DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Exor picks Nohria as new chairman to succeed World Bank nominee Banga
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Netherlands-based Exor has proposed Nitin Nohria as its new non-executive chairman, it said in a statement as it presented its full-year results. It said its profit rose to 4.227 billion euros ($4.64 billion) last year, from 1.717 billion euros in 2021. The holding company's net asset value (NAV) amounted to 28.233 billion euros at the end of 2022, 9.1% lower then a year earlier. Exor proposed an ordinary dividend of 100 million euros, or 0.44 euros per share. Exor said that in the first months of 2023 it had increased investments in its private funds strategies by 400 million euros and committed for a further 300 million euros.

☆ Should parents decide what their kids do online? These states think so
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

That, at least, is the vision emerging from a growing number of states introducing — and in some cases passing — legislation intended to protect kids online. Now, in the absence of federal legislation, states are taking action, and raising some alarms in the process. On the surface, providing more guardrails for teens is a step forward that some parents may welcome after years of worrying about the potential harms kids face on social media. “Not all parents are passionate, kind and supportive of their kids, and even the ones who are don’t have the capacity or time to deal with the 24/7 nature of social media,” said Heitner. “It’s an unfair burden.”Enforcement issuesGiven that the bills are unprecedented, it’s unclear how exactly social media companies will adapt and enforce it.

☆ Uber is funding an e-bike trade-in program to curb battery fires
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Samantha Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Uber is funding a new program that aims to get electric bikes with dangerous non-certified lithium-ion batteries off New York City streets. The news follows a string of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, which have been known to overheat when charging and cause massive explosions. Earlier this week, the New York City police department said an e-bike’s lithium-ion battery was behind a fatal two-alarm fire in Queens. The FDNY’s Chief fire marshal John Hodgens said it was the 59th fire in the city this year caused by a lithium-ion battery. Part of the issue is that not all lithium-ion batteries are created equal.

[1/5] Javier Ramiro, Co-Chief Scientific Officer of Spanish indoor hops farming start-up Ekonoke controls the plantation of hops in Alcobendas, Spain, March 23, 2023. "We're on a mission to save the world's beer," Ines Sagrario, chief executive and co-founder of Ekonoke, told Reuters. Strict hygiene measures such as protective clothing for staff ensure the space remains pest-free, taking the pesticides on which traditional farming often depends out of the equation. The most obvious challenge indoor farming faces, he said, is its high energy cost. "Demand from breweries is quite inelastic; you can't make beer without hops and they don't want to produce less," Sagrario said.

☆ How your phone learned to see in the dark
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Samantha Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

While shots like these used to require advanced cameras, they’re now often possible from the phone you already carry around in your pocket. People watch fireworks during a Fourth of July celebration, in this photo taken using the Google Pixel 5 Night Sight setting. “The quality of the lens is still a big deal, and how the phone addresses the lack of depth,” Ray said. The next big thingWhile night photography on phones has come a long way, a buzzy new technology could push it ahead even more. If this technology is added to smartphone photo systems, it could eventually make night modes even more powerful, Su said.

☆ Apple's own execs are split on whether the company should make smart goggles. Experts say if Apple can't make smart glasses happen, no one can.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Apple is reportedly introducing its Reality Pro smart goggles in June. Experts say the goggles may not be a smash success, but if anyone can make it work, it's Apple. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that a rare wave of dissent made its way into the team behind Apple's mixed-reality smart goggles, called Apple Reality Pro. Apple Reality Pro will have a wow-factor to it because it's had time to improve upon the foundations laid by its competitors. The virtual reality headset market was worth $7.7 billion in 2022, according to a report by Grandview Research.

