Hearings with big tech

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin What brings Democrats and Republicans together these days? The answer is attacking the CEO of a foreign-owned video app in a congressional hearing. Whether those attacks are to make a political point or a substantive difference is another question. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a hearing about the app's consumer privacy and data security practices, children's safety, and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. The approximately five-hour hearing did little to assuage the concerns of lawmakers. If anything, it heightened the concerns that the CCP could access personal data and influence over the content of American TikTok users. There has been no proof thus far to substantiate these concerns, but that isn't stopping Congress. "TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you, manipulate what … [Read more...] about It’s Up To Congress To Ban TikTok. It Won’t Be Easy.

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin One of the things I like about Sony is that every once in a while the company is willing to swing for the fences and release a product that is — different — from everything else out there. Extreme. That’s the case with the Sony SRS-RA5000 , a big, pricey wireless speaker that’s bristling with drivers, sculpted to look like a piece of modern art and optimized to make the most of the 360 Reality Audio format. First Impression Sony knows how to design eye-catching products, and the SRS-RA5000 certainly draws attention. It’s a large (13-inches tall) speaker. All curves, the unit is wrapped in black cloth and dominated by a trio of copper-coloured speaker grills across the top. Maybe they’re rose gold. It depends on the light. Either way, they pop against the black. There are discrete touch controls for music playback on one “side” and for power and connectivity on another. The speaker basically looks like a piece of … [Read more...] about Sony SRS-RA5000 Review: A Sculpted, 7-Driver Speaker That’s Optimized For 360 Reality Audio

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin There is no shortage of cheap Bluetooth speakers from manufacturers that you’d never see on store shelves in North America, but far fewer that make a play for the high end wireless speaker market. It’s difficult to get consumers to part with big money on a speaker that doesn’t carry a familiar name. China’s Trettitre is giving it a go with the $699.99 TreSound1, a sample of which was sent to me by distributor Linsoul Audio . Premium – But Polarizing – Design The TreSound1 has a very unusual appearance, one that draws immediate attention. Trettitre says it incorporates a “mountain” design. To me it looks like a warhead. It’s not just the form factor that makes the design polarizing; the controls take minimalism to an extreme. There are no buttons to mar its surface. On/off and volume control is accomplished by twisting the metal end of the cone, with no option for pausing or skipping tracks. The very tip is an LED that … [Read more...] about Review: Trettitre TreSound1 Wireless Speaker

Robust Intelligence is No. 48 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2023 . Explore the full list of companies that are reshaping industries and culture. As machine learning transforms business processes across an array of industries—from finance to medicine to travel—it’s essential to root out flaws which, if left unchecked, could have catastrophic consequences. Robust Intelligence is a Bay Area company focused on mitigating AI risks, helping organizations continuously validate AI models and data, and looking for anomalous behaviors and weaknesses. This allows data science teams to more quickly and efficiently test the robustness of a model’s performance, fairness, and security. Robust Intelligence’s AI Firewall software can also prevent bad data from entering production models by looking for anomalies in real time. Last year, Robust Intelligence won new customers that include JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, and Hitachi; cosponsored a pair of … [Read more...] about This company’s software is designed to protect against AI disasters

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Is it time for us contrarians to “buy the dip” in bank stocks? We’re drowning in big bank-scare headlines. Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB VB ) knuckled under in days, Signature Bank (SBNY) wasn’t too far behind, and across the pond, Credit Suisse (CS) needed a buyout bailout from rival UBS (UBS) . The next bank run, however, won’t be with the big boys . Too big to fail, baby . Here, we’ll find not only government help but also secure yields of up to 5.1%—trading at a discount, no less. Why the big guys? Well let me show you. Last week, my software firm received this email from one of our vendors: “Brett, Just wanted to give you our new banking details. We’re out of SVB; we’re moving to JPM.” JPM for the win. And they’re not the only big bank benefiting. CNN recently reported that Bank of America BAC (BAC) , Wells Fargo WFC (WFC) and Citigroup C (C) “have all experienced a … [Read more...] about Make Your Own Bank Run On These Blue-Chip Yields

