AWS CEO To Step Down 2
AWS CEO Adam Selipsky is stepping down, effective June 3, according to an email from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Matt Garman, SVP of AWS sales, marketing, and global services at Amazon, will replace Selipsky as CEO.
Ordered Back To the Office, Top Tech Talent Left Instead, Study Finds (washingtonpost.com) 38
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: Return-to-office mandates at some of the most powerful tech companies -- Apple, Microsoft and SpaceX -- were followed by a spike in departures among the most senior, tough-to-replace talent, according to a case study published last week by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. Researchers drew on resume data from People Data Labs to understand the impact that forced returns to offices had on employee tenure and the movement of workers between companies. What they found was a strong correlation between the departures of senior-level employees and the implementation of a mandate, suggesting that these policies "had a negative effect on the tenure and seniority of their respective workforce." High-ranking employees stayed several months less than they might have without the mandate, the research suggests -- and in many cases, they went to work for direct competitors.
At Microsoft, the share of senior employees as a portion of the company's overall workforce declined more than five percentage points after the return-to-office mandate took effect, the researchers found. At Apple, the decline was four percentage points, while at SpaceX -- the only company of the three to require workers to be fully in-person -- the share of senior employees dropped 15 percentage points. "We find experienced employees impacted by these policies at major tech companies seek work elsewhere, taking some of the most valuable human capital investments and tools of productivity with them," said Austin Wright, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Chicago and one of the study's authors. "Business leaders should weigh carefully employee preferences and market opportunities when deciding when, or if, they mandate a return to office." While the corporate culture and return-to-office policies differ "markedly" between the three companies, the similar effects of the RTO mandates suggest that "the effects are driven by common underlying dynamics," wrote the authors of the study.
"Our findings suggest that RTO mandates cost the company more than previously thought," said David Van Dijcke, a researcher at the University of Michigan who worked on the study. "These attrition rates aren't just something that can be managed away."
Robert Ployhart, a professor of business administration and management at the University of South Carolina, said executives haven't provided much evidence that RTO mandates actually benefit their workforces. "The people sitting at the apex may not like the way they feel the organization is being run, but if they're not bringing data to that point of view, it's really hard to argue why people should be coming back to the workplace more frequently," Ployhart said.
Senior employees, he said, are "the caretakers of a company's culture," and having to replace them can have negative effects on team morale and productivity. "By driving those employees away, they've actually enhanced and sped up the very thing they were trying to stop," Ployhart said.
At Microsoft, the share of senior employees as a portion of the company's overall workforce declined more than five percentage points after the return-to-office mandate took effect, the researchers found. At Apple, the decline was four percentage points, while at SpaceX -- the only company of the three to require workers to be fully in-person -- the share of senior employees dropped 15 percentage points. "We find experienced employees impacted by these policies at major tech companies seek work elsewhere, taking some of the most valuable human capital investments and tools of productivity with them," said Austin Wright, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Chicago and one of the study's authors. "Business leaders should weigh carefully employee preferences and market opportunities when deciding when, or if, they mandate a return to office." While the corporate culture and return-to-office policies differ "markedly" between the three companies, the similar effects of the RTO mandates suggest that "the effects are driven by common underlying dynamics," wrote the authors of the study.
"Our findings suggest that RTO mandates cost the company more than previously thought," said David Van Dijcke, a researcher at the University of Michigan who worked on the study. "These attrition rates aren't just something that can be managed away."
Robert Ployhart, a professor of business administration and management at the University of South Carolina, said executives haven't provided much evidence that RTO mandates actually benefit their workforces. "The people sitting at the apex may not like the way they feel the organization is being run, but if they're not bringing data to that point of view, it's really hard to argue why people should be coming back to the workplace more frequently," Ployhart said.
Senior employees, he said, are "the caretakers of a company's culture," and having to replace them can have negative effects on team morale and productivity. "By driving those employees away, they've actually enhanced and sped up the very thing they were trying to stop," Ployhart said.
