DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Here are 10 AI-powered tools to help boost your productivity at work
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

ChatGPT isn't the only AI-powered tool that can help make your job easier. Here are 10 that can help with everything from generating slideshows to writing emails. Tome: Building slide decksIf you make a lot of PowerPoints for work, the app Tome can help you do it faster. Managing your inbox can be a pretty tedious time-suck, but tools like Remail might help you get through emails more efficiently. Brain.fm, an AI-generated music tool, can help users stay on task.

☆ Is your job ruining your sleep? If so, this may be why
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Experiencing negative changes in workplace leadership and fairness was associated with the strongest long-term impact on a worker's sleep. LumiNola/E+/Getty ImagesSleep problems included initiating or maintaining sleep, poor-quality sleep and daytime tiredness two to four times a week that lasted one month to three months. Within a two-year period of time, over half of the participants (53%) reported changes in their workplace environment. However, if the changes at work were negative, sleep issues increased — in fact 1 in 4 people in the study with a worse job environment developed problems getting enough rest. Having negative changes in the leadership and fairness sector was associated with the greatest long-term impact on sleep, more than negative changes in coworker relationships or collaboration, the study found.

☆ A.I. can 'augment humanity in a very positive way,' says family office investor Peter Bordes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Despite the focus on tech giants like Microsoft , Google and Meta when it comes to A.I., Bordes said family offices are uniquely positioned to invest in emerging A.I. He said family offices' long time horizon, entrepreneurial experience make them ideal investors in A.I. And that's one of the things that family offices don't really think leverage up as much as they should. but all the disruptive global innovation that's happening because all family offices, family businesses, those businesses have far reach into industries where they can have influence and helping these companies really accelerate." He said family offices that do invest with first-time founders should provide their experience and expertise along with their capital.

☆ Japan PM Kishida visits Seoul to forge closer ties amid N.Korea threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

South Korean officials are hopeful that Kishida will make some kind of gesture in return and offer some political support, although few observers expect any further formal apology for historical wrongs. But the historical differences between South Korea and Japan also threaten to cast a shadow over the blossoming ties between its two leaders. The majority of South Koreans believe Japan hasn't apologised sufficiently for atrocities during Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, Lee said. "They think that Prime Minister Kishida should show sincerity during his visit to South Korea, such as mentioning historical issues and expressing apologies," she added. Still, South Korea is an "important neighbour that we must cooperate with on various global issues," Japan's foreign ministry has said.

☆ W.H.O. Ends Global Health Emergency Designation for Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Stephanie Nolen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In Egypt, excess deaths were roughly 12 times as great as the official Covid toll; in Pakistan, the figure was eight times as high. Developing nations bore the brunt of the devastation, with nearly eight million more people than expected dying in lower-middle-income nations by the end of 2021. And Covid continues to spread: The W.H.O. recorded 2.8 million new cases globally, and more than 17,000 deaths, from April 3 to 30, the most recent numbers available. As many countries have reduced their testing for Covid, these numbers also probably represent a significant undercount.

☆ The US Air Force has big plans for the next-generation drones that will fight alongside its fighters and bombers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's now developing collaborative combat aircraft, which can fight alongside piloted jets or on their own. A need for 'affordable mass'MQ-9s on a runway at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in April. Worse, the Air Force faces a pilot shortage and its overall number of flight hours has been decreasing. The Air Force also continues to develop top-tier assets like the F-35, the B-21 stealth bomber, and the Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD. "Without it, it's very difficult to envision how we could keep the Air Force at the size it currently is."

☆ Adobe's $20 billion Figma buyout deal under UK competition watchdog scanner
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Britain's competition watchdog said on Wednesday it was looking into Adobe Inc 's $20 billion buyout deal for cloud-based designer platform Figma to find if it could lead to "substantial lessening of competition" in the country. The move underlines regulators' worries that large tech firms acquiring smaller innovative rivals could throttle competition. UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last week blocked U.S. software giant Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard over concerns it would hinder cloud gaming. CMA said it has set June 30 as the deadline for its phase 1 decision on the the Adobe-Figma deal. Figma said it would "continue to engage constructively with regulators in the UK".

☆ Why Prices, Inflation Are Still Soaring: Corporate Price Gouging
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

While many of the problems that helped trigger the upward spiral have abated, prices are still high and getting higher. The idea that companies are taking advantage of disruptions to push price increases on consumers has many names — greedflation, excuseflation, price gouging, corporate profiteering — but the gist is the same. Supply-chain issues and other disruptions made sense as drivers of higher prices, Chris Becker, a senior economist and the associate director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, told me. "Working people are suffering thanks to corporate greed, so we need to enact tougher rules to ensure corporations pay a price when they price gouge." Working people are suffering thanks to corporate greed, so we need to enact tougher rules to ensure corporations pay a price when they price gouge.

