• Employees are spending the equivalent of a months groceries on the return-to-officeand growing more resentful than ever, survey finds
    www.yahoo.com
    Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. Lorsque vous utilisez nos sites et applications, nous utilisons des cookies pour:vous fournir nos sites et applications;authentifier les utilisateurs, appliquer des mesures de scurit, empcher les spams et les abus; etmesurer votre utilisation de nos sites et applications. Si vous cliquez sur Accepter tout, nos partenaires, dont 239 font partie du Cadre de transparence de consentement de lIAB Europe, et nous-mme stockerons et/ou utiliserons galement des informations sur un appareil (en dautres termes, utiliserons des cookies), et nous servirons des donnes de golocalisation prcise et dautres donnes personnelles telles que ladresseIP et les donnes de navigation et de recherche, pour fournir des publicits et des contenus personnaliss, mesurer les publicits et les contenus, tudier les audiences et dvelopper des services. Si vous ne souhaitez pas que nos partenaires et nousmmes utilisions des cookies et vos donnes personnelles pour ces motifs supplmentaires, cliquez sur Refuser tout. Si vous souhaitez personnaliser vos choix, cliquez sur Grer les paramtres de confidentialit. Vous pouvez rvoquer votre consentement ou modifier vos choix tout moment en cliquant sur les liens Paramtres de confidentialit et des cookies ou Tableau de bord sur la confidentialit prsents sur nos sites et dans nos applications. Dcouvrez comment nous utilisons vos donnes personnelles dans notre Politique de confidentialit et notre Politique concernant les cookies.
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  • What we know about the TikTok ban
    techcrunch.com
    Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, were looking at the impacts of the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., including the TikTok refugees moving to Chinese app RedNote, the surge of English speakers learning Mandarin on Duolingo, and more! Lets get into it.The Supreme Court upheld the law that will effectively ban TikTok tomorrow. The decision marks the end of TikToks monthslong legal fight against a law that essentially forces the app to shut down unless it divests its U.S. operations. Starting Sunday, it will be illegal for app stores and internet hosting services to distribute TikTok. The company warned that the app will go dark on Sunday, but its unclear what exactly will happen when the ban takes effect.American users are flocking to RedNote, a Chinese short-form video app also known as Xiaohongshu, making it the No. 1 free app on the U.S. App Store. RedNote hits a lot of the right notes for creators looking for a TikTok alternative: It has a layout thats similar to Pinterests, it is typically thought of as Chinas answer to Instagram, and it boasts a number of social shopping features. But the transition hasnt been easy for some people.TikTok users are using Duolingo to learn Chinese in increasing numbers amid their adoption of RedNote ahead of the TikTok ban. According to Duolingo, the app has seen roughly 216% growth in new Mandarin learners in the U.S. compared to this time last year, with a sharp spike in mid-January as RedNotes adoption took off.This is TechCrunchs Week in Review, where we recap the weeks biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.NewsImage Credits:TechCrunchMark Cuban wants to fund the next TikTok: The entrepreneur and investor said hes ready to fund a TikTok alternative built on Blueskys AT Protocol, signaling potential for an open social web powered by the same technology that underpins Blueskys social network. Read moreBluesky is getting a photo-sharing app: An independent developer is building a photo-sharing app for Bluesky called Flashes. At launch, the app could tap into growing consumer demand for alternatives to Big Techs social media monopoly. Read moreChatGPT, remind me to do my taxes: OpenAI has a new way for ChatGPT to work for you. Paying users of ChatGPT can now ask the AI assistant to schedule reminders or recurring requests in a new beta feature called Tasks. Read moreHow to break up with Meta: In the wake of Metas decision to remove its third-party fact-checking system and loosen content moderation policies, more people are searching how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. We put together a handy guide. Read moreUnitedHealth hides data breach notice: Change Healthcare, which lost more than 100 million peoples sensitive health data in a ransomware attack last year, said it has completed notifying those affected but we found that UnitedHealth hid the breach notice for months. Read moreNintendo finally announces the Switch 2: Nintendo shared the first images of the successor to the widely popular Nintendo Switch, featuring a bigger console with a larger display, updated Joy-Con controllers, and a less colorful design than its predecessor. Read moreSonos CEO is out: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is leaving the company after eight years in the job following a botched update to its software platform that was littered with bugs and removed some long-standing features. Read moreLooking for a TikTok replacement? Try these: While theres no 1:1 replacement for TikTok, there are some viable options to consider that offer a similar experience. We put together a list of the different apps worth checking out to scratch the itch. Read moreEven AI doesnt like to be interrupted: Google NotebookLMs AI-generated podcast featureneeded some friendliness tuning after it was found to be adversarial and snippy when interrupted by human callers. Read moreApple is pausing AI notification summaries: The company is facing backlash for generating inaccurate news alerts in news and entertainment apps. Apple said its also introducing changes to the summaries as a whole to allow for greater transparency.Read moreOpenAI gets into the local news game: Axios announced a partnership with OpenAI. As part of the deal, OpenAI will fund Axios expansion of its local newsletters into four new cities: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Boulder, and Huntsville. Read moreTurn steps into screen time: A new iOS app calledRead more
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  • How to upgrade your 'incompatible' Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 in 2025
    www.zdnet.com
