Apple puts a lot of effort into promoting accessibility with things like the hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro. This time, however, the company showed an example of how the iPhones Action Mode has been helping people with Parkinsons in their routines.iPhones Action Mode has become an accessibility feature for people with ParkinsonsApples latest campaign filmed in Brazil not only promotes Action Mode, but also shows how important the feature has become for those living with hand tremors from Parkinsons disease.For those unfamiliar, Action Mode is a camera option available for iPhone 14 and later that significantly corrects shakes and vibrations when capturing video, making them super stable. While for some people Action Mode is just one of many camera features on the iPhone, for others it has become an important accessibility feature.The new videos promoted by Apple tell stories of people living with Parkinsons and how the iPhone lets them film videos despite their shaking hands. One of these stories is about Rodrigo Mendes, who has been living with Parkinsons since 2009 and still pursues his hobby of mountain climbing and hiking.Climbing the mountain itself is already amazing, but capturing it is important too, right? The Action Mode on iPhone makes a huge difference because, imagine trying to film with your hand shaking like this, you know? [] being able to capture an image on yout own in the end makes all the difference, Mendes says in the video.Apple also shared the stories of other people living with Parkinsons in its new campaign. In all the videos, the company shows the difference between filming with and without Action Mode.Mendes video was posted on Apples official Instagram account, and although it was recorded in Portuguese, the video has English subtitles. You can watch it below:Earlier this week, Apples global head of accessibility Sarah Herrlinger discussed in an interview how the company wants to make technology accessible to anyone. More recently, Apple released an update for the AirPods Pro 2 that turns them into hearing aids. The feature was this years Apple holiday ad.The company also often shares stories about people who have had their lives saved with the help of Apple devices and technologies such as Emergency SOS and irregular heart rhythm notifications from the Apple Watch.Read also:Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

KarmaDec 4, 2:43 PM EST/byVictor TangermannPeople's Reactions to a Health Insurance CEO Getting Assassinated Are Incredibly Dark"Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our Platinum+ package."Dec 4, 2:43 PM EST/Victor TangermannImage by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty ImagesDevelopmentsUnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside of a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan earlier this morning, in what the New York Police Department is calling a "brazen, targeted attack.""I want to be clear at this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters, as quoted by CNBC.Let's be clear: any act of violence or loss of life is a tragedy. But the internet's indifference to Thompson's passing and gallows humor about the notorious deficiencies of the private insurance industry are simultaneously ghoulish and illustrative of America's profoundly dysfunctional medical system."All human life is sacred, so it's not proper to laugh when serious harm befalls someone," one Bluesky user wrote. "The moral thing to do is instead charge them hundreds of thousands of dollars.""Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our platinum+ package," another user added.The reactions highlight widespread disillusionment and anger over a woefully inadequate health insurance system in the United States that has preyed on the unemployed and uninsured for decades, leading to a endless death, bankruptcy and suffering.Skyrocketing medical costs have forced a huge chunk of the population to delay getting medical help. People have astonishingly little trust in the US healthcare system, going as far as to voluntarily upload their medical scans to Elon Musk's potty-mouthed Grok AI for what are likely untrustworthy answers.UnitedHealth's role shouldn't be underestimated. The group is one of the largest health insurance companies in the world in terms of revenue, and the eighth largest corporation by market capitalization.In short, seeing the CEO of a notorious health insurance company which is currently facing a class action lawsuit for using an algorithm to deny rehabilitation care to seriously ill patients meet a violent end doesn't seem to have caused an outpouring of mourning."Thank you for choosing UnitedHealthcare for your healthcare needs," one Reddit user wrote in a facetious post, imitating the style of a letter from a health insurer denying coverage. "After a careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024, we regret to inform you that your request for coverage has been denied.""If you would like to appeal the fatal gunshot, please call 1-800-555-1234 with case # 123456789P to initiate a peer-to-peer within 48 hours of the fatal gunshot," another Reddit user wrote.Besides its reputation for denying health coverage, UnitedHealth has been embroiled in a number of controversies lately. In March, the insurer was hit with at least sixseparate class action lawsuits, accusing it of failing to protect millions from a massive personal data breach in February. The hack, kickstarted by a week-long ransomware outage, left countless healthcare providers in the cold, forcing hospitals to absorb massive upfront costs.In June, UnitedHealth shareholders filed a separate class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that