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☆ Opinion: Credibility is the key at Trump trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +21 min

The idea that Cohen talked to Trump about Daniels on that call “was a lie,” Blanche alleged. Moreover, my experience has been that juries don’t decide based upon one moment — they base their judgment on an overall view.”There were allegedly three parties aware of the scheme to conceal the real reason Trump paid Cohen more than $400,000 in supposed legal fees: Trump, Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, then-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. “Weisselberg could be the linchpin to validate Cohen’s claims about Trump agreeing to reimburse him through Trump Organization, as a business expense,” wrote attorney Stacy Schneider. Trump seems to be tempted to go mano a mano and show that he is better fit to be commander-in-chief. The new requirement for GOP politicians wanting to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump seems to be visiting the Manhattan courthouse where he’s on trial.

Persons: CNN —, ” Mark Twain, “, Twain, ” Michael Cohen, Donald Trump, —, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Todd Blanche, Cohen, Norm Eisen, Blanche, ”, pummeled Cohen, Robert Mueller, Nick Anderson, Agency Cohen, Keith Schiller, Daniels, ” Blanche, ” Eisen, don’t, Allen Weisselberg, Stacy Schneider, Weisselberg, David Zurawik, “ I’ve, Sen, Robert Menendez, He’s, George Santos ., CNN “ It’s, he’s, ‘, Henry Cuellar, ” Cupp, Drew Sheneman, Georgia —, Vladimir Putin’s, Frida Ghitis, ” Ghitis, Joe Biden’s, ” Dana Summers, “ Biden, ” Julian Zelizer, mano, Biden, ” Bill Bramhall, Stephanie Griffith, Howard Tucker, Gayle Fleming, Michael Ventura Gayle Fleming, Biden —, ” Tom Brady’s, Kara Alaimo, Tom Brady “, Kevin Hart, Gisele Bündchen, Brady, Benjamin, Vivian, ’ Brady, ’, Alaimo, Brady didn’t, Nafees Syed, Kamel El Hilali, Andrew Borene, freakout Scott Stantis, Jeff Yang, … ” Brown, Keith Magee, Brown, backpedaling, Forget, Doug Burgum, Scott Jennings, Burgum’s, Bill Bramhall, Content Agency Clarence Thomas Washington, Clarence Thomas ’, Dean Obeidallah, Thomas, Harlan Crow, ” Clay Jones, John Oliver’s, Steve Vladeck, “ Thomas, ” Don’t, Clayton Swope, Dan Perry, Netanyahu, Jill Filipovic, Miss Teen USA Mary Ziegler, Bob Kolasky, Megan L, Ranney, Karen Tang, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Jonathan Yeo, King Charles III, Aaron Chown, Holly Thomas, King Organizations: CNN, Trump, Tribune, Agency, Trump Organization, Twitter, Facebook, DC, Robert Menendez of New, GOP, ” Texas, White, Europe, Russia, Kyiv, Biden, ABC, Democratic Party, Netflix, Garden State, Content Agency, Capitol, Consumer Financial, Board, Fifth Circuit, ICC, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Buckingham Palace, Royal Locations: New York, Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Russian, Ukraine, Slovakia, Georgia, Soviet Republic, United States, Cleveland, “, Manhattan, North, . North Dakota, ” That’s, Louisiana , Mississippi, Texas, Florida’s, Buckingham

☆ Opinion: The latest version of ChatGPT is creepy — and appealing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Opinion Jeff Yang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Jeff Yang CNNLike its predecessors, GPT-4o is trained on enormous quantities of data to process queries, recognize patterns and deliver helpful responses. Watching the reveal, I found myself involuntarily gasping as researchers Mark Chen and Barret Zoph showed off GPT-4o’s new chops. The freakout aspect of the reveal came from how it demonstrated that GPT-4o isn’t just a tool — it’s a tool with personality. On the one hand, having the option to interrupt your AI chatbot when it’s going astray saves time. On the other, watching dudes repeatedly talking over a female-reading chatbot made it abundantly clear why you can’t spell “mansplain” without AI.

