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  • Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media in major blow to TikTok | CNN Business

    Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media in major blow to TikTok | CNN Business

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    Jakarta
    Reuters
     — 

    Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, the trade minister said on Wednesday, in a blow to short video app TikTok, which is doubling down on Southeast Asia’s biggest economy to boost its e-commerce business.

    The government said the move, which takes effect immediately, is aimed at protecting offline merchants and marketplaces, adding that predatory pricing on social media platforms is threatening small and medium-sized enterprises.

    The move comes just three months after TikTok pledged to invest billion of dollars in Southeast Asia, mainly in Indonesia, over the next few years in a major push to build its e-commerce platform TikTok Shop.

    TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has 125 million active monthly users in Indonesia and has been looking to translate the large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source.

    A TikTok Indonesia spokesperson said it would pursue a constructive path forward and was “deeply concerned” with the announcement, “particularly how it would impact the livelihoods of the 6 million” local sellers active on TikTok Shop.

    Indonesia Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Wednesday told reporters that the regulation is intended to ensure “fair and just” business competition, adding that it was also intended to ensure data protection of users.

    He warned of letting social media become an e-commerce platform, shop and bank all at the same time.

    The new regulation also requires e-commerce platforms in Indonesia to set a minimum price of $100 for certain items that are directly purchased from abroad, according to the regulation document reviewed by Reuters, and that all products offered should meet local standards.

    Zulkifli said TikTok had one week to comply with the regulation or face the threat of closure. Indonesia Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga earlier this month named TikTok’s live streaming features as an example of people selling goods on social media.

    Research firm BMI said TikTok would be the only business affected by the transaction ban and the move was unlikely to harm the digital marketplace industry’s growth.

    Indonesia’s e-commerce market is dominated by the likes of homegrown tech firm GoTo’s Tokopedia, Sea’s Shopee and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Lazada.

    E-commerce transactions in Indonesia amounted to nearly $52 billion last year and of that, 5% took place on TikTok, according to data from consultancy Momentum Works.

    Indonesia is among the few markets where TikTok has launched TikTok Shop, as it seeks to leverage its large user base in the country.

    Its 125 million active monthly users in Indonesia is almost on par with its user figures for Europe and behind US users of more than 150 million. TikTok launched an online shopping service in the United States earlier this month.

    Reactions from retailers were mixed.

    Fahmi Ridho, a vendor selling clothes on TikTok, said the platform was a way for stores to recover from the blow dealt by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “Sales don’t have to be necessarily through [brick and mortar] shops, you can do it online or wherever,” he said “Everything will still have a portion.”

    But Edri, who goes by one name only and sells clothes at a major wholesale market in Jakarta, agreed with the regulation and stressed that there should be limits on items sold online.

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  • Major Supreme Court cases to watch in the new term | CNN Politics

    Major Supreme Court cases to watch in the new term | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Looking at an upcoming Supreme Court term from the vantage point of the first Monday in October rarely tells the full story of what lies ahead, but the docket already includes major cases concerning the intersection between the First Amendment and social media, gun rights, racial gerrymandering and the power of the executive branch when it comes to regulation.

    The court will still determine if it will hear oral arguments on issues such as medication abortion and transgender rights, not to mention the possibility of a flurry of emergency requests related to the 2024 election.

    Here are some of the key cases on which the court will hear oral arguments this term:

    After the Supreme Court issued a major decision last year expanding gun rights nationwide, lower courts began reconsidering hundreds of firearms regulations across the country under the new standard crafted by Justice Clarence Thomas that a gun law passes legal muster only if it is rooted in history and tradition.

    On the heels of that decision, a federal appeals court invalidated a federal law that bars an individual who is subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. That law, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “is an outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.”

    The Biden administration has appealed, saying the ruling “threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence.”

    In 2019, nearly two-thirds of domestic homicides in the United States were committed with a gun, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

    Lawyers for Zackey Rahimi, a man who was prosecuted under the law in 2020 after a violent altercation with his girlfriend, have urged the justices to let the lower court opinion stand, arguing in part that there is no law from the founding era comparable to the statute at hand.

    Racial gerrymandering: South Carolina congressional maps

    Justices will consider a congressional redistricting plan drawn by South Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature in the wake of the 2020 census. Critics say it was designed with discriminatory purpose and amounts to an illegal racial gerrymander.

    The case focuses the court’s attention once again on the issue of race and map drawing and comes after the court ordered Alabama to redraw the state’s congressional map last term to account for the fact that the state is 27% black. The decision, penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, surprised liberals who feared the court was going to make it harder for minorities to challenge maps under Section 2 of the historic Voting Rights Act.

    In the latest case, the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and a Black voter named Taiwan Scott, are challenging the state’s congressional District 1 that is located along the southeastern coast and is anchored in Charleston County. Although the district consistently elected Republicans from 1980 to 2016, in 2018 a Democrat was elected in a political upset, though a Republican recaptured the seat in 2020.

    The person who devised the map has testified that he was instructed to make the district “more Republican leaning,” but that he did not consider race. He did, however, acknowledge that he examined racial data after drafting each version and that the Black voting age population of the district was likely viewed during the drafting process.

    A three-judge district court panel struck down the plan in January, saying that race had been the predominant motivating factor. “To achieve a target of 17% African American population,” the court said, “Charleston County was racially gerrymandered and over 30,000 African Americans were removed from their home district.”

    Expert explains why Justice Thomas’ gifts from wealthy friends are problematic

    In the latest attack against the so-called administrative state, the justices are considering whether to overturn decades old precedent to scale back the power of federal agencies, impacting how the government tackles issues such as climate change, immigration, labor conditions and public health.

    At issue is an appeal from herring fishermen in the Atlantic who say the National Marine Fisheries Service does not have the authority to require them to pay the salaries of government monitors who ride aboard the fishing vessels.

    In agreeing to hear the case, the justices signaled they will reconsider a 1984 decision – Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council – that sets forward factors to determine when courts should defer to a government agency’s interpretation of the law. First, they examine a statute to see if Congress’ intent is clear. It if is – then the matter is settled. But if there is ambiguity – the court defers to the agency’s expertise.

    Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that the agency was acting within the scope of its authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and said the fishermen are not responsible for all the costs. The regulation was put in place to combat overfishing of the fisheries off the coasts of the US.

    Representing the fishermen, former Solicitor General Paul Clement argues that the government exceeded its authority and needs direct and clear congressional authorization to make such a demand. “The ‘net effect’ of Chevron,” Clement said, is that it “incentives a dynamic where Congress does far less than the Framers anticipated, and the executive branch is left to do far more by deciding controversial issues via regulatory fiat”

    For the second time in recent years, the court is taking aim at a watchdog agency created to combat unfair and deceptive practices against consumers, in a case that could deal a fatal blow to the future of the agency and send reverberations throughout the financial services industry.

    At the center of the case at hand is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – an independent agency set up in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown that works to monitor the practices of lenders, debt collectors and credit rating agencies.

    Congress chose to fund the CFPB from outside the annual appropriations process to ensure its independence. As such, the agency receives its funding each year from the earnings of the Federal Reserve System. But the conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals held last year that the funding scheme violates the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution, that, the court said “ensures Congress’ “exclusive power over the federal purse.”

    According to the CFPB, the agency has obtained more than $18.9 billion in ordered relief, including restitution and canceled debts, for more than 195 million consumers, and more than $4.1 billion in penalties, in actions brought by the agency against financial institutions and individuals that have broken federal consumer financial protection laws.

    A handful of other agencies have similar funding schemes including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

    Three years ago, the Supreme Court limited the independence of the CFPB by invalidating its leadership structure. A 5-4 court held that the structure violated the separation of powers because the president was restricted from removing the director, even if they had policy disagreements.

    Agency regulatory authority: Securities and Exchange Commission

    The justices are looking at the in-house enforcement proceedings of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in another case that invites the conservative majority to pare back the regulatory authority of federal agencies.

    The court’s decision could impact whether the SEC and other agencies can conduct enforcement proceedings in-house, using administrative courts staffed with agency employees, or whether such actions must be brought in federal court.

    On one side are critics of such agency courts who argue that they allow federal employees to serve as prosecutors, judges and jury, issuing rulings that could particularly hurt small businesses. On the other side are those who point out that several agencies, including the Social Security Administration, have such internal proceedings because the topics are often complex and the agency has more expertise than a federal judge.

    The case arose in 2013 after the SEC brought an enforcement action against George Jarkesy, who had established two hedge funds with his advisory firm, Patriot28, for securities fraud.

    The 5th Circuit ruled that the SEC’s proceedings deprive individuals of their Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury. In addition, the court said that Congress had improperly delegated legislative power to the SEC, which gave the agency unconstrained authority at times to choose the in-house administrative proceeding rather than filing suit in district court.

    In December, the court will examine the historic multibillion-dollar Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement with several states that would ultimately offer the Sackler family broad protection from OxyContin-related civil claims.

    Until recently, Purdue was controlled by the Sackler family, who withdrew billions of dollars from the company before it filed for bankruptcy. The family has now agreed to contribute up to $6 billion to Purdue’s reorganization fund on the condition that the Sacklers receive a release from civil liability.