Internet Use Is Associated With Greater Wellbeing, Global Study Finds 28
According to a new study published in the journal Technology, Mind and Behavior, researchers found that internet use is associated with greater wellbeing in people around the world. "Our analysis is the first to test whether or not internet access, mobile internet access and regular use of the internet relates to wellbeing on a global level," said Prof Andrew Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, who co-authored the work. The Guardian reports: [T]he study describes how Przybylski and Dr Matti Vuorre, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, analysed data collected through interviews involving about 1,000 people each year from 168 countries as part of the Gallup World Poll. Participants were asked about their internet access and use as well as eight different measures of wellbeing, such as life satisfaction, social life, purpose in life and feelings of community wellbeing.
The team analyzed data from 2006 to 2021, encompassing about 2.4 million participants aged 15 and above. The researchers employed more than 33,000 statistical models, allowing them to explore various possible associations while taking into account factors that could influence them, such as income, education, health problems and relationship status. The results reveal that internet access, mobile internet access and use generally predicted higher measures of the different aspects of wellbeing, with 84.9% of associations between internet connectivity and wellbeing positive, 0.4% negative and 14.7% not statistically significant.
The study was not able to prove cause and effect, but the team found measures of life satisfaction were 8.5% higher for those who had internet access. Nor did the study look at the length of time people spent using the internet or what they used it for, while some factors that could explain associations may not have be considered. Przybylski said it was important that policy on technology was evidence-based and that the impact of any interventions was tracked.
The team analyzed data from 2006 to 2021, encompassing about 2.4 million participants aged 15 and above. The researchers employed more than 33,000 statistical models, allowing them to explore various possible associations while taking into account factors that could influence them, such as income, education, health problems and relationship status. The results reveal that internet access, mobile internet access and use generally predicted higher measures of the different aspects of wellbeing, with 84.9% of associations between internet connectivity and wellbeing positive, 0.4% negative and 14.7% not statistically significant.
The study was not able to prove cause and effect, but the team found measures of life satisfaction were 8.5% higher for those who had internet access. Nor did the study look at the length of time people spent using the internet or what they used it for, while some factors that could explain associations may not have be considered. Przybylski said it was important that policy on technology was evidence-based and that the impact of any interventions was tracked.
Cruise Is Back Driving Autonomously After Pedestrian-Dragging Incident (theverge.com) 24
Cruise's autonomous vehicles have resumed operation in Phoenix, Arizona, following an incident in San Francisco last October where a driverless vehicle dragged a pedestrian. The Verge reports: Cruise spokesperson Tiffany Testo said the company is deploying only two autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel. In addition, the company has eight manually driven vehicles in the city. Eventually, the service area will "gradually expand" to include Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, and Chandler -- "measured against predetermined safety benchmarks."
Cruise's slow return to the road is noteworthy, given the huge hurdles facing the company in the wake of the October incident. Regulators accused the company of misleading them about the nature and severity of the incident, in which a pedestrian was dragged over 20 feet by a driverless Cruise after first being struck by a hit-and-run driver.
Several top executives have since left the company, including founder and CEO Kyle Vogt, and around a quarter of employees were laid off. GM has said it will reduce its spending on Cruise. And an outside report found evidence that a culture of antagonism toward regulators contributed to many of the failings.
Cruise's slow return to the road is noteworthy, given the huge hurdles facing the company in the wake of the October incident. Regulators accused the company of misleading them about the nature and severity of the incident, in which a pedestrian was dragged over 20 feet by a driverless Cruise after first being struck by a hit-and-run driver.
Several top executives have since left the company, including founder and CEO Kyle Vogt, and around a quarter of employees were laid off. GM has said it will reduce its spending on Cruise. And an outside report found evidence that a culture of antagonism toward regulators contributed to many of the failings.
Slashdot Asks: How Do You Protest AI Development? (wired.com) 105
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: On a side street outside the headquarters of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology in the center of London on Monday, 20 or so protesters are getting their chants in order. "What do we want? Safe AI! When do we want it?" The protesters hesitate. "Later?" someone offers. The group of mostly young men huddle for a moment before breaking into a new chant. "What do we want? Pause AI! When do we want it? Now!" These protesters are part of Pause AI, a group of activists petitioning for companies to pause development of large AI models which they fear could pose a risk to the future of humanity. Other PauseAI protests are taking place across the globe: In San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Rome, Ottawa, and ahandful of other cities. Their aim is to grab the attention of voters and politicians ahead of the AI Seoul Summit -- a follow-up to the AI Safety Summit held in the UK in November 2023. But the loosely organized group of protesters itself is still figuring out exactly the best way to communicate its message.
