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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has seen an alarming rise in gamified job scams over the past year. The FTC says that reports of job scams have quadrupled each year since 2022 topping out at 20,000 reports at a cost of $41 million in total during the first six months of the year. Job or task scams often involve the scammer asking someone to do a relatively simple task online such as liking videos or rating product images in assigned sets using terms like product boosting or app optimization, according to the FTC. People are promised higher payments for completing a certain amount of sets that may pay out small amounts at first but they end up costing more than they pay out in the long run. Scammers will reach out to people via text messages or communication apps like Whatsapp offering them a task job. The most common type of this scam usually involves some kind of cryptocurrency. Then the scammer may ask their target to deposit some money or charge up their account through an app in order to start working on new and bigger sets of tasks. They may even try to convince their victims by hearing testimonials from fake recipients about how much money they made for completing relatively simple tasks. The victim will charge up their accounts with their own money in order to avoid losing what the app shows theyve earned in the hopes theyll get their deposited money and the fee they are owed. Instead, the money theyve been paid isnt real and any money theyve deposited to charge up their account is lost for good. The FTC recommends ignoring offers from unknown text or WhatsApp messages and never paying someone for the promise of being paid at a later time or date. The commission also recommends steering clear of any job offers that involve rating or liking things online, a practice the FTC says is illegal and no honest company will do it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-ftc-warns-gamified-job-scams-are-on-the-rise-233029615.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
OpenAI published receipts, in the form of a long timeline of emails, texts and legal filings, illustrating that Elon Musks injunction to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company runs counter to what he wanted in 2017. Essentially, OpenAI is providing even more evidence to the fact that its former co-founder wanted the AI startup to become a for-profit company and make him CEO. You should read the whole blog to get all of the details (and get a sense for how billionaires email) but the gist is that in 2017, Musk and OpenAI came to an understanding that the then non-profit needed to become a for-profit to advance its mission and seemingly capitalize on the public interest earned from its AI beating professional Dota 2 players in one-on-one matches. According to OpenAI, Musk proposed a new board structure where he would unequivocally have initial control of the company, which OpenAI was opposed to. That led to the disagreements between Musk and OpenAI leadership, and him ultimately leaving the nonprofit's board in 2018. xAI, Musks AI startup thats a direct competitor to OpenAI, was started in 2023. Its pretty clear what OpenAI is trying to do here. Musk first sued OpenAI in March 2024 over the companys dealings with Microsoft and the belief they violated its non-profit status. He dropped the suit not long after OpenAI published a blog with emails that suggested Musk wanted OpenAI to either merge with Tesla or make him CEO. OpenAIs new blog expands on all those details with new material and seems set up to achieve a similar effect.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-published-more-of-elon-musks-emails-if-thats-something-you-want-to-read-225614986.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Bosch is the latest recipient of (preliminary) CHIPS and Science Act funding. The company signed a non-binding agreement with the US Commerce Department and could receive up to $225 million in funding. Lest you think Amazons gruff crime solver somehow got a piece of the action, Bosch is also a German multinational corporation that makes just about everything under the sun. (That even includes a stink-removal machine!) The company recently accelerated its silicon development, buying TSI Semiconductors in 2023 and finalizing the deal early this year. But instead of focusing on cutting-edge silicon for computers, phones and AI, Bosch specializes in chips for the auto industry. The company plans to use the funds on the Roseville, CA facility it acquired in the TSI deal. The company will invest up to $1.9 billion to convert the plant into one that spits out silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, which are used to boost the efficiency of EV driving and charging. Bosch expects the first 200mm wafers to come off the line there in 2026. The Roseville investment enables Bosch to locally produce silicon carbide semiconductors, supporting US consumers on the path to electrification, Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America and Bosch Mobility Americas, wrote in a statement. Boschs Roseville, CA silicon plantBosch In addition to boosting Americas primacy in the chip industry, the CHIPS Acts other goal is job creation. The White House says the proposed funding would create up to 1,700 jobs, including 1,000 in construction and 700 in manufacturing, engineering and R&D. Todays agreement catalyzes nearly $2 billion of private investment and the creation of over 1,700 jobs, while investing in a critical technology relied upon on by our defense and auto industry, wrote Natalie Quillian, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff. In November, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the worlds leading advanced chip maker, was the first to have its CHIPS Act grants (to the tune of $6.6 billion) finalized. Other recipients include Intel (although its funding was recently cut), HP, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, Texas Instruments and Rocket Lab.