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Faraday Future alleges
Faraday Future alleges "coordinated effort" to undermine valuation
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric on Thursday said it has recently observed a series of "suspicious activities" which the
2023-09-08 12:49
Ring in spooky season with thrilling video game deals from Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation
Ring in spooky season with thrilling video game deals from Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation
It's the most ghoulish time of the year — which means it's the ideal time
2023-10-21 00:18
Games-Zhang's brilliant Asian Games continues with fifth gold medal
Games-Zhang's brilliant Asian Games continues with fifth gold medal
By Ian Ransom and Martin Quin Pollard HANGZHOU, China Asian Games poster-girl Zhang Yufei pipped Hong Kong's Siobhan
2023-09-29 00:48
St Vincent and the Grenadines media guide
St Vincent and the Grenadines media guide
Notes on the media in St Vincent and the Grenadines, links to the broadcasters and newspapers
2023-08-25 20:20
TikTok takes on Elon Musk’s X with text-only posts
TikTok takes on Elon Musk’s X with text-only posts
TikTok has launched a new text-based feature to rival other social media platforms like Meta’s Threads and Elon Musk’s X app. The Chinese-owned app unveiled the new feature on the same day that Mr Musk rebranded Twitter to X, which the tech billionaire plans to transform into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat. TikTok claimed in a blog post published on Monday that the latest format would “empower” its users. “Text is the latest addition to options for content creation, allowing creators to share their stories, poems, recipes, and other written content on TikTok – giving creators another way to express themselves and making it even easier to create,” the blog post stated. “With text posts, we’re expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine.” TikTok gained huge popularity through short-form video content – briefly overtaking Google to become the most popular destination on the internet in 2021 – and has since expanded to support images in an effort to take on Instagram. Earlier this month, TikTok also launched a music streaming service that offers an alternative to giants like Spotify and Apple Music, however it is currently only available in Brazil and Indonesia. TikTok said in a press release at the time that it “plans for further growth in other markets”. The new text feature looks more similar to Instagram Stories in appearance, offering colourful backgrounds and the ability to add stickers to a post. Unlike Threads or X, TikTok’s text posts will also support sounds that play in the background, similar to its video- and image-sharing features. “Sounds are core to the TikTok experience, which is why we’ve incorporated them into text posts,” the company explained in a note to users. “You’ll be able to add tunes that readers can groove to as they peruse your writing.” Posts have a 1,000-character limit – shorter than the 10,000 limit offered to paying X users but more than the 500-character limit on Threads. Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat
2023-07-25 16:20
Super Mario RPG Best Bonus Stats
Super Mario RPG Best Bonus Stats
Players wonder which bonus stats are best for each character in Super Mario RPG. We've got the answers here!
2023-11-21 08:57
Avanci Broadcast adds ETRI, KPN, NEC and NERC-DTV as Licensors
Avanci Broadcast adds ETRI, KPN, NEC and NERC-DTV as Licensors
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2023--
2023-05-22 20:16
WhatsApp debuts one-to-many broadcasting 'Channels'
WhatsApp debuts one-to-many broadcasting 'Channels'
WhatsApp on Thursday began letting select organizations try a new feature called "Channels" that lets them broadcast to followers on...
2023-06-08 15:28
The Finals Closed Beta 2 Patch Notes 1: Fixes and Balance Changes
The Finals Closed Beta 2 Patch Notes 1: Fixes and Balance Changes
Here's everything you need to know about the latest patch for The Finals, including technical fixes and balance changes.
2023-06-17 01:27
OpenAI launches ‘instructions’ for ChatGPT, letting it remember who you are and what you want
OpenAI launches ‘instructions’ for ChatGPT, letting it remember who you are and what you want
OpenAI has launched new “custom instructions” for ChatGPT, aimed at letting the system know who you are and what you want. The tool allows users to “share anything you’d like ChatGPT to consider in its response”, the company said. That might mean always starting conversations with the chatbot being aware that you are a teacher of young children, for instance, so that it can word its responses accordingly. Or a user might set an instruction that they are a computer programmer in a specific language, so that it can know how to format its responses. They can also be more specific instructions to the chatbot itself. Users might opt to tell it what tone to use in its responses, for instance, or to keep to a word limit. The new tool comes with a range of warnings about the way that the data itself is used. Those instructions might be shared with the developers of any plug-ins, for instance, and it will also be used gathered by OpenAI. The company says it will use people’s custom instructions “to improve model performance – like teaching the model how to adapt its responses to your instructions without overdoing it”. The tool comes with some restrictions aimed at ensuring people do not use the feature to break ChatGPT’s rules. That includes scanning custom instructions to ensure they do not break its rules, and allowing ChatGPT not to comply with instructions if they are going to be used to violate the company’s policies. OpenAI is not making the new feature available in the UK and EU. Regulators in those countries have shown particular concern about the way data is used by OpenAI – and in Italy, those concerns are such that the country has banned access to ChatGPT. Users must also have a subscription to OpenAI’s “Plus” premium tier, and is currently only available in beta. The company plans to roll it out to everyone “soon”, it said. At the moment, ChatGPT does not remember anything from previous conversations. A person might have told it useful information, for instance – such as those previous examples of teachers and programmers – but after the chat is closed and restarted, that information will be lost. The feature can be used by clicking into settings, then clicking “beta features” or “new features” and enabling “custom instructions”. Read More Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web ChatGPT creator withholds latest AI over fears it’s too powerful Meta unveils its ChatGPT rival Llama