"The Summit didn't actually lead to meaningful regulations," says Joep Meindertsma, the founder of PauseAI. The attendees at the conference agreed to the "Bletchley Declaration," but that agreement doesn't mean much, Meindertsma says. "It's only a small first step, and what we need are binding international treaties." [...] There is also the question of how PauseAI should achieve its aims. On the group's Discord, some members discussed the idea of staging sit-ins at the headquarters of AI developers. OpenAI, in particular, has become a focal point of AI protests. In February, Pause AI protests gathered in front of OpenAI'sSan Francisco offices, after the company changed its usage policies to remove a ban on military and warfare applications for its products. Would it be too disruptive if protests staged sit-ins or chained themselves to the doors of AI developers, one member of the Discord asked. "Probably not. We do what we have to, in the end, for a future with humanity, while we still can." [...]
Director of Pause AI US, Holly Elmore, wants the movement to be a "broad church" that includes artists, writers, and copyright owners whose livelihoods are put at risk from AI systems that can mimic creative works. "I'm a utilitarian. I'm thinking about the consequences ultimately, but the injustice that really drives me to do this kind of activism is the lack of consent" from companies producing AI models, she says. "We don't have to choose which AI harm is the most important when we're talking about pausing as a solution. Pause is the only solution that addresses all of them." [Joseph Miller, the organizer of PauseAI's protest in London] echoed this point. He says he's spoken to artists whose livelihoods have been impacted by the growth of AI art generators. "These are problems that are real today, and are signs of much more dangerous things to come." One of the London protesters, Gideon Futerman, has a stack of leaflets he's attempting to hand out to civil servants leaving the building opposite. He has been protesting with the group since last year. "The idea of a pause being possible has really taken root since then," he says. According to Wired, the leaders of Pause AI said they were not considering sit-ins or encampments near AI offices at this time. "Our tactics and our methods are actually very moderate," says Elmore. "I want to be the moderate base for a lot of organizations in this space. I'm sure we would never condone violence. I also want Pause AI to go further than that and just be very trustworthy."
Meindertsma agrees, saying that more disruptive action isn't justified at the moment. "I truly hope that we don't need to take other actions. I don't expect that we'll need to. I don't feel like I'm the type of person to lead a movement that isn't completely legal."
Slashdotters, what is the most effective way to protest AI development? Is the AI genie out of the bottle? Curious to hear your thoughts
"The Summit didn't actually lead to meaningful regulations," says Joep Meindertsma, the founder of PauseAI. The attendees at the conference agreed to the "Bletchley Declaration," but that agreement doesn't mean much, Meindertsma says. "It's only a small first step, and what we need are binding international treaties." [...] There is also the question of how PauseAI should achieve its aims. On the group's Discord, some members discussed the idea of staging sit-ins at the headquarters of AI developers. OpenAI, in particular, has become a focal point of AI protests. In February, Pause AI protests gathered in front of OpenAI'sSan Francisco offices, after the company changed its usage policies to remove a ban on military and warfare applications for its products. Would it be too disruptive if protests staged sit-ins or chained themselves to the doors of AI developers, one member of the Discord asked. "Probably not. We do what we have to, in the end, for a future with humanity, while we still can." [...]
