Google has announced that its dark web monitoring service, known as “dark web report,” will be available to all Google users in 46 countries, including the US and UK, by the end of the month. This feature, which was previously exclusive to Google One members, aims to enhance online security by detecting if users’ personal information has been compromised on the dark web.
Users will be able to access the dark web report through the “Results about you” page on myactivity.google.com. The service scans for personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and email accounts that may have been leaked.
Google Expands Dark Web Monitoring Service to Enhance Security for Users in 46 Countries
The introduction of this feature is particularly beneficial for those who have experienced hacking, information leaks, or identity theft. For instance, the recent incident involving 7.6 million AT&T customers, whose information was leaked to the dark web, highlights the necessity of such protective measures.
While Google is expanding this service, it joins the ranks of other platforms like Proton Mail and LastPass, which already offer dark web monitoring to alert users if their information has been found. This move underscores the growing importance of digital security and the need for robust measures to protect personal data.
Alan Ritchson has undergone a significant transformation for his upcoming role in the thriller “Motor City.” Known for his muscular physique, Ritchson has adapted his appearance to fit the demands of his new character. This transformation was detailed in a post on his Instagram, where he shared the steps he took to transition from his role in “Reacher” to “Motor City” in just a few days.
In his Instagram post, Ritchson explained how he enlisted the help of fitness expert Thomas DeLauer to rapidly lose weight, hairstylist Sandy Sokolowski for a new look, and cosmetic dentist Gary Archer for a different set of teeth.
He also mentioned Kat Von D’s work on new tattoos specific to his character. This collective effort was aimed at ensuring he could embody the new role convincingly and make the character as authentic as possible.
Alan Ritchson
Ritchson included a series of photos in his post, showcasing his new long hair, altered teeth, and makeup to create facial bruises. This visual evidence highlights the extent of his physical transformation and his commitment to presenting a rugged appearance that suits the demands of his role in “Motor City.”
In his caption, Ritchson emphasized his dedication to making each character as real as possible for the audience. Despite the challenge of not having any downtime between projects, he is determined to achieve a nearly unrecognizable transformation. He expressed a strong desire to avoid playing himself, aiming instead for a deeply immersive portrayal in “Motor City.”
“Motor City” features Ritchson as John Miller, a man from Detroit who seeks vengeance after being framed and imprisoned. He stars alongside Shailene Woodley, Pablo Schreiber, and Ben Foster. While details about the film remain scarce, Ritchson’s involvement suggests it will be a high-intensity, action-packed movie.
Eton College, a prestigious British boarding school known for its notable alumni, has introduced a new mobile phone policy for its first-year students starting in September. The policy requires students to leave their smartphones at home and use an old-fashioned Nokia cell phone with a simple number pad, capable only of making calls and sending texts.
This decision aligns with UK government guidelines permitting principals to ban smartphones during the school day.
The policy’s intent is to reduce distractions and encourage students to focus on their education, despite the light-hearted concern about students discovering the classic mobile game, Snake. This move reflects a broader trend of educational institutions seeking ways to minimize smartphone usage to promote learning and engagement.
Eton College Introduces New Mobile Phone Policy for First-Year Students to Reduce Distractions and Enhance Focus
In the United States, a similar trend is emerging, with many school districts implementing smartphone restrictions. According to Govspend data, 41 states have schools that require students to place their smartphones in magnetically sealed Yondr pouches during the school day, aiming to limit distractions and encourage more in-person interaction and attentiveness.
Significant school districts are also taking action. The Los Angeles Unified School District recently passed a district-wide phone ban, leading California Governor Gavin Newsom to advocate for a statewide law.
In New York City, Chancellor David Banks plans to introduce a phone ban, while Governor Kathy Hochul collaborates with the legislature on bills restricting student phone use to devices without internet access.
Even in Florida, known for its unique and often controversial news, there is a statewide smartphone ban in schools.
The ban includes measures to block students from accessing social media via school WiFi networks, reflecting a growing recognition of the need to manage smartphone use in educational settings to enhance student focus and learning outcomes.
Jamila Robinson, editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, has been actively reshaping the culinary landscape since assuming her role in September. In response to shifting algorithms impacting search traffic, Robinson has prioritized expanding the magazines’ coverage beyond traditional cooking.
This strategic move includes delving into sports and relationships, broadening their appeal, and engaging a modern audience. She has also spearheaded the launch of innovative subscriber products, such as the Cook with Bon Appétit monthly subscription box.