    Mihaela Rosu/Getty ImagesOn October 14, 2025, Microsoft will stop delivering security updates to your Windows 10 PC unless you're willing to pay an exorbitant price to join the Extended Security Updates program.If you try to upgrade to Windows 11 on a PCthat's more than a few years old, you'll be told -- in no uncertain terms -- that your old PC doesn't qualify because its CPU isn't on the official list of compatible processors. Microsoft has made it abundantly clear that it will not revise those requirements. You will also hit roadblocks if your PC doesn't have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.Also: Can your old PC handle the Windows 11 upgrade? How to find out - before you tryThat might be the official policy, but -- as with everything Windows-related -- it pays to read the fine print. Those pesky restrictions prevent you from automatically upgrading to Windows 11 using Windows Update or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. Yet there are fully supported workarounds for most PCs that are capable of running Windows 10, as I document inZDNET's Windows 11 FAQ.Over the past year or so, Microsoft has played a cat-and-mouse game with enthusiasts, adding occasional speed bumps that make it more difficult to bypass these compatibility checks. There are workarounds for most modern PCs, but some older devices, especially those built using AMD processors, might be out of luck. The instructions in this post take all those developments into account. Also:You can still upgrade old PCs to Windows 11, even if Microsoft says no: Readers prove itOf course, everything in this article requires that you be signed in as an administrator on the PC you want to upgrade.Which option should you choose?Please don't skip over this section.This article describes two upgrade options.To take advantage of the workaround described in option 1 below, your computer must meet all the other requirements for Windows 11.It must be configured to start up using UEFI, not a legacy BIOS configuration.Secure Boot must be supported, although it does not need to be enabled. (But seriously, folks, you should enable it.)A TPM must be enabled; version 1.2 is OK, but a system without any TPM or with the TPM disabled will fail.Also:Microsoft will start charging for Windows 10 updates next year. Here's how muchTo check these details on a PC you're considering upgrading, run the System Information utility, Msinfo32.exe, and look at the System Summary page. Pay special attention to the BIOS Mode value. If it says "Legacy," you'll need to reconfigure your system to UEFI mode (and convert your system disk from MBR to GPT partitioning) before you can install Windows 11 as a normal upgrade.To see whether your PC has a TPM enabled, run the Trusted Platform Module Management tool, Tpm.msc. If your computer includes a TPM and it's turned on, this app will display information about it. If there's no TPM, or if the TPM is disabled in firmware settings, you'll see a message that says "Compatible TPM cannot be found."If you're unable (or unwilling) to change from Legacy BIOS to UEFI, or if you have an older PC that doesn't have a TPM option at all, you'll need to use the second option, which takes advantage of an undocumented hack that allows you to bypass the compatibility checks and complete the upgrade. Skip to the "Option 2" section of this post for details on how to use the free Rufus utility to perform this upgrade.Note that a new set of restrictions, introduced as part of the Windows 11, version 24H2 update, require a CPU that supports specific instructions -- SSE4.2 and PopCnt. Most PCs with Intel CPUs that are from 2009 or later will meet this standard. AMD CPUs from 2013 or later should also meet these requirements. For details, see"Microsoft blocked your Windows 11 upgrade? This trusty tool can (probably) fix that."Also:Your Windows 10 PC can't be upgraded? You have 5 options before support ends in 2025If you plan to perform a clean installation of Windows 11, you can boot from installation media and run Windows Setup. That option skips the CPU compatibility check completely (but still requires a TPM and Secure Boot support). After the installation completes, you'll need to reinstall all your apps, restore your data files, and tweak settings to personalize your system preferences.Want to avoid all that hassle? Choose the option that's appropriate for your hardware.Option 1: Use this simple registry editBypass CPU checks and accept any TPM version with this registry edit. Please be aware that this option requires that you run the Setup program from within your current Windows installation. You can't boot from a USB flash drive and install Windows 11 this way.This process requires four steps. 1. Change one key in the Windows registry You need to make one small change to the Windows registry, as documented in thisMicrosoft support document. This change tells the Windows 11 Setup program to skip the check for compatible CPUs and to allow installation on a PC with an older TPM (version 1.2). The usual warnings apply when working with the registry; I recommend you make a complete backup before proceeding.Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetupIf the MoSetup key, doesn't exist, you need to create it. Right-click the node for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup in the left-hand navigation pane, then choose New > Key. Name it MoSetup and press Enter.Also: Wiping your Windows laptop? Here's the simplest way to erase all personal dataSelect the MoSetup key and then right-click in any empty space in the pane on the right. Choose the option to create a new DWORD value. (Don't choose the QWORD option!)Replace the default name for that key by typing the text AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU and then press Enter. Then double-click the new value and change the "Value data" box to 1. The result should look like this: Show more Use this registry tweak to override the Windows 11 CPU compatibility check. You must have a TPM (any version) and Secure Boot must be enabled. Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNETClick OK to save your change, and then restart your PC. 2. Download the Windows 11 ISO On the PC you want to upgrade, go to the Windows 11 Download page (aka.ms/DownloadWindows11) and choose the option at the bottom of the page, "Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices." Save the ISO file in your Downloads folder.Note that this is a big file. Depending on the speed of your internet connection, the download could take a while. Show more 3. Mount the ISO file in File Explorer After the download completes, open File Explorer and double-click the ISO file you downloaded in the previous step. Doing so mounts the file as a virtual DVD drive in its own folder, with its own drive letter. Show more 4. Run Windows Setup In File Explorer, find the Setup.exe file and double-click it to begin the upgrade. You'll see a stern warning about compatibility issues, but you can safely click Accept to move past it. (For details on what that warning message really means, see "Is Microsoft really going to cut off security updates for your 'unsupported' Windows 11 PC?") After you click OK on that dialog box, your upgrade should proceed without any serious issues.If you're upgrading from the same edition (Home or Pro), you'll have three options: You can keep your apps, settings, and files (Full Upgrade); keep your data files but start fresh with apps and settings (Keep Data Only); or start completely fresh (Clean Install). Show more Option 2: Use the free Rufus utilityOn older PCs without