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Amazon responds to data center backlash, says it no longer uses NDAs

The CEO of Amazon Web Services tried to push back against widespread suspicion of data centers. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/lHUBmDr via IFTTT

I've been to Cancún countless times — but I prefer this quieter island about 30 minutes away

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Isla Mujeres offered gorgeous food, great views, and fewer crowds than Cancún. Kaila Yu I love visiting Cancún , but I've been on the hunt for a similar spot that has fewer crowds. Recently, I fell in love with Isla Mujeres, an island near Cancún that has great food and beaches. I think Isla Mujeres is a perfect spot for fans of Cancún who want a beach trip with less nightlife. I love Cancún's balmy, multi-blue-toned water, but I'm less fond of the crowds, nightlife, and traffic. These days, when I travel, I want as much peace and nature as possible, from calming ocean waves to the squeaky chatter of local birds. I've been to Cancún countless times, but recently visited the nearby Isla Mujeres for the first time — and found it to be the quiet, tropical escape that I needed. This island is just a 30-minute boat ride from Cancún, but it feels worlds away. It's also much smaller — the entire island of Isla Mujeres is 5 miles long, less than half of Cancún's Hotel Z...

M.M.LaFleur review: Elegant, comfortable workwear with smart design details

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When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Here's how M.M. LaFleur's high-end workwear holds up to our 9 to 5 routines. Sally Kaplan, Gabrielle Chase, Samantha Crozier/Business Insider M.M.LaFleur has a reputation for making classically elegant work clothes with a modern flair. But at an average cost of $150 to $350 apiece, one has to be selective about which M.M.LaFleur styles will have the biggest impact on your office wardrobe. To determine the brand's true strengths, we wore a bunch of M.M.LaFleur outfits on our commutes, discovering the less-apparent reasons for its high price tags. Nearly every piece we tried fit, felt, and functioned beautifully enough that we've kept wearing them again and again. Our favorite M.M.LaFleur line A standout textile from the brand, OrigamiTech is machine washable and wrinkle-resistant . It's our favorite fabric for work travel and is a true must-have for looki...

Where to watch the Celebrity Traitors: Free live streams, cast, trailer

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When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Claudia Winkleman returns to host the second season of Celebrity Traitors. Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images The global television phenomenon that is The Traitors is getting the UK celebrity treatment again, as 21 famous names from television, film, music, and comedy come together in a stunning Scottish castle with murder on their minds. It's all that anybody in the British Isles will be talking about at their water coolers this October, so be sure to follow our guide below on where to watch the Celebrity Traitors — with free and international streaming options explained. The free-to-air BBC is the home of all things Traitors in the UK, including Celebrity Traitors Season 2 — that means you'll be able to stream episodes live and on demand through the BBC iPlayer . In the US, Peacock is the streaming service you'll need, but you'll have to wait to watch. You can access your s...

BMW built the same car for gas and electric. The EV is $4,400 cheaper.

The new BMW 3 Series shows just how quickly EVs have caught up to fossil fuel vehicles on pricing. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/haE19B7 via IFTTT

AI voice startup ElevenLabs doubles valuation to $22B

The $300 million employee tender was co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/UGdtz4J via IFTTT

Bill Gates says companies that replace human labor with robots should have to pay the same FICA taxes

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Bill Gates wants to tax robots that replace human jobs. Tom Brenner/Getty Images Bill Gates says he wants workers to pay their fair share — even if they're not human. By taxing robot workers and AI tokens, Gates says the US can ensure its social safety nets remain. Gates first proposed the robot tax back in 2017. Bill Gates has a plan to ensure that humans keep getting paid in an AI jobs apocalypse: Tax the robots. In an interview with Ezra Klein of The New York Times that aired on Tuesday, the billionaire philanthropist said that "society gets to decide" how to support its workers — even if AI is pushing them out. "You define a unit of labor and say, independent of whether that's delivered by a human or robot, you are paying the same FICA tax that a human worker would pay," Gates said, referring to the US payroll tax. FICA taxes work by having workers pay portions of their paychecks toward benefits like Social Security and Medicare , with employers matchin...

