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☆ Meta’s A.I. Assistant Is Fun to Use, but It Can’t Be Trusted
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Brian X. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the last few days, you may have noticed something new inside Meta’s apps, including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp: an artificially intelligent chatbot. This is Meta’s response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the chatbot that upended the tech industry in 2022, and similar bots including Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Bing AI. The Meta bot’s image generator also competes with A.I. Unlike other chatbots and image generators, Meta’s A.I. assistant is a free tool baked into apps that billions of people use every day, making it the most aggressive push yet from a big tech company to bring this flavor of artificial intelligence — known as generative A.I.

Persons: ”, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bing, A.I, — Organizations: corgi, Meta Locations: New York, San Francisco

☆ Hundreds of Adobe employees protest the company moving its MAX conference to Florida. Ron DeSantis thinks it's a 'stunt.'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A group of Adobe employees are upset over the company’s decision to host its MAX annual conference in Florida, citing the state’s “hostile” laws against marginalized groups. Earlier this month, more than 500 Adobe employees signed an internal petition demanding the company reconsider the location of the annual conference, scheduled to take place in Miami later this year. As company leaders reiterated their commitment to Miami for this year’s event, some Adobe employees took to the Slack channel to express their dismay. “I’m shocked and disappointed at the lack of consideration in that call,” one of the employees wrote in the internal Slack channel. "Adobe MAX is a celebration of our community and a platform to showcase the incredible impact that creativity has around the world.

Persons: ”, Shantanu Narayen, David Wadhwani, “, “ I’m, Ron DeSantis’s “, DeSantis, Jeremy Redfern, Ron DeSantis, Charlie Neibergall ‘, ’, Adobe’s, Erica Warren, ” Warren, Slack, Amy White, “ It’s, ” White Organizations: Adobe, Business, Disney, MAX, ”, AP, National Association for, Advancement of Colored People, Human Rights, Las, ” Adobe Locations: Florida, Miami, America, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Tokyo, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, ‘ Florida, “

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen and follow ‘Hard Fork’Bluesky, the Twitter spinoff, is now open for public sign-ups. Can its dreams of decentralization fix social media? We talk with the company’s chief executive, Jay Graber. Then, the New York Times reporter Erin Griffith on how Adobe’s failure to acquire Figma has spooked tech companies and upset Silicon Valley’s start-up pipeline. And finally, updates on ancient scrolls and artificial intelligence, Google’s chatbots, and the fight between record companies and TikTok.

Persons: Jay Graber, Erin Griffith, Figma, Google’s chatbots Organizations: Apple, Spotify, YouTube, New York Times

☆ Adobe’s $20 Billion Purchase of Figma Would Harm Innovation, U.K. Regulator Provisionally Finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Joseph Hoppe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg NewsThe U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said it has provisionally found Adobe ’s planned $20 billion acquisition of collaboration-software company Figma would likely harm innovation for software used by the vast majority of U.K. digital designers. The regulator said Tuesday that, following a detailed Phase 2 investigation, it provisionally found that the deal would eliminate competition between two main companies in product-design software, reduce innovation and the development of new competitive products, and remove Figma as a threat to Adobe’s flagship Photoshop and Illustrator products.

Persons: Gabby Jones Organizations: Bloomberg, Competition, Markets Authority

casey newtonAnd this caused a big sort of emotional reaction that said, wow, that feels like really, really icky. It’s just really, really awful. How do I get really, really good at this? But we have that explosion at the beginning, which is really, really exciting. I’m still interested in smartphones because I think they’re really, really advanced pieces of tech.

Persons: kevin roose, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, ” kevin roose, casey newton Oh, casey newton, ” kevin roose You’re, kevin roose That’s, kevin roose I’m Kevin Russo, Marques Brownlee, a.k.a, We’ve, don’t, casey newton Well, Meta, It’s, casey newton Right, casey newton It’s, kevin roose Totally, I’ve, you’re, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, They’re, that’s, kevin roose Casey, Hansel, Gretel, let’s, they’re, casey newton Jewel, ”, Juul, Meta didn’t, we’ve, “ We’re, There’s, Al Capone, They’ve, —, Kevin, casey newton I’ve, casey newton That’s, Marquez Brownlee, Casey, He’s, Marquez, he’s, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, you’ll, marquez brownlee, casey newton I’m, You’ve, casey newton Let’s, you’ve, it’s, I’m, he’ll, kevin roose Marquez, PewDiePie, marquez brownlee I’ll, they’ve, Ralph, That’s, kevin roose It’s, you’d, we’re, I’d, casey newton Libraries ! marquez brownlee, everyone’s, Samantha, Davis, Fancy, Bard, DALL, Midjourney, ChatGPT, Bing, who’s, it’ll, OpenAI, Pope, kevin roose Pope, — casey newton, casey newton Ah, Mickey Mouse, Eli Lilly, barbecuing, bro, Fabio, Getty, Greg Rutkowski, kevin roose Really, Greg, there’s, Ben Zhao, casey newton We’re, Bob Ross Organizations: The New York Times, YouTube, Meta, pharma, AGs, Netflix, COPPA, Facebook, Congress, Digital Services, Federal Communications Commission, ABC, CBS, FCC, Samsung, casey newton Libraries, VR, Apple, ChatGPT, Enterprise, DALL, Disney, Twitter, Getty, “ MIT Tech, University of Chicago, Adobe Locations: California, Colorado, what’s, you’re, Europe, United States, China, earbuds

