Category: News and Views

French election shock hits stocks and the euro | CNN Business

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French markets and the euro were roiled Monday by President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to call a snap election after his party lost to the far right in a vote for European lawmakers.

Big gains for the far right in the French election could force Macron to govern with a hostile parliament, making it harder for his centrist administration to pursue its policy agenda and raising doubts about its ability to put government finances on a more sustainable footing.

France’s CAC 40 index, which represents 40 of the biggest companies listed in Paris, fell 1.8% by 11.02 a.m. ET, with banks among the biggest losers. Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 index was trading 0.5% down on the day by the same time.

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Salmonella outbreak tied to cucumbers sickens 162 | Live Science

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Cucumbers contaminated with Salmonella bacteria have been tied to an outbreak that has affected at least 162 people in the United States.

Of these, 54 people have been hospitalized and none have died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Wednesday (June 5).

The agency noted that the total number of sick people is likely higher than reported. That’s because some people recover from Salmonella infection without medical care, and it can take weeks to deduce that confirmed cases of the illness are connected to an ongoing outbreak.

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1st Neuralink user describes highs and lows of living with Elon Musk’s brain chip | Live Science

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Noland Arbaugh has a computer chip embedded in his skull and an electrode array in his brain. But Arbaugh, the first user of the Neuralink brain-computer interface, or BCI, says he wouldn’t know the hardware was there if he didn’t remember going through with the surgery. “If I had lost my memory, and I woke up, and you told me there was something implanted in my brain, then I probably wouldn’t believe you,” says the 30-year-old Arizona resident, who has been paralyzed below the middle of his neck since a 2016 swimming accident. “I have no sensation of it—no way of telling it’s there unless someone goes and physically pushes on it.”

The Neuralink chip may be physically unobtrusive, but Arbaugh says it’s had a big impact on his life, allowing him to “reconnect with the world.” He underwent robotic surgery in January to receive the N1 Implant, also called “the Link,” in Neuralink’s first approved human trial.

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Lab-grown meat faces bans before it’s even in stores | Fast Company

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Lab-grown meat is not currently available in any U.S. grocery stores or restaurants. If some lawmakers have their way, it never will be.

Earlier this month, both Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. In Iowa, the governor signed a bill prohibiting schools from buying lab-grown meat. Federal lawmakers are also looking to restrict it.

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Georgia’s Plant Vogtle debuts while Biden administration calls for more nuclear energy | Fast Company

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U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday called for more nuclear reactors to be built in the United States and worldwide. But the CEO of the Georgia utility that just finished the first two scratch-built American reactors in a generation at a cost of nearly $35 billion says his company isn’t ready to pick up that baton.

Speaking in Waynesboro, Georgia, where Georgia Power Co. and three other utilities last month put a second new nuclear reactor into commercial operation, Granholm said the United States needs 98 more reactors with the capacity of units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle to produce electricity while reducing climate-changing carbon emissions. Each of the two new reactors can power 500,000 homes and businesses without releasing any carbon.

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15 Major Legal Mistakes Made by Startups | AllBusiness.com

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When launching a new startup, you can face significant business and legal challenges. We have seen plenty of legal mistakes made by entrepreneurs and startup companies. The following are some of the more common and problematic legal mistakes made by small and growing companies. These mistakes are made at the initial formation of the business, in the early stages of growth, and when dealing with employees.

Legal mistake #1: Not making the deal clear with co-founders

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Zoom Enhances AI Capabilities to Boost Productivity and Collaboration | Small Biz Trends

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Zoom has announced the general availability of new AI capabilities across Zoom Workplace, including enhanced features for Zoom Meetings and Zoom Team Chat.

The AI Companion, Zoom’s generative AI assistant, now offers more customization, personalization, and quick reply capabilities. Since its launch in September 2023, over 700,000 accounts have enabled AI Companion, with adoption rates steadily increasing.

Here’s a look at some of the new features:

  • Quick Reply for Mobile: The AI Companion can now suggest short, contextual replies in Team Chat on mobile devices, helping users stay engaged and aligned from anywhere.
  • Custom AI Companion Notice: When an AI Companion feature is enabled in a meeting, a customizable notice informs attendees. This feature allows enterprises to tailor the notice with their own text, formatting, hyperlinks, and more, enhancing the Zoom experience for their needs.
  • External Collaboration Settings: New settings and a dashboard in Team Chat give admins better control over external users. Admins can enable or disable approvals for adding external users to group chats and channels and view all external connections in the External Connections dashboard.
  • Tedious tasks can hinder creativity and productivity. Zoom’s AI Companion helps relieve employees of these tasks, allowing them to focus on more meaningful work.

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GoDaddy Expands GenAI Prompt Library to Boost Small Business Support | Small Biz Trends

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GoDaddy has expanded its Small Business Generative AI (GenAI) Prompt Library to boost small business support and success. This enhanced library now offers over 185 prompts and introduces new features and languages, making it easier for entrepreneurs to leverage GenAI in their daily operations.

Empowering Entrepreneurs with GenAI

Keeping up with GenAI advancements can be daunting for small business owners. GoDaddy’s expanded GenAI Prompt Library (smallbusinessprompts.com) simplifies this process, providing tools to help entrepreneurs tackle common business challenges.

“GoDaddy’s GenAI Prompt Library is a powerful tool for small business owners interested in leveraging GenAI but don’t know where to start,” said Eugene Ware, Director of Engineering and Machine Learning at GoDaddy.

The new prompts in GoDaddy’s library are designed to be more interactive. When copied to a GenAI chatbot, these prompts now ask for specific information such as the business name, target audience, and location. This interactivity ensures that the output is highly relevant and useful.

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Green Energy’s Impact on the Economy | Business

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The world still depends heavily on coal, oil and natural gas to meet its energy needs. However, the use of these energy sources has a drastic impact on the environment. Furthermore, fossil fuels are nonrenewable, so they won’t last forever. As their supplies dwindle, they’ll become more expensive and challenging to retrieve while still damaging the environment.

In response, more countries are shifting away from nonrenewable energy sources and turning to “green energy” to mitigate environmental damage while benefiting the economy. We’ll explore green energy, its economic and environmental impacts and how businesses can take advantage of renewable resources.

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The 7 major things I expect to see at Computex 2024 | Digital Trends

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Computex will be big this year. Coming off a seismic shift in the world of PCs just a week ago with the introduction of Copilot+, Computex is the perfect place for the rest of the industry to show off what it’s been up to. This year, I’ll be on the ground in Taipei City, Taiwan, and there are some key products I expect to see.

It won’t be long before we have all the juicy details on what AMD, Intel, and Nvidia have been working on, with the show going from June 4 to June 7. There are already plenty of breadcrumbs for what we could see get announced though, so let’s get into it.

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