☆ Elon Musk, Bill Gates and other tech leaders call for pause in ‘out of control’ AI race
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The letter comes just two weeks after OpenAI announced GPT-4, an even more powerful version of the technology that underpins the viral AI chatbot tool, ChatGPT. The wave of attention around ChatGPT late last year helped renew an arms race among tech companies to develop and deploy similar AI tools in their products. Artificial intelligence experts have become increasingly concerned about AI tools’ potential for biased responses, the ability to spread misinformation and the impact on consumer privacy. Lian Jye Su, an analyst at ABI Research, said the letter shows legitimate concerns among tech leaders over the unregulated usage of AI technologies. But he called parts of the petition “ridiculous,” including the premise of asking for a hiatus in AI development beyond GPT-4.

☆ Where TikTok users may go if the app gets banned
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —On the eve of a high-profile TikTok hearing this week, the company shared that it now has more than 150 million US monthly active users. “This uncertainty could push some TikTok content creators to focus more on, and possibly begin, pushing their audiences to other social network platforms,” Mogharabi said. Snap’s stock rose in the days leading up to TikTok’s appearance before Congress amid renewed talks among federal officials of a TikTok ban. Alex Brandon/APIf that happens, Lian Jye Su, an analyst with ABI Search, believes users will follow their favorite TikTok influencers and content creators wherever they go. For now, talk of a TikTok ban may still be premature.

☆ Utah governor signs bill requiring teens to get parental approval to join social media sites
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

As part of the bill, called the Utah Social Media Regulation Act, social media platforms will have to conduct age verification for all Utah residents, ban all ads for minors and impose a curfew, making their sites off limits between the hours of 10:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. for anyone under the age of 18. The bill will also require social platforms to give parents access to their teens’ accounts. “Social media provides a lifeline for many young people, in addition to community, education, and conversation,” said Jason Kelley, director of activism at the EFF. Given that the bill is unprecedented, it’s unclear how exactly the social media companies will adapt. Inouye said minors could “steal” identities – such as from family members who don’t use social media – to create accounts that they can access and use without oversight.

☆ 5 jaw-dropping things GPT-4 can do that ChatGPT couldn’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

On Tuesday, OpenAI announced the next-generation version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins its viral chatbot tool, ChatGPT. The company said GPT-4 recently passed a simulated law school bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers. Providing more precise responsesCompared to the prior version, GPT-4 is able to produce longer, more detailed and more reliable written responses, according to the company. One early user said it provided in-depth suggestions for pickup lines based on a question listed on a dating profile. “They can produce inaccurate information from time to time and can be black-box in nature.”For now, OpenAI said GPT-4 users should exercise caution and use “great care” particularly “in high-stakes contexts.”

☆ Why lithium-ion batteries found in many products keep exploding
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Officials believe the incident stemmed from a lithium-ion battery of a scooter found on the roof of an apartment building. “In all of these fires, these lithium-ion fires, it is not a slow burn; there’s not a small amount of fire, it literally explodes,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters. For starters, lithium-ion batteries are now in numerous consumer tech products, powering laptops, cameras, smartphones and more. Despite the concerns, lithium-ion batteries continue to be prevalent in many of today’s most popular gadgets. For example, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries don’t overheat as much as other types of lithium-ion batteries.

Carlsberg shares have risen more than 60% during Hart's tenure, outperforming AB Inbev and Heineken, whose shares have dropped around 47% and risen around 45% respectively. Carlsberg's shares fell 3.5% at market open in Copenhagen, but later pared losses and were 0.7% lower at 1118 GMT. "Cees 't Hart has delivered remarkable results during his time at Carlsberg," Supervisory Board Chair Henrik Poulsen said. It is also seeking an option to buy back the Russian business in the future. With only around 16% of revenue coming from Eastern Europe, Carlsberg's biggest markets are Western Europe and Asia.

