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☆ Microsoft opens up its AI-powered Bing to all users
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Samantha Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Microsoft is rolling out the new AI-powered version of its Bing search engine to anyone who wants to use it. The move highlights Microsoft’s commitment to move forward with the product even as the AI technology behind it has sparked concerns around inaccuracies and tone. Bing now gets more than 100 million daily active users each day, a significant uptick in the past few months, according to Mehdi. Google, which has long dominated the market, is also adding similar AI features to its search engine. Microsoft’s moves also come amid heightened scrutiny on the rapid pace of advancement in AI technology.

☆ Microsoft opens up Bing access and adds chat history and export features
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft said Thursday that it's dispensing with the waiting list it has had in place for the past three months for its revamped Bing search engine, allowing anyone with a Microsoft account to use it. Kumar said the company will provide more details on how developers can build for the Bing chatbot at its Microsoft Build developer conference, which starts on May 23. That means Google has yet to allow people to use the Bing chatbot from Google's dominant Chrome browser. Microsoft includes Edge in its Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems, and the default search engine in Edge is Bing. may ruin Alphabet's only real business: Google Search, says CIC Wealth's Malcolm Ethridge

☆ Iranian Insider and British Spy: How a Double Life Ended on the Gallows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But later, in an audio message broadcast by BBC Persian — it had been obtained through his family, according to Mr. Akbari’s brother — Mr. Akbari said the confessions were coerced. Iran says Mr. Akbari betrayed the country and traded state secrets for money. In the videos, Mr. Akbari said he was recruited in 2004 and told he and his family would be given visas for Britain. Iran has said that MI6 paid Mr. Akbari nearly 2 million pounds, currently about $2.4 million. Mr. Akbari met with the British ambassador in Tehran as part of his official job, and traveled to Europe often for business, Mehdi Akbari said.

☆ How Elon Musk transformed Twitter’s blue check from status symbol into a badge of shame
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Over the weekend, numerous high-profile people announced — with apparent despair — that they too had been “punished” with verification badges. Twitter Verified account seen in an iPhone screen in Vancouver, Canada, on Dec. 9 2022. Instead of conveying authenticity, Twitter verification is now fraught with multiple conflicting messages. For weeks, many legacy verified users had signaled they would not be paying for Twitter Blue. It doesn’t benefit Twitter for celebrity accounts to be buried along with the other non-paying accounts Musk has said the platform will demote.

☆ Dominion wasn't here to save democracy — it just wanted money from Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Fox News detractors wanted Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News to move forward for democracy's sake. "PLEASE Dominion --- Do not settle with Fox! The election technology company filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, and asked for $1.6 billion. But just because Fox settled Dominion's lawsuit doesn't mean it's now free of legal risk. "Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy."

CNN —Iran executed at least 582 people last year, a 75% increase on the previous year, according to human rights groups who say the rise reflects an effort by Tehran to “instill fear” among anti-regime protesters. It was the highest number of executions in the Islamic republic since 2015, according to a report released Thursday by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) groups. The vast majority of the executions – at least 544 – were of people accused of murder and drug-related offenses, said the report. “Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instill societal fear in order to hold onto power,” the report said. The human rights report said they were charged with “corruption on Earth.”Dozens of other protesters have received death sentences in recent months.

☆ Factbox: Who has run Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BAGHDAD, March 16 (Reuters) - The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was designed to pave the way for a thriving democracy but the mostly ineffective governments elected since 2003 have left many Iraqis disappointed. Sadr led an armed insurgency against the U.S. occupation of Iraq after American and international troops toppled Saddam. But the tables turned in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion that ushered in Shi’ite dominance leaving Sunnis, vulnerable. Sunnis have been divided by clan and ideological rivalries since 2003, which Sunni voters complain makes them weak against Shi'ite rivals. Halbousi, an engineer from western Iraq, has formed good relations with Shi'ites and Kurds who helped him become speaker.

☆ Two decades after Saddam's fall, Iraqis still haunted by disappearances
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Charlotte Bruneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

As exhumations dragged on, more atrocities were committed in sectarian conflict and amid the rise and fall of armed groups, such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants, as well as Shi'ite Muslim militias. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed by Saddam's forces during his rule. According to Siddiq, massacres committed by Islamic State militants, who seized much of northern Iraq in 2014 and held it for three violent years, have been prioritised. In Sinjar, where Islamic State committed what U.N. investigators described as genocide against Iraq's Yazidi minority, about 600 victims have been reburied, with some 150 identified. His name was not among the hundreds of victims identified by Siddiq's team, and Mohammed remains in limbo.