Priced at varying tiers, this box offers curated ingredients, recipes, instructional videos, and digital magazine access, akin to Allure’s successful Beauty Box model.
In a recent episode of the Digiday Podcast, Robinson discussed Bon Appétit’s pioneering Sports issue, highlighting the interconnectedness of sports and food in everyday life.
This thematic exploration extends to upcoming issues like the relationships edition, demonstrating a departure from traditional culinary coverage to embrace broader cultural intersections. Robinson aims to position Bon Appétit as a leader in the evolving food media landscape, leveraging their expertise in innovative ways.
Jamila Robinson
Acknowledging the volatility of digital algorithms, Robinson emphasizes the importance of dynamic content strategies that resonate with audience interests and behaviors. This approach includes not only responding to popular search trends but also anticipating culinary and cultural shifts.
By fostering deeper audience engagement, Bon Appétit seeks to cultivate lasting relationships through ongoing interactions and personalized subscription experiences that enhance culinary exploration and lifestyle choices.
Central to their strategy is the introduction of the subscription box business, which not only connects subscribers with curated recipes but also promotes independent culinary brands.
This initiative aims to enrich the culinary landscape by introducing subscribers to unique ingredients and products endorsed by Bon Appétit.
By leveraging their extensive archive and culinary expertise, Bon Appétit aims to redefine how audiences engage with cooking, shopping, and dining, fostering a community around world-class content and culinary innovation.
Poor hiring practices are becoming a big problem for employers because more people are sharing their bad experiences with the hiring process. Data from platforms like Glassdoor show that these negative experiences are discouraging other people from applying to these companies. This bad feedback can hurt a company’s reputation and make it hard to attract good candidates.
On review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed, job seekers are leaving detailed reviews and ratings about their hiring experiences, much like Yelp reviews for restaurants. According to Neil Costa, founder and CEO of HireClix, such negative feedback can be challenging to overcome if it becomes a trend, likening it to trying to improve a poor academic grade over time.
Poor Hiring Practices Hurt Employer Reputation and Deter Job Candidates
Specific poor hiring practices contributing to this negative feedback include ghosting candidates, where companies initiate the interview process but then cut off communication without explanation.
Another issue is “love bombing,” where candidates are excessively praised only to receive disappointing salary offers or job titles. Additionally, difficult-to-navigate career pages and excessively demanding take-home assignments are also frustrating job seekers.
Historically, ex-employees have used sites like Glassdoor to write critical reviews about their former employers, serving as warnings to potential job candidates. However, current trends show that bad reviews are now also targeting the interview process itself.
This shift is damaging to an employer’s brand, as it can deter potential candidates even before they apply, thus reducing the talent pool and the likelihood of finding the right person for the job.
To combat these negative perceptions, HR leaders and recruitment professionals suggest maintaining a positive employment brand and improving the overall hiring process. Addressing issues such as communication transparency, aligning offers with candidate expectations, and simplifying application processes can help restore trust and attract quality candidates.
Microsoft unveiled its new MInference technology on the AI platform Hugging Face, showcasing a potential breakthrough in processing speed for large language models.
The demonstration, powered by Gradio, allows developers and researchers to test Microsoft’s latest advancement in handling lengthy text inputs for AI systems directly in their web browsers. This interactive demo highlights significant improvements in the efficiency and speed of processing long text inputs, which is a critical aspect of advancing AI technology.
MInference, which stands for “Million-Tokens Prompt Inference,” aims to significantly accelerate the pre-filling stage of language model processing, a common bottleneck for long text inputs.
According to Microsoft researchers, MInference can reduce processing time by up to 90% for inputs of one million tokens, equivalent to about 700 pages of text, while maintaining accuracy. This dramatic reduction in processing time addresses a significant challenge in deploying large language models widely.
Microsoft’s New MInference Technology on Hugging Face Speeds Up Large Language Models
The computational demands of large language model (LLM) inference are a substantial barrier, especially as prompt lengths increase. The attention to computation complexity often results in lengthy processing times.
For example, it takes 30 minutes for an 8 billion parameter LLM to process a prompt of one million tokens on a single Nvidia A100 GPU. MInference reduces this inference latency by up to 10 times for pre-filling on an A100 GPU, while maintaining accuracy, showing an 8.0x latency speedup for processing 776,000 tokens.
This innovative approach addresses the AI industry’s need for efficiently processing larger datasets and longer text inputs. As language models grow in size and capability, handling extensive context becomes crucial for applications ranging from document analysis to conversational AI.