☆ AB InBev upbeat on 'resilient' beer, China recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AB InBev's sales and earnings declined in China due to a strict zero COVID policy that was suddenly dropped in December. In the United States, AB InBev's largest market, profit and revenue increased, largely because of price increases, although those same increases, along with harsh winter weather in December, cut into beer sales in volume terms. REUTERS/Toby Melville 1 2Brewers have raised beer prices in response to higher energy and raw materials costs, and both Heineken (HEIN.AS) and Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) have warned of reduced beer consumption in Europe because of the increases. For the whole year, core profit growth was 7.2%. AB InBev also increased its full-year dividend to a proposed 0.75 euros from 0.50 euros in each of the past two years.

☆ AB InBev beats profit expectations despite selling less beer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR), the world's largest brewer, expanded its profit by slightly more than expected in the fourth-quarter despite selling less beer, notably in North America and Asia. However, it more than compensated for the decline with higher prices. The company's core profit - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - rose 7.6% on a like-for-like basis to $4.95 billion, above the 7.1% gain expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll. The Belgium-based company said that core profit would grow in 2023 in line with its medium-term outlook range of 4% to 8%, with revenue expanding at a higher rate than profit. Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Why you’re about to see ChatGPT in more of your apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI is opening up access to its ChatGPT tool to third-party businesses, paving the way for the viral AI chatbot to be integrated into numerous apps and services. Instacart, Snap and tutor app Quizlet are among the early partners experimenting with adding ChatGPT. The initial batch of companies tapping into OpenAI’s API each have slightly different visions for how to incorporate ChatGPT. Dating website OkCupid has already experimented with using ChatGPT to write matching questions. Some school systems, such as in New York and Seattle, banned the use of ChatGPT in the classroom over concerns about students cheating.

☆ The dark side of Bing’s new AI chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —After asking Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing chatbot for help in coming up with activities for my kids while juggling work, the tool started by offering something unexpected: empathy. The chatbot said it “must be hard” to balance work and family and sympathized for my daily struggles with it. “The tone of the responses is unexpected but not surprising,” Lian Jye, a research director at ABI Research, told CNN. When I asked Bing’s AI chatbot to write a short essay about me, for example, it pulled tidbits of information from parts of the internet to provide an eerily similar but largely fabricated account of my life. “The inaccuracies are expected because it depends on the timeliness of the training data, which is often older,” Jye said.

The Codex Sassoon, dating from the late 9th or early 10th century, sold for $38.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday. It is believed to be the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible. The Codex Sassoon fell short of its high estimate of $50 million, however. A rare findThe Codex Sassoon is believed to be the very first codex, or manuscript in book form, of the Hebrew Bible. Top image: A woman examines the centuries-old Hebrew Bible.

☆ Cheers! Spirits like gin, vodka, overtake beer's U.S. market share
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Jessica Dinapoli | Thomson Reuters | New York-Based Reporter Covering U.S. Consumer Products Spanning Paper Towels To Packaged Food | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Spirits like whiskey, cognac and tequila, a celebrity favorite, have surpassed beer's U.S. market share for the first time due to price hikes and high-end cocktail trends, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. U.S. sales for spirits totaled $37.58 billion last year, while beers like Anheuser-Busch inbev SA's (ABI.BR) Bud Lite tallied $37.46 billion, according to data compiled by the Distilled Spirits Council. Spirits' market share was 42.1%, while beer's was 41.9%, according to the data. Tequila and ready-to-drink canned cocktails including Constellation Brands Inc's (STZ.N) Fresca vodka spritz were among the fastest-growing types of spirits, the Distilled Spirits Council said. "The 'premiumization' trend, where people look at distilled spirits as an affordable luxury, is affirmed by these numbers," said Chris Swonger, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council.

☆ 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.

☆ Super Bowl ads lean on stars, humor to grab attention
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Musician Ozzy Osbourne takes part in a Super Bowl ad for Workday, in this undated handout photo provided by Workday. Big-name celebrities are not uncommon in Super Bowl ads. A 30-second Super Bowl spot this year sold for a little over $7 million, according to a person familiar with the ad sales. “Advertisers want people talking about their brand, and not just during the 30 to 60 seconds of (Super Bowl) air time,” Rucker said. Some stars will poke fun at themselves or their careers in Super Bowl ads.