☆ COVID showed the rich that they can't just go wherever they want, so now millionaires are rushing to get 2nd passports: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lockdowns shattered the wealthy's belief that their mobility was foolproof, per consultancy Knight Frank. As such, ultra-high-net-worth-individuals are now increasingly pursuing citizenships or residencies overseas, London-based consultancy Knight Frank said in its 2023 report released Wednesday. "US citizens have a 'good passport' with many travel privileges, but COVID threw these out the door," Surak wrote. "The result has been a huge increase in the number of Americans looking into investment migration options," she added. Many are looking at overseas homes where they can live for a few months per year, or places that offer good healthcare, Surak wrote.

☆ iPhone users will soon be able to send iMessages through their PCs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Phone Link for iOS will let iPhone users send and receive iMessages on their Windows devices. Despite not being able to share photos on Phone Link, iCloud Photos is already integrated into the Windows 11 Photos app. Messages sent from Phone Link appear as iMessages on iPhones, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's head of consumer marketing, told The Verge. "It's something we've been wanting to do for a long time," Mehdi told The Verge about bringing iOS users to Phone Link. However, Apple hasn't budged towards switching to RCS, and CEO Tim Cook has previously said he doesn't hear many Apple users request a change to texting between iPhones and Androids.

☆ Microsoft brings its A.I. chatbot to Bing app on iPhone and Android
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Modern Life, Search, and Devices speaks during an event introducing a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023. Microsoft on Wednesday announced the preview release of its new Bing and Edge apps for iPhone and Android, which include new features like voice search and access to its AI chatbot. Users will also be able to access updates to Bing through the homepage of the Edge mobile app, Microsoft said. People can ask Bing for suggestions on travel, or ask about the weather or about recent award shows, for example. Similar to the Bing mobile app, answers can be displayed in bullet points, simplified responses or text format.

☆ You might start seeing AI chatbots everywhere, thanks to 'the GPT effect'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google announced its own AI bot Bard, which is still being tested. ChatGPT’s success could lead to more AI bots mediating how people use the Internet, tech experts said. Microsoft's new Bing chatbot, powered by OpenAI's technology as part of their "multibillion dollar" partnership, is still working through apparent glitches. AI technology is being developed, for instance, in assisting with health care research, to fight cyberattacks, and to improve supply chain logistics. OpenAI's GPT technology can be used to help robots "talk" with humans directing them, she said.

☆ Overnight protests rock Tehran, other Iranian cities, videos show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Videos on Friday showed demonstrations in several neighbourhoods in Tehran as well as in the cities of Karaj, Isfahan, Qazvin, Rasht, Arak, Mashhad, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters was able to confirm three of the videos on the protests in Zahedan and one of those in Tehran. Other videos showed large protests on Friday in Zahedan, capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluchi minority. [1/5] People take part in a protest in Zahedan, Iran in this screen grab taken from a social media video released February 17, 2023 and obtained by Reuters. In recent weeks Iranian media have reported closures of several businesses, restaurants and cafes for failure to observe the hijab rules.

☆ Wealthy Americans are racing to get the EU's last remaining 'golden passport' before it's gone
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For the first time, Americans are applying for "golden passports" more than any other nationality. For the first time, Americans are applying for golden passports and visas more than any other nationality, according to Henley & Partners' 2023 USA Wealth Report, released Thursday. Henley & Partners' Head of North America Mehdi Kadiri said Malta's golden passport scheme was the second-most sought-after program among Americans, in part because Malta's program is accessible through real estate investment. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly applied for European citizenship in 2020 through Cyprus' now-defunct golden passport program. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, golden passports and visas faced global scrutiny for allowing sanctioned oligarchs access to the UK.

☆ Microsoft's Bing A.I. is producing creepy conversations with users
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Modern Life, Search, and Devices speaks during an event introducing a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023. Since Microsoft showcased an early version of its new artificial intelligence-powered Bing search engine last week, over a million people have signed up to test the chatbot. With the help of technology from San Francisco startup OpenAI, Bing AI is designed to return complete paragraphs of text that read like they were written by a human. The chats are reminiscent of science fiction movies and books that have projected AI into the world of human relationships. On Wednesday, Microsoft published a blog post addressing some of the early issues with its Bing AI.

☆ A 'cocktail' of sticky inflation and a tight labor market boosts Bank of England rate hike bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, attends the Bank of England Monetary Policy Report Press Conference, at the Bank of England, London, Britain, February 2, 2023. Pool | ReutersLONDON — A tight labor market and comparatively slow return to earth for inflation means the Bank of England is likely to press ahead with a further interest rate hike in March, economists suggest. "However food prices remain a major driver of U.K. inflation, continuing their upwards march in January with an eye-watering 16.8% increase. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey last week urged workers and employers to consider the expected downward inflation trajectory when negotiating pay settlements. "The cocktail of a tight labour market and inflation failing to cool off quickly will remain a cause of concern for Bank of England policymakers, which may mean the Bank's aggressive strategy stays in place," Carter added.

