Edwards taped message that became catchphrase and served as title of 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
Elwood Edwards, who voiced AOL’s “You’ve got mail” greeting, has died, aged 74.
Edwards died on Tuesday at his home in New Bern, North Carolina, his daughter Heather said. The cause was complications from a stroke late last year, she added.
Continue reading...X chief, who campaigned hard for Trump, spoke to Ukraine leader after being handed phone by president-elect
Elon Musk reportedly made a surprise guest appearance on a call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, solidifying the Tesla chief executive’s role as the most influential civilian in the country come January.
Musk was present with Trump during the call for roughly 25 minutes, according to Axios, which first reported the call. Trump handed Musk the phone and Musk and Zelenskyy spoke briefly. On the call, Zelenskyy thanked Musk for the satellites he had been providing Ukraine through his company, Starlink, according to AFP. Musk said he would continue to provide satellite internet connection, the report said.
Continue reading...Company typically prohibits its use for ‘military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, [and] espionage’
Meta announced Monday that it would allow US national security agencies and defense contractors to use its open-source artificial intelligence model, Llama. The announcement came days after Reuters reported an older version of Llama had been used by researchers to develop defense applications for the military wing of the Chinese government.
Meta’s policies typically prohibit the use of its open-source large language model for “military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, [and] espionage”. The company is making an exception for US agencies and contractors as well as similar national security agencies in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to Bloomberg.
Continue reading...UK consumer group Which? finds some everyday items including watches and speakers are ‘stuffed with trackers’
Air fryers that gather your personal data and audio speakers “stuffed with trackers” are among examples of smart devices engaged in “excessive” surveillance, according to the consumer group Which?
The organisation tested three air fryers, increasingly a staple of British kitchens, each of which requested permission to record audio on the user’s phone through a connected app.
Continue reading...Veen Bosch & Keuning, the largest publisher in the Netherlands, has confirmed plans to trial the use of artificial intelligence to assist in translation of commercial fiction
A major Dutch publisher plans to trial translating books into English using artificial intelligence.
Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK) – the largest publisher in the Netherlands, acquired by Simon & Schuster earlier this year – is “using AI to assist in the translation of a limited number of books”, Vanessa van Hofwegen, commercial director at VBK said.
Continue reading...Lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders
Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content that led to two of them taking their own lives at 15, their lawyer said.
The lawsuit alleges TikTok’s algorithm exposed the seven teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion told broadcaster Franceinfo on Monday.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Experts say top chief executives are treading a fine line to avoid any backlash in the event of a Trump victory
After the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, America’s business leaders came out strongly in their criticism of Donald Trump. Now – as the Harris campaign brands Trump a “fascist” and Trump threatens retribution against “the enemy within” – there appears to be a conspiracy of silence.
In fact, as the nation heads to the polls in an election that is too close to call, some of America’s most powerful chief executive appear to be cozying up to Trump again.
Continue reading...Company beats financial predictions but does not increase daily users as much as Wall Street thought it might
Meta’s blowout year continues after the company reported another stellar financial quarter on Wednesday. Shares fell in after-hours trading.
Wall Street analysts had high expectations for the Instagram and WhatsApp parent company, projecting an 18% jump in sales year over year. The company reported $40.6bn in sales, a 19% increase year over year that outpaced investor expectations of $40.19bn. Meta, which saw a 25% jump in its share price over the past two months, reported $6.03 in earnings per share (EPS), surpassing Wall Street’s expectations of an EPS of $5.29.
Continue reading...Campaigners say 21% of people at workshops did not disclose on their applications relationships with firms being discussed
More than one in five attenders at EU events on regulating big tech companies did not disclose links to the industry when applying to take part, according to transparency campaigners who say hidden networks are distorting public debate.
Researchers at three NGOs analysed nearly 4,000 registrations at European Commission workshops organised earlier this year to test companies’ compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law to curb anti-competitive behaviour.
Continue reading...The actor who will be returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom said he believed Marvel would ‘never’ recreate him on screen without his permission
Robert Downey Jr has said he will instruct his lawyers to sue future executives who attempt to create digital replicas of him using AI.
Speaking on the On With Kara Swisher podcast, he said: “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec.”
