Good Monday Morning

It’s August 7th. News broke Sunday that U.S. scientists successfully repeated their fusion tests on July 30 with higher energy yields. 

Today’s Spotlight is 882 words — about 3 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1. Hollywood to Cameo’s Rescue: Amid the ongoing strike, Hollywood actors are turning to Cameo for income, providing a much-needed boost for the previously embattled video greeting company. In July, layoffs had reduced Cameo’s head count to fewer than 50, as reported by The Information.

2.Prospect Medical Battling Cyberattack: Prospect Medical, an 18-hospital chain in five states, is battling an ongoing cyberattack. In response, they’ve taken their computer systems offline, suspending all nonemergency services, including elective surgeries and outpatient appointments. The FBI said it was working on the case with other law enforcement agencies.

3. Meta’s Preemptive News Block in Canada: In response to Canada’s Bill C-18, yet to take effect, Meta has blocked Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram. The soon-to-be-enforced law requires tech giants to negotiate payments for hosting news content. Google also plans a similar move, echoing the companies’ 2021 Australian actions and earlier threats in California.

Spotlight on Amazon Retrenching 

Amazon Refocuses Amid Challenges: After a pandemic-induced surge and subsequent hit to its stock price and reputation, Amazon has been leaning harder than ever on its core cloud services and e-commerce businesses, experiencing a 65% increase in its market cap this year. Wall Street has welcomed the company’s job cuts of over 27,000, allowing room for key initiatives:

1. Tech Expansion: Amazon channeled $100M into its emerging generative AI program, mirroring its successful transformation of cost centers like logistics into profit engines. With ad revenue up 20% plus quarterly, hitting $10.6B in Q2, AI is next in line. Also, in a competitive move, Amazon’s AI-powered coding assistant, CodeWhisperer, is now free, rivaling Microsoft’s $10 monthly charge.

2. Grocery Consolidation: Amid store closures, Amazon is testing a unified checkout process for Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, bypassing certain ingredient restrictions long in place at the upscale grocer In another move, home delivery service, currently exclusive to Prime members, is being trialed for non-Prime members.

3. Health care Venture: Amazon Clinics now offer nationwide video visits, a recent expansion. Operating independently of insurance, they offer potentially insured prescriptions, including through Amazon Pharmacy. Recall Amazon’s earlier $3.9 billion acquisition of OneMedical, bringing in 200 physician locations across major markets.

Hurdles remain despite these advances. Amazon’s purchase of Roomba creator iRobot suffered a privacy blow with leaked videos from Roomba development units. Critics spotlight Amazon’s pollution footprint, especially shipping materials and fuel for transporting returns. Despite efforts, including a UPS deal for no-cost returns and phasing out plastic padded shipping bags, critics remain unsatisfied.

Practical AI

Quotable: “We were surprised by how much the N-word was there.” — Gaming executive Justin Liebregts whose studio used AI software to monitor player conversations for toxicity.

Noteworthy: A multi-university study of 14 generative AI tools concluded that it remains relatively easy to fool software designed to tell if content was AI or human-created.

Tool of the Week: Meta released three new text-to-music generators. You can try the most basic and make a 12 second audio clip free.

Trends, Spends, & TikTok

Did That Really Happen — Investor Arrested

Fabian Marta, one of the 6,000-plus investors in the theatrical release of the movie “Sound of Freedom,” was arrested in St. Louis on July 23 and charged with felony child kidnapping. Despite social media rumors, Marta was not a producer for the film, but contributed to its $5 million theater budget.

Following Up — Chromebook Obsolescence

Back-to-School Warning:Last week, we reported on third-party sellers offering soon-to-be unsupported Google Chromebooks on platforms like Amazon and Walmart. This week, a report from U.S. PIRG called the situation “absurd” and revealed eight ChromeOS devices with an impending “death date” are currently available for purchase.

Protip — Personal Info Help

Google has rolled out a feature to aid in locating search results containing your personal information and assist in their removal. The service also tracks the status of past removal requests and sets alerts for when new copies are detected online. More details available here.