The Gradio-powered demo enables developers to explore AI acceleration hands-on, potentially accelerating the refinement and adoption of MInference technology.
Beyond speed improvements, MInference’s ability to selectively process parts of long text inputs raises questions about information retention and potential biases. The technology’s approach to dynamic sparse attention might also reduce the energy consumption required for processing long texts, aligning with concerns about the carbon footprint of AI systems.
This could influence future research directions toward more sustainable AI technologies. Microsoft’s public demo of MInference intensifies competition among tech giants, potentially prompting rapid advancements in efficient AI processing techniques.
The coming months will likely see intense scrutiny and testing of MInference, providing valuable insights into its real-world performance and implications for the future of AI.
Meta AI researchers have introduced MobileLLM, a new way to make efficient language models for smartphones and other devices with limited resources. Published on June 27, 2024, this research challenges the idea that powerful AI models need to be very large.
The team, including experts from Meta Reality Labs, PyTorch, and Meta AI Research (FAIR), focused on creating models with fewer than 1 billion parameters, much smaller than models like GPT-4, which have over a trillion parameters.
The research team made significant innovations in MobileLLM by prioritizing model depth over width, implementing embedding sharing, grouped-query attention, and a novel block-wise weight-sharing technique.
These strategies allowed MobileLLM to outperform previous models of similar size by 2.7% to 4.3% on common benchmark tasks. Though the improvements seem minor, they are notable in the competitive field of language model development.
Yann LeCun, Meta’s Chief AI Scientist, highlighted these advancements on social media, underscoring the importance of the team’s work.
Meta AI Researchers Introduce MobileLLM for Efficient AI on Smartphones and Resource-Limited Devices
A remarkable achievement of MobileLLM is its 350 million parameter version, which demonstrated comparable accuracy to the much larger 7 billion parameter LLaMA-2 model in certain API calling tasks.
This finding suggests that more compact models could offer similar functionality to larger models while requiring significantly fewer computational resources. The ability to achieve high accuracy with smaller models is particularly valuable for applications on resource-constrained devices.
The development of MobileLLM reflects a broader trend towards more efficient AI models. As advancements in large language models begin to plateau, researchers are increasingly focusing on the potential of smaller, specialized designs.
MobileLLM’s efficiency and suitability for on-device deployment place it in the emerging category of Small Language Models (SLMs). Despite its name, MobileLLM aligns with this movement towards compact AI models that can perform effectively without massive computational power.
Although MobileLLM is not yet available for public use, Meta has open-sourced the pre-training code, enabling other researchers to build upon this work. This initiative may eventually lead to more advanced AI features on personal devices, though the timeline and specific capabilities are still uncertain.
The development of MobileLLM marks a significant step towards making advanced AI more accessible and sustainable, challenging the notion that only large-scale models can be effective and opening new possibilities for AI applications on personal devices.
Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can assess lung function by analyzing chest X-rays, a breakthrough that could revolutionize how we monitor respiratory health.
Traditionally, doctors use spirometry, which requires patients to blow into a device and follow specific instructions. However, this can be challenging for certain groups, like infants or those with cognitive impairments.
Osaka Metropolitan University Develops AI Tool for Non-Invasive Lung Function Assessment
The AI model created by Associate Professor Daiju Ueda and Professor Yukio Miki was trained on a massive dataset of more than 140,000 chest X-rays collected over nearly two decades.
They compared the AI’s predictions with actual spirometry results and found a strong correlation, indicating its ability to accurately estimate lung function without the need for physical exertion from the patient.
This innovation addresses significant challenges in current healthcare practices by offering a non-invasive alternative for assessing pulmonary function. By relying solely on existing chest X-rays, the AI model simplifies the diagnostic process and potentially reduces medical costs associated with more complex tests.
Professor Ueda emphasized the collaborative effort involved in developing this AI model, which included contributions from healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients across various institutions.
He expressed optimism about the tool’s potential to alleviate patient burdens and improve healthcare efficiency by providing accessible and accurate lung function assessments.
Joana Cotar, a German lawmaker and Bundestag member, has called for the German government to stop its Bitcoin (BTC) sales. Criticizing the move as hasty and counterproductive, Cotar urged the authorities to reconsider their strategy. She suggested that Bitcoin could be more beneficial to Germany if held as a strategic reserve currency, rather than being sold off quickly.
Cotar’s appeal came in response to the German government’s transfer of Bitcoin tokens worth over $195 million to various crypto exchanges. In her critique, she specifically addressed President Michael Kretschmer, Minister of Finance Christian Lindner, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Cotar’s primary argument was that the current sell-offs could negatively impact the country’s economic growth and that a more thoughtful approach to utilizing Bitcoin could yield positive results.
