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☆ Microsoft knows its out of touch with Gen Z. The software giant plans to lure them with AI, an internal memo shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plans to use AI to attract Gen Z users, a new internal memo shows. A "relatively low share" of Gen Z users compared to competitors, could be a "long-term risk". The confidential internal memo was briefly published online this week by federal antitrust regulators. Last year, the company's research division released a study on the preferences of Gen Z and Millennial office workers. "Something interesting I've noticed teaching is, Gen Z just does not use Microsoft Word, period.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Nadella, Gen Z, Gen Z's Organizations: Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Excel, Federal Trade Commission, Google

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, Google alleged Microsoft uses unfair licensing terms to "lock in clients" to exert control over the cloud-computing market. The letter was sent in response to a broad FTC request for comment on potential anti-competitive acts in the cloud industry. Google described Microsoft's licensing restrictions as a "complex web" that prevents businesses from diversifying their enterprise software vendors. Microsoft and Google both have active cybersecurity practices that respond to and research cyber threats. In its FTC letter, Microsoft also alleged Oracle's practices are harmful to customers.

Persons: Trump, Ken Paxton Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, U.S . Department of Justice, Texas, Oracle, Netscape Locations: Europe, U.S

☆ Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nvidia GPUs are essential for training the big models behind ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. That gives big tech companies an advantage over smaller startups. Nvidia GPUs are the water that feeds today's flourishing AI ecosystem. This is giving Big Tech companies another huge advantage over smaller upstarts. Many startups can't afford that, or they just can't get hold of the chips.

Persons: TSMC, OpenAI, Bing, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, That's, Friedman, Gross, Jack Clark Organizations: Nvidia, Big Tech, Microsoft, Google

☆ The 15-inch MacBook Air offers superb battery life and portability at an aggressive price
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article AAPL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTKif Leswing/CNBCApple announced a 15-inch MacBook Air last week. But if you held out and need a new laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air hits the sweet spot for most people in terms of price, capability, and portability. The extra screen size makes a difference versus the 13-inch MacBook Air. The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air (silver) versus the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air (dark blue.) The 15-inch MacBook Air fits easily into a backpack or briefcase, and I didn’t really notice the extra 3.3 pounds while I was commuting with it on public transportation.

Persons: it’s, Kif, I've Organizations: CNBC Apple, MacBook, Meta, Microsoft Office, Google, CNBC, isn’t, Apple, Intel Locations: Stardew, Kif

☆ A top-1% fund manager over the past 3 years shares how he's consistently outperformed throughout wildly different markets — and 8 of his favorite places to invest right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Here are eight companies or areas of the market that Muhlenkamp said he's bullish on. Regardless of what's happened in the economy or markets, the veteran investor's namesake Muhlenkamp Fund (MUHLX) has found a way to dominate. Although energy stocks have since reversed to become the worst-performing sector of 2023, Muhlenkamp said he's stuck with the group while riding the broad rebound in technology stocks. Two other tech companies Muhlenkamp mentioned are semiconductor firms Broadcom (AVGO) and Microchip (MCHP). Outside of technology, Muhlenkamp said he continues to like stocks tied to housing and financials, including certain regional banks.

Persons: Jeff Muhlenkamp, Muhlenkamp, he's, I'd, Morningstar, Goldman Sachs, they've, they're, He's Organizations: Muhlenkamp, Apple, Microsoft, Apple Watch, Vision, Broadcom, Bank, Federal Locations: Regional

☆ Apple Vision Pro demo roundup: Here’s what everyone is saying
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple let some people try out its new Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The Vision Pro will allow users to see apps in a new way, in the spaces around them. The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern said the Vision Pro was intuitive to use, has the "fit and finish" of an Apple gadget, and is more comfortable than Meta Quest Pro or Quest 2. Stern said Apple showed her a number of different demos, and she said she thinks the most valuable initial uses for the Vision Pro will be for watching movies and working. 9to5Mac's Chance Miller said that it was easy to get the Vision Pro to feel "snug" and that it was generally pretty comfortable.