    The Biden administration, representing the US Trustee, the executive branch agency that monitors the administration of bankruptcy cases, has called the plan “exceptional and unprecedented” in court papers, noting that lower courts have divided on when parties can be released from liability for actions that caused societal harm.

    “The plan’s release ‘absolutely, unconditionally, irrevocably, fully, finally, forever and permanently releases’ the Sacklers from every conceivable type of opioid-related civil claim – even claims based on fraud and other forms of willful misconduct that could not be discharged if the Sacklers filed for bankruptcy in their individual capacities,” Prelogar argued in court papers.

    For the second year running, the justices will leap into the online moderation debate and decide whether states can essentially control how social media companies operate.

    If upheld, laws from Florida and Texas could open the door to more state legislation requiring platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok to treat content in specific ways within certain jurisdictions – and potentially expose the companies to more content moderation lawsuits.

    It could also make it harder for platforms to remove what they determine is misinformation, hate speech or other offensive material.

    “These cases could completely reshape the digital public sphere. The question of what limits the First Amendment imposes on legislatures’ ability to regulate social media is immensely important – for speech, and for democracy as well,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, in a statement.

    “It’s difficult to think of any other recent First Amendment cases in which the stakes were so high,” Jaffer added.

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  • US regulator seeks court order to compel Elon Musk to testify about his Twitter acquisition | CNN Business

    US regulator seeks court order to compel Elon Musk to testify about his Twitter acquisition | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday applied for a court order to force Elon Musk to testify in an ongoing probe related to his acquisition of Twitter and public disclosures he made in connection with the deal, according to court filings.

    The filing Thursday in San Francisco federal court seeks a judge’s order requiring Musk to testify, alleging “blatant refusal to comply” with an earlier SEC subpoena.

    X, the company formerly known as Twitter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The SEC action is the latest turn in a long-running inquiry into whether Musk fully complied with his disclosure obligations when he began acquiring large amounts of Twitter stock, prior to his deal to buy the company. And it underscores years of friction between Musk and the agency over his public comments on numerous matters involving his companies.

    Musk began buying up large amounts of Twitter stock in early 2022, and he revealed on April 4 of that year that he had become the company’s largest shareholder. Later that month, Musk inked a deal to buy the platform for $44 billion and — after a monthslong legal battle attempting to exit the deal — officially closed the acquisition in October of last year. Musk has faced a number of legal challenges related to his Twitter acquisition in the months since his takeover.

    Musk testified twice as part of the SEC’s investigation in July 2022, according to the agency.

    Starting that same month, Musk produced “hundreds of documents” to federal investigators working on the probe, “including documents Musk authored,” according to a declaration by an SEC attorney filed alongside the agency’s court request.

    The SEC served Musk with a subpoena to testify again in the matter in May 2023, according to the court filing. The current subpoena at issue seeks evidence and testimony from Musk that the SEC does not yet possess, the agency said.

    Despite previously agreeing to testify on September 15 and rescheduling the testimony once, Musk “abruptly notified the SEC” two days before his scheduled appearance to say he would not be showing up, the filing states.

    The SEC attempted to negotiate with Musk to find alternative dates later this fall, according to court documents.

    “These good faith efforts were met with Musk’s blanket refusal to appear for testimony,” it adds.

    “The subpoena with which Musk failed to comply relates to an ongoing nonpublic investigation by the SEC,” the filing continued, “regarding whether, among other things, Musk violated various provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with (1) his 2022 purchases of Twitter, Inc (“Twitter”) stock, and (2) his 2022 statements and SEC filings relating to Twitter.”

    When Musk informed the SEC he would not be appearing to testify, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, wrote to the agency on September 13, saying Musk had “already sat for testimony twice in this matter” and that “enough is enough.”

    Spiro’s letter, which was included as an exhibit in the SEC’s court filings, accused regulators of seeking Musk’s testimony in bad faith and attempting to waste Musk’s time.

    In addition, Spiro claimed that the recent release of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk would interfere because it contained “new information potentially relevant to this matter” that would take time for both sides to digest.

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  • Stellantis to put second battery plant in town where EVs threaten current jobs | CNN Business

    Stellantis to put second battery plant in town where EVs threaten current jobs | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Stellantis and Samsung plan to build a second EV battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana, a town where many current Stellantis workers see such plants as a threat to their current jobs.

    EV battery plants are a critical part of the plans of traditional automakers to transition from gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles in coming decades. But they could be a threat to existing jobs building engines and transmissions, which are not needed in an EV. Stellantis has four plants in Kokomo alone building engines and transmissions, employing more than 5,000 hourly workers between them.

    Stellantis, which builds cars under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands, along with unionized rivals General Motors and Ford, are now in the fourth week of a strike by the United Auto Workers union, and the future of jobs building EVs are a central issue in the strike.

    While the four Kokomo plants are not on strike, the union is on strike at Stellantis’ assembly complex in Toledo, Ohio, as well as at 20 parts and distribution centers spread across 14 states.

    All the automakers are in the process of building EV battery plants, and all of them are using joint ventures with battery manufacturers such as Samsung to build and run the plants. They have all insisted that will make the employees of the plants employees of the joint ventures, not the automakers themselves. And the pay at US EV battery plants that have opened so far is a fraction of what UAW members get when working for the automakers.

    UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that GM had agreed to a key union demand that employees at its EV battery plants will be part of the company’s national master labor agreement with the UAW. GM has not confirmed that agreement, and details of how much those workers would be paid and if they’ll be considered GM employees or covered in the agreement as employees of separate companies is not yet known.

    But Fain hailed that agreement as a major win for the union and said it would now press Ford and Stellantis to agree to similar terms if they want to end the strike.

    Samsung and Stellantis announced plans for its latest battery plant in the wake of that announcement.

    The two companies announced Wednesday that they are investing more than $3.2 billion to build the new plant, which will open in early 2027 and have an annual capacity of 34 gigawatt hours. Its opening will bring about 1,400 new jobs to Kokomo, located an hour north of Indianapolis.

    StarPlus Energy, the joint venture formed by Samsung and Stellantis, previously chose Kokomo for its first gigafactory that’s currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2025.

    In total, the two factories will produce 67 gigawatt hours annually. “Indiana’s economy is on a roll,” said Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in a press release, adding that the second plant means the companies are doubling their capital investment and the amount of new jobs being created.

    The factories will help Stellantis meet its goal for battery electric passenger cars to make up 100% of its sales in Europe, and 50% of its sales in the US, by 2030. Stellantis announced in 2021 an “aggressive” investment of $35 billion for electric vehicle production and needs 400 gigawatt hours annually to meet its 2030 goal.

    Stellantis was created in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, maker of Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and Vauxhall cars in Europe. Shares rose nearly 2% in premarket trading.

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  • Incident involving US warship intercepting missiles near Yemen lasted 9 hours | CNN Politics

    Incident involving US warship intercepting missiles near Yemen lasted 9 hours | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A US warship that intercepted drones and missiles near the coast of Yemen on Thursday encountered a larger and more sustained barrage than was previously known, shooting down 4 cruise missiles and 15 drones over a period of 9 hours, according to a US official familiar with the situation.

    The USS Carney, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer that traversed the Suez Canal heading south on Wednesday, intercepted the missiles and drones as they were heading north along the Red Sea. Their trajectory left little doubt that the projectiles were headed for Israel, the official said, a clearer assessment than the Pentagon’s initial take.

    A sustained barrage of drones and missiles targeting Israel from far outside the Gaza conflict is one of a series of worrying signs that the war risks escalating beyond the borders of the coastal enclave.

    In addition to protests at US embassies across the Middle East, US and coalition forces in Syria and Iraq have come under repeated attack over the past several days.

    On Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the missiles were fired by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen and were launched “potentially towards targets in Israel.” At the briefing, Ryder said three land-attack cruise missiles and “several” drones.

    Some of the projectiles were traveling at altitudes that made them a potential risk to commercial aviation when they were intercepted, the US official said. The drones and missiles were intercepted with SM-2 surface-to-air missiles launched from the USS Carney.

    US interceptions of Houthi launches are exceedingly rare, making the timing of this incident, as tensions rise in Israel, more significant. In October 2016, the USS Mason deployed countermeasures to stop an attempted attack in the Red Sea targeting the Navy destroyer and other ships nearby. In response, the US fired sea-launched cruise missiles at Houthi radar facilities in Yemen.

    On Wednesday, one-way attack drones targeted two different US positions in Iraq, according to US Central Command. One of the attacks resulted in minor injuries. One day later, the At-Tanf garrison in Syria, which houses US and coalition forces, was targeted by two drones, which also caused minor injuries.

    Early Friday morning in Iraq, two rockets targeted the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center near the airport, which houses US military, diplomatic and civilian personnel, according to another US defense official. One rocket was intercepted by a counter-rocket system, while the second hit an empty storage facility, the official said. No one was injured as a result of the rocket attack.

    The US has not assigned attribution for any of the recent attacks in Iraq and Syria, though Iranian proxies have carried out similar drone and rocket attacks against US forces in both countries in the past.