Continue reading...Marketing and sale of model prohibited after tech giant fails to meet rule 40% of phones be made from local parts
Indonesia has prohibited the marketing and sale of the iPhone 16 model over Apple’s failure to meet local investment regulations, according to its industry ministry.
South-east Asia’s biggest economy has a young, tech-savvy population with more than 100 million people under the age of 30, but Apple still does not have an official store in the country, forcing those who want its products to buy from resale platforms.
Continue reading...Collaboration between leading garden designer and Microsoft to go on display at Chelsea flower show 2025
Hardcore gardeners sometimes, when no one else is listening, talk quietly to their prize blooms. But at next year’s Chelsea flower show, visitors will be encouraged to have a chat with its first ever AI-powered garden.
The garden designer Tom Massey has partnered with Microsoft to create the Avanade “intelligent” garden. Sensors in the soil are partnered with an AI trained on Royal Horticultural Society plant data and gardening advice, meaning visitors can ask the garden: “How are you?”
Continue reading...State attorney general alleges without providing evidence that Google is manipulating search results, as tech firm says claim ‘totally false’
Missouri’s Republican attorney general has said he is launching an investigation into Google over allegations it was censoring conservative speech, as the tech corporation dismissed the claims as “totally false”.
“I am launching an investigation into Google for censoring conservative speech during the most consequential election in our nation’s history,” Andrew Bailey said in a post on X, without citing any example or evidence for his censorship claim.
Continue reading...Chipmaker disputed 2009 decision that it abused its market position in case dating back two decades
The US chipmaker Intel has won a long-running battle to quash a fine of more than €1bn imposed by the European Commission for allegedly abusing its market dominance in the sale of computer chips.
In a final ruling on Thursday, theEuropean court of justice upheld an earlier judgment that had quashed the €1.06bn (£880m) fine and partly dismissed the charges of anticompetitive behaviour.
Continue reading...‘Superhuman’ technology known as Aire can detect potential problems doctors cannot see from ECG results
The NHS in England is to trial a “superhuman” artificial intelligence tool that predicts a patient’s risk of disease and dying early.
The new technology, known as AI-ECG risk estimation, or Aire, is trained to read the results of electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, which record the electrical activity of the heart and are used to check for problems.
Continue reading...US firm Wolfspeed and German car parts supplier ZF postpone plans over doubts about viability
A project to build a €3bn factory making microchips for electric vehicles once hailed as part of a “return of the industrial revolution” in Germany has been put on hold, as the crisis in the country’s hi-tech manufacturing industry deepens.
The US company Wolfspeed and the German car parts supplier ZF have postponed plans to build an EV chip factory, adding to problems caused by a delay to two large-scale factories belonging to the US chip giant Intel and possible factory closures being considered by Volkswagen.
Continue reading...Prime minister wants young people to be shielded from ‘power of the algorithm’
Norway is to enforce a strict minimum age limit on social media of 15 as the government ramped up its campaign against tech companies it says are “pitted against small children’s brains”.
The Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, conceded it would be “an uphill battle” but said politicians must intervene to protect children from the “power of the algorithms”.
Continue reading...Saud al-Qahtani was first suspended before Elon Musk took over what was then Twitter, and was suspended again today after Guardian report
A key Saudi suspect in the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had his account reinstated on X, the social media company controlled by Elon Musk, after it was permanently suspended under the company’s previous owner.
Saud al-Qahtani, a onetime key adviser to Mohammed bin Salman, had “direct involvement” in the murder of Khashoggi, according to a US intelligence assessment released by the Biden administration in 2021.
Continue reading...Proposed industry code on age assurance for pornography and gambling content would come into force in 2025
Sites hosting adult content could be removed from search results and blocked from linking on social media in Australia unless they verify the ages of users trying to access them, under a draft industry code released on Tuesday.
The age assurance for pornography and gambling content online precedes the development of the age assurance technology for teens accessing social media, but there will be crossover for sites such as X, which host adult content.
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Continue reading...US company gives customers the ability to build own virtual agents as well as releasing 10 off-the-shelf bots
Microsoft is introducing autonomous artificial intelligence agents, or virtual employees, that can perform tasks such as handling client queries and identifying sales leads, as the tech sector strives to show investors that the AI boom can produce indispensable products.
The US tech company is giving customers the ability to build their own AI agents as well as releasing 10 off-the-shelf bots that can carry out a range of roles including supply chain management and customer service.
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