OpenAI just launched its answer to Meta: 'always-on' AI agents called Dots

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a recent state dinner. Bloomberg/Getty Images OpenAI announced its new "always-on" AI agent product, Dots, at its DevDay conference on Tuesday. Dots will compete with Meta's Muse, part of a rush in the industry toward personal agents. A spate of other announcements included a new model, a $500 plan, and a collaboration feature. OpenAI is throwing its hat in tech's shiniest new ring. On Tuesday, the company unveiled a new product called Dots, its answer to the rise of "always-on" personal agents like Instinct and Meta's Muse . OpenAI's version will run on its frontier model GPT-6 Astra. "I'm really surprised at what a difference this makes in my life," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at the company's annual DevDay conference in San Francisco. "I feel like I've finally gotten some of my attention back. I no longer feel quite addicted to my phone in the same way. It's the w...

I was my boyfriend's first — and only — Hinge match

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The author and her boyfriend met on Hinge. Courtesy of Lauren Melnick My boyfriend, Matthew, swiped right on my profile — and then closed the app. When I saw his profile, he had some green flags I was looking for, and we started dating. We've been together ever since, which gives him a 100% success rate. On a random Tuesday night in April, loneliness paid a visit to Matthew. He'd been single for two years and was completely content with his bachelor life when he realized he missed having someone in his life, and going on a first date again didn't seem too bad. Twenty minutes later, he had downloaded Hinge and created a profile. As the left swipes kept piling up with zero on the right, his thumb suddenly stopped and hovered over one profile. A photo caught his eye, and he made his first-ever right swipe, closing the app and not opening it again. He matched with me, and I checked out his profile A notification popped up on my phone from Hinge. I had a new like, and I went t...

Anthropic’s CEO is about to have dinner with President Trump

This will be the first one-on-one meeting between Dario Amodei and Donald Trump from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/Yv9NrnO via IFTTT

Can Muse overcome Meta’s trust issues?

On Equity, we discussed how Meta's AI announcement managed to steal the spotlight from OpenAI and Anthropic. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/17N6IAh via IFTTT

I almost said no to my teen's inconvenient first job. Then I realized how much she needed the experience.

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The author drives her teenager to the ferry so she can go to work on an island in Maine. Courtesy of the author My teen landed her first summer job at a seafood restaurant on a Maine island. Getting her to the ferry requires me to rearrange my schedule and drive into Portland. The job is teaching her about money, responsibility, and independence. Living on the coast of Maine has its advantages. Beaches and islands are close. "Not that close," my husband said when my daughter told us her high school English teacher had recommended her for a summer job. The opportunity was on a small island, a ferry ride away, and it would mean driving her into Portland from our house in the suburbs just outside, affecting our summer routine . The ride is 30 minutes. With drop-off and pickup, that would take at least an hour. Traffic from local pedestrians and tourists is outrageous. Her new job would require a lot of effort from both of us, but it would also give her a chance to do something ...

My husband and I don't exchange gifts for birthdays or holidays. Here's what we do instead.

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Instead of giving traditional gifts on birthdays and holidays, the author and her husband prefer to travel, give surprise gifts, or show their love through food. Courtesy of Renate Flanagan. My husband and I prioritize experiences like travel over gifts, sharing memorable trips together. Our relationship grew through thoughtful gestures that weren't tied to holidays or events. I'm glad we have memories instead of random trinkets. It was my birthday and my now-husband and I had been dating for about three months. When he got to my house, he wished me a happy birthday, then he apologized, "I'm sorry I didn't get you a gift." At the time, I was 31, had a good job, and could buy whatever I fancied, within reason. I couldn't come up with any material thing that I even wanted. "Don't be sorry," I told him, "It's a good thing. No obligatory gift giving ." "No obligatory gift giving," he echoed. And the precedent was set. We...

