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☆ Alphabet set to report first-quarter results after market close
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Revenue: $78.59 billion, according to LSEG. : $7.72 billion, according to StreetAccount. Traffic acquisition costs (TAC): $12.74 billion, according to StreetAccount. Wall Street is expecting Alphabet to report a second straight quarter of year-over-year revenue growth in the low teens. CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in January that more job cuts were likely coming in 2024, though he didn't specify at the time which teams would be affected.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Prabhakar Raghavan, Raghavan, Liz Reid, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's, Ruth Porat Organizations: Google, TAC, OpenAI, Microsoft, CNBC Locations: Brussels, Belgium, LSEG, StreetAccount

☆ Amazon starts selling smart grocery carts to other retailers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A woman uses a dash cart during her grocery-shopping at a Whole Foods store as Amazon launches smart shopping carts at Whole Foods stores in San Mateo, California, United States on February 25, 2024. The smart shopping cart makes grocery shopping quicker by allowing customers to scan products right into their cart as they shop and then skip the checkout line. Amazon will begin selling its smart grocery carts to other retailers, the company said Wednesday, marking its latest bid to turn its Dash Cart technology into a service. Amazon launched the Dash Cart in 2020 at its Fresh supermarket chain before adding it to select Whole Foods stores. Amazon teams working on Just Walk Out, Dash Carts and other physical store technologies were among those hit by layoffs earlier this month.

Persons: Price, it's, Amazon Organizations: Amazon, Foods, McKeever's Locations: San Mateo , California, United States, Kansas, Missouri, Gizmodo, India

☆ The 8 people who made 'Dungeons & Dragons' cool just launched their answer to the game. Hasbro and its game empire should be very, very nervous.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Chris Kaye | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The cast of Critical Role launched the open beta for their new gaming system, "Daggerheart," on Tuesday. Last year, people packed into a sold-out Wembley Arena to watch the eight-person cast of Critical Role play "Dungeons & Dragons." But on Tuesday night, they took a break from the game that made them famous and launched "Daggerheart," their answer to "Dungeons & Dragons." The previous edition's Open Game License, or OGL, allowed creators to publish and profit from work compatible with the game. It's possible to rebuild your "Dungeons & Dragons" characters in "Daggerheart," and the complex capabilities built into the game allow for extended narrative-driven campaigns.

Persons: they've, —, Matthew Mercer, It's, it's, Travis Willingham, Willingham, there's, Elon Musk, Gizmodo Organizations: Twitch, Hasbro, Service, Wembley, Darrington Press, BI

☆ Fed-up 23andMe users lash out at the company, accusing it of scamming them into auto-renewal
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewIf you think you've been charged for a 23andMe subscription renewal even though you know you cancelled it, you're in good company. The Federal Trade Commission released over a hundred complaints that 23andMe users had submitted since the beginning of 2023, after Gizmodo submitted a FOIA request for the documents. In many of those complaints, some of which Gizmodo published, users detailed renewal practices that they considered dubious and unethical. I turned off the auto-renewal, which this company does not make easy to do and does not send a confirmation about. A spokesperson for 23andMe told Gizmodo that the company does send a notification to customers 30 days before their subscription is set to renew.

Persons: —, you've, Gizmodo, 23andMe, Reddit Organizations: Service, Fed, Business, Federal Trade Commission, 23andMe

☆ Amazon's Audible CEO declines to say layoffs are over and warns of 'storms' ahead during a tense all-hands meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Audible CEO Bob Carrigan answered a barrage of employee questions. The heightened anxiety at Audible reflects broader concerns rippling through Amazon's workforce lately about continued job losses. That's even after the internet giant slashed thousand of positions in multiple rounds of layoffs since late 2022 . "We've made a lot of improvements, but we've got more work to do," Carrigan said during the meeting.