    The US military has carried out strikes on Iranian-backed militias as a response to previous such attacks against US forces, but the Pentagon would not say anything yet about its intentions.

    “While I’m not going to forecast any potential response to these attacks, I will say that we will take all necessary actions to defend US and coalition forces against any threat,” said Ryder. “Any response, should one occur, will come at a time and a manner of our choosing.”

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  • Bob Graham Fast Facts | CNN Politics

    Bob Graham Fast Facts | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Bob Graham, former United States senator and Democratic governor of Florida.

    Birth date: November 9, 1936

    Birth place: Coral Gables, Florida

    Birth name: Daniel Robert Graham

    Father: Ernest “Cap” Graham, Florida state senator, dairy farmer and cattle rancher

    Mother: Hilda (Simmons) Graham, teacher

    Marriage: Adele (Khoury) Graham (1959-present)

    Children: Kendall, Suzanne, Cissy and Gwen

    Education: University of Florida, B.A., 1959; Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1962

    Graham’s family operates dairy, beef cattle and pecan farms in Florida and Georgia.

    Was a primary author of portions of the Patriot Act that dealt with improving and sharing intelligence between US and foreign agencies.

    Co-chaired the congressional investigation into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

    Voted against going to war with Iraq in 2003.

    Graham’s daughter, Gwen, represented Florida’s 2nd Congressional District (Tallahassee), 2015-2017.

    1966-1970 – Member of the Florida House of Representatives.

    1970-1978 – Member of the Florida Senate.

    1979-1987 – Governor of Florida.

    January 3, 1987-January 3, 2005 – US Senator representing Florida.

    2001-2003 – Chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

    January 31, 2003 – Undergoes heart surgery to repair a valve.

    February 27, 2003 – Files papers to form a presidential campaign committee.

    May 6, 2003 – Formally launches his presidential campaign.

    October 6, 2003 – Announces he is dropping out of the presidential race.

    November 3, 2003 – Announces that he will not seek reelection to the Senate in 2004.

    September 2004 – Graham’s book “Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America’s War on Terror,” written with Jeff Nussbaum, is published.

    2005-2006 – Senior Research Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

    2006 – The Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida is established.

    May 16, 2008 – Congressional leaders appoint Graham to chair the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. In December 2008, the commission issues a report, saying it is likely a WMD attack will occur somewhere in the world by 2013 if nothing is done to enhance security.

    2009 – Graham’s book “America, The Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You,” written with Chris Hand, is published.

    May 2010 – President Barack Obama establishes a commission led by Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency Commissioner William Reilly on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and offshore drilling. The commission ends its work in January 2011.

    June 2011 – Graham’s first novel, “Keys to the Kingdom,” is published.

    September 2012 – Graham calls for the investigation into the September 11 terrorist attacks be reopened. He asserts that Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attacks has been covered up.

    January 2014 – Graham visits Cuba as part of a group sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in order to investigate Cuban plans to drill for oil offshore.

    September 9, 2016 – Graham has an op-ed in The New York Times calling for the release of more documents related to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

    November 24, 2020 – Graham’s children’s book, “Rhoda the Alligator,” is published.

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  • India restricts laptop, PC imports to boost local manufacturing | CNN Business

    India restricts laptop, PC imports to boost local manufacturing | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    India has placed restrictions on the import of computers and laptops in a surprise move from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has been trying to encourage domestic manufacturing in the tech sector.

    Importers will now need to apply for licenses in order to bring laptops, tablets, personal computers and other electronic devices into the country, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. Previously, the import of such items was unrestricted.

    The ministry didn’t provide a reason for the change in rules, however Modi has aggressively pushed his “Make in India” campaign, which promotes local manufacturing in a bid to create more jobs. It follows a similar curb on smart TV imports in 2020.

    India’s electronic imports stood at $19.7 billion in the April to June period, up 6.25% from the same period in 2022, according to Reuters.

    CNN has contacted Apple

    (AAPL)     and Samsung

    (SSNLF)    , top laptop sellers in the South Asian country, for comment but has not yet received responses.

    India’s push to manufacture domestically comes at a crucial time for the world’s most populous nation, as companies look beyond China to secure crucial supply chains.

    India’s working-age population is expected to hit one billion over the next decade, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Its large and young labor force makes the country a big draw for global companies seeking alternative manufacturing hubs to China.

    Earlier this year, India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, said Apple was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India.

    “If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25% of their manufacturing,” he said at an event in January.

    In June, US chipmaker Micron

    (MICR)     announced a new factory in the western state of Gujarat, calling it the country’s first semiconductor assembly and test manufacturing facility.

    The venture will see Micron invest up to $825 million and create “up to 5,000 new direct Micron jobs and 15,000 community jobs over the next several years,” according to the company.

    Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and a key supplier to Apple, is also looking to expand its manufacturing operations in India.

    Last month, it abruptly announced it was exiting an ambitious $19.4 billion joint venture with Vedanta

    (VEDL)    , an Indian metals and energy conglomerate, to help build one of the country’s first chip factories.

    But, the company said it was still committed to investing in Indian chipmaking and was applying to a government program that subsidizes the cost of setting up semiconductor or electronic display production facilities in the country.

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  • Meta criticized for making reproductive health an R-rated issue | CNN Business

    Meta criticized for making reproductive health an R-rated issue | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Female reproductive health experts are calling on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to rethink its restrictions on reproductive health content.

    The company has long faced criticism for removing and restricting female reproductive health information with a prominent report from the Center for Intimacy Justice early last year accusing Meta of systematically rejecting many female and gender diverse reproductive health ads. The CIJ report also accused Meta of having bias algorithms, stating that male reproductive health ads were found to be permitted, including ads that referenced male sexual pleasure.

    In bid to combat those concerns, Meta tweaked its “adult products or services” advertising policy last October to include clearer guidelines about reproductive health, clarifying that it allows the promotion of “reproductive health products or services” if the content is targeted to “people aged 18 or older.”

    Meta

    (FB)     argues the topic is sensitive, stating that as a global company it needs to take in to account the “wide array of people from different cultures and countries” to “avoid potential negative experiences.”

    However, female reproductive experts tell CNN that the advertising policy is still too restrictive and is creating barriers for how younger people around the world access information about female reproductive health issues, including the menstrual cycle, which can start as early as 8 years old.

    They argue that censoring content about normal and natural bodily functions plays into the shame that has long plagued how people learn about the female body and hormone cycle. That can hinder how people with uteruses advocate for their bodies in healthcare settings, including obtaining care for misunderstood and underdiagnosed conditions like endometriosis.

    The practice of censoring female reproductive health content is not unique to Meta, with similar issues reported on other social media platforms. However, Meta is under specific scrutiny for failing to adequately address the issue within its policy updates last year.

    The founder and CEO of the Center for Intimacy Justice, Jackie Rotman, told CNN that despite the policy update, Meta’s algorithms still seem to have a problem with female reproductive health content.

    “The policy says that reproductive health is allowed, but in practice their technology is still rejecting it,” Rotman said, explaining that images of uteruses are often mistakenly flagged as nudity, and words like period, menopause, endometriosis and vagina also commonly triggering sexually inappropriate warnings.

    Rotman outlined that while Meta’s reproductive health guidelines are targeted toward advertising content, unpaid posts are also often being impacted by Meta’s algorithms. She says shadow-banning, which refers to content being partially blocked from certain audiences, is common practice for organic content. Several reproductive health content creators told CNN that they experience shadow-banning, explaining that it is time consuming game of trial and error to determine what is considered too taboo.

    Dr. Hazel Wallace, author of “The Female Factor” told CNN she wishes she could be more direct in how she speaks about the female body and hormone cycle, including menstrual health. However, said has learned that “to educate people, you almost have to play the game.”

    She says she often experiences shadow banning, with her analytics showing less engagement if she uses words like period. She explained that her team experimented with Meta’s algorithm, finding they could often dodge restrictions by mis-spelling the word period as p3riod.

    “We found that it increased engagement because it doesn’t flag your content as being inappropriate to certain audiences,” Wallace outlined.

    While Meta on several occasions has apologized and re-instated female reproductive health content that it says was mistakenly removed, it still stipulates an age restriction in its policy. Therefore, even if the updated policy was perfectly implemented, Meta would still be green lighting the practise of censoring crucial content from certain audiences.

    CNN asked Meta about the reports that it is continuing to remove, restrict, and shadow-ban female reproductive health content. CNN also asked Meta why all female reproductive health, including menstrual health, is classified as an 18+ issue.

    In response, a spokesperson for Meta, Ryan Daniels, said, “We welcome ads for women’s health and sexual wellness products, but we prohibit nudity and have specific rules about how these products can be marketed on our platform.”

    In a bid to change the conversation, female reproductive health content creators are not letting Meta’s restrictions silence their voices.

    Wallace, a like so many others in her field, says she should not need to self-censor how she speaks about female reproductive health, arguing that censorship perpetuates a “hush hush” narrative about “normal experiences.”

    “Imagine a world where we are teaching young girls and women from puberty – this is what to expect, this is normal, this is not normal, this is when to ask for help. We would feel a lot more empowered,” Wallace stated.

