@TechDesk@flipboard.social
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TechDesk

@TechDesk@flipboard.social

We bring you the latest tech news, deep dives and perspectives on topics like AI, social media and innovations. Posts are handpicked by Flipboard's editorial team, especially for Mastodon.

Boosts do not imply endorsement, but are used to highlight posts we think the community might find interesting.

For a lot more tech news, follow Flipboard's federated Tech Desk (@tech)

Header illustration: Data particles above Tokyo at night in cyber space by Hiroshi Watanabe/ Getty

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

TechDesk, to Spotify
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Has Spotify’s loyal user base given it the confidence to raise its prices for the second time in a year?

According to research firm Antenna, Spotify’s listeners are the least likely to cancel among any of the major video or audio streaming services in the U.S., with its growth and cancellation rates “much, much better” than its peers, reports @bloomberg.

While overall subscriber growth is slowing across all streaming services, last year Spotify managed to produce its best year of user growth and second-best year of subscriber growth. Can it sustain that and keep its subscriber base engaged at its new prices?

https://flip.it/cxgnLJ

#Spotify #Streaming #Music #Tech

TechDesk, to ai
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An entirely new way to forecast the weather, using artificial intelligence, is sending “shockwaves through the field of meteorology." The results are said to be already outperforming traditional, physics-based models on tasks like hurricane forecasting, reports @arstechnica.

The secret to this success? Good data. With enormous data sets of in-depth weather information going all the way back to 1940, there is plenty of information to help AI learn, understand and predict weather patterns. What could this mean for the future of weather reporting? Here’s more.

https://flip.it/Xhydbm

#AI #Weather #Tech

TechDesk, to tesla
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Are Tesla’s days of dizzying growth already behind it? @FastCompany reports that shares for the electric car manufacturer are down nearly 30% this year, and have fallen by more than 50% since their 2021 high, wiping out around $600 billion in market value.

Even some of the company’s diehard believers have started to distance themselves by selling off shares in recent months. “I think the story is over, is the best way to say it,” said one. Here’s more.

https://flip.it/JL8swO

TechDesk, to tech
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Want to become a major player among venture capitalists? A dishwashing job may be a good place to start your journey. VC Wesley Chan worked three jobs in high school, including washing lab beakers, to bring money home to his family. It wasn’t easy, but today Chan is the cofounder and managing partner of FPV Ventures, a two-year-old firm with a $450M VC fund. TechCrunch has more on Chan’s fascinating rise. https://flip.it/vCAf_R
#Tech #Technology #VentureCapital #FPV

TechDesk, to ai
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Back in 2022, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei chose not to release the super-powerful AI chatbot, Claude, that his company had just finished training, opting instead to focus on further internal safety testing. That move likely cost the company billions — three months later, OpenAI launched ChatGPT.

Having a reputation for credibility and caution in an industry that appears to have thrown a large chunk of it to the wind is not a bad thing though. Claude is now in its third iteration, but that caution remains, with the company pledging not to release AIs above certain capability levels until it can develop sufficiently robust safety measures.

TIME’s interview with Amodei gives an insight into what the AI industry might look like when safety is considered a core part of the strategy.

https://flip.it/COiwDU

TechDesk, to internet
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Two new studies published in the journal of Science this week offer a deeper insight into the spread of misinformation on social media, offering evidence that it not only changes minds, but that a small group of committed “supersharers” — predominately older Republican women — were responsible for the vast majority of the “fake news” in the period looked at.

The studies, by researchers at MIT, Ben-Gurion University, Cambridge and Northeastern, were independently conducted but complement each other well. @TechCrunch has more.

https://flip.it/6fN4-y

You can also read the full reports here:

https://flip.it/208p7a
https://flip.it/i-HVZr

#SocialMedia #Misinformation #Research #MIT #Tech

TechDesk, to tech
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In Abu Dhabi, the Autonomous Racing League has been testing driverless motor racing, and last month 10,000 people descended on the Yas Marina race track to watch the first four-car driverless race. Hazel Southwell was one of them, and she reports on it for @arstechnica.