Designs by Karl Lagerfeld are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute exhibition, "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," in New York on April 29, 2023. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)Celebrated tonight at the Met Gala will be the opening of the Costume Institute's exhibition "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," curated by the Institute's Andrew Bolton. Looks designed by Karl Lagerfeld on display during the press preview of the Costume Institute's exhibition, "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," on May 1, 2023. "The serpentine line signifies Lagerfeld's historicist, romantic, and decorative impulses, while the straight line indicates his modernist, classicist, and minimalist tendencies." The exhibition will be open for public viewing May 5 through July 16, 2023.

☆ Future-Proofing the Board of Directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +29 min

Governance structures and practices should position the board to provide objective judgment and active oversight supported by board leadership, which is separate from and independent of company management. The board should design governance structures and practices that support it in determining board priorities, agendas, and information needs. The board should create governance structures and practices that ensure that directors are competent, committed, and diverse and that board and committee composition align with the company’s changing needs. Developing and supporting a positive and ethical corporate culture (see Corporate and Board Culture below). Corporate and Board CultureA strong board and corporate culture is imperative for a company’s success.

☆ Some Apple staff are sounding off about Tim Cook's back-to-office drive and say it's 'silly, and very un-Apple'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some Apple staff say they're unhappy with Tim Cook's push to get staff going in three days a week. "It's very un-Apple," one employee said about its explanation for the back-to-office push. Some Apple staff are not happy about CEO Tim Cook's back-to-the-office drive, which he's previously said was essential for the company. But in an open letter posted on Apple Together's website, the union demands "location-flexible work." They said Apple's explanation that it had always operated that way to be "both silly and very un-Apple.

☆ Read the pitch deck a social-gaming startup used to raise $7 million to disrupt fantasy sports by catering to Gen Z audiences who want shorter, faster play
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Champions Round is a social media platform for fantasy sports. Read the 13-page pitch deck Champions Round used to to fundraise. Champions Round also plans to introduce tools that would allow creators or brands to build their own games and earn a cut of the revenue generated from them. The company shared with Insider the exact deck used to pitch potential investors during its latest round. Here are 13 key slides from the pitch deck Champions Round used to raise its Series A round:

☆ Inside LinkedIn's new push to use AI tools to amplify — not replace — creators' voices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

LinkedIn sees potential for AI to amplify — not replace — creators' voices. Firmly of the view that artificial intelligence technology can augment and amplify those users' voices — not replace them — LinkedIn is eyeing opportunities in the burgeoning space. LinkedIn's collaborative articles begin with a thread generated with the help of AI, and then invite select users to contribute their perspective. Enter collaborative articles, which invited the several dozen teachers to offer up ideas like exhibiting "vulnerability" in the classroom. Think of these seminars like LinkedIn's version of Master Classes on topics like generative AI, machine learning with Python, and AI accountability.

Rome CNN —Pope Francis will allow women to participate and vote for the first time at an upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops in October. The meeting, known as a synod, normally only allows bishops to vote. Pope Francis on Wednesday approved guidelines that will expand participation and voting to include lay people and women. The changes allow for the participation of 70 non-bishop members, of whom 50% should be women, according to the Vatican’s synod office. A synod is a gathering of bishops which takes place at the request of the pope to discuss a particular topic.

☆ Opinion: Six experts imagine an internet that women actually want
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Cnn Opinion | As Equals | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Women still have less access to the internet, with men being 21% more likely to be online than women globally. One reason for this is because being a girl, teenager, woman, trans or non-binary person makes us victims of digital violence. An internet women want is one where there is no fear to comment, to express an opinion, or publish photos of our bodies -- and where there are no limits simply because you are a woman on the internet. Women stood together internationally when Iranian women cut their hair , showing how the internet politicises women, sparks debates and builds international solidarity. Therefore, an internet that women want -- and that works for women -- needs to start by being affordable for women.

☆ At Microsoft, Charlie Bell's shackles are finally off. Watch out, Amazon.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Many in the industry, including current and former Microsoft and Amazon executives, wonder whether there's a better job for Bell. It could get intense, with Bell going toe-to-toe with Jassy and getting into disputes with Selipsky. "There were two different sets of security products and actually different security organizations that were securing the products for Microsoft," Bell said. While Bell has imported some processes from Amazon, he has introduced them with a "Microsoft flavor," by using Microsoft productivity tools, one person said. "So many decisions get made at Microsoft by looking at PowerPoints, and sometimes those PowerPoints lack details," Rashid, the former Microsoft and Amazon executive, said.

☆ Commerce Dept. Outlines Plans to Fund Cutting-Edge Chip Research
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ana Swanson | Don Clark | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The plans are part of the Biden administration’s effort to reinvigorate semiconductor manufacturing and ensure that the United States has a steady supply of chips necessary to feed its factories and support its national defense. The Commerce Department has been charged with doling out $50 billion to revitalize the industry, including $11 billion devoted to research and development. “It should be on areas that no one company can solve alone,” she said. Companies, universities, lawmakers and local governments have been lobbying the administration to set up an outpost of the new organization in their area. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader and an author of the legislation that funded the semiconductor investment, said in a statement Tuesday that he was pushing to make Albany, N.Y., a site for the new organization.

