Microsoft says it did a lot for responsible AI in inaugural transparency report
A new report from Microsoft outlines the steps the company took to release responsible AI platforms last year.
In its Responsible AI Transparency Report, which mainly covers 2023, Microsoft touts its achievements around safely deploying AI products. The annual AI transparency report is one of the commitments the company made after signing a voluntary agreement with the White House in July last year. Microsoft and other companies promised to establish responsible AI systems and commit to safety.
Microsoft says in the report that it created 30 responsible AI tools in the past year, grew its responsible AI team, and required teams making generative AI applications to measure and map risks throughout the development cycle. The company...
Apple’s earnings show that, yeah, it’s really time for some new iPads
Less than a week ahead of its much-anticipated iPad hardware event, Apple shared its Q2 2024 earnings today, and the numbers paint a predictable picture for the increasingly dated tablet line. iPad revenue fell substantially yet again (by 17 percent year over year) amid the longest-ever wait for new models — something Apple is days away from finally rectifying. At the same time, iPhone sales tapered off a bit (down 10 percent), while the company’s services business remains the star of the show. It was up 14 percent compared to the year-ago quarter.
Apple also released its Vision Pro headset during this quarter, but CEO Tim Cook didn’t offer any indication of how things are going. “During the quarter, we were thrilled to launch Apple...
Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now
If you know where to look, you can often score discounts on Apple’s ever-popular AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods at the end of 2021, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model consistently dip below $100. And now that the second-gen AirPods Pro have been on the market for over a year, we’re also seeing their price fall more often, too. We’re even seeing great deals land on the updated AirPods Pro with USB-C.
Here, we’ve curated the best deals currently available on each model, including the entry-level AirPods, the AirPods Pro, the third-gen AirPods, and the AirPods Max.
The best AirPods (second-gen) deals
In 2021, Apple lowered the list price of the second-gen AirPods — now the...
FCC asks for more money to help telecom providers replace Huawei and ZTE gear
The Federal Communications Commission is asking for more funding to help internet service providers rip and replace equipment made by Huawei and ZTE. In a letter to Congress, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says the government has only allocated $1.9 billion to reimburse providers, which is $3.08 billion less than the $4.98 billion the FCC estimates it will need.
After designating the China-owned Huawei and ZTE as national security risks in 2020, former President Donald Trump signed a law forcing telecom providers to “rip and replace” the equipment from their networks. However, a lack of funding has slowed the project. In January, the FCC reported that only five program participants had fully removed, replaced, and disposed of the...
Seagate’s 2TB Xbox Storage Expansion Card gets its best discount yet
If your main gaming platform is the Xbox Series X or S and you have a particularly deep library, bring it in for a hug. The markups on its proprietary storage cards are exorbitant, but regular discounts are starting to make them a little more affordable. For example, Seagate’s 2TB Storage Expansion Card is on sale for $226.76 (down from $359.99) at Amazon, which beats the all-time low by three whole dollars.
The expansion cards are officially licensed by Microsoft and support Xbox’s speedy NVME-based Velocity Architecture to enable quicker data streaming and features like Quick Resume. They’re the only type of storage you can use to play games built for the Series X / S. It’s also worth putting older games on the faster storage,...
When notifications remind us of things we’d rather forget
My breaking point with promotional emails and desktop alerts finally happened a few weeks ago. I woke up at 7AM to an automated Legacy.com email with my friend’s death-a-versary in the subject line. The email itself was annoying enough, but what it said made it a cold, thoughtless annoyance: “Being remembered matters. The flowers you sent last year were a comforting gesture of sympathy and support.”
I didn’t send flowers. I planted a tree. That’s what my friend wanted. It was right there on the obituary guestbook Legacy.com was asking me to sign again.
Actually, the Legacy.com email was just the last straw. Things were kicked off a few months earlier by a Microsoft OneDrive notification. I had just switched from Google Drive, and...
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke labor laws by saying workers are ‘better off’ without a union
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated labor laws when making “coercive statements” about unions during interviews conducted in 2022, a judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling, which stems from a complaint filed in October 2022, cites three instances in which Jassy commented negatively about unions. During an interview with CNBC in April 2022, Jassy said employees are “better off” not forming a union. Jassy made similar remarks during The New York Times’ DealBook event and Bloomberg’s Technology Summit.
“What we tell our employees in our fulfillment centers is that we think they’re better off without a union for a few reasons,” Jassy said at the DealBook Summit. “One is we try to hire people who we empower,...
After 16 years, Ecobee is shutting down support for the original smart thermostat
Ecobee is discontinuing support for the very first smart thermostat. As of July 31st, 2024, the Ecobee Smart Thermostat and the Ecobee Energy Management System (EMS) thermostats will no longer be able to be controlled remotely or use any smart integrations. Basically, anything that requires an internet connection will stop working. They will still continue to control your HVAC in the same way a non-smart device does — by you controlling it on the device.
The company is offering affected users a 30 percent discount on a new Ecobee thermostat, valid for up to 15 thermostats. Customers should have received an email with the offer, but if not, Ecobee’s VP of product design, Bryan Hurren, says to contact support to get a code.
The Ecobee...
Here are the best iPad deals right now
While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon’s various Prime Days, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, prices are likely to drop even further when Apple ushers in a new slate of iPad Pro and iPad Air models,
Forthcoming models aside, it’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you...
FDA qualifies Apple Watch’s AFib history for use in clinical studies
The Apple Watch’s atrial fibrillation (AFib) history feature, which records and alerts the wearer’s relevant heart events, has been qualified to join the FDA’s Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) program — a first for a “digital health technology.” That means the Apple Watch is now usable in clinical studies that need estimated data on how much time the wearer spent in atrial fibrillation while wearing the device, 9to5Mac reports.
The FDA announcement describes using it as a noninvasive way to collect the data both before and after treatment:
Designed to be used as a biomarker test to help evaluate estimates of AFib burden as a secondary effectiveness endpoint within clinical studies intended to evaluate the safety and effectiveness...