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Voters in the 2022 midterms seemed to send a clear message — a rejection of Trumpism and extremism. And yet it appears increasingly likely that he will win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. Astead W. Herndon, a national political correspondent for The Times and the host of the politics podcast The Run-Up, explains what shifted in Republican politics so that Mr. Trump’s nomination could start to seem almost inevitable.

☆ AI music could revolutionize the industry — and this artist is leading the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Drew Austin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Despite this widespread apprehension, Holly Herndon — an experimental musician and artist — doesn't think AI is nefarious or will ruin art. Herndon's usage of AI shows a way forward for not just artists but also the rest of us. In her blog post announcing Holly+, Herndon said she envisioned a future where digitally created voices "soon become standard practice for artists and other creatives." While the project has yielded an ever-growing array of fascinating art, Holly+ also raises questions about the future of that art. (Anyone can use the Holly+ voice tool itself without submitting the output to the DAO, however.)

☆ ABC News lays off senior executives in Disney's cost-cutting drive
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 30 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) ABC News laid off several senior executives on Thursday, as it restructures its newsroom, two sources confirmed. Among those to lose their jobs in the restructuring were Wendy Fisher, senior vice president of news gathering; Galen Gordon, senior vice president of talent; Alison Rudnick, vice president of corporate communications; and David Herndon, executive director and Los Angeles bureau chief. Godwin named London bureau chief Katie den Daas as vice president of newsgathering, overseeing domestic and international teams. The business and operations team will expand to include talent, production and business affairs, reporting to ABC News Executive Vice President Derek Medina. Stacia Deshishku, executive editor and senior vice president of News, will assume responsibility for the investigative and enterprise reporting unit.

☆ ABC News lays off several senior executives amid broader Disney cost-cutting in ‘shock’ to newsroom
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —ABC News on Thursday stunned staffers, laying off several senior executives and restructuring its newsroom amid a broader workforce reduction being carried out by its parent company Disney, people familiar with the matter told CNN. “Throughout the company, teams are being impacted by the downsizing that was announced several weeks ago, including our own ABC News family,” ABC News President Kim Godwin told staffers in a memo. The C-suite bloodbath astonished staffers at the network, people familiar with the matter told CNN. Godwin said she promoted London bureau chief Katie den Daas to vice president of newsgathering and that executive vice president Derek Medina will now oversee talent strategy. Godwin also said that investigating and enterprise units will be overseen by executive editor and senior vice president of news Stacia Deshishku.

☆ Tuesday Morning says it wants to close 265 stores as part of its bankruptcy filing. See if your local store is on the list.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

Camarillo: Camarillo Village Square, 2450 Las Posas Road, Ste HCamarillo Village Square, 2450 Las Posas Road, Ste H Roseville: Fairway Commons Shopping Center, 5771A Five Star Blvd. San Diego: Pacific Plaza Shopping Center, 1772‐D Garnet AvenuePacific Plaza Shopping Center, 1772‐D Garnet Avenue Woodland Hills: Pride Shopping Center, 22950 Victory Blvd. Winston-Salem: Whitaker Square Shopping Center, 1947 North Pease Haven Road, Space #1947Whitaker Square Shopping Center, 1947 North Pease Haven Road, Space #1947 Matthews: Windsor Square Shopping Center, 9945 E. Independence Blvd. ; Westhill Village Shopping Center, 7525 WestheimerWeslayan Plaza West Shopping Center, 5442‐A Weslayan Street; Westheimer Commons, 12568 Westheimer Rd. ; Westhill Village Shopping Center, 7525 Westheimer El Paso: West Towne Marketplace, 6450 N. Desert Blvd., Ste.

☆ Nike temporarily closed a celebrated Portland store because of ongoing theft
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The store has been a point of pride for Nike and the Northeast Portland community since it opened. The Portland Nike store closure comes as large retailers are warning about the proliferation of stolen goods on online marketplaces like Amazon, Craigslist, eBay and Facebook. In November, KGW, the Portland NBC affiliate, said the Nike store reported 437 shoplifting cases to police since 2019, second only to a Portland Target store, which had 650. Matthew Kish/InsiderThe now-closed Portland store has been a point of pride for Nike, its employees, and the Northeast Portland community since it opened in June 1984. While the Nike store is at least temporarily closed, it hasn't been abandoned.

