Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Vaccination for those exposed to the Ebola virus and front-line health workers has begun in southern Kasai province, the World Health Organization said Sunday.An outbreak of the highly contagious disease was announced earlier this month in the locality of Bulape, in Kasai, has left at least 16 dead and 68 other suspected cases, according to last week’s briefing by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Only an initial 400 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have been dispatched, with the rest to be delivered later, the WHO said. The operation has been hampered by limited access…

How much do foundation models matter? It might seem like a silly question, but it’s come up a lot in my conversations with AI startups, which are increasingly comfortable with businesses that used to be dismissed as “GPT wrappers,” or companies that build interfaces on top of existing AI models like ChatGPT. These days, startup teams are focused on customizing AI models for specific tasks and interface work, and see the foundation model as a commodity that can be swapped in and out as necessary. That approach was on display especially at last week’s Boxworks conference, which seemed devoted entirely…

CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow left the game after he suffered a left toe injury during the second quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Burrow was sacked by Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead for a 5-yard loss at the Bengals 35-yard line with 9:02 remaining in the first half. It was the second time Burrow had been sacked in the game.The Bengals announced late in the third quarter that Burrow would miss the rest of the game.Jake Browning came in for Burrow, who went inside the blue medical tent. He briefly walked with a limp on…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA fired second-year football coach DeShaun Foster on Sunday after the school’s first 0-3 start since 2019.Athletic director Martin Jarmond announced the move two days after the Bruins lost to New Mexico 35-10, their second straight loss to a Mountain West Conference opponent.“It’s not a decision I made lightly, but it was important to take decisive action,” Jarmond said on a Zoom call with media. “This serves as a message to our fans that the results we’ve seen so far are simply not acceptable.”Tim Skipper will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season,…

Miami would join Ohio State, Penn State and LSU as a top-four seed in the College Football Playoff based on The Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday while Georgia, Oregon, Florida State and Texas would host first-round games.Ohio State, Penn State and LSU remain the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds. Miami moved into the No. 4 seed after moving up a spot in the AP poll. The top four receive first-round byes. The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each would have four teams in the 12-team field, the Atlantic Coast Conference two and the Big 12 and American…

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia Tech fired football coach Brent Pry on Sunday after the program stumbled to its first 0-3 start since 1987.The school announced the move a day after the Hokies fell behind 31-0 on the way to a 45-26 home loss to Old Dominion.In a statement, school president Tim Sands said the change was “necessary” due to on-field results described as “not acceptable” as Pry reached his fourth season. That included giving up 65 unanswered points over more than 70 minutes of game action during last week’s home loss to Vanderbilt and into Saturday night’s loss to…

NEW YORK (AP) — Texas A&M made a big jump into the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll Sunday after its dramatic win at Notre Dame, and the Irish became the first team since 1988 to stay in the Top 25 with an 0-2 record.Ohio State, Penn State and LSU remained the top three teams, with Miami moving up to No. 4 and Georgia to No. 5 even after a close call at No. 15 Tennessee.Oregon slipped two spots to No. 6 despite a 20-point road win against Northwestern and was followed by Florida State, Texas, Illinois…

There’s a fierce battle underway in Silicon Valley, and there’s one piece of technology at the center of it all: AI.When OpenAI released its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, in 2022, it introduced large language models to the broader public and was embraced by business leaders. It also cast a glaring spotlight on its competitors, some of whom raced to release their own AI-powered chatbots.The growing number of LLMs poses a tricky question for companies determining which model to use.Sriram Thiagarajan, Ancestry’s chief technology officer and executive vice president of product and technology, told Business Insider that the company is taking a…

What factors do you weigh when mulling a job change? A better salary? Greater work-life balance? A fancier title or more direct reports?Google’s Yulie Kwon Kim always had one other key consideration before making any job switches.”Every change that I made was not about ‘what is the next big job?’, but ‘what is the next thing I want to learn?'” Kim told Business Insider. “It’s kind of funny because in many ways I have this big job, but I never was looking for how do I get a bigger role or a title.”Today, Kim is the VP of Product at…

Hello, health enthusiasts! My name is Kaitlin Reilly, and I’m here to deliver the internet’s best wellness tips of the week.Are you a fan of early bird specials? More and more Americans are, Yahoo’s Rachel Grumman Bender reports, with research showing that earlier dinner reservations (think 5 p.m.) are becoming more popular.Aside from having a better shot at scoring a dinner reservation at that time, there’s also a health factor at play: “Eating earlier gives your body more time to digest before bed, which can help keep blood sugar steady, reduce late-night cravings and improve sleep,” dietitian Valerie Agyeman says.…