they had bought stock at artificially inflated prices between March 2022 and February 2024.The company also faces an antitrust class action lawsuit relating to its failure to establish boundaries between its own two complementary businesses, Optum and UnitedHealthcare.In fact, Thompson was rushed to a hospital in New York City's Mount Sinai network a medical system that UnitedHealth removed from its network last year, to the chagrin of patients who relied on its care.Needless to say, there could be any number of reasons why the killer could have targeted Thompson. While the exact motive remains unknown, it's certainly possible the killer was looking for revenge."Yes, there had been some threats basically I dont know, a lack of coverage? I dont know details," Thompson's wife told NBC News. "I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him."UnitedHealth is set to bring in $280 billion in revenue this year. Shares are up around half a percent as of the time of writing.According to the US government, just over 27 million Americanscurrently lack health insurance.More on health insurance: Experts Alarmed by People Uploading Their Medical Scans to Elon Musk's Grok AIShare This ArticleImage by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty ImagesRead This Next

Image by Getty / FuturismDevelopmentsCould a chatbot be your doctor someday? It's looking more likely than you'd think.In a recently published study, 50 doctors were asked to diagnose medical conditions from examining case reports, with some of them being randomly assigned to use ChatGPT to help with their decision making.During the experiment, the participating doctors were graded on not just the correctness of their final diagnosis, but on how well they could explain their thought process.Based on that criteria, the doctors who worked by themselves scored 74 percent on average, and those who collaborated with the AI chatbot to reach their diagnosis scored 76 percent.But both groups were vastly outperformed by something that never went to med school: ChatGPT, acting on its own, blew the human docs out of the water with an average score of 90 percent.The research, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, was small in scope the 50 doctors only examined six case studies but nonetheless has striking implications about the role of AI in the medical field and perhaps the biases held by human doctors."I was shocked at the results," study coauthor Adam Rodman, an internal medicine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in an interview on the New York Times podcast Hard Fork. "My hypothesis going in was that people using [ChatGPT] would be the best. So I am surprised by this."These cases, based on real medical patients, were intentionally challenging. Nevertheless, ChatGPT overwhelmingly prevailed. According to Rodman, this could be as much of a testament to the AI model's capabilities as it is to a human doctor's stubbornness.The MDs using ChatGPT, for example, may have felt resistant to the chatbot's second opinion and dismissed it as wrong, doubling down on their first guess as a result.Another factor that could explain why the doctors lagged behind the technology is that they simply weren't familiar with using it.But Rodman pushed back against the takeaway that ChatGPT is more competent than your average human doc. "The difference is that the people who put the case together, like, the information, if you want to think about the prompts, were expert clinicians," he said on the podcast. "We organize it in such a way."In other words, human medical professionals did all the hard work of accurately gathering and presenting medical information in the final case reports something an AI can't do, at least yet. To declare that the AI obviously trumps the doctors is sort of like a chef taking all the credit for a tasty meal when they used someone else's recipe.The study was also primarily designed to test how effectively a chatbot could help doctors, which turned out to be not very much and not to demonstrate that AI was superior. In fact, similar studies have found ChatGPT to be terrible at diagnosing cases.What's striking, though, is that that the experiment was conducted a year ago using an older version of ChatGPT. The results could be even more impressive now."Maybe AI models are better at making diagnoses than human doctors. But I don't think that's the case with GPT-4 Turbo, which was the model that was used here," Rodman said. "But it's going to be true at some point, and we're quickly approaching that."Share This Article

Dec 05, 2024Ravie LakshmananCyber Espionage / MalwareThe China-linked threat actor known as MirrorFace has been attributed to a new spear-phishing campaign mainly targeting individuals and organizations in Japan since June 2024.The aim of the campaign is to deliver backdoors known as NOOPDOOR (aka HiddenFace) and ANEL (aka UPPERCUT), Trend Micro said in a technical analysis."An interesting aspect of this campaign is the comeback of a backdoor dubbed ANEL, which was used in campaigns targeting Japan by APT10 until around 2018 and had not been observed since then," security researcher Hara Hiroaki said.It's worth noting that MirrorFace's use of ANEL was also documented by ESET last month as part of a cyber attack targeting a diplomatic organization in the European Union using lures related to the World Expo.MirrorFace, also known as Earth Kasha, is the name given to a Chinese threat actor that's known for its persistent targeting of Japanese entities. It's assessed to be a sub-cluster within APT10.The latest campaign is a departure from the hacking group's intrusions observed during 2023, which primarily sought to exploit security flaws in edge devices from Array Networks and Fortinet for initial access.The switch to spear-phishing email messages is intentional, per Trend Micro, and a decision motivated by the fact that the attacks are designed to single out individuals rather than enterprises."Additionally, an analysis of the victim profiles and the names of the distributed lure files suggests that the adversaries are particularly interested in topics related to Japan's national security and international relations," Hiroaki pointed out.The digital missives, sent from either free email accounts or compromised accounts, contain a link to Microsoft OneDrive. They aim to lure recipients into downloading a booby-trapped ZIP archive using themes related to interview requests and Japan's economic security from the perspective of current U.S.