MW3 Season 1 is coming with Warzone map, Urzikstan, 3 new multiplayer maps, a fresh Battle Pass, and more on Dec. 6, 2023.

China is in the midst of a breakneck expansion of its copper industry that’s reshaping global flows of

Google Meet will now let an AI attend a meeting for you. The company is rolling out its “Duet AI” which integrates artificial intelligence into Google Meet, its video chat service. It brings a whole host of features with it: it can automatically improve the look, lighting and sound of a video caller, for instance, and detect people’s faces so that they do not appear far away in meeting rooms. It will automatically generate captions in 18 languages, detecting what is being spoken and showing translation in real time. But perhaps most notable is a system that can use artificial intelligence to watch meetings and then recap them. Users can delegate note taking, so that an automatically generated summary of a meeting is sent to attendees when a meeting is over. And if someone arrives late to a meeting, they will be able to see a “summary so far” that will catch them up with everything that has been said. If they do not want to attend the meeting at all, they can choose “attend for me”, sending the AI to the meeting in behalf, passing on any message or input and then sending a recap after it is over. Artificial intelligence in meetings has proven controversial in recent weeks. A new change to Zoom’s rules led to fears that it was using private calls to train its AI systems – and while the company denied it, it caused a run of concern about whether meetings were really private. Google said that when using the Duet tool “no other user will see your data and Google does not use your data to train our models without your permission”. All interactions with the Duet AI are “private to you”, Google said. Read More Behind the AI boom, the armies of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’ AI can detect Parkinson’s up to seven years before symptoms appear, study finds AI poses a profound threat – but could also help save us, experts agree

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 6, 2023--

The US Energy Department is making up to $12 billion available for automakers to retrofit their facilities to

Switzerland’s formerly cash-obsessed citizens are falling out of love with physical money. Some 36% of consumer transactions were

The United Arab Emirates is coming under increasing pressure to achieve ambitious results when it hosts the COP28

The Walt Disney Company has pulled the plug on a $1bn office complex in Orlando, following a warning from Disney leadership that billions of dollars in projects were on the line after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis escalated his feud with the company. The development scheduled for construction in the Orlando area was set to bring 2,000 jobs to the region, with 1,000 employees expected to be relocated from southern California. In an email to employees on 18 May, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chair Josh D’Amaro pointed to “changing business conditions” for the cancellation of the 60-acre Lake Nona Town Center project, according to The New York Times, which first reported the move. “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,” he added, noting that the company has still planned $17bn in projects over the next decade its Disney World campus. “I hope we’re able to,” he said. For years, Florida legislators and the governor’s office enjoyed a close relationship with the state’s largest taxpayers, among the state’s largest employers, which has wielded enormous political influence while bringing in billions of dollars to the state each year. Now, the company and DeSantis allies are suing one another, following a year-long feud over opposition to what opponents have called Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that boiled over into political and legal battles that could shape the company’s business in the state. Moments after board appointed by Mr DeSantis voted to strip the company’s control of its Florida park, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state officials alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” for “expressing a political viewpoint.” The lawsuit follows the governor’s state takeover of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, made up of conservative activists and DeSantis loyalists, a move that followed Florida Republicans’ punitive measures against the company after its public opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Days later, the board voted to sue Disney in state court. In March, Disney slammed the governor’s “anti-business” approach to the company, which Mr DeSantis has accused of advancing a “woke agenda” while his administration targets LGBT+ people and their families with sweeping laws to control public school education, healthcare access and speech. The governor dissolved a decades-old municipal district that allowed Disney to control its own land use, zoning rules and public services, without putting a tax burden on Florida residents. In effect, Disney taxed itself to foot the district’s bill for its municipal needs. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on a conference call with analysts last week. A statement from Disney said the company has decided to pull out of the new campus construction “given the considerable changes that have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions.” The “Parental Rights in Education Act” – what opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay” – prohibits instruction of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from kindergarten through the third grade and any such discussion “that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in other grades. The governor recently expanded the law to explicitly extend such restrictions to all grades. Critics have warned that the broadly written law threatens to freeze classroom speech involving LGBT+ people and issues, from civil rights history lessons to discussion of LGBT+ students, school staff and their families. Following passage of the Florida law, lawmakers across the US and in Congress have introduced similar legislation, including more than two dozen measures in current legislative sessions. Read More DeSantis v Disney: Why Florida’s governor is at war with the Mouse ‘We will not be erased’: Critics slam Ron DeSantis for unprecedented bills attacking LGBTQ+ people Penguin Random House sues Florida school district over ‘unconstitutional’ book bans Florida teacher under investigation for showing Disney movie with LGBT+ character speaks out

