By Jeffrey Dastin and Stephen Nellis Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup backed by Google, on Tuesday widened consumer

Furby, the babbling ball of fur once pegged as a security threat by the NSA, is ready for its comeback.

On Tuesday, Meta announced Llama 2, a new version of its large language model. Lots

History buffs on Facebook were left convinced of time travel after a black and white photograph originating from World War II appeared to show a man speaking on a mobile phone. In the image, the conspicuous figure could be seen leaning against a shop front on a crowded pavement amongst locals as well as US army soldiers deployed there. According to The Sun, the image was taken in Iceland’s capital of Reykjavík in 1943 – long before the invention of the portable telephone devices. The first mobile phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, was sold in 1973. The man who appeared to be holding a device to his ear was dressed in a light-coloured coat, wore a flat cap and was looking in the direction of the camera that captured the image. The picture which has sparked conspiracy theories of time travel was shared by its owner Kristján Hoffman on the Facebook group Gamlar ljósmyndir, which translates to “Old Photographs”. Hoffman wrote on Facebook: “The American army is taking over Icelandic splendour, as you can see. “One thing that draws attention to this beautiful picture is that above the window, in the corner in the middle of the picture, a man is leaning and is on a cell phone.” The post sparked a lot of debate online as people gave their different theories. One person suggested the man was simply scratching his ear, while another said he was holding his watch up to see if it was working since the man is standing outside a watch shop in the image. But Hoffman stuck to his own beliefs, saying: “He's in a stupor, standing alone and wearing a different headdress than the others and a scarf and acting like we would do today. “He has an overview of the square and nothing like having a conversation with someone on a smartphone.” Another person in the comments joked that Icelanders had “already invented the mobile phone way before anyone else!” Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Runcible bills itself as the "anti-smartphone."

US president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris joined Instagram’s Threads after the White House said Elon Musk’s sharing of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X was “unacceptable”. Within an hour of joining the rival Meta-owned platform, Mr Biden’s profile garnered over two million followers. “Folks, it’s President Biden,” the official US president’s account posted on Threads. “You’re hearing from me today from a new platform, but my message to you hasn’t changed: Right now, we face an inflection point – one of those challenging moments in history where the decisions we make today will determine decades to come,” the president said. Several accounts on the X rival app responded to the post, calling for a ceasefire amid Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and posting “Free Palestine” along with words of support for Palestinians. Mr Biden joining Threads ahead of a presidential election could boost the platform’s legitimacy and bring more followers to the app. The White House’s decision comes as X, formerly Twitter, is embroiled in a controversy over the platform’s owner Mr Musk endorsing a post falsely asserting that Jewish people “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them”. The conspiracy theory was among the hateful ideas referenced by the gunman who carried out the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Mr Musk immediately faced backlash for sharing the post at a time when Jewish people were facing an increasing amount of hostility due to the Israel-Hamas conflict which began on 7 October. “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement. Watchdog group Media Matters for America said earlier that it found advertisements for companies like IBM, Apple and Oracle were being placed alongside antisemitic content on X. A number of companies, including Apple, Disney, Discovery, Warner Bros, and Paramount Global have paused their ads on X. The latest incident marked yet another effect of X failing to moderate harmful content. It also points to the Biden administration’s efforts to turn to more social media platforms to engage with users ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. Mr Musk responded on Sunday saying X would be filing a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters “and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.” Responding to the Tesla Titan’s post, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone called Mr Musk a “bully who threatens meritless lawsuits”. “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,” Mr Carusone said. X has not responded to The Independent’s request for comment. Read More Musk files defamation suit against Media Matters over Nazi X post claims Elon Musk and Trump aide want journalists jailed over X Hitler exposé Elon Musk insists he’s not antisemitic after sharing antisemitic post SpaceX Starship rocket loses contact after reaching space: Live updates Disney, Apple suspend ads on Musk’s X after he agrees with antisemitic tweet SpaceX to launch world’s biggest rocket again after first attempt ended in explosion

Check out the full list of changes in the Apex Legends Harbingers Collection Event patch notes, including nerfs to Horizon, Revenant, and Rampart.

Melania Trump is launching a collection of $50 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) featuring US landmarks in time for the 4th of July. The former first lady’s “1776 Collection” includes images of Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell, set to patriotic-themed music. Ms Trump’s office said in a statement that each NFT was designed to celebrate the “foundations of American ideals”. “The 1776 Collection of artwork draws inspiration from several iconic landmarks of our nation, which I had the privilege of visiting during the time I served as first lady,” Ms Trump said. “I am proud to celebrate our great nation and remain inspired by the words contained within the Declaration of Independence.” An NFT is a blockchain-based certificate verifying ownership. The 1776 Collection was created on the Solana blockchain, and went on sale on Thursday. Ms Trump’s office said a portion of the sale price would go to support foster children. The site did not immediately respond to a request for further details about what percentage of the proceeds would be donated. Ms Trump has previously dabbled in NFTs since leaving the White House. In 2021, she launched a digital watercolour painting of her eyes for $180 each. Then in 2022, Ms Trump faced accusations of bidding $185,000 in an auction for her “Head of State Collection 2022.” An analysis of Solana blockchain transactions by Bloomberg found the winning bid of 1800 SOL came from a wallet that belonged to the entity that originally listed the project for sale. Read More Trump news - live: DOJ prepares to hit Trump with new charges as ex-official cooperates in 2020 election probe Trump lashes out at ‘fake’ Jake Tapper after CNN host cuts away from arraigned ex-president meeting fans Meet Jesse Watters, the Fox News host helming Tucker Carlson’s primetime slot Prosecutors are prepared to hit Trump and his allies with new charges, sources say

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 22, 2023--

Only halfway through and the year's already been a whirlwind of both technological advancements and

Much of Europe and the northeast US are in store for sweltering summer temperatures well above historical norms,

Every summer, hackers and researchers from around the world brave the broiling Las Vegas heat,