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Showing posts from August, 2024

Expert questions huge AI investments from Microsoft, Amazon and Google and warns of possible 'Sugar Daddy Boomerang effect' that could potentially end very badly

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The recent surge in cloud spending at Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud has caught the attention of Timothy Prickett Morgan from The Next Platform , prompting him to raise an intriguing question. How much of this seemingly impressive growth, he wonders, is actually being driven by investments in AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, funded by these very tech giants? Recently, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, Amazon has committed $4 billion to Anthropic, and Google has contributed $2.55 billion to Anthropic as well. These substantial investments may not only fuel innovation but, the tech expert warns, also inflate cloud revenues as the money circulates back into cloud spending on the infrastructure provided by these companies. "Sugar daddy" investments This situation, where nearly $20 billion has been invested in OpenAI and Anthropic, much of it likely used for cloud capacity to train and test g
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China is spending billions on eight national datacenter hubs

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support China's "East Data West" computing project is apparently in full swing, with $6.1 billion already invested on eight datacenters across the nation, which aims to complete the project by 2025. The project was announced in February 2022 with the aim to complete eight national computing hubs and 10 national datacenter clusters to move more compute resources to China's western regions processing the data generated in the east. It is part of a greater group of projects looking to improve the country's computing capacity and speed, hoping to double computing power by 50% before 2025, and the latest announcement shows work is well underway, with a total rack size exceeding 1.95 million racks an increase from 1.46 million in March 2024, and a utilization rate of 63%, an increase of 4% since 2022. East Data West Computing The figures were revealed by Liu Liehong, director of the National Data Bureau, at a speech in the recent 2024 B
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Doomed to fail? Most AI projects flop within 12 months, with billions of dollars being wasted

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support New research has claimed the vast majority (80%) of AI-based projects fail, double the normal failure rate for non-AI tech proposals. A study by the Rand Corporation found only 14% of organizations felt fully ready to adopt AI, despite 84% of business leaders reporting they believe the technology will have a significant impact on their organization. The top reason for project failure was identified a lack of understanding and communication between stakeholders and technical staff about the intent and purpose of the project. This means managers often don’t allow teams the time and resources needed - ensuring leaders and tech teams both have the same goals is key. Magpie syndrome Not having the necessary data to sufficiently train their AI model was another issue for new projects - an under investment into the infrastructure to support data governance and model deployment means AI projects take longer and weren’t as effective. This echoes earli
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It's official — nearly all of us are much more productive when we work from home

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Working from home remains an overwhelmingly popular option for people across the world, with new research finding the vast majority (83%) saying they felt more productive in hybrid/remote settings rather than in-office or on site. A survey from Zoom focusing on knowledge workers seemingly confirmed many companies back the trend of post-Covid remote working to continue, with 50% of leaders saying they have introduced more flexible working styles over the last two years, and 82% plan to carry this on into the future. And despite the distance, hybrid workers even report that they are feeling more connected to their teams and managers, with 82% saying they felt a better bond - compared to 72% of in-person workers. Tech needs a top-up Almost all IT leaders who responded confirm they use AI in their organizations (94%), and 84% of those say that this has positively impacted productivity. However nearly two-thirds (64%) of workers noted generative A
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Barriers to Success: Why are Businesses Struggling to Innovate with AI?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Business leaders in 2024 are all excited by the opportunities from artificial intelligence (AI), whether they intend to use it or not. The direct benefits are clear and, particularly in the recent economic climate where business resilience and the bottom line are top of mind. As it stands, most organizations do appear to have big plans for AI. 86% of senior business leaders globally have already deployed AI tools to enhance existing revenue streams or create new ones, according to our recent AI survey of over 1,272 businesses. And in the UK, 92% have AI implementations planned, in process or already completed. But the level of innovation seems to be a sticking point for businesses when incorporating AI into their business plans . 69% of business leaders stated that they are more focused on using AI to spur innovation and increase revenue than on productivity improvement and cost optimization. However in practice this is simply not the case. Just
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This $2,350 weight bench is prettier than anything in my living room

