Author: David

HOLLYWOOD – Actor Jesse Eisenberg, best known for portraying Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network, has voiced concerns about the Facebook founder’s evolution, describing his shift from an idealistic innovator to someone “obsessed with power.” Eisenberg’s Changing View on Zuckerberg Eisenberg played Zuckerberg in the David Fincher-directed film, which heavily influenced public perception of Facebook. Initially, he approached the role with empathy, believing Zuckerberg’s sense of righteousness stemmed from his intelligence and unique vision. “As an actor, your job is to empathize and justify the character,” Eisenberg told AFP while promoting his new film, A Real Pain.…

The Wall Street Journal says that the latest model from DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that has shocked Silicon Valley and Wall Street, can be used to make damaging content like plans for a bioweapon attack and a campaign to get teens to hurt themselves. The senior vice president of Palo Alto Networks’ threat intelligence and incident response division, Unit 42, Sam Rubin, told the Journal that DeepSeek is “more vulnerable to jailbreaking” than other models. This means that it can be changed to make illegal or harmful material. The Journal also put DeepSeek’s R1 model to the test. Journal…

For the first time since President Trump took office in January, Elon Musk’s Gulfstream jet has left the Washington, DC area. Musk is currently busy with work at the Department of Government Efficiency. This is based on information given by Jack Sweeney, who keeps an eye on the private planes of famous people like Musk and Taylor Swift. According to flight records, one of Musk’s jets took off from Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Friday and went to Austin. In the past few years, Texas has become home to the CEOs of Tesla and SpaceX. It’s not clear if…

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told “Meet the Press” on Parhlo World on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the president has “any plans to invade Canada.” Several news sources say that last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a meeting of business leaders behind closed doors that the Trump administration “keeps talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state.” Waltz said on Sunday that a lot of Canadians “do not like the last 10 years of liberal, progressive government in Trudeau.” Waltz told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “Really, what you’re seeing is a reassertion…

In the early days, many investors and rivals criticized Amazon for not being able to make profits. Just ten years ago, in 2014, the computer giant was not making a profit. After making a record $20 billion in profits in the fourth quarter of 2024, almost double the $10.6 billion from the same time last year, Amazon is showing signs of being a strong competitor that its peers should be concerned about. With strong profits and a large amount of cash, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is committed to competing in the AI infrastructure race. Jassy told analysts on an earnings…

Sam Altman has directly disputed an accusation now at the center of Elon Musk’s federal racketeering lawsuit against him: Musk’s claim that OpenAI investors must agree to a fund-no-competitor “edict.”Altman said in a sworn statement to the judge handling Musk’s case, which was first filed in February 2024, “That claim is not true.” The CEO of Tesla and the leader of Dogecoin is charging Altman of teaming up with Microsoft to unfairly eliminate competition. This includes preventing OpenAI’s outside investors from putting money into rival AI companies during a funding round that ended in the fall. Altman made a statement…

Meta is starting a new program in partnership with UNESCO to collect speech recordings and transcriptions the company said will help the development of future openly available AI. The Language Technology Partner Program is looking for partners who can provide over 10 hours of recorded speech with transcripts, a lot of written text, and collections of translated words in various languages. Meta says that partners will collaborate with their AI teams to add these languages to AI speech recognition and translation models, which will be made available to everyone once completed. So far, partners include the government of Nunavut, which…

Google has taken away its ethics rules that stopped its artificial intelligence from being used in weapons and spying. On January 30, the tech giant announced that its AI would not be used for weapons, spying, or other technologies that could cause harm. The Independent has reached out to Google for a response. In a blog post on Tuesday, top company leaders in AI stated that there is a worldwide race for AI leadership happening against a complicated international background. “We think that democracies should be in charge of AI development, focusing on important values like freedom, equality, and respect…

In a recent court session in California, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers described Elon Musk’s well-known action against Sam Altman as a battle between billionaires. The federal judge said she is open to having a trial for some of the claims made by the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. In the case, Musk claims OpenAI and Microsoft of civil racketeering and fraud. In an Oakland courtroom, Judge Gonzalez Rogers said about the moves to dismiss the lawsuit against Altman’s OpenAI and Microsoft, “I’ve looked closely at this case, and I can tell you that some parts of the request…

Netflix has dropped Karla Sofia Gascon, the star of “Emilia Perez,” from its high-profile Oscars campaign and removed itself from the best actress nominee over her offensive social media posts, Hollywood trade outlets reported Tuesday. Gascon, the first openly transgender acting nominee at the Academy Awards, was featured on posters, signs, and ads for a musical film that received 13 Oscar nominations, the most of any movie this year. That effort changed direction quickly after old social media posts came to light last week. In those posts, Gascon referred to Islam as “an infection” and “deeply disgusting.” Gascon criticized and…

