Layoffs are killing innovation, AI-cloning technology that p showsResident Biden is reading transphobic text and data brokers selling your mental health data — cheap.
It’s Tuesday, February 14th. These stories and more on Trending Hashtags—Today’s Top Technology News. I’m your host, Jim Love.
Layoffs have shattered dreams and sidelined intriguing and potentially valuable projects.
As they struggle to reign in costs and boost share prices, BIG Tech is rethinking its approach to funding moonshot projects with uncertain returns.
Will there be a third iteration of Microsoft’s HoloLens headset after the company cut 10,000 employees? And what about Amazon’s robotics and drone delivery, or Meta’s vision for the metaverse following a drastic reduction in headcount?
It should come as no surprise that risk-takers and innovators will bear the brunt of the economic challenges. But actually, slashGrowth in the workforce and doubling down on profitable portfolios make investors very happy.
There is still a large amount of innovation funding aimed at artificial intelligence. In fact, investors are flocking to AI stocks. But we can easily forget that at one point, AI was a moonshot that required years of investment that may or may not pay off.
That being said, it’s important to note that many of the biggest tech companies were launched by people who were part of previous downsizings, such as the famous tech bubble that burst in the early 2000s.
Could there be a ray of hope that the layoffs could translate into a new group of innovators and entrepreneurs?
These are key questions, especially since the layoff phase is far from over.
Cloud communications company Twilio Inc (TWLO.N) said on Monday it is laying off about 17 percent of its workforce and closing some offices as part of a restructuring effort to focus on profitability.
Streaming service Disney has yet to announce details of its 7,000 job cuts. But the company’s chief technology officer, Jeremy Doug, packed his bags before the cuts were made official. hopefully, when other Pack your bags, they don’t take the innovation of the future with them.
Source: axios And bloomberg news And reuters
Voice cloning tools can be a dangerous misuse of AI technology.
We watched in amazement as President Joe Biden’s January 25 news report on the tanks was manipulated to appear that he gave a speech that attacked transgender people. The doctored video has received thousands of views on social media.
Digital forensics experts say the video was created using new generation AI tools, which allow anyone to quickly generate audio. imitation of a person With voice, a small sample and a few mouse clicks.
The video failed to fool most users, but raised the alarm on how easy it is to create deeply fake videos filled with misinformation and hateful content.
Hafiz Malik, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan who focuses on multimedia forensics, said that “devices like this are basically going to add more fuel to the fire.” loose.”
Accordingly, after Biden’s video, others surfaced including Hillary Clinton reading the same transphobic text, Bill Clinton saying the Covid-19 vaccine causes AIDS and actress Emma Watson reading Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf”. Are.
At least one company, ElevenLabs’ whose voice synthesis platform allows users to reproduce such content, said it is exploring safeguards to crack down on abuse following a surge of deepfake videos.
However, the startup said that the technology was developed to dub audio in different languages for movies, audiobooks and gaming while preserving the voice of the speaker. And should not be used to promote emotions, hate speech and propaganda.
Source: ap news
According to Mercury Research, the fourth quarter of 2022 could see the biggest drop in PC processor shipments in three decades. Company says CPU sales suffer biggest year-on-year decline Since they started recording that data in 1994. The company notes that this is part of a trend where each quarterly decline breaks the previous record.
Excluding ARM processors, which are bucking the trend, about 374 million CPUs were shipped in 2022, down 21 percent from 2021. 2022 sees a 19 percent decline in CPU revenue to $65 billion.
One reason for the slowdown is inventory adjustments, which could mean that although shipments have dropped dramatically, it may not indicate a huge drop in sales to end users.
As mentioned, the decline is not across the board. While x86 processors are in decline, ARM processors are gaining market share in the laptop market, and have not suffered the same decline that x86 units suffered last year.
Mercury analysts forecast that the decline in CPU shipments could continue through the first half of 2023, before reversing in the second half of the year.
Source: techspot
New data from Counterpoint Research revealed that the 128GB iPhone 14 Pro Max costs $464 US to manufacture, according to a story by industry blog 9to5Mac.,
The article notes that while Apple does not disclose its profit margin On a per-device or production cost basis, it reports its overall profit margin—which Apple claims is about 37 percent, which the authors say has historically been very stable for Apple.
So how is it possible that the iPhone 14 Pro Max costs the same as the previous iPhone 13 Pro Max?
The cost of making the iPhone 14 Pro Max is about 3.4 percent more expensive. Compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The main reason for this difference is the new 48MP rear camera as well as the new “always-on” display.
The new A16 Bionic chip costs about $11 more per unit than the older A15 Bionic chip. But external cost is clearly not the only factor. Some other components, such as 5G cellular technology, have declined in cost as 5G cellular becomes more popular.
Apple’s self-designed components count to 22 percentage of the total bill of material cost of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Apple works closely with its suppliers to finalize the cost prior to production. So the cost goes up even with these, and Inflationary pressures on production, assembly, packaging and distribution – Apple has held the line on prices to avoid a repeat of the relatively high increase in prices between the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12.
Now if only someone could do that for the price of an egg.
Source: 9TO5Mac
whyYou can buy the mental health records of 10,000 people for as little as $0.20. And if you buy in bulk, you get a discount.
Lots of companies will line up to sell you these. They will also include names, emails, home addresses, income, and ethnicity of people with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or OCD.
At least that’s what a study published by Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy suggests. The researchers found that at least a dozen data brokers were offering to sell mental health data at cheap prices, often with no resistance from anyone trying to buy the data and no restrictions on how the information could be used .
Data brokers sift through information coming from personal devices and health tracking. But they also scrape web traffic data, some of which is sold to advertisers. Even a search on WebMD compromises your medical data.
Incredibly, it is not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
HIPAA’s health data rules are limited to “covered entities,” including doctors and health care providers, insurance companies, and businesses that work directly with them.
Regulators are just starting their investigation, but it is not certain whether US law gives them the authority to intervene.
Thank god Congress always moves fast to deal with technology challenges.
Source: gizmodo
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I’m Jim Love – and with this last name, I’m the perfect person to say – Happy Valentines Day. talk to you tomorrow.