German Lawmaker Joana Cotar Urges Government to Halt Bitcoin Sales
Highlighting the benefits of Bitcoin, Cotar noted that Germany could use it to diversify its treasury assets and spur innovative growth in the digital asset sector. She emphasized that Bitcoin could serve as a hedge against inflation, helping to combat currency devaluation. By adopting Bitcoin more strategically, Germany could potentially enhance its financial stability and economic resilience.
Cotar also recommended that the government develop a comprehensive Bitcoin strategy, which could include holding Bitcoin in the state treasury, issuing Bitcoin bonds, and creating a favorable regulatory environment for digital assets.
To further discuss these ideas, she invited German politicians to the upcoming crypto event “Bitcoin Strategies for Nation States,” scheduled for October 17, featuring notable speakers like Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3.
The German government’s recent Bitcoin sell-offs have sparked significant reactions within the crypto community. Since June 19, the government has sold approximately 7,583 Bitcoins, amounting to over $434.9 million at current market prices.
These sales, including a significant transaction on July 4, have contributed to market volatility and a decline in Bitcoin’s price. Currently, the government holds around 41,774 Bitcoins worth approximately $2.26 billion, which were seized during an investigation into the illegal movie streaming platform Movie2k.to.
A recent study from Ohio State University indicates that pregnant women enrolled in the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) experience better pregnancy outcomes compared to those who struggle with food insecurity.
WIC provides essential food aid, healthcare referrals, and social services to low-income women who are pregnant, postpartum, or breastfeeding, as well as their children. The study highlights the significance of WIC in reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes, including gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and ICU admissions for both mothers and babies.
The research comes amid rising concerns about potential reductions in WIC funding by Congress, which could exacerbate food insecurity issues in the U.S.
Dr. Kartik Venkatesh, the lead researcher and director of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center, emphasized the importance of WIC, especially as food prices increase and WIC enrollment decreases.
WIC Program Improves Pregnancy Outcomes for Food-Insecure Women
The study’s findings underscore the critical role WIC plays in supporting pregnancy health and mitigating the effects of food insecurity.
The study analyzed data from 1.9 million first-time pregnant women, aged 18 to 44, who were enrolled in WIC between 2016 and 2019 and covered by Medicaid. The research spanned across 3,120 U.S. counties, revealing that WIC enrollment dropped from 73 per 100 live births in 2016 to 66 per 100 in 2019.
Despite this decline, counties with increased WIC enrollment saw significant improvements in pregnancy outcomes, including a 50% reduction in ICU admissions for mothers, a 30% decrease in gestational diabetes, and fewer blood transfusions at birth.
The positive impact extended to infants as well, with counties experiencing higher WIC enrollment showing nearly 30% fewer preterm births and a 20% reduction in ICU admissions for babies.
These findings affirm the efficacy of WIC in promoting healthier pregnancies and better outcomes for both mothers and their infants. Dr. William Grobman, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and co-author of the study, reiterated the success of WIC programs in improving maternal and child health.
Moving forward, Dr. Venkatesh and his team aim to develop interventions that connect individuals facing food insecurity to WIC and other social services, thereby enhancing pregnancy care and outcomes.
Published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology on June 27, the study’s results highlight the need for continued support and expansion of WIC to address social needs effectively and improve the well-being of families.
Brazil’s National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) has taken decisive action against Meta, suspending its new privacy policy that permits the use of user content for training AI models.
This move follows concerns over potential harm to users’ fundamental rights, prompting ANPD to issue a five-day ultimatum for Meta to revise its policy or face substantial daily fines.
Similar to actions taken in Europe, where Meta’s plans were halted due to regulatory concerns and complaints, Brazil’s ANPD is asserting its authority to protect user data and privacy. Meta, however, asserts that its policy changes comply with local laws and expresses disappointment over the setback to innovation and AI development in Brazil.
Brazil’s ANPD Challenges Meta Over AI Training Policy Amid Privacy and Compliance Concerns
The situation in Brazil differs significantly from that in Europe due to several key factors. Notably, Meta’s policy changes in Brazil affect users of all ages, including teenagers and children, which raises legal and ethical concerns under Brazilian laws. In contrast, Europe’s objections primarily focus on adults, reflecting a narrower scope of regulatory concern.
Moreover, the process for users to opt out of Meta’s AI training data collection is more cumbersome in Brazil compared to Europe. Brazilian users face a complex eight-step procedure, whereas Europeans have a simpler form-based opt-out option.