The U.S. economy is on a roll, expanding at a 4.9% annual clip in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Thursday. Analysts are looking for the overall index to show prices increased at a 3.4% annual rate and the core index at 3.7%, down from 3.5% and 3.9%, respectively. On Wednesday, Adobe Analytics issued its monthly measure of online prices showing they continue to fall, hitting a 41-month low in September. “Online prices fell for the majority of Adobe’s tracked categories (12 of 18) on an annual basis. On a month-over-month basis, online prices were down 0.6%.”

Persons: ” Joseph Brusuelas, ”, Steve Rick, Raymond James, Eugenio Aleman, “ Organizations: Economic, RSM US, Federal Reserve, TruStage, Labor Department, Adobe Analytics, “ Locations: U.S

☆ Adobe previews new AI and 3D editing tools- including an animated dress- at Max event
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Photo-editing software maker Adobe unveiled a slew of new AI-powered tools and features last week at its annual Max event, including a dress that transforms into a wearable screen and streamlined ways to delete elements from photos. The company previewed a series of prototype tools that make use of both generative AI and 3D image technology in the Adobe MAX Sneaks showcase. A screenshot of Project Stardust, a tool unveiled as part Adobe's annual "Sneaks" showcase at Adobe MAX on October 11, at work, editing a shirt with the "generate & replace cutout" tool. Project Stardust is labeled by Adobe as a "generative AI-powered object-aware editing engine." Project Stardust is labeled by Adobe as a "generative AI-powered object-aware editing engine."

Organizations: New, New York CNN, Adobe, Adobe MAX Locations: New York

☆ Inside Be’eri Kibbutz, Scene of One of the Deadliest Hamas Attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

How Adobe Plans to Stand Out From the AI PackAdobe’s SVP of Digital Media joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss the company's new AI products and how it is handling issues of copyright and misinformation. Plus, the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has resumed. You can follow along the big developments by listening to The Journal podcast’s special series The Trial of Crypto's Golden Boy. Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Persons: Zoe Thomas, Sam Bankman, Fried, Dado Ruvic Organizations: Digital Media, Reuters

☆ ‘It’s a Massacre’: Israeli Military Enter Kibbutz Raided by Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: Zoe Thomas, Sam Bankman, Fried, Dado Ruvic Organizations: Digital Media, Reuters

☆ Record online discounts are coming this holiday season
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

And the company predicts the strategy will work, with online holiday sales climbing almost 5% above last year. Retailers are poised to offer up to 35% off listed prices this holiday season, with the deepest discounts applied to toys, electronics and apparel, Adobe said in its annual holiday forecast. Buy Now, Pay Later is expected to drive a record $17 billion in online spending this holiday season, up 17% from 2022, Adobe said. Americans are also doing more and more holiday shopping (and shopping in general) on smartphones and tablets. That means Adobe’s 2023 holiday shopping forecast for solid sales growth would signal a genuine increase in demand from consumers.

Persons: they’re Organizations: New York CNN Business —, Adobe Analytics, Retailers, Adobe, PlayStation, Madden NFL, Amazon, PayPal, Commerce Department

☆ Opinion | I Finally Learned How to Draw. Here’s How.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Farhad Manjoo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to learn to draw. And for as long I can remember, I’ve been failing to learn to draw. A lot of drawing teachers say that everyone can learn to draw. A lot of drawing teachers haven’t met me, I thought. Then, in 2019, I started playing with Procreate, a digital drawing and painting app for the iPad (there’s an iPhone version, too).

