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☆ Google reshuffles virtual assistant unit with focus on Bard A.I. technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Google is reshuffling the reporting structure of its virtual assistant unit — called Assistant — to focus more on Bard, the company's new artificial intelligence chat technology. In a memo to employees on Wednesday, titled "Changes to Assistant and Bard teams," Sissie Hsiao, vice president and lead of Google Assistant's business unit, announced changes to the organization that show the unit heavily prioritizing Bard. Mao held the position of vice president of engineering for Google Assistant and "helped shape the Assistant we have today," Hsiao wrote. As part of Wednesday's change, Google Assistant engineering vice president Amar Subramanya will now lead engineering for the Bard team, the email said. Trevor Strohman, who previously led engineering efforts for Bard, will continue as an “Area Tech Lead” for Bard, reporting to Hsiao.

☆ Amazon's Twitch CEO steps down nearly 10 years after acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Emmett Shear, the CEO of Amazon 's live streaming service Twitch, is stepping down from his role, effective immediately, the company announced Thursday. After buying Twitch, Amazon was largely hands-off with the business, though it has offered Prime subscribers perks on the live streaming platform, like free games and in-game loot. Shear will be replaced by Twitch President Dan Clancy, who has been a "close partner" to Shear, he wrote in a blog post. "Twitch will always remain part of my extended family, a community where I grew in so many ways alongside Twitch itself." Earlier this month, Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff announced he was stepping down from his role at the home security subsidiary.

☆ Ex-Apple engineer says Siri is way too clunky to ever be like ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ex-Apple engineer John Burkey told NYT that voice assistant Siri may never be as robust as ChatGPT. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT threaten to make voice assistant tech obsolete. John Burkey, an ex-Apple engineer who was tasked to improve Siri in 2014 and left the company in 2016, said that Siri's clunky design makes it difficult to add new features. Burkey's views on Siri come as the wildly popular AI chatbot ChatGPT — which now runs on GPT-4, its most advanced language model yet — threatens to make voice assistant tech obsolete with its impressive capabilities. Siri users have even taken notice, expressing their frustrations on Reddit with questions like "Why is Siri so stupid" and "is Siri getting dumber each year."

☆ Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana were 'dumb as a rock'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella said voice assistants like Siri and Alexa were "dumb as a rock." Nadella who raved about the voice assistants in 2016 saying "bots are the new apps," has changed his tune since then, the FT reported. "Whether it's Cortana or Alexa or Google Assistant or Siri, all these just don't work. According to Insider Intelligence analysis in 2018, just 2% of global consumers said they used Cortana as their primary voice assistant. Siri's co-creator Adam Cheyer told the FT that ChatGPT's ability to understand complex information makes existing voice assistants look stupid, saying "the previous capabilities have just been too awkward."

☆ The inventor of the web thinks everyone will have their own personal A.I. assistants like ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Through their company Inrupt, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, and John Bruce, are trying to change the future of the internet. Inrupt is a company they co-founded which aims to deliver the web inventors' original vision of the way the internet should work. Data will be stored in so-called "pods," which are basically a person's personal data online storage container. And the opportunity for individuals to take more command over their role on the web," Bruce told CNBC's Beyond The Valley. But Berners-Lee is keen to call the next generation of the internet Web 3.0, emphasizing the dot.

☆ Tim Cook's mysterious silence on ChatGPT is making Apple look out of touch
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook needs to balance AI development with its ongoing supply chain issues. Apple CEO Tim Cook himself has said that AI "will affect every product and service we have." Delivering an interesting AI product is not the only problem Apple needs to address. Apple faced supply chain issues in 2021, delaying the delivery of the iPhone 14 Pro after protests around Covid-19 shutdowns temporarily closed its Chinese manufacturing hubs. The company has talked about diversifying its supply chain process, which could take decades.