Screening Room — Debinha Dazzles for Nike Football

Science Fiction World — AI-Powered Medical Milestone 

Surgeons have successfully implanted AI-enabled microchips in a quadriplegic man’s brain, leading to the restoration of some feeling in his hand. This breakthrough included five chips connected to electrodes and sensors on the patient’s arm and hand.

Coffee Break — Most Polluted Cities

The American Lung Association has an updated State of the Air report that allows you to find the cleanest and most polluted places–and see how your city stacks up. 

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

It’s July 31st. Some of the goodest boys and girls in the world will be competing on Saturday in the World Dog Surfing Championships.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,247 words — about 4 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1.   Cruise is opening in Nashville. The company offers autonomous vehicle taxi services with a safety driver, like in SF. Local officials are expected to drop safety driver requirements over time in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and now, Nashville.

2.Shoppers who want to consider a company’s values while shopping have a new app. Users can select whether they’re conservative or liberal and their positions on topics like climate change or LGBTQIA rights. The Veebs app’s premium features costs $12/year.

3.Twitter’s decline with mercurial owner Elon Musk at the helm is being hastened by a series of self-inflicted wounds. Marketing experts and the public remain shocked at how quickly he changed the brand name of Twitter to X. In just the last week, that move generated multiple problems:

• Apple won’t distribute the new app because its name doesn’t meet character length guidelines.
• The user who had the Twitter handle X for years says that the company took his name without warning or compensation. He was later offered some promotional items.
• Police halted the company’s new massive signs from being placed on the building because Twitter never obtained permits.
• Local residents are incensed over a huge lighted sign that now flashes from the company’s roof and directly into an apartment building across the street. City officials say that sign was also erected without a permit.

Spotlight on EdTech

Generative AI remains the biggest story in education technology. We’ve previously covered issues like student privacy and heavy-handed administrators using law enforcement tools inside schools, but AI use is a fast-moving wild card capable of disrupting education.

Educators are concerned about keeping pace with advancing technology, financial inequality among students, and the lack of training for themselves. Then there is the answer engine issue. Generative AI is often used as an answer engine instead of as a search engine to find resources.

And generative AI often provides incomplete or inaccurate responses.

A major new UNESCO education technology report last week called for schools to ban smartphones from classrooms and that teachers monitor students’ use of technology. The report also recommends that resource-starved schools shouldn’t leave students alone with self-paced learning or tutoring programs that lack human interaction.

Suppliers Prep for the Rush

The people who made the most money during a gold rush are the very few who find some of the early gold and the shopkeepers and other merchants who supply the miners. Federal funds that are part of the American Rescue Plan require schools put at least 20% of awards into combating learning loss from the pandemic disruption.

Tech companies took note of the money available to school administrators for the edtech equivalent of pickaxes. VC investments in education tech companies tripled to $16.8 billion between 2019 and 2021. Overall expenditures are expected to reach $300 billion, and a national survey suggests that only 11% of school and district leaders require peer reviewed research showing edtech effectiveness before buying.

Planned Obsolescence

Google Chromebooks are a painful symbol of how school systems have to juggle existing emergent needs with future budgets. The hybrid machine has a feature set and price point between tablet and laptop computer, and is designed to stop working on certain dates. The Oakland Unified School District had to replace 3,800 of them last year and faces 40,000 more replacements over the next 5 years.

Generative AI in Schools

The timing seems perfect for generative AI, but it’s not ready yet. Interfaces are often clunky, privacy guardrails are nonexistent, and they can be difficult to effectively use. The biggest issue remains accuracy. Whether they’re called hallucinations, dreams, or something else, large language models sometimes spit out completely wrong information — and even the programmers and companies behind them don’t always know why.

That won’t stop the continuing explosion of generative AI use in classrooms, and there are fun successes to celebrate including the professor who had ChatGPT develop a college course about its use and then uses its own software to teach it.