a TPM and on PCs that don't support Secure Boot, you'll need to use an undocumented hack to bypass the compatibility checker. You can do this manually by replacing the Appraiserres.dll file (in the Sources subfolder on the Windows 11 installer drive) with a zero-byte version and then making a series of registry edits. But it's simpler to use the free, open-source Rufus utility to make a USB drive that includes this file.To get started, download Rufus version 4.6 or later. (Earlier versions won't work, thanks tochanges Microsoft made in October 2024to its compatibility checking tools. For details of how the newer versions work, see "Microsoft blocked your Windows 11 upgrade? This just-released tool can get the job done.") In addition, be aware that using Rufus will not allow you to bypass the new CPU restrictions that require SSE4.2 and PopCnt instruction support.Also: Why Windows 11 requires a TPM - and how to get around thatTo get started, you'll need to download the Windows 11 ISO and supply a USB flash drive of at least 16 GB in size. You will reformat this drive as part of the process, so back up any data on that drive first.Download Rufus from the developer's siteorfrom the Microsoft Storeand run the app. Choose the USB drive and then choose the "Disk or ISO image" option.Click the Select button, choose the Windows 11 ISO you downloaded earlier, and then click Start.In the Windows User Experience dialog, select the first checkbox to remove hardware requirements, as shown in the screenshot below.Click OK to begin creating the drive. Be sure to choose the top checkbox here to bypass the compatibility check for the Windows 11 upgrade. Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNETAfter Rufus successfully creates your installer, open that USB drive in File Explorer, and double-click Setup. Do not try to upgrade by booting from that USB drive and performing a clean install; it won't work.)As is the case with the other option, you'll see a warning about compatibility issues. It's a scare tactic. (For details on what that warning message really means, see"Is Microsoft really going to cut off security updates for your 'unsupported' Windows 11 PC?") After you click Accept on that dialog box, your upgrade should proceed without any serious issues.Also:Microsoft blocked your Windows 11 upgrade? This trusty tool can (probably) fix thatMy ZDNET colleague Lance Whitney has more details on the other options available with Rufus in "How to install Windows 11 the way you want (and bypass Microsoft's restrictions)." If you've tried this upgrade, I want to hear about your experience. If it worked, please share the details. If you run into snags, send me an email so we can figure out what's going wrong. Be sure to include details -- the make and model of your PC and screenshots of any error messages. I've set up a special inbox just for this feedback: Win11Upgrade [at] realworldwindows.com.This article was originally published on April 9, 2022, but has been updated multiple times since then. It was last updated on January 18, 2025.Windows
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  • Time To Take The Low Expectations Out Of GenAI
    www.forbes.com
    Employees want AI to amplify their skillsgettyGenerative AI is not conventional automation swapping out a human being for software and should not be treated as such. It would be a waste of time and effort, not to mention an example of low expectations, to pitch genAI as a means to simply automate tasks. Rather, it goes far beyond this role and needs to be looked at as the transformative force it can be that amplifies, not replaces, human work.Unfortunately, business leaders tend to look at genAI and AI in general as a cheaper way to get things done. Their employees, on the other hand, see something different happening, an analysis published by Accenture relates. Ask employers and employees exactly how AI transformation happens, or what the results will be, and it quickly becomes clear we are caught in a stare down, the reports authors, led by Accenture CTO Karthik Narain, state.The key is to put people in charge of the direction AI will take with their jobs. Most see the role generative AI can play in assisting and amplifying their work it can lead to job satisfaction, and career-advancement opportunities.Generative AI, by its very nature, is inherently a learning technology. It can enhance and advance its skills over time, ultimately improving its value to the individual using it and to the organization as a whole, Narain and his co-authors state. In other words, the more people use it, the better it gets, and then the more people want to use it.Their employers, on the other hand, tend to take a narrower view of AI as the route to greater automation. Its a situation brewing uncertainty and distrust, and risks holding back the technologys adoption and potential, the Accenture team states.MORE FOR YOUThey offer three key avenues for achieving the best results with an AI-savvy workforce:Accessibility of automation: AIs growing accessibility is whats driving bottom-up autonomy in the workforce. While weve had no-code/low-code in the past, the adoption and utilization of todays natural language-driven AI tools is growing far more rapidly and will touch far more types of workforce tasks. The question for enterprises is how to leverage these capabilities and workers enthusiasm to reimagine their strategies. However, at this time, only 47% of executives surveyed by Accenture say they expect their organizations to make genAI tools significantly-to-fully accessible to their employees to automate tasks and workflows over the next three years.Agentic workflows. Theres been a great deal of discussion in recent months about the potential of AI agents to solve complicated cognitive tasks, and this will be a boost to people across organizations. They can serve as a layer of abstraction across technology, handling lower-level tasks like writing code and connecting pieces together. Instead of employees asking, how can I write this software or what software can perform this task, they can ask how can an agent help me accomplish my goal?Physical copilots. This is an area in which frontline and manual workers will be interfacing with AI. Technologies such as robots, exoskeletons, and drones will be enhanced with AI and genAI to achieve greater contextual understanding of the world and the ability to take more flexible and general-purpose actions in it.GenAI is highly democratized technology which can be used by anyone, the Accenture authors point out. However, they caution, the pace of diffusion will grind to a halt if people are uncertain about what the future will hold. The key to AI success is to provide people the freedom to learn and discover how AI can amplify their skills, through building small automations, finding efficiencies, and seeing which new innovations work and which dont, they add. This will give you a jump start on the future, propelling you far beyond what strict automation ever could.