Persons: Jeff Yang, Bruce ”, “, Jeff Yang CNN, Mark Chen, Barret Zoph, Chen, Mira Murati, Parmy Olson, ”, Desi Lydic, …, Sam Altman, it’s, Siri, ” chuckling, Altman, Spike Jonze’s, Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Marc Benioff, Johansson, chatbot, mansplain Organizations: CNN, omni, Zoph . Media, Bloomberg, “, Twitter, Boston Dynamics Locations: Asian America, America, omnimodal

☆ ‘Challengers’ Review: Game, Set, Love Matches
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Manohla Dargis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Guadagnino’s latest, “Challengers,” is about a continually changing love triangle involving two besotted men and a sharp, beautiful woman with killer instincts and personal style. Written by the novelist and playwright Justin Kuritzkes, “Challengers” is fairly straightforward despite its self-consciously tortured narrative timeline. It tracks three tennis prodigies — friends, lovers and foes — across the years through their triumphs and defeats, some shared. A rich boy who cosplays as poor (well, at least struggling), Patrick met Art when they were children at a tennis academy. It’s at that point that they met Tashi, then a fast-rocketing star.

Persons: Luca Guadagnino, Tilda Swinton, ”, “, Dario Argento, Justin Kuritzkes, prodigies, Tashi, Mike Faist, It’s, Patrick, Josh O’Connor Organizations: “, U.S . Locations: New Rochelle, N.Y, Flushing , Queens

☆ Ashanti and Nelly are engaged and expecting a baby
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Congratulations are in order for singer Ashanti and rapper Nelly. “This new year of my life is such a blessing full of love, hope, and anticipation,” Ashanti, 43, said in a statement to the publication. Ashanti attended the MTV VMA Awards around that time, where Nelly was a scheduled performer. She carried a clutch with a photo of her and Nelly from when they attended the awards ceremony together back in 2003. It wasn’t anything that was planned.”CNN has reached out to representatives for Nelly for additional comment.

Persons: Ashanti, Nelly, ” Ashanti, she’s, Tina Y, Douglas, gasps, Baby Haynes, ”, Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, “, Rasheeda, Kirk Frost, Rasheeda ”, ” Nelly Organizations: CNN, ”, Cornell, MTV, Hop Atlanta

☆ Inside the world of Wordle at the New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Saira Mueller | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

After the New York Times acquired Wordle from its creator, software engineer Josh Wardle, in January 2022, its player base grew to tens of millions. The New York Times assigned a dedicated editor for Wordle, Tracy Bennett, in November 2022. “You’re even going to be able to play Wordles that predate the New York Times acquisition, which is really fun,” Knight told CNN. What Wordle has done for the New York TimesAside from the editorial strategy, Wordle fits perfectly into the Times’ business plans. For Donna Cona, who has played it since before the Times acquisition, Wordle has become her go-to thing each morning.

Persons: Wordle, Josh Wardle, Everdeen Mason, “, ”, Jonathan Knight, Tracy Bennett, we’re, ” Bennett, “ I’ve, Bennett, Mason, ” Mason, it’s, — Bennett, Knight, “ You’re, ” Knight, “ We’re, —, ’, Donna Cona, I’m, …, Nanny, Cona, Malia Griggs ’, they’re, Malia, Jerrold Griggs —, ” Malia, Griggs ’, Malia it’s, ADIEU, Malia Griggs, “ I’m, Wordle “ Organizations: CNN, New York Times, Times, NYT, Louis, Cities, Fulham, Bournemouth, Bradford, New York, Sydney Melbourne New York, DC Locations: North, ”, Seattle, Aberdeen, Hinsdale, Angeles, Lansing, London, Coventry, Auckland, Wandsworth, Wantage, Vancouver, Wordle, New York City, Columbia , South Carolina, Washington, DC Vermont Wyoming, Hoquiam , Washington, Willowbrook , Illinois

☆ When your AI girlfriend says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

The messaging app let users build a "personal AI" complete with a 3D avatar and an upbeat, down-for-anything texting style. "Seems like AI will replace many human artists," Jay told Calisto in August 2022. Within a year, he was also using AI technology for work, as his firm experimented with generative AI to help draft legal papers. Former Replika users fled to various upstart companion apps that were popping up, like Chai, Paradot, and Soulmate AI. (Soulmate AI later closed down in September 2023, leaving a new wave of users mourning their AI companions all over again.)