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The 1981 fantasy film Dragonslayer was way ahead of its time, and its influence has been felt in film and TV shows ever since it crash-landed in movie theaters. "It was a little bit too much ahead of its time," mused director and co-writer Matthew Robbins. "It didn't make him so much as a ripple at the box office when it was released." The filmmaker had no idea the film had become beloved and achieved cult status until a few years ago. It's now being released on 4K Ultra HD for the first time. "I am becoming aware, these last few months in the conversations I've been having about it, that there is this affection for the movie all over the place. I had no idea," Robbins explained. "The transfer to VHS tape and DVDs were so inferior and shoddy that I did my best to avoid any screening of it at festivals or workshops and so on. If they showed it, I wouldn't go until the Q&A afterward. I was still apologizing for it … [Read more...] about How Cult Classic ‘Dragonslayer’ Finally Delivers The Director’s Vision In 4K

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, MICHAEL GOLDBERG and ROGELIO SOLIS ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — A powerful tornado cut a devastating path through Mississippi Friday night, killing more than two dozen people and obliterating dozens of buildings, as it stayed on the ground for more than an hour. The tornado flattened entire blocks of the small Mississippi Delta town of Rolling Fork, reducing homes to piles of rubble, flipping cars on their sides and toppling the water tower. Residents hunkered down in bath tubs and broke into a John Deere store that they converted into a triage center for the wounded. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency announced late Saturday afternoon in a tweet that the death toll had risen to 25 from 23. Four who were missing have been found but dozens also were injured. Meanwhile other parts of the Deep South were digging out from damage caused by other suspected twisters. One man also died in Morgan County, Alabama, the sheriff’s department there said in … [Read more...] about ‘There’s nothing left’: Mississippi tornado kills 25

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Despite ongoing silent runs on the Regional and Community Banks, it appears that both Fed Chair Powell and Treasury Secretary Yellen view the events of the recent past (SVB VB , Signature Bank, First Republic, Credit Suisse, and now Deutsche Bank) as one-off events and not symptomatic of stress in the world’s financial system. The dictionary defines “obtuse” as “annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand.” We can’t think of anything more precise! The chart at the top shows the continued decline in the value of S&P’s Regional Banking ETF through the close of business on Friday (March 24 th ). On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates 25 basis points despite liquidity issues in the banking system and the apparent loss of confidence in that system by a significant portion of the public. During his press conference, Powell acknowledged some FOMC concerns over banking issues, said that they had considered a "pause,” … [Read more...] about Obtuse: The Fed & Treasury View Of Banking Issues

Valve is No. 37 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2023 . Explore the full list of companies that are reshaping industries and culture. Valve’s Steam Deck is more than just a beefed-up Nintendo Switch alternative. It’s also a counterpoint to the closed platforms that have come to define modern consumer electronics, and a way to upend traditional consoles by making PC gaming more accessible. The handheld costs more than a Switch at $399, but it’s better-equipped to play the latest games at higher quality, and it draws on Valve’s wildly popular PC storefront to offer a vast game selection. Even so, Valve doesn’t limit users to the Steam catalog. Through a built-in Linux-based desktop mode, the Steam Deck supports installing all kinds of other applications, from web browsers and classic emulators to such rival game marketplaces as the Epic Games Store. Users can also tweak the system’s theme, sounds, and boot-up animations, and they … [Read more...] about Valve’s Steam Deck is letting gamers hold the future of open platforms in their hands

Holdfast Collective is No. 4 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2023 . Explore the full list of companies that are reshaping industries and culture. In September 2022, Patagonia, renowned for being at the forefront of environmental advocacy, sustainable production, and progressive business practices, had a new declaration: Earth would be its only shareholder. What that actually meant was that founder Yvon Chouinard and his family had given up ownership, transferring the company’s voting stock to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the other 98% of its ownership to the Holdfast Collective , a new 501(c)(4) organization. Holdfast’s mission is to preserve wildlands and pursue other nature-based climate solutions, fund grassroots environmental organizations, and support politicians working to fight the climate crisis. Although other companies have used this organizational structure for philanthropic ventures, Patagonia is taking a different … [Read more...] about Patagonia uses capitalism to save the planet with the Holdfast Collective