Scientists have found that students who cut social media use to 30 minutes per day can see significant reduction in anxiety, depression, and loneliness, an advance that can lead to better mental health interventions. A growing body of research in recent years has shown that an increase in social media use among young people is linked to their declining mental health. Researchers at Iowa State University assessed this link further in a two-week experiment with 230 college students. Half of the participants were asked to limit their social media usage to 30 minutes a day, and received automated, daily reminders. The study, published in the journal Technology, Mind, and Behavior, found that this group of participants scored significantly lower for anxiety, depression, loneliness and fear of missing out at the end of the experiment compared to the control group. These participants also appeared to have a brighter outlook on life, scoring higher for “positive affect,” which the researchers describe as “the tendency to experience positive emotions described with words such as ‘excited’ and ‘proud.’” “It surprised me to find that participants’ well-being did not only improve in one dimension but in all of them. I was excited to learn that such a simple intervention of sending a daily reminder can motivate people to change their behavior and improve their social media habits,” study co-author Ella Faulhaber said. The psychological benefits from cutting back on social media was found to extend even to participants who sometimes exceeded the 30-minute time limit. Scientists suggest it is not about being perfect, but putting in the effort that makes the difference. While previous research has assessed the effects of limiting or abstaining from social media, many of the interventions recommended in these studies require heavy supervision and deleting apps or using special applications to block or limit social media use. “When a perceived freedom is taken away, we start resisting,” says Douglas A. Gentile, another author of the study, who adds that eliminating social media completely may take away some of its benefits like connecting with friends and family. For those looking to cut back on social media use, scientists recommend setting a timer to see how much time one spends on social media. “Recognize that it’s not easy to stick to a time limit. Social media apps are designed to keep you engaged,” researchers said in a statement. However, they urge people not to give up as limiting social media use over time has real benefits for daily life. “We live in an age of anxiety. Lots of indicators show that anxiety, depression, loneliness are all getting worse, and that can make us feel helpless. But there are things we can do to manage our mental health and well-being,” Dr Gentile said. Read More TikTok allowed millions of people to see Canadian ‘helicopter’ wildfire conspiracies Reddit hit by outage as fight over its future escalates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all stop working Is your WhatsApp group making you anxious? Don’t worry – you’re not alone From a post-truth world to a post-trust world Why suicides among young women are rising at the fastest rate ever

