with most facing at least three such intrusions a day. The government’s “Do Not Disturb” (DND) registry has proven largely ineffective, with 90% of registered users still plagued by spammers, the survey found.
Gopal Vittal, managing director and CEO of Bharti Airtel, said the telecom operator spent 12 months building the new spam detection system. “Spam has become a menace for customers,” he said.
Vittal also called for stricter regulatory oversight on messaging platforms including WhatsApp to safeguard customers. WhatsApp users in India, its largest market, have been complaining about the rise of spam texts from brands for many years.
Article
Vsim, founded by Nvidia alums, raises $24M for robotics simulation tech
Manchester-based Vsim is developing a new physics simulation framework, and has raised $21.5 million from EQT Ventures and a number of backers.
One of Nvidia’s fundamental breakthroughs has involved processors that power detailed, compute-intensive graphical simulations that can be used for everything from games and industrial development to AI training. Now, two of the engineers who helped build those physical simulations for Nvidia have raised a sizable amount of seed funding for their new startup.
#vsim #nvidia #technology #robotics #newsonleo
Manchester-based Vsim is developing a new physics simulation framework, and it has raised $21.5 million from EQT Ventures and a number of backers. Vsim confirmed to us that it had previously, quietly raised around $2.5 million, bringing its total funding raised to $24 million. This latest investment has been rumored for a while and values the company at around $100 million valuation.
Factorial Fund, Samsung Next, Tru Arrow, Xora (backed by Temasek), IQ Capital, Koro Capital, Concept Ventures, Lakestar Scout Fund and Carles Reina also participated in the round.
Vsim has been operating in stealth so far, so there is not a lot of evidence of its product just yet. Michelle Lu, who co-founded the startup with Kier Storey, told TechCrunch that they are initially targeting opportunities in robotics training.
However, the tech might be able to do far more than that. One of the key reasons why Vsim has raised a bigger-than-usual seed round is because what it is building has the potential to be used for a lot more.
While simulation technology has been around for years, improvements in processing power are leading to more efficient algorithms, as well as tooling aimed at more specific applications — that’s the opportunity Vsim is targeting.
Lu and Storey are not just the co-founders of Vsim; they are also a couple and have been working side-by-side for nearly two decades, going back to their days as physics students at Newcastle University.
The pair’s first foray into startup life was a short-lived effort when they were fresh out of their PhD program. That company might have had the right talent and ideas but it came at the wrong time, and maybe the wrong place, too: It was 2007, and there was little money to be raised for startups building simulation technology in Northern England, even from promising PhDs.
So the two moved to a new pair of jobs, working for Bizarre Creations, a game studio based out of Manchester. Bizarre found some success and was acquired by Activision, and there they built physics engines for a number of titles. Activision eventually shut down Bizarre and the pair moved to Nvidia, where they worked as engineers focusing on building simulation technology for more than a decade.
Lu said that she and Storey have honed in on simulations for robotics as the first use-case because of a gap in the market: While robots have existed for years now, particularly in industrial settings, they now seem to be at an inflection point thanks to advances in processing, mechanics and AI.
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Google files EU antitrust complaint accusing Microsoft of stifling cloud competition
Google said in an antitrust complaint that Microsoft uses unfair licensing contracts in its Azure cloud computing business to stifle competition.
Google filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission Wednesday accusing Microsoft of using unfair licensing contracts to stifle competition in the multibillion-dollar cloud computing industry.
#google #microsoft #lawsuit #newsonleo #technology
At the heart of Google's complaint is the allegation that Microsoft uses unfair licensing terms to "lock in" clients and exert control over the cloud market.
Google alleges that Microsoft, through its dominant Windows Server and Microsoft Office products, can make it difficult for its massive roster of clients to use anything but its Azure cloud infrastructure offering.
The internet giant said in its complaint that restrictions contained in Microsoft's cloud licensing terms makes it harder for customers to move their workloads from Microsoft's Azure cloud technology to competitors' clouds, despite there being no technical barriers to doing so.
