App Store- Genesia – AI Friend & Partner
Genesia AI is the perfect companion for anyone who wants a friend they can always count on. Whether you’re looking for emotional support, a mentor, or just someone to talk to, this app is there for you.
h/t Scott
Trust the technology: Hackers may have stolen every American’s Social Security number
On Saturday, NBC Bay Area reported that San Francisco’s South of Market residents are being awakened throughout the night by Waymo self-driving cars honking at each other in a parking lot. No one is inside the cars, and they appear to be automatically reacting to each other’s presence.
Videos provided by residents to NBC show Waymo cars filing into the parking lot and attempting to back into spots, which seems to trigger honking from other Waymo vehicles. The automatic nature of these interactions—which seem to peak around 4 am every night—has left neighbors bewildered and sleep-deprived.[…]
The lack of human operators in the vehicles has complicated efforts to address the issue directly since there is no one they can ask to stop honking. That lack of accountability forced residents to report their concerns to Waymo’s corporate headquarters, which had not responded to the incidents until NBC inquired as part of its report.
Telegraph- Self-checkouts have been a self-inflicted disaster for Britain
As customers grow frustrated and shoplifters fill their boots, bosses of grocery giants are finally asking themselves the question customers are asked at self-checkout kiosks every day. Do you wish to continue? Not really, as it turns out. Having ruthlessly replaced cashier staff with self-checkout terminals to speed up purchases and save on wages, boardrooms now want the humans back.
Guardian- Biomass power station produced four times emissions of UK coal plant, says report
The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report.
The Audit- Why Modern Household Appliances Are So Awful
And how government regulations are making them worse
Bill Rice Jr- Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!
Have you ever wondered why wildly-popular TV and Internet sites get virtually no advertising from the world’s largest advertisers?
Damien Slash- It’s time to extradite Elon Musk.
James Lindsay- The Woke “ball bearing factory”
So we’ll hand it over to an excel spreadsheet.
Ottawa Citizen- Ottawa latest city to turn to AI to predict chronic homelessness
Zerohedge- “Millions” Wasted On Electric School Busses As Maryland Pivots Back To Diesel
Since entering into a $168 million contract for the buses, MCPS has faced significant delays, WTOP reports. Dozens of buses scheduled for fiscal year 2022 arrived only after Christmas, instead of at the start of the school year as required.
The report also highlighted mechanical and charging failures, which rendered many buses inoperable for extended periods. From February 2022 to March 2024, buses failed to complete routes 280 times, with repairs taking an average of 13 days, and more than half exceeding five working days, according to WTOP.
The use of computer-generated data to train artificial intelligence models risks causing them to produce nonsensical results, according to new research that highlights looming challenges to the emerging technology.
Leading AI companies, including OpenAI and Microsoft, have tested the use of “synthetic” data — information created by AI systems to then also train large language models (LLMs) — as they reach the limits of human-made material that can improve the cutting-edge technology.
Research published in Nature on Wednesday suggests the use of such data could lead to the rapid degradation of AI models. One trial using synthetic input text about medieval architecture descended into a discussion of jackrabbits after fewer than 10 generations of output.
h/t Scott
CBC- Company halts construction of $2.7B battery project in eastern Ontario
Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Inc. said Friday that its project in Loyalist Township is impacted by the “significant worsening of the EV market context and the impacts this has on the entire supply chain.”
The project carried a total price tag of up to $2.76 billion back in 2023. According to a news release at the time from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the federal government was slated to invest up to $551.3 million.
Travel, banking and businesses hit after software bug causes worldwide IT chaos
Telegraph- EU offered secret deal to censor Twitter, claims Musk
He said: “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.
“We look forward to a very public battle in court so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”
All is forgiven.
Associated Press- Facebook lifts restrictions on Trump, giving him equal footing with Biden on the social media site
Driving- ‘Speed assist’ now mandatory on new vehicles in Europe
The system was a requirement on all newly-designed models starting in July 2022, but now it’s mandatory on all new vehicles registered in the E.U. as of July 7, 2024. The regulation allowed automakers to employ in their cars any of four options, all of which meet the requirements. Two of them are only warning systems, known as “informative” or “advisory” ISA — they make a warning sound, or a vibration through the steering wheel.
Globe and Mail- Astronauts confident Boeing space capsule can safely return them to Earth, despite failures
NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s BA-N new Starliner capsule early last month, the first people to ride it. Leaks and thruster failures almost derailed their arrival at the International Space Station, and has kept them there much longer than planned.
These days I find that youtubers provide a lot more entertainment and information for me than television ever did. Farmcraft101 is a youtube channel run by a cattle farmer named John who hails from Virginia. In this episode, he performs more repairs to a 75000 pound excavator that he purchased for $7000. In other episodes, he rebuilt the motor on a 1960 crawler tractor and entirely rebuilt a tandem dump truck. Enjoy!