☆ Your Spring Soundtrack
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On weekends in springtime, when the warmer weather has yet to click into place, relaxing can be hard. The playlist, a collaborative effort by readers of The Morning, is a big sprawling thing. We weren’t able to include every song submitted, but at over 24 hours, the playlist is more than long enough to provide a soundtrack for your entire spring. Put it on while you’re making breakfast, while you’re running errands, while you’re on a long drive. How long had it been since I found myself with a totally unscheduled hour in a strange place?

☆ Leaked memo reveals Disney's new finance structure as more layoffs loom, with a reported 15% of entertainment staffers to be cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Disney's chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, named a new finance team pulling together staff from both Disney Entertainment and ESPN. McCarthy shared the details with staff this week, naming Bryan Castellani as the new chief financial officer of Disney Entertainment and ESPN. Under Castellani, Lukas Wickart will continue to oversee finance for direct-to-consumer streaming business Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Star. Karen Sack will oversee finance for our entertainment television businesses, including TV studios and ABC News finance, marketing, and networks planning. Jeff Grenn will oversee segment consolidation for Disney Entertainment, and finance in support of Aaron LaBerge's technology organization across Disney Entertainment and ESPN.

☆ Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi CEOs to testify before Senate on lowering insulin prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In this photo illustration, an insulin pen manufactured by the Novo Nordisk company is displayed on March 14, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Those companies — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — had announced in March that they will slash prices of their most widely used insulin products by 70% or more. The companies' versions of insulin cost at least $275 before the announced price slashes, Sanders noted. Novo Nordisk said its CEO looks forward to "a productive and collaborative discussion about this important issue." PBMs have come under criticism for inflating drug prices and not passing on all the discounts they negotiate to consumers.

☆ In Harlem, a 19th-Century Home That’s Playfully Modern Inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Vivian Marino | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

(“I hired him to be a collaborative partner, then he became my partner partner,” she said.) The Harlem townhouse is going back on the market for $3.25 million, according to the listing brokers Stan Ponte and Colin Montgomery of Sotheby’s International Realty. Measuring around 4,900 square feet over four stories, the townhouse has five bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a powder room. “In the late 1800s it was a place for horses, and now it’s a place to park your car,” Mr. Montgomery said. “What was a luxury then is still a luxury today.”

☆ From making parts with A.I. to digitally cloning cars: What factories will look like in the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

RittalConversational artificial intelligence that can be used to communicate with equipment and generate machine parts. These are just a few of the technologies that will power the factories of the future, according to technologists and industry experts who spoke with CNBC. Floyd said that Google is already working to achieve this with natural language processing capabilities in its AI tools. "In the future, there is potential to generate content from and for many types of manufacturing equipment, ranging from specific repair instructions to software code that is tailored to a specific asset." Many manufacturers see potential in the "industrial metaverse," a version of the metaverse tailored to the manufacturing, construction and engineering industries.

☆ 'We should be worried': Finance leaders warn rising interest rates are squeezing low-income countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Ernest Ankomah/Getty ImagesLeaders of several global financial bodies warned that rising interest rates are increasing pressure on low-income developing countries, around 60% of which are now in or at high risk of debt distress. A lot of the debt accrued by low-income countries is coming due over the next couple of years, however, and rising interest rates mean these countries will find it increasingly difficult to meet their repayments. As such, van Trotsenburg called for "renewed solidarity with developing countries" from international bodies and major economies not just in the form of words, but with increased resources. "That's actually something that we raised a decade ago when we saw a rapid rise in the indebtedness levels of low-income countries. Diop said establishing a firm path toward economic growth in developing economies would enable them to generate investment and stand a better chance of meeting future loan obligations.

☆ Mexican president accuses Pentagon of spying; vows to restrict military information
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday accused the Pentagon of spying on his government following leaks in U.S. media, and said he would begin classifying information from the armed forces to protect national security. His comments came several days after the Washington Post reported on apparent tensions between Mexico's Navy and the Army, citing a U.S. military briefing revealed in online leaks of secret U.S. military records. "We're now going to safeguard information from the Navy and the Defense Ministry, because we're being a target of spying by the Pentagon," Lopez Obrador told his daily news conference. The Washington Post story said there was no indication the cited document came from intercepted communications of Mexican officials. Lopez Obrador has come under pressure to hold the military accountable for years of alleged abuses, including reported disappearances and killings.

☆ 35 Ways Real People Are Using A.I. Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Francesca Paris | Larry Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +24 min

People are using ChatGPT and other A.I. Here’s how 35 real people are using A.I for work, life, play and procrastination. People are using A.I to …Plan gardens. Chris Norn Researcher at the University of Washington Two years ago researchers cracked the code on using A.I. When you run a Dungeons & Dragons game, Mr. Green says, you have to be creative, but that almost always means pulling from existing fantasy literature.

Search resuls for: "Collaborative"

25 mentions found