Persons: —, Bob Carrigan, That's, We've, we've, Carrigan, I've Organizations: Service, Business, Amazon, Audible's, Adobe, Spotify

☆ Jezebel to Be Resurrected by Paste Magazine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jezebel, the famed feminist website, is set to return less than a month after it was shuttered. Paste Magazine, a music and culture outlet, acquired Jezebel on Tuesday and planned to start publishing on the site again as soon as Wednesday, said Josh Jackson, a co-founder and the editor in chief of Paste. “The idea of there not being a Jezebel right now just didn’t seem to make sense,” Mr. Jackson said. Jezebel, once part of the Gawker universe of websites, brought a brash new kind of internet writing to feminist issues when it was introduced in 2007, paving the way for a generation of like-minded outlets. In 2019, the private equity firm Great Hill Partners bought Jezebel as part of what is now called G/O Media, a portfolio of digital news outlets that includes Gizmodo, Deadspin and The Root.

Persons: Josh Jackson, Mr, Jackson, O, Jim Spanfeller, ” Organizations: Paste Magazine, Gawker, Great Hill Partners

NEW YORK (AP) — The irreverent feminist website Jezebel is making a comeback less than a month after it was shut down. Paste Magazine, a digital pop culture publication based in Atlanta, announced Wednesday that it was buying Jezebel.com from G/O Media, which closed it and laid off its staff earlier this month. Like many other digital publications, however, Jezebel struggled in recent years to find a sustainable business model as digital advertising plummeted. Paste said Jezebel's “acquisition is poised to bring together the strengths of Paste Magazine’s established presence in the media landscape with Jezebel’s influential position in addressing contemporary issues.”Paste did not immediately return an e-mail seeking further details. The New York Times reported that Paste is searching for a new editor-in-chief for Jezebel before hiring writers.

Persons: Jezebel, Paste, “, Josh Jackson, Jezebel’s, ”, ” Jackson, Jim Spanfeller, ” Spanfeller Organizations: Paste Magazine, New York Times, Paste, Gawker Media Locations: Atlanta

☆ The Cambridge Dictionary named 'hallucinate' its word of the year — and it captures the AI industry's biggest challenge
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Cambridge Dictionary is updating the definition of the word "hallucinate" because of AI. Hallucination is the phenomenon where AI convincingly spits out factual errors as truth. It's a word that also captures one of the AI industry's key challenges: misinformation. AdvertisementThe Cambridge Dictionary's newly crowned word of the year is a familiar one, but it's taking on a new meaning because of AI. Business leaders and misinformation experts have also voiced their concerns over how AI might worsen the state of online misinformation.

Persons: —, Morgan Stanley, Wendalyn Nichols Organizations: Cambridge, Service, Gizmodo, CNET, Microsoft, AIs

NEW YORK (AP) — Jezebel, the sharp-edged feminist website founded at the height of blogosphere era, is shutting down after 16 years, its parent company announced Thursday. G/O Media said 23 staffers would be laid off, including Jezebel's team, as part of a restructuring to cope with economic headwinds and a difficult digital advertising environment. The New York-based company also announced the departure of G/O Media editorial director Merrill Brown. In a memo to the company, G/0 Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said he made the “very, very difficult decision to suspend publication of Jezebel” after an unsuccessful search for a buyer for the website. In 2019, Jezebel became part of the G/0 Media portfolio, which also includes Gizmodo, Quartz, the Onion and the Root.

Persons: Merrill Brown, Jim Spanfeller, Jezebel ”, Spanfeller, Anna Holmes, Jezebel, Jim Spanfeller’s, Laura Bassett, ”, Lauren Tousignant Organizations: O Media, Gawker Media, WGA, Media Locations: New York

The company owns and operates several digital media outlets, including Gizmodo, Quartz and Deadspin. News of the site’s closure bookended a revolution of feminist writing on the internet that Jezebel helped kick off when it launched in 2007. A wave of sites, including DoubleX, from Slate, and Reductress, followed, many of them adopting Jezebel’s incisive focus on gender politics and racism. Anna Holmes, who founded Jezebel and left the publication in 2010, woke up to the announcement of the site shuttering on Thursday and said she was still processing the news. Ms. Holmes, 50, said that she was hired by Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media, to launch the publication in 2007.