☆ Audi of America pauses paid Twitter advertising
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Luxury automaker Audi of America said on Thursday it has paused paid advertising on Twitter, the latest company to do so after the social media platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk. The Herndon, Virginia-based U.S. unit of Audi, a Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) brand, said it would "continue to evaluate the situation." Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Cheerios maker General Mills, Audi of America pause advertising on Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Packages of Cheerios, a brand owned by General Mills, are seen in a store in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew KellyNov 3 (Reuters) - General Mills Inc (GIS.N) and Luxury automaker Audi of America said on Thursday they have paused advertising on Twitter, days after the social media platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion. "We will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend," a General Mills spokesperson said. Audi of America, the Herndon, Virginia-based U.S. unit of Audi - a Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) brand - said it would "continue to evaluate the situation." The two companies join top U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N), which last week said it had temporarily halted paid advertising on Twitter.

☆ These artists found out their work was used to train AI. Now they’re furious
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Rachel Metz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

AI Image/Stable DiffusionHanson, who’s based in McMinnville, Oregon, is one of many professional artists whose work was included in the data set used to train Stable Diffusion, which was released in August by London-based Stability AI. Once available only to a select group of tech insiders, text-to-image AI systems are becoming increasingly popular and powerful. A piece by illustrator Daniel Danger that was included in the training data behind the Stable Diffusion AI image generator. But removing pictures of an artist’s work from a dataset wouldn’t stop Stable Diffusion from being able to generate images in that artist’s style. Hanson, for her part, has no problem with her art being used for training AI, but she wants to be paid.

☆ Inflation is not becoming 'embedded' in economy, Yellen says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"I don't believe it's becoming embedded in the U.S. economy," she said, when asked about recent consumer and producer price reports which showed persistent price gains. "The way inflation would become embedded is if you saw expectations of inflation over the medium term rising to levels that are inconsistent with 2% inflation, and then those higher inflation expectations being built into wages and prices." Yellen said while recent data showed more needs to be done to bring inflation down, she did not believe it was entrenched. That was one of the reasons why she "continues to believe that there is a path to lowering inflation while maintaining a strong labor market," she said. Yellen added that she saw some costs, including production and shipping costs, coming down.

☆ Yellen says chips, research investments will boost U.S. economic capacity
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HERNDON, Va., Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday that domestic investments in semiconductors and research would help reverse a longstanding innovation deficit and increase the productive capacity of the U.S. economy. Yellen, speaking at a business incubator in the Washington, D.C. area's Dulles technology corridor, said that the U.S. lead in technology innovation has increasingly come under threat from China and other competitors. "Our government's failure to invest in innovation has had wide-ranging impacts on our long-term economic well-being. Mobilizing capital toward semiconductors and clean energy, through a recently enacted climate and drugs package and boosting research and development will raise the U.S. economy's aggregate production capacity. "And in turn, we are raising America's long-term economic outlook," Yellen said.

☆ Yellen to tout Biden technology investments at Virginia business incubator
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to resume her campaign-style promotion of President Joe Biden's economic initiatives on Friday, visiting a Virginia business incubator to tout U.S. investments in research, semi-conductors, clean energy and other technologies. The Treasury said Yellen will deliver remarks and meet with entrepreneurs at the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp (VIPC) in Herndon, Virginia, a booming Washington suburb near Dulles International Airport. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterLast month, Yellen made similar speeches to tout infrastructure and electric vehicle investments in Detroit and visited a solar power developer in North Carolina. The Washington Metro transit system is set to soon open a nearby stop on its Dulles line called Innovation Center. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"My name is being used a lot to generate AI images, along with the names of other working artists." "So if an AI is copying an artist's style and a company can just get an image generated that's similar to a popular artist's style without actually going to artists to pay them for that work, that could become an issue." Representatives from Open AI said both publicly available sources and images licensed by the company make up DALL-E's training data. Copyright laws around AI images are murkyIt's unclear whether copyright laws will protect the new artwork that AI programs generate. "I have friends in the industry who will storm out of the room if I even bring up using AI," he said.

☆ A musician raised an AI 'baby' to harmonize with — and her newest experiment could usher in a brave, new world of art
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Drew Austin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In the world of art, misgivings about AI have been particularly acute. Despite this widespread apprehension, Holly Herndon — an experimental musician and artist — doesn't think AI is nefarious or will ruin art. In her blog post announcing Holly+, Herndon said she envisioned a future where digitally created voices "soon become standard practice for artists and other creatives." While the project has yielded an ever-growing array of fascinating art, Holly+ also raises questions about the future of that art. (Anyone can use the Holly+ voice tool itself without submitting the output to the DAO, however.)

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