Bid farewell to this small but helpful Windows 11 feature | Digital Trends

December 13, 2024December 12, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As Microsoft mentions in a December 12 blog post, Windows 11 users will soon no longer receive future updates for the suggested actions menu. The helpful feature would offer you related actions when you copy items like dates or phone numbers with actions to create an event or make a call.

Microsoft first introduced the feature in a Windows 11 2022 update. It made the suggested actions menu appear and gave contextual information based on the copied data. Microsoft describes the feature as follows: “Suggested actions that appear when you copy a phone number or future date in Windows 11 are deprecated and will be removed in a future Windows 11 update.”

The feature’s end of support may be due to the decrease in usage and the upcoming release of the Click To Do features, which offer similar usability. However, it’s important to remember that Click To Do is only for Copilot+ PCs, so those with an older Windows 11 computer are left out of the cool kids’ club.

Windows 11 may finally take iPhone collaboration to the next level | Digital Trends

December 13, 2024December 12, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft is now establishing file-sharing support between iPhones and its Windows 11 or Windows 10 PCs. Users will be able to connect the devices with the brand’s Phone Link app and Link to Windows app to enable the function. Currently, the feature is available to Windows Insiders users for testing purposes.

Microsoft has not shared other details about the iPhone to Windows file-sharing feature, just installation instructions. To use this function, you must install the previously released Phone Link for iOS app. Microsoft made the Phone Link for iOS app available last spring enabling iPhone users to receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, view notifications, and access contacts directly on Windows PCs.

Your device will prompt you to install Phone Link for iOS if it’s not already installed on your desktop. If Phone Link for iOS is already enabled on your device, you can proceed with file-sharing setup by adding the following file to your PC aka.ms/addAccount.

Why AI Should Be a Core Part of Your Recruitment Strategy | The Startup Magazine

December 12, 2024December 11, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The recruitment landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology seems to be taking the helm. Savvy companies are quickly turning to AI solutions in order to streamline their recruitment process, reduce bias, and significantly increase efficiency. If your organization is yet to integrate AI into its recruitment strategy, you might want to reconsider your stance.

Building a Competitive Edge

In an era where technology is revolutionizing many industries, recruitment is no exception. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive, leveraging technology to build your CV with AI can be extremely beneficial. With the ability to quickly analyze heaps of data, AI can help recruiters to identify the best potential candidates for specific roles.

However, AI’s capabilities go beyond just analyzing resumes. It aids in engaging promising candidates and providing insights to fine-tune recruitment strategies. Companies that have integrated AI into their process can afford to make more strategic decisions rather than work based on guesswork.

Why Your Business Needs the Correct Insurance | The Startup Magazine

December 12, 2024December 11, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Businesses are all about profit, but they are also all about risk. Employees can be injured on the job, customers can be injured in a store, a natural disaster could floor your business, road accidents can plague trucks on the road – risks are a natural consequence of running a business. For these reasons, and others, you need to ensure that you are protecting your business and all of its assets.

Insurance is the way to do it, and there’s not just one type of insurance your business needs to invest in. From public liability insurance providers to leading fleet insurance providers, there are insurance products that you need to pay attention to to avoid legal issues. You have to ensure that your business insurance is listed in your business plan if you want to stay ahead of the game. Are you still on the fence about insurance coverage? Below, you’ll find every reason you need to invest in good business coverage:

General Motors pulls plug on Cruise robotaxi project | BBC

December 11, 2024December 10, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

General Motors has announced that it will stop funding the development of the Cruise self-driving taxi.

The company says it will now “refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles”.

GM also pointed to the increasingly competitive robotaxi market as a reason for the move.

In October, Tesla boss Elon Musk unveiled the electric car giant’s long-awaited robotaxi, the Cybercab, at the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank, California.

Coffee prices at record high after bad weather | BBC

December 11, 2024December 10, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Coffee drinkers may soon see their morning treat get more expensive, as the price of coffee on international commodity markets has hit its highest level on record.

On Tuesday, the price for Arabica beans, which account for most global production, topped $3.44 a pound (0.45kg), having jumped more than 80% this year. The cost of Robusta beans, meanwhile, hit a fresh high in September.

It comes as coffee traders expect crops to shrink after the world’s two largest producers, Brazil and Vietnam, were hit by bad weather and the drink’s popularity continues to grow.

A test for AGI is closer to being solved — but it may be flawed | TechCrunch

December 10, 2024December 9, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

A well-known test for artificial general intelligence (AGI) is closer to being solved. But the tests’s creators say this points to flaws in the test’s design, rather than a bonafide research breakthrough.

In 2019, Francois Chollet, a leading figure in the AI world, introduced the ARC-AGI benchmark, short for “Abstract and Reasoning Corpus for Artificial General Intelligence.” Designed to evaluate whether an AI system can efficiently acquire new skills outside the data it was trained on, ARC-AGI, Francois claims, remains the only AI test to measure progress towards general intelligence (although others have been proposed.)

Until this year, the best-performing AI could only solve just under a third of the tasks in ARC-AGI. Chollet blamed the industry’s focus on large language models (LLMs), which he believes aren’t capable of actual “reasoning.”

Amazon forms a new AI agent-focused lab led by Adept co-founder | TechCrunch

December 10, 2024December 9, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon says that it’s establishing a new R&D lab in San Francisco, the Amazon AGI SF Lab, to focus on building “foundational” capabilities for AI agents.

The Amazon AGI SF Lab, which will be led by David Luan, the co-founder of AI startup Adept, will seek to build agents that can “take actions in the digital and physical worlds,” and “handle complex workflows” using computers, web browsers, and code interpreters.

“Our work will build on that of Amazon’s broader AGI team,” reads a post jointly written by Luan and Pieter Abbeel, a robotics research lead who joined Amazon by way of the company’s “license and hire” deal with Covariant. An Amazon spokesperson tells TechCrunch that Abbeel will be working “closely” with Luan and the AGI SF Lab going forward.

OpenAI’s Sora Is Here. How the New AI Video Generator Works. | Entrepreneur

December 9, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

OpenAI has added a new Sora video generator to ChatGPT that can create videos from text, animate images, and convert existing videos to new styles.

OpenAI made Sora broadly available to the general public on Monday after a video announcement showing off what the AI could do.

Per OpenAI’s demo video, Sora starts with a text prompt, an image, or a video, which it then uses to generate videos in resolutions from 480p up to 1080p. It currently produces anywhere from 5 seconds to 20 seconds of video.

Sora can also generate different options for the same prompt. So if a user isn’t sure what they want their AI video to look like, they can ask Sora to generate one, two, or four variations of the same prompt to get more options.

This Coffee and Garden Shop’s Strategies for Winning Customers | Entrepreneur

December 9, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nestled in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, Maypop is a coffee and garden shop known for its cozy charm and abundant greenery. People from all walks of life gather here to reconnect with nature and each other.

Julia Valleroy, Maypop’s administrative coordinator, was once one of those customers seeking a garden escape and a good cup of coffee. Now part of the team, Valleroy says Maypop’s dual business model still provides that warmth and magic for her and many others.

“You really don’t see [anything like Maypop] around here in the Midwest at all,” she says. “How many places can you go where you can get coffee and also buy some flowers for your front porch or a tropical houseplant that you’ve been dreaming of having?”