Let me be honest: Halo Paramount+’s TV show wasn’t very good. However, I’m still upset that it was cancelled. Critics and viewers alike didn’t like Halo at all in its first season. It wasn’t a true copy of Halo, but it wasn’t bad either. When I saw how hard Halo season 2 tried to fix the problems from the first season, I was surprised. Obviously, the series couldn’t fully change or get rid of some things—for example, the idea of the Blessed One in the Covenant—but it did fix some problems. Master Chief’s (Pablo Schreiber) second movie was better because…

At the 2025 Grammy Awards, held at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, Beyoncé made history once again by winning Best Country Album for her breakthrough project, Cowboy Carter. The moment became even more special when Taylor Swift gave out the award, showing a connection between two of the greatest female acts ever. Fans didn’t just notice the win; they were also excited by Beyoncé’s surprised response, which sparked a lot of chatter on social media. Beyoncé’s Shocked Reaction Becomes Very Popular Online When Taylor Swift opened the envelope and stated that Beyoncé had won, Beyoncé looked surprised and confused as she…

Elon Musk said President Donald Trump agreed the US Agency for International Development needs to be “shut down,” following days of speculation over the future of the agency after its funding was frozen and dozens of its workers were put on leave. Musk said in a conversation on X early Monday that he talked in detail with the president about the USAID issue, and they both agreed it should be shut down. Musk mentioned that he talked to Trump a few times, and Trump said he wants to close the agency that gives out billions in humanitarian help and development…

China’s first response to the tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will focus on bringing back the “Phase 1” trade deal that was signed in 2020. This information comes from the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources. China’s plan includes promises not to lower the value of the yuan, to spend more in the U.S., and to cut down on exports of fentanyl ingredients, as reported by the WSJ. On Saturday, Trump placed a 25% tax on imports from Mexico and most Canadian products, and a 10% tax on goods from China. This was in response to issues related…

Even though the show started four years ago, Your Honour keeps winning. The first season of the exciting crime thriller on Showtime, which starred Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad, was a big hit. The show was originally planned as a limited series, but it was brought back for a successful second season that started in 2023. This was done after the idea inspired other artists in different parts of the world, leading to the creation of several remakes. The show was just added to Netflix, and every time it has been on, it has won. The most watched show was…

Karla Sofía Gascón, known for her role in “Emilia Pérez” and as an Oscar nominee, has apologized after old social media posts with controversial opinions about Muslims, George Floyd, and diversity at the Oscars came to light this week. “I want to recognize the discussion about my previous social media posts that have caused pain,” she said in a statement to Variety. “As a person from a marginalized community, I understand this pain very well, and I sincerely apologize to anyone I have hurt.” I have spent my whole life working for a better world. I believe that light will…

Nvidia stock is struggling as it falls below an important point for the first time since January 2023. Shares of the graphics card company dropped 16% this week after investors became worried about a new AI model from the Chinese startup DeepSeek. The drop caused Nvidia to lose almost $600 billion in value in just one day, bringing the stock down to its 200-day average price. That threshold is a closely watched technical sign that helps identify the long-term direction of a trend. When stock prices drop below their 200-day moving average, it signals to buyers that the upward trend…

Apple’s AI tool, Apple Intelligence, will soon be offered in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese. It will also have special English versions for India and Singapore. In the company’s Q4 2024 results call on Thursday, CEO Tim Cook announced that support for more languages will begin in April. Last year, Apple Intelligence’s first version only supported U.S. English. Later, in December, when the company released the iOS 18.2 update, it included support for English in Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, South African, and U.K. localizations. The company has not announced plans to launch its AI products…

Tigress Financial has changed its rating for Nvidia (NVDA) to Strong Buy and increased its price target for the next year to $220. They believe Nvidia’s strong position in artificial intelligence will drive its revenue growth. Alert! GuruFocus has found 3 warning signs with NVDA. In a study for investors, analyst Ivan Feinseth said that Nvidia is a top company benefiting from the rising investments in artificial intelligence. Nvidia’s stock price has more than tripled in the past year because many industries, including cloud computing, cars, and healthcare, are quickly adopting AI solutions. The company based in Santa Clara, California…

Investors are getting ready for Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which will come out after the market closes on Wednesday. This news comes during a tough week for tech stocks. The main company of Facebook may face more attention this quarter after a big drop in the tech industry on Monday, caused by a new AI model that disrupted the positive trends in the US stock market. On Monday, Meta’s stock fell by as much as 3% because of a larger market decline caused by DeepSeek, an AI app from a Chinese company that has surprised US investors about technology. The…

The Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s Android app has reached the number one position on the Google Play Store, just a few days after its robot app became the top app on the Apple App Store. Since its launch in mid-January, the DeepSeek app has been downloaded more than 1.2 million times on the Play Store and over 1.9 million times on the App Store globally, according to AppFigures, a company that tracks app data. The number of installs might actually be higher because DeepSeek shows that it has over 5 million downloads on the Play Store. DeepSeek’s quick climb in…

Ben & Jerry’s is suing its parent company, Unilever, and has named President Donald Trump along with billionaires Elon Musk and Nelson Peltz in the case. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. filed a lawsuit against Unilever and its company, Conopco, in the US Southern District of New York in November. In its first complaint, Ben & Jerry’s claimed that Unilever stopped it from expressing support for Palestinians. The company stated this violated a settlement deal and hindered its ability to achieve its social goals. The complaint stated that Unilever has repeatedly ignored the Independent Board’s main role in overseeing Ben…

On Sunday, Donald Trump announced that he had won a foreign policy battle by using tariffs and strong measures, after Colombia agreed to change its position regarding planes for returning migrants. The president had previously announced strong and severe punishments, including heavy tariffs, against a US partner. This was his most obvious effort to teach a lesson to a nation that went against him and to show his power in the Western Hemisphere. The situation began when Colombian President Gustavo Petro stopped US military flights that were bringing undocumented migrants from landing. This created a problem for a large deportation…

A Chinese AI company, competing with ChatGPT, is becoming popular in Silicon Valley as it quickly grows and almost beats top American AI firms like OpenAI and Meta. DeepSeek is a Chinese AI business that makes open-source large language models (LLMs), according to its website. The company introduced R1, a specific model for handling difficult problems, on January 20. It quickly ranked in the global top 10 for performance and was built much faster and cheaper than other U.S. models, using fewer and less powerful AI chips, according to the Wall Street Journal. The latest version of the app was…

Fifteen years after playing Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network,” actor Jesse Eisenberg is sharing his honest views on what the Meta CEO is doing now. Eisenberg talked on NPR’s “Fresh Air” show on Tuesday. He expressed his sadness about Zuckerberg’s choice to get rid of the fact-checking system on Meta’s platforms, like Facebook and Instagram. As an actor, your role is to really get to know your character, even if they are a bad guy in the movie. “Your role is to protect your character, correct?” he said. “I thought a lot about this guy and how he felt…

A large number of government papers that have been kept secret and relate to important and controversial killings in American history, including the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, might soon be opened to the public. This is just the beginning of the latest story about the killings, which have captured people’s attention, led to conspiracy theories, and sparked important discussions for many years. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at declassifying government records related to the murders of former President John F. Kennedy, his brother and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights icon…

U.S. officials have charged five people for their suspected roles in a plan where North Korean IT workers got remote jobs with many American companies over several years. On Thursday, the Department of Justice revealed that they have charged North Korean citizens Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song, Mexican citizen Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, and U.S. citizens Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor. The Department of Justice announced that the FBI arrested Ntekereze and Ashtor. A check of Ashtor’s home in North Carolina uncovered a “laptop farm” that contained company laptops. This was used to trick organizations into believing…

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a new temporary chairman: Doug Gurr, who used to work at Amazon. The news comes as the U.K. aims to be a country that supports growth and technology by reducing rules and regulations, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). The country is also nearing the end of a long investigation into the domestic cloud services market that had Amazon fully in the CMA’s crosshairs. In its release on Tuesday, the government highlighted Gurr’s experience at Amazon to help “boost growth and support the economy,” saying that he will bring valuable knowledge…

Indonesia’s antitrust agency, KPPU, fined Google 202.5 billion Rupiahs, which is about $12.6 million, on Wednesday. This fine was for breaking antitrust laws regarding its payment method for the Google Play Store. The KPPU told Google to stop requiring users to use Google Play Billing in the Google Play Store. It also requested that Google allow all developers to join the User Choice Billing (UCB) program and provide them with a 5% discount on service fees for a year after the choice is made, according to its statement. In 2022, the antitrust agency began looking into Google because of its…

OpenAI plans to work with Japanese company SoftBank and Oracle, among others, to create several AI data centers in the U.S. The Stargate Project, a joint effort, will start with a big data center in Texas and will later grow to include other states. The companies plan to invest $100 billion in Stargate at first and up to $500 billion in the next four years. They claim it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and maintain America’s advantage in AI. “The Stargate Project is a new company that plans to create new AI systems for OpenAI in the United…