Persons: I’ve, haven’t, you’re Organizations: Procreate

☆ John Warnock, Inventor of the PDF, Dies at 82
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Clay Risen | More About Clay Risen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

John Warnock, a founder of Adobe Systems whose innovations in computer graphics, including the ubiquitous PDF, made possible today’s visually rich digital experiences, died on Aug. 19 at his home in Los Altos, Calif. The cause was pancreatic cancer, Adobe, which Dr. Warnock started in 1982 with Chuck Geschke, said in a statement. Until Dr. Warnock and Adobe came along, desktop printing was an arduous, expensive and unsatisfying endeavor. Dr. Warnock developed protocols that came loaded into desktop printers themselves, and that accurately rendered what a computer sent them. Adobe’s first such protocol, PostScript, went into Apple’s revolutionary LaserWriter, released in 1985, and within a few years it was the industry standard.

Persons: John Warnock, Warnock, Chuck Geschke, Dr, Adobe’s Organizations: Adobe Systems, Adobe Locations: Los Altos, Calif

☆ Adobe co-founder Jon Warnock is dead at 82
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —John Warnock, co-founder of Adobe, has died aged 82, the software company announced on Sunday. Warnock helped start the revolutionary company in 1982 with the late Charles Geschke, and transformed Adobe into a software powerhouse that became the backbone of the internet. “John’s brilliance and technology innovations changed the world,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in a letter sent to employees. “I had an amazing teacher in high school who, essentially, completely turned me around,” Warnock said. “He was really good at getting you to love mathematics, and that’s when I got into it.”A cause of death wasn’t revealed.

Persons: New York CNN — John Warnock, Warnock, Charles Geschke, ”, Shantanu Narayen, ” Warnock, Geschke, ” Narayen, Warnock’s, Barack Obama, “, wasn’t Organizations: New, New York CNN, Adobe, of Technology, Innovation, Marconi, University of Utah Locations: New York, Salt Lake City

☆ UK regulator may refer Adobe's $20 bln Figma deal to deeper probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 30 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator on Friday said Photoshop owner Adobe Inc's (ADBE.O) $20 billion buyout of cloud-based designer platform Figma may be referred to a deeper investigation as it could "reduce innovation". The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said unless the parties offer acceptable undertakings to address competition concerns, the deal would be referred to a Phase 2 investigation. CMA had said in May it was looking into the deal, announced in September last year. "Adobe has no meaningful plans to compete in the product design space," Adobe said in a statement. "We remain confident in the merits of the case as Figma's product design is an adjacency to Adobe’s core creative products."

Persons: We're, Sorcha O'Carroll, Adobe, Eva Mathews, Radhika Anilkumar, Chavi Mehta, Janane Venkatraman, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Adobe, Markets Authority, CMA, Regulators, Big Tech, Activision, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru

☆ How tech companies are working to help detect AI-generated images
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In recent months, an AI-generated image of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket went viral and AI-generated images of former President Donald Trump getting arrested were widely shared, shortly before he was indicted. Some lawmakers are now calling for tech companies to address the problem. Reality Defender and Hive Moderation are working on the former. Other tech companies like Google appear to be pursuing a playbook that pulls a bit from both approaches. “We need everybody to participate.”For now, however, tech companies continue to move forward with pushing more AI tools into the world.

Persons: Jeffrey McGregor, “ We’re, we’re, ”, McGregor, ” McGregor, Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Vera Jourova, –, “, Dall, ChatGPT, ” Hany Farid, ” Farid, Tom Cruise deepfake, ” Ben Colman, Kevin Guo, ” Guo, —, Andy Parsons, Bing, Farid, ” Parsons Organizations: New, New York CNN, Microsoft, ” Tech, European, Google, Meta, Big Tech, Reality, University of California, CNN, Realty, “, Coalition, Adobe, CAI, BBC, Intel, Sony Locations: New York, EU, Berkeley

☆ Generative AI Tools Use Custom Data to Power More Business Functions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Adobe’s Amit Ahuja, left, Anjul Bhambhri, center, and Ely Greenfield discuss generative AI at the Adobe Summit last week. Business software makers in financial management, design and other areas are rolling out generative artificial intelligence tools that pack troves of industry-specific data into customized applications, aiming for an edge in an already crowded market. By leveraging data gathered from specific business functions—in some cases stockpiled from decades of commercial use—software firms can offer AI tools fine-tuned for distinct applications, industry analysts said. They can also keep underlying algorithms free of extraneous data scraped online from unknown sources, which can produce unreliable results, they said.

☆ Venture capitalists swap Paris Hilton for Al Gore
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LOS ANGELES, March 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Venture capitalists are trading reality stars for policy wonks. Hundreds of top venture capitalists flocked to Los Angeles this week to congregate at a two-day, invite-only soirée for tech’s elite. For 2022, venture-backed companies collected nearly $240 billion for their coffers, 31% lower than the record $345 billion in 2021, according to Reuters. Crowds piled into the theater at the Museum of Motion Pictures to hear a reality check on climate change from former Vice President Al Gore. CONTEXT NEWSThe 10th annual Upfront Summit took place in Los Angeles on March 1 and 2.

