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☆ Meta releases AI model that can identify items within images
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company's research division said in a blog post that its Segment Anything Model, or SAM, could identify objects in images and videos even in cases where it had not encountered those items in its training. Using SAM, objects can be selected by clicking on them or writing text prompts. Examples include a tool that spins up surrealist videos from text prompts and another that generates children's book illustrations from prose. The SAM model and dataset will be available for download under a non-commercial license. Users uploading their own images to an accompanying prototype likewise must agree to use it only for research purposes.

☆ Matt Gaetz tried playing kingmaker during the House speaker vote after spending 2 years as a political pariah. Republicans say the grandstanding is unlikely to stop.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz was a key player in the House speaker vote fight. "I don't think this guy's looking to be a policymaker," the GOP strategist told Insider. Doug Heye, a former House leadership aide turned GOP strategist, said the jury's still very much out on Gaetz's motivations and his endgame. Or, it could be as easy as believing that guy who donned a gas mask to ridicule a House vote on COVID-19 relief is committed to troublemaking. Not a workaholicA former House GOP leadership aide said Gaetz's reputation precedes him on Capitol HIll.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ Why tech insiders are so excited about ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions and writes essays
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Lately, Zwingmann has been generating lecture notes using ChatGPT, a new chatbot that's quickly become the latest fad in tech. ChatGPT automatically generates text based on written prompts in a fashion that's much more advanced and creative than the chatbots of Silicon Valley's past. Five days after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Altman said that the chat research tool "crossed 1 million users!" ChatGPT is essentially a variant of OpenAI's popular GPT-3.5 language-generation software that's been designed to carry conversations with people. While ChatGPT is free, OpenAI sells access to its underlying language and related AI models for businesses to use.

☆ Here's how to protect your portfolio from an inescapable energy crisis in 2023 caused by 'embarrassingly stupid' government policies, says a $200 million hedge fund manager who called the oil market's
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Department of Energy's "embarrassingly stupid" policies will likely cause a severe energy shortage and an energy crisis in 2023, Kupperman told Insider. I mean, US energy production has roughly been flat since the end of Q1 — six months where it's flat. Ironically, energy-friendly policies that lead to an increase in oil production would bring down prices and hurt his portfolio's performance in the process. This doesn't sound like the team of people — between his energy secretary and then Biden — that's going to restore energy production. "We're going to see a new level, so to speak, in terms of commodity prices," Kupperman said.

☆ Companies tout dividend strength on earnings calls. One stock raising payout for 48th straight year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Dividends have become increasingly important to investors in the choppy stock market and executives know it, trumpeting their payouts during earnings calls. The data processor beat expectations on per-share earnings and revenue for its first quarter when reporting Oct. 26 . The company beat expectations on per-share earnings while missing on revenue. 'A high priority' Southwest Airlines is trying to once again be a dividend stock. The airline beat expectations for per-share earnings and revenue, which hit a company record at $6.22 billion .

☆ With Fed over, the midterm election next week is new anxiety point for markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

After the bizarre Fed press conference yesterday, there was much chest-thumping from the punditry class loudly trumpeting how much they knew — just knew — that the move off the recent lows was nothing but a bear market rally. "A retest of the October lows, particularly Growth centric NDX [Nasdaq 100], becomes base case," Julian Emanuel, a senior managing director at Evercore ISI, said. For strategists and analysts, the psychological effect may be earnings estimates will continue to come down, something Haefele acknowledged. "We now expect global earnings per share to fall by 3% in 2023, versus the bottom-up consensus for 5% growth," Haefele said. While the November Fed meeting does clear away some uncertainty (the VIX dropped Wednesday), the election next week is the next anxiety point for the markets.

☆ Violence, chauvinism, and no masturbation allowed: 'We Are Proud Boys' details the 4 tiers of membership in the extremist group
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A new book, "We Are Proud Boys," details the four tiers of membership in the extremist organization. The top Proud Boy tier requires an arrest or a "serious violent fight," per founder Gavin McInnes. "The Proud Boys' actions," notes the Southern Poverty Law Center, "belie their disavowals of bigotry: Rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists." While Proud Boys are encouraged to boast of their membership, obfuscation is an essential part of being in the group. Tarrio was not in DC the day of the attack but, prosecutors allege, helped direct his fellow Proud Boys' actions from afar.

☆ Trump ally Mike Lindell is predicting a surge in Republican votes at the midterms, saying liberals in California have expressed interest in his baseless voter fraud claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has predicted a surge in Republican votes at the coming midterms. Lindell told RSBN in Arizona that he saw great support for his voter fraud cause in California. Lindell told Insider that at least 30 people he met in California wanted to discuss the economy. It is unclear if there is significant support in California for Lindell's voter fraud conspiracy theories. In September last year, former President Donald Trump claimed without substantiation that the recall election in California — which Gov.

☆ China’s Xi Jinping Re-Emerges in Public After Quarantine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Jonathan Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING—Chinese leader Xi Jinping got out of quarantine and made his first public appearance since visiting Central Asia, trumpeting his governance record over the past decade as he prepares to extend his rule for a third term. Until Tuesday, Mr. Xi hadn’t appeared in public since his trip earlier this month to Central Asia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, because he was abiding by quarantine protocols that China imposes on people returning from overseas travel, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ ‘Generation Paper: A Fashion Phenom of the 1960s’ Review: A Wear-and-Tear Fad
▼ + stars: | 1967-03-31 | by ( Laura Jacobs | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Installation view of ‘Generation Paper: A Fashion Phenom of the 1960s’ Photo: Jenna BascomNew York‘Watch disposables become indispensable!” declared Women’s Wear Daily on March 31, 1967. The fashion-industry rag was trumpeting a new textile on the horizon—paper—during a decade that was witnessing a race to the moon, mind-expanding drugs and marches for racial equality. For baby boomers in first blossom, the future was about freedom, a hope that is often expressed through fashion. What could be more egalitarian and carefree than clothing made of paper?

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