Director of Pause AI US, Holly Elmore, wants the movement to be a "broad church" that includes artists, writers, and copyright owners whose livelihoods are put at risk from AI systems that can mimic creative works. "I'm a utilitarian. I'm thinking about the consequences ultimately, but the injustice that really drives me to do this kind of activism is the lack of consent" from companies producing AI models, she says. "We don't have to choose which AI harm is the most important when we're talking about pausing as a solution. Pause is the only solution that addresses all of them." [Joseph Miller, the organizer of PauseAI's protest in London] echoed this point. He says he's spoken to artists whose livelihoods have been impacted by the growth of AI art generators. "These are problems that are real today, and are signs of much more dangerous things to come." One of the London protesters, Gideon Futerman, has a stack of leaflets he's attempting to hand out to civil servants leaving the building opposite. He has been protesting with the group since last year. "The idea of a pause being possible has really taken root since then," he says. According to Wired, the leaders of Pause AI said they were not considering sit-ins or encampments near AI offices at this time. "Our tactics and our methods are actually very moderate," says Elmore. "I want to be the moderate base for a lot of organizations in this space. I'm sure we would never condone violence. I also want Pause AI to go further than that and just be very trustworthy."
Meindertsma agrees, saying that more disruptive action isn't justified at the moment. "I truly hope that we don't need to take other actions. I don't expect that we'll need to. I don't feel like I'm the type of person to lead a movement that isn't completely legal."
Slashdotters, what is the most effective way to protest AI development? Is the AI genie out of the bottle? Curious to hear your thoughts
Intel Aurora Supercomputer Breaks Exascale Barrier 24
Josh Norem reports via ExtremeTech: At the recent International supercomputing conference called ISC 2024, Intel's newest Aurora supercomputer installed at Argonne National Laboratory raised a few eyebrows by finally surpassing the exascale barrier. Before this, only AMD's Frontier system had been able to achieve this level of performance. Intel also achieved what it says is the world's best performance for AI at 10.61 "AI exaflops." Intel reported the news on its blog, stating Aurora was now officially the fastest supercomputer for AI in the world. It shares the distinction in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which both built and houses the system in its current state, which Intel says was at 87% functionality for the recent tests. In the all-important Linpack (HPL) test, the Aurora computer hit 1.012 exaflops, meaning it has almost doubled the performance on tap since its initial "partial run" in late 2023, where it hit just 585.34 petaflops. The company then said it expected to cross the exascale barrier with Aurora eventually, and now it has.
Intel says for the ISC 2024 tests, Aurora was operating with 9,234 nodes. The company notes it ranked second overall in LINPACK, meaning it's still unable to dethrone AMD's Frontier system, which is also an HPE supercomputer. AMD's Frontier was the first supercomputer to break the exascale barrier in June 2022. Frontier sits at around 1.2 exaflops in Linpack, so Intel is knocking on its door but still has a way to go before it can topple it. However, Intel says Aurora came in first in the Linpack-mixed benchmark, reportedly highlighting its unparalleled AI performance. Intel's Aurora supercomputer uses the company's latest CPU and GPU hardware, with 21,248 Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPUs and 63,744 Ponte Vecchio GPUs. When it's fully operational later this year, Intel believes the system will eventually be capable of crossing the 2-exaflop barrier.
Intel says for the ISC 2024 tests, Aurora was operating with 9,234 nodes. The company notes it ranked second overall in LINPACK, meaning it's still unable to dethrone AMD's Frontier system, which is also an HPE supercomputer. AMD's Frontier was the first supercomputer to break the exascale barrier in June 2022. Frontier sits at around 1.2 exaflops in Linpack, so Intel is knocking on its door but still has a way to go before it can topple it. However, Intel says Aurora came in first in the Linpack-mixed benchmark, reportedly highlighting its unparalleled AI performance. Intel's Aurora supercomputer uses the company's latest CPU and GPU hardware, with 21,248 Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPUs and 63,744 Ponte Vecchio GPUs. When it's fully operational later this year, Intel believes the system will eventually be capable of crossing the 2-exaflop barrier.