This disparity underscores challenges in enforcing data privacy rights across different jurisdictions and suggests Meta’s varying approach in compliance.
Critics, including Data Privacy Brasil’s Pedro Martins, highlight these discrepancies as indicative of Meta’s potentially dismissive stance towards Brazilian regulations. The ANPD’s intervention signals a push for Meta to align its policies with local standards and may necessitate significant revisions before implementation can proceed in Brazil.
AI agents are emerging as a promising research area with real-world applications. These agents use advanced models like large language models (LLMs) and vision language models (VLMs) to understand natural language instructions and achieve complex goals on their own.
They use tools like browsers, search engines, and code compilers to check their actions and think about their tasks. However, researchers at Princeton University have found several problems with current benchmarks and evaluation methods, which limit the practical use of AI agents.
One major issue highlighted is the lack of cost control in agent evaluations. AI agents often require more computational resources than single-model calls, making them expensive to run.
To enhance accuracy, some systems generate multiple responses and use voting or verification mechanisms to select the best one, which significantly increases computational costs.
While maximizing accuracy is feasible in research settings, practical applications must consider budget constraints for each query. The researchers suggest visualizing evaluation results as a Pareto curve of accuracy and inference cost, advocating for joint optimization of these metrics to develop cost-effective and accurate agents.
Challenges in Evaluating AI Agents Including Cost Accuracy and Overfitting Issues Highlight the Need for Better Benchmarks
The researchers evaluated different prompting techniques and agentic patterns, discovering substantial cost differences for similar accuracy levels. They argue that joint optimization can lead to less expensive yet accurate agents, enabling researchers to balance fixed and variable costs effectively.
For instance, investing in optimizing the agent’s design can reduce the variable cost by using fewer in-context learning examples. Testing this approach on the HotpotQA benchmark demonstrated that joint optimization could achieve an optimal balance between accuracy and inference costs.
Another critical issue is the difference between evaluating models for research purposes and developing real-world applications. In research, accuracy is often prioritized, with little regard for inference costs.
However, inference costs are crucial for practical applications, influencing model and technique choices. Evaluating inference costs is challenging due to variable pricing by model providers and fluctuating API call costs.
To address this, the researchers created a website that adjusts model comparisons based on token pricing and conducted a case study on NovelQA, revealing that benchmarks for model evaluation can be misleading for downstream applications.
Overfitting is a significant problem in AI agent benchmarks, as models often find shortcuts to perform well on benchmarks without real-world applicability. This issue is exacerbated by the small size of agent benchmarks, typically only a few hundred samples.
The researchers recommend that benchmark developers create and maintain holdout test sets with examples that cannot be memorized during training and can only be solved by understanding the task. Their analysis of 17 benchmarks revealed that many lacked proper holdout datasets, allowing agents to take unintended shortcuts.
The researchers tested WebArena, a benchmark for evaluating AI agents on different websites, and found several shortcuts in the training datasets. These shortcuts allowed agents to overfit tasks, leading to inflated accuracy estimates and over-optimism about agent capabilities.
They emphasize that AI agent benchmarking is a new field without established best practices, making it challenging to differentiate genuine advancements from hype.
The researchers argue that benchmarking practices need to be rethought to accurately assess the capabilities of AI agents, which could soon play a significant role in everyday applications.
After facing multiple rejections, Apple has approved Epic Games’ third-party app marketplace for launch in the EU under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Earlier this year, Epic announced plans to bring its digital storefront and Fortnite back to iOS in Europe, but Apple initially rejected the submission twice. Apple cited concerns that Epic’s Games Store looked too similar to Apple’s App Store, prompting Epic to escalate the issue to European regulators.
Later on the same day, Apple conditionally approved the marketplace app, requiring Epic to make specific adjustments in a future update. The initial rejections were based on details like the position of the “Install” button and the “in-app purchase” label, which Apple found too similar to its own.
Epic argued that these naming conventions are standard across popular app stores and criticized Apple’s actions as arbitrary and obstructive, claiming they violated the DMA.
Apple Approves Epic Games’ Marketplace in EU After Initial Rejections Under Digital Markets Act
Apple stated that it had approved the Epic Sweden AB Marketplace app but emphasized that Epic must still address the required changes.
Under Apple’s developer agreement, Epic agreed not to make its Game Store appear too similar to Apple’s App Store, but Apple found issues with the design and labeling of the download button. Despite these concerns, Apple noted that Fortnite’s app had already been approved.
