TikTok continues to be on shaky ground in the United States. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld a law passed by Congress last year that required a ban of the Chinese-owned app unless it was sold to a government-approved buyer. Hours before the law took effect, TikTok went dark briefly, then flickered back to…
We live at a time when everything is available at every moment. Just on your phone, you can order lunch, bet on sports, read this story, watch porn, chat with a friend, chat with a stranger, chat with a large language model or buy a car. Dr. Anna Lembke says that all that convenience and…
When Norbert died last week, just shy of 16 years old, tens of thousands of comments and tributes poured in. “My family is heartbroken,” Steines wrote as part of a lengthy announcement. Pet content remains one of the last bastions of joy on social media. Norbert and many other beloved online dogs — all blissfully…
How do you want your social media pages, smartphone photos and computer files handled after you die? While property and money distribution are usually at the top of the estate-planning list, don’t forget to leave instructions regarding your digital accounts and assets — so your survivors are left with more than just random bits and…
Amazon’s Alexa is undergoing its biggest overhaul since debuting more than a decade ago. On Wednesday, Amazon said it was giving Alexa a new brain powered by generative artificial intelligence. The update, called Alexa+, is set to make the virtual assistant more conversational and helpful in booking concert tickets, coordinating calendars and suggesting food to…
I am not a coder. I can’t write a single line of Python, JavaScript or C++. Except for a brief period in my teenage years when I built websites and tinkered with Flash animations, I’ve never been a software engineer, nor do I harbor ambitions of giving up journalism for a career in the tech…
A “Friday evening matinee?” To quote the Gershwins, it ain’t necessarily so. But that’s how modern artificial intelligence suggested I hit Broadway. When I was asked to see what A.I. gets right and wrong about visiting New York City, I was deeply curious and felt well qualified for the assignment — I’ve been a resident…
Within a modern but nondescript building a few hundred feet from Stockholm’s pretty Riddarfjarden Bay, a frosted glass wall in Josef Fares’s office displays etched characters from It Takes Two, his video game studio’s “Toy Story”-esque cooperative adventure about an adult couple’s broken relationship. Near his desk, in a lighted case, sits a pair of…