European businesses and public sector organizations have been forced to pay the firm up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year in licensing penalties due to restrictions on customers' ability to switch from one cloud provider to another, Google said, citing a 2023 study by CISPE, a trade body for the cloud computing sector.
The antitrust complaint from Google arrives after CISPE and its members in July agreed a settlement with Microsoft which would see the firm make changes to address competition concerns.
Referring to the CISPE settlement, Microsoft said in a statement Wednesday that it expects the European Commission to dismiss Google's complaint.
"Microsoft settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC via email. "Having failed to persuade European companies, we expect Google similarly will fail to persuade the European Commission."
Microsoft's cloud 'tax' at issue
In a summary of the complaint, Google — which ranks third globally in the cloud computing market behind market leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, respectively — said that Microsoft "harms cybersecurity and undermines innovation."
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WhatFix raises a whopping $125M for its in-app user guides
WhatFix, a company developing a platform that guides people through using web and desktop apps, has closed a $125 million equity funding round.
Digital transformation — upgrading a company’s legacy apps and processes with new tech — has long been a buzzy and lucrative business. But the pandemic supercharged the market.
#newsonleo #whatfix #technology
Covid pandemic lockdowns and the widespread move to work-from-home spurred brands relying on old technology to modernize their organizations. According to Statista, worldwide spending on digital transformation reached $1.85 trillion in 2022, up more than 16% from the previous year.
WhatFix is among the digital transformation firms that have benefited enormously from the boom. The San Jose-based company, which offers a platform that demos how to use third-party software, this week closed a $125 million Series E round led by Warburg Pincus.
CEO Khadim Batti says that the round, which also had participation from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, values WhatFix at a figure 50% higher than its Series D valuation in 2021. WhatFix never disclosed that valuation, but my colleague Ingrid Lunden ascertained that it was close to $600 million. We can assume, then, that the Series E brings the company’s valuation to around $900 million.
Batti co-launched WhatFix with Vara Kumar in 2013 after the pair met while working at Huawei. The Chinese electronics giant had just opened an office in India, near the founders’ home cities.
WhatFix wasn’t an overnight success. Batti and Kumar originally tried building a business around a search engine optimization tool called Search Enabler, but roadblocks kept arising — including user confusion. Few customers knew how to implement the tool’s suggestions, Batti says.
“The recommendations were generally quite basic, such as the webpage not having a title, but customers didn’t know how to use applications like WordPress to correct the error,” he told TechCrunch. “Most were small businesses without technology know-how.”
Out of this early failure sprang inspiration. Batti and Kumar decided to pivot to try their hands at a different challenge: teaching people how to use new software.
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Google's revised ad targeting plan triggers fresh competition concerns in UK
What is going on with Google's long-touted migration to an alternative adtech stack (aka its Privacy Sandbox proposal)? What indeed.
What is going on with Google’s long-touted migration to an alternative adtech stack (aka its Privacy Sandbox proposal)? What indeed. The entire multi-year endeavour to reshape the commercial web looks dangerously close to being killed off after the latest intervention by the U.K.’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
#google #newsonleo #technology #advertising
This comes on top of the u-turn that Google made around third-party tracking cookies. Originally they were going to be depreciated; as of July, cookies look like they are here to stay.
The CMA has been probing Google’s Privacy Sandbox plan since January 2021, following a November 2020 complaint by a coalition of digital marketing companies — which is one reason the project has been so tortuously slow. But slow is starting to look like a flat out ‘no’ from the U.K. regulator.
In a case update Tuesday, the CMA’s tossed yet another spanner in Google’s works, writing that it has “competition concerns” about its most recent revisions. Earlier commitments the tech giant had given it would also need to be updated to reflect “the evolution in Google’s planned Privacy Sandbox browser changes”, it said.
Meaning — at the very least — further delays to a project that’s already years over its original schedule.
The CMA said it’s discussing changes with Google, and Google would be required to address its competition concerns — but it has yet to specifying exactly which elements of the revised proposal are not yet meeting the mark. But one thing is clear: Google’s proposed shift to a user-choice architecture is on ice while the regulator weighs impacts.