-China relations.Trend Micro said the contents of the ZIP archive vary depending on the targets, adding it uncovered three different infection vectors that have been used to deliver a malicious dropper dubbed ROAMINGMOUSE -A macro-enabled Word documentA Windows shortcut file that executes a self-extracting archive (SFX), which then loads a macro-enabled template documentA Windows shortcut file that executes PowerShell responsible for dropping an embedded cabinet archive, which then loads a macro-enabled template documentThe macro-enabled document, ROAMINGMOUSE, acts as a dropper for components related to ANEL and ultimately launches the backdoor, while simultaneously incorporating evasion techniques that hide it from security programs and make detection challenging.One of the modules deployed via the dropper is ANELLDR, a loader that's designed to execute ANEL in memory. It's launched using a known method called DLL side-loading, after which it decrypts and runs the final-stage backdoor.A 32-bit HTTP-based implant, ANEL was actively developed between 2017 and 2018 as a way to capture screenshots, upload/download files, load executables, and run commands via cmd.exe. The 2024 campaign employs an updated version that introduces a new command to run a specified program with elevated privileges.Furthermore, the attack chains leverage the backdoor to collect information from the infected environments and selectively deploy NOOPDOOR against targets of special interest."Many of the targets are individuals, such as researchers, who may have different levels of security measures in place compared to enterprise organizations, making these attacks more difficult to detect," Hiroaki said. "It is essential to maintain basic countermeasures, such as avoiding opening files attached to suspicious emails."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) on Wednesday announced that it led an international investigation to disrupt Russian money laundering networks that were found to facilitate serious and organized crime across the U.K., the Middle East, Russia, and South America.The effort, codenamed Operation Destabilise, has resulted in the arrest of 84 suspects linked to two Russian-speaking networks Smart and TGR. In addition, 20 million ($25.4 million) in cash and cryptocurrency has been seized.Both the businesses are based in Moscow's Federation Tower, per The Telegraph, which is known to act as a hub for money laundering firms.Concurrent with the takedown and arrests, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned five individuals and four entities associated with the TGR Group."Through the TGR Group, Russian elites sought to exploit digital assets in particular U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins to evade U.S. and international sanctions, further enriching themselves and the Kremlin," said Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.Describing it as an extensive sanctions evasion and money laundering network, the Treasury Department said the TGR Group has leveraged other illicit actors such as the Smart Group, which is headed by Ekaterina Zhdanova. In November 2023, Zhdanova was sanctioned for helping high-net-worth Russian nationals and cybercriminal crews launder cryptocurrency proceeds.Zhdanova has also been accused of offering services to individuals connected with the now-defunct Ryuk ransomware group, laundering over $2.3 million of suspected victim payments in 2021.The TGR Group is said to provide a wide range of illegal financial services, including laundering funds belonging to sanctioned entities, an unregistered service to exchange cash and cryptocurrency, accepting cash receipts and converting them into digital assets for clients, a prepaid credit card service, and concealing the source of funds to allow Russian elites to purchase property in the U.K.The NCA noted that the Smart network was used to fund Russian espionage operations between late 2022 to summer 2023. The exact nature of the malicious activity was not disclosed."Smart and TGR provide a service that enables Russian elites, and designated individuals and entities to access Western economies that would otherwise be denied to them through sanctions or other financial restrictions," the agency said."For the first time, we have been able to map out a link between Russian elites, crypto-rich cyber criminals, and drugs gangs on the streets of the U.K. The thread that tied them together the combined force of Smart and TGR was invisible until now."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

