With tech industry players rolling out shiny new AI investments on the banks of the Hudson River, international leaders gathered across Manhattan on the East River, coalescing for September’s annual UN General Assembly session — a global forum on big issues like sustainable development, ending armed conflict, and, amid it …
Read More »Waymo’s driverless cars are coming to these cities next
Waymo, the driverless car company run by Google parent company Alphabet, already operates autonomous vehicles in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, and will soon be available in Atlanta and Austin. The Georgia and Texas Waymo experiences, set to launch early next year, will be a bit different than what …
Read More »Passport renewal process, including photos, now fully online
The State Department announced on Wednesday its entering the late 20th century and immediately making its new online passport renewal system fully available to the public. The new offering replaces the former method — printing out a paper application and mailing it with a check. The State Department declares the …
Read More »Parents have no idea how teens are using AI, survey finds
A new survey found that parents significantly underestimate their teen’s use of generative artificial intelligence. The technology, popularized by the conversational platform ChatGPT, allows users to ask pretty much any question of an AI bot and receive a specific and detailed original response. The survey, conducted this spring by the …
Read More »'A powerful new tool': A disabled advocate on Apple's FDA-approved hearing aids
Apple made history this month when a feature in the company’s forthcoming AirPods Pro 2 was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as the first over-the-counter (OTC), clinical-grade hearing aid software. The Hearing Aid Feature, as Apple refers to the software, amplifies sound for adults with perceived mild to …
Read More »Google searches will now detect origin of AI-manipulated images
Google is expanding efforts to properly label AI-generated content, updating its in-house “About This Image” tool with a global standard for detecting the origins of an AI-edited image. The new label was formulated as part of Google’s work with the global Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Members of …
Read More »As Silicon Valley sours on diversity, women in tech suffer
There is a financial crisis among groups that recruit and advocate for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, the BBC reports. Funding has dried up for many of these organizations, with Women Who Code and Girls in Tech — two of the most prominent U.S. organizations supporting …
Read More »Instagram announces restrictive 'Teen Accounts' for users under 16
Instagram just unveiled a much more restricted way for teens under 16 to use its app. Known as Teen Accounts, parent company Meta says its part of a “reimagining” of their platform for teens, in light of ongoing concerns about youth safety on the app — and they plan to …
Read More »Spotify is piloting a Premium membership tailored for kids
Spotify is introducing a new way for young listeners to discover music, announcing a new Premium membership pilot tailored explicitly to kids. Unlike Spotify Kids — a child-friendly app that offers singalongs, soundtracks, and playlists curated by Spotify — the new offering is a parent-managed Premium membership for users under …
Read More »Can AI lift up struggling nonprofits — or cause them more pain?
AI is changing the way we create, work, and learn. Many fear it could even change the way we think. And while much has been made of how AI could affect education, the arts, and business, the impact of artificial intelligence on philanthropy is more of a second thought. AI’s …
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