Persons: Spanfeller, “, Jezebel, Anna Holmes, ”, Holmes, Nick Denton Organizations: O Media, Slate, Gawker Media

☆ Voice cloning AI startup ElevenLabs was worth $100 million five months ago. Now, sources say it's about to hit $1 billion.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

ElevenLabs, a generative AI startup focused on voice, is in talks to raise capital in a deal that would catapult its valuation to $1 billion. It is unclear as yet whether Sequoia would invest alongside Andreessen Horowitz or if they are competing with one another. Five months on, the prospective new round will increase that valuation 10 times over to $1 billion, three sources said. ElevenLabs and Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment. Bruce Reed, President Biden's AI chief, said that voice cloning "keeps me up at night," in an interview with Politico.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Joe Rogan, Emma Watson, Gizmodo, ElevenLabs, Sequoia, OpenAI's ChatGPT, FOMO, Mati Staniszewski, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Eric Adams, Adams, Bruce Reed, Biden's, Meta Organizations: Google, VC, Sequoia, Meta, Britain's Companies, Concept Ventures, New York City, White, Politico Locations: London, New York

☆ Opinion | Are We Finally Ready for a Male Contraceptive?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

So the method the foundation is working on with a biotech company is a pill that needs to be taken only monthly. It contains the same types of hormones that are in a daily pill, so the same set of side effects would apply. Another hot spot for innovation is in injectables, like the Depo-Provera shot, Vogelsong said. ”Injectables aren’t very popular in the U.S., but they are the No. 1 method used in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa for a variety of reasons,” she noted.

Persons: Ed Cara, ”, Wang, Kirsten Vogelsong, Melinda Gates, Vogelsong, I’ve Organizations: Melinda Gates Foundation Locations: injectables, U.S, Saharan Africa

☆ Don't ask Meta's new AI dating coach your kinky sex questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Meta's new AI dating assistant, Carter, refuses to openly discuss sex or "explicit" acts. Meta's AI dating coach comes as dating apps seek to include AI features in their platforms. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeta's conversational AI dating coach is happy to provide daters with tips on how to flirt and kiss. Insider"Sexual topics are beyond my scope," the AI chatbot said when asked why it's uncomfortable talking about specific sexual acts. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe rise of Meta's AI dating coach comes as singles turn to generative AI tools to help them land dates.

Persons: Carter, —, chatbot, it's, Gen Z, John Gottman's, Emily Nagoski's, Meta didn't Organizations: Service

☆ Wilson Rothman — Bureau Chief, Personal Tech at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Wilson Rothman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wilson RothmanWilson Rothman is The Wall Street Journal's Personal Technology bureau chief. He manages an award-winning team that covers the ways technology intersects with everyday life—which smartphone to buy, what the kids are up to on TikTok, why you get so many spam texts, how to set your apps so they don’t leak personal information and much, much more. In the past, Wilson covered tech for Time, the New York Times and others, and was features editor at Gizmodo, the gadget blog. He came to the Journal in 2013 from NBC News, where he was the tech & science editor.

Persons: Wilson Rothman Wilson Rothman, Wilson Organizations: Technology, New York Times, NBC

☆ One out of 5 college-educated workers say they're worried about losing their jobs to tech — a big increase over 2021's poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

22% of US workers say they worry technology will replace their jobs — an increase from 2021, Gallup says. Workers with concerns tend to be young, college-educated, and make under $100k a year. The growing fear comes as AI tools like ChatGPT can now perform job tasks like writing and coding. And when considering just college-educated workers, the rise in worry is even sharper: from 8% who were worried in 2021 to a whopping 20% who are worried today, the poll says. The rapid development of generative AI technology, the Gallup researchers say, "may be changing the stereotype of what computers can do in the workplace."