    Categorizing reproductive health as an R-rated topic is an issue that extends far beyond Meta advertising policies, reflecting wider societal views, from politics to sex education curriculums.

    Tracey Lindeman, the author of “BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis,” says classifying all female reproductive health issues under the umbrella of sexual health “perpetuates the idea that our sexual organs are to be exploited and used for sexuality, even at a young age.”

    “You’re born with a reproductive system. Whether or not you’re having sex, you still have that system in your body, and it’s still affecting your body in different ways,” Lindeman reasoned.

    “How about we just teach people about how their bodies work first, before we start teaching them how they work to have sex,” Lindeman stated.

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  • Meta’s Threads is finally available on desktop | CNN Business

    Meta’s Threads is finally available on desktop | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Threads users, rejoice: the app is rolling out its highly anticipated web version Tuesday.

    The update — perhaps the most requested by users since Threads’ mobile-only launch last month — puts the new platform one step closer to recreating the functions offered by rival X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and could help reignite user growth following a sluggish period.

    Parent company Meta says Threads users will soon be able to log in, post, view and interact with other posts via a browser on a desktop computer, as the web version rolls out to users in the coming days. The company says it plans to add more desktop features in the future. In an early access test of some of the web-based features, CNN was able to post on the platform but could not yet scroll the home feed.

    Threads launched in early July with stunning success, garnering more than 100 million sign-ups in its first week on the back of months of chaos at Twitter. But the buzz faded somewhat as users realized the bare-bones platform still lacked many of the features that made Twitter popular, such as trending topics, robust search functions and direct messaging. Threads has been steadily rolling out smaller updates but the hotly demanded web version could help reignite stronger user engagement.

    The new web version could also raise fresh competitive concerns for X, after owner Elon Musk sparked user backlash last week by suggesting he might do away with the platform’s block feature.

    Meta employees have for weeks teased that a desktop version of Threads was in the works and being tested internally. Just last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who is also leading Threads, said he had been posting from the platform’s desktop version and suggested “it’ll be ready soon but it needs more work.”

    Web access is just one of a series of recent updates to Threads as Meta continues to build out the new platform. Other features added over the past month include new “reposts” and “likes” tabs that show users the posts they have reshared and liked in their profiles, a chronological following feed and a button to share threads posts to Instagram DMs.

    Continued updates to Threads are essential if Meta wants to maintain the early traction it had with users. Despite the app’s stunning success following its launch, by the end of July, Threads’ daily active user count had fallen 82% to around 8 million users, according to a report from market research firm Sensor Tower earlier this month. By August 16, updates to Threads had helped the app notch slight gains to 11 million daily active users, Sensor Tower said in a report Monday.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he is “quite optimistic” about the app’s potential.

    “We saw unprecedented growth out of the gate and more importantly we’re seeing more people coming back daily than I’d expected,” he said last month during the company’s earnings call. “And now, we’re focused on retention and improving the basics. And then after that, we’ll focus on growing the community to the scale we think is possible.”

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  • Who is Steve Jones, the judge who’ll decide whether to move Fulton County defendants’ cases to federal court? | CNN Politics

    Who is Steve Jones, the judge who’ll decide whether to move Fulton County defendants’ cases to federal court? | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Federal district Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia will hear requests from three of the 19 defendants hoping to move their Georgia election subversion cases out of state court.

    The group, which includes former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is trying to get the case dismissed under federal law – a determination that may impact Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against former President Donald Trump and others. Meadows and others will present evidence about whether to move the case, while the judge has allowed the state court case to proceed in the meantime.

    Jones, a Barack Obama appointee, was confirmed by the US Senate in 2011 by a 90-0 vote. A former Superior Court judge, he grew up in Athens, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1987.

    So far, Jones has shown that he would like to avoid a circus while not giving short shrift to Meadows’ arguments, said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. The orders Jones has already issued have hewed tightly to the relevant statutes and case law, and he has moved the proceedings along very efficiently.

    Jones is “by the book, which includes quickly and quietly,” Vladeck said.

    Jones has overseen high-profile cases before.

    In July, he declined to toss three lawsuits claiming that Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts were drawn in a way that discriminates against Black voters. He slated a trial on the matter for September.

    In 2020, Jones blocked the state’s six-week abortion ban, which later took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2019, he rejected an attempt by a voting rights group to restore to the rolls 98,000 Georgia voters who had been removed after being classified as “inactive” after a new state law took effect.

    In that case, Jones found that the 11th Amendment of the Constitution and the principles of sovereign immunity “do not permit a federal court to enjoin a state (or its officers) to follow a federal court’s interpretation of the State of Georgia’s laws.” Jones also determined that the group, Fair Fight Action, failed to show that its claim had a substantial likelihood of success.

    Next, Jones will weigh movement in the case in which Trump is accused of being the head of a “criminal enterprise” that was part of a broad conspiracy to overturn his electoral defeat in Georgia. Trump, who faces 13 charges, is also expected to try to move the case to federal court, according to multiple sources familiar with his legal team’s thinking.

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  • Schumer to host AI forum with major tech CEOs including Zuckerberg and Musk | CNN Business

    Schumer to host AI forum with major tech CEOs including Zuckerberg and Musk | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    More than a half-dozen leading tech CEOs will be among those attending a highly anticipated artificial intelligence event hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer next month, according to the senator’s office.

    The September 13 event will involve Google CEO Sundar Pichai and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang; and Elon Musk, CEO of X, the company formerly known as Twitter.

    It is the first of nine sessions Schumer has said will begin this fall to discuss the hardest questions that regulations on AI will seek to address, including how to protect workers, national security and copyright and to defend against “doomsday scenarios.”

    Also attending next month’s event will be leading members of civil society, including members of groups representing workers, civil rights and art and entertainment, Schumer’s office said, adding that the bipartisan event will not be open to the press.

    The events, which Schumer has dubbed “AI Insight Forums,” are set to bring experts from the private sector together with US lawmakers to help them understand the industry before they seek to create guardrails for AI.

    Schumer has emphasized a deliberate approach to the issue, urging his colleagues to come up to speed on the basic facts of the technology rather than rush to pass legislation. Earlier this summer, Schumer held a series of closed-door senators-only briefings on AI, which included a first-ever classified briefing by US national security officials on artificial intelligence.

    The guest list for next month’s Insight Forum was first reported by Axios.

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  • Snapchat adds new safety features for teen users | CNN Business

    Snapchat adds new safety features for teen users | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Snapchat says it’s working to make its app even safer for teen users.

    Parent company Snap said Thursday that it is rolling out a suite of new features and policies aimed at better protecting 13- to 17-year-old users, including restrictions on friend suggestions and a new system for removing age-inappropriate content. The company also launched a series of YouTube videos for parents about the features and an updated website laying out its teen safety and parental control policies.

    The new features come amid increasing pressure on social media platforms by lawmakers, educators and parents to protect young users from inappropriate content, unwanted adult attention, illicit drug sales and other issues. A Snap executive testified alongside leaders from TikTok and YouTube in a fall 2021 Senate committee hearing about youth safety on social media, promising new tools to help parents keep their teens safe. And since then, Snapchat — like other platforms — has rolled out a variety of new teen safety and parental supervision tools.

    Thursday’s announcement follows the launch last year of Snapchat’s Family Center, which offers parents more insight into who their teenagers are communicating with on the messaging app. The app’s other existing teen safety measures include prohibiting young users from having public profiles and having teens’ Snap Map location-sharing tool turned off by default.

    As part of Thursday’s feature rollout, Snapchat will now require 13-to-17-year-old users to have a greater number of mutual friends in common with another account before that account will show up in Search results or as a friend suggestion, in an effort to avoid teens adding users on the app who they don’t know in real life. The app will also send a pop-up warming to teens if they are about to add an account that doesn’t share any mutual Snapchat friends or phone book contacts.

    “When a teen becomes friends with someone on Snapchat, we want to be confident it is someone they know in real life — such as a friend, family member, or other trusted person,” the company said in a blog post.

    Snapchat will also impose a new strike system for accounts promoting content inappropriate for teens in its Stories and Spotlight sections, where users can share content publicly on the app. If inappropriate content is reported or detected by the company, it will immediately remove the content and issue a strike against the poster’s account. If a user accrues “too many strikes over a defined period of time, their account will be disabled,” the platform says, although it does not lay out how many strikes would lead to a suspension.

    Teen users will also start to see in-app content aimed at educating them on online risks such as catfishing and financial sextortion — when someone persuades a victim to share nude photos and then blackmails them for money — and letting them know what to do if they see it, including providing hotlines to contact for help. The PSA-style content will be featured on Snapchat’s Stories platform and in response to certain search terms or keywords.

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  • 6 takeaways from Apple’s iPhone 15 event | CNN Business

    6 takeaways from Apple’s iPhone 15 event | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple unveiled its iPhone 15 lineup along with other major updates during its September keynote event on Tuesday.

    The company announced it will switch to USB-C charging from its proprietary Lightning charging cable with the iPhone 15, marking a milestone for the company by adopting universal charging. The change aims to ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices — and brands.

    The company also showed off its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches, with new colors and features including gesture control, and a new iteration of its AirPods Pro wireless earbuds, also with USB-C charging.