Practical AI

Quotable: “I’m an AI-creation/” — Bikini-clad fashion influencer Milla Sofia, who Futurism reports has tens of thousands of social media followers and even a marriage proposal.

Noteworthy: MIT announced PhotoGuard, a software tool that makes it much more difficult to manipulate an image.

Tool of the Week: ChatGPT finally released its Android app. The iOS version launched in May.

Trends, Spends & TikTok

Did That Really Happen — No, Fentanyl Laced Money Is Not A Thing

Media outlets and some police departments continue posting scary headlines about money that has been tainted with fentanyl harming people. Here are some counter headlines about fentanyl poisoning from accidental contact:

Experts Say Risk Is Extremely Low — NPR
Toxicology Expert Dispels Myths — UC Davis
Risks Are Very Minimal — Ohio State

There’s also this infographic from the DEA that advises first responders that incidental skin contact “is not expected to lead to harmful effects.”

P.S. There is also no recorded case in North America of a child dying after eating tainted Halloween candy except one boy who was murdered by his father. You can still snag a Reese’s or Snickers, but don’t get hysterical about a fake threat.

Following Up — Androids Get Tracker Warning

Remember how we told you about a man who killed a person he was following by using an AirTag? Google says that your Android device can now tell you if an AirTag you don’t own is “determined to be traveling with you.” You can also scan for unknown devices.

Protip — Don’t Buy Obsolete Chromebooks

It’s not just school systems. Third-party sellers can use Amazon, eBay, and other platforms to sell you Chromebooks that are or will soon expire. That’s fine if you both know about the date. Here’s how to stay an informed consumer.

Screening Room — Captivating Inclusivity Spot from Brazil

Science Fiction World — Protecting Old Growth With New Tech 

Stand.earth Research Group has launched Forest Eye, a new satellite tool that tracks old-growth logging in British Columbia. The tool allows the public to hold the government and industry accountable. Forest Eye has already identified more than 5,700 hectares of old-growth forest that have been logged, the majority of which are candidate deferrals. More details here, including how you can help.

Coffee Break — Most Popular Emoji

We’ve missed World Emoji Day, but here’s a handy feature showing the most popular of them by country and by platform. 

Sign of the Times

Good Monday Morning

It’s July 24th. Paralyzing heat creeps into the Midwest this week and the east by late this week. Our friends at Moms Clean Air Force have published a helpful fact sheet, Keeping Your Family Safe in Extreme Heat.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,247 words — about 4 1/2 minutes to read.

3 Stories to Know

1. Apple has threatened to remove services like FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than comply with a potential update to its surveillance laws, which would demand immediate disabling of security features without public knowledge. The company argues that such changes would threaten global data security and infringe on privacy rights.

2.The Federal Reserve announced its FedNow® Service, which lets banks and credit unions instantly move money for their customers at any time. Starting with 35 early adopters, the system allows quicker transactions, including getting paid instantly and settling bills in real-time. For everyday people, this means faster access to funds and more control over spending and savings timing.

3.Reflecting the growing value for generative AI and the arts, Big Tech is increasing prices. Microsoft’s new AI tool, Microsoft 365 Copilot, will cost an extra $30 per user per month. Meanwhile Spotify is expected this week to raise its U.S. subscription prices, following similar moves by Apple Music and Amazon Music. 

Spotlight on Arts & The Concern Over AI

Generative AI is at the heart of arts discussions with new Hollywood projects effectively stalled and artists such as musicians and painters raising legal and ethical objections to the use of AI in the arts. 

The disruption is occurring throughout the arts, not just in movie and television productions although its successful use there has led to two union strikes. Artists are worried about disrupted compensation, the use of their past works to derive new computer based works, and whether we non-artists will accept AI-created art as equivalent or superior to art created by people.