Jake Paul is arguably one of the most well-known influencers in the world right now, but unfortunately for gambling firm Ladbrokes, the YouTuber-turned-boxer’s widespread appeal has landed them in a bit of trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The independent advertising watchdog, which regulates the advertising industry, enforces rules drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which has some pretty strict rules when it comes to gambling ads. In addition to requiring said adverts to be “socially responsible” and “protect children … from being harmed or exploited”, the CAP’s code states marketing communications must not be “likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture”. “They must not include a person or character whose example is likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who has a strong appeal to those aged under 18,” it reads. After Ladbrokes shared a promoted tweet in February featuring Paul – following his defeat to Tommy Fury – in which Twitter users were encouraged to vote on “what’s next for Jake Paul”, a single complaint was made to the ASA as to whether it may be in breach of the Code. Responding to the ASA’s enquiries, the betting company noted the advert contained no calls to action, promotions or links back to its website – and was “age-gated” so only users who had confirmed their age as being over 18 could see it. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The ad was specifically targeted at users aged 25 and over, receiving close to 16,500 impressions with just over 47 per cent of these being from individuals aged between 20 and 29 years. Ladbrokes also cited demographics for Paul’s following across several social media platforms, showing that the percentage of users aged between 13 and 17 years old was below 20 per cent on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. On Twitter, zero per cent of his followers were reportedly registered as being under 18. The company also directed ASA to the watchdog’s own guidance on “protecting under-18s” from advertising about gambling and lotteries, in which it states “sports like … boxing … are more adult-oriented and unlikely to be of inherent ‘strong’ appeal” to children and young people. Zing. However, in a decision which saw the regulator uphold the complaint against Ladbrokes, the ASA ruled there was still a responsibility to comply with the rule about not appealing to under-18s because the advert “appeared in a medium where under-18s could not be entirely excluded from the audience”. It continued: “CAP guidance stated that sportspeople involved in clearly adult-oriented sports who were ‘notable’ stars with significant social media and general profiles which made them well-known to under-18s were considered moderate risk in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s. “We also considered that Jake Paul would primarily be known for making YouTube videos and that he had a large social media following. We acknowledged that he had within the last few years turned to boxing. “However, because of his career on YouTube, we considered that he had a high profile within the sport and was well known outside of the sport and social media.” Although they noted Paul had no followers aged under 18 on Twitter, where the ad was located, the ASA concluded the content creator was still of “inherent strong appeal” to under-18s because “such large numbers” of his followers were in that demographic. They also mentioned Paul’s appearance on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark between 2016 and 2018 about two teenagers, with the target audience for the show likely to be “around the same age”. As such, they found Paul still had a “strong appeal” to under-18s and that Ladbroke’s advert was “irresponsible”. Not the first time Paul and “irresponsible” have appeared in the same sentence, to be honest… 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.

The mother of murdered two-year-old James Bulger has condemned “sick” AI-generated clips of her son circulating on social media three decades after his death. An animated version of the dead toddler discussed his abduction and murder by two 10-year-old boys in 1993, in videos shared on TikTok which James’ mother Denise Fergus condemned as “disgusting” in an interview with The Mirror. The social media app said the clips have since been removed for violating its guidelines. James was tortured and killed by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, on February 12 1993. The pair were jailed for life but released on licence with new identities in 2001. Venables, 40, was sent back to prison in 2010 and 2017, the latter for possessing indecent images of children, and was turned down for parole in 2020. The videos on TikTok showed animated children, including one depicting James, detailing his abduction and murder. James’ body was found on a railway line two days after his abduction and some of the animated clips reportedly showed an avatar by train tracks. A slew of AI-generated likenesses of other missing or murdered children had also been shared on TikTok, according to reports. Others showed Madeleine McCann, who disappeared aged three while on a holiday in Portugal in 2007; 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was murdered in Liverpool as he walked home from school in 2007, and Peter Connelly, also known as Baby P, who died after months of abuse in 2007. Ms Fergus, 55, told The Mirror the clips were “disgusting” and she is reportedly particularly upset by an avatar which looked like a photo of James and appeared to speak. She told the paper: “It is one thing to tell the story, I have not got a problem with that. “Everyone knows the story of James anyway. “But to actually put a dead child’s face, speaking about what happened to him, is absolutely disgusting. “It is bringing a dead child back to life. “It is wrong. “To use the face and a moving mouth of a child who is no longer here, who has been brutally taken away from us, there are no words. “I think these people must be disturbed. “They have got to be. “It is not just not nice for the parents to see. “I don’t think anyone at all should be able to see stuff like this. “To see his little face moving when he is no longer here, it is disgusting. “It all should be taken down and stopped. “It is not fair on the people who have lost children, or lost anyone. “We are not just saying take James down, we are saying take it all down. “It is beyond sick. “Who can sit there and think of such a thing?” Ms Fergus’ husband Stuart reportedly contacted one produce of the animated videos, who appeared to be in the Philippines, and asked for the videos to be removed. The Mirror reported that the clips were often voiced in American accents, and also had Spanish and French versions. A TikTok spokesperson said: “We want TikTok to be a welcoming place for everyone, and there is no place on our platform for disturbing content of this nature. “Our community guidelines are clear that we do not allow synthetic media that contains the likeness of a young person. “We continue to remove content of this nature as we find it.”

Here's some information about each playable character in the upcoming Bluey video game.