From the cars to the tech to the competition, she got a front row seat for all the thrills and spills from the inaugural race. Is it the future of motorsport? Probably not, she writes, but is “strangely exciting” and an “interesting test lab” all the same. Here’s more.

https://flip.it/EcRAPQ

TechDesk, to tesla
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Tesla has issued a strongly worded letter to its shareholders, slamming the proxy advisory firm recommending investors reject Elon Musk’s compensation plan — which is valued as high as $56 billion.

Titled “What Glass Lewis Got Wrong About Tesla,” the letter claims that the firm “omits key considerations, uses faulty logic, and relies on speculation and hypotheticals,” reports Bloomberg.

Throw in some "unabashed cheerleading" of Musk as a leader, and you have to wonder just how much say the Tesla CEO had in the letter’s wording, says Futurism. Here’s more.

https://flip.it/beOFlV

TechDesk, to Instagram
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If you’ve been on Instagram in the past 48 hours, you will more than likely have seen the AI-generated “All Eyes on Rafah” image. It’s now been shared more than 44 million times.

Having a relatively palatable AI image go viral, while real on-the-ground footage is regularly being hidden by Meta’s algorithm, has caused real debate online. Some are calling it performative, while others believe that “regardless of the means, the message and momentum is needed.” @Mashable has more.

https://flip.it/ba7u92

TechDesk, to apple
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There have been a lot of rumors about Apple working with OpenAI to use ChatGPT in the forthcoming iOS 18 update. However, a new report has revealed that discussions have been going on for the best part of a year, and that has got Microsoft worried about how this could impact its own deal with the AI giant. @9to5Mac has more.

https://flip.it/gJzMzu

TechDesk, to gaming
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Cheating doesn’t pay, isn’t that how the saying goes? Except when a judge orders it to, of course.

Activision has been awarded a $14.4 million judgement in its lawsuit against a website that was selling cheat software giving players unfair advantages in Call of Duty games. Activision claimed it harmed the reputation of the game and ruined the game experience for non-cheating players. The judge agreed, and also ruled the domain must be transferred to Activision’s control. Gamesradar has more.

https://flip.it/HgHYtX

TechDesk, to ai
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From eating rocks to putting glue on pizza, Google’s AI Overviews has given us a good laugh and plenty of memes over the past week, thanks to the many hilariously inaccurate answers it has given to several search queries.

However, these clearly wrong answers are not the problem we should be focusing on, argues @FastCompany. “It’s the errors that don’t call attention to their ridiculous selves that could do the most damage to Google Search and everyone who relies on it.” Here’s more.

https://flip.it/LOs.4J

TechDesk, (edited ) to TikTok
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The Biden administration reportedly rejected an offer from TikTok’s parent company ByteDance in 2022, that would have given it extraordinary influence over the world’s most popular app.

The proposal would have allowed federal officials to pick TikTok’s U.S. operation’s board of directors, given the government veto power over each new hire and seen TikTok pay an American company that contracts with the Defense Department to monitor its source code.

It even offered to give federal officials a “kill switch” that would shut the app down in the United States, if it was determined to be a threat. So why was it declined? The Washington Post has more (may require subscription).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/29/tiktok-cfius-proposal-rejected/?pwa[…]lamVjdGVkLyJ9.DgdWa2wf7yaiVFuybiYvMOw8ajrXfWXkSg-vejF8S8Y

TechDesk, (edited ) to twitter
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File this under news that doesn’t surprise us one bit, but a new report from the Wall Street Journal states that Elon Musk has been speaking with Donald Trump “several times a month” on a wide range of political topics, from “voter fraud” to illegal immigration.

Top of Musk’s priorities for this blossoming friendship, says @Gizmodo, is to ensure his businesses benefit if Trump is elected again in November — perhaps fuelled by the former president's recent announcement that he wants to stop EV sales in the U.S. if he wins. Musk is also keen to get Trump back onto X, following his ban in 2021. Here’s more.

https://flip.it/yi7Tzr

#X

TechDesk, to OpenAI
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OpenAI has started training its new flagship AI model, which will replace the GPT-4 technology currently behind ChatGPT.

