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☆ Warren Buffett warned AI is like the atomic bomb, but this expert thinks he's being way too gloomy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Warren Buffett's warning that AI is like the atomic bomb is too negative, one expert says. AI could free human workers to create things and solve problems instead of replacing them, he said. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The elite investor compared AI to the atomic bomb during Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting this month. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Warren, Babak Zafari, —, Buffett, we'd Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Berkshire

☆ Acclaimed Iranian Film Director Flees Country After Jail Sentence
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Emma Bubola | More About Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The celebrated Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof said he had fled the country, after a court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies. Mr. Rasoulof — known for his award-winning film “There Is No Evil” — had been barred from leaving Iran after his work criticized life under authoritarian rule in the country. His lawyer, Babak Paknia, wrote last week on social media that a court had sentenced Mr. Rasoulof to imprisonment, whipping and a fine for movies that it called “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security.”On Monday, Mr. Rasoulof announced his escape from Iran in an Instagram post that featured a video of snow-capped mountains and said he had reached a “safe place” after a “difficult and long journey.”Addressing Iran’s clerical rulers, Mr. Rasoulof said he had been forced to leave “because of your oppression and barbarity,” and that he had now joined Iranians in exile who were “impatiently waiting to bury you and your machine of oppression in the depths of history.”

Persons: Mohammad Rasoulof, Rasoulof, ” —, Babak Paknia, Mr, ” Locations: Iranian, Iran

☆ Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof flees to Europe after prison and flogging sentence
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Artemis Moshtaghian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof says he has fled his home country to an undisclosed location in Europe after a court in Iran sentenced him to prison on national security charges. In a separate statement dated May 12, Rasoulof said he had decided to escape Iran after his lawyers told him his prison sentence would be implemented on short notice. Rasoulof didn’t specify how he escaped Iran, saying only that he did it secretly with the help of friends and acquaintances. In 2022, an Iranian court sentenced Rasoulof to one year in prison and banned him from making films for two years on the charge of “propaganda against the system,” according to Human Rights Watch. Iranian authorities have previously arrested him multiple times and confiscated his passport because of his work, HRW said.

Persons: Mohammad Rasoulof, Rasoulof, ”, “, Babak Paknia, Mahsa Amini, Mohammad, Jean, Christophe Simon, ” Rasoulof, HRW, Michael Rios Organizations: CNN, Cannes Film, Cannes, Human Rights Watch Locations: Europe, Iran, Abadan, France

☆ Mohammad Rasoulof: Iran sentences renowned director to 8 years in prison and flogging, lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Hande Atay Alam | Artemis Moshtaghian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A court in Iran has sentenced acclaimed movie director Mohammad Rasoulof to eight years in prison and flogging for national security crimes, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The writer-director’s latest work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” is due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France next week. According to Paknia, some also alleged they were asked by officials to tell Rasoulof to withdraw the film from the festival. “Once again, the judiciary’s verdict against Mohammad Rasoulof proved that the law is only a playground for stubbornness and revenge in the legal system contaminated by government jurisprudence,” it said. “Independent and freedom-loving cinematographers condemn the invalid judgment of the judiciary against Mohammad Rasoulof and stand by him and all the artists who make fun of government censorship.”

Persons: CNN —, Mohammad Rasoulof, Babak Paknia, Paknia, Rasoulof, ”, HRW, “ Organizations: CNN, Cannes, Cannes Film, Human Rights Watch, Association Locations: Iran, France, Cannes

☆ A National Geographic photographer gave me advice on photographing the total solar eclipse. Here's how my photos turned out.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

So, I contacted Babak Tafreshi, a National Geographic photographer who has been snapping eclipse shots for 30 years. For photos of the partial eclipse, I used my iPhone camera, which I protected with a spare pair of eclipse glasses. One of my iPhone shots of the partial solar eclipse. Manual settings offer the dexterity you need to transition from photographing the partial eclipse to totality. AdvertisementJumping between shooting the partial eclipse, totality, the sunset-like horizon, and people definitely challenged my photography skills.

Persons: —, Babak Tafreshi, Ellyn Lapointe, Tafreshi Organizations: Service, National Geographic, Business Locations: Lake Champlain

☆ The designer of the ‘Bushwick Birkin’ is rewriting the rules of fashion
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

By contrast, even the most expensive Shopping Bags often cost less than $300. Telfar Clemens at the CFDA x Vogue Fashion Fund 'Americans in Paris' event, Paris Fashion Week, France in March 2018. Maker of the ‘Bushwick Birkin’“This Telfar bag imported. The Covid-19 pandemic sent the popularity of the Shopping Bag to new heights — new bag releases announced online sold out in minutes. ‘For everyone’In 2015, Telfar had an unusual partner at New York Fashion Week: fast-food chain White Castle.

