Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
When I walked into a concert last month, I was handed a bingo card. The phrases on squares prompted me to find people who had the same favorite color as I did, or had traveled recently — meaning I’d have to speak with strangers. The activity seemed more aligned with a bridal shower than an indie show, but this wasn’t a typical concert. It was put on by Sofar Sounds, a company that lines up concerts with emerging artists at locations that aren’t disclosed until shortly before the show; they can be galleries or event spaces or even backyards. This…
Elon Musk isn’t afraid to commit to the bit.One day before he officially acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, he shared a video on his account that showed him carrying a sink into the social media platform’s former headquarters in San Francisco.”Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!,” Musk wrote.During Friday’s episode of the “All-In” podcast, Musk said that the video, which now has 1.2 million likes and 202,000 reposts, almost didn’t happen.”Well, I think the store was confused because my security team was asking for any kind of sink, and normally, people wouldn’t ask for any kind…
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are going tit-for-tat. At the center of their latest online beef is the OpenAI CEO’s reservation for Tesla’s long-delayed Roadster.Musk took to his social media platform, X, on Saturday to criticize Altman for posting screenshots earlier in the week that showed his attempt to cancel his Roadster order.”A tale in three acts,” Altman earlier posted, sharing a screenshot of an email from July 2018, confirming a $45,000 payment to reserve the next-generation Tesla Roadster. Additional screenshots Altman posted showed the OpenAI CEO requesting a $50,000 refund and receiving a bounce-back email.”I really was excited for…
As tech companies tout their plans for massive new data centers, consumers are increasingly worried the AI-driven gold rush will ultimately drive up the price they pay for electricity, according to a new survey. The report, commissioned by solar installer Sunrun, found that 80% of consumers are worried about the impact of data centers on their utility bills. Consumers’ concerns aren’t unfounded. Electricity demand in the United States held steady for over a decade, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Over the last five years, commercial users including data centers and industrial users began drinking more deeply from…
The AI researchers at Andon Labs — the people who gave Anthropic Claude an office vending machine to run and hilarity ensued — have published the results of a new AI experiment. This time they programmed a vacuum robot with various state-of-the-art LLMs as a way to see how ready LLMs are to be embodied. They told the bot to make itself useful around the office when someone asked it to “pass the butter.” And once again, hilarity ensued. At one point, unable to dock and charge a dwindling battery, one of the LLMs descended into a comedic “doom spiral,”…
Spanish police said Friday they have busted an international ring suspected of smuggling nitrous oxide, commonly known as “laughing gas,” and contraband tobacco.Officers confiscated 5,184 liters of nitrous oxide from a warehouse and the home of the suspected owner of the trucks used by the ring in the southern province of Malaga, police said in a statement.Authorities also seized more than 2.5 million contraband cigarettes from a truck in the eastern province of Alicante while members of the group were unloading the cargo, the statement added. Police released a video showing officers unloading dozens of boxes from the truck as…
Leslie Stoll developed a blood clot that led to a pulmonary embolism after she broke her leg in 2014. The embolism was treated, but another occurred when Stoll had surgery on her foot years later. After the treatment, she was referred to a hematologist who could prescribe blood thinners and monitor the clot.At an appointment in 2024, the hematologist recommended a CT scan. It showed a small anomaly in her lungs. Stoll wasn’t worried: She was an athlete and former boxer who had never smoked. Her lung function felt normal.”I tried to reassure him that it was nothing, and it…
After Kahlil Lalji closed the first funding round earlier this month for his new AI company, Natural, one of the first things he wanted to do with the money was embark on a rite of passage for new tech founders: Buying a billboard around San Francisco. He quickly found out he would have to be patient.”If you want to buy billboard space, you have to wait six to nine months,” Lalji said, adding it was even worse when he tried to secure prime space around Y Combinator’s outpost in the Dogpatch or Jackson Square, the home of many startups. “It’s…
HILDALE, Utah — Few people talk about vaccinations here. Not to outsiders, anyway.By and large, the people who live in Hildale, as well as in neighboring Colorado City, just across the state border in Arizona, are fiercely private. High walls surround many of the homes to avoid the prying eyes of strangers.Measles got in anyway.As of Friday, 161 cases had been confirmed in Utah and Arizona, the bulk concentrated right along the border in the twin towns collectively known as Short Creek. Eleven people — eight in Utah and three in Arizona — were hospitalized.Short Creek, a community that straddles…
Tuesday brought 14,000 job cuts and fresh AI concerns. By Thursday, investors were cheering.It was a turbulent week for Amazon and its CEO Andy Jassy, marked by historic layoffs and rising doubts about AI, followed by a swift 48-hour rebound that reassured investors. Wall Street is impressed — Amazon shares hit record highs on Friday — though questions remain.”Amazon isn’t perfect, and we are seeing increasing urgency in defending their cloud leadership position and reclaiming some of the unique culture,” Baird’s senior analyst Colin Sebastian told Business Insider. “Jassy’s strategy is proving successful, even if there are still some wrinkles…