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☆ I'm a boomer who learned to use AI for work. It's made me more productive, but I worry about younger generations misusing it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-20 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

My freelance translation work is flexible and fits around my job as a university teacher. AdvertisementMarco Simões started using AI for translation in 2020. I decided to try out translation work on the side after someone at Intel suggested I work as a translator there. Using AI has meant my productivity has increased, and I can accept more jobs than I did in the past, but pay doesn't necessarily increase. Using AI tools, such as Bard and ChatGPT, I can translate around 1,000 to 1,200 words an hour.

Persons: Marco Simões, Simoes, —, São Paulo, Wintranslation, I've, Bard, ChatGPT, I'm, It's Organizations: BI, Service, Novell, Intel, São Paulo, Google Locations: Sao Paulo, Brazil, São, America

☆ Smartcat is using AI to translate content into any language. Check out the six-slide pitch deck the startup used to land $43 million in fresh VC funding.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup, Smartcat, just raised $43 million in Series C funding led by New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital with Lead Edge Capital also participating. Smartcat previously raised a $4.5 million seed round in 2017, a $7 million Series A in 2018, and a $15 million Series B in 2020, according to PitchBook data. VC investment in AI startups is continuing to go gangbusters, topping out at a whopping $24 billion in the second quarter of 2024 — the biggest quarter for AI funding in recent years, according to Crunchbase. AdvertisementWhile some consumer and healthcare AI startups have raised eye-popping rounds, the tech is creating plenty of opportunities in the B2B space. Check out the six-slide presentation Smartcat used to raise $43 million in Series C funding.

Persons: —, Smartcat, Ivan Smolnikov, Smolnikov Organizations: Service, Left Lane, Lead Edge Capital, Marbruck Investments, Chrome, Business Locations: New York, Koro, Smartcat

☆ Zhiying Zeng: 38 years after ending Olympic dream in China, this ‘table tennis grandma’ will represent Chile at Paris 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Zhiying Zeng’s eyes begin to sparkle and her gestures become more animated as she recounts the day her lifelong Olympic dream came true. Even in China, by far the world’s most dominant table tennis nation, Zeng’s talents were evident from an early age. When she was 16, she was called up to the Chinese table tennis team for the first time. Finally, 38 years after she gave up on her Olympic dream, Zeng qualified for Paris 2024 at a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Lima, Peru, in May this year. “Calm, calm,” Zeng, who says mental fortitude is her biggest asset in table tennis, repeated to herself.

Persons: Zeng, ’, Tania ’ –, –, empanadas, “, Chile Zeng, ”, Rodrigo Arangua, Daniela Ortega, Paulina Vega, Luisa Gonzalez, Reuters “, ’ ”, ” Zeng, Tia Tania ’ –, Tania –, Zeng isn’t, Gabriel Boric, Mariana Sahakian, Zeng’s, “ You’ve Organizations: CNN, Paris, Chile –, CNN Sport, Getty, Games, Pan American, Reuters, Tennis Federation, AP, Pan Am, Olympic Locations: China, Asia, Chile, Chilean, Guangzhou, AFP, Seoul, Arica, –, Iquique, Santiago, Lima , Peru, Lima

☆ Hate Apple’s ‘By the Seaside’ alarm tune? You’re not alone
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Then Apple’s “By the Seaside” alarm sound went off. Moktan chose the jaunty, cheerful tune available as a ringtone and alarm on many of Apple’s devices, thinking that the song’s easygoing melody would make waking up a peaceful experience. Gyaltsen Moktan, a 26-year-old English teacher in Tokyo, says that "By the Seaside" reminds him of horror movie music. Courtesy Gyaltsen Moktan“By the Seaside” is perhaps Apple’s most polarizing alarm and ringtone, evoking comparisons to nails on a chalkboard, the word “moist” and screaming children on a plane. Boston Flake, a 15-year-old high school student in Utah, is in a love-hate relationship with the controversial alarm tune.

