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GM is designing the on-board navigation and infotainment systems for future EVs in partnership with Alphabet Inc's Google. from Gadgets Now https://ift.tt/MV5dExZ

A group of well-known AI ethicists have written a counterpoint to this week’s controversial letter asking for a 6-month “pause” on AI development, criticizing it for a focus on hypothetical future threats when real harms are attributable to misuse of the tech today. Thousands of people, including such familiar names as Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, signed the open letter from the Future of Life institute earlier this week, proposing that development of AI models like GPT-4 should be put on hold in order to avoid “loss of control of our civilization,” among other threats. Timnit Gebru, Emily M. Bender, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Margaret Mitchell are all major figures in the domains of AI and ethics, known (in addition to their work) for being pushed out of Google over a paper criticizing the capabilities of AI. They are currently working together at the DAIR Institute, a new research outfit aimed at studying and exposing and preventing AI-associated harms. But they were not to b

There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy. But NASA at least may soon be able to let us know when one of its murderous flares is going to send our terrestrial systems into disarray. Understanding and predicting space weather is a big part of NASA’s job. There’s no air up there, so no one can hear you scream, “Wow, how about this radiation!” Consequently, we rely on a set of satellites to detect and relay this important data to us. One such measurement is of solar wind, “an unrelenting stream of material from the sun.” Even NASA can’t find anything nice to say about it! Normally this stream is absorbed or dissipated by our magnetosphere, but if there’s a solar storm, it may be intense enough that it overwhelms the local defenses. When this happens, it can set electronics on the fritz, since these charged particles can flip bits or disrupt volat

A U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York threw out a lawsuit against Meta this week that had been simmering for a year and a half. The suit, filed in late 2021 by now-shuttered social app Phhhoto, alleged that Meta violated federal antitrust law by copying its core features with the Instagram-adjacent video looping app Boomerang . Like Boomerang, which Meta launched in October of 2015 and later integrated into Instagram itself, Phhhoto invited users to share very short GIF-like loops. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ultimately granted Meta’s motion to dismiss the complaint due to time-limits imposed by the relevant statutes of limitations. “Phhhoto has failed in its 69-page Amended Complaint of 222 paragraphs to allege sufficient facts that cure the untimeliness of all of its federal claims,” Matsumoto wrote in the opinion, calling the possibility of any amendment to resolve the issue of the lawsuit’s timing “futile.” New antitrust suit from Phhhoto a

April 1 is the dumbest day on the internet, and this year, it’s not just because brands will try to prank you by selling “hot iced coffee.” Starting on Saturday, Twitter will begin removing blue checks from “legacy verified” users if they don’t sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription. This is part of new owner Elon Musk’s grand plan to make Twitter profitable, but this particular scheme has a glaring issue: if anyone with $8 per month can get a blue check, the symbol won’t be cool anymore (and also disinformation will proliferate , but Musk doesn’t seem super worried about that). Twitter initially launched its verification system in 2009 to protect celebrities from impersonation. Someone made an account pretending to be former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, but instead of just asking for the account to be taken down, La Russa sued Twitter. And so, the three-year-old company introduced its iconic blue check badge. Now, we’ve come full circle. Celebrities are a day awa

As repeatedly promised by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Twitter has opened a portion of its source code to public inspection, including the algorithm it uses to recommend tweets in users’ timelines. On GitHub, Twitter published two repositories containing code for many parts that make the social network tick, including the mechanism Twitter uses to control the tweets users see on the For You timeline. In a blog post, Twitter characterized the move as a “first step to be[ing] more transparent” while at the same time “[preventing] risk” to Twitter itself and people on the platform. On a Twitter Spaces session today, Musk clarified: “I don’t think you should trust any social media algorithm that’s a black box — you don’t know what’s going on in there,” Musk said. “Our initial release of the so-called algorithm is going to be quite embarrassing, and people are gonna find a lot of mistakes and, but we’re going to fix them very quickly. The analog, here, that we’re aspiring to, is the great