☆ Japan Post’s deal will test interest rate optimism
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The $12 billion triple initial public offering of the Japan Post Group by the government in 2015 was done in the name of economic efficiency. After a brief rally, the collective market value of the three companies it comprises has declined from a peak of 18 trillion yen to below 10 trillion yen, per Datastream. The Ministry of Finance holds over a third of Japan Post Holdings (6178.T), which in turn retains big stakes in the banking and insurance units – although it has trimmed the latter to below 50%. Japan Post Holdings plans to unload shares worth up to $9.3 billion, Reuters reported, reducing its stake to below 65%. It’s a huge deal in a rickety market but the prospect of interest rate normalisation could see more investment into domestic banks – Japan Post Bank shares have rallied this year alongside local peers.

☆ AXA’s fling with Monte Paschi ends on high note
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With its 200-million-euro investment in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI), the French insurer was one of the largest backers of a crucial 2.5-billion-euro capital increase that the hard-beaten lender secured in November. For AXA, supporting the cash call was instrumental to protect its existing insurance distribution partnership with Monte Paschi. The French insurer said on Tuesday it had sold 100 million shares, nearly 8% of Monte Paschi’s total, at 2.33 euros each, pocketing 233 million euros. That’s a 17% gain from the 200 million euros it invested in the cash call. Monte Paschi’s recent strong share-price performance has in any case more to do with the improved economic outlook in Europe and rising interest rates than with any merit of its own.

☆ Abrdn turnaround is still a marathon, not sprint
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Abrdn (ABDN.L) still has one big problem. Chief Executive Stephen Bird’s turnaround at the $5 billion asset manager is gaining traction. Full-year results on Tuesday showed that interactive investor, the savings platform he acquired last year, grew revenue by 20%, despite lower trading volumes. Assets under management fell 19%, after factoring in falling markets and client outflows, to 376 billion pounds, while operating profit fell 55%. That may cost some 200 million pounds, nearly double the unit’s 2022 operating profit.

☆ China’s Li Auto drives a fine profit line
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The $25 billion electric-car maker Li Auto (2015.HK) is in charging mode. On Monday it reported a net profit of 265 million yuan ($38 million) for the quarter ending December as sales of its family-friendly sport-utility vehicles zoomed 66% from a year earlier. What’s more, unlike other battery-powered groups, Li offers “extended range electric cars” that combine a motor with a smaller battery. Li sees the direction of travel and will soon launch 100% battery-powered products. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Warren Buffett’s greatest hits lose their verve
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - After writing bangers for decades, it makes sense to keep playing them over and over. Warren Buffett mostly trotted out his greatest hits over the weekend in his latest annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) shareholders. It’s a testament to Buffett’s proven ability to ride out economic storms, even though the $670 billion company’s size makes it ever harder to outperform the market. Buffett’s missive accompanying the financial results was among his shortest, at fewer than 3,500 words, in nearly 60 years of writing them. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Adobe’s lose-lose Figma bind
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Adobe’s (ADBE.O) $20 billion Figma deal is too expensive, and yet boss Shantanu Narayen is punished for losing it. Adobe’s shares tumbled over 7% on Friday after Bloomberg reported the previous night that U.S. antitrust enforcers might block it. That conflicts with the initial reaction to the cash-and-stock deal, when shares crashed 16% on announcement in September. Startups like Figma and peer Canva leapfrogged Adobe in tools allowing multiple users to work on a document simultaneously. That’s why losing Figma also hurts: The deal is an expensive bridge to a new future.

☆ Adobe’s CEO Sizes Up the State of Tech Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Chip Cutter | Photographs Carolyn Fong For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For all the turmoil in the technology industry in 2022, Adobe Inc. Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen says the questions he and other executives keep asking these days are relatively timeless. “Are you looking around the corner adequately?” the 59-year-old asks. “How do you—in addition to ensuring that you have the right strategy—execute against it?”

☆ Adobe Fourth-Quarter Revenues Up 10% as Demand Remains Strong
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sabela Ojea | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Adobe’s earnings report comes as various business software companies indicate customers are more wary about spending due to a challenging economy. Adobe Inc. said fourth-quarter revenue rose 10% on continued strong demand for its software and services. The company on Thursday also issued profit guidance for the current quarter that was better than Wall Street analysts projected. Shares of Adobe, down 42% this year through Thursday’s close, added 5.7% in after-hours trading.

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