When browsing social media it is sometimes hard to discern reality from AI. Is a video of bunnies jumping on a trampoline at night real-life? Probably not. But while some of us are stuck trying to figure out the authenticity of visual content, Spotify is jumping ahead to help users know if who they are listening to is actually human. The streaming giant’s newest feature, Verified by Spotify, gives artists who have been reviewed by Spotify a mint-green check beside their profile. The company evaluates robust criteria to determine a profile’s authenticity and trust, including data related to listener activity,…
Author: Staff Writer
McDonald’s’ latest menu drop is making a Mormon treat mainstream. On Tuesday, April 28, McDonald’s officially announced six new beverages coming to its menu on May 6. That includes three “crafted sodas”—Sprite Berry Blast, Orange Dream, and Dirty Dr Pepper—which combine sodas with flavored syrups and cold foam. The drinks make McDonald’s the latest franchise to embrace the concept of “dirty soda,” or soda with mixed-in flavors and creams. But dirty soda is more than just a viral food trend: It’s a cultural mainstay of Mormon communities, which have embraced the concept since it first rose to prominence in Utah,…
In a previous piece, I argued that large language models are not enterprise architecture. The response was clear: that argument is hard to dismiss. The harder question is what comes next: “if not this, then what?” It’s the right question. Because the problem was never that AI doesn’t work. It clearly does. The problem is that we tried to place it in the wrong layer. We didn’t fail at AI. We failed at where we put it. Over the last two years, companies have invested tens of billions into generative AI. The result is not ambiguity. It’s clarity. A growing…
Electric bills are rising in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just like in other cities. But a new city program is starting to install city-owned solar panels and batteries at homes, a move that could save some residents hundreds a year. The first projects are underway now. For residents, it’s a way to get the benefits of solar without the upfront investment. “Any other way, I couldn’t afford to do it,” says Bruce Schauer, age 80, who saw the advantages of adding solar panels and a battery, but wouldn’t have gotten a system otherwise. After his system is installed in the next…
A new analysis suggests Americans are being overcharged by $150 billion annually to insure their homes, autos and businesses — and it proposes federal guardrails so that a public beset by affordability pressures could see savings.The analysis by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how insurers are paying out less on claims after an accident, natural disaster or other misfortune than they did decades ago. For every $1 collected in premiums, insurers reimbursed 62 cents for claims in 2024, down from an average loss ratio of 80 cents in the 1980s and 1990s.The analysis wades…
Yesterday, two of the biggest tech giants in the AI boom reported their latest earnings. Google parent company Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) posted Q1 2026 results with some striking similarities, including a surge in capital expenditures (capex) and strong revenue growth. But this morning, Meta’s stock is plunging, while Google’s is jumping. Here’s why. Google’s Q1 results give investors confidence in its AI strategy The way investors are reacting so differently to the two AI giants’ earnings results this morning makes the quarterly reports feel like A Tale of Two Cities, sorry,…
One of the hardest parts of being a homeowner is knowing whom to call when something goes wrong with your house—a process that starts with figuring out what’s actually wrong in the first place. “What if you wake up, you’ve got a wet spot on the ceiling, and you’re like, Oh crap, I’ve got a problem, but I don’t actually know what it is or who to hire?” says Marco Zappacosta, cofounder and CEO of the home-services marketplace Thumbtack. The 18-year-old platform has made a robust business of helping homeowners navigate the sometimes bewildering process of home improvements and repairs…
I never thought I’d see discussions of looksmaxxing on LinkedIn of all places. But nowadays, I increasingly am. For the uninitiated, “looksmaxxing” is an internet term that originated on incel message boards in the 2010s. It’s a practice that encapsulates various extreme methods, such as jaw surgery, that some men go through to improve their looks. (Or, in the language of masculinity-coded productivity culture: to achieve peak optimization.) “Looksmaxxing” entered the zeitgeist in earnest after it seemingly started when its patron saint, the 20-year-old influencer Clavicular, appeared at New York Fashion Week last month, with profiles in The New York…
We are living through the most rapid and sweeping digitalization in history. The average adult touches their phone hundreds if not thousands of times a day. And yet, at this moment of peak digital saturation, a countermovement is taking shape in schools, governments, and research institutions. More and more people have reached the conclusion that for human beings to think well, learn deeply, and stay mentally healthy, we may need significantly less technology. Consider what’s happening in education. Australia passed legislation banning children under 16 from social media entirely. Sweden, having spent a decade rolling tablets into every classroom and…
President Donald Trump’s Blockade will propel a depression in Europe. This may be the time for China to do the same to Taiwan. Trump has told his aides to get ready for a risky, extended blockade of Iran. The computer warned from the outset that this would NOT be a quick in-and-out as Netanyahu told Trump. It’s always his same tactics – assassinate the leadership and the government will fall. Netanyahu is a HIGHLY dangerous psychopath in my opinion. He has NEVER been correct even once. And as this clip from his 2002 testimony before Congress, cheering on the Iraq…