Persons: Gyaltsen Moktan, Moktan, ”, Gyaltsen, Carlos Xavier Rodriguez, Levi Hutchins, Antoine Redier, Seth Thomas, Boston, I’ll, ” Apple, Rodriguez, There’s, Rodrigo, Adele, Ryan Meadows, Krystal Roxas, Roxas, “, ” Moktan, Bill Withers, Grover Washington, Jr’s “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, YouTube, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Boston, Showbiz, CNN Locations: New York, Tokyo, Japan, ”, knocker, Britain, United States, Concord , New Hampshire, French, Utah, San Bruno , California

☆ With AI writing so much code, should you still study computer science? This new data point provides an answer.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewOne of the most persistent concerns around generative AI is whether the technology will put workers out of a job. Github Copilot can write a lot of code these days, so is it even worth studying computer science now? There's a new data point that helps answer at least part of this question: Students are still lining up in droves to take computer science in college. Related VideoFirst-year applications to UC Berkeley's College of Computing, Data Science, and Society CDSS increased 48% this year. "Generative AI can speed up the more mundane parts of software development, and software developers tend to adopt efficiency tools quickly," he added.

Persons: —, That's, Jennifer Chayes, Gavin Newsom, Fei, Fei Li, There's, John DeNero, He's, DeNero Organizations: Service, Business, University of California, UC Berkeley's College of Computing, Data Science, UC Berkeley, Berkeley's College of CDSS, Stanford, Joint California, Science, Google, Berkeley Locations: University of California Berkeley, San Francisco, Lilt

☆ Margaret Renkl Writes in the Space Between Grief and Hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Dina Gachman | More About Dina Gachman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Many of the black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, and zinnias have been picked dry by birds and insects. The caretaker of this garden, the author and essayist Margaret Renkl, leads me to her leaf-strewn deck out back, to show me a glimmer of hope. She placed the monarch caterpillar and the butterfly weed it was attached to inside the cage to protect it from red wasps. “They look like little jewels,” Renkl said of the chrysalis. In her new book, “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” published on Oct. 24, her powers of perception are on full display.

Persons: Margaret Renkl, Renkl hasn’t, ” Renkl, ” Organizations: Alabama lilt, chrysalis Locations: Nashville, Tennessee, Alabama

☆ In ‘Swing State,’ Rebecca Gilman Sees a Troubled World
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Laura Collins-Hughes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The playwright Rebecca Gilman moved away from small-town Alabama long ago, but a soft Southern lilt still shapes her words. In all the years she lived and worked here in her adopted city of Chicago, she remained immune to its Bill Murray accent. After more than a decade of traveling back and forth from Chicago, Gilman relocated full-time to Green County, Wis., about four years ago. Some of the plants have to be pollinated by particular butterflies. Particular butterflies have to have lupine to lay their eggs.

Persons: Rebecca Gilman, Bill Murray, Gilman, ”, “, ” Gilman Organizations: Goodman Theater, Prairie Enthusiasts Locations: Alabama, Chicago, Wisconsin, Rural Wisconsin, Green County, Wis, Swing, New York

☆ How 'Birkin Bandit' George Mickum Infiltrated NYC Society
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Kate Taylor | Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +52 min

"He would know people's weaknesses and what they wanted and somehow always have something to offer," a former close friend said. Another close friend said Mickum once gave her a $1,000 loan "within minutes" when she needed it because of a credit-card crisis. He never "let the truth get in the way of a good story," a former close friend said. Hermès bags, like the Birkin and the Kelly, have always been symbols of unattainable luxury. There wasn't even a dust bag; Mickum claimed his mom's assistant would drop it off later.