Persons: Joanna Stern, It's, Stern, Apple, 9to5Mac's Chance Miller, Miller Organizations: Apple, Worldwide Developers, Apple Watch, Microsoft, Meta Quest, Vision

☆ Apple's entry into VR with its new headset is a 'watershed moment,' say top industry execs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Apple's mixed-reality headset debut marks a "watershed moment" for the industry, said the executives of some major players in the augmented and virtual reality space as they welcomed competition for the U.S. tech giant. Cher Wang, Taiwanese tech giant HTC's CEO, told CNBC that she sees Apple's move as a validation for the industry. HTC has long been a mainstay of the virtual and augmented industry, pivoting from its ailing smartphone business several years ago to focus on its Vive headsets division. Apple says the Vision Pro will allow users to see apps in a new way in the spaces around them. With the headset, users can watch movies, including in 3D with spatial audio, view their own pictures or videos, and play video games.

Persons: Cher Wang, Apple's, Apple Organizations: Apple, U.S, CNBC, HTC, VR, Microsoft, Vision, iOS Locations: Cupertino

Apple announced its mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, on Monday during its WWDC developer conference. The $3,499 headset is its first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2014. The Vision Pro will allow users to see apps in a new way, in the spaces around them. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared on stage to announce that Disney+ would be available on the Vision Pro from day one of its release. Unity stock spiked over 20% and trading was briefly halted after Apple announced a partnership with the game development platform.

Persons: Bob Iger Organizations: Apple, Vision, Apple Watch, Microsoft, Disney

The Asus ROG Ally is a brand-new handheld gaming system that's set to hit Best Buy on June 13. On top of all that, the ROG Ally boasts more powerful hardware than even the Steam Deck. Asus plans on releasing two different versions: One with an AMD Z1 Extreme CPU that costs $700, and another with a weaker AMD Z1 chip for $600. Asus ROG Ally Gaming Handheld (Z1 Extreme) The Asus ROG Ally is a handheld gaming PC, running Windows 11. The ROG Ally is a mediocre way to use Windows 11Asus has built the ROG Ally to run Windows 11.

☆ The CEO of this edtech company says A.I. can help unlock growth in the space. Here’s how
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Christina Cheddar Berk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

PWSC YTD mountain PowerSchool shares have fallen sharply since January, when they traded as high as $26.05. "For us, it's not a disruption from a negative perspective, it's actually phenomenal," he said, of the advancements in generative AI. Gulati expects generative AI will make it possible for PowerSchool to accelerate its goals to offer personalized learning plans. Still, PowerSchool shares are down 27% since the start of the year. Generative AI systems must be "trained" on data.

And so whenever I get one of those notifications, I know I’m going to have a good time there. kevin roose[LAUGHS]: I actually don’t think I could’ve told you what IBM stood for. kevin rooseSo I’ve thought a lot and written a lot about how and when AI actually is a threat to jobs. The third category is just the jobs that I think are going to be protected, the jobs that we won’t let AI do. But I don’t actually think the speed of it matters at all.

☆ Capita warns some pensions data likely taken in cyber attack -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - British outsourcing company Capita (CPI.L) has confirmed to pension clients that some data it processed was likely to have been hacked during a recent cyber incident, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. A large team of staff at Capita had searched the affected servers and identified that some pensions data that Capita processes on behalf of its clients "is likely to have been exfiltrated", the newspaper reported, citing correspondence sent to trustees. "Capita is working closely with specialist advisers and forensic experts in investigating the incident to provide assurance around any potential customer, supplier or colleague data exfiltration," a company spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. Among its clients, the company provides the British government with services to connect with citizens including managing tax and I.T. The report added that there was "no evidence" that Capita pensions data was available on the dark web and that it had a third-party specialist checking on a regular basis.

