Madden 24 Early Access begins at 8 p.m. ET on Aug. 14. All players with Early Access will be able to explore the game come Aug. 15.

SANTA ROSA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 10, 2023--

Parts of the crypto market saw frenzied trading following a break in the regulatory clouds surrounding the US

Since the break up of Pangea that formed the world, we have been taught that there are seven oceans. But now, scientists believe a brand new ocean is currently forming as the continent of Africa is slowly beginning to split in half. Researchers have found two large parts of the land within Africa have begun to separate and it's believed a whole new ocean will form in the divide. Africa is the second-largest continent in the world, with a landmass of more than 30 million square kilometres, and is also the second-most populous. Many of its 54 countries are landlocked, however for some that could be about to change. Geologists believe countries such as Uganda and Zambia could come to have their own coastlines if the two land masses continue to separate. In the peer-reviewed journal, Geophysical Research Letters, experts have confirmed that the split in the African continent is creating a way for a new ocean to form. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Scientists have identified the exact location where the continent first started to split, very deep underground. The crack first began to appear in 2005 in Ethopia’s deserts. The crack is known as the East African Rift and is 35 miles long. The start is positioned at the meeting point of three tectonic plates which have been gradually pulling apart from each other. Christopher Moore, a Ph.D. doctoral student at the University of Leeds, told NBC News: “This is the only place on Earth where you can study how continental rift becomes an oceanic rift.” Moore and other researchers have used satellite radar to monitor the volcanic activity in East Africa as this is associated with tectonic shifts. Despite being able to monitor movement, the split is a very gradual process, and scientists believe it will take another 5 to 10 million years for the new ocean to fully form. 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.

At Google I/O 2023, the company announced major updates to its core Search product. Now,

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 24, 2023--

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

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 19, 2023--

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

Financial firms may be excluded from Europe’s most consequential ESG regulation, as the industry looks set to win

TL;DR: As of August 5, get this 3-in-1 USB-C Charging Cable For Apple Watch, iPhone

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