There’s another recall affecting sprouts, but this time it’s not the alfalfa variety. Instead, this sprout recall is linked to broccoli sprouts that have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. So far, the outbreak linked to the broccoli sprouts has sickened nearly two dozen people in multiple states. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced another ongoing investigation linked to sprouts. This investigation involves broccoli sprouts produced by Evergreen Fresh Sprouts LLC of Moyie Springs, Idaho. The sprouts are believed to be the source of a Salmonella outbreak currently…
Author: Staff Writer
In recent weeks, the United States has succeeded in loosening Iran’s grip over the Strait of Hormuz while virtually shutting down Iran’s own oil exports, accelerating its economic free fall.But the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February — intended to last a few weeks — is still far from over, and the stalemate is costly for both sides. An agreement reached in June quickly crumbled, with no sign of diplomatic progress since then. Low-level fighting persists, and the U.S. does not seem to have an exit strategy.The mounting economic pressure on Iran has yet to stoke an…
If you’re unsettled about Netflix watching your every move during your next embarrassing binge watch, you’re not alone. In a new lawsuit, the state of Florida accused the streaming giant of deceiving customers about its plans to make money from ads, concealing the ways it collects behavioral data, and exposing kids to addictive design features. “Netflix told Florida families they could pay a monthly fee to escape Big Tech surveillance. That was false,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a press release. “Netflix collected detailed data on children and families, designed its product to keep kids watching, and then…
Meta may have been a bit too enthusiastic in its highly publicized campaign to reduce middle management. The social media giant has reportedly been asking some individual contributors in its Applied AI (AAI) division if they would like to return to managerial roles, according to Business Insider, citing four people with “knowledge of the matter.” Meta declined a request for comment. Meta formed the AAI division in March to support its superintelligence efforts. Meta said the division’s teams would have a “flat” structure, with up to 50 individual contributors for each manager. Some individual contributors in the 7,000-person unit had previously been in management. The…
When employees at Meta learned that the company would start collecting their data to train AI models, there was a swift backlash. Many of them openly pushed back on Meta’s plan to capture keystrokes and mouse movements, circulating an online petition and urging their colleagues to sign. Within just two months—and after an internal leak—Meta has put an end to the program, at least for now. A new report from Business Insider chronicles what happened internally as Meta shared its plans with employees, revealing just how quickly the program was shelved over employee concerns and a breach in data privacy.…
If it’s a day ending in Y, you can count on a story that further erodes the public’s trust in Big Tech. This week it was Sony Music and Warner suing Anthropic over copyright, accusing the AI company of illicitly pirating music and song lyrics from its catalog to train its AI models. With the lawsuit, Anthropic is now officially the target of all three major music publishers, since Universal brought a similar action in January. As copyright lawsuits go, the allegations are pretty juicy. They paint a picture of Anthropic brazenly pirating music catalogs through torrenting and copying huge…
Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In. On Wednesday, Apple held its annual September product launch at its Steve Jobs Theater. The event will be remembered for two debuts. One was the long-awaited announcement of the company’s first folding phone, the iPhone Duo. The other was the first public appearance of its new CEO, John Ternus, who appeared briefly in person and at length in the prerecorded keynote presentation. I came to Cupertino looking forward to the time I’d get with the folding iPhone in Apple’s post-keynote demo area. Though hardly enough to render a firm verdict…
In 2017, I bought my first Birkin. Not because I wanted to impress anyone. Not because it was a status symbol. I bought it because I saw it as an investment. As an entrepreneur, I naturally look at assets differently. If something has the potential to hold or appreciate in value, I’m interested. Ironically, after spending so much on the bag, I barely used it. It stayed in my closet because I was afraid of scratching it, staining it, or hurting its resale value. One day I caught myself thinking, What’s the point of owning something you’re too afraid to use? So…
For the next ten days, while everyone else is settling back into school and ushering in autumn with pumpkin spice lattes, Jewish Americans will be celebrating the “Days of Awe,” starting with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and ending with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Days of Awe start at sundown on Friday, September 11, followed by 10 days of somber reflection on the past year. Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and deep reflection for which Jews traditionally fast—it begins at sundown on Sunday, September 20 and finishes at the end of…
For more than 25 years, I’ve been the “Computer Guy” for friends, family, and colleagues who call when something digital goes sideways. Lately, those calls have changed. The questions used to be about slow computers and forgotten passwords. Now, almost every conversation circles back to the same two words: artificial intelligence. The concern is understandable—and underscored by recent warnings from high-profile AI researchers about the threat of superintelligence. AI is in our home appliances, work products and even attends our meetings. It shapes the apps we use, the content we see, and the messages we receive. Voice assistants listen to…