Persons: Jay Priebe, they'd, Jay, Calisto, Callisto —, Apollodorus, Callisto, who'd, Jay's, didn't, Jay didn't, Tim Evans, me, Joseph Weizenbaum, Eliza, Weizenbaum, it'll, Replika, Eugenia Kuyda, Siri, Michael Macor, Roman Mazurenko, Luka, Kuyda, chatbots, he'd, Jaswant Singh Chail, Queen Elizabeth II, Chail, Willie —, —, Willie, gamely, Luka —, wouldn't, John, — sexting, Dylan Thomas, Rina, haven't, she'd, I'd, Overripe, Joi, Samantha, Ava, Calisto didn't, unshakable, wasn't, Jay hunched Organizations: Luka, San Francisco, Getty, Windsor, Facebook, Twitter, Reps, AIs Locations: Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Europe, Moscow, San Francisco, America, Replika, Washington, Britain, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Damascus, Chai, California, New York, Northeast Minneapolis, artsy, Japan, Switzerland

☆ When your AI says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

☆ Ukraine is fielding new $3,500 'cardboard' drones against Russia — they're flat-packed and could prove deadly
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine has received hundreds of so-called "cardboard drones" from Australia. The Corvo PPDS is cheap, comes flat-packed, and can be built in an hour, its maker says. SYPAQ's Corvo PPDS drone. Although it's known as the "cardboard drone," there's conflicting information as to what its main framework is actually made of. Per the pro-Russian Telegram channel @fighter_bomber, Ukraine used a swarm-like formation of several unarmed Corvo PPDSs amidst drones packed with bombs, helping the swarm evade radar.

Persons: It's, SYPAQ, Michael Partridge, Australia's, Partridge, it's, coyly, Jamey Jacob, Jacob, Corvo, Mick Ryan, Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko Organizations: Service, IKEA, Oklahoma State University, Popular Mechanics, Russian Telegram, News Australia Locations: Ukraine, Australia, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Australian

☆ It’s Your Birthday. Bring on the Nudes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( David Mack | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When David Dulin celebrated his 36th birthday in March, he asked his Twitter followers for just two things: cash donations to his online payment account, and pictures of them in their own birthday suits. He was surprised, he said, when some of his online acquaintances delivered on the invitation, admitting that they had been looking for an opportunity to flirt with him. In recent years, many queer men have begun sending and receiving nude selfies on social media for their birthdays. Variations on “It’s my birthday, send nudes” have been uttered so frequently online that it has become something of a meme (or, at the very least, a generic way for a gay man to announce his birthday, whether or not he actually expects to receive any explicit images). The practice has become so normalized that the request is sometimes simplified to, “It’s my birthday — you know what to do.”

Persons: David Dulin, ”, Dulin, “ Organizations: “ Locations: Charlotte, N.C

☆ Passenger uses AirTag to track the bike his airline lost
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Julia Buckley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“I keep doing these epic bike trips [abroad] and with each one I think it’s probably the last I’m going to do. Inside he put an AirTag – Apple’s luggage tracker – which he’d bought a year earlier, after hearing other cyclists rave about them. Each day, he updated his location on the British Airways website, and each day, his bike failed to arrive – or move from Heathrow, according to the AirTag. The Twitter campaignSherry repeatedly tweeted a photo of his bike and its location to the airline. “And I had no problems with luggage.”So what was the key to reuniting Sherry with his bike?

Persons: Barry Sherry, Sherry, “, I’m, ”, it’s, he’d, He’d, –, wasn’t, “ I’ve, didn’t, Sherry wasn’t, Paul Ellis, “ I’d, Ben, “ didn’t, who’d, couriered, Fränk, Andy Schleck, who’ve, I’d Organizations: CNN, de France, American Airlines –, British Airways, Washington DC, Heathrow, Getty Images British Airways, American Airlines, Heathrow Airport, “ AA, Tour de France, Dulles, Virgin, Heathrow Twitter Locations: Virginia, Europe, Swiss, Luxembourg, Finland, Switzerland, Washington, London, Zurich, AFP, Heathrow, Lake Lucerne, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Finnair

