Approximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It’s usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining the esophagus, prompting them to grow back with genetic mistakes. About 22,370 times a year in the … Read more
Amid an outbreak of recent wildfires in California, Google announced a commitment to spend $13 million to improve satellite imaging to help track and detect wildfires, starting as early as next year. FireSat, a constellation of more than 50 satellites, will be able to detect wildfires as small as the size of a classroom, about … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO — After 17 years wielding power and influence on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin is facing a rather existential moment: Has this famously liberal city moved too far right to embrace an old-school progressive like him for mayor? Peskin, a slight man of 60 with a full beard and glasses, has … Read more
Embattled Telegram CEO Pavel Durov reportedly agreed to hand over IP addresses and phone numbers of those who use his encrypted messaging app to government authorities that make valid legal requests. Durov, the billionaire French-Russian national who was arrested in France last month and slapped with a slew of charges including facilitating the spread of … Read more
In its relentless search for ways to weave digital products into people’s lives, Big Tech has achieved some big wins. Smart phones are ubiquitous. Apple Watch users talk to their wrists. Artificial intelligence-powered assistants are everywhere. But convincing people to wear computers on their faces has been a dud. So far, at least. Augmented reality … Read more
Former Apple design guru Jony Ive has confirmed that he’s working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to build an AI-powered hardware device – roughly one year after rumors about the high-profile collaboration first went public. The still-quiet project surfaced in a new profile of Ive, who is best known for working with late Apple co-founder … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed a handful of artificial intelligence-related bills that would give actors more protection over their digital likenesses and fight against the spread of deepfakes in political ads, among other regulations aimed at the fast-rising technology. “They were important election integrity bills that are long overdue,” Newsom said in … Read more
On Aug. 29, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 1047 — the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act — and sent it to Gov. Gavin Newsom for signature. Newsom’s choice, due by Sept. 30, is binary: Kill it or make it law. Acknowledging the possible harm that could come from advanced … Read more
Major social media platforms and video streaming services that gather a “staggering” amount of data from their users have failed to protect young people and safeguard online privacy, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. “These surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identity theft … Read more
European Union regulators are reportedly preparing to put Google on notice that it must make changes to its dominant search engine or face massive fines. The EU watchdogs are prepping a “formal chargesheet” that is focused on how Google displays links to its competitors within embedded search services like Google Flights or Google Hotels, Bloomberg … Read more