    The iPhone charger update, along with changes to its design and camera system, comes as Apple looks to give consumers more reasons to upgrade their iPhones. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.

    Apple on Tuesday said it will not raise prices for the iPhone 15 lineup, which could further incentivize users to upgrade.

    Here are the main takeaways from Apple’s Tuesday event:

    The latest iPhones are packed with subtle but significant design changes. To start, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max now feature a titanium casing, allowing the design to be slimmer and thinner than before.

    Other design changes on the premium models include a more-advanced 48 megapixel main camera with a larger sensor and a new telephoto lens for 5x optical zoom camera, exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro Max. The new Pro models’ design also features contoured edges and a customizable Action button, which gives the ring/silence button additional controls, from starting a voice memo to writing a note.

    Meanwhile, the basic iPhone 15 phones now include updated image stabilization for taking photos and videos, 2x optimization and updated portraits with richer color and better low-light performance. They will also come with the “Dynamic Island” tool – home to alerts, notifications and other controls, in place of the notch – which were previously only available on the iPhone 14 Pro.

    The iPhone 15 lineup also includes an Ultra-Wideband chip to power a handful of new features, including one that makes it easier to find friends who share their location in crowded areas.

    The iPhone 15 comes in 5 colors (white, black, pink, green and yellow) and in two sizes: A 6.1-inch screen for the iPhone 15 and 6.7 inches for iPhone 15 Pro.

    The iPhone 15 will start at $799, and iPhone 15 Pro will start at $999. The iPhone 15 models will be available for pre-order on Friday and for sale in stores on Friday, September 22.

    Perhaps the biggest change coming to the iPhone 15 models is that they will now use a USB-C charging cord, ending an 11-year run with Apple’s proprietary Lightning charging cable.

    Now Apple customers can use the same USB-C chargers to power their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers — no more scrambling to find the right charger for each device. Apple said a dedicated USB-C controller will allow for transfer speeds of up to 20 times faster than with USB-2 technology for the iPhone 15 Pro.

    The new iPhone 15 models will now use a USB-C charging cord, ending an 11-year run with Apple's proprietary lightning charging cable.

    The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

    Apple will also sell a $29 USB-C Lightning adapter to let people connect their existing Lightning accessories to a USB-C-enabled iPhone or iPad to charge or share data.

    The company told CNN that iPhone users can recycle their old Lightning chargers via its in-store recycling program.

    Apple Watches are displayed during an announcement of new products on the Apple campus Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, in Cupertino, Calif.

    Apple kicked off Tuesday’s event by announcing the new Apple Watch Series 9, which features Apple’s in-house silicon chip and ultrawideband connectivity. The updated Apple Watch will let users log health data with their voice, use “name drop” to share contact information by touching another Apple Watch and raise their wrist to automatically brighten the display. The Series 9 will come in colors such as pink, navy, red, gold, silver and graphite.

    Apple also showed off the second iteration of its rugged Ultra smartwatch line, featuring the updated S9 custom chip and a new UWB chip. It also features more information on the display for more intensive tracking.

    The Apple Watch Series 9 will start at $399 and the Ultra is priced at $799. Customers can place orders today and they will be available on September 22.

    Apple on Tuesday announced the new Watch Series 9, with new gesture controls and improved connectivity.

    Apple is introducing an innovative and unique way to control its new lineup of smartwatches. The Watch Series 9 and high-end Ultra 2 watch will include a new gesture control called Double Tap, allowing allow users to tap their index finger and thumb together twice, to answer or end phone calls, play and pause music, or snooze alarms. The hand gesture can also scroll through widgets, much like turning the digital crown.

    The company said Double Tap is enabled by an enhanced neural engine that processes data from sensors and machine learning, and by monitoring the change in blood flow when two fingers are tapped together. It is available starting next month.

    A similar hand tap will be used to control the Vision Pro mixed reality headset when it launches next year.

    Apple’s next-generation software for the iPhone will be available to download starting on Monday, September 18. In June, the company showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17, such as a more accurate autocorrect, a new feature called Live Voicemail that will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, and a NameDrop tool that lets users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. The iPhone’s phone app will also reposition the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions.

    The update will also bring adaptive audio to the AirPods Pro, which will adjust the noise cancellation and volume based on a user’s surroundings, and introduce conversation mode, which customizes the sound of what you’re listening to and softens when you start speaking to someone nearby.

    The iPhone 15 Pro is displayed after its introduction on the Apple campus, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, in Cupertino, Calif.

    Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives, said that the company’s Watch Series 9 will be Apple’s “first-ever carbon-neutral product,” thanks to efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and to offset emissions with carbon buybacks. She said this has been certified by an independent third-party.

    Doubling down on sustainability initiatives, Jackson also said the tech giant will no longer use leather in any new Apple product, including watch bands.

    Instead of leather, Apple said it will begin using a new textile that it is calling “fine woven.”

    Fine woven will be made of 68% post-consumer recycled content, giving it a significantly lower carbon footprint than leather, Apple said.

    “Beyond expected improved performance and incremental innovation embedded into Apple’s new products, it is great to see Apple communicate on sustainability as a new competitive advantage — especially with Apple’s first carbon neutral products,” Forrester Principal Analyst Thomas Husson said in emailed commentary following the event.

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  • The iPhone’s new Action Button is more than a one-trick pony | CNN Business

    The iPhone’s new Action Button is more than a one-trick pony | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    The new iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers the typical slate of new features designed to persuade customers to upgrade: They’re slimmer and thinner than last year’s crop. The new cameras are professional-grade and the switch to USB-C charging will make your life easier.

    But one new feature easily stands out: The Action Button.

    Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight. The button can also be programmed to launch any app or shortcut, essentially turning it into a remote control or launching pad to gain quick access to something you want on demand.

    In the days since Apple’s iPhone 15 event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, I’ve used it to load a variety of apps in a single press, including CNN, Amazon and Instagram. It’s certain the Action Button will become a viable resource for anyone who revisits an app time and time again throughout the day.

    But it also has the potential to become an even more powerful tool; you could program it to play your favorite playlist, turn on the smart lights in your living room or use it to open the garage door. You could even turn it into a dedicated button to call mom. It builds on iOS’s existing offering of ready-made or custom shortcuts, and Apple is encouraging developers to build other unique shortcuts that other users could activate on the Action Button.

    The change is subtle but it’s one of the few noticeable tweaks to the iPhone’s design this year. The Action Button is about the same size as the existing button, and users still hold it down to switch between muting and turning on the ringer. Commands are accompanied with visual feedback from the Dynamic Island bar — home to alerts and notifications at the top of the screen.

    The Action Button update, along with changes in the phone’s charging and camera systems, comes as Apple looks to give consumers more reasons to upgrade their iPhones. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.

    Another selling point to splurge for the iPhone 15 Pro ($1,099) or iPhone 15 Pro Max ($1,199): The phones come with a titanium casing — the same alloy used to build the Mars Rover — making them what Apple calls the thinnest and lightest Pro models to date. Apple’s entry level iPhones, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, cost $799 and $899, respectively. The entire lineup starts shipping on Friday.

    To program the Action Button, iPhone 15 Pro users can visit the button’s section in Settings, scroll through and select from a series of functionalities — such as flashlight or camera. By picking the shortcuts option, however, users can sift through their list of apps or previously established commands.

    Once set, there’s a slight learning curve following years of falling into the habit of using the physical button to turn the volume on and off. For this reason, it could take quite a while for some of iPhone’s loyalists to change how they use the device.

    The Action Button isn’t entirely new; the company unveiled it last year on the Apple Watch Ultra. Apple told CNN it was inspired to bring it to the iPhone after hearing anecdotes from users who said they consistently leave their phone on silent, rendering that button essentially useless. Considering iPhone usage has changed a lot since the iPhone debuted 16 years ago, revisiting a hallmark feature like the mute button was only a matter of time, according to the company.

    Ramon Llamas, a director at market research firm IDC, believes last week’s announcement is only the first step toward making the Action Button more dynamic. “I’d like to think that the Action Button could be expanded a bit more, like one click will take you to one feature; two clicks takes you to another, and three clicks gets you something else,” Llamas said. “But I think that would be it. Any more than that and you risk launching the wrong app, like Wordle, at the wrong time (when you need your camera the most),” he said.

    It’s also a strategic way for Apple to make the most of already tight real estate on the device, according to Llamas. Annette Zimmerman, a VP analyst with market research firm Gartner, agrees, noting that “having one button to do exactly one thing isn’t really progressive in a time where everything has multi-functionality and can be programmed.”

    Although it’s unclear if the Action Button will come to more devices in the future, Apple continues its sweep to create a uniform ecosystem for its consumers. Similarly, Apple is adding a Double Tap feature that allows people to use a finger feature to control the Apple Watch, just months after it showed off a similar gesture on its upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

    For now, iPhone 15 Pro users will enjoy playing with the new Action Button. While the feature is not worth the upgrade to iPhone 15 alone, the switch to universal charging, a faster processor and advanced camera capabilities make it a solid package, especially if you haven’t upgraded in the last few years.