Persons: Bella Hadid, Alexandria Ocasio, “ Abbott, they’re, Birkin, ”, Telfar Clemens —, ” Clemens, Clemens, He’s, Telfar, Telfar Clemens, Hagop Kalaidjian, Clemens “, Lois Sakany, Beyoncé, Gonzalo Marroquin, Patrick McMullan, Solange Knowles, David X Prutting, Bushwick Birkin, —, Adrienne Jones, Samia Laaboudi, Edward Berthelot, Chanel, Laticha Brown, ’, Robert F, Kennedy, Babak Radboy, “, It’s, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr, ” Sakany, Sakany, Pratt’s Jones, Radboy, ” Telfar, DiCianno, Jones, ” Jones, it’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Rep, ABC, Brooklyn, tote, Gay Times, Fund, Paris, CNN, Liberian, New York’s Pace University, Breakfast Club, of Fashion Designers of America, Vogue, Guggenheim Museum, ” Pratt Institute, Security, New York, Reuters, Analysts, Bag Security, Fashion Institute of Technology, White, Kennedy Human Rights Liberty, Justice Fund, Old, Fast Locations: New York, Alexandria, Cortez, Bushwick, Brooklyn, Paris, France, New York City, Liberian, Queens, Liberia, United States, USA, . Clemens

☆ This is the wildest coup in Silicon Valley history
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The wildest coup in Silicon Valley's history just took place over the last 48 hours. OpenAI booted CEO Sam Altman, nearly hired him back, then went with 2 other CEOs. Sam Altman has now been scooped up as an employee by Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest investor. Sam Altman had met with world leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in London earlier in the month. But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has not let a good crisis go to waste.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, —, Mira Murati, Emmett Shear, Greg Brockman, — Aaron Levie, ❤️ emojis, AngelList, Babak Nivi, OpenAI's, Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, Ursula von der Leyen, Alastair Grant, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Mary, Gary Marcus, Sam, 👉, Gary, Satya Nad Organizations: Microsoft, Service, British, AI, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, usl Locations: London

The deal removes a point of friction between the United States, which brands Tehran a sponsor of terrorism, and Iran, which calls Washington the "Great Satan". 'HUMANITARIAN ACTION'[1/9]Family members embrace freed American Emad Shargi after he and four fellow detainees were released in a prisoner swap deal between U.S and Iran, and arrived at Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly, called the swap a humanitarian action. Relations between the United States and Iran have been especially bitter since 2018 when then-President Donald Trump pulled out of a deal aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions and toughened U.S. sanctions. Washington suspects Iran's nuclear program may be aimed at developing nuclear arms, a charge Iran denies.

Persons: Babak Namazi, Siamak, Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, American Emad, Jonathan Ernst, Joe Biden, Ebrahim Raisi, Biden, Michael McCaul, Donald Trump, Iran's, Antony Blinken, Henry Rome of, Andrew Mills, Humeyra Pamuk, Parisa, Edmund Blair, Arshad Mohammed, Gareth Jones, Jon Boyle, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Doha DOHA, NEW, Stripes, Qatari, Davison Army, REUTERS, Rights, General Assembly, Democrat, House Foreign, U.S, Washington Institute for Near, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Qatar, Iran, Doha, United States, U.S, Fort Belvoir , Virginia, South Korea, Switzerland, Tehran, Washington, Gulf and U.S, Emad Sharqi, British, American, New York

Loved ones, some holding small American flags, enveloped them in hugs and exchanged greetings in English and Farsi, the main language of Iran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the U.S. Meanwhile, Nour News, a website believed to be close to Iran’s security apparatus, said two of the Iranian prisoners were in Doha for the swap. In his statement, Biden demanded more information on what happened to Bob Levinson, an American who went missing years ago. The Biden administration also announced fresh sanctions on former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

Persons: Joe Biden, Siamak Namazi, ”, Babak, Baquer, “, Biden, Iran’s, Ebrahim Raisi, ” Raisi, — Siamak, Emad, Tahbaz —, Timmy Davis, Namazi, Effie Namazi, Vida Tahbaz, Nasser Kanaani, Nour, Mehrdad Ansari, Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, ” Biden, Bob Levinson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Neda, ___ Gambrell, Jo, Nasser Karimi, Amir Vahdat, Matthew Lee, Paul Haven, Aamer Madhani, Michelle Phillips, Eric Tucker, Farnoush Amiri Organizations: WASHINGTON, Republican, Democratic, United Nations General Assembly, U.S, South, Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nour News, Mideast, Social, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, Embassy, Associated Press Locations: Iran, Fort Belvoir , Virginia, Tehran, Doha, Qatar, New York, America, Persian, U.S, Strait, Hormuz, United States, South Korea, Iranian, Korea, Islamic Republic, American, British, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Washington