Persons: Gallup, Alexis Ohanian, it's, ChatGPT, Goldman Sachs, Gray, Emily Hanley, Suumit Shah, Gallup didn't Organizations: Service, Gallup, Challenger Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ David Uberti — Reporter at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( David Uberti | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

David UbertiDavid Uberti is a reporter in New York covering oil and other commodity markets for The Wall Street Journal. His stories aim to unpack how financial markets, geopolitics and energy interact, shaping the economy and daily life. Dave joined the Journal in 2020 to cover cybersecurity, chronicling major cyberattacks, digital money laundering and U.S. efforts to combat the ransomware boom. Previously, he reported on political media and the news business for Vice News, Gizmodo Media and the Columbia Journalism Review. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia University.

Persons: David Uberti David Uberti, Arthur F, Dave Organizations: Wall Street, Burns, Vice, Gizmodo Media, Columbia, Northwestern University, Columbia University Locations: New York, Germany, Europe, Ukraine

☆ A writer says he was laid off after a media company began using AI to translate articles: 'An AI took my job, literally'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A writer and translator says he was laid off after his company, Gizmodo en Español, began using AI. The site, Gizmodo en Español, now appears to be using AI to translate articles from English to Spanish. On Tuesday they shut down @GizmodoES to turn it into a translation self-publisher (an AI took my job, literally)." They shared the memo sent to staff by Gizmodo's editorial director, which said, "Wednesday morning, G/O began publishing Gizmodo stories translated into Spanish using an automated system." This is not the first time workers have complained of being traded in for new AI tech.

Persons: Matías, Zavia, Arvind Krishna Organizations: O Media, Service, GMG Union, The Writers Guild of America, Gizmodo, Media, Companies, IBM Locations: Wall, Silicon, Spanish, East

☆ Elon Musk's X tells users that it could use their posts to train AI models
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's X tells users it could use their posts to train artificial intelligence models. AdvertisementAdvertisementElon Musk's X has changed its policies to allow information posted by users to be used to train its AI models. It is not clear how it will use the information from X and which AI models this relates to. Meta, which is also developing its own generative AI models, recently introduced an option for Facebook users to opt out of sharing their data to train its AI models. But this comes with limitations, per Gizmodo, and it's not guaranteed that all of a user's information will be removed from its AI training databases.

Persons: Elon Musk's, Musk, Elon Musk, didn't, ChatGPT, it's Organizations: Elon, Microsoft, CNBC, New York Times, Facebook

☆ A disturbing AI phenomenon could completely upend the internet as we know it
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Generative AI could soon be trained on AI-generated content — and experts are raising the alarm. The new term comes as AI-generated content filled with errors continues to flood the internet. Other AI researchers have coined their own terms to describe the training method. Jathan Sadowski, a senior fellow at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab in Australia who researches AI, called this phenomenon "Habsburg AI," arguing that AI systems heavily trained on outputs of other generative AI tools can create "inbred mutant" responses that contain "exaggerated, grotesque features." These new terms come as AI-generated content has flooded the internet since OpenAI launched ChatGPT last November.

Persons: Jathan, paywalls, Ray Wang, Baji, Cohere, OpenAI, ChatGPT, It's, Gizmodo, Kai, Cheng Yang, OpenAI's chatbot, Yang Organizations: University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Stanford, Rice, Emerging Technologies, Constellation Research, CNET, Microsoft, Ottawa Food Bank Locations: Australia, Ottawa

☆ Microsoft took down a string of embarrassing travel articles created with 'algorithmic techniques.' But it says AI isn't the problem.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Nathan Mcalone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft took down a string of embarrassing and offensive travel articles last week. The company said the articles were not published by "unsupervised AI" and blamed "human error." Last week, Microsoft took down a string of articles published by "Microsoft Travel" that included a bizarre recommendation for visitors to Ottawa to visit the Ottawa Food Bank and to "consider going into it on an empty stomach." "This article has been removed and we have identified that the issue was due to human error," a Microsoft spokesperson said. Based on the examples I found, whatever human controls Microsoft had in place were so minimal as to be functionally useless.