☆ America's millionaires aren't leaving the US to avoid taxes — they're trying to find the American Dream somewhere else, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

American millionaires are moving overseas, and it's not to dodge taxes, a consultancy firm says. They're simply chasing the American Dream elsewhere, he wrote. wrote Opdyke. "But today, for many, the American Dream is on life support." At the same time, the middle class is growing outside the US, with nearly 430,000 new consumers joining the middle class in the developing world every day, Opdyke wrote added.

☆ Microsoft's Bing A.I. made several factual errors in last week's launch demo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In Microsoft's demo in front of reporters, the ChatGPT-like technology embedded in the company's Bing search engine analyzed earnings reports from Gap and Lululemon . "Bing AI got some answers completely wrong during their demo. Brereton identified possible factual issues in the Microsoft demo in its responses about vacuum cleaner specifications and travel plans to Mexico in addition to the financial errors. When it came time to demo Bing AI's response to a query on corporate earnings, there were some problems. These are screenshots from Microsoft's demo:

☆ Microsoft’s Bing AI demo called out for several errors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Microsoft’s public demo last week of an AI-powered revamp of Bing appears to have included several factual errors, highlighting the risk the company and its rivals face when incorporating this new technology into search engines. At the Bing demo at Microsoft headquarters, the company showed off how integrating artificial intelligence features from the company behind ChatGPT would empower the search engine to provide more conversational and complex search results. When asked, “What were Meta’s fourth quarter results?” the Bing AI feature gave a response that said, “according to the press release,” and then listed bullet points appearing to state Meta’s results. But Bing stated information that appeared to be attributed to the article that was, in fact, not actually there. For example, Bing said one crib had a “water-resistant mattress pad,” but that information was listed nowhere in the article.

☆ See Bing's breakout week in charts as Microsoft taps new ChatGPT technology to go after Google's search lead
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft unveiled an updated Bing search engine on Tuesday, powered by the tech behind ChatGPT. On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled an updated Bing search engine powered by the technology behind ChatGPT. Google app downloads, remained steady between 300,000 to 320,000 per day in the same period, Apptopia data shows. In the end, all this is about gaining a higher share of the highly lucrative search engine market. As of February 9, Google had 93.21% of the worldwide search engine market.

☆ The way we search for information online is about to change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN Business —An entire generation of internet users has approached search engines the same way for decades: enter a few words into a search box and wait for a page of relevant results to emerge. Bing will not only provide a list of search results, but will also answer questions, chat with users and generate content in response to user queries. “We have even more exciting, AI-enabled innovations in the works that will change the way people search, work and play. These models are trained on vast troves of online data in order to generate compelling responses to user prompts. Microsoft and Google executives have acknowledged some of the potential issues with the new AI tools.

In this article MSFT Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAn attendee interacts with the AI-powered Microsoft Bing search engine and Edge browser during an event at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Microsoft unveiled new versions of its Bing internet-search engine and Edge browser powered by the newest technology from ChatGPT maker OpenAI. When that prompt is entered into ChatGPT, the OpenAI tool generates three bulleted lists detailing examples of German Expressionism in film, music and literature. Bing not only presents lists of cinema, music, and literature representing German Expressionism, but it also gives users extra context about the artistic movement. At times the Bing chatbot opted not to do things that ChatGPT would do.

☆ New AI-powered Google Maps will help electric-car owners find a charging station to power up and get back on the road within 40 minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google maps will now help electric vehicles find charging stations more quickly. Its new features will deploy artificial intelligence to assist EV drivers looking to power up. A "very fast charging filter" can help EVs charge in a hurry, Google Geo head Chris Phillips said. While many EV drivers charge their vehicles at home, longer drives necessitate careful organization. Last year, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal said a lack of EV charging sites and accurate charging maps left her spending more time waiting for her car to charge then sleeping during a 2,000-mile road trip.

☆ I tried Microsoft’s new AI-powered Bing. Here’s what it’s like
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Seattle CNN Business —Microsoft’s Bing search engine has never made much of a dent in Google’s dominance in the more than 13 years since it launched. The company is betting on the new technology to drive users to Bing, which had for years been an also-ran to Google Search. Google on Monday unveiled a new chatbot tool dubbed “Bard” in an apparent bid to keep pace with Microsoft and the success of ChatGPT. I took Bing for a spin at a press event at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters Tuesday. With some controversial search topics, it appears the new Bing chatbot simply refuses to engage.

☆ Microsoft is giving Google the kick in the butt it's needed for years
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Win or lose, Microsoft is giving Google the kick in the rear end it's needed for a long time. Competition is ultimately good for consumers, but AI still has a long way to go. And yet, Google has never faced a real challenge to its search engine empire. Microsoft's Bing has endured for years as a consistent but distant second-place search engine — despite the tech titan's best efforts. What's not clear is whether Microsoft will end up being the company to lead the charge through the disruption of search engine technology.

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