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  • Heres What Happened When India Banned TikTok in 2020
    time.com
    Members of the City Youth Organization in Hyderabad hold posters in support of India's ban of TikTok in June 2020.Noah Seelam/AFPGetty ImagesBy Andrew R. ChowJanuary 18, 2025 12:24 PM ESTWhen Congress passed a bill in April 2024 ordering ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban, many speculated that ByteDance would opt to sell, because the American market was too valuable to relinquish freely. But TikTok actually faced an even bigger exodus of users in 2020, when India banned the app. At the time, India was TikToks biggest foreign market outside of China, with 200 million users. (For comparison, the U.S. currently has over 170 million TikTok users.) Following military clashes along the disputed border between India and China, the Indian government banned TikTok along with over 50 other Chinese apps, citing national security concerns. Despite the ban, TikTok did just fine in expanding around the world, while national and international tech companies rushed to fill the Indian void, in the process transforming their global approaches to social media. At the same time, digital rights activists tell TIME that the Indian government used the ban as precedent to crack down upon other digital platforms they deemed to be a threat. The way that users, tech giants, the government, and TikTok all adapted to the ban offer clues about what could unfold in the U.S. in the coming months.Post-ban opportunityIndian users flocked to TikTok as early as 2017. Video was already a dominant format in the country, buoyed by massive 4G and 5G infrastructure projects that allowed people with smartphones in remote villages to stream content. TikTok took that ecosystem even farther, allowing Indias millions of regional dialect speakers to share content and create digital communities. (At the same time, caste-based hate speech grew rapidly on the platform.)A lot of the people in the rural part of the country were okay with just being themselves, and creating a 15-second clip of some song they liked, says Murli Kanne, an entrepreneur based in Hyderabad, India, who was working in influencer marketing at the time. People started getting followers really easily. Hindi was mostly the language used in the viral TikToks, but a lot of regional content popped up as well.When the Indian government banned TikTok in June 2020, some influencers striving for global fame started using VPNs to post on TikTok. But for the millions and millions of smaller-scale users, local companies rushed to meet their demand, including MX TakaTak, Chingari, and Mojwhich was launched in July 2020 by the Indian social media powerhouse ShareChat, registered over one million downloads within a week. In November 2020, at least 13 of the top 100 social apps in the Google Play Store in India were TikTok clones, with most of them newly launched, Rest of World reported. Many of these apps offered money to influencers to post on their platforms. The Indian government encouraged these efforts by issuing an Innovation Challenge to build local versions of banned apps.Big Tech takes overBut as these local apps fought for market share, they were about to fall behind much larger and more-resourced American competitors. A few of these apps were not up to the mark when we compare tech, Kanne says. I dont think they had a chance with the giants against them.YouTube was already a hugely popular platform in India. Within months of the TikTok ban, its parent company Alphabet launched a beta version of YouTube Shorts in the country. And because audiences were already on the platform, many Indian content creators found instant success with Shorts. Comedy creator Dushyant Kukreja found that his Shorts received similar levels of views as his TikTok videos, and he soon grew his YouTube following from 40,000 to over 6 million. Creator Manjusha Martin, who had built a TikTok audience of over 770,000, created a web series on Shorts, surpassing 2 million followers on that platform.Buoyed by this success, YouTube soon expanded Shorts to dozens more countries. By the summer of 2022, they reported 1.5 billion viewers every month, rivaling TikToks viewership.Instagram, not to be outdone, pushed out its Reels feature in August 2020, and made India the first country to have a version of the app with Reels in a separate tab. Indians tuned into watch music and cricket, with over 1 million reels created related to the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup. In 2022, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels made up more than 20% of the time people spent on Instagram, making it the companys fastest-growing content format by far.Ultimately, most of the Indian-based TikTok alternatives folded, and Indian audiences and creators got used to Shorts and Reels. The scrappy and broadly rural culture of TikTok in India winnowed down into a more top-down influencer culture on those two platforms. India is now the biggest market for both YouTube (almost 500 million monthly users) and Instagram (362 million).Global competition and privacy concernsAlthough the Indian userbase was a significant loss for TikTok, the company simply expanded across the world. Research shows that TikToks userbase essentially doubled between 2020 and 2024. And the U.S. wasnt even the main driver of this uptick: Indonesia has the most TikTok users in the world. (Brazil, Mexico, and Vietnam also have sizable audiences.) TikToks current dominance