☆ Google Cloud boss Kurian's rocky path to profit: 'We were not in a very good situation'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, right, arrives on stage as Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai exits during the Google Cloud Next event in San Francisco on April 9, 2019. Earlier this week, Alphabet said Google's cloud unit generated $191 million in operating profit, after losing a total of $4 billion in 2021 and 2022. Under Kurian's predecessor, VMware co-founder Diane Greene, critics said Google's cloud business hadn't matured enough to handle enterprises even as it was investing heavily to do so. The cloud division includes the Google Cloud Platform, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, and the Google Workspace productivity software bundle that goes head-to-head with Microsoft Office. Google Cloud technology chief Will Grannis said Kurian's commitment to improving the division's offerings was evident right away.

☆ Microsoft should pay whatever it costs to replace Google on Samsung phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Samsung is reportedly looking to replace Google Search with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on its phones. If Samsung follows through, Microsoft should pay whatever it takes to make it happen, analysts said. The fact that Samsung is even considering changing its default search engine presents a rare moment of weakness for Google, especially on smartphones. A vast majority of smartphones have Google set as their default search engine, Insider previously reported. Investing big to entrench Samsung as a partner now could pay dividends for Microsoft later, the experts said.

☆ Bill Gates just published a 7-page letter about AI and his predictions for its future
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bill Gates published a 7-page letter on the future of artificial intelligence. The Microsoft cofounder published a seven-page letter on Tuesday, titled "The Age of AI has Begun," outlining his views on the future of artificial intelligence. It's possible that AI could also aid in the treatment of patients who don't live nearby health facilities, Gates wrote. "Even once the technology is perfected, learning will still depend on great relationships between students and teachers," the letter reads. "To make the most of this remarkable new technology, we'll need to both guard against the risks and spread the benefits to as many people as possible," Gates wrote.

☆ Microsoft unveils AI office Copilot in fast-moving race with Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The technology company previewed a new AI "Copilot" for Microsoft 365, its product suite that includes Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and Outlook emails. This partly underpins Microsoft's Copilot features, along with an older GPT-3.5 model, business and application data, Microsoft said. Microsoft Word app is seen on the smartphone placed on the keyboard in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. Similar to live notes that Google showed reporters this week, Microsoft said its Copilot can summarize virtual meetings as they happen in its Teams collaboration software. Friedman pointed to Microsoft's business chat experience as the biggest development on Thursday because it can handle tasks across applications.

☆ Google Workspace, its office software suite, hits 9 million paying organizations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Rosalie Chan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, now has over 9 million paying organizations. Workspace announced Tuesday that it will start rolling out more generative AI features. Now, it's also rolling out new AI features across the Workspace suite. Workspace's biggest competitor is Microsoft Office, whose Office 365 product has 345 million paid commercial seats as of last year and has a stronghold among large enterprise customers. Workspace's latest push into generative AI, as well as its cloud-first products, could help give it an edge.

☆ Google got a pandemic boost for its Workspace software but blew it, insiders say. Now it plans to attack Microsoft with a new push in AI.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Rosalie Chan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian spent much of his time at a partner meeting talking about Workspace, tweeted Tony Safoian, CEO of Google Cloud partner SADA Systems. "Around the globe, more than nine million paying organizations, and more than three billion users rely on Google Workspace for communication and collaboration. Other major customers like Deutsche Bank use Google Cloud for cloud infrastructure, but Microsoft Office for collaboration software. Forty-four percent of software procurers whose organization plans to or currently uses Microsoft's collaboration software also use Google Workspace, according to the 2022 Forrester study. While Google Cloud is still unprofitable, it has decreased losses to $480 million, down from $890 million last year.

☆ Prosecutors want Sam Bankman-Fried to use a flip phone as part of a more restrictive bail package
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The use of a flip phone, or some non-smartphone, is one of several restrictions that prosecutors and Sam Bankman-Fried’s attorneys are jointly asking the judge to approve. Bankman-Fried also would be restricted from scrolling the internet, with his access limited to court-approved websites. The lawyers proposed several sites to help prepare his defense, including YouTube, read-only websites showing crypto prices, and research websites. Bankman-Fried also asked to view others for his personal use, including news sites, Netflix, Spotify, Uber Eats, Amazon and baseball and football sites. The judge previously raised concerns about Bankman-Fried’s access to his parents’ computers, cell phones and internet.