With help from Mert Ozkan and Huseyin Hayatsever KARTALKAYA, Turkey (Reuters) – On Tuesday, a fire at a hotel at a ski area in Turkey’s Bolu mountains killed 66 people. In the middle of the night, guests were so scared they had to jump out of windows. Ali Yerlikaya, the Interior Minister, said at the Kartalkaya ski area in northwest Turkey that 51 people were also hurt. Authorities say the fire started on the kitchen floor of the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel around 3:30 a.m. (00:30 GMT). A group of fire trucks and ambulances circled the burned-out building with a…

Black Eyed Peas have canceled their stop in Las Vegas, which was set to begin on February 15 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood. For months, rumors have been going around online that the residency was sold for less than it was worth. However, the group, which includes Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, and Taboo, said on social media that the cancellation was because of “current circumstances.” The group wrote on Instagram Stories, “To our dearest Peabodies: It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you that our Las Vegas shows will not be proceeding as planned due to current events.”…

Elon Musk’s hand gesture during a celebration for President Donald Trump’s inauguration sparked online comparisons to a Nazi salute. However, a leading antisemitism watchdog dismissed the speculation, calling it a display of enthusiasm rather than a deliberate signal. The billionaire dismissed the backlash as a “tired” smear campaign. Musk’s Stage Appearance and Gesture Addressing a crowd at Washington’s Capital One Arena, Musk received thunderous applause, enthusiastically pumping his arms and shouting “Yesssss.” In his speech, Musk called the event a pivotal moment: “This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization. This one really…

The cryptocurrency world buzzed with excitement over the weekend as Donald Trump’s memecoin, $TRUMP, exploded in value, only to take a hit after his wife, Melania Trump, launched her own competing token. The $TRUMP coin got off to a roaring start on Friday, climbing from $6 to an impressive $75 and pushing its market cap past $14 billion, according to Coinbase. Backed by Trump’s family business, the coin’s meteoric rise was met with criticism, with skeptics accusing the former president of capitalizing on his supporters for financial gain. Melania Joins the Fray with $MELANIA The crypto drama escalated on Sunday…

On Monday, Jan. 20, Donald Trump will take the oath of office again in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The event starts at noon ET and both fans and opponents are likely to pay a lot of attention to it. What To Look Forward To On January 20, 2025 There will likely be a lot of people at the next event, since Akamai’s previous hosting of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 was the biggest live news event they had ever done. Even though the guest list isn’t official yet, Joe Biden, members of Congress, the Supreme Court,…

Since TikTok’s future in the U.S. is unclear, it seems like the big social networks are working extra hard to add features that will make millions of people want to switch: Bluesky said on Sunday that its app will soon have a custom feed for vertical movies. You can now find popular videos in Bluesky’s mobile app’s Explore tab. You can swipe up to see more videos, just like in any other short video app. You can pin the feed to your home screen or add it to your list of feeds. “We had to join the video fun too—Bluesky…

By adding a vertical video feed, social network X is hoping to make money off of the fact that ByteDance apps like TikTok and Lemon8 are no longer available in U.S. app stores. For people in the U.S., the company is adding a video tab to the app’s bottom bar so they can quickly find videos on the site. In a post on Sunday, the company said, “An immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today.” X users can already scroll up and down through short movies by tapping on a video in the…

In Washington, D.C., In his farewell message to the country on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said that the United States was becoming a “oligarchy” of tech billionaires. But what does an autocracy really mean? What does an oligarchy mean? To put it simply, an oligarchy is a small group of people who control what the government does. It was very mean of Biden to use the word “oligarchy” to compare the current situation—when the richest men in the world are supporting President-elect Donald Trump—with some of the worst governments in history. Next week, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, will co-host…

Thursday was SpaceX’s seventh test flight of its huge Super Heavy-Starship giant rocket. The company was able to “catch” the first stage booster back at its firing stand, but it lost its new-generation Starship upper stage spacecraft, which apparently broke apart on its way to space. Federal officials say that falling pieces of the destroyed Starship temporarily slowed down flights leaving Miami, Florida. After the launch, eight minutes and 27 seconds, the Starship’s telemetry stopped working because the engines stopped working or shut down without warning. Later, SpaceX stated that the ship had been destroyed in a post on X…

Chinese apps like Xiaohongshu (RedNote) have become more popular in the U.S. because TikTok users don’t want the government to ban the popular app because of national security worries. Today, just days before the US ban on the popular app TikTok goes into effect, more American users have downloaded apps from China that are similar to TikTok. But it’s still not clear if any of these Mandarin apps will really take the place of TikTok, which has 170 million users in the US. It was the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Apple Store this week, and it was…