IBM To Pause Hiring In Plan To Replace 7,800 Jobs With AI
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At this point, Apple offers its users services to make purchases, transact sales, buy items on credit using a card, save money, a virtual currency, and to make small transactions over time at zero interest rates. It takes a tiny cut of cash from all these transactions. But even now the Apple Pay story is still just beginning.
Think back to the financial crash, when an out-of-control banking sector set in motion a chain of events that left many people today poorer than they were and it’s not hard to figure out why tech firms are finding it easy to chomp away at the core banking business. No one likes the banks any more.
Microsoft’s Bing, the search engine you absolutely forgot about until three months ago, may be on the brink of a comeback so major that it has Google shaking in its boots. The New York Times reports that Samsung has been considering using Bing as the default search engine for its phones, replacing long-time partner Google.
While, as the Times noted, it’s not explicitly clear that the launch of Bing’s AI-enabled search drove Samsung to consider ditching Google, that possibility has caused internal “panic” at Google, which brings in about $3 billion annually from the Samsung partnership. As a result, Google has apparently put AI development into overdrive.
But why does Google care about a deal that makes up less than two percent of the company’s $162 million search ads business? Because a loss like that is one ugly crack in an otherwise impenetrable facade. Google’s primary money-making business is search ads and the New York Times calls “AI competitors like the new Bing… the most serious threat to Google’s search business in 25 years.”
Plus, the AI market is heating up, and Google wants to be a contender. As it rushes to build a new AI-based search engine, the company is upgrading its existing search with AI features under a project named Magi. Other product ideas in development include a tool that uses AI to generate images in Google Image results and another that teaches users a new language via AI text conversations.
But Google may have a long road ahead of it. Its AI chatbot Bard was released last month to mixed reviews as ChatGPT continued to impress. Now that Samsung’s eye is wandering, Google has to step up its game before it gets stepped on.
On newer iPhone models such as the iPhone 14, users currently power off their device by simultaneously pressing the Side button and either volume buttons, while the same buttons are used in another combination to perform a hard reset.
However, with the mute switch expected to be dropped in favor of a potentially customizable “Action” button, this latter new button will take on the role of the volume buttons when powering off/resetting the iPhone 15 Pro models, according to the leaker who goes by the Twitter alias @analyst941.
“The volume up and power button will no longer be used to power off the device, or ‘force-restart’ it,” claimed the leaker in a tweet. “The sequence remains, but the combination will be changed to action and power button.”
In a follow-up tweet, the leaker also claimed that the “Action” button will replace the volume up button for taking photos in the Camera app, with force-sensitivity enabling a light press to auto-focus the camera, a hard press to take a picture, and a hard/long press to record video.
At this point, it’s important to take the second claim about Force Touch sensitive functions with a pinch of salt. Several other sources have indicated that Apple has encountered technical issues with capacitive buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models and will now delay them for a later version of the iPhone. For what it’s worth, @analyst941, who has been the source of previously accurate pre-launch information, disputes this claim and believes they are still coming to the iPhone 15 Pro.
A unified volume button was also a design planned for solid-state technology, but Apple is said to be opting to stick with the current design now that solid-state buttons have been delayed.
For more on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, we have a dedicated iPhone 15 Pro roundup that aggregates everything we’ve heard so far, and we also have a separate iPhone 15 roundup that gives a better idea of the differences between the Pro and non-Pro models.
This article, “iPhone 15 Pro ‘Action’ Button to Replace Role of Volume Buttons When Performing a Power Off/Force Restart” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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HBO has undergone several different rebranding efforts over the years, as there were previously HBO GO and HBO Now streaming services that were merged into HBO Max in 2020. The “Max” rebrand that drops the HBO name comes after a 2022 merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia. At the time of the merger, the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery company made it clear that HBO Max would eventually be combined with Discovery+, and rumors in December hinted at the “Max” naming.
Abandoning the HBO branding is a curious decision as the HBO Max streaming service is known for some very popular shows, such as Succession, Game of Thrones, Euphoria, The White Lotus, and The Last of Us. The Max streaming service will have three different price points available:
Warner Bros. says that existing HBO Max subscribers that subscribe through HBO will have access to Max at the same price as their HBO Max subscription, with more information available on the HBO Max website. Those who subscribe through a TV, mobile, or wireless provider will be informed of any price or plan changes.
“Max” is set to launch on May 23, and it will include HBO Max content and Discovery TV content such as HGTV, the Food Network, ID, TLC, and more. Alongside the launch of the service, Warner Bros. also announced a new Harry Potter television series as well as another Game of Thrones prequel show.
On some platforms, the HBO Max app will automatically be updated to the Max app, and on others, users will be prompted to download the Max app when attempting to open the HBO Max app. Discovery+ customers can sign up as new Max customers, as those subscriptions will not transition. Discovery+ will continue to be available as a standalone service.
This article, “Warner Bros. to Replace HBO Max With New ‘Max’ Streaming Service” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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Update, 6:30PM ET: The retweet labels are back on the web (it may take clearing your browser cache along with a refresh to see them again, which you can do in Chrome by pressing the Shift button plus clicking refresh). Twitter PR did not comment on the labels’ disappearance or their return. The original article follows below.
Looks like it’s going to be another normal week on the bird site: people’s “Following” timelines are seemingly being flooded with unlabeled retweets from people they don’t follow, and a lot of people are seeing a Doge icon where the company’s bird logo used to be.
Regarding the first one, no, your Following timeline isn’t suddenly being run by the algorithm behind the “For You” one. Twitter has simply stopped…