across continents, and its proven ability to rebound from previous massive bans, mean that ByteDance is likely in no hurry to sell the app. Rather, it will likely simply continue its expansion abroad, and hope that Americas political situation changes.Meta and YouTube, meanwhile, have a huge opportunity to grow, just like they did in India in 2020. And this time, they have a huge headstart, because Reels and Shorts are already a key part of American social media.However, many Americans have expressed the desire for new platformsas evidenced by the flood of TikTokers to the Chinese app Red Note over the past week. Unless you pay Meta to promote your posts, theyre not really going to show it to people, Christina Shuler, a South Carolina-based entrepreneur who recently signed up for Red Note, tells TIME. And Facebook is just a bunch of angry people on there. So it was refreshing to get on Red Note and know that my content was appreciated.As users search for a new landing spot, digital rights activists view these TikTok bans from a more ominous perspective. Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Asia-Pacific policy director at Access Now, says that Indias TikTok ban led to an increase in the government censorship of digital content. Over the last couple months, VPN apps have been disappearing from the countrys app stores, seemingly for not complying with local rules. The ban has built a precedent that has allowed the Indian government to continue blocking access to more web and social media content, including very often content posted by journalists or critics of the Administration, Chima claims. U.S.-based activists worry that the same thing could happen following the U.S. ban, especially given that the Supreme Court upheld it, giving the green light for Congress to put pressure on other social media apps they deem dangerous going forward. Other countries may follow suit and issue their own bans, as well. We are disappointed to see the Court sweep past the undisputed content-based justification for the lawto control what speech Americans see and share with each otherand rule only based on the shaky data privacy concerns, David Greene, the civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote in a statement emailed to TIME.More Must-Reads from TIMEL.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5C of WarmingHome Losses From L.A. Fires Hasten An Uninsurable FutureThe Women Refusing to Participate in Trumps EconomyBad Bunny On Heartbreak and New AlbumHow to Dress Warmly for Cold WeatherWere Lucky to Have Been Alive in the Age of David LynchThe Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise HarderColumn: No One Won The War in GazaContact us at letters@time.com
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  • LG's next-gen OLED panels promise 4,000 nits brightness and better burn-in resistance
    www.techspot.com
    LG plans to launch its brightest-ever OLED screen later this year. A new internal structure enables the fourth-gen panel to achieve a maximum brightness of 4,000 nits about 30 percent higher than the previous generation.The new display also boosts color brightness by 40 percent, increasing from 1,500 to 2,100 nits. These improvements are attributed to LG's updated primary RGB tandem structure, which has evolved from three to four stacks, sandwiching two layers of blue pixels between layers of red and green pixels.Last year, the company proposed using the tandem system to increase resistance to burn-in one of the primary drawbacks of OLED panels. The technology combines fluorescence and phosphorescent elements to increase blue light efficiency, which is the main cause of burn-in.In addition, LG's fourth-gen panel also aims to address another issue common to OLED screens reflections in bright rooms. The company claims that its new special film blocks 99 percent of light reflected from and within the display's surface.LG said the primary use case for the brightness and energy efficiency improvements is wait for it AI. Similar to how PC hardware manufacturers recently began promoting AI PCs that run GenAI workloads locally, TV companies like LG and Samsung are trying to sell the concept of "AI TVs." // Related StoriesAn AI customization page on LG's website reads like the industry discovered a new buzzword to convince consumers to upgrade their TVs again. The company is promoting AI as the next stage in the evolution of smart TVs.AI-powered features include acoustic tuning and brightness control, which analyze a user's room to adjust sound and brightness automatically. Additionally, AI director processing optimizes color distribution, while super resolution technology upscales images to 8K while preserving film grain. Other AI features include a "picture wizard" to assist users in navigating settings and a chatbot to provide troubleshooting support. Needless to say, these all sound like a bunch of nothingburger features, but I digress.LG has yet to disclose shipping dates for their latest OLED panels, but they are expected to appear in flagship TVs sometime this year, followed by OLED gaming monitors.Although the need for AI features remains unproven, the newly announced quality and reliability improvements might contribute to OLED's already growing market share. At CES, LG said that 22 percent of PC gaming monitors are OLED compared to just 18 percent of TVs. Samsung has also seen a surge in OLED sales and is preparing models capable of reaching 500Hz refresh rates, but high prices remain the biggest obstacle to wide adoption.