Trial data showed that the treatment slows progression of the brain-wasting disease by 27% for patients in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's. The FDA placed its strongest "boxed" safety warning on Leqembi's label, flagging the risk of potentially dangerous brain swelling for Alzheimer's drugs in the same class. Leqembi is an antibody designed to remove sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Biogen and Eisai stock has risen since FDA granted accelerated approval to Alzheimer's drug Leqembi earlier this yearLeqembi's new label explains the need to monitor patients for potentially dangerous brain swelling and bleeding associated with amyloid-lowering antibodies. The first FDA-approved disease-modifying Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm, was also developed by partners Eisai and Biogen, but Medicare coverage restrictions have severely limited its use.

Persons: Leqembi, drugmakers, Ivan Cheung, Chiquita Brooks, LaSure, Babak Tousi, Tousi, Biogen, Dr, Erik Musiek, Eli Lilly, Co's, Cheung, Joanne Pike, Eisai, Leqembi's, Deena Beasley, Julie Steenhuysen, Bill Berkrot, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S . Food, Drug Administration, FDA, Medicare, Medicaid Services, Cleveland Clinic, Washington University, Barnes, Jewish, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer's Association, Thomson Locations: ANGELES, U.S, Los Angeles, Chicago

☆ US patent tribunal sides with Intel again in $2.2 billion VLSI case
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Blake Brittain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) - A U.S. Patent Office tribunal ruled for Intel Corp on Tuesday on the chipmaking giant’s bid to invalidate a patent that represented $1.5 billion of a $2.18 billion verdict it lost to VLSI Technology LLC in 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/file photoThe Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated the computer chip-related patent after canceling another VLSI patent that accounted for the remainder of the Texas federal court verdict last month. A jury ruled for Intel in 2021 in another Texas patent case in which VLSI had sought $3.1 billion in damages. The patent board proceeding decided on Tuesday was initiated by South Dakota-based Patent Quality Assurance LLC. The case is Patent Quality Assurance LLC v. VLSI Technology LLC, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, No.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Kathi Vidal, OpenSky, Benjamin Fernandez, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale, Dorr, Bruce Slayden, Slayden Grubert, Babak, Kenneth Weatherwax, Weatherwax Read Organizations: Reuters, U.S . Patent, Intel Corp, VLSI Technology, REUTERS, U.S ., Appeals, Federal Circuit, Intel, SoftBank Group Corp, Fortress Investment Group, Assurance, OpenSky Industries, Lowenstein, Tech Locations: Texas, Delaware, Northern California, South Dakota

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated the computer chip-related patent after canceling another VLSI patent that accounted for the remainder of the Texas federal court verdict last month. A jury ruled for Intel in 2021 in another Texas patent case in which VLSI had sought $3.1 billion in damages. The patent board proceeding decided on Tuesday was initiated by South Dakota-based Patent Quality Assurance LLC. An attorney for Patent Quality Assurance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is Patent Quality Assurance LLC v. VLSI Technology LLC, Patent Trial and Appeal Board, No.

Persons: Kathi Vidal, OpenSky, Benjamin Fernandez, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale, Dorr, Bruce Slayden, Slayden Grubert, Babak, Kenneth Weatherwax, Weatherwax Read, Blake Brittain Organizations: Intel, USPTO, U.S . Patent, Intel Corp, VLSI Technology, U.S ., Appeals, Federal Circuit, SoftBank Group Corp, Fortress Investment Group, Assurance, OpenSky Industries, Lowenstein, Tech, Thomson Locations: Texas, Delaware, Northern California, South Dakota, Washington

☆ Sundance Movies: Brett Kavanaugh and Steph Curry Docs, "Cat Person"
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Sundance Film Festival was back in person for the first time since 2020. In five days I saw eight films, and while I'm not a critic, I can affirm that not one of them was a clunker. Asked about the film's aspect ratio in an audience Q&A, Jalali said, "It was prettier that way." The bulk of the films I saw were more commercial, and four of them centered on relationships. And then there was "Cat Person," based on a 2017 New Yorker story about dating by Kristen Roupenian.