There are two great performances in Robert EggersNosferatu.One is by BillSkarsgrd, who is truly terrifying and altogether inhuman as the title character. The other is by Eggers camera, which pans, tilts, swoops, and glides with the uncanny grace of a supernatural being. It works in concert with Skarsgards Count Orlok to stalk and torture the characters and to showeraudience members in dread.The story Eggers tells here is nearly as old ascinema itself; it contains very few surprises for anyone whos seen the prior films that share its title or the ones named after Nosferatus formerly copyrighted cousin, Dracula. The reason to see thisNosferatu anyway is its handsomelydetailed production, which issoaked in gothic atmosphere thanks to incredible design, cinematography, and that creepy Skarsgard performance.Eggers avoided any temptations to update the classic tale, which was first adapted (in unauthorized fashion) from Bram Stokers Draculaby German expressionist director F.W. Murnau in his 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu. Instead, he findscontemporary resonances in the tale of a society besieged bya monstrous plague; swarms of rats follow SkarsgrdsOrlok wherever he goes, bringing with them a veritable pandemic of disease and decay. As the main story involving this undead bloodsucker proceeds in the foreground, the background fills upwith the bodies of the sick and the dying. IfOrlok himself doesnt get you, Eggers suggests, somethingmuch more mundane will and possibly quicker than the vampire.FocusFocusloading...READ MORE: The Best Elevated Horror MoviesNot thatSkarsgrds Orlok presents himself as a stereotypical cinematic vampire, with the cape and the slicked hair and suave Eastern European accent. In Eggers construction, hes more likethe personification of all thats unholy; at one point he refers to himself as An Appetite, nothing more. At his best, he looks sort of like the mascot of a German metal band: Big furry coat, enormous mustache, pointed nose, spindly fingers with enormous clawed nails.At his worst like any good vampire, his form is mutable Orlok looks like hes barely even human, and while hell chomp down on any part of a warm body thats available, his preference is to hunch over a victim, distend his jaw, and chomp straight to the source. (The sound effects that accompany these moments are ... very wet.)No one working today can create a complete horror villain quite likeSkarsgrd (who previously put this skill to very good use in twoItmovies.) He and Eggers made a lot of big choices here: Aguttural growl of avoice, breaths that come in low and unsettling wheezes, shuffling movements, dead-eyed stares. They all paid off. This Orlock is unforgettable.In just about every variation on Dracula and Nosferatu, the count targets a sensuous young woman. In Eggers version, that is Lily-Rose Depps Ellen. Years before the main narrative, a young Ellen prayed for a guardian angel. Instead, she awoke Orlok from some sort of eternal slumber, creating a psychic connection between them that grows even stronger after she marries handsome and ambitious real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult).Thomas boss, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney), sendshim off to Transylvania to sell the count a property in their small Germantown. While hes gone, Ellen experiences strange convulsions and terrible nightmares involving the count. Her conditions worsen to the point that Ellens physician Dr. Sievers (Ralph Ineson) calls in reinforcements: His former mentor Professor Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe).FocusFocusloading...Ellens friend Anna (Emma Corrin) becomes one of Orlocks potential targets as well, helped in part by the fact that Annas husband Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) refuses to believe the plague decimating their village bears some larger supernatural origin, even after Dafoes professorshows upto educate the other characters about the occult.(We must know evil to be able to destroy it!says Dafoe at one point,uttering a line that feels like it could be spoken by at least 60 percent of all characters Willem Dafoe has ever played.)You must surely know the rest.Orlok travels there to sample the local cuisine with a special interest in Ellen.Most ofNosferatusset up feels extremely familiar. How could it not, after countless iterations of this story in nearly as many different artistic mediums? What starts to makeNosferatusizzle and shine, even in the shadowy moonlight of a cold German evening, are Eggers stylistic flourishes. In movies likeThe WitchandThe Lighthouse, he displayed a uniquegift for period horror that feels fresh without resorting to modern gimmicky or irony.His moviesplay like they could be the films their characters would have watched in cinemas, had film existed in their time periods in the first place.The same can be said forNosferatu. Although his camera moves in ways Murnaus never could100 years ago, EggersNosferatustill bears manyvisual echoes of the earlier film, especially in its use ofmovingshadows to suggest Orlock prowling through Friedrich and Thomas homes. Throw in some really disgusting practical goreand a couple big jump scares, and you have an extremely effective, extremely old school horror film; made for 2020s tastes but steeped in a tradition thats unnerved fans for over a century.RATING: 8/10FocusFocusloading...Get our free mobile app10 Horror Movies So Extreme They Made People Physically SickDon't watch these movies if you have a weak stomach!Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky

Time zones: EST (UTC -5), CST (UTC -6), MST (UTC -7), PST (UTC -8), AKST (UTC -9), HST (UTC -10), GMT (UTC +0), CET (UTC +1), EET (UTC +2), AST (UTC -4), FKST (UTC -3), NST (UTC -3:30)Job Summary: We are seeking a driven and enthusiastic Business Development Representative to join our world-class dynamic team. In this role, you will be responsible for identifying and pursuing new business opportunities within the healthcare industry. You will be tasked with prospecting, qualifying leads, and initiating conversations with potential clients to generate interest in our placing services. This is specifically NOT a recruiting job. Accel Health is a SaaS platformResponsibilities: Conduct targeted prospecting activities, including research, cold calling, and email outreach to healthcare organizations. Identify key decision-makers and build relationships with potential clients. Effectively communicate the value proposition of our placing services and solutions. Qualify leads and gather relevant information to assess potential opportunities. Maintain accurate records of prospect interactions and activities in our customer relationship management (CRM) system. Collaborate with the sales team to develop and implement effective prospecting strategies. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, market dynamics, and competitor activities. Attend networking events, conferences, and industry gatherings to expand your professional network.Requirements: 2 years experience as Business Development Representative (BDR) or Account Executive Bachelor's degree preferred or equivalent professional experience. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Self-starter and drive for achievement Hustler mentality Ability to prioritize multiple tasks Strong prospecting and cold-calling abilities Proficiency in Google office suite Ability and willingness to learn how to interact with a CRM and other systems Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities Resilience and a positive attitude in the face of rejection Committed to delivering exceptional serviceCompensation, benefits, and employment details: $50,000/year + commission Paid travel for company events and attendance Healthcare coverage: Medical Dental Vision Schedule: Full-time Monday-Friday, must work 9am Eastern - 6pm Eastern time zone hours Location: RemoteWhy Youll Love Your Job You will be the first sales team hire working directly with one of our co-founders You will be part of a startup aiming to leverage AI to disrupt an archaic industry model Cutting-edge, innovative technology lead by a world-class experienced team No ceilings, unlimited growth potential Travel across the country Quickly become well versed in our industry

Subscript Account Executives own the entire sales process - they develop relationships, warm up leads, and develop and close pipeline.The basicsThe product : We're building the premier billing, metrics, and revenue recognition platform that empowers B2B SaaS leaders to invoice their customers, tell their ARR story, and track accounting revenue, all in one placeregardless of how complex their customers' contracts areOur product is incredibly loved - our customer happiness scores are unheard ofOur funnel metrics are phenomenal - so far this year, 29% of our leads became opportunities, and 35% of those wonWe win nearly every deal where we are pitching against competitorsThe role you'll play on our team:You'll join the founders and Head of Growth in bringing Subscript to CFOs, Controllers, and Financial AnalystsAs a full-cycle AE, you will work with a named account list to find the right contacts, warm leads, and generate pipelineYou'll find the best in for any company, using connections with through our current customersHow we'll support you:You'll have a budget to travel to conferences and to your prospectsYou'll have support in hosting events and other dinners, where our CEO will help you build relationshipsYou will get phenomenal sales collateral to useOur solutions team will help you share the power of the platform with your prospectsThe way we work:We are an asynchronous teamWe don't do scheduled internal meetings, so the vast majority of communication is available to anybody at any time in written documentation, whole-company Slack channels, and video documentation. If you're sick of pointless meetings, this is the place for you!We operate completely autonomously No one will tell you what to do; everyone gets transparent context and details about the company goals and you will figure out how to work towards them with the rest of the team!This is a remote job - work anywhere you wantYou'll be working with US based clients, but you can be based anywhereWe're a team that loves working togetherWe love playing board games (these we do synchronously ). Full-time team members meet up multiple times per year for live off-sites around the world (expenses paid!)Our interview processWe like to be really transparent and communicative about everything at Subscript, including our interview process!Our interview process is designed to focus on your ability to communicate, to think strategically, and to sell. There will be both asynchronous steps (writing up documents, recording videos) as well as live meetings and roleplays.RequirementsYou have 5+ years of experience in salesYou have sold complex SaaS before for deal sizes between $50,000 and $250,000You have experience with full-cycle sales - from building your book to closingWe like to see (but don't require):You have sold to finance teams (CFOs, Controllers, FP&A, etc) beforeWhat we'll be evaluating you for:You are fast - you respond quickly, and get a lot done quicklyYou are diligent - you do what you say you will, and you don't miss things. You do thorough researchYou are great on your feet - you can handle curveballs expertlyBenefitsUnlimited vacationCompletely flexible work schedule work literally anytime (and anywhere) you want!Benefits appropriate to your location (health/dental/vision in the USA)Company-wide retreats multiple times per yearLike all start-ups we're scrappy, but not scrappy on compensation: Subscript is committed to paying our awesome team members at market-rate, including benefits.