☆ Samsung unveils new Galaxy smartphone lineup with powerhouse camera
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The new lineup, which includes the 6.8-inch Galaxy S23 Ultra, 6.6-inch Galaxy S23+, and 6.1-inch Galaxy S23, look similar to last year’s models, but with new photo features, a longer lasting battery life (with faster charging speeds) and an exclusive chip. The cameras on the Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 even have a subtle new look: the contour housing has been removed, which Samsung said marks a new era of design. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display comes with a reduced curvature to create a larger and flatter surface intended to improve the visual experience. Galaxy S23 Ultra, which comes with Samsung’s signature S pen, will start at $1,199.99, while the Galaxy S23+ starts at $999.99 and Galaxy S23 starts at $799.99. “The Galaxy S23 family demonstrates just how hard it is to tell a new story in today’s smartphone market,” said Leo Gebbie, principal analyst at CCS Insight.

☆ Budweiser looks to younger generation in Super Bowl ad
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Hip hop record producer Metro Boomin participates in an ad for Budweiser in this undated handout. Budweiser/Handout via REUTERSJan 31 (Reuters) - Budweiser is aiming to appeal to younger beer drinkers with a Super Bowl commercial that features actor Kevin Bacon and hip hop record producer Metro Boomin, and brings back the beer brand's classic tagline, "This Bud's for you." Budweiser resurrected the tagline "This Bud's for you" by showcasing real people who embody qualities such as grit and determination, said Kristina Punwani, head of marketing for Budweiser USA. Metro Boomin, who is from St. Louis, Missouri, where Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch (ABI.BR) is based, takes the fourth beer in the ad while in a music studio. Budweiser will utilize hip hop and music throughout the year as it focuses on younger consumers, Punwani said.

☆ Cash is king in Lebanon as banks atrophy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SummarySummary Companies Cash economy replaces once lauded-banking sector'Impossible' for state to collect taxes in cash economy - traderWest frets over money laundering, terrorism finance - diplomatCHTAURA, Lebanon, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The money exchange shop in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley was buzzing with business. Cash is now king in Lebanon, where a three-year economic meltdown has led the country's once-lauded financial sector to atrophy. Even the largely paralysed Lebanese state is moving towards the cash economy: the finance ministry has considered requiring traders to pay newly-increased customs tariffs partly in cash. Paul Abi Nasr, CEO of a textile company, said the cash economy made it "practically impossible" to enforce taxes "because everything can simply stay outside of the banks". "The transformation to a cash economy means the collapse of the economy," said Mohammad Chamseddine, an economic expert at Lebanese research group Information International.

☆ Lowe's will no longer outsource its ad sales business as it gears up to grab a bigger piece of the $45 billion retail media opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Lowe's will no longer outsource its ad sales business, and will take full control of it this year. The shift is meant to help Lowe's grab even bigger retail ad budgets than it did before. But this year, Lowe's is taking full control of its own ad sales, said Abi Subramanian, VP and GM of Lowe's ad arm, the One Roof Media Network. Unlike the retail business, ad sales has high margins. Insider Intelligence forecasts that retail media will be a $45 billion market in the US this year, with Amazon controlling 76% of spend.

☆ Tesla plans $3.6 bln Nevada expansion to make Semi truck, battery cells
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The cell plant would be able to make enough batteries for 2 million light-duty vehicles annually, including batteries using the 4680-type cell. The 4680 is key to Tesla meeting a goal of halving battery costs and ramping up battery production nearly 100-fold by 2030. Panasonic currently supplies cells to the gigafactory, and Tesla assembles them into battery packs there. Tesla has struggled to ramp up production of the 4680 at its factories in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas. The EV maker aimed to produce 50,000 Semis in 2024, Musk said on a post-earnings call in October.

Search resuls for: "abi"

25 mentions found