The leading AI company announced the news in a blog post, stating it expected the resulting systems to deliver the "next level of capabilities.” There’s also a new Safety and Security Committee coming, it said, led by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman. What could possibly go wrong? @Mashable has more.

https://flip.it/puHeqB

TechDesk,
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@chris Nothing confirmed by OpenAI. Lots of predictions for it arriving before the end of 2024 though — some as soon as the summer.

TechDesk, to hacking
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A hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that targeted auction house Christie’s earlier this month.

The attack took place just before the start of its high-profile spring sales event involving more than $850 million worth of art. Online bidding was suspended, but the group claims it has accessed sensitive information about wealthy art collectors around the world, and is threatening to release it unless “an agreement” is reached. Digital Trends has more.

https://flip.it/at-MY2

TechDesk, (edited ) to streaming
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Remember when streaming services used to promise an ad-free experience? Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max all launched on that premise, and one by one, those services are now adding in commercials in exchange for a slightly lower subscription price.

People are buying it too. Subscribers opting for ad-supported tiers are on the up, along with streaming bundles that feel a lot like the cable TV of old. Is it just us, or does the future of TV feel quite familiar? @nytimes has more (gift link).

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/26/business/media/ads-tv-streaming.html?unlocked_article_code=1.u00.-NgX._JWeWd_10adI&smid=url-share

TechDesk, to apple
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While AI is expected to be top of the bill at the unveiling of iOS 18 at WWDC on June 10, it seems Apple could be keeping things a little more basic than some of the other AI announcements made recently.

Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter suggested Apple’s approach to AI will focus on “being practical,” reports @theverge, with features like voice memo transcriptions, auto-generated emojis, and AI-enhanced photo edits and Spotlight searches. The biggest announcement? A rumoured partnership with OpenAI, which will allow ChatGPT to “integrate more deeply” into the Apple operating system. Here’s more.

https://flip.it/mBMTmE

TechDesk, to meta
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Threads is giving young Taiwanese activists a space to connect and mobilize, reports @restofworld, drawing in 1.88 million active monthly users — the fourth highest user base globally behind the U.S., Japan and Brazil, despite having a much smaller population.

It continues: “Protestors have been using a range of apps, including Facebook, Line, and Discord, to coordinate the leaderless protests, but many have found Threads to be the most effective in connecting with people outside their own social circles.” But with Meta promising to cut down on political content across its apps, how long will Threads be willing to host their activism?

https://restofworld.org/2024/instagram-threads-app-taiwan-protests/

TechDesk, to tech
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Did Meta, “Call of Duty” and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense “groom” the shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas? Wrongful-death lawsuits brought by the victims’ families say yes. Read more from Tech Crunch: https://flip.it/QVEKdG
#Tech #Technology #Meta #CallOfDuty #Uvalde

TechDesk, to tech
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You may have seen the Snapdragon Sound badge displayed on smartphones or headphones and wondered, what is it exactly? Snapdragon Sound is an audio technology created by Qualcomm to improve the way you listen to audio on headphones or earbuds when paired with your phone. Tech Radar explains more: https://flip.it/t2tYul

TechDesk, (edited ) to tech
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Google is taking “swift action” to remove some of the bizarre AI-generated answers appearing at the top of its search pages. “A company once known for being at the cutting edge and shipping high-quality stuff is now known for low-quality output that’s getting meme’d,” one AI founder, who wished to remain anonymous, said. Read more from @theverge.
https://flip.it/E0coKc

TechDesk, to tech
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Spotify’s Car Thing has been a convenient way for motorists to control music without their phones. The company recently announced that it is discontinuing the gadget — no refunds, no trade-ins — and users are outraged. Futurism tell us more: https://flip.it/.OZzdA
#Tech #Technology #Music #Spotify

TechDesk, to ai
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When Bing, Microsoft’s search engine platform, went down early yesterday, it took down a number of services with it, including ChatGPT search, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo — all of which rely on the Bing API to operate.

With the majority of Google search alternatives taken out in one fell swoop, it highlighted the lack of competition that Google search truly has, and the implications that has on our online experience. Is there another way? @arstechnica has more.

https://flip.it/soK-9p

#AI #Google #Bing #Search #Internet #Tech

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