Persons: Paris Marx, isn't, Lucia Moses, Kai Xiang Teo Organizations: Microsoft, Morning, Ottawa Food Bank, MSN, CNET Locations: Ottawa, Montreal, Canada, Anchorage, Tokyo

☆ Microsoft has pulled an AI-written travel guide, which told tourists to visit the Ottawa Food Bank if they are hungry
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft has pulled an AI-written travel article that recommended the Ottawa Food Bank as a tourist attraction for the city. "Consider going into it on an empty stomach," wrote the article on the food bank. that recommended the city's food bank as a top tourist attraction. The now-deleted article — which was previously published on Microsoft Start — suggested attractions like "The Winterlude Festival, National War Memorial, and Ottawa Food Bank, and many more." The Ottawa Food Bank was the third attraction on the list and included a caption that said, "Life is already difficult enough.

Persons: Jeff Jones, Microsoft's, Paris Marx Organizations: Microsoft, Ottawa Food Bank, Morning, MSN, Tech, CNET, Gizmodo Locations: Ottawa

☆ Sun smacks Earth with 2 powerful, back-to-back X-class solar flares, knocking out radio signals across the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The sun struck Earth with two powerful X-class solar flares in the past few days. So when high-energy solar radiation strikes, it can cause those radio signals to degrade. But a strong solar maximum can cause extreme space weather events, including back-to-back X-class solar flares like what recently occurred. This year's X-class solar flares have been on the lower end of the intensity spectrum, with the biggest, an X2.2, occurring in February. While this year's flares have routinely affected radio signals, a solar flare of X28 — like the one detected in 2003 — would be incredibly destructive for Earth's technology.

Persons: We've, Gizmodo, Keith Strong, Strong, it's, Space.com Organizations: Service, NASA Locations: Canada, Wall, Silicon

☆ An author is suing Apple and Tetris, accusing them of adapting his book about the game into a film without permission, listing 22 similarities
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Dan Ackerman wrote the 2016 book "The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World." And he's accusing The Tetris Company of adapting his work into this year's film about the video game. His lawsuit lists 22 similarities between the book and film, as well as the underlying plot. The editor-in-chief of tech publication Gizmodo is accusing Apple and The Tetris Company of adapting his book about the video game into a movie without his permission. Apple and The Tetris Company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.

Persons: Dan Ackerman, Taron Egerton —, Maya Rogers, Ackerman, Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov Organizations: Tetris Company, Apple Locations: New York, USSR

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan, is fed up with his MMA obsession after he built a fighting cage in his backyard
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg is taking his MMA obsession to another level by building an octagon in his backyard. "I have been working on that grass for two years," Chan responded to one of his messages. Mark Zuckerberg has built an octagon fighting ring in his backyard, but his wife, Priscilla Chan, doesn't seem thrilled. An Octagon is an eight-sided fighting cage typically used for MMA fights. Then Zuckerberg responded to Musk's challenge by writing three words on an Instagram Story: "Send Me Location."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Chan, doesn't, Zuckerberg, Isreal Adesanya, Alex Volkanovksi, Mark Zuckerberg Zuckerberg, Dave Camarillo, Elon Musk, Musk, Gizmodo, I'm Organizations: —, Twitter, Meta

☆ A locked box in a locked space, and out of view from family: This strict list of rules shows Apple is really, really paranoid about early versions of its $3500 Vision Pro being stolen
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple has opened applications for Vision Pro developer kits ahead of its "early 2024" launch. The real answer is the developer kit for Apple's upcoming $3,500 Vision Pro headset. Other developers will use the visionOS simulator that Apple has made available for building Vision Pro apps. Apple unveiled the Vision Pro in early June, and says the product will be available early next year for purchase on its website and at US Apple store locations. The Vision Pro will be the company's first major new product in over eight years, with a starting price of $3,499.

Persons: Apple Watches, Gizmodo Organizations: Apple, Vision Pro, Morning, Vision, US Apple

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