ChatGPT Is Getting a Mac App 7
OpenAI has launched an official macOS app for ChatGPT, with a Windows version coming "later this year." "Both free and paid users will be able to access the new app, but it will only be available to ChatGPT Plus users starting today before a broader rollout in 'the coming weeks,'" reports The Verge. From the report: In the demo shown by OpenAI, users could open the ChatGPT desktop app in a small window, alongside another program. They asked ChatGPT questions about what's on their screen -- whether by typing or saying it. ChatGPT could then respond based on what it "sees." OpenAI says users can ask ChatGPT a question by using the Option + Space keyboard shortcut, as well as take and discuss screenshots within the app. Further reading: OpenAI Launches New Free Model GPT-4o
Biden Admin Shells Out $120 Million To Return Chip Startup To US Ownership (theregister.com) 33
Brandon Vigliarolo reports via The Register: Not everything in the semiconductor industry is about shearing off every last nanometer, which is why the Biden administration is splashing out CHIPS Act funding to those pursuing less cutting edge processor production. Case in point, today's announcement that Bloomington, Minnesota-based Polar Semiconductor could be getting up to $120 million in CHIPS funds to double production capacity over the next two years, along with a possible buyout to return the business to U.S. hands.
Polar, which manufactures semiconductors used primarily for the energy industry and electric vehicles, will use the funds to double its production capacity of sensor and power chips and upgrade its manufacturing kit, as well as adding 160 jobs to boot. Along with expanding production, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the funding would trigger additional private capital investment to "transform Polar from a majority foreign-owned in-house manufacturer to a majority U.S.-owned commercial foundry, expanding opportunities for U.S. chip designers to innovate and produce technologies domestically." In other words - sure it'll expand the output, but the real win is another majority U.S.-owned foundry for the White House to tout.
According to its website, Polar is currently owned by Korean conglomerate SK Group and serves as the primary fab and engineering center for Japanese firm Sanken Electric. Not exactly companies in countries with poor U.S. relations - but overseas owners, nonetheless. "This proposed investment in Polar will crowd in private capital, which will help make Polar a U.S.-based, independent foundry," said U.S. Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo. "They will be able to expand their customer base and create a stable domestic supply of critical chips, made in America's heartland."
Polar, which manufactures semiconductors used primarily for the energy industry and electric vehicles, will use the funds to double its production capacity of sensor and power chips and upgrade its manufacturing kit, as well as adding 160 jobs to boot. Along with expanding production, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the funding would trigger additional private capital investment to "transform Polar from a majority foreign-owned in-house manufacturer to a majority U.S.-owned commercial foundry, expanding opportunities for U.S. chip designers to innovate and produce technologies domestically." In other words - sure it'll expand the output, but the real win is another majority U.S.-owned foundry for the White House to tout.
According to its website, Polar is currently owned by Korean conglomerate SK Group and serves as the primary fab and engineering center for Japanese firm Sanken Electric. Not exactly companies in countries with poor U.S. relations - but overseas owners, nonetheless. "This proposed investment in Polar will crowd in private capital, which will help make Polar a U.S.-based, independent foundry," said U.S. Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo. "They will be able to expand their customer base and create a stable domestic supply of critical chips, made in America's heartland."
IBM Open-Sources Its Granite AI Models (zdnet.com) 6
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: IBM managed the open sourcing of Granite code by using pretraining data from publicly available datasets, such as GitHub Code Clean, Starcoder data, public code repositories, and GitHub issues. In short, IBM has gone to great lengths to avoid copyright or legal issues. The Granite Code Base models are trained on 3- to 4-terabyte tokens of code data and natural language code-related datasets. All these models are licensed under the Apache 2.0 license for research and commercial use. It's that last word -- commercial -- that stopped the other major LLMs from being open-sourced. No one else wanted to share their LLM goodies.
But, as IBM Research chief scientist Ruchir Puri said, "We are transforming the generative AI landscape for software by releasing the highest performing, cost-efficient code LLMs, empowering the open community to innovate without restrictions." Without restrictions, perhaps, but not without specific applications in mind. The Granite models, as IBM ecosystem general manager Kate Woolley said last year, are not "about trying to be everything to everybody. This is not about writing poems about your dog. This is about curated models that can be tuned and are very targeted for the business use cases we want the enterprise to use. Specifically, they're for programming."