☆ Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak thinks ChatGPT is 'pretty impressive,' but warned it can make 'horrible mistakes': CNBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Felise Seah | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Steve Wozniak said OpenAI's ChatGPT is "pretty impressive," during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. "The trouble is it does good things for us, but it can make horrible mistakes by not knowing what humanness is," Wozniak warned. "The trouble is it does good things for us, but it can make horrible mistakes by not knowing what humanness is," Wozniak warned. In the interview, Wozniak also drew a parallel to the concerns surrounding AI technology in self-driving cars, and said that AI cannot currently replace human drivers. Google's new experimental AI chatbot, Bard, gave an inaccurate answer to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope.

☆ The inside story of how Microsoft caught up with Google on AI, and the unlikely executive who made it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

With OpenAI technology, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is challenging Google's online search monopoly. "Who'd have thought, even just a few months ago, that Google would be on their back foot," said Soma Somasegar, a former Microsoft executive. Google was also busy incorporating machine-learning and other AI technology into popular products such as Google Photos, Google Translate, and its search engine. Microsoft's new Bing search engine uses a newer version of GPT-3 to answer complex questions. Microsoft's positive feedback loopThe OpenAI deal laid the foundation for Microsoft to catch Google in the AI race.

☆ Microsoft's landmark deal with OpenAI shows that ChatGPT is going to be the defining technology of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

It remains to be seen how generative AI will transform our lives, but the tech is here to stay. In 2022, investors put at least $1.37 billion into generative AI startups, usually at the seed stage. Why this iteration of ChatGPT made generative AI so popular right nowIt's important to note that nothing about ChatGPT or generative AI is especially new or novel. In other words, OpenAI's real innovation was taking AI technology that was already out there and making it something that was easy and accessible to anybody. That's one reason why there will be a lot more business uses for generative AI technology than consumer use cases in the near term, said Mark Shmulik, a Bernstein analyst.

☆ If Marc Benioff is forced to sell Slack to appease activist investors, it would probably be worth less than half the $28 billion he paid just 18 months ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He calculated Slack would be worth less than half what Salesforce paid for it, and could still be worth selling. Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff has multiple activist investors with stakes in his company, circling him to demand changes. One possible outcome is that Benioff is forced to sell or spinoff Slack, according to analysts. It paid more than twice that — $27.7 billion — in an acquisition that closed just 18 months ago. Under siege from fearsome activist investorsWhen we say Benioff has multiple activist investors circling, we mean he's practically under siege.

☆ Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Tesla, Rivian, Target, Microsoft, Etsy & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: UBS downgrades Microsoft to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the stock that it's concerned about Microsoft Office risks. Wells Fargo downgrades Target to equal weight from overweight Wells said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees too much 2023 uncertainty. " UBS downgrades JB Hunt to neutral from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the shipping company that it sees volume and pricing risk. UBS downgrades Honeywell to sell from buy UBS said in its downgrade of the stock that the multiple is "inflated." UBS reiterates Amazon as buy UBS lowered its price target on the e-commerce giant to $125 per share from $165 but says it's standing by the stock.

☆ North Korean hackers exploited Seoul Halloween tragedy to distribute malware, Google says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Soo-Hyang Choi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Dec 8 (Reuters) - North Korean government-backed hackers referenced the deadly Halloween crush in Seoul to distribute malware to users in South Korea, Google's (GOOGL.O) Threat Analysis group said in a report. Google attributed the activity to a North Korean hacking group known as APT37 which it said targets South Korean users, North Korean defectors, policy makers, journalists and human rights activists. It reported the problem to Microsoft on Oct. 31 after multiple reports from South Korean users on the same day. North Korea does not respond to media inquiries, but has previously released statements denying allegations of hacking. On Thursday, South Korean officials warned businesses against inadvertently hiring IT staff from North Korea.

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