2023-07-22 01:22
Ancient Chinese city found perfectly preserved at the bottom of a lake
Ancient Chinese city found perfectly preserved at the bottom of a lake
Submerged beneath a manmade lake in China lies a forgotten city, dubbed by experts as “China’s Atlantis”. The underwater city, known as the Lion City or Shi Cheng, is hidden 40 metres beneath the surface of Qiandao Lake in eastern China. In 2001, officials discovered – or rediscovered – that the metropolis had been perfectly preserved after years underwater, and by 2017 had opened it up as a diving site for tourists. But what is the history of the Lion City, and how did it end up underwater? Shi Cheng is thought to have been built during the Eastern Han Dynasty between 25AD and 200AD. It was once a political and economic hub in the eastern province of Zhejiang, with a regional seat of power located in the city. The city walls, believed to date back to the 16th century, had five entrance gates, as opposed to the traditional four in old Chinese cities, and its wide streets contain 265 archways featuring stonework of dragons, phoenixes and (you guessed it) lions. However, in 1959, the Chinese government decided to build a hydroelectric power plant in the area and, somewhat shockingly, decided to flood the city to do it. This didn’t just amount to getting rid of a historical artefact. More than 300,000 people needed to be rehoused for the project, which ultimately birthed Qiandao Lake. A surprising side effect to this was that the city remains as a time capsule to the period when it was flooded. Since the water used to submerge it did not contain anything corrosive, and was not conducive to marine life, the remains are in perfect condition. And even though it was still functioning as a city until the mid-20th century, the Lion City has still not been completely mapped out. Now, divers are slowly working through each building, structure, archway, road and house to eventually put together a full picture of what it would have looked like. Until then, it will remain at least party shrouded in mystery, as China’s very own Atlantis. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our 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.
2023-11-24 23:51
Who is Dr Mod Helmy? The WWII hero in today's Google Doodle
Who is Dr Mod Helmy? The WWII hero in today's Google Doodle
Today’s Google Doodle is a reminder that some human beings are truly extraordinary. The design, which you’ll see if you head to the search engine’s homepage, is a celebration of Dr Mohamed “Mod” Helmy – a man who risked his life to save Jewish people during the Second World War. Dr Helmy was born in Khartoum, Sudan, on 25 July, 1901, to an Egyptian father and a German mother. At the age of 21, he moved to Germany to study medicine, swiftly proving his skills as a talented physician and becoming head of urology at Berlin’s Robert Koch Hospital (now known as Krankenhaus Moabit). Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter However, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 was to turn his happy life upside down. Dr Helmy was forced to watch, powerless, as his Jewish colleagues were all fired from the hospital. And whilst he was initially kept on, he was soon subjected to discrimination and persecution for being a North African, and lost his job, too. He was also banned from marrying his German fiancée Annie Ernst (although, we’re pleased to say, he was able to do so some years later). In 1939 and again in 1940, the doctor was arrested along with other Egyptian nationals. And although the Nazis released him when he became gravely ill, he was under strict instruction to report to the police twice a day as proof he was unfit for internment. Despite being targeted by the regime himself, Dr Helmy continued to speak out against Nazi policies and, after being demoted to the role of doctor’s assistant, he made the most of his limited position by writing sick notes to help innocent people escape hard labour. He also repeatedly risked his life to help his Jewish friends. When Berlin’s deportation of the Jews began and his family friend Anna Boros was in need of a hiding place, Dr Helmy brought her to a cabin he owned in the neighbourhood of Buch. This became her safe haven until the end of the war, as Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Center, notes in its biography of the doctor. At times of danger, when he was under police investigation, Dr Helmy would arrange for Boros to hide elsewhere. “A good friend of our family, Dr Helmy…hid me in his cabin in Berlin-Buch from 10 March until the end of the war,” she wrote after the war. “As of 1942 I no longer had any contact [with] the outside world. The Gestapo knew that Dr Helmy was our family physician, and they knew that he owned a cabin in Berlin-Buch. “He managed to evade all their interrogations. In such cases he would bring me to friends where I would stay for several days, introducing me as his cousin from Dresden. When the danger would pass, I would return to his cabin. “Dr Helmy did everything for me out of the generosity of his heart and I will be grateful to him for eternity”. Dr Helmy also helped protect Boros’ mother, Julianna, her stepfather, Georg Wehr, and her grandmother, Cecilie Rudnik. Thanks to his courage and resourcefulness, all four of them survived the Holocaust. He remained in Berlin until his death in 1982. In 2013, Yad Vashem posthumously bestowed its Righteous Among the Nations award on Dr Helmy. He was the first Arab rescuer to be awarded the prestigious title. The Google Doodle artwork was created by Berlin-based artist Noa Snir to honour his Egyptian and German background and capture his open-hearted nature. Speaking about her work on the project, Snir told a Google Q&A: ": I found the story of Mod Helmy very moving. I come from a Jewish background, and the thought of individuals outside of the Jewish community risking their lives to help others during WW2 is something that personally gives me hope about humanity. "I think Helmy's case is an especially interesting one as he himself suffered persecution due to his background and ethnicity, and that still didn't stop him from helping as many people as he could. It's unfathomable to me, this type of courage and integrity." She added that she hoped people would view her Doodle and reflect on the fact that "even in one of the darkest moments in world history, there were truly remarkable people who made acts of extreme courage and solidarity". "I think we should all aspire to be the Mod Helmy's of the world, or ask ourselves how we can take example from him in whatever small way we can," she said. 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.
2023-07-25 16:20