Google DeepMind has unveiled an AI model thats better at predicting the weather than the current best systems. The new model, dubbed GenCast, is published in Nature today. This is the second AI weather model that Google has launched in just the past few months. In July, it published details of NeuralGCM, a model that combined AI with physics-based methods like those used in existing forecasting tools. That model performed similarly to conventional methods but used less computing power. GenCast is different, as it relies on AI methods alone. It works sort of like ChatGPT, but instead of predicting the next most likely word in a sentence, it produces the next most likely weather condition. In training, it starts with random parameters, or weights, and compares that prediction with real weather data. Over the course of training, GenCasts parameters begin to align with the actual weather. The model was trained on 40 years of weather data (1979 to 2018) and then generated a forecast for 2019. In its predictions, it was more accurate than the current best forecast, the Ensemble Forecast, ENS, 97% of the time, and it was better at predicting wind conditions and extreme weather like the path of tropical cyclones. Better wind prediction capability increases the viability of wind power, because it helps operators calculate when they should turn their turbines on and off. And better estimates for extreme weather can help in planning for natural disasters. Google DeepMind isn't the only big tech firm that is applying AI to weather forecasting. Nvidia released FourCastNet in 2022. And in 2023 Huawei developed its Pangu-Weather model, which trained on 39 years of data. It produces deterministic forecaststhose providing a single number rather than a range, like a prediction that tomorrow will have a temperature of 30 F or 0.7 inches of rainfall. GenCast differs from Pangu-Weather in that it produces probabilistic forecastslikelihoods for various weather outcomes rather than precise predictions. For example, the forecast might be There is a 40% chance of the temperature hitting a low of 30 F or There is a 60% chance of 0.7 inches of rainfall tomorrow. This type of analysis helps officials understand the likelihood of different weather events and plan accordingly. These results dont mean the end of conventional meteorology as a field. The model is trained on past weather conditions, and applying them to the far future may lead to inaccurate predictions for a changing and increasingly erratic climate. GenCast is still reliant on a data set like ERA5, which is an hourly estimate of various atmospheric variables going back to 1940, says Aaron Hill, an assistant professor at the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, who was not involved in this research. The backbone of ERA5 is a physics-based model, he says. In addition, there are many variables in our atmosphere that we dont directly observe, so meteorologists use physics equations to figure out estimates. These estimates are combined with accessible observational data to feed into a model like GenCast, and new data will always be required. A model that was trained up to 2018 will do worse in 2024 than a model trained up to 2023 will do in 2024, says Ilan Price, researcher at DeepMind and one of the creators of GenCast. In the future, DeepMind plans to test models directly using data such as wind or humidity readings to see how feasible it is to make predictions on observation data alone. There are still many parts of forecasting that AI models still struggle with, like estimating conditions in the upper troposphere. And while the model may be good at predicting where a tropical cyclone may go, it underpredicts the intensity of cyclones, because theres not enough intensity data in the models training. The current hope is to have meteorologists working in tandem with GenCast. Theres actual meteorological experts that are looking at the forecast, making judgment calls, and looking at additional data if they dont trust a particular forecast, says Price. Hill agrees. Its the value of a human being able to put these pieces together that is significantly undervalued when we talk about AI prediction systems, he says. Human forecasters look at way more information, and they can distill that information to make really good forecasts.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern EuropeIt might have been hard a few years ago to imagine soldiers heading to battle on oversized toys made by a tech startup with no military heritage. But Ukraines resistance to Russias attacks has been a miracle of social resilience and innovationand the way the country has mobilized is serving both a warning and an inspiration to its neighbors. In the desperate early days of the war, Ukrainian combat units wanted any equipment they could get their hands on, and they were willing to try out ideaslike a military scooterthat might not have made the cut in peacetime.But while governments and companies alike are investing billions into defense tech, some experts warn that Europe has only partially learned the lessons from Ukraines resistance. And, if it wants to be ready to meet the threat of