☆ JPMorgan downgrades electric vehicle charging stock EVgo, sees little upside going forward
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

JPMorgan thinks it's time to move to the sidelines on electric vehicle charging company EVgo . However, "we think its network throughput growth will likely be dampened as a result of slower site growth." While EVgo recently announced a partnership with Amazon's Alexa , which will guide electric vehicle users to EVgo charging stations, the company's growth outlook remains tricky. JPMorgan said early signs of consolidation among electric vehicle charging operators and larger energy players, such as Shell and Volta, could pose a threat to EVgo. Further challenges lie ahead for the broader electric vehicle charging market, J.P. Morgan added.

☆ It's too early to share Wall Street's renewed optimism for mega-cap tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Some Wall Street analysts are starting to like Big Tech again, following the sector's beatdown in 2022. What Wall Street is saying Piper Sandler called out Club stocks Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) as top buys. As a result, Snapchat (SNAP) and Club name Meta Platforms (META) can now only track your activity outside of their own apps if you allow it. Piper analysts note that year-over-year comps for Amazon will be easier in 2023 than they were last year. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Amazon's Alexa will soon help EV drivers find a charger
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon is betting that Alexa, its voice-activated virtual assistant, can help ease one of electric vehicle drivers' biggest worries: finding a charging station while on the road. At CES on Thursday, Amazon announced a new collaboration with EVGo , one of the largest U.S. charging networks, that will soon allow Alexa to navigate EV drivers to public charging spots and pay for the service. Alexa will draw on data from EVGo's PlugShare community to help guide EV drivers to nearby charging stations. If the driver chooses an EVGo station, Alexa will be able to initiate and pay for the charge with simple voice commands. "The EV charging experience is a lot more fragmented than for gas customers, who can pretty much stop at any location," said Anes Hodžić, vice president at Amazon's Smart Vehicles group.

☆ Here's what's next for the tech sector in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I'm your host, Jordan Parker Erb, and I've got some news: Today is my last edition of 10 Things in Tech. Below, we're taking a look ahead at the new year, and discussing what's next for the tech sector. Wall Street analysts explain why they think tech is headed for a huge rebound in 2023. Tech companies saw a challenging 2022, but analysts at Wedbush say the industry will grow in the coming year, with nowhere to go but up. The past 12 months have been volatile for the ad industry — and it foreshadows even more change in 2023.

☆ Viral chatbot ChatGPT will be overhyped, then overlooked, and then, perhaps, essential
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Emerging technology like ChatGPT is usually called overhyped until it becomes essential. ChatGPT lets users ask its bot questions or give it prompts using GPT-3, an impressive piece of natural-language-processing AI tech. ChatGPT and the Gartner Hype CycleIn layman's terms, ChatGPT is a chatbot using GPT-3, a state-of-the-art AI model that uses a massive amount of data to generate humanlike text. It's all very exciting and new, which is where the Gartner Hype Cycle, from the tech-research and consulting firm Gartner, comes in handy. To be sure, the rise of generative AI and more forms of ChatGPT aren't assured.

☆ Salesforce employees say they were blindsided by Bret Taylor's departure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today's not a typical day for the staff at Salesforce, some of whom told us they were blindsided by co-CEO Bret Taylor's decision to step down. Below, we've got details on what Salesforce employees — including now-solo CEO Marc Benioff — are saying about Taylor's announcement. Salesforce employees were blindsided by Bret Taylor's departure. The sudden announcement left many at the company feeling blindsided, employees and others close to the company told Insider. Here's what workers told us about Taylor's departure.