This situation illustrates Apple’s strict enforcement of new rules permitting third-party app stores on iOS, potentially discouraging other developers from establishing their own distribution channels.
The DMA requires Apple to allow third-party app stores on the iPhone, as it is classified as a “gatekeeper” under EU law. Developers can also adopt new DMA rules to reduce commissions on in-app purchases, although the process involves a complex fee structure for using Apple’s technology.
Epic Games has long sought a way to reach iPhone customers without paying commissions on in-app purchases, leading to an extended legal battle with Apple. Despite losing most of its claims in U.S. courts, Epic continued to challenge Apple’s policies.
After Apple briefly terminated Epic’s developer account in the EU, regulators intervened. Epic remains committed to launching Fortnite on iOS and iPad in the EU and bringing its Game Store to the market, confirming the approval of its marketplace app on social media and to TechCrunch.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Chevron deference—a doctrine allowing federal agencies like the EPA to interpret ambiguous laws—signals a significant shift in US environmental law.
This decision removes the regulatory authority from scientific experts and places it in the hands of nonexpert judges, enabling increased legal challenges to federal regulations. The Chevron doctrine initially benefited polluting industries by simplifying regulatory processes, providing stability for businesses reliant on consistent federal guidelines.
However, as it enabled the implementation of stringent environmental regulations, it became contentious among industrial interests and conservatives.
The fossil fuel industry, notably the Koch brothers, has played a key role in opposing environmental regulations and promoting doubt about climate science, effectively stalling climate action in the US. Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society have supported these efforts by influencing the appointment of ultraconservative judges to the Supreme Court.
Shifting Tides in US Environmental Law: The Supreme Court’s Decision on Chevron Deference
The recent rulings against federal agencies, such as the EPA and SEC, further erode the administrative state, making it easier for companies to challenge long-standing regulations.
The elimination of Chevron deference means federal agencies might become more cautious in their actions, fearing lawsuits. This trend could have severe consequences for environmental protections and public health.
Despite this shift, lower courts have continued to use Chevron in favor of federal agencies, but the path is now open for more legal challenges by well-funded polluters. Environmental laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water acts are likely targets, and new regulations on substances like PFAS might face significant pushback due to the costs of compliance.
Leonard Leo’s network is already aiming to influence future Supreme Court decisions, such as the ongoing climate lawsuits by cities like Honolulu against fossil fuel companies. The conservative court’s potential involvement could undermine efforts to hold these companies accountable, further weakening environmental protections in the US.
Amar Shah, co-founder of Wayve, has invested in Oshen, a startup founded by Anahita Laverack and Ciaran Dowds. Oshen is creating small, self-sailing boats that gather ocean data autonomously. These boats, powered by solar energy and designed to be affordable, could make it easier and cheaper for scientists to study ocean temperatures, waves, and wildlife.
Traditional methods of collecting ocean data involve drifting buoys, which are costly and not always accurate. Oshen’s boats are smaller and more reliable, using standard parts to keep costs down. They can be launched from shorelines and operate for extended periods using wind, sun, and batteries.
Wayve Co-Founder Amar Shah Invests in Oshen’s Autonomous Solar-Powered Ocean Data Boats
The technology has caught the attention of investors like Shah, who see the potential in improving how we collect important ocean and weather information. His investment will help Oshen refine their boats and bring them to market. The startup is already talking to energy and weather companies in the UK and US about using their technology.
Oshen’s work is part of a larger trend where startups are using technology to protect the oceans from threats like climate change and pollution. Their innovative approach could lead to a better understanding and conservation of marine ecosystems worldwide.
Last week, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1984 Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council decision, which had required courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of laws. This ruling gives judges more power to question federal agency decisions, significantly impacting areas like food safety.
Traditionally, agencies like the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) operated under a risk-averse culture, often requiring extraordinary circumstances to prompt action, such as the 1994 Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak that led to changes in beef inspection rules.
The Chevron decision previously allowed federal agencies like FSIS to interpret statutes with substantial deference from courts, enabling them to take decisive actions. For example, the FSIS could classify E.coli-contaminated beef as “adulterated,” a decision upheld by courts despite industry objections.
This deference facilitated significant public health improvements, reducing E.coli illnesses dramatically without causing major disruptions to the beef industry.
Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Decision, Impacting Federal Agency Powers and Food Safety Regulations
With the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in cases involving the National Marine Fisheries Service, Chevron has been explicitly overruled. Chief Justice John Roberts argued that courts, not agencies, are better suited to interpret statutory ambiguities.
