Innholdsfortegnelse for #694 i Techlife News

Elon Musk says he will abandon his $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit behind OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company. “If OpenAI, Inc.’s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” lawyers for the billionaire said in a filing to a California court on Wednesday. “Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.” Musk and a group of investors made their offer earlier this week, in the latest twist to a dispute with the artificial intelligence company that he helped found a decade ago. OpenAI is controlled by a nonprofit board bound to…

If your social media suitor seems too good to be true, it might be a scam. Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms is urging users to stay vigilant about “ romance scams ” ahead of Valentine’s Day, warning of unsolicited messages through its apps and other social media platforms, as well as general text messages. Scammers tend to pose as “attractive, single and successful individuals,” Meta says. They often claim to have military, medical or business backgrounds, with photos either stolen from real people’s accounts or generated through artificial intelligence. Initially, messages are sent to a large pool of people in the hopes of getting a response. A scammer than builds trust over a period of time before they ask their target for money — either by claiming hardship…

Apple has consistently pushed the envelope in terms of innovation, working to reduce its reliance on third-party suppliers while continuing to develop robust, energy-efficient devices. Up next could be a custom Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip, codenamed “Proxima.” INTRODUCING PROXIMA Apple’s upcoming new chip promises to reshape the wireless technology landscape, with implications beyond the products it directly powers. With the debut of Proxima, Apple is setting a course to gradually eliminate its reliance on Broadcom, a longtime partner, and potentially set a new standard in the wireless industry. Bringing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth into a single integrated chip underscores Apple’s strategy to create more efficient, powerful, and compact products. By designing custom chips, Apple hopes to improve energy efficiency and reduce its dependence on external suppliers, opening the door to greater…

Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors is making a massive bet in the electric SUV market with a carefully cultivated experience that will allow some customers to buy the company’s vehicle in minutes on an app and then use it to handle everything after from repairs to updates and upgrades. But without some help from lawmakers, that will be impossible in South Carolina, where the company is pouring billions into its new auto plant and a Scout Motors experience like BMW’s test track in Greer. In a world where almost everything can be bought online, automobiles remain an exception. Supporters of the dealership model say the experience allows buyers to compare prices across several businesses. Unlike a pair of pants, where color, style and size are about the only concerns, buying a car…

Amazon reported better-than-expected revenue and profits for the holiday shopping period, but its stocks dipped in after-hours trading due to disappointing guidance for the current quarter. The Seattle-based e-commerce and technology company said its revenue for the October-December period totaled $187.8 billion, a 10% jump compared with the same period in 2023. Profits came out to $20 billion while earnings per share reached $1.86, higher than the $1.49 that analysts surveyed by FactSet had anticipated. But the company said it expected revenue for the current quarter to be between $151 billion and 155.5 billion, lower than the $158.56 billion that analysts were expecting. The guidance anticipates “an unusually large, unfavorable impact” from foreign exchange rates, it said. Amazon is the biggest online shopping destination in the U.S. and has long…

Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. reported a 369.2 billion yen ($2.4 billion) loss for the fiscal third quarter as it racked up red ink from its Vision Fund investments. That’s compared to a 950 billion yen profit in October-December 2023. Quarterly sales rose 3% from the previous year to 1.83 trillion yen ($11.9 billion), the Tokyo-based company said Wednesday. The report comes barely a month after Masayoshi Son, the founder and chief executive, appeared with President Donald Trump in Washington, as well as with Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle, to announce an investment of up to $500 billion into an artificial intelligence project called Stargate. Son has repeatedly said the company is banking on a future in artificial intelligence. SoftBank Group invests in an array…

Google and Poland on Thursday signed a memorandum for developing the use of artificial intelligence in the country’s energy, cybersecurity and other sectors. Poland has largely cut its previous dependence on Russian fuels, and is being targeted by various forms of cyberattacks and sabotage actions believed to be sponsored by Russia. Google and Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk met to discuss expanding Google operations in Poland that were launched in 2014. Pichai said that Poland is Google’s biggest engineering hub with more than 2,000 employees. Apart from getting AI involved in the strategic sectors in Poland, Google is also dedicating $5 million over the next five years to expand training programs and increase digital skills among young Poles. It is to reach about…