☆ Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says cost-cutting review revealed the economy is 'more uncertain' than previously thought
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz At Lincoln Center on November 30, 2022 in New York City. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been entrenched in a sweeping review of the company's expenses, marked with the largest job cuts in its history, shuttered programs and a pause on warehouse expansion. Speaking at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Jassy said a monthslong cost-cutting review revealed the economy was "more uncertain" than previously thought, which prompted the company to escalate its efforts to rein in expenses. Business Insider also reported on the future of Amazon's Alexa unit being in jeopardy. WATCH: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on shifting consumer spending habits

☆ Amazon thought Alexa would be the next iPhone. Turns out it's a 'glorified clock radio.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon's Alexa was Jeff Bezos' pet project; now it's a target for the company's cost-cutting. The Amazon Echo debuted in 2014 and was the company's first real success as a hardware manufacturer. The stand-alone voice assistant was immediately useful, and by 2018, the company sold more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices. It even licensed the Alexa voice assistant to other manufacturers, hoping to make the assistant ubiquitous throughout people's homes. But as Amazon faces a new era of cost discipline, a "glorified clock radio" can't lose $10 billion a year or employ 10,000 people.

Over a dozen current and former employees told Insider's Eugene Kim that the division is in crisis — and the mounting losses and massive cuts underscore the swift downfall of Alexa. Go inside Amazon's Alexa unit. Jerod Harris/Getty ImagesWalt Disney stunned Hollywood this week by reinstating Bob Iger as its chief executive, and company insiders told us that his return to the throne came together in a matter of days. Getty ImagesTwitter's remaining employees are now expected to keep its CEO Elon Musk up to date on everything they work on each week. Responding to a tweet citing correspondent Kali Hays' report on the leaked email, Musk said the decision was "not unreasonable."

Every year, color-changing smart lightbulbs from Sengled prove to be one of to be a popular products with our readers. Deal Sengled Smart Color-Changing LED light bulbs (single pack) Sengled's smart color-changing light bulb is significantly more affordable than bulbs from big names like Philips. For about $12, this single bulb is more affordable than ever. The Sengled bulbs work with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, so you can control them with voice commands on any Alexa-powered device, like Amazon's Echo Dot. No matter how you intend to use them, Sengled's bulbs offer an incredibly economic way of adding several smart color-changing bulbs to your home.

☆ I'm a turkey expert for the Butterball hotline. You'd be surprised how many odd and panicked calls I get on Thanksgiving Day.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Jenny Powers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Phyllis Kramer is a Butterball Turkey Talk-Line expert based in Aurora, Illinois. All the talk-line experts took calls remotely from homeTraditionally, we take calls side by side in one big room housed inside a building located in Naperville, Illinois. Our average call lasts 3 minutes, and the most common question is how to thaw a frozen turkeyA herb- and citrus butter-roasted Butterball turkey. I've also heard from people mixing it up and making Greek turkey, Cajun turkey, and even a Southwestern one. I always thaw turkey in the refrigerator, so that's where it is right now.

☆ As Amazon's Alexa unit faces layoffs, insiders describe a department in crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today, we're taking a look inside the rise and fall of Amazon's Alexa unit, and detailing more potential layoffs at Twitter, so we're not off to a great start — but let's keep our fingers crossed. Employees took us inside Amazon's floundering Alexa unit. With Amazon's Alexa — and the devices team at large — the prime target of the biggest layoffs in the company's history, Insider's Eugene Kim spoke with more than a dozen employees to understand the current state of the unit. Employees told Insider a combination of low morale, failed monetization attempts, and lack of engagement across users and developers made them feel as though the team was deadlocked over the last few years. Here's everything employees told us.

☆ Amazon is gutting its voice-assistant Alexa. Once founder Jeff Bezos's pet project it's now the primary target of historic layoffs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon's Alexa and the devices team at large is now the prime target of the biggest layoffs in the company's history, according to press reports and an internal email seen by Insider. Instead, Amazon wanted shoppers to buy more things through Echo devices by placing orders through the voice-assistant. Reports of Alexa mistakenly sending voice recordings to the wrong person or Amazon employees secretly listening to private conversations stoked fear of privacy concerns. But even so, its financial contribution often fell short of expectations, more than half a dozen employees told Insider. Employees told Insider the product is Bezos's latest pet project.