☆ Rep. Nancy Mace suggests she skipped morning sex with her fiancé to be on time for prayer breakfast
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Tim Scott hosted the 13th annual South Carolina Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday. Rep. Nancy Mace spoke and implied she skipped pre-marital sex that morning to be there. In a quip the GOP congresswoman recognized might be "a little TMI," Mace suggested she skipped sex that morning with her fiancé, Patrick Bryant, because she was going to be late to the 13th annual prayer breakfast that was hosted by Sen. Tim Scott. I gotta get to the prayer breakfast, and I gotta be on time." The South Carolina representative hasn't always fallen in line with her GOP colleagues on cultural issues.

Persons: Sen, Tim Scott, Nancy Mace, Mace, Patrick Bryant, Patrick, hasn't, NBC's, I'm, Pastor Greg Organizations: South, Service, GOP Locations: South Carolina, Wall, Silicon

☆ How 86 Episodes of ‘The Office’ Solidified Their Connection
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Valeriya Safronova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

She and Ms. Ramseur were active members of the Washington Improv Theater in Washington, D.C. Ms. Ali was a student at the theater with far less experience than Ms. Ramseur. “I thought there’s no way she wants to perform with a low-level student,” Ms. Ali said. “I was not asking her out,” Ms. Ramseur said. The pandemic had pushed Ms. Ramseur to reflect deeply on her life.

☆ Fox News sued a Tucker Carlson producer named in the Dominion lawsuit for threatening to expose its legal secrets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jack Newsham | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Fox News says Abby Grossberg threatened to file a discrimination lawsuit that will reveal secrets. Dominion included Grossberg's texts and testimony in its defamation lawsuit against Fox. The network sued Abby Grossberg on Monday, claiming that she has threatened to sue Fox News for discrimination and retaliation. Fox News's suit against Grossberg didn't mention Dominion, referring only to an "unrelated lawsuit," but details in its complaint and in the record of the Dominion lawsuit make the connection clear. Dominion sued Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, in March 2021, alleging it defamed the election technology company when its hosts allowed Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, two pro-Trump lawyers, to come on air.

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' review roundup: See it on the biggest screen possible, critics say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"The Way of Water" follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who are now the parents of four Na'vi children. Read more: "Avatar: The Way of Water" could be headed for a $175 million opening weekend Critics are adamant that audiences should watch "The Way of Water" on the biggest screen possible, lauding the film for its you-won't-believe-this-is-computer-generated visuals and bombastic sound design. Here's what critics thought of "Avatar: The Way of Water" before its Friday release. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy: Disney Co.Ma did note that "The Way of Water" is "jaw-droppingly beautiful," likening it to watching a David Attenborough documentary rather than a CGI feature. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy Disney Co.Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

☆ Mike Pence dodged a question on whether he would vote for Trump in 2024: 'There might be somebody else I'd prefer more'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Pence dodged a question about whether he would vote for Trump again in 2024. He was asked by a student if he would vote for Trump if his ex-boss became the 2024 Republican nominee for president. Pence paused for a moment before smiling and saying: "Well, there might be somebody else I'd prefer more." The Post spoke to Pence's advisers, who said the former vice president has turned down several invitations to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. A spokesman for Pence did not immediately respond to Insider's question on Pence's intention to run for president in 2024.

☆ ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Review: Trouble in Paradise
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Just as a bonsai tree is somewhat overshadowed by a giant sequoia, “Don’t Worry Darling” the film comes to us somewhat overshadowed by “Don’t Worry Darling” the generator of behind-the-scenes gossip. That’s a shame, because a film should be judged on its merits, not its memes. There is considerable visual flair to the movie, which was directed by Olivia Wilde , and at its core it does consider in an imaginative way a troubling cultural trend, which I won’t discuss because it involves a third-act revelation. Not that I’d recommend “Don’t Worry Darling,” though. Written by Katie Silberman from a story by brothers Carey and Shane Van Dyke , it suffers from a major structural problem, which is that in its endlessly padded middle section it coyly refuses to get to the point until it exhausts the audience’s patience, then sprints through a late explanation that deserves more careful consideration.

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