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  • I hated this OnePlus camera mode, but now I see how wrong I was about it
    www.digitaltrends.com
    html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsNot a history lessonAm I sure its not a gimmick?Should I just use XPan, then?I didnt understand the XPan mode on a OnePlus phone when I first tried it out. In fact, I didnt like it at all, and passed it off as a silly gimmick to promote OnePluss partnership with Hasselblad, which at the time wasnt quite living up to expectations.Recently Ive been using the OnePlus 13, and think it has one of the best cameras on any OnePlus phone yet, so I challenged myself to give XPan another try. I soon discovered I had been completely wrong about it.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsHasselblad and Fujifilms XPan camera was first introduced in 1998, when it was the first dual-format 35mm camera you could buy, enabling you to take full 65:24 aspect ratio panoramic photos, in addition to standard format photos. Hasselblad promoted the XPan camera using the tagline, For a world less square, and you can read more about its history and impact on its website.RelatedOnePlus entered into a partnership with Hasselblad in 2022 and the OnePlus 9 was the first phone to showcase the pairs efforts. The XPan mode arrived on it in a software update soon after release, and it is hidden under the More menu in the camera app to this day, if you want to find it for yourself. After that, you can drag it down to the main camera option bar if youre really keen. I wasnt keen, but I gave it a shot.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsXPan has changed a little for the OnePlus 13. You can shoot ultra-wide 15mm equivalent photos, 23mm wide photos, or 73mm zoomed in photos. It seems to shift away from the pure XPan experience, but in doing so it has made the mode more accessible. The interface is unique too, with a custom overlay to give it that unique XPan camera look, plus the screen flashes into a negative when you tap the shutter button, just like if you were taking a real photo.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsI dont take panoramic photos very often, and for a start I couldnt get my head around using the XPan mode. Im not the only one, and the more I read, watched, and learned about the actual XPan camera, the more I not only discovered how challenging it is to get to grips with the format, but also how rewarding it can be when you experiment with it, and how dramatic photos taken with it can look.I was getting sucked in. I love this quote from photographer Matthias Jambon-Puillet in a piece about XPan cameras, Cursed to desire one, cursed to break the bank buying one, cursed to realize that you have no real-life use for it. Its very true. XPans potential is exciting, but theres no truly obvious use case for XPan mode on the OnePlus 13, as most people will just use the wide-angle camera in the app instead of it. But XPan was calling me, and as I didnt have to fork out for a real XPan camera to test it, I went out to take photos.1 of 3Andy Boxall / Digital Trends Andy Boxall / Digital Trends Andy Boxall / Digital Trends I took some, then some more, and more again as I began to fall for the vision of the world it can create. Get it right, and photos can be gloriously cinematic, serene or moody, or dramatic and exciting. I began to learn how XPan photos require different framing techniques, and looking at your environment in a new way to find out if an XPan photo works. It doesnt work in all situations, just like a 1:1 aspect ratio photo isnt always right, but when you even partially get it right the result looks very cool indeed.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsIve taken a lot of XPan photos with the OnePlus 13 and enjoyed every moment. Its a sentence I never expected to write, especially after barely thinking about the mode since I first tried it on the OnePlus 9. I know Ive changed as a photographer since then, and in maturing perhaps I see more opportunities in these less common methods, get more excited about looking at the world through a camera differently, and am just more willing to get it wrong. Or perhaps the OnePlus 13s camera is so much more capable it makes the photos look better. Theres also a chance Hasselblad has deepened its relationship with OnePlus, and the mode itself is simply better than when I first tried it.It all means Im really glad I made the effort. However, there is a stumbling block here, and it has afflicted the XPan mode since the beginning. The photos are 7872 x 2912 pixels in size, which makes them look terrible on anything other than the OnePlus 13s screen, a TV, or a monitor. Forget sharing them on Instagram or another social network, they just look odd. XPan photos are big and wide, and viewing them in a little box in a social feed doesnt do them any justice.Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsShould this stop you trying XPan out? Absolutely not. Shoot photos for your own enjoyment as well as for posting on social media. Not everyone will get XPan anyway. Im the first to admit I didnt get it at all, but Im very pleased to also say Ive seen the error of my ways. Its another reason to get the OnePlus 13, a phone that continues to impress me more than two months into using it every day.Editors Recommendations
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  • AI Risk Management: Is There an Easy Way?