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  • So long, robotic Alexa. Amazon’s voice assistant gets more human-like with generative AI | CNN Business

    So long, robotic Alexa. Amazon’s voice assistant gets more human-like with generative AI | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Amazon’s Alexa is about to bring generative AI inside the house, as the company introduces sweeping changes to how its ubiquitous voice assistant both sounds and functions.

    The company announced a generative AI update for Alexa and, subsequently, of all Echo products dating back to 2014, at a press event Wednesday at its new campus in Arlington, Virginia. Alexa will be able to resume conversations without a wake word, respond more quickly, learn user preferences, field follow-up questions and change its tone based on the topic. Alexa will even offer opinions, such as which movies should have won an Oscar but didn’t.

    Generative AI refers to a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text and images, in response to user prompts.

    “It feels just like talking to a human being,” an Amazon executive claimed.

    The updates come as Amazon tries to keep pace with a new wave of conversational AI tools that have accelerated the artificial intelligence arms race in the tech industry and rapidly reshaped what consumers may expect from their tech products. The company did not disclose when the updates will make their way into products.

    In a live demo, Dave Limp, senior VP of devices and services at Amazon, asked Alexa about his favorite college football team without ever stating the name. (Limp said he previously told Alexa and it remembered). If his favorite team wins, Alexa responds joyfully; if they lose, Alexa will respond with empathy.

    When Limp said “Alexa, let’s chat,” it launched a special mode that allowed for a back-and-forth exchange on various topics. Notably, Limp paused several times to address the audience and resumed the conversation with Alexa without using the “Alexa” wake word, picking up where they left off.

    The demo wasn’t without hiccups – Alexa’s response time at times lagged – but the voice assistant had far more personality, spoke in a more natural and expressive tone, and kept the conversation flowing back and forth.

    Although the company did not outline specific safeguards – some other large-language models have previously gone off the rails – it said on its website “it will design experiences to protect our customers’ privacy and security, and to give them control and transparency.”

    The company also said new developer tools will allow companies to work alongside its large-language model. In a blog post, Amazon said it is already partnering with a handful of companies, such as BMW, to develop conversational in-car voice assistant capabilities.

    Rowan Curran, an analyst at Forrester Research, said the news marks a major step forward in bringing generative AI to the home and allowing it to accomplish everyday tasks. By connecting speech-to-text to external systems and by using a large language model to understand and produce natural speech, this is “where we can begin to see the future of how we will use this technology near-ubiquitously in our everyday lives.”

    Some US users will get access to the changes through a free preview on existing Echo devices. Over the years, Alexa has been infused in countless Echo products, from its speaker and hub lineup to clocks, microwaves,and eyeglasses.

    Amazon also said it will be bringing generative AI to its Fire TV platform, allowing users to ask more natural, nuanced or open-ended questions about genres, storylines and scenes or make more targeted content suggestions.

    Alexa launched nearly a decade ago and, along with Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and other voice assistants, were promised to change the way people interacted with technology. But the viral success of ChatGPT has arguably accomplished some of those goals faster and across a wider range of everyday products.

    The effort to continue updating the technology that powers Alexa comes at a difficult moment for Amazon. Like other Big Tech companies, Amazon has slashed staff in recent months and shelved products in an urgent effort to cut costs amid broader economic uncertainty. The Alexa division did not escape unscathed.

    Amazon confirmed plans in January to lay off more than 18,000 employees. In March, the company said about 9,000 more jobs would be impacted. Limp previously told CNN his division lost about 2,000 people, about half of which were from the Alexa team.

    Still, he emphasized innovation around Alexa has not stalled. “We’re not done and won’t be done until Alexa is as good or better than the ‘Star Trek’ computer,” Limp said. “And to be able to do that, it has to be conversational. It has to know all. It has to be the true source of knowledge for everything.”

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  • Takeaways from the second Republican presidential debate | CNN Politics

    Takeaways from the second Republican presidential debate | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The second 2024 Republican presidential primary debate ended just as it began: with former President Donald Trump – who hasn’t yet appeared alongside his rivals onstage – as the party’s dominant front-runner.

    The seven GOP contenders in Wednesday night’s showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California provided a handful of memorable moments, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley unloading what often seemed like the entire field’s pent-up frustration with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

    “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” she said to him at one point.

    Two candidates criticized Trump’s absence, as well. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was “missing in action.” Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the former president “Donald Duck” and said he “hides behind his golf clubs” rather than defending his record on stage.

    Chris Christie takes up debate time to send Trump a clear message

    The GOP field also took early shots at President Joe Biden. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said Biden, rather than joining the striking auto workers’ union on the picket line Tuesday in Michigan, should be on the southern border. Former Vice President Mike Pence said Biden should be “on the unemployment line.” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Biden was interfering with “free markets.”

    However, what played out in the debate, hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, is unlikely to change the trajectory of a GOP race in which Trump has remained dominant in national and early-state polling.

    And the frequently messy, hard-to-track crosstalk could have led many viewers to tune out entirely.

    Here are takeaways from the second GOP primary debate:

    Trump might have played it safe by skipping the debates and taking a running-as-an-incumbent approach to the 2024 GOP primary.

    It’s hard to see, though, how he would pay a significant price in the eyes of the party’s voters for missing Wednesday night’s messy engagement.

    Trump’s rivals took a few shots at him. DeSantis knocked him for deficit spending. Christie mocked him during the night’s early moments, calling him “Donald Duck” for skipping the debate and then in his final comments said he would vote Trump off the GOP island.

    “This guy has not only divided our party – he’s divided families all over this country. He’s divided friends all over this country,” Christie said. “He needs to be voted off the island and he needs to be taken out of this process.”

    However, Trump largely escaped serious scrutiny of his four years in the Oval Office from a field of rivals courting voters who have largely positive views of his presidency.

    “Tonight’s GOP debate was as boring and inconsequential as the first debate, and nothing that was said will change the dynamics of the primary contest,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said in a statement.

    The second GOP primary debate was beset by interruptions, crosstalk and protracted squabbles between the candidates and moderators over speaking time.

    That’s tough for viewers trying to make sense of it all but even worse for these candidates as they attempted to stand out as viable alternatives to the absentee Trump.

    Further complicating the matter, some of the highest polling candidates after Trump – DeSantis and Haley – were among those least willing to dive into the muck, especially during the crucial first hour. The moderators repeatedly tried to clear the road for the Florida governor, at least in the beginning. But he was all but absent from the proceedings for the first 15 minutes.

    Ramaswamy fared somewhat better, speaking louder – and faster – than most of his rivals. But he was bogged down repeatedly when caught between his own talking points and cross-volleys of criticisms from frustrated candidates like Scott.

    The moderator group will likely get criticism for losing control of the room within the first half-hour, but even a messy debate tells voters something about the people taking part.

    All night, Scott seemed like he was looking for a fight with somebody and he finally got that when he set his sights on fellow South Carolinian Haley.

    He began his line of attack – which Haley interjected with a “Bring it” – by accusing her of spending $50,000 on curtains in a $15 million subsidized location during her time as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

    What ensued was the two Republicans going back and forth about the curtains. “Do your homework, Tim, because Obama bought those curtains,” Haley said, while Scott repeated, “Did you send them back? Did you send them back?” Haley then responded: “Did you send them back? You’re the one who works in Congress.”

    It wasn’t the most acrimonious moment of the night, but it was up there. The feuding between the two South Carolina natives seemed deep, but it’s worth remembering that about a decade ago, when Haley was governor, she appointed Scott to the Senate seat he currently holds after Republican Jim DeMint stepped down. That confidence in Scott seems to have dissolved in this presidential race.

    Confronted by his Republican competitors for the first time in earnest, DeSantis delivered an uneven performance from the center of the stage – a spot that is considerably less secure than it was heading into the first debate in Milwaukee.

    Despite rules that allowed candidates to respond if they were invoked, DeSantis let Fox slip to commercial break when Pence seemed to blame the governor for a jury decision to award a life sentence, not the death penalty, to the mass murderer in the Parkland high school shooting. (DeSantis opposed the decision and championed a law that made Florida the state with the lowest threshold to put someone on death row going forward.) Nor did he respond when Pence accused DeSantis of inflating Florida’s budget by 30% during his tenure.

    He later let Scott get the last word on Florida’s Black history curriculum standards and struggled to defend himself when Haley – accurately – pointed out that he took steps to block fracking in Florida on his second day in office.

    Before the first debate in Milwaukee, a top strategist for a pro-DeSantis super PAC told donors that “79% of the people tonight are going to watch the debate and turn it off after 19 minutes.”

    By that measure, the Florida governor managed to first speak Wednesday night just in the nick of time – 16 minutes into the debate. And when he finally spoke, he continued the sharper attacks on the GOP front-runner that he has previewed in recent weeks.

    DeSantis equated Trump’s absence in California to Biden, who DeSantis said was “completely missing in action for leadership” on the economy, blaming him for inflation and the autoworkers strike.

    “And you know who else is missing in action? Donald Trump is missing in action,” DeSantis said. “He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record.”

    But DeSantis then largely pulled back from further targeting Trump – until a post-debate Fox News appearance when he challenged the former president to a one-on-one face-off.