As jobs become more reliant on technology some Latino workers can be left behind due to a lack of digital skills exacerbated by a lack of accessibility. Latinos remain an integral part of jobs in agriculture, construction, retail and food services but these jobs are also at risk of automation, leaving some Latinos unprepared for a changing role that relies more on technology, according to a new report by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. Analysis from the UCLA Latino Policy Institute shows Latinos are overrepresented in fields at risk of automation. The report also provides some suggestions on how to improve Latino economic mobility. “This report sheds light on a critical but often overlooked reality: Automation is not just a technological issue but an equity issue, said…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to pause its high-profile lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance as the regulator tries to present itself as more crypto-friendly under a new administration. Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion Monday asking for a 60-day stay in a lawsuit the regulator filed with significant fanfare two years ago under its previous chairman, Gary Gensler. Monday’s filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the SEC approached Binance asking for the pause. The regulator said the work of a new crypto task force launched by Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda that’s supposed to improve ties to the crypto industry “may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case.” The filing is the first “tangible action in existing…

A group of investors led by Elon Musk is offering about $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit behind OpenAI, escalating a dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found a decade ago. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker and revert it to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the unsolicited bid on Musk’s social platform X, saying, “no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should…

Get ready to check into “The White Lotus” in Thailand for Season 3 — this time, sadly, there’s no room for Jennifer Coolidge, who went overboard in the second season. With the absence of her fan-favorite character Tanya comes the opportunity for other characters to win over the audience, when it returns to screens on Sky and HBO this Sunday. Vying for your love or loathing at the indulgent Thailand outpost is Michelle Monaghan’s vacationing TV actor and Aimee Lou Wood’s cool Brit. Natasha Rothwell is back as spa manager Belinda, herself a victim of Tanya’s flighty financial ways in the first season. Blackpink’s Lisa makes her acting debut as a resort employee. Lalisa Manobal, best known as Lisa to Blackpink fans, makes her acting debut on the third season…

California’s plan that provides insurance to homeowners who can’t get private coverage needs $1 billion more to pay out claims related to the Los Angeles wildfires, the state Insurance Department said this week. The FAIR Plan is an insurance pool that all the major private insurers pay into, and the plan then issues policies to people who can’t get private insurance because their properties are deemed too risky to insure. The plan, with high premiums and basic coverage, is designed as a temporary option until homeowners can find permanent coverage, but more Californians are relying on it than ever. There were more than 452,000 policies on the Fair Plan in 2024, more than double the number in 2020. The plan says it’s expecting a loss of roughly $4 billion from…

A Texas county on Wednesday approved holding an election sought by SpaceX that would let residents living around billionaire Elon Musk ‘s company decide whether to formally create a new city called Starbase. The election was set for May 3 and votes can only be cast by residents living near the launch site that is currently part of an unincorporated area of Cameron County, located along the U.S.-Mexico border. In December, more than 70 area residents signed a petition requesting an election to make Starbase its own municipality. Most of the residents are company employees and the community includes more than 100 children, according to copies of the petition obtained by The Associated Press. Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño said the county reviewed the petition and found it met the…

An Alabama man admitted to taking part in a January 2024 hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account designed to manipulate the price of bitcoin. Eric Council Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in U.S. District Court in Washington, court records show. His sentencing is set for May. Council was arrested in October and charged with helping to break into the SEC’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing unnamed co-conspirators to falsely announce the approval of long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded funds, prosecutors said. The price of bitcoin briefly spiked by more than $1,000 after the hacked account posted: “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.” Soon after the initial post appeared, then-SEC Chairman Gary…

A bipartisan duo in the the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill. introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” which would ban federal employees from using the Chinese AI app on government-owned electronics. They cited the Chinese government’s ability to use the app for surveillance and misinformation as reasons to keep it away from federal networks. “The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “We simply can’t risk the…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed a $97.4 billion takeover bid led by rival Elon Musk, but the unsolicited offer could complicate Altman’s push to transform the maker of ChatGPT into a for-profit company. “We are not for sale,” Altman said Tuesday at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris. Musk’s bid, announced Monday, is the latest in a bitter years-long battle with Altman over control of the AI startup they both helped found a decade ago as a nonprofit and is now a leading force in the global boom surrounding generative AI technology. “OpenAI has a mission,” Altman told France’s AI minister in an on-stage discussion Tuesday mobbed by tech industry workers and investors. “We are an unusual organization and we have this mission of making AGI benefit all humanity.…

Hollowed-out homes. Cars entombed by mud. Unpeopled roads. Belongings reduced to dirt and debris. It all took a toll on Taylor Schenker. After Hurricane Helene last September, Schenker was upset by the deluge of images of Asheville, North Carolina. “This storm has taken so much,” she said, “and it’s so jarring to see the photos of the horrible devastation.” So less than a week after the storm, she set out to do something about the wide-scale loss. While helping a friend search for belongings cast downriver, she stumbled on a handful of photos of strangers — mud-caked, curled up in tree branches and stuck under river rocks. The images captured family reunions, newborn babies, weddings, birthday parties, beloved pets and school portraits. “These tiny photos had been through so much…