This shift means that federal judges now have greater authority to challenge agency interpretations, which could lead to more inconsistent and less predictable regulatory outcomes.
The new legal landscape introduces uncertainty for federal agencies, making them potentially more hesitant to enact regulations. Food safety advocates fear this could result in agencies becoming even more reluctant to take necessary actions.
Overruling Chevron effectively empowers industries to challenge regulations they oppose, supported by conservative legal organizations backed by influential financiers.
Critics of Chevron argued that Congress should handle major policy decisions, not executive agencies. However, evidence from state legislatures suggests that increased judicial scrutiny does not enhance legislative productivity. Instead, it seems to shift power from elected regulators to lifetime-appointed judges, reducing democratic accountability.
There may be some positive outcomes from this change. Public interest lawyers might now have better chances to challenge agency inaction, such as the FDA’s “secret GRAS” rule allowing food companies to self-certify the safety of chemicals without disclosure. Whether this potential will be realized remains uncertain.
Despite these challenges, food safety regulators should remain steadfast. Proposed regulations like enforceable Salmonella standards in poultry and enhanced food traceability rules are crucial and widely supported.
The public must continue to pressure regulators to act decisively in this more complex legal environment while recognizing the adversarial role of corporate lawyers who aim to prioritize their clients’ interests, sometimes at the expense of public safety.
This election season, Connected TV (CTV) advertising will play a crucial role, with political ad spending on CTV expected to surge by 506% compared to 2020. CTV will be essential not only for presidential candidates but also for down-ballot candidates.
The intersection between voter advertising and customer advertising is significant, with both benefiting from advanced targeting technologies to effectively reach and persuade critical audiences.
Advanced technology enables advertisers to target persuadable voters who are often missing from traditional voter files. By using real-time data on media consumption and online behavior, advertisers can create relevant and engaging messages.
AI, in particular, is revolutionizing voter targeting by analyzing large datasets to predict voter interests and behaviors, allowing for more precise and impactful campaign messaging on key issues.
Gaining Voter Attention in the 2024 Election with AI and Contextual Targeting
AI-driven custom contextual targeting marks a major shift in political advertising. This technology processes data from various sources to identify trends and patterns, helping craft messages that resonate on pivotal issues like immigration and abortion.
Such precise targeting is particularly effective in digital spaces where traditional methods may falter, especially among younger voters who prefer dynamic and interactive content.
However, despite the advantages of CTV and AI, campaigns face challenges related to cost and inventory. The demand for precise targeting raises costs, and the limited availability of premium inventory on popular platforms complicates matters.
Data-driven strategies, such as conquesting—converting undecided or persuadable voters—are essential. These approaches enable campaigns to reach incremental audiences, particularly in battleground states, by filling gaps in outreach through comprehensive contextual data.
The potential of contextual advertising is emphasized in this complex landscape. By focusing on the context in which ads are seen, campaigns can enhance their impact and recall. This method moves beyond demographic targeting, aligning political messages with the content voters are already consuming without relying on identifiable information.
As the 2024 elections approach, the integration of CTV, AI, and contextual targeting will be vital for campaigns aiming to engage effectively with a fragmented electorate.
The options market for Ethereum (ETH) indicates a bullish sentiment over both short-term and medium-term periods, driven by anticipation surrounding the launch of US spot ETH ETFs. This sentiment suggests investors are optimistic about ETH’s future performance post-ETF launch, with expectations of significant price gains rather than a sell-off after the news.
Ahead of the anticipated mid-July launch of spot Ether ETFs in the US, options traders are heavily betting on Ethereum’s price. This mirrors previous market behavior seen before Bitcoin ETF launches, indicating a pattern where such events often lead to increased market activity and bullish sentiment.
Ethereum Options Market Indicates Bullish Sentiment Amid Anticipation of US Spot ETH ETFs Launch
Key metrics such as Ethereum’s 30-day volatility skew, which stands at approximately 3%, show that traders are willing to pay higher premiums for call options, reflecting bullish sentiment over the next month. Similarly, options expiring in 180 days also show a skew of around 5%, indicating traders’ anticipation of leveraged positions and price rallies leading up to and following the ETF launch.
The optimism in the options market is based on the belief that the launch of spot ETH ETFs will attract substantial institutional investments into Ethereum, similar to the inflows observed with Bitcoin ETFs. Analysts and platforms like IntoTheBlock suggest that this influx could significantly boost Ethereum’s price, particularly given its supply dynamics and the potential for substantial new investor participation.