    DeSantis ended the debate on a strong note. He took charge by rejecting moderator Dana Perino’s attempts to get the candidates to vote one of their competitors “off the island.” He ended his night forcefully dismissing a suggestion that Trump’s lead in the polls held meaning in September.

    “Polls don’t elect presidents, voters elect presidents,” he said, before pointing a finger at Trump for Republicans’ electoral underperformance in the last three elections.

    But as the super PAC strategist previously pointed out: By then, who was watching?

    In the final minutes of the debate, co-host Ilia Calderón of Univision asked Pence how he would reach out to those Latino voters who felt the Republican Party was hostile or didn’t care about them.

    “I’m incredibly proud of the tax cut and tax reform bill,” he said, referring to Republicans’ sweeping 2017 tax law. He also cited low unemployment rates for Hispanic Americans recorded during the Trump-Pence administration.

    Scott, faced with the same question, said it was important to lead by example. “My chief of staff is the only Hispanic female chief of staff in the Senate,” he said. “I hired her because she was the best, highest-qualified person we have.”

    Calderón focused much of her time on a series of policy questions that highlighted the candidates’ records on immigration and gun violence. At times, some of them struggled to respond directly.

    She asked Pence if he would work with Congress to find a permanent solution for people who were brought to the country illegally as children. The Trump-Pence administration ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave those young people protected status. She repeated the question after Pence focused his answer on his work securing the border. He then talked about his time in Congress.

    “Let me tell you, I served in Congress for 12 years, although it seemed longer,” he said. “But you know, something I’ve done different than everybody on this stage is I’ve actually secured reform in Congress.”

    The candidates – and moderators – shy away from abortion talk

    It took more than a 100 minutes on Wednesday night for the first question on abortion to be asked.

    About five minutes later, the conversation had moved on. What is potentially the most potent driver (or flipper) of votes in the coming election was afforded less time than TikTok.

    Tellingly, no one onstage seemed to mind.

    Perino introduced the subject by asking DeSantis whether some Republicans were right to worry that the electoral backlash to abortion bans – or the prospect of their passage – would handicap the eventual GOP nominee.

    DeSantis, who signed a six-week ban in April, dismissed those concerns, pointing to his success in traditionally liberal parts of Florida on his way to winning a second term in 2022. Then he swiped at Trump for calling the new laws “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”

    Christie took a similar path, arguing that his two terms as governor of New Jersey, a traditionally blue state, showed it was possible for anti-abortion leaders to win in a environments supportive of abortion rights.

    And with that, the abortion “debate” in Simi Valley ended abruptly. No more questions and no attempts by the rest of the candidates to interject or otherwise join the chat.

    Candidates pile on Ramaswamy

    Some of the candidates onstage didn’t want to have a repeat of the first debate, in which Ramaswamy managed to stand out as a formidable debater and showman.

    Early in Wednesday’s debate, Scott went after the tech entrepreneur, saying his business record included ties to the Chinese Communist Party and money going to Hunter Biden. The visibly annoyed Ramaswamy shifted gears from praising all the other candidates onstage to defending his business record. But Scott and Ramaswamy ended up talking over each other.

    A little later on Pence began an answer with a knock on Ramaswamy, saying, “I’m glad Vivek pulled out of his business deal in China.” At another point after Ramaswamy had responded to a question about his use of TikTok, Haley jumped in, saying, “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber from what you say” and then going on to say, “We can’t trust you. We can’t trust you.” As Ramaswamy tried to readopt his unity tone, Scott could be heard trying to interrupt him.

    Despite the efforts of moderators to pin them down, DeSantis and Pence struggled to respond when challenged on their respective records on health care.

    Asked about the Trump administration’s failure to end the Affordable Care Act as promised, Pence opted instead to answer a previous question about mass gun violence. When Perino pushed Pence one more time to explain why Obamacare remains not just intact but popular, the former vice president once again demurred.

    Fox’s Stuart Varney similarly pressed DeSantis to explain why 2.5 million Floridians don’t have health insurance.

    DeSantis found a familiar foil for Republicans in California: inflation. Varney, though, said it didn’t explain why Florida has one of the highest uninsurance rates in the country, to which DeSantis had little response.

    “Our state’s a dynamic state,” DeSantis said, before pointing to Florida’s population boom and the low level of welfare benefits offered there.

    Haley, though, appeared ready to debate health care, arguing for transparency in prices to lessen the power of insurance companies and providers and overhauling lawsuit rules to make it harder to sue doctors.

    “How can we be the best country in the world and have the most expensive health care in the world?” Haley said.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Why everyone’s phone will alarm at 2:20 pm ET on Wednesday | CNN Business

    Why everyone’s phone will alarm at 2:20 pm ET on Wednesday | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    If you hear a screeching alert go off on your cell phone – and everyone else’s cell phone – this Wednesday at 2:20 pm ET, don’t panic.

    The federal government said it will conduct on Wednesday afternoon a nationwide test of its Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts. The EAS portion of the test will send an emergency alert to all radios and televisions, while the WEA portion of the test will direct alerts to all consumer cell phones.

    “The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is conducting the test in coordination with the Federal Communication Commission, said in a statement.

    Here’s what to know.

    Beginning at approximately 2:20 pm ET this Wednesday, all wireless phones should receive an alert and an accompanying text message that reads: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

    The free text message will be sent in either English or Spanish, depending on the language settings of your device. The text will be accompanied by a unique tone and vibration that is meant to make the alert accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, FEMA said.

    The test will be broadcast by cell towers for approximately 30 minutes beginning at 2:20 pm ET, FEMA said. During this time, all compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless providers participates in WEA tests should receive the text message.

    Meanwhile, all radios and televisions will also broadcast a test emergency alert at the same time as part of the broader test. This message, which will run for approximately one minute, will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”

    As the agency has said, no action is required by you after you receive the emergency alert test on your phone or hear it through the radio or TV.

    Wednesday’s test is set to be the seventh-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System – the alerts that are sent through radio and television broadcasters. It is the third nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts, but only the second to be sent to consumer cellular devices.

    The most-recent test run of both systems took place in 2021. The first-ever test of the Emergency Alert System occurred more than a decade ago, in 2011.

    There have indeed been multiple high-profile mistakes, attributed to errors at the state-level, associated with mobile emergency alert systems that hit cell phones.

    Perhaps the most infamous incident was a 2018 misfire in Hawaii that set off a wave of short-lived panic across the state. On the morning of January 13, 2018, a Hawaii state emergency management worker accidentally pushed the wrong button in the emergency operation center, sending out a false warning alerting of an incoming ballistic missile threat. The employee who pushed the wrong button was ultimately fired, state officials said.

    And earlier this year in Florida, state emergency management officials issued an apology after Floridians were awoken at 4:45 a.m. by a test emergency alert sent to their phones. State officials said the test alert was meant to run only on TV and not meant to disturb anyone who was sleeping. Florida also said it was ending its contract with the software company blamed for shooting off the pre-dawn test alert to cell phones.

    Last year, a FEMA official told CNN that vulnerabilities in software that TV and radio networks around the country use to transmit emergency alerts could potentially allow a hacker to broadcast fake messages over the alert system. The agency at the time urged operators of these devices to update their software to address the issue. The advisory did not say, however, that alerts sent over text messages could be impacted. The official also said at the time that there is no evidence that malicious hackers have actually exploited the vulnerabilities.

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  • The world will pay a high price if China cuts off supplies of chipmaking materials | CNN Business

    The world will pay a high price if China cuts off supplies of chipmaking materials | CNN Business

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.


    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Just one month after China announced it would curb exports of germanium and gallium, both essential for making semiconductors, its overseas shipments of the materials fell to zero.

    Beijing says it has since approved some export licenses but the restrictions are a stark warning that China has a powerful weapon it can deploy in the escalating trade war over the future of tech. The curbs came after the United States, Europe and Japan restricted sales of chips and chipmaking equipment to China to cut off its access to key technology that can be used by the military.

    “It is still early to tell how tight the restrictions would be. [But] if China ends up blocking a large amount of exports, it will cause a disruption in the supply chain for the immediate consumers,” said Xiaomeng Lu, director for geotechnology at Eurasia Group.

    China enjoys a near monopoly on the production of the two elements. Last year, it accounted for 98% of the global production of gallium and 68% of refined germanium production, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

    While there are alternatives for the United States and its allies, constructing an independent supply chain for gallium and germanium processing could require a “staggering” investment of over $20 billion, according to Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney. And it could take years to develop.

    “Refining technologies and facilities for processing gallium and germanium cannot be built overnight, particularly considering the environmental implications of their extraction and mining,” she wrote in July.

    But there may be no other option but to do so.

    Although the minerals account for only “several hundred million dollars” in global trade, according to Zhang, they are critical to the supply chains of the international semiconductor, defense, electrical vehicle and communications industries, which are each worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

    China has dominated the production of both elements for at least a decade.

    Gallium is a soft, silvery metal and is easy to cut with a knife. It’s commonly used to produce compounds that can make radio frequency chips for mobile phones and satellite communication.