    www.informationweek.com
    When ChatGPT commercially launched in 2022, governments, industry sectors, regulators and consumer advocacy groups began to discuss the need to regulate AI, as well as to use it, and it is likely that new regulatory requirements will emerge for AI in the coming months.The quandary for CIOs is that no one really knows what these new requirements will be. However, two things are clear: It makes sense to do some of your own thinking about what your companys internal guardrails should be for AI; and there is too much at stake for organizations to ignore thinking about AI risk.The annals of AI deployments are rife with examples of AI gone wrong, resulting in damage to corporate images and revenues. No CIO wants to be on the receiving end of such a gaffe.Thats why PWC says, Businesses should also ask specific questions about what data will be used to design a particular piece of technology, what data the tech will consume, how it will be maintained and what impact this technology will have on others It is important to consider not just the users, but also anyone else who could potentially be impacted by the technology. Can we determine how individuals, communities and environments might be negatively affected? What metrics can be tracked? Related:Identify a Short List of AI RisksAs AI grows and individuals and organizations of all stripes begin using it, new risks will develop, but these are the current AI risks that companies should consider as they embark on AI development and deployment:Un-vetted data.Companies arent likely to obtain all of the data for their AI projects from internal sources. They will need to source data from third parties.A molecular design research team in Europe used AI to scan and digest all of the worldwide information available from sources such as research papers, articles, and experiments on that molecule. A healthcare institution wanted to use an AI system for cancer diagnosis, so it went out to procure data on a wide range of patients from many different countries.In both cases, data needed to be vetted.In the first case, the research team narrowed the lens of the data it was choosing to admit into its molecular data repository, opting to use only information that directly referred to the molecule they were studying. In the second case, the healthcare institution made sure that any data it procured from third parties was properly anonymized so that the privacy of individual patients was protected.By properly vetting internal and external data that AI would be using, both organizations significantly reduced the risk of admitting bad data into their AI data repositories.Related:Imperfect algorithms.Humans are imperfect, and so are the products they produce. The faulty Amazon recruitment tool, powered by AI and outputting results that favored males over females in recruitment efforts, is an oft-cited example -- but its not the only one.Imperfect algorithms pose risks because they tend to produce imperfect results that can lead businesses down the wrong strategic paths. Thats why its imperative to have a diverse AI team working on algorithm and query development. This staff diversity should be defined by a diverse set of business areas (along with IT and data scientists) working on the algorithmic premises that will drive the data. An equal amount of diversity should be used as it applies to the demographics of age, gender and ethnic background. To the degree that a full range of diverse perspectives are incorporated into algorithmic development and data collection, organizations lower their risk, because fewer stones are left unturned. Poor user and business process training.AI system users, as well as AI data and algorithms, should be vetted during AI development and deployment. For example, a radiologist or a cancer specialist might have the chops to use an AI system designed specifically for cancer diagnosis, but a podiatrist might not.Related:Equally important is ensuring that users of a new AI system understand where and how the system is to be used in their daily business processes. For instance, a loan underwriter in a bank might take a loan application, interview the applicant, and make an initial determination as to the kind of loan the applicant could qualify for, but the next step might be to run the application through an AI-powered loan decisioning system to see if the system agrees. If there is disagreement, the next step might be to take the application to the lending manager for review.The keys here, from both the AI development and deployment perspectives, are that the AI system must be easy to use, and that the users know how and when to use it.Accuracy over time.AI systems are initially developed and tested until they acquire a degree of accuracy that meets or exceeds the accuracy of subject matter experts (SMEs). The gold standard for AI system accuracy is that the system is 95% accurate when compared against the conclusions of SMEs. However, over time, business conditions can change, or the machine learning that the system does on its own might begin to produce results that yield reduced levels of accuracy when compared to what is transpiring in the real world. Inaccuracy creates risk.The solution is to establish a metric for accuracy (e.g., 95%), and to measure this metric on a regular basis. As soon as AI results begin losing accuracy, data and algorithms should be reviewed, tuned and tested until accuracy is restored.Intellectual property risk.Earlier, we discussed how AI users should be vetted for their skill levels and job needs before using an AI system. An additional level of vetting should be applied to those individuals who use the companys AI to develop proprietary intellectual property for the company.If you are an aerospace company, you dont want your chief engineer walking out the door with the AI-driven research for a new jet propulsion system.Intellectual property risks like this are usually handled by the legal staff and HR. Non-compete and non-disclosure agreements prerequisite to employment are agreed to. However, if an AI system is being deployed for intellectual property purposes, it should be a bulleted check point on the project list that everyone authorized to use the new system has the necessary clearance.
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  • Russia's new ICBM with lots of warheads keeps running into problems, leaving it stuck with older, inferior missiles
    www.businessinsider.com
    Russia is struggling to get its new intercontinental ballistic missile working properly.Moscow has put a lot of money and propaganda behind the ICBM.Failures leave Russia reliant on older missiles that won't last forever, experts warn.Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, but it's having trouble getting its newest intercontinental ballistic missile to work. The debacle leaves it dependent on capable but inferior missiles at a time when other major powers are modernizing their nuclear forces.Russia's new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM appeared to suffer a catastrophic failure during testing in September, with satellite imagery showing a big crater around the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.That apparent failure followed what missile experts have described as a host of other issues. Ejection tests and its flight testing were repeatedly delayed, according to the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, and it had at least two canceled flight tests and at least one other flight test failure.The Sarmat is meant to replace the Soviet-era R-36, which first entered service in 1988. NATO calls the long-range missile, which has been modified over the years, the SS-18 "Satan." Without the new Sarmat, Russia has to rely on older missiles, extending their lives, but that can't go on indefinitely.Stuck with inferior missilesDelays to the Sarmat, or even its cancellation, would mean Russia has to keep using older systems as nations like China field new DF-41 ICBMs and the US pushes forward with upgrades for its ICBM force as part of the Sentinel program.The R-36 is "already really, really past its service life," said Timothy Wright, a missile technology expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, yet the Russians keep having to extend it.Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the turn of the century they were going to be out of service by 2007, but here they are, still in operation nearly two decades later."There's only so much they can do," Wright said. "Parts will start failing at some point." He said the R-36s "will eventually start failing because their parts just will need replacement, and they don't make the parts anymore." If Moscow tried to launch 40 R-36s, he said, "you might not get all 40 out the ground, frankly." Russia's Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is launched in Russia's northwest region of Plesetsk in April 2022. Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP, File Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Oslo Nuclear Project, said the R-36 has been "sitting there for a really long time."Russia was required to reduce the size of its arsenal of missiles under the New START treaty with the US. Hoffman said that Russia could use old parts from those missiles to keep its usable ones running. But the supply is not infinite, he said. "Who knows how much these missiles can still take, how many years?"There's the possibility Russia would "have to start cannibalizing existing missiles, taking them out of service or retiring them or taking them off what they call combat duty alert, which is where the missile is literally ready to go," Wright said.Russia has other ICBMs, but the R-36 carries the largest and most strategically significant payload. The Sarmat, as its replacement, will likewise carry a substantial payload.Big missiles with lots of warheadsThe purpose of the Sarmat was "to constitute a big bulk of their warheads in the future," Wright said.The Sarmat has an estimated maximum range of 18,000 miles. It has a ten-ton payload and can carry 10 large warheads or 16 smaller ones, per a Missile Threat fact sheet from the Center of Strategic and International Studies. The R-36 it is meant to replace has a shorter range but similar payload, able to carry 10 multiple independent re-entry vehicles. A disarmed R-36 intercontinental ballistic missile, which has the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan. Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Other Russian ICBMs are "much smaller," Wright said. They can't carry the same heavy MIRV payload. Russia's RS-24 Yars ICBM, for example, can only carry three MIRV warheads.As of May 2023, Russia had 1,674 warheads deployed, with a total stockpile of 4,489, per the CSIS. Many of these are deployed on other missiles and elements of the Russian nuclear triad, which provide it with deterrence, but Russia wants the big missile with the tremendous destructive capacity.Russia was understood to have 46 R-36s in April 2016. Wright said that "if they then took that missile out of service, then they have a bit of a gap.""And for Russia, it's important to ensure they have warhead parity with the Americans," he said. "Whatever number the Americans have, the Russians want it as well."Russia appears to be keeping its warheads limited in accordance with the New START treaty. But if that changes, and it may as Russia has suspended its involvement with the treaty, Russia may want to deploy more warheads. Without the Sarmat, Russia will need to find other places for its warheads.The Sarmat's problemsHoffman said the most recent Sarmat test was "catastrophic." He said that "it's not even like the missile failed to hit its target and you can say, 'Oh, the guidance system didn't really work.' No, the whole thing blew up."That means it was either a freak accident, or "there's something fundamentally wrong with the propulsion system, which is of course catastrophic," he said. "And so if I was Russia, I think at this point I would be concerned about that."Some experts have warned that Russia's struggles could make it desperate, making problems more likely.Wright said he can't see Russia deciding to cancel the Sarmat program. He said Putin "has invested a lot of propaganda into the system. When he unveiled it in 2018, it was all these fantastic reasons why it's so good." Russia's President Vladimir Putin. GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Putin bragged in 2018 that "missile defense systems are useless against them, absolutely pointless" and that "no other country has developed anything like this."The Russians have also dumped a lot of money into this project, making cancellation unpalatable.Hoffman agreed, saying Russia had little choice given the state of its older missiles. It wants Sarmat for propaganda reasons, and "it's also just desperation in terms of: 'What else would there be?'"But big delays in getting Sarmat operational would likely cause problems for Russia, with nothing in line to replace the Sarmat."Sarmat's designed to fulfill a very specific purpose, which is to essentially have lots of warheads on top of it," Wright said, and there is no direct replacement in Russia's arsenal or in the works.
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  • Mobile Suit Gundams Next Show Is Coming to Theaters
    gizmodo.com
    This weekend, Japanese audiences get to watch the hot new Mobile Suit Gundamseries, GQuuuuuuX, in theaters. Fortunately, North American audiences will also get a chance to see the upcoming anime on the big screen, as wellwell just have to wait a while before we can. On Friday, film distributor Gkids revealed it picked up the theatrical rights for the Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- film. Itll come to theaters here on February 28 and run for thats not clear at the moment, nor is it clear if the screenings will only have Japanese audio (like when Dan Da Danhit theaters last year), or include an English dub. While the larger franchise is no stranger to theatrical films and compilations, this makes for the first Gundamshow sinceReconguistain Gto have its first three episodes hit theaters, and the first show in the franchise period to reach North American venues. GQuuuuuuXcomes with a lot of creative talent behind it in Neon Genesis Evangelion alums Kazuya Tsurumaki and Yoji Enokido, plus that franchises creator, Hideaki Anno. In a statement, Gkids president David Jesteadt highlighted the mecha series creative pedigree, saying their outrageous combination of artistic talent collaborating on such a storied series as Mobile Suit Gundam is appointment viewing. Were proud to play a part in bringing such an exciting new project to audiences in the cinematic experience that the film truly deserves.While we wait for Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuXstheatrical cut on February 28 (and the actual show to hit sometime this year), it might not hurt to catch up on the shows set in the Universal Century continuity, since it seems like that may important. Alternatively, Mubi recently got after After War Gundam X,and that sounds like its pretty good in its own right. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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