How AI in the Arts Already Disrupted Music and Graphics

We told you three months ago about “Heart on My Sleeve,” a song credited to music superstars Drake and The Weeknd,  but generated by voice cloning and other software. Neither artist had performed on the track, and while music companies moved fast to remove the song from social media, it’s still easy to hear that and thousands of other computer-related compositions.

The U.S. Copyright Office ruled earlier this year that art created solely by AI is ineligible for copyright protections and said that any protected works would have to include substantial human involvement. Last week, a judge said that he is inclined to dismiss a case against popular art generators Stability AI and MidJourney and platform Deviant Art. 

Comedian and author Sarah Silverman and two other authors have filed a separate suit against Meta and ChatGPT owner Open AI that alleges that large language models built by those companies accessed their works while being trained and thus infringed their copyright.

Artists say that these powerful programs can only create derivative works. Another critical concept woven throughout this issue is the idea of “fair use,” that is, the ability for later works to use elements verbatim from an earlier work to provide reporting, criticism, parody, or research.

What About Jobs?

Automation sometimes radically changes job markets. Writers at G/O Media, publisher of The Onion, Gizmodo, and other popular websites, savaged the company after layoffs were announced and then a “modest test” of AI content was announced.

Axios shared last week that it had created a demonstration video using Showrunner AI, a new app that created a five minute South Park themed video featuring an Axios writer and former actor that was generated by text prompts. While critics quickly dismissed that video as a distraction, a developer used ChatGPT to write the remaining two novels in the Game of Thrones book series.

AI is even threatening fashion model roles. Jeans maker Levi Strauss said this spring that it will create virtual models to show off its clothing. 

You can be certain that AI in the arts is a major concern for anyone you know in any creative field. Ethical, legal, and multibillion dollar commercial issues take a long time to resolve. The Hollywood strike may be over soon after contract terms are reached, but the conundrum of AI in the arts is going to be with us a long time.

Practical AI

Quotable: “47% of Americans have used ChatGPT for stock recommendations.”
— A Motley Fool study covering ChatGPT’s first six months of public access.

Noteworthy: Google co-founder Segey Brin, the world’s 11th richest person, has returned to work at Google several days a week and is meeting with the team assembling Google’s new AI model called Gemini, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Tool of the Week: Google AppSheet is now being offered at no additional charge on paying (or free nonprofit) Google Workspace accounts. The program allows users to create rudimentary no-code apps based on spreadsheets.

Did That Really Happen? — Yes, Sen. Tuberville Reneged On Vet Donations

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who has single-handedly blocked the promotions of more than 250 senior military officers, has reneged on donating his salary to veteran’s charities. Tuberville made a campaign pledge three years ago to “donate every dime” of his Senate salary to veterans in Alabama. Detailed research shows that he hasn’t made any of the donations.

Following Up — Biden Gets Big Tech AI Pledge

The Biden Administration gained a voluntary pledge commitment from 7 leading Big Tech firms to share data about their algorithms, develop and use watermarks to identify AI created data, and allow independent safety experts access. The pledge can be enforced by the FTC.

Protip — iPhone Can Diagnose Car Warning Lights

An iPhone using the upcoming iOS 17 can decipher your car’s warning lights and dashboard controls as part of its Visual Look Up upgrade. 9 to 5 Mac has details.

Screening Room — Boy (cat) Band & Meow Mix

The new boy (cat) band with the jingle remix is Tabby 5, and that’s former *N SYNC singer JC Chasez at the end.

Science Fiction World —  Amazon One Palm Payment Rolling Out at Whole Foods

The number of places where people can pay by palm recognition will double in the next few months. Amazon announced last week that its hand scanning technology will be available at Whole Food locations by the end of this year. The technology is also used for age verification services at arenas and casinos.

 Coffee Break — “An Online Network Called Internet…”

Happy 30th birthday to this NBC news story about being able to send electronic mail to Bill Clinton, Rush Limbaugh, or Billy Idol on a new-fangled computer network. A helpful graphic displays each of their email addresses in this nostalgic clip and shares a prediction about video conference availability by 2010.

 Sign of the Times