These decoder-only models, trained on code from 116 programming languages, range from 3 to 34 billion parameters. They support many developer uses, from complex application modernization to on-device memory-constrained tasks. IBM has already used these LLMs internally in IBM Watsonx Code Assistant (WCA) products, such as WCA for Ansible Lightspeed for IT Automation and WCA for IBM Z for modernizing COBOL applications. Not everyone can afford Watsonx, but now, anyone can work with the Granite LLMs using IBM and Red Hat's InstructLab.
But, as IBM Research chief scientist Ruchir Puri said, "We are transforming the generative AI landscape for software by releasing the highest performing, cost-efficient code LLMs, empowering the open community to innovate without restrictions." Without restrictions, perhaps, but not without specific applications in mind. The Granite models, as IBM ecosystem general manager Kate Woolley said last year, are not "about trying to be everything to everybody. This is not about writing poems about your dog. This is about curated models that can be tuned and are very targeted for the business use cases we want the enterprise to use. Specifically, they're for programming."
These decoder-only models, trained on code from 116 programming languages, range from 3 to 34 billion parameters. They support many developer uses, from complex application modernization to on-device memory-constrained tasks. IBM has already used these LLMs internally in IBM Watsonx Code Assistant (WCA) products, such as WCA for Ansible Lightspeed for IT Automation and WCA for IBM Z for modernizing COBOL applications. Not everyone can afford Watsonx, but now, anyone can work with the Granite LLMs using IBM and Red Hat's InstructLab.
Melinda Gates To Resign From Gates Foundation (nbcnews.com) 32
Melinda French Gates announced today she is stepping down from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, three years after announcing her separation from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. With her departure as co-chair, the foundation will change its name to Gates Foundation and Bill Gates will be its sole chairperson, said CEO Mark Suzman. NBC News reports: In a statement posted on her Instagram account, she said that as part of her agreement to step down from the foundation, she will retain $12.5 billion that she plans to put toward her ongoing work supporting women and families. "This is not a decision I came to lightly," French Gates wrote. "I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world." In a separate statement, Bill Gates said, "I am sorry to see Melinda leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work."
Now worth $75.2 billion, the Gates Foundation has over the course of its three-decade lifespan made $77.6 billion worth of grant payments, making it one of the largest donor organizations in the world, with a focus on health and developmental goals. It is one of the largest contributors to the World Health Organization, and played a key role in efforts to address the Covid pandemic. "After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the U.S. and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory," Suzman said of French Gates.
"I want to reassure you that the millions of people our work serves and the thousands of partners we work alongside can continue to count on the foundation. The foundation today is stronger than it has ever been."
"I know we all wish Melinda the best in her next chapter," he added, noting that French Gates "will not be bringing any of the foundation's work with her when she leaves."
Now worth $75.2 billion, the Gates Foundation has over the course of its three-decade lifespan made $77.6 billion worth of grant payments, making it one of the largest donor organizations in the world, with a focus on health and developmental goals. It is one of the largest contributors to the World Health Organization, and played a key role in efforts to address the Covid pandemic. "After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the U.S. and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory," Suzman said of French Gates.
"I want to reassure you that the millions of people our work serves and the thousands of partners we work alongside can continue to count on the foundation. The foundation today is stronger than it has ever been."
"I know we all wish Melinda the best in her next chapter," he added, noting that French Gates "will not be bringing any of the foundation's work with her when she leaves."
AI Hitting Labour Forces Like a 'Tsunami', IMF Chief Says (yahoo.com) 70
AI is hitting the global labour market "like a tsunami" International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday. AI is likely to impact 60% of jobs in advanced economies and 40% of jobs around the world in the next two years, Georgieva told an event in Zurich. From a report: "We have very little time to get people ready for it, businesses ready for it," she told the event organised by the Swiss Institute of International Studies, associated to the University of Zurich. "It could bring tremendous increase in productivity if we manage it well, but it can also lead to more misinformation and, of course, more inequality in our society."
Apple and Google Introduce Alerts for Unwanted Bluetooth Tracking 26
Apple and Google have launched a new industry standard called "Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers" to combat the misuse of Bluetooth trackers for stalking. Starting Monday, iPhone and Android users will receive alerts when an unknown Bluetooth device is detected moving with them. The move comes after numerous cases of trackers like Apple's AirTags being used for malicious purposes.