Emad Mostaque , the CEO and founder of open source platform Stability AI , hinted at plans to go public in the next few years, during the Cerebral Valley AI Conference in San Francisco on Thursday. He also shut down the idea that Stability AI, an OpenAI rival and leader in the generative artificial intelligence space, will ever get acquired. “I think you can’t just IPO,” Mostaque said during an interview with journalist Eric Newcomer . “You need to have amazing revenue, amazing margins, distribution, and so we’ve been executing…we’re 17 months old.” He also said that the business model of Stability AI’s open source platform will be seen more properly in the next year,” but added that he doesn’t “want to give away my arbitrage opportunities.” The generative intelligence company landed a spotlight after building Stable Diffusion, an image-generating system, along with Dance Diffusion and the development of open source music. Thus, it’s unsurprising that Mostaque feels strongly about cr

For India's thriving small and medium business (SMB) community that accounts for about 31 per cent of the country's GDP, it is imperative to become globally competitive and HP Inc says it is geared up with a sustainable and secure device ecosystem to enable them on their digital journey. from Gadgets Now https://ift.tt/anuL68S

A U.S. court has sanctioned Google LLC for a second time in recent days, after a judge in a decision unsealed on Wednesday said the Alphabet Inc unit took too long to comply with a ruling last year in a data-privacy class action. The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen in San Jose, California, stems from a class action claiming Google unlawfully tracked its users while they were using the company's Chrome browsers in private, or "incognito," mode. from Gadgets Now https://ift.tt/7eCTfRm

Shared micromobility company Helbiz said it will do a reverse stock split in an attempt to get back into compliance with the Nasdaq, which issued a delisting notice last July because Helbiz’s stock was trading too low. Helbiz is also rebranding to Micromobility.com Inc. in order to position itself as a micromobility brand that offers retail, rentals, shared micromobility and *checks notes* sports streaming services. The rebrand comes alongside the launch of a new brick-and-mortar retail business, which will include the setting up of physical stores across the U.S., starting with its first store in SoHo, New York City in the next 60 days. There’s also an e-commerce site available today, featuring a small selection of e-scooters, e-bikes, helmets and water bottles. Due to the name change, Micromobility.com’s stock will start trading under the new ticker symbol MCOM and its warrants under MCOMW starting Friday. Helbiz’s stock price closed Thursday at $0.12, down 4.5%, and then tumbl

Virgin Orbit is laying off around 85% of its workforce in order to further reduce expenses, after the troubled space company said it was unable to secure additional funding to keep it afloat. The news, which Virgin Orbit filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, comes just two weeks after the company furloughed all employees and entered an “operational pause” in order to find more cash. There were talks that Matthew Brown, a Texas-based venture capitalist, may come to the rescue, but those talks dissolved over the last weekend. Today’s filing confirms that Virgin was unable to find another lifeline. According to audio of an employee all-hands on Thursday afternoon obtained by CNBC, Virgin CEO Dan Hart – reportedly choking up, again per CNBC – said, “We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes.” He said the call would “probably the hardest all-hands that we’ve ever done in my life.” The layoffs span all departments. Bu

Audible is testing ad-supported access to select titles for non-members, the Amazon-owned audiobook company revealed on a help page on its website. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that the test is very limited and does not apply to paid members. The news was first reported by Marketing Brew . The move indicates that the company may be exploring the possibility of an ad-based membership option. Audible declined to comment on any specific plans. The test includes audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals. Audible says the test applies to a limited subsection of titles on its platform. Content providers were informed of the change and given the chance to opt out of ads. Users who are part of the test will hear a total of eight ads within a 24-hour period. Audible says it has taken additional measures to make sure that ads won’t be heard too frequently within a short time span. “Audible is dedicated to continuously optimizing how we deliver audio programming to listeners everywher