Persons: George Mickum strode, Carlyle, Patty Hearst, He'd, Mickum, Birkin, swilling, Patty's, Gillian Hearst, Mr, George Mickum, Gillian Hearst's, George, Sally Painter, who'd, Peter Davis, Jackie O, Barbara Walters, Alessia Fendi, influencer Hannah Stella, Nick Hissom, Steve Wynn, Hearst, they'd, Prince Charles, Anna Delvey, Patty Hearst's, Rumor, he'd, wasn't, Met Breuer, Peter Poopat, George Santos, Trinity, Elisabeth Thieriot, Thieriot, Hermes, —, Painter, Paul Mickum, George Mickum III, Sally, Painter's, Poopat, PJ Pascual, Patrick McMullan, Ramona Singer, Lauren Lawrence, Lawrence, Van Cleef, Nicole Salmasi, Trudy, Mike Vitelli, Eric Schmidt, Schmidt, Eric, R, Couri Hay, They're, Astor, William Randolph Hearst, Orson Welles, Kane, Gillian's, Bill Clinton, Patty, Bernard Shaw, Gillian, Lydia —, Shaw, Maxim, Lydia, Kane we're, Christian Simonds, Pierre, Krista Corl, Dee Dee, Scott Buccheit, Naeem Delbridge, Pascual, who's, We're, buttering, Simonds, Matthew Kehoe, England, — Hearst, Delbridge, Hearst's, Mario Glen Coco, Hearsts, Astrid Stawiarz, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Justin Timberlake, Joe Lewis, Buccheit, Mary McCarthy, Lillian Hellman, Mickum's, Christie Grimm, Steve, Kameron Ramirez, Hissom, Ramirez, Nick, Hunt, Damien Hirst, Douglas Elliman, Harry Winston, David Fiszel, invitees, Fiszel, Darian, Winston, Martha Stewart's, Mendel minks, Vacheron Constantin, Tao, Melinda French Gates, Shawn Mendes, Bill, Hillary Clinton, Neiman Marcus, Damien Hirst's, Damien, weren't, Kelly, Alexis Clarbour, Clarbour, Paul Wharton, you've, Wharton, Sean Zanni, Michael Coste, Hannah Stella, Coste's, Stella, Scott Fitzgerald, Coste, Goodman, Courroies Birkin, didn't, Aman, Cartier, Mickum's bluster, skeptically, satchel, Clarbour's, He's, We've, Sider, Philippe, Buccheit texted Pascual, he's, Hay, Café Carlyle, Alexander Hankin, Burisma, Hunter Biden, Mickum hasn't, There's, They've, Amy X, Wang, King Charles, Tracey Amon, Amon, GEORGE MICKUM Organizations: Hearst, Blue, Potomac, Hamptons, East, Met, University of Delaware, Southampton Bathing Corporation, Fields School, Georgetown Law, DC, Town &, New York Daily News, The New York Times, Google, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Cosmopolitan, Symbionese Liberation Army, Hearst Corporation, Vogue, Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stockbridge Golf, New, Tiger, Tottenham, Douglas, Martha Stewart's Hamptons, Mickum, Projects, Madison, Getty, Antibes, Nike, Rue du Faubourg Saint, Couture, US, UN, New Yorkers, Avenue Couture, Hermès, Republican, Justice Department, Blue Star, Town, New York Times Magazine Locations: Bemelmans, Clinton, York, Palm, New, London, Manhattan, Dalton, Bay, Windsor Castle, Haute, Washington , DC, New York, Baccarat, The, San Francisco, Wilton , Connecticut, Side, Wyntoon, California, Buccheit, woodsy Stockbridge , Massachusetts, Stockbridge, Bahamas, Albany, Nobu, Martha, Peking, Paris, Istanbul, St, Georgetown, China, Italy, Hermès, Amalfi Coast, du, Midtown, brunch, Rue, Central Park, Mickum, Turkey, La, Café, Ukrainian, Ukraine

☆ Data scientists describe the arduous, AI-powered task of getting Amazon's Alexa to speak in an Irish lilt
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Two scientists at Amazon used artificial intelligence to help them make Alexa Irish. The team trained Alexa on accents generated by text-to-speech models. This then helped them identify distinctive aspects of the Irish accent to train Irish Alexa. Using an already existing Alexa model that speaks in a British accent as a baseline, the data scientists trained it on the Irish accents provided by text-to-speech models as well as voice recordings, the Times reported. They later zeroed in and modified certain sounds — for example, emphasizing the "r" sounds in words much like an Irish person would — to create the voice that eventually accompanied Irish Alexa.

Persons: Alexa, Georgi Tinchev, Marius Cotescu, disentanglement, disentangle, Irish Alexa Organizations: Alexa Irish, Morning, The New York Times, Times Locations: Irish

☆ She met her long lost cousin on a cruise ship
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The following year, 2015, Eileen celebrated her 70th birthday with a voyage on board Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth cruise ship. She was in shock when she met Paddy at the cruise bar. “We compared stories of travels around the world.”Transatlantic friendshipHere's Paddy, Hazel, Gerard and Eileen photographed on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship in 2015, not long after they met. Monaghan familyFor the remaining two weeks of the cruise, the two long lost cousins and their spouses were inseparable. Eileen has also met a whole host of other Irish family members through Paddy.

☆ Adele praises fan for pronouncing her name 'perfectly,' revealing many have been saying it wrong for years
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Samantha Kubota | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Singer Adele is setting the record straight on how to pronounce her name. At a recent Q&A event in Los Angeles, the singer debuted her new music video, “I Drink Wine” and chatted with her fans. One British fan submitted a question via video and before answering, Adele was shocked at the perfect pronunciation of her name. The London-based fan who nailed the pronunciation had asked about the singer’s “journey to self-love while writing ‘30’” — her most recent album. I’d go to the studio and stuff like that...I felt very very safe and in safe hands within my private life,” she said.