“If the CMA is not able to agree changes to the commitments with Google which address the competition concerns, then the CMA will consider what further action may be necessary,” the regulator also wrote, again without stipulating what options might be on the table at that point (note: Google already agreed not to end support for tracking cookies without the CMA’s agreement), adding that it will “publicly consult before taking any decision on whether to accept changes to the commitments, and is aiming to do this in Q4 2024”.
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Hone Capital, a Silicon Valley firm, is being probed by the FBI
According to the FT, the FBI is now poking around nine-year-old Hone Capital, a Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture firm funded by a Chinese private equity firm,
According to the FT, the FBI is now poking around nine-year-old Hone Capital, a Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture firm funded by a Chinese private equity firm, to determine whether some of its capital came from the Chinese government — and if it shared sensitive startup data with Beijing.
#newsonleo #fbi #honecapital
Originally launched with $115 million from China’s CSC Group, Hone has since snapped up stakes in more than 360 U.S. startups, including the investing platform AngelList, payments giant Stripe, and supersonic flight outfit Boom.
The probe comes amid continuing U.S.-China tensions that have seen U.S. firms back out of the country and prompted both venture funding and startup creation in China to nosedive.
The FT notes that Hone has also been feuding with two former executives since 2020. The firm sued the two – its former CFO and its former Silicon Valley head – alleging fraud. They countersued, saying they’re being denied their fair share of the firm’s profits. Hone and CSC deny any wrongdoing.
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From Groq:
Who is the CEO of Google and what is his background?
The CEO of Google is Sundar Pichai. He has been serving as the CEO of Google since October 2, 2015. Prior to becoming the CEO, Pichai was the Product Chief of Google, overseeing the development of many of Google's core products, including Google Search, Google Chrome, and Google Android.
Sundar Pichai was born on July 12, 1972, in Madurai, India. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of technology Kharagpur and a Master's degree in Materials science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Pichai joined Google in 2004 as a product manager and quickly rose through the ranks. He played a key role in the development of Google Chrome, Google Drive, and Google Maps, among other products. In 2013, he became the head of Android, leading the development of the Android operating system and the Google Play Store.
Under Pichai's leadership, Google has made significant advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing. He has also been instrumental in shaping Google's strategy and vision for the future of technology.
Pichai is known for his humble and collaborative leadership style, and has been praised for his ability to bring together teams from different parts of the company to work towards common goals. He is also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, and has been a vocal supporter of initiatives aimed at increasing representation and opportunities for underrepresented groups in the tech industry.
Overall, Sundar Pichai is a highly respected and accomplished leader in the tech industry, and his background and experience make him well-suited to lead Google as it continues to shape the future of technology.
From Groq:
What is the company Zoomin? What does it do and what is the history?
Zoomin is a technology company that specializes in AI-powered customer support and knowledge management solutions. The company was founded in 2014 by a team of entrepreneurs and engineers who wanted to revolutionize the way companies interact with their customers.
#zoomin #technology
Zoomin's flagship product is a cloud-based platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help companies provide personalized and efficient customer support. The platform uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to analyze customer inquiries and provide relevant answers and solutions.
Here's how it works:
Zoomin's platform is designed to help companies reduce the time and effort required to resolve customer issues, while also improving the overall customer experience. The company's solutions are used by a range of industries, including technology, finance, healthcare, and e-commerce.
In terms of history, Zoomin was founded in 2014 by a team of entrepreneurs and engineers who had previously worked at companies such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM. The company raised its first round of funding in 2015 and has since received additional funding from investors such as Sequoia capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Today, Zoomin is a fast-growing company with a global presence and a customer base that includes some of the world's largest and most well-known brands. The company continues to innovate and expand its product offerings, with a focus on using AI and machine learning to improve customer support and knowledge management.
Artificial Intelligence: Our Days (Probably) Aren't Numbered
Maybe it’s a law of history: every innovation faces opposition...