When Stellantis brand Jeep descended on Moab, Utah this week for its annual off-roading and concept roadshow, electrification ruled the road. The automaker showed off this week seven concepts — four of which are electrified — from the Jeep brand and Jeep Performance Parts (JPP) by Mopar ahead of the Easter Jeep Safari, an annual multi-day event hosted by Moab’s Red Rock 4-Wheelers. Jeep is not the organizer of the Easter Jeep Safari. However, the company does use the annual gathering to showcase a handful of concept vehicles to give the world (and media) a sense of what might be coming down the road.  TechCrunch was on hand to test all of them in a controlled off-road environment. While the concept vehicles were equipped with an array of powertrains, it was hard to ignore the variety of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric setups. (Although it was also sure hard to miss the Jeep Scrambler 392 concept equipped with a 6.4-liter HEMI V-8 engine that’s inspired by the 1981 Jeep Scrambler

Electronic Arts Inc said on Wednesday it would lay off about 6% of its workforce and reduce office space, making it the first major videogame publisher to announce job cuts. Technology firms have led the latest round of layoffs as U.S. companies brace for a potential economic downturn amid rising interest rates around the world. from Gadgets Now https://ift.tt/8GUAzK1

Lyft might once again drop its shared rides offering, just one of several changes the company’s newly appointed CEO could make in a bid to focus on its core ride-hailing business and become profitable. David Risher, who is taking over as Lyft’s CEO in mid-April , told TechCrunch in a wide ranging interview that other features may also be axed. For instance, the Wait & See feature, which allows riders in certain regions to pay a lower fare if they wait for the best-located driver, may end, he said. “It’s possible that maybe we don’t need both of those anymore and that we can focus all our resources on doing a fewer number of things better,” Risher, the former Amazon executive, told TechCrunch. “Maybe it’s time for us to say the shared rides were great for a time, but it’s time to let that go.” Lyft, co-founded by Logan Green and John Zimmer, launched shared rides in 2014 on a small scale before expanding the service. Uber launched Uber Pool the same year. Both companies dropped t

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here . Hello, and welcome to Wednesday Crunch! On everyone’s mind today is the power of AI and whether we’re all doomed. Connie reports that 1,100+ notable signatories just signed an open letter asking “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months.” Meanwhile, Amanda explores how everything is “Goncharov” as the meme-makers are going mainstream with a huge assist from AI tech. — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Future of work is borderless : Payday, now flush with $3 million in new capital, plans to expand its Africa-based operations to Canada and the United Kingdom, Tage writes. The company provides a way for those working remotely to receive payments in their currency of choice. “Alexa, call Grandma” : A new Amazon capability brings T-Mobile customers into the fold for making and receiving calls via an Alexa-enabled device, Ivan

The first crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is facing yet another delay, with NASA officials saying Wednesday that it was now targeting no earlier than July 21 for launch. The space agency and Boeing blamed the delay on certification issues related to the capsule’s parachute system and other verifications on Starliner’s components and capabilities, as well as scheduling constraints with other missions scheduled to fly to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Steve Stich, NASA’s program manager for the commercial crew program, told reporters that NASA and Boeing needs to complete an additional ground test on the parachute system, as well as a test of Starliner’s abort system. Stress testing of the flight and guidance, navigation and control systems and additional testing with crew are due to be complete by the end of this month. “The Starliner spacecraft is in really good shape,” Stich told reporters during a media briefing Wednesday, adding that it’s “largel

If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+. You see, insurtech startups often need to take into account the myriad rules and regulations in place when they seek to innovate and embed insurance into products, which might make it difficult to pull it off. And given the current emphasis on achieving cost efficiency to extend runways in the broader startup ecosystem, it appears investors are open to insurtech startups that can build a sustainable business model, regardless of it including embedded insurance. “Insurtech startups that do not offer embedded insurance, and rather provide other innovative solutions will still attract VC funding this year, especially if they can show cost-efficient and sustainabl