However, there are contrasting views, such as those from JPMorgan analysts, who are more cautious about the ETF’s impact, predicting lower net inflows compared to Bitcoin. Despite differing opinions, market observers like Marex Solutions’ Illan Solot believe that ETH may outperform expectations, albeit with considerations about the complexities introduced by delta-neutral trades and ETF inflow comparisons with Bitcoin.
While Ethereum currently trades at $3,309 with recent declines, the options market signals a bullish outlook driven by the upcoming ETH ETFs, suggesting heightened market activity and potential price appreciation in the near and medium term.
In a landmark collaboration announced at the Point Zero Forum, Fidelity International and Sygnum have joined forces with Chainlink to innovate the management of tokenized asset data. This partnership aims to integrate Net Asset Value (NAV) data onto blockchain platforms, enhancing accessibility and transparency within the digital asset sector.
The initiative represents a significant convergence of traditional finance and blockchain technology. Fidelity International, a prominent global investment firm, and Sygnum, a leading cryptocurrency bank, plan to leverage Chainlink’s advanced technology to bring real-time, on-chain NAV data. This data will specifically support Sygnum’s tokenized representation of Fidelity’s $6.9 billion Institutional Liquidity Fund.
Sygnum recently gained attention by tokenizing $50 million of Matter Labs’ treasury reserves, utilizing the ZKsync blockchain under Chainlink’s SCALE program. This move underscores a broader industry trend towards integrating blockchain with established financial systems, showcasing technological innovation.
Fidelity International, Sygnum, and Chainlink Forge Landmark Partnership to Tokenize Asset Data
Chainlink plays a pivotal role in this transformation due to its chain-agnostic approach, ensuring secure and accurate dissemination of NAV data across various blockchains. This capability promises real-time transparency and access to historical data, benefiting Sygnum’s clients and the wider market.
Fatmire Bekiri, Head of Tokenization at Sygnum, emphasized the partnership’s significance in bridging the gap between traditional finance and blockchain sectors. She stressed the importance of setting standards and fostering collaboration among regulated financial institutions, blockchain firms, and asset managers.
The collaboration addresses the growing demand for on-chain NAV data from blockchain-native companies, aiming to establish a compliant and regulated on-chain ecosystem. This effort marks a strategic alignment between Fidelity, Chainlink, and Matter Labs to advance the tokenization of funds in the digital asset space.
Sergey Nazarov, Co-founder of Chainlink, highlighted the increasing trend of fund tokenization within cryptocurrencies and viewed the partnership as a significant step for global asset management firms. He noted that tokenized funds could potentially surpass traditional methods in terms of reach and efficiency, positioning them as the industry standard.
Despite the positive industry developments, Chainlink’s native cryptocurrency, LINK, experienced a slight decline in price to $14.41 amid broader market fluctuations. Chainlink Futures Open Interest remained stable, indicating a muted market response to the partnership announcement at that time.
Japan’s Digital Agency recently achieved a milestone by eliminating the use of floppy disks in its government computer systems. While floppy disks are largely considered obsolete in today’s technological landscape, they are still being utilized in Japan for essential functions, notably in an environmental system monitoring vehicle recycling.
This move marks a significant step forward in Japan’s efforts to modernize its digital infrastructure.
Digital Minister Taro Kono proudly declared the achievement on June 28, emphasizing the symbolic end of an era. Since his appointment to the Digital Agency in 2022, Kono has been proactive in pushing for the abandonment of outdated technology across approximately 1,900 government procedures.
This initiative included phasing out not just floppy disks but also fax machines, CDs, and MiniDiscs, which were remnants of ’90s-era technology.
Japan’s Digital Agency Achieves Milestone by Phasing Out Floppy Disks in Government Systems
Kono’s campaign against obsolete technology garnered attention not just domestically but also internationally, underscoring the broader trend of countries grappling with legacy systems long past their prime.
The United States military, for instance, famously continued to use 8-inch floppy disks until 2019 to operate the Strategic Automated Command and Control System (SACCS), responsible for nuclear command and control. This revelation, highlighted by CBS’s 60 Minutes, brought to light the persistence of outdated technology in critical infrastructures worldwide.
Japan’s transition away from floppy disks reflects a broader global effort to modernize digital infrastructure and enhance operational efficiency. The elimination of these antiquated technologies is seen as a necessary step to streamline governmental processes and ensure compatibility with contemporary data storage and communication methods.
As countries like Japan continue to embrace digital transformation, the focus remains on updating systems to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