Maybe it’s a law of history: every innovation faces opposition. The early nineteenth-century Luddites wrecked textile machinery because it took their jobs. Our innate suspicion extends to trade, too, which is, after all, just another technology for turning one thing into another. Apartheid-era white South Africans opposed efforts to modify the Colour Bar because they feared that African workers would take their jobs and reduce them to “uncivilized” standards of living. Protectionists want to shield their fellow Americans from foreign competition.
#technology #ai
Artificial intelligence is the most recent worry and was the big technology story of 2023. Should we curse these intelligent machines? After all, once machines can solve problems, they will take all our jobs and cause mass unemployment. Peggy Noonan sounded the alarm about Artificial Intelligence in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI’s executives appeared before Congress to ask (perhaps predictably) for licensing and regulation, and some wonder if the robot apocalypse is finally upon us.
We have heard this story before. It’s still wrong.
The “creative” part of creative destruction is harder to see than the “destruction” part. Of course, I can make life a bit more convenient with new apps and subscription services. But it’s not as dramatic as a plant closure, and there’s no despairing laid off laborer to interview.
But what happens when people innovate and increase others’ productivity? They make some resources redundant and free them up for other, more productive uses. Innovation and institutional change run into distributional problems because some people might be made worse off — absolutely and permanently. Sometimes those who take losses from a changing status quo can veto the change. Government social insurance or trade adjustment assistance, for example, might make it easier for people to swallow the bitter pills of losing their livelihoods.
Civil institutions like houses of worship, civic organizations, and other groups help people having hard times. Whether people deserve help might be irrelevant to the political reality. When people put themselves in positions to extract rents, they will do so. In the very long run, weathering periodic injustice might be a small price to pay for big increases in standards of living.
I run the risk of writing my epitaph here, but the threat of artificial intelligence is, most likely, overstated. Learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic underscored that: online schooling is a poor substitute for in-person schooling. Yes, many meetings could have been emails, but we also feed on contact and conversation. These needs require a lot of human nuances that artificial intelligence is not likely to understand for quite some time.
Releasing labor from areas where machines have taken over has created many new possibilities. Artificial intelligence cannot yet aggregate and deploy knowledge about the particular circumstances of time and place as efficiently and effectively as someone with human intuition. We appreciate aggregations and recommendations, but Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t understand how you do your job quite as well as you do. FA Hayek pointed out a lot of knowledge of “the particular circumstances of time and place” is not properly “scientific.” It is generally of a kind that is difficult (if not impossible) to articulate, much less automate.
The economic historians Joel Mokyr, Chris Vickers, and Nicholas Ziebarth have argued that artificial intelligence might be the world’s best research assistant, but it is unlikely ever to be the world’s best researcher. Every technological change creates a lot of new possibilities. Artificial intelligence — even if not truly “intelligent” — is a monumental achievement of creative cooperation, and it frees up time and energy for even more creative endeavors.
As Frederic Bastiat puts it, “to curse machines is to curse the human mind.” To hate a technology is denigrate the most human undertaking, namely, thinking.
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From Groq:
What is Silicon Valley?
Silicon Valley is a region in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States, that is known for its high concentration of technology companies, startups, and venture capital firms. It is often referred to as the "heart of the tech industry" and is considered one of the most important hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship in the world.
The term "Silicon Valley" was coined in the 1970s to describe the region's high concentration of semiconductor companies, which were the primary drivers of the region's economic growth at the time. Over time, the term has come to encompass a much broader range of industries, including software, biotechnology, clean energy, and more.
Silicon Valley is home to many of the world's largest and most influential technology companies, including:
The region is also home to a large number of startups, many of which have been founded by entrepreneurs who have gone on to become successful business leaders. Silicon Valley is known for its entrepreneurial spirit, and its proximity to top universities such as Stanford and UC Berkeley provides a steady supply of talented engineers and scientists.
Silicon Valley is also a hub for venture capital firms, which provide funding to startups and early-stage companies. The region is home to many of the world's largest and most influential venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Andreessen Horowitz.