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bosch-signs-agreement-for-up-to-225-million-in-chips-act-funding-211031263.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Googles NotebookLM made a pretty big splash with its AI-generated podcast feature Audio Overviews, and before the year is out the app is getting another upgrade. As part of a larger redesign of Googles AI notebook tool, Audio Overviews are now interactive. After generating an Audio Overview based on the sources youve uploaded, Google says youll be able to play the recording in a new Interactive mode (BETA). Clicking Join at any point in that new playback screen will get the AI hosts to call on you to ask a question, which theyll answer live while youre listening back. Google cautions that the feature is still experimental and that hosts might pause awkwardly or introduce new inaccuracies while answering questions, but it seemed to work well in a brief test. I was able to create a NotebookLM project trained on articles about NotebookLM, and while asking a question did seem to slow the whole Overview down, the AI hosts were able to smoothly incorporate an answer into the rest of the show. Alongside these new expanded features, NotebookLM is getting a bit of a visual overhaul. The interface is now split into three sections, a Studio panel where AI-generated content like Audio Overviews, study guides, and FAQs live, a central Chat panel for asking questions about your sources to Googles AI, and a Sources panel on the left for managing what sources NotebookLM pulls from. Its a pretty clean setup, and being able to collapse a panel when youre not using it keeps things from getting cluttered. Google is also using these updates as a way to introduce its first pass at monetizing NotebookLM. A new NotebookLM Plus premium subscription is available to Google Workspace and Cloud customers as a Gemini add-on, and will give you the ability to generate up to 20 Audio Overviews per day, create up to 500 AI notebooks, and add up to 300 sources per notebook. That translates to an additional $20 per user per month for Workspace subscribers. Starting next year, NotebookLM Plus benefits will also be rolled into the Google One AI Premium subscription. Google NotebookLM started as an internal Google experiment called Project Tailwind, but quickly blossomed into one of the more reasonable applications of Googles Gemini AI model thanks to its grounding in sources you upload, rather than the web and whatever scraped material Gemini was originally trained on. Its capable of working with anything from web articles to YouTube videos, but its Audio Overviews have proven to be one of its most popular features.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-notebooklm-audio-overviews-will-now-let-you-call-in-with-a-question-210700150.html?src=rss
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There are some things you just dont do in certain parts of the US. You dont use inferior salsa during a cattle drive in Texas. You dont eat pizza with a knife and fork in New York City. You dont yell Belichick is a big, fat cheater! in a crowded Boston bar (even if it happens to be true). And if youre in New Jersey or just America in general, you NEVER take the holy name of Bruce Springsteen in vain in ANY manner. So its bewildering why one New Jersey representative would even think about faking his listening habits when it comes to The Boss. 9to5Mac spotted a curious looking post on X from US Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). The congressman shared what appeared to be his Spotify Wrapped playlist for the year, with one list consisting of Springsteens classic tracks like Glory Days and Thunder Road and the other filled with tracks from various hip hop stars. He tried to cement his esteem for Springsteen in his post by saying his first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss! Well, it didnt take long for the internet and anyone whos ever used Spotify to figure out that he faked the whole list just to kiss up to his constituents. Yikes pic.twitter.com/bTEkSodA9u Sebastian (@SebastianRios68) December 9, 2024 Gottheimers list included such glaring mistakes as inconsistent font sizes, improper spacing between the albums on his lists and the fact that both lists were titled Your top songs even though one only had Springsteen albums. He didnt even use the same font type or size for all of his track and album entries. So how did Gottheimer handle this musical faux pas with the press? He dug in his heels on his Springsteen tracks and blamed his two kids for the rest. He admitted to NJ Advance Media that he made a fake Spotify Wrapped list but says the tracks on each list are accurate because he shares an account with his children because thats easier than going back in time and setting up a family plan. This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didnt share my account with my 12 and 15-year old kids, Gottheimer told the outlet. While its Springsteen all day for me dont get me wrong, I still love listening to Taylor Swift! Gottheimer has since taken the post down and replaced it with a list of his most listened to Springsteen tracks. Hes trying to save face because hes in a heated race for governor and if you want a solid shot at moving into New Jerseys governor mansion, then you need to make your love for The Boss known far and wide across the Garden State. If Gottheimer is also going for the Dad who makes his kids cringe at their music choices vote, then hes a lock.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/a-us-congressman-tried-and-failed-to-fake-his-spotify-wrapped-for-political-gain-205516508.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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