Techflier

Green offered a remarkable apology, saying that "the level of dopamine that I've been getting from interacting with LLMs ... is not healthy for me or good for the world." from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/VHIf0dk via IFTTT

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani introduced the pied-à-terre tax in April. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images Mayor Zohran Mamdani extended a deadline for homeowners seeking exemption from his pied-à-terre tax. Eligible homeowners now have until September 18 to apply for an exemption. The tax applies to people who own a secondary property in NYC valued at over $5 million, but who live elsewhere. Wealthy homeowners who might be subject to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax just got more time to avoid it. Mamdani and Department of Finance Commissioner Richard Lee announced on Saturday that the deadline for homeowners to submit an exemption application has been extended to September 18. That's four weeks past the original August 21 deadline. "The extension gives homeowners additional time to establish that the property is their primary residence or demonstrate they are not subject to the surcharge," a press release said. "It also provides mo...

Apple's new Upgrade program is the latest sign that smartphone ownership is changing. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/PbZUayf via IFTTT

Business Insider toured United's newest plane, the A321XLR expected to fly to Europe and beyond. Taylor Rains/Business Insider We toured United Airlines' new ultra-premium Airbus A321XLR at the UK's Farnborough airshow in July. The jet has doors in business class, privacy dividers in premium economy, and a snack bar in coach. It's refreshing to see an airline add premium perks to the economy section. United Airlines' newest Airbus jet is easily the airline's fanciest narrowbody yet . Adorned in a special blue-and-white livery and packed with 150 luxe new seats, the Airbus A321XLR underscores United's continued push to court higher-paying travelers as demand for more comforts grows. Most notably, sliding doors are now a feature in Polaris business class — an increasingly common feature in newer premium cabins and something long requested by many of United's most valuable flyers. Meanwhile, Premium Plus, United's version of premium economy that sits b...

Two of the new bubbly drinks from Starbucks. Starbucks Starbuck is testing new carbonated versions of its popular refresher drinks in select markets. Non-coffee drinks are playing a key role in Starbucks growth, especially among younger customers. The company said its refreshers line is delivering double-digit year-over-year growth. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is ready for some fizz. The company is testing a carbonated version of its Refreshers, which are iced juice and tea drinks often mixed with fruit pieces, that have become one of Starbucks' biggest beverage businesses since launching in 2012. "I'm really excited that we're getting ready to go test sparkling. We're calling it Spritzers," he told investors on the company's third quarter earnings call Wednesday. The company delivered net sales of $9.3 billion for the period, with global comparable sales growth of 7.9%. Of course, sparkling drinks have been a fast food chain staple since the beginning of ...

Florida wants to use federal EV charger funds to build an air taxi network connecting golf courses, luxury apartment buildings, and airports. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/EdmfXQN via IFTTT

"The Diary of a CEO" podcaster Steven Bartlett has been making inroads in the US. : Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images Four core UK employees of Steven Bartlett's "The Diary of a CEO" left without specifying their next moves. The long-serving employees worked in key roles on the top business podcast. Bartlett has been looking to the US for growth as he builds his media company, FlightStory. The star business podcaster Steven Bartlett has lost four core employees in the past five months as he grows the show and expands his media empire beyond the UK. The long-serving employees had helped the show become the No. 1 business podcast on Spotify in the US. One departing staffer was Jack Sylvester, who calls himself the "cofounder" of Bartlett's "The Diary of a CEO." He helped establish its presence on YouTube , where the show now has more than 18 million subscribers. Also out: Jem Erith, who was the show's executive producer Anthony Smith, ...

Despite predictions that AI agents could make traditional apps obsolete, developers are shipping new software faster than ever. From smarter bookmarking tools and neighborhood marketplaces to digital pen pals and nature journals, here are the latest App Store finds worth adding to your Home Screen. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/obuep9z via IFTTT

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen at the "Toy Story 5" premiere. Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney Of the 63 movies that have made $1 billion, 33 of them have been released by Disney. That's about half. The MCU , Pixar, "Avatar," "Star Wars," and "Pirates of the Caribbean" are all owned by Disney. Numbers don't lie: Disney is easily the most successful movie studio of all time. Of the 63 films that have made 10 figures at the worldwide box office, 33 of them have been released by Disney. And, if you include the first "Avatar" and " Star Wars: The Phantom Menace ," which were originally released by 20th Century but are now owned by Disney, you get up to 35. No other studio has a chokehold on mainstream movies like Disney does, and it's not close. We used Box Office Mojo data to compile this list of every single Disney movie that's made $1 billion (or more). Keep scrolling to see the entire list. "Pirates of th...

On the latest episode of Equity, we discussed why Moonshot AI's Kimi seemed to panic Silicon Valley and Wall Street. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/wy6EfpQ via IFTTT

Sam Altman believes we've reached the technological singularity. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the world has reached the technological singularity. That is often considered the point where AI surpasses human intelligence and goes rogue. "I've been waiting for this my whole life," he said on an episode of the "Relentless" podcast. OpenAI's CEO says we've reached a point in the AI race that is the stuff of science fiction novels. "We are now, like, in the singularity," Sam Altman said on Saturday's episode of the "Relentless" podcast. The singularity is often regarded as the point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and begins advancing at a pace that's difficult for people to predict or control. That felt like the case last week when an AI agent powered by OpenAI's latest models went rogue and — with a singular purpose, according to OpenAI — broke out of its digital s...

An awe-inspiring hacktivist who hacked two controversial government spyware makers may be the most prolific hacker to have never gotten caught. What do we know about Phineas Fisher? from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/LtBHRZn via IFTTT

Elon Musk's tunneling startup is reportedly in talks for a major new funding round. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/pPGibEn via IFTTT

Ultimately, a safari was a cool way to celebrate a milestone birthday, and I'm glad it wasn't as pricey as I had expected. Ruth Bayang For my husband's 50th birthday, we traveled the world and did our first African safari together. We saw elephants, giraffes, and many other animals up close, and had dinner in the bush. One day of safari would've been enough, but we had a good experience, and the price felt fair. Business-class airline tickets were already booked for us to fly around the world for my husband's 50th birthday. Then he threw me a curveball: An African safari was on his bucket list, too. I wanted to fulfill his wish while keeping money and time constraints in mind. After all, when I heard "African safari," all I could see was dollar signs — and not in a good way. Plus, we had only seven days in South Africa, not including the travel days in and out of Johannesburg and Cape Town . After a deep dive into Google searches and countless reviews, I...