The region's unique combination of factors, including its highly educated workforce, access to capital, and proximity to top universities, has made it an attractive location for companies and entrepreneurs looking to start and grow their businesses. Silicon Valley is often referred to as the "birthplace of the tech industry" and is widely regarded as one of the most important hubs for innovation and entrepreneurship in the world.
Some of the key cities in Silicon Valley include:
Silicon Valley is also home to many cultural and recreational attractions, including the San Francisco Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the city of San Francisco, which is located just across the bay.
Terraform Labs Warns of Potential Shutdown of Products and Services by October 30
The shutdown of Terraform Labs sets an important standard for how bankruptcies are handled in the crypto industry, and will likely influence future bankruptcy cases.
#terraformlabs #crypto #technology #newsonleo
Terraform Labs has announced that several of its products and services may shut down by October 30, 2024. The company is in discussions with third parties to transfer control of these operations, but if no agreements are made, the shutdown will proceed.
The products that could be affected by this move are Enterprise, Warp, Station, and Alliance Hub. In addition, services like Finder Block Explorer, Foundation, IBC Relayers, Mantlemint, FCD, and API services are also at risk. This decision aligns with the company’s planned exit from direct involvement in the Terra ecosystem, a plan that’s been in motion since their bankruptcy filing.
Legal Background and Bankruptcy Proceedings
In September 2024, a US Bankruptcy Judge approved the company’s plan to wind down operations. The judge described the plan as a better alternative than prolonged litigation. Terraform Labs filed for bankruptcy in January 2023 following the collapse of its TerraUSD stablecoin and Luna
LUNA
$0.39
in May 2022. The event led to around $40 billion in investor losses.
Its founder, Do Kwon, was accused of financial fraud. Terraform Labs reached a $4.5 billion settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the SEC is unlikely to collect the full amount, as the settlement will be paid after Terraform addresses crypto loss claims from its bankruptcy proceedings.
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"Seems Like Magic" - Sam Altman Says ChatGPT Will Bring Unimaginable Prosperity, Fix Climate
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, published a cryptic blog post on Sept. 23, apparently celebrating that “deep learning worked” and claiming that humanity was on the precipice of an era of unimaginable prosperity.
#newsonleo #samaltman #openai #ai #technology
The CEO also boasted that his company’s technology would be capable of creating more powerful versions of itself within a matter of decades that will accelerate humanity’s scientific progress “across the board.”
Deep learning worked
Altman’s premise appears to be based on the recent debut of the company’s “o1” AI model, which is purportedly capable of reasoning through problems that its previous models struggled to solve.
Many of the company’s detractors have claimed that deep learning, the specific type of AI that powers models such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, can’t be scaled to create human-level artificial intelligence.
In his latest blog post, however, Altman skewers that idea outright:
Per Altman, this appears to mean humanity is on the brink of an area of a new “Intelligence Age” where AI systems will begin to solve Earth’s biggest problems.
Unimaginable prosperity:
There’s no specific timeline for these changes to occur, and Altman mentions several times that they will happen incrementally and over time.
However, the post itself begins with the statement that “in the next couple of decades, we will be able to do things that would have seemed like magic to our grandparents.”
It’s unclear if Altman’s post is setting the stage for the launch of a new consumer-facing product or major announcement or if he’s simply predicting the onset of the “Intelligence Age” as an exercise in exposition.
Ultimately, Altman appears optimistic about this new age, whether it’s about to begin or already has. He writes that “a defining characteristic of the Intelligence Age will be massive prosperity.”
LinkedIn's AI Controversy: Data Used Without Your Consent?
LinkedIn is under fire for reportedly training its AI models on user data without clearly telling us upfront. Allegedly, before updating its privacy policy, LinkedIn used information from millions of profiles to develop AI tools. This has raised serious concerns about transparency and data privacy. The platform eventually updated its privacy policy, but the initial lack of clarity has sparked debates. Think about it, your profile might have helped build AI without you even knowing. What does this mean for your data’s future use? Keep an eye on this story as it unfolds.
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