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support My partner and I have very different approaches to interior design. While she (a style-savvy art director) makes the house look good with tasteful additions, I (a fitness writer) clutter it up with bulky exercise equipment. But I’ve recently been introduced to something which could satisfy both camps.  The Technogym Bench is designed to deliver “maximum exercise variety with minimum footprint”, neatly slotting dumbbells, knuckle weights, resistance bands and a yoga mat into a compact weight bench. As you’d expect from the notoriously luxe Italian brand, it looks pretty smart too.  It’s in our Money No Object franchise for a reason  – at $2,350 in the US and £1,450 in the UK (around $AU3,500), it’s hardly a shrewd purchase. But my champagne tastes (if not my beer pockets) couldn’t help but want one, especially after I gave it a go.  (Image credit: Future / Harry Bullmore) The Technogym Bench: What is it? The Technogym team describes its
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You can score a limited edition Apple Watch workout award today – here’s how to get it

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support While it’s not the International Day of Yoga – after all, that only comes once a year on June 21, 2024 – today, August 25, 2024, is a day that Apple Watch workout aficionados should be excited about.  Why? You can earn a limited edition award for completing a workout, and all types are eligible as long as it is for 20 minutes. The occasion is to celebrate natural parks at home or visit one in the United States. That might be for a relaxing meditation or yoga workout on a hill, a hike, or even kayaking. Similarly, it could be a HIIT workout at home.  (Image credit: Apple) While Apple has been celebrating National Parks in the United States' 108th birthday and has been a longstanding partner, anyone who wears an Apple Watch worldwide can complete a workout for 20 minutes today to score the limited-edition award. Plus, you’ll unlock exclusive stickers for iMessage that celebrate the parks. The included stickers are really fun, includ
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I've been using a work laptop with a dedicated Microsoft Copilot key for months now — and it's made me realize one thing

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support When Microsoft Copilot was first announced back in September 2023, I, like many other observers in the technology world, was excited to see what it could do. Offering an AI-boosted way to get exactly the information or help you require whenever you need it, launched with just the press of a dedicated Copilot button (the first major change to the Windows keyboard layout in years) the tool potentially offered a breakthrough for my often manic and chaotic working day. So when given the chance to review the HP Envy x360 14-fc009na, one of the company's first Copilot-enabled business laptops , I jumped at the chance - so how much did Copilot change my working life? Go go Copilot? The dedicated Copilot key in all its glory (Image credit: Future) In short - not much. In fact, to begin with, it was a slight annoyance - the new dedicated Copilot key on the keyboard layout was the victim of more than a few accidental presses as I got used
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Dream Machine 1.5 Catches Sora and other rival AI video makers napping

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Luma Labs has enhanced its Dream Machine AI video generator to a new level of realism and greater ability to interpret your vision. Dream Machine 1.5 should really act as an alarm clock to its rivals to step up their efforts. That's especially true for OpenAI, which seems to keep hitting snooze on releasing its Sora AI video model to the public.  Dream Machine only came out a couple of months ago, but Dream Machine 1.5 is a major step up when it comes to making better videos out of text and image prompts. The most immediate improvement is speed. The new model can generate five seconds of high-quality video in approximately two minutes. That could prove critical for content creators and marketers working under tight deadlines.  Despite making the videos more quickly, Dream Machine 1.5's videos are more realistic than its predecessor. That extends to not only the look of the video as a whole but also the movement on the screen. There are fa
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NFL Sunday Ticket costs almost $700 on iPhones and iPads — here's how to avoid paying so much

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Next month is the start of a new NFL season, and to make things easy for iOS users, YouTube is offering access to NFL Sunday Ticket via the Apple App Store. It’s a must-have service for football fans as it lets you watch every single game in the league, even if they’re out-of-market.  But there’s a problem: purchasing a subscription on an iPhone or iPad will cost you an eye-watering $679.99 for the annual plan. These astronomical prices appear to have been initially discovered by John Ourand of the independent news site Puck . In his newsletter, he says that if you want to add NFL Redzone, you’ll have to pay $739.99 a year. People are understandably irate. You can find multiple reports and comments across the internet expressing their shock at the massive price tag. One X user put it best by simply responding with “Yikes” to the announcement. Fortunately, you do have options. You don’t have to pay nearly $1,000 to just watch American Football
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Survey shows AI is the last thing considered before a purchase, but that's poised for major change