I'm 21 and make up to $280,000 a month reselling sneakers. I don't see my friends much and still live at home.

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Robbie Cartwright resells sneakers online. Courtesy of Robbie Cartwright Robbie Cartwright started selling items when he was about 11. He now makes hundreds of thousands reselling sneakers online. He was late for his own 21st birthday because he was working, and he rarely sees friends. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Robbie Cartwright, founder of Yorkshire Trainers . It has been edited for length and clarity . I've been selling things since I was a child: candy bars, fidget spinners — you name it. My middle school had a challenge to see which student could take a small investment of about $10 and make the most profit. I won, selling hooks to hang handbags on. I profited more than $1,000 over the six weeks of the challenge, although it was all for charity. By the time I was about 14, I was reselling sneakers . Some kids have hobbies or play sports, but I would troll eBay, looking for deals that I could make a profit on. I reinvested what I made, and soon sta...

Pope Leo XIV warns against losing humanity to a ‘paradise of machines’

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Pope Leo XIV spoke about technology during a speech given to French diplomats on Friday. Tom Nicholson/Getty Images Pope Leo XIV spoke to diplomats in France on Friday. The Pope cautioned against losing our humanity "amid a paradise of machines." Addressing potential risks of AI has become a central theme of his papacy. Pope Leo XIV has a new warning about AI. The Pope cautioned against an overreliance on artificial intelligence and other technology during a speech to French diplomats, including President Emmanuel Macron, on Friday. Earlier that day, he traveled from Rome to Paris as part of an apostolic journey. "If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a 'paradise of machines' invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good," Pope Leo XIV said. "This is indispensable if we are to recognize the genuine good that enables human beings to flourish in...

Meta’s AI Tamagotchi bet is…working?

When AI leaders at OpenAI and Anthropic started talking about “pacing the frontier,” maybe someone should have asked: what pace? Now it’s turned into model drop week for both companies as Anthropic rolled out Opus 5.5, followed by OpenAI’s GPT-6 model updates just 90 minutes later. But the company that stole the spotlight was Meta, whose personal AI agent Muse is reportedly outpacing ChatGPT’s early numbers and is headed for smart glasses and […] from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/wjpZANz via IFTTT

The bond turmoil is ratcheting up calls for an imminent stock-market correction

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NYSE The bond sell-off has already weighed on stocks, but fears of a deeper correction are rising. Yields are solidly above 5%, a threshold that's caused pain for stock investors in past episodes. "A market correction seems imminent," Steve Eisman wrote on Thursday as bonds tumbled again. The deepening sell-off in the bond market could soon be a much bigger drag on stocks. It may not be long before the sell-off rattling government bonds this week spreads to the stock market, Wall Street analysts are warning. Bond turmoil has dominated market headlines this week, with Treasury yields spiking to levels not seen in decades. A grim cocktail of macro, fiscal, and geopolitical concerns has spurred the latest leg down, and investors fear the next shoe to drop will be in the stock market. Yields influence borrowing costs for a wide range of consumer and business loans, including mortgages, credit cards, and auto loans. Higher yields also pressure stocks by offering a viable a...

PrismML brings its tiny LLMs to Qualcomm-powered smart glasses

Prism's larger goal is open-weight AI that runs on devices and makes better use of the computing power they already have. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/kpj2svf via IFTTT

Enveda secures $311M to bring more nature-derived AI drugs into clinical trials

The round valued the AI biotech at $2 billion. It is currently testing drugs that treat skin conditions and preserve weight loss after stopping GLP-1s. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/z5Vo6nq via IFTTT

Modal Motors is trying to cut China out of electric motors entirely

The startup is working on small, light motors with no rare earth magnets that are suited for drones, fans, and robots. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/JX7kC16 via IFTTT