Snapchat’s AI chatbot is now opening up to a global audience, the company announced today at its Snap Partner Summit. Initially launched in February, the feature originally allowed Snapchat’s paid subscribers to chat with an AI chatbot powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology directly in its app. Now it will be available for free. To date, users have sent nearly 2 million messages per day using the chatbot, Snap noted. With today’s global expansion, the feature is also being upgraded with new functionality, including the ability to add My AI to group chats, get recommendations for places on Snap Map and Lenses, and share Snaps with My AI and receive chat replies.
Microsoft kicks Twitter in the teeth | TechCrunch
Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform next week, nearly two months after Twitter announced that it will begin charging a minimum of $42,000 per month to users of its API, which include enterprises and research institutions.
Users began receiving emails about its new pricing details in early March, per a Wired report that observed at the time that the new pricing scheme “prices out nearly everyone.”
With its $2.15 trillion market cap and roughly $100 billion cash on hand at the end of last year, Microsoft obviously has the money to pay Twitter what it wants, so the move appears to be a bit of a statement, even as Microsoft is declining to elaborate further about its decision.
7 Short-Form Video Mistakes to Avoid in Your Marketing Strategy | Entrepreneur
Over the past few years, short-form video has become one of the most engaging and fastest-growing content types across social media platforms.
TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have all seen meteoric growth, garnering billions of users. According to Statista, Shorts alone boasts 30 billion views daily and 1.5 billion monthly active users in 2023.
Consequently, vertical short-form video has immense potential for digital marketers and businesses alike, and many now incorporate it into their strategies.
Trader Joe’s Cashier Goes Viral for Unexpected Act of Kindness | Entrepreneur
Everyone has had one of those days when nothing seems to go right.
Now, in a teary-eyed video that’s garnered over 57,800 views, a Trader Joe’s employee is being praised by a shopper for an unexpected act of kindness that turned her day around.
TikToker Danielle Blakey tearfully tells viewers that she will only shop at Trader Joe’s grocery stores from now on, explaining how she went into the store to pick up some items at night after having “a really hard couple of days,” although she didn’t specify what was going on.
“I’m normally really good at like masking my feelings,” she explains to viewers. “Clearly I was not tonight.”
Minimally Invasive Surgical Instruments | Cool Business Ideas
One of the challenges of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery lies in getting surgical instruments into the patient’s body via a narrow catheter. Scientists have set about addressing that problem, with magnetic instruments that pop into and out of shape as needed.
The experimental MaSoChain (magnetic soft-robotic chain) system was developed at Switzerland’s ETH Zurich research institute, by a team led by doctoral student Hongri Gu. He is now a postdoc at the University of Konstanz.
In a nutshell, MaSoChain incorporates 3D-printed surgical instruments made up of small rigid polymer segments linked by flexible elastic connectors. Each segment has a tiny strategically placed magnet inside. When inserted into a catheter, the components all sit end-to-end in a row, “like a string of pearls.”
Twitter will limit reach of ‘hateful’ content with a label, not removal | Mashable
You can still find hate speech on Elon Musk’s Twitter. But now, some of it will come with a warning label.
According to Twitter, the company will start rolling out new warning labels on tweets that break its “Hateful Conduct” rules. Tweets with this label will have “limited visibility” on the platform, meaning that Twitter’s algorithm will reduce its reach — that is, fewer people will see the content, as its ability to be found via search or discovered via recommendations will be stifled.
Why don’t hurricanes form at the equator? | Live Science
The fierce winds of a hurricane are known as tropical cyclones in some parts of the world, so you might expect them to sweep across the entire tropics. But there’s one area of the tropics where hurricanes almost never form: the equator.
Historical maps of the locations of tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes, depending on the location) would reveal that “it is extremely rare for them to form within a few degrees of the equator,” Gary Barnes(opens in new tab), a meteorologist who’s now retired from the University of Hawaii, told Live Science. (One degree of latitude covers about 69 miles, or 111 kilometers.)
But why aren’t there hurricanes at the equator?
Problems That Can Kill a Small Business | Business News Daily
Money, leadership and employees are just a few problems that destroy small businesses.
- Small businesses face potentially devastating issues like poor cash flow, inadequate leadership, disengaged employees and more.
- To keep your business alive and thriving, create a financial plan, hire an effective leadership team and prioritize a strong company culture.
- Research your business’ competition to market your products or services more effectively and attract customers to your brand.
- This article is for small business owners who want to learn about and circumvent common problems that can derail success.
Starting a business comes with inherent challenges and pitfalls. However, even when you’re off to a good start, keeping a company running successfully isn’t for the faint of heart. Many small businesses encounter issues that prove to be insurmountable, leading to business closure and dashed dreams.
How to Make Time Work For You — The Time Mastery Framework | LifeHack
Do you feel as though you don’t have enough time? And you’re not really in control of time, is it?
We have no control over how quickly time passes; especially with so many demands on our time and energy for everyday matters, we can easily feel overwhelmed and swept. As a result, we may feel helpless or as if time is working against us.
While you can’t control time itself, you can control how you spend it. It is much preferable to spend one hour of high-quality time on things that are important to you than ten hours doing things that are not time-worthy. When it comes to time, quality is always more important than quantity.
In this article, you will learn how to improve your quality of time and take back control of your day with LifeHack’s unique framework on time management.
EPA gas car crackdown: Is Biden’s America ready for this many EVs? | Fast Company
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new car-pollution rules, proposed on Wednesday, represent one of President Biden’s most aggressive policies to tackle climate change to date. If enacted, the tailpipe standards would have the effect of making U.S. emissions standards so strict over the next decade that electric vehicle sales would climb radically—from 5.8% of vehicles sold last year, to an estimate of 64% to 67% by 2032. At a press conference Wednesday, EPA Administrator Michael Regan called the regulations “the strongest-ever federal pollution standards for cars and trucks.”
Ultimately, the Biden administration claims it could cut car exhaust in half. The proposed regulations are the latest in a yearslong push to make America’s car industry greener. Early in his presidency, Biden declared: “The future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back.” The EPA’s proposed rule change is evidence that the administration is sticking with that—but transforming America into a country where there are no gas engines in two-thirds of all new cars sold will be a bumpy ride, which requires addressing several challenges of EVs.
Dispatches From The Front 