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support If you believe many recent advertising campaigns, artificial intelligence is everywhere and taking over consumer products. But while more people than ever are aware of AI products like ChatGPT, that doesn’t mean they’ve tried any out or that it affects their purchasing choices.  At least, that’s according to a recent survey from Future (TR's parent company) called Demystifying AI. The study, conducted in June, asked a wide range of people about their perception of AI, how they envision using it, and what it means for their buying habits.  Actually, it’s more about what AI doesn’t mean for what people buy. The survey found that, when it comes to buying new tech products, AI is currently dead last for reasons to purchase or decide against doing so. This might come as a surprise, given the rapid integration of AI across the board (with varying degrees of honesty). Nonetheless, brand recognition is the top consideration, with price and operating
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YouTube TV scores a touchdown with custom multiview setups and a way to monitor fantasy rosters

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The next NFL season officially kicks off on September 5, 2024, and ahead of the start date, YouTube TV has revealed multiple new features catering primarily to the American Football audience.  Subscribers to NFL Sunday Ticket will be given the ability to create their own multiview setup, meaning you won't be forced to choose a pre-made combination. YouTube states that users can pull together two, three, or four Sunday Ticket games at once. Subscribers can also enjoy their multiview setup “on mobile devices and tablets, in addition to TVs,” so they’ll never have to worry about missing out on a killer play. Base Plan members will instead have to settle for looking up multiview streams of NFL games airing on locally selected stations, though. YouTube is adding customizable multi-view options to NFL Sunday Ticket, allowing users to build custom two-, three-, or four-game multi-view panels. A big W....pic.twitter.com/I8hLJPFAJJ August 20, 202
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The closest thing to C-3PO can be yours – if you have $16,000

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Unitree G1 humanoid robot has speed, agility, and a slightly haunting faceless head – and it can be yours for $16,000. The G1 is the more polished and accomplished follow-up to Unitree's H1 humanoid , a robot I saw doddering around like an old man at CES 2024 . That bot walked slowly but remained upright even when Unitree developers delivered a kick to its stiff back. G1, by contrast, is more flexible and faster than its predecessor. It might even be able to run away from that kick. In a recently released YouTube video (below), G1 gets up from a prone position, walks, runs, climbs stairs, and handles getting punched and kicked. It then settles onto a couch, rotates its arms and legs 360 degrees, and folds its 77-pound, 4-ft. tall body into a small, carryable size (a developer does come along and hoists G1 over his head). It even engages in a bit of krav maga stick work, which I believe demonstrates how it uses imitation and reinforcement trai
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Can Grammarly's AI bloodhound sniff out text written by ChatGPT?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Grammarly's expansion from writing assistance to AI tools that can write for you continued this week with a new feature designed to spot AI-composed text. Grammarly Authorship is coming to Google Docs as a beta and aims to help educators in particular work out when students are using AI to write their assignments.  Teachers and education policymakers have been wrestling with the issue of figuring out when something is written using AI for a long time, but ChatGPT and its rivals heightened the sense of urgency for such a tool as they make the traditional methods unreliable. The difficulty has been compounded by issues around false positives and difficulties in picking AI compositions from those written by students learning how to write, especially those who have English as a second language.  Grammarly Authorship attempts to address those problems by avoiding the way many existing AI detection tools analyze a text when it's done. Instead,
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Your Google Pixel might make it even easier to capture Astrophotography shots

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Pixe l phones have had an Astrophotography mode for several generations now, allowing users to take great pictures of the stars at night. However, accessing this mode requires you to activate the Night Sight feature first, but that may soon change in a future update.  The unofficial Google News channel on Telegram discovered it could be possible to manually activate Astrophotography mode on Pixel. According to the channel's findings, the change will roll out with the release of the Pixel Camera app version 9.5.118.  To turn on the feature, users will need to go into the Night Sight quick settings menu and enable Astrophotography.  Online reports  say you can switch modes on the fly by scrolling the slider from “Auto” to “Astro” within Night Sight. It’s indicated by an icon featuring a crescent moon with a plus sign, and it should be a lot easier to enable quickly.  (Image credit: Google News/Telegram) Pushing the shutter button sta
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