☆ Amazon is looking to trim headcount through a voluntary buyout program
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon recommended all employees in its Seattle office to work from home, leaving much of downtown nearly void of people. Amazon is offering voluntary buyouts to some employees inside the company, as it looks for ways to trim its headcount beyond the massive layoffs already underway. "Voluntary severance" offers were sent out Tuesday and Wednesday to some divisions, including human resources and employee services, according to internal company documents viewed by CNBC. Amazon will inform employees next month that their resignation has been accepted, and their last day of employment will be Dec. 23. The volunteer severance program is a "first step" to realign businesses within Amazon, the documents said, indicating that the divisions could undergo layoffs in the near future.

☆ Layoffs in Amazon's retail wing will come after Thanksgiving, some employees have been told
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon is in the midst of what could be the largest round of corporate layoffs in its history. Amazon's retail wing is next on the list once the peak holiday shopping period is over. Amazon will begin announcing layoffs in its retail business unit after the peak holiday shopping period that takes place directly before and after Thanksgiving, according to information shared by an executive in a meeting. Amazon began its largest round of corporate layoffs in its history this week, starting with its devices and human resources divisions, Insider reported. Amazon forecast weaker-than-expected sales over the coming holiday shopping season, sending its share price plunging earlier this month.

☆ Read the memo Amazon's Alexa and devices chief Dave Limp sent to notify his division of layoffs: 'I know this news is tough to digest'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon employees have complained of a communications vacuum from leadership. Devices chief Dave Limp emailed his division Wednesday morning to notify them of the layoffs. As colleagues were called into meetings and notified they were being laid off, some Amazon employees complained that a communication vacuum from leadership was adding to the sense of anxiety pervading the company. Wednesday morning, Dave Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices and services, which houses Alexa, emailed employees to explain the rationale behind the cuts. Thank you for the support and empathy that I know our team will show each other during this time.

☆ TikTok's e-commerce plans may include enabling users to shop by voice, according to a trademark filing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok is considering letting users shop by voice, according to a September trademark filing. The trademark application also showcased other areas of e-commerce that TikTok may break into. TikTok is considering releasing new technology that would enable users to shop by voice, according to a US trademark application filed in September by its parent company ByteDance. While TikTok can file a trademark application for any goods or services it wants, in order for the trademark to actually register, it would actually have to start offering them, Gerben said. And the company recently moved over one of its top advertising executives to focus on its TikTok Shop product in the US, the Financial Times reported.

☆ Amazon is reportedly putting its Alexa personal-assistant division under review as it seeks to cut costs across unprofitable businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon has launched a cost-cutting review of its businesses, according to the WSJ. Amazon has already told employees in certain unprofitable divisions to look for jobs elsewhere in the company, the WSJ reported. One of the areas the company is scrutinizing its Alexa business. The device business currently has more than 10,000 employees and has received major influxes of investment, the WSJ noted. Still, an Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ that customer interactions with Alexa have increased more than 30% over the past year.

Google's new Nest WiFi Pro features a new glossy design and supports the latest WiFi 6E speeds. The various smart home standards are a point of confusion and frustration for many who want to smarten their homes with smart bulbs, smart locks, smart thermostats, smart security systems, smart cameras and doorbells, and so on. The Nest WiFi Pro brings the latest and fastest WiFi 6E standard at a more affordable priceGoogle's Nest WiFi Pro 6E includes the latest WiFi 6E standard that uses the 6Ghz band for more reliability and WiFi speeds. Google NestThe New Nest WiFi Pro 6E is a mesh WiFi system that supports the latest WiFi 6E (6 Extended) standard for devices to connect to — that is, if those devices also support WiFi 6E. Google also announced the second-generation Nest Doorbell with 24/7 recordingThe wired version of the second-generation Google Nest Doorbell brings back the popular 24/7 video recording option.

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