☆ The Billion-Dollar Mystery Man and the Wildest Party Vegas Ever Saw
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Tom Wright | Bradley Hope | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Las Vegas, Nov. 3-4, 2012Around 6 p.m. on a warm, cloudless November night, Pras Michél , a former member of the ‘90s hip-hop trio the Fugees, approached one of the Chairman Suites on the fifth floor of the Palazzo hotel. He knocked and the door opened, revealing a rotund man, dressed in a black tuxedo, who flashed a warm smile. The man, glowing slightly with perspiration, was known to his friends as Jho Low , and he spoke in the soft-voiced lilt common to Malaysians. “Here’s my boy,” Mr. Low said, embracing the rapper.

☆ International desserts: 50 famous desserts around the world
▼ + stars: | 2018-11-30 | by ( Jen Rose Smith | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +41 min

Taste that rich filling for evidence of the Arab influence that infuses Sicilian cuisine: The candied citrus that often flavors the creamy interior remains beloved throughout the Middle East. In the 1990s, the cake became a menu star as a lava cake or molten chocolate cake. A soft, flaky dough is shaped into a plump half-moon that barely contains the sweet filling, then topped with a light blanket of powdered sugar. Variations on medovik differ widely, but the most popular takes incorporate one of two very Russian ingredients into the sweet filling. Sesame Balls, Jian Dui, ChinaShutterstockBite into the crisp shell of a deep-fried jian dui to discover a sweet filling within the golden, sesame-seed-studded exterior.

Persons: Hong, Austria Natasha Breen, it’s, United States Robert Lachman, Fannie, they’ve, Katharine Hepburn, “, don’t, ” Cannoli, Johanna Kindvall, Ruth Wakefield, Cornes, Brûlée, France David Carson, Louis, Dan Tats, eggy tarts, beignets, Maine’s, Bob Fila, you’re, Gulab Jamun, gulab, Eid, kashata, Kouign Amann, amann, Dominique Ansel, Brittany, kouign amann, kulfi, Pierre Hermé, Torte, daubing, ma’amoul, they’re, blini, United States Nathan Congleton, Pavlova, Aussies, Anna Pavlova, you’ll, Rigó, Rigó Jancsi, Princesse de Caraman, Saffron, Jian, Anita Chu, jian, Xue Hua Bing, Taipei’s, xue, bing, Sticky Rice, rong, treacle, ’, Tatin, you’ve, ”, Tim Krob, tim krob Organizations: CNN, Los Angeles Times, Boston Cooking, Southern, Morocco –, Louis Post, Dispatch, TNS, Chicago Tribune, Gelato, Sudan –, New, NBC, Philadelphia, Taste Research, New Zealand, Kiwis, Midwestern, Le, Central America Locations: Africa, Asia, Italy, Portugal, South, Argentina, Peru, de leche, America, Vienna, Baklava, Turkey, Ottoman, Levant, Balkans, Caucasus, North Africa, Constantinople, Germany, Middle East, East, United States, Fannie Farmer’s, Sicily, Palermo, Sweden, fika, Singapore, pandan, States, Massachusetts, Boston, France, Southern United States, Gazelle, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Moroccan, Tetouan, St, Hong Kong, nata, Macau, Portland, Portland , Oregon, Torta, Hungary, Austro, Europe, Sarajevo, Budapest, Latin America, Spain, Mexico, Chocolat, Gelato, Bologna, India, Persia, York, East Africa, Kifli, Knafeh, Amman, Alexandria, Palestinian, Nablus, Brittany, SoHo, Breton, Kulfi, Mughal, Paris, Austria, Linz, Austrian, Tangier, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Medovik, Russia, borscht, New York, Eastern Europe, Philadelphia, Netherlands, Wageningen, Australia, New, New Zealand, Philippines, Manila, Mexico City, Qatayef, Rigó Jancsi, Belgium, Cream, Iran, Persian, Saffron, Tehran, Tehrangeles, China, Taiwan, Midwestern United States, Midwest, Mango, Thailand, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom, Treviso, Umbria, Ulaanbaatar, Tres, Central, United, Oakland

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