South Korea bans new downloads of China’s DeepSeek AI | BBC News

February 17, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

South Korea has banned new downloads of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, according to the country’s personal data protection watchdog.

The government agency said the AI model will become available again to South Korean users when “improvements and remedies” are made to ensure it complies with the country’s personal data protection laws.

In the week after it made global headlines, DeepSeek became hugely popular in South Korea leaping to the top of app stores with over a million weekly users.

But its rise in popularity also attracted scrutiny from countries around the world which have imposed restrictions on the app over privacy and national security concerns.

Pope Francis’s health a ‘complex clinical situation’, Vatican says | BBC News

February 17, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Pope Francis is being treated for a “complex clinical situation” and will remain in hospital for as long as necessary, the Vatican has said.

The 88-year-old was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday to undergo treatment and tests for bronchitis.

In an update on Monday, the Vatican said the pontiff has a “polymicrobial infection” of his respiratory tract, which has required a change in his treatment.

Before his admission last week, the Pope had bronchitis symptoms for several days and had delegated officials to read prepared speeches at events.

UK drops ‘safety’ from its AI body, now called AI Security Institute, inks MOU with Anthropic | TechCrunch

February 14, 2025February 13, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The U.K. government wants to make a hard pivot into boosting its economy and industry with AI, and as part of that, it’s pivoting an institution that it founded a little over a year ago for a very different purpose. Today the Department of Science, Industry and Technology announced that it would be renaming the AI Safety Institute to the “AI Security Institute.” (Same first letters: same URL.) With that, the body will shift from primarily exploring areas like existential risk and bias in large language models, to a focus on cybersecurity, specifically “strengthening protections against the risks AI poses to national security and crime.”

Alongside this, the government also announced a new partnership with Anthropic. No firm services were announced but the MOU indicates the two will “explore” using Anthropic’s AI assistant Claude in public services; and Anthropic will aim to contribute to work in scientific research and economic modeling. And at the AI Security Institute, it will provide tools to evaluate AI capabilities in the context of identifying security risks.

TikTok is back on the App Store and the Play Store in the U.S. | TechCrunch

February 14, 2025February 13, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

After more than 25 days, Apple and Google restored TikTok in the U.S Thrusday evening. Both companies removed the app from the App Store and the Play Store on January 18 in response to a national security law.

Other ByteDance apps such as video editor CapCut and social app Lemon8 were also restored on these app stores. Apple, which published a rare support document detailing these removals, has deleted the support document now.

On January 19, TikTok started restoring services to existing users, but Apple and Google kept the app out of their stores. That meant if you had uninstalled TikTok, you wouldn’t have been able get it. Earlier this month, TikTok urged users on Android to sideload the app via its website.

JPMorgan Is Reportedly Laying Off Around 1,000 Workers | Entrepreneur

February 13, 2025February 12, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

JPMorgan has begun laying off what is expected to be fewer than 1,000 employees, according to a report by Barron’s.

The outlet notes that this round of layoffs affected “several” Houston offices and some now-former employees were notified on February 5. However, this isn’t the end.

JPMorgan is set to announce job cuts in mid-March, May, June, August, and September, though Barron’s states it is not clear how many roles will be impacted by the planned layoffs throughout the year.

T-Mobile Starlink is offering free (temporary) access even if you’re not a T-Mobile customer | Mashable

February 12, 2025February 11, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

T-Mobile’s Starlink satellite messaging service is free for everyone to try — even AT&T and Verizon customers.

During the Super Bowl on Sunday, T-Mobile announced the public beta launch of its direct-to-cell program with Starlink. Customers can sign up, free of charge, until it moves out of beta in July. And you don’t have to be a T-Mobile subscriber to try it out.

“When your service is amazing and different, you want as many people to try it as possible,” reads the announcement. “T-Mobile is giving AT&T and Verizon customers the opportunity to try out T-Mobile Starlink satellite service on their existing phones.”

McDonald’s was having a rough 2024. An E. coli outbreak made it worse | CNN Business

February 11, 2025February 10, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Visits to McDonald’s plunged because of an E. coli outbreak last fall — and so did its profits.

Fourth-quarter sales at McDonald’s locations open for at least one year fell 1.4% in the United States, a reversal compared to the same time period a year prior when sales rose 4.3%. The rough quarter only compounded with the rest of a tough 2024, with McDonald’s value perception slipping among its cash-conscious customers, many of whom ended up eating elsewhere.

“Our performance in 2024 did not meet our expectations,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on a call with analysts Monday. “It was a big year, and at times it felt like McDonald’s was part of almost every major news story, reflecting the reach and visibility of our brand.”

Trump instructs Treasury to halt penny production | CNN Business

February 11, 2025February 10, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of pennies, citing the high cost of producing one cent.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump said in a post to social media as he returned to Washington from the Super Bowl.

The penny has been under fire for years, with the movement to eliminate the penny picking up steam last month after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency posted on X calling attention to the high cost of producing the single-cent coin.

Ford lost $5 billion on its EV business in 2024—and things could get worse this year | Fast Company

February 6, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ford Motor on Wednesday projected up to $5.5 billion in losses on its electric vehicle and software operations this year, a loss similar to last year and a sign of the severe difficulties in cutting costs on battery-powered models.

The automaker forecast overall profitability for 2025, but even that was lower than in 2024. For the fourth quarter, it reported a net profit of $1.8 billion, up from a loss of $500 million in the year-ago quarter as pension-related costs weighed on results.

The company’s shares were down nearly 5% in after-hours trading

Nevada dairy cows have been infected with a new strain of bird flu | Fast Company

February 6, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year, Agriculture Department officials said Wednesday.

The detection indicates that distinct forms of the virus known as Type A H5N1 have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises new questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them.