Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

The devastating losses from the historic flooding in Texas Hill Country on July 4, 2025, are still coming into grim focus, with 121 deaths confirmed and more than 100 still missing as of July 10.As emergency responders focus on clearing debris and searching for victims, a less visible and slower disaster has been unfolding: the need for ongoing mental health support long after headlines fade.This phase is no less critical than restoring power or rebuilding bridges. Disasters destabilize emotional well-being, leaving distress, prolonged recovery and long-term impacts in their wake long after the event is over.Without sustained emotional support, people…

Despite all the competition, OpenAI is still the leader in the space and is making its own moves that will likely worry rivals.It is planning to launch a new AI-powered web browser, for instance, that could compete with Google Chrome, the current industry leader. The browser will embed ChatGPT and feature an AI agent that can handle tasks like booking reservations and filling out forms.It also secured a $200 million contract to provide AI support to the US military. OpenAI will help develop capabilities to “address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Pentagon said in…

Meta has acquired Play AI, a startup that uses AI to generate human-sounding voices. A Meta spokesperson has confirmed the acquisition, according to Bloomberg, which also reports that an internal memo stated that the “entire PlayAI team” will be joining the company next week. (TechCrunch has also reached out to Meta for confirmation.) Meta’s memo reportedly said that PlayAI’s “work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map, across AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables and audio content creation.” The company has been making big investments in…

Therapy chatbots powered by large language models may stigmatize users with mental health conditions and otherwise respond inappropriately or even dangerously, according to researchers at Stanford University. While recent coverage in The New York Times and elsewhere has highlighted the role that ChatGPT may play in reinforcing delusional or conspiratorial thinking, a new paper titled “Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers” examines five chatbots that designed to provide accessible therapy, assessing them based on guidelines around what makes a good human therapist. The paper will be presented at the ACM Conference on Fairness,…

ATLANTA (AP) — The Washington Nationals selected Oklahoma high school shortstop Eli Willits on Sunday night with the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in a selection seen by some as a surprise.The 17-year-old Willits is the youngest player taken No. 1 overall since Ken Griffey Jr. with Seattle in 1987. He’s the son of ex-big leaguer Reggie Willits, who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels and also coached with the New York Yankees.The Willits pick kicked off a record total of 17 shortstops out of 32 first-round picks. According to Baseball America, the previous…

EAST RUTHERFORD, N,J. (AP) — Cole Palmer scored twice and fed João Pedro for a goal as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 on Sunday in the final of the first expanded Club World Cup.Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes, then sent a through pass that enabled João Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43d for his third goal in two starts with the Blues.A 23-year-old who joined Chelsea from Manchester City two years ago, Palmer scored 18…

LONDON (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz must do something he’s never been forced to before: He must figure out how to move past a loss in a Grand Slam final.Alcaraz was 5-0 in title matches at the majors until Sunday, when his reign at Wimbledon ended with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against No. 1 Jannik Sinner.“It’s always a bad feeling losing matches,” the second-ranked Alcaraz said. “It’s a little bit even worse when you lose in a final.”Truth is, he isn’t used to coming out on the wrong end of the score much at all.Alcaraz had won 20 matches…

When Steve Huynh was a principal engineer at Amazon, meetings began with a “study hall.”Amazon had a “reading culture” even among engineers, Huynh recently told the Pragmatic Engineer podcast, speaking of his time at the tech giant. Employees frequently drafted six-page memos, he said, which they shared with the company to update progress and demonstrate new projects.”I spent on the order of like 1-4 hours every day reading while I was a principal engineer,” Huynh said. “What an amazing culture that I think that almost every other company should replicate if they could.”Huynh, who said the company’s embrace of writing…

One Elon Musk business might be making a big investment in another. According to a Wall Street Journal report that cites investors close to SpaceX, the company has agreed to invest $2 billion in Musk’s AI startup xAI. The investment would reportedly be part of the $5 billion equity raise (along with another $5 billion in debt) that Morgan Stanley announced at the end of June. This would be SpaceX’s first investment in xAI, and one of its biggest investments in another company. The WSJ says SpaceX already uses xAI’s chatbot Grok to power customer service for its Starlink internet…

A cover letter might not be your top priority if you’re preparing an application for a job in tech — but perhaps it should be.That’s especially true if your hiring manager happens to be David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, a well-known framework for building web applications, and the CTO at software firm 37signals.In a lengthy six-hour interview with podcaster Lex Fridman published Saturday, the exec shared the two key things he looks for when hiring new computer programmers.”Up until this point, the main pivot point for getting hired was not your résumé, was not the schooling…