Several Bluetooth tag companies have committed to making their future products compatible with the new standard. Apple and Google said they will continue collaborating with the Internet Engineering Task Force to further develop this technology and address the issue of unwanted tracking.
Several Bluetooth tag companies have committed to making their future products compatible with the new standard. Apple and Google said they will continue collaborating with the Internet Engineering Task Force to further develop this technology and address the issue of unwanted tracking.
'Roaring Kitty' Trader Returns, Causing GameStop Shares To Jump More Than 70% (cbsnews.com) 29
GameStop shares surged over 72% on Monday after Keith Gill, also known as "Roaring Kitty," returned to social media following a three-year hiatus. Gill gained notoriety for his role in the 2020 meme stock frenzy, where he encouraged amateur investors to buy GameStop shares, significantly driving up the stock price and challenging hedge funds. From a report: He resurfaced on X, Sunday night, with an image of a sketched man leaning forward in a chair, marking the end of a roughly three-year hiatus. He followed that post with several others featuring various comeback-themed videos featuring movie clips and charged music.
GameStop had experienced declining sales amid an industrywide pivot from game cartridges to video game streaming and digital downloads, but with the help from meme stock investors, last March the company turned its first profit in two years. Before then, the company had posted seven straight quarterly losses. This January, GameStop reported its first annual profit since 2018. Roaring Kitty's post helped bump GameStop's share price to $28.25 on Monday. GameStop's all-time high stock price is $120.75 in January 2021.
GameStop had experienced declining sales amid an industrywide pivot from game cartridges to video game streaming and digital downloads, but with the help from meme stock investors, last March the company turned its first profit in two years. Before then, the company had posted seven straight quarterly losses. This January, GameStop reported its first annual profit since 2018. Roaring Kitty's post helped bump GameStop's share price to $28.25 on Monday. GameStop's all-time high stock price is $120.75 in January 2021.
First Person To Receive a Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Transplant Dies (npr.org) 23
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Richard "Rick" Slayman, the first human to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant, has died almost two months after the procedure. Slayman, who had end-stage kidney disease, underwent the transplant in March at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston at age 62. The hospital said in a statement on Saturday that there was "no indication" that his death was the result of the transplant. The transplant surgeon had said he hoped the transplant would function for at least two years.
"The Mass General transplant team is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman," read the hospital statement. "Mr. Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation." The surgery was a milestone for the field of xenotransplantation -- the transplant of organs from one species to another -- as a way to alleviate the organ shortage for people who need transplants. The effort to genetically modify animal organs is in hopes that the human body will not reject the foreign tissue. NPR notes that there are more than 100,000 people in the U.S. on the waitlist for organs.
"The Mass General transplant team is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman," read the hospital statement. "Mr. Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation." The surgery was a milestone for the field of xenotransplantation -- the transplant of organs from one species to another -- as a way to alleviate the organ shortage for people who need transplants. The effort to genetically modify animal organs is in hopes that the human body will not reject the foreign tissue. NPR notes that there are more than 100,000 people in the U.S. on the waitlist for organs.
Microsoft Places Uses AI To Find the Best Time For Your Next Office Day 49
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft is attempting to solve the hassle of coordinating with colleagues on when everyone will be in the office. It's a problem that emerged with the increase in hybrid and flexible work after the recent covid-19 pandemic, with workers spending less time in the office. Microsoft Places is an AI-powered app that goes into preview today and should help businesses that rely on Outlook and Microsoft Teams to better coordinate in-office time together.
"When employees get to the office, they don't want to be greeted by a sea of empty desks -- they want face-time with their manager and the coworkers they collaborate with most frequently," says Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI at work, Jared Spataro, in a blog post. "With Places, you can more easily coordinate across coworkers and spaces in the office."
"When employees get to the office, they don't want to be greeted by a sea of empty desks -- they want face-time with their manager and the coworkers they collaborate with most frequently," says Microsoft's corporate vice president of AI at work, Jared Spataro, in a blog post. "With Places, you can more easily coordinate across coworkers and spaces in the office."