☆ American imprisoned in Iran for seven years launches hunger strike, asks Biden to secure release of Americans held in Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

An American imprisoned in Iran for seven years launched a hunger strike Monday to protest his “soul crushing” plight and that of other Americans held in Iran, appealing to President Joe Biden to take action to secure their release. “Yet seven years and two presidents later, I remain caged in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.”Namazi accused former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump of having failed him and criticized Biden for not meeting face-to-face with the families of Americans imprisoned in Iran. “In the past I implored you to reach for your moral compass and find the resolve to bring the U.S. hostages in Iran home. His elderly father, Baquer Namazi, was imprisoned in 2016 after having traveled to Iran to try to help his son. Two other U.S. citizens are imprisoned in Iran, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi, as well as an unknown number of permanent U.S. legal residents, including Shahab Dalili.

☆ Daughters of Americans imprisoned in Iran appeal to Biden for action
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The daughters of two Iranian Americans imprisoned in Iran for more than four years appealed for a face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and called on him to take the tough decisions necessary to bring their fathers home. Morad Tahbaz has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018. It is his duty to bring Americans home who are wrongfully detained,” Tahbaz said. She said Biden was committed to securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained overseas. The third American held in Iran, Siamak Namazi, has been imprisoned for seven years.

☆ Amidst the layoffs at Amazon, the company's ultra-secretive research lab is at risk of being shut. It's a sign things are changing 'dramatically' at the company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Early last month, members of Amazon's secretive in-house research lab, Grand Challenge, were called into an unexpected video meeting. Weibel announced 3 of the 5 projects Grand Challenge was working on would shut down, effective immediately. When other team employees wanted to collaborate with the team, they needed additional approvals from its leadership. Amazon Glow was among the Grand Challenge projects to be discontinued at the end of this year. Getting support promoting Grand Challenge projects was a challenge too.

☆ Goldman Sachs just dropped the names of its biggest partner class since David Solomon took over as CEO. See the full list here.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | Dakin Campbell | Alex Morrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

David Solomon had been shrinking the size of Goldman's partner ranks to make it more exclusive. On Wednesday, the firm named 80 new partners, its largest class since Solomon became CEO in 2018. Goldman Sachs promoted 80 people to partner status on Wednesday, marking the largest class since David Solomon took over as CEO in 2018. Goldman's partner class has been steadily shrinking since David Solomon took over as CEO in 2018. Last year, Goldman gave its roughly 400 partners special one-time payments that added millions of dollars to their already generous year-end bonuses.

☆ Amazon's moonshots lab recently shut down several secret projects, shocking members of the team. Here are the initiatives that got the chop, and the ones that survived.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon's Grand Challenge division recently shut down three confidential projects, a cost-cutting move that shocked and disappointed members of the secretive moonshots lab, Insider has learned. Two healthcare projects survived the cull. The healthcare projects that survived are a new type of at-home fertility-monitoring device and a therapeutic treatment to protect against antibiotic resistance, these people said. The decision to keep two healthcare projects reflects CEO Andy Jassy's ambition in this field. Glow, a video-calling device that Amazon shut down earlier this month, was also part of the broader Grand Challenge team.

☆ The era of Big Tech moonshots is over. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are pulling back on ambitious, risky long-term projects after many of them failed.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Hugh Langley | Eugene Kim | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have scaled back their ambitious "moonshot" projects. Moonshots like Google X and Amazon Grand Challenge allowed tech firms to build innovative projects. Before Amazon, Parviz led a similar team at Google called Google X. Page and Brin championed X projects they loved, helping them gain funding and headcount within the unit. Parviz, who created the once-hyped-up Google Glass, left Google X in 2014 to start Amazon's Grand Challenge.

☆ Un cunoscut regizor iranian, ucis și dezmembrat de părinți pentru că nu s-a căsătorit până la 47 de ani
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-20 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Un regizor de film în vârstă de 47 de ani a fost ucis și dezmembrat de părinți, pentru că nu se căsătorise până la vârsta pe care o avea, scrie digi24.ro. Părți din cadavrul lui Babak Khorramdin au fost descoperite într-o valiză, în Ekbatan, un cartier din vestul Teheranului, relatează Newsweek. Apoi i-am dezmembrat corpul și l-am aruncat în cel mai apropiat coș de gunoi, pe stradă, împreună cu soția mea." Poliția a percheziționat casa familiei și a descoperit dovezi ale crimei. Parviz Jahed, cineast și critic, a scris pe Instagram: „Babak a fost cineast și acum câțiva ani l-am întâlnit deseori în cercurile culturale și artistice din Londra.

Persons: Babak, Akbar, Khorramdin, . Regizorul Organizations: Newsweek Locations: Londra, Iran, Teheran, Hole

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