attack, it needs to find new ways of working with the tech sector. Read the full story. Peter Guest This is our latest Big StoryMIT Technology Reviews most important, ambitious reporting on technologies that are coming next and what they will mean for us and the world we live in. Check out the rest of the section here. The startup trying to turn the web into a database Whats new: A startup called Exa is pitching a new spin on generative search. It uses the tech behind large language models to return lists of results that it claims are more on point than those from its rivals, including Google and OpenAI. Exa already provides its search engine as a back-end service to companies that want to build their own applications on top of it. Now its launching the first consumer version of that search engine, called Websets.Whats the goal here? The aim is to turn the internets chaotic tangle of web pages into a kind of directory, with results that are specific and precise. Its aimed at power users who need to look for things that other search engines arent great at finding, such as types of people or companies. Read the full story.Will Douglas Heaven MIT Technology Review Narrated: Beyond gene-edited babies In the future, CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer, potentially opening up paths for tinkering with human evolution. What will that mean for our species? This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which were publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as its released.The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The US is struggling to kick Chinese hackers out of its networks Six months after its investigations into their intrusions began. (Axios)+ Authorities are advising concerned users to switch to encrypted apps. (WP $)2 Russia is using civilians as target practice for its killer drones Creating an atmosphere of psychological terror for Ukraines residents. (FT $)+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraines drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)3 Can anyone topple Nvidia? Many have tried, but noneyethave succeeded. (NYT $)+ China is claiming the US-made chips pose a security risk. (Reuters)+ Meanwhile, Apple is using Amazons custom chips for its search. (CNBC)+ Amazon has lofty plans for a colossal AI supercomputer made of chips. (WSJ $) 4 Mark Zuckerberg is hankering for an active role in Trumps administration It sounds like the former enemies could be on the verge of burying the hatchet. (The Guardian)+ Metas claims that it previously overdid moderation will be music to Trumps ears. (Insider $)+ Trump offered billionaire Stephen Feinberg the job of deputy defense secretary. (WP $)5 Inside Chicagos ambitious plans to become a quantum hub Its carving its own path away from Silicon Valley. (WSJ $)+ Quantum computing is taking on its biggest challenge: noise. (MIT Technology Review)6 Abortion policy in America is at a stalemateThe ability to travel for reproductive care is the next frontier. (The Atlantic $) 7 Why we should think carefully about geoengineering Blocking sunlight isnt without risks. (Undark Magazine)+ The inadvertent geoengineering experiment that the world is now shutting off. (MIT Technology Review)8 The unstoppable rise of raw milkRFK has become the poster boy for the unpasteurised movement. (NY Mag $) + Raw milk could also act as a vehicle for bird flu right now. (MIT Technology Review)9 What happens when you fall in love with an AI? These people have firsthand experience of just that. (The Verge)10 What sweat can teach us about our health A lot more than you might think. (New Scientist $) Quote of the day I cant give you a running commentary on conversations I was not part of. Nick Clegg, Metas president of global affairs, plays coy when asked by the Verge about Meta boss Mark Zuckerbergs recent dinner with President-elect Donald Trump. The big story How this Turing Awardwinning researcher became a legendary academic advisor October 2023 Every academic field has its superstars. But a rare few achieve superstardom not just by demonstrating individual excellence but also by consistently producing future superstars. Computer science has its own such figure: Manuel Blum, who won the 1995 Turing Awardthe Nobel Prize of computer science. He is the inventor of the captchaa test designed to distinguish humans from bots online.Three of Blums students have also won Turing Awards, and many have received other high honors in theoretical computer science, such as the Gdel Prize and the Knuth Prize. More than 20 hold professorships at top computer science departments. But is there some formula to his success? Read the full story.Sheon Han We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.) + Why does everyone sing caught in the middle like that? Music theory has an answer. + The mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder has completely reengineered the sound from the first 20 minutes of Mad Max: Fury Road and its great.+ This 16-year old Australian sprinter might just be the next Usain Bolt.+ Dont expect Dune and Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve to direct a Star Wars movie any time soon.