Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

While OpenAI continues to insist that there are currently no ads — or tests for advertising — live in ChatGPT, the company’s chief research officer Mark Chen also acknowledged that the company “fell short” with recent promotional messages and is working to improve the experience. Chen and other OpenAI executives were responding to posts from ChatGPT’s paying subscribers who complained about seeing promotional messages for companies like Peloton and Target. In response, the company said it was only testing ways to show apps built on the ChatGPT app platform that it announced in October, with “no financial component” to those…

Clergy, chaplains and other spiritual leaders play vital roles in their communities, from celebrating life’s most joyous moments to offering comfort and guidance in the face of tragedy.However, the personal toll of this work on spiritual leaders can be immense, including burnout, trauma and health challenges – and often goes unacknowledged.There is growing attention to the stresses clergy have experienced amid the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing polarization. Chaplains, too, faced significant strain in their pivotal but often invisible role within health care. There is concern over a potential “great resignation,” with more than a third of U.S. pastors thinking about…

Apple’s app of the year suggests the tech giant was all about helping iPhone users get organized in 2025.Tiimo is an AI-powered visual planner that’s marketed towards those with neurodivergent brains. With to-do lists, daily tasks, and reminders, Tiimo mixes an AI chatbot with a classic planner. It’s free to download and use, with a premium version available for $10 a month.After being a finalist for Apple’s Design Award in 2024, Tiimo took the top spot for the best iPhone app of 2025 in the App Store Awards. It beat out fellow finalists BandLab and Ladder, which Apple described as…

The US is light years behind its adversaries in military drone production. A San Diego startup wants to help solve that problem by bringing 3D printers to the battlefield.Firestorm Labs has designed a small, mobile factory that the company says can fabricate virtually any model of drone or drone part. Each factory consists of two 20-foot shipping containers, outfitted with industrial-grade HP printers. Set-up requires just two to four people, and the company estimates that each factory can currently churn out about 17 small-to-mid-sized drones drones per week. The company also has two of its own drone designs.Defense Secretary Pete…

A growing number of Americans are “solo-agers” — they live alone and don’t have family to rely on.They’re much more likely to live in poverty and struggle with their health.Advocates warn these older adults will need more support as they age.Valerie Miller, 68, has lived in the same community in San Bernardino, California, for decades. But as she’s gotten older, her connections have dwindled. She lives alone, has never been married, and doesn’t have kids.Many of her friends have moved out of state to retire or be closer to their grandchildren, while others have died. Miller’s only remaining family members are…

The Nordic countries are no strangers to the long, dark winter.Despite little to no daylight — plus months of frigid temperatures — people who live in northern Europe and above the Arctic Circle have learned how to cope mentally and physically with the annual onset of the winter blues, which can begin as early as October and last into April for some.The winter solstice will occur Dec. 21, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. While sunlight increases daily after that, winter won’t be over for a while yet.The Associated Press spoke to…

A year after being pushed out of Intel, Pat Gelsinger is still waking up at 4 a.m., still in the thick of the semiconductor wars — just on a different battlefield. Now a general partner at venture firm Playground Global, he’s working with 10 startups. But one portfolio company has captured an outsized share of his attention: xLight, a semiconductor startup that last Monday announced it has struck a preliminary deal for up to $150 million from the U.S. Commerce Department, with the government set to become a meaningful shareholder. It’s a nice feather in the cap of Gelsinger, who…

When people talk about baking, they often focus on the final product. The tender cookies, the domed muffins, the rich brownies. But the real draw of baking starts long before you roll out the pie crust.Baking can be many things: an act of creation, connection, control. There’s something comforting about the structure of it: the measuring, the stirring, the transformation of a handful of ingredients into something delicious.Even if life doesn’t always feel orderly, follow the recipe and things should turn out as planned. It’s like therapy, with a present at the end.“Baking is how I best connect with the…

ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users are worried that OpenAI, whose mission is to create artificial intelligence that benefits all of humanity, is starting to publish ads on the platform.Screenshots of the ChatGPT interface showing what looks like a Target ad have been circulating on social media.OpenAI’s head of ChatGPT, Nick Turley, however, dismissed those rumors in a post on X on Saturday.”I’m seeing lots of confusion about ads rumors in ChatGPT. There are no live tests for ads — any screenshots you’ve seen are either not real or not ads. If we do pursue ads, we’ll take a thoughtful approach,”…

Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people perform best on challenging tasks at a time of day that aligns with their circadian rhythm.Circadian rhythms are powerful internal timekeepers that drive a person’s physiological and intellectual functioning throughout the day. Peaks in these circadian rhythms vary across individuals. Some people, known as larks or morning chronotypes, peak early and feel at their best in the morning. Others, known as owls or evening chronotypes, peak later in the day and…