    Germanium is a hard, grayish-white and brittle metalloid that is used in the production of optical fibers that can transmit light and electronic data.

    Neither is found on their own in nature. They are usually formed as a byproduct of mining more common metals: primarily aluminum, zinc and copper.

    The processing of the elements can be “costly, technically challenging, energy-intensive and polluting,” according to Ewa Manthey, a commodities strategist at ING Group.

    “China dominates production of these two metals not because they are rare, but because it has been able to keep their production costs fairly low and manufacturers elsewhere haven’t been able to match the country’s competitive costs,” he said.

    From 2005 to 2015, China’s production of low-purity gallium exploded from 22 metric tons to 444 metric tons, according to data compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

    Analysts from the think tank said China’s leading position in the aluminum industry has allowed it to establish a dominant share of global gallium production.

    Moreover, China’s government has implemented strategic policies to boost production, including a requirement for the country’s aluminum producers to create the capacity to extract gallium.

    This is why, over the past 10 years, manufacturing gallium has become essentially economically nonviable outside China.

    Between 2013 and 2016, Kazakhstan, Hungary, and Germany all ceased primary production of gallium. (Germany announced in 2021 it would restart production because of rising prices.)

    There are alternative suppliers, though.

    According to the USGS, Russia, Japan, and Korea produced a combined 1.8% of global gallium in 2022. For germanium, Canada’s Teck Resources is one of the world’s largest producers. American company Indium Corporation is also a top global manufacturer of germanium compounds and alloys.

    And Canada’s 5NPlus and Belgium’s Umicore produce both elements.

    But “it would take time to bring online alternative sources of supply,” Chris Miller, author of “Chip War” and an economic historian, told CNN.

    It could also be expensive.

    Global mining companies can get into the business of selling germanium and gallium if China seeks to choke off supply, said Gregory Allen, director of Wadhwani Center for AI & Advanced Technologies at CSIS.

    “This would not be instantaneous, but some global mining and refining firms have signaled their intent to do so.”

    In July, Russian state owned conglomerate Rostec told Reuters that it’s ready to boost output of germanium for domestic use after China announced curbs on exports.

    Netherlands-based Nyrstar also said it was looking at potential germanium and gallium projects in Australia, Europe and the United States.

    “Even if users run out of supplies of these minerals, gallium can be swapped for silicon or indium in the wafer making process,” Lu from Eurasia Group said.

    Zinc selenide is a lesser but functional substitute for germanium in certain applications, she added.

    Recycling is another option.

    Last year, the US Defense logistics Agency introduced a program to recycle optical-grade germanium used in weapon systems.

    “Factory floor scrap has already accounted for a source of supply. Germanium scrap is also recovered from decommissioned tanks and other military vehicles,” Lu said.

    In August, China didn’t sell any germanium or gallium outside its borders. The numbers could bounce back in September, as the Commerce Ministry said it had approved some export licenses for Chinese companies.

    Initially, prices for the two elements are likely to rise, Manthey said.

    Prices of gallium stood at 1,965 yuan ($269) per metric ton on Tuesday, up more than 17% from June 1, according to ebaiyin.com, a Chinese metal trading service website.

    Prices for germanium increased about 3% during the same period.

    “Higher prices will in turn increase competition by making production more cost-competitive again in countries like Japan, Canada and the US, which will in turn reduce China’s dominance in both markets,” Manthey said.

    “It will take time to build processing plants, but over time, the markets and supply chains will adjust,” he added.

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  • Microsoft Outlook will soon write emails for you | CNN Business

    Microsoft Outlook will soon write emails for you | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Artificial intelligence could soon be writing more company emails in Microsoft Outlook, as the company expands its rollout of AI tools for corporate users.

    The Microsoft 365 Copilot tool – “your everyday AI companion,” as the company bills it – will help users write their emails to “keep your sentences concise and error-free.” The tool also summarizes long email threads to quickly draft suggested replies.

    Users with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions will get more advanced AI help through Microsoft Editor, an intelligent writing assistant. The update will include suggested edits for “clarity, conciseness, inclusive language and more” to help workers create more “polished and professional” emails, according to a blog post from the company in September.

    The company said the tool will be available to more corporate clients starting on November 1. It has already been in months-long testing with customers including Visa, General Motors, KPMG and Lumen Technologies.

    In March, Microsoft outlined its plans to bring artificial intelligence to its most recognizable productivity tools, including Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and Word, with the promise of changing how millions do their work every day. The addition of its AI-powered “copilot” – which will help edit, summarize, create and compare documents – is built on the same technology that underpins ChatGPT.

    In addition to writing emails, Microsoft 365 users will be able to summarize meetings and create suggested follow-up action items, request to create a specific chart in Excel, and turn a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation in seconds.

    Corporate customers will also get to use Microsoft 365 Chat, previously called Business Chat, which can scan the internet and employee emails, meetings, chats and files, to behave as a sort of personalized secretary.

    The expansion will come less than a year after OpenAI publicly released viral AI chat tool ChatGPT, which stunned many users with its impressive ability to generate original essays, stories and song lyrics in response to user prompts. The initial wave of attention on the tool helped renew an arms race among tech companies to develop and deploy similar AI tools in their products.

    In the months since, many other companies have rolled out features underpinning or similar to the technology. Microsoft rival Google, for example, has also brought AI to its productivity tools, including Gmail, Sheets and Docs.

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  • Medical imaging struggles to read dark skin. Researchers say they’ve found a way to make it easier | CNN Business

    Medical imaging struggles to read dark skin. Researchers say they’ve found a way to make it easier | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Traditional medical imaging – used to diagnose, monitor or treat certain medical conditions – has long struggled to get clear pictures of patients with dark skin, according to experts.

    Researchers say they have found a way to improve medical imaging, a process through which physicians can observe the inside of the body, regardless of skin tone.

    The new findings were published in the October edition of the journal Photoacoustics. The team tested the forearms of 18 volunteers, with skin tones ranging from light to dark. They found that a distortion of the photoacoustic signal that makes the imaging more difficult to read, called clutter, increased with darkness of skin.

    “When you have darker skin, you have more melanin. And melanin is actually one of the optical absorbers that we inherently have within our body,” Muyinatu Bell, an author of the study and director and founder of the Photoacoustic and Ultrasonics Systems Engineering (PULSE) Lab at JHU, told CNN. In other words, the amount of melanin content in the skin could be associated with more clutter.

    “The skin essentially acts as a transmitter of sound, but it’s not the same type of focused sound that we get and we want with ultrasound, it’s everywhere diffused and creates a lot of confusion,” Bell said. “And so, this scattering of the sound that’s caused by the melanin absorption is worse and worse with the higher melanin concentration.”

    The study – a collaboration with researchers in Brazil who had previously used one of Bell’s algorithms – found that signal-to-noise ratio, a scientific measure that compares signal with background noise, improved for all skin tones when the researchers used a technique called “short-lag spatial coherence beamforming” while performing medical imaging. That technique, originally used for ultrasounds, can be applied to photoacoustic imaging.

    The technique involves a combination of light and ultrasound technology, forming a new medical imaging modality, Theo Pavan, an author of the study and associate professor with the department of physics at University of São Paulo in Brazil, told CNN.

    “We really verified that it was much less sensitive to the skin color in terms of the quality of the image that you can get compared to the conventional methods that … is more commonly used by the community,” Pavan said.

    The study is “the first to objectively assess skin tone and to both qualitatively and quantitatively demonstrate that skin” photoacoustic signal “and clutter artifacts increase with epidermal melanin content,” the researchers wrote.

    The applications of photoacoustic technology vary, but with the researchers’ new developments, it may help diagnose health issues more accurately and equitably.

    “Right now, it’s increasing the application of the breast imaging,” and the next step would be to “increase the image quality overall,” said Guilherme Fernandes, an author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate in physics applied to medicine and biology at USP.

    The researchers’ work could also mean advancements for equity in health care at large.

    “In our scientific technology, there is a bias in terms of developing these products, for things that work well in lighter-skinned people,” said Dr. Camara Jones, a family physician, epidemiologist and former president of the American Public Health Association, who was not involved in the new study.

    “The biggest problem is that we use a thing we call race, as a risk factor — as a health risk factor. And so race is the social and interpretation of how people look in a race-conscious society. Race is not biology,” Jones explained. “We’ve mapped the human genome. We know there’s no basis in the human genome for racial sub-speciation.”

    This study isn’t the first to find skin color biases in medical technology. Medical equipment that leverages infrared sensing has also been found to not work as well on darker skin, since skin tone can interfere with the reflection of light.

    Many devices that were in frequent use during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as pulse oximeters and forehead thermometers, involve emitting and capturing light to make a measurement. But if that device isn’t calibrated for darker skin, the pigmentation could affect how the light is absorbed and how the infrared technology works.

    Bell said her research can hopefully pave a way to eliminating discrimination in health care and inspire others to develop technology that helps everyone, regardless of their skin tone.

    “I believe that with the ability to show that we can devise and develop technology — that doesn’t just work for one small subset of the population but works for a wider range of the population. This is very inspiring for not only my group, but for groups around the world to start thinking in this direction when designing technology. Does it serve the wider population?” Bell said.

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