Telegram is in Trouble, Cheap AI Voice Bots in India, Hollywood movies flop in China

Telegram is in Trouble, Cheap AI Voice Bots in India, Hollywood movies flop in China

All About Telegram, and Why it Became a Go-To App for Troublemakers - Bloomberg

• Messaging app Telegram has become a focus of extremist activity online

• It is a text-based chat service that looks and feels like WhatsApp with additional features

• Users can post stories, create discussion groups or establish channels to become influential destinations for news and information

• Telegram has a light-touch approach to content moderation, making it a prime target for governments trying to stop the spread of misinformation

• The UK riots in early August were used to foment and coordinate anti-immigrant riots in the country

• Hate speech and disinformation can still go viral on Telegram due to users cross-posting their content from one channel into others

• Governments are concerned about Telegram because it is difficult to track extremists who join the platform and send false or inflammatory information directly to individuals

• Law enforcement agencies have more leverage to identify users engaged in illegal activities on the platform

Cheap AI Voice Bots Are Suddenly Everywhere in India - Bloomberg

• Sarvam AI has introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice.

• The technology was developed with data from 10 native Indian languages and priced at a rupee per minute to capture the market.

China’s Box Office Is an Epic Dud for Hollywood Movies This Year - Bloomberg

• The Chinese box office is no longer a crucial market for US studios, with ticket sales down by about 50% from a year ago.

• Chinese regulators have curbed access to theaters due to concerns about American titles aligning with Communist Party values, leading to a decrease in the number of approved US releases in China

• Local-language films in China have become more popular, with over 80% of China's box office now generated by homegrown pictures

• Major US film franchises are not doing as well in China as they used to in that country

• Studios project zero revenue from China now at the green-light process, according to Chris Fenton

• Apple now trails YouTube and Spotify in the streaming platform market and is now viewed as viewed as gravy

• Disney has hired James Gorman to chair its succession planning committee as it searches for a successor to CEO Bob Iger

China EV Maker’s Tepid Reply to EU Proves Costly in Tariff Spat - Bloomberg

• SAIC Motor Corp. has been subjected to an extra 36.3% tariff on EVs it sells in Europe by the EU.

• BYD Co. will pay an additional 17% on top of existing customs duties of 10%.

• Volvo Car AB parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. is in the middle with an added charge of 19.3%.

• The main factor driving the uneven treatment appears to be varying levels of cooperation and SAIC's lack of access to some of its own suppliers' data.

• Chinese EV makers are capturing an impressive share of the continent's car market but are not displaying the same prowess when it comes to intangible influence.

Arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Durov Becomes Free Speech Flashpoint - New York Times

• Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has been arrested by French authorities on charges related to the spread of illicit material on the app.

• Telegram has over 900 million users and has been central to everyday life in countries like Russia, Ukraine, and India for messaging, getting independent news, and exchanging views.

• The app's growth has been driven partly by a commitment to free speech, but its light oversight has also made it a haven for harmful content, including disinformation, far-right extremism, and other harmful content. - The arrest raises concerns about free expression, censorship, and government oversight of online content at a time when regulatory scrutiny of speech on the internet is ramping up. Under French law, the initial 24 hours spent in custody can be extended to up to 96 hours depending on the seriousness of the criminal accusations. The arrest risks intensifying tensions with Russia, the Russian Embassy in France has asked the French authorities for clarification on news of the arrest

How High Home Insurance Costs Threaten Affordable Housing - New York Times

• Developers and landlords of subsidized housing are facing increasing property insurance costs that could put them out of business.

• The skyrocketing cost of property insurance has put the network of nonprofit groups that use public and charitable funds to rehab or build affordable housing on shaky ground

• In Houston, hundreds of apartments once protected from rising rents are being sold off to landlords who can charge the full market rate

• Insurance premiums are keeping even heavily subsidized homes out of buyers' reach

• Costs are rising for homeowners of all types, and in states like Florida, Texas, and California, it has become harder to get insurance at all

• Coastal states, hit hard by severe weather, are particularly vulnerable to the problem

• A collapse of the affordable housing sector could increase homelessness and hurt the banks that have collectively invested billions in housing projects through a federal tax credit program

• Insurance is the thing that has had the greatest impact on nonprofits and developers.

In Oakland, Roots and Ballers Try to Fill Void Left by Raiders and A’s - New York Times

• Oakland has had an exodus of sports teams over the past half decade, with the Raiders and the A's leaving for Las Vegas.

• The city is now home to lesser-known soccer teams like the Oakland Roots, who play in the U.S.L. Championship, a second-tier league, and are renovating Raimondi Park for an independent league team called the Oakland Ballers.

• Money is a major reason why the Warriors, Raiders, and A's left Oakland, with most of their moves being due to lack of public funds or a desire for a more expensive stadium. (A new W.N.B.A. franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, will begin play next season in San Francisco.)

• There is more money to be made in larger, richer cities, especially if those locales are willing to build new venues for teams, according to the dictum of the longtime dictum in professional sports: There is always more money in larger cities."

• In Oakland, it has meant squads like the Roots and the Ballers are trying to fill the void left by the deposed teams.

Why Roth Accounts May Be a Good Savings Option at Any Age - New York Times

• Roth accounts are a good investment option for older and retired workers

• They are funded with after-tax dollars instead of pretax contributions

• Taxes are paid on the money before it is contributed to the account

• Contributions or conversions into a Roth account can yield significant tax- and estate-planning benefits for older workers and retirees

• Historically low income tax rates are set to readjust higher after 2025, making it a good time for people seeking to convert retirement accounts to Roths

• Roths can save heirs from getting hit with big tax bills from inherited I.R.A.s

Can the G.O.P. Really Become the Party of Workers? - New York Times

• A new generation of Republicans is learning to love labor, but it remains to be seen if they will love it back.

• Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has become a leading voice among Republicans pushing for a new relationship with labor, criticizing corporate labor practices and giving workers more say on the job.

• Other Republican senators, such as JD Vance, Roger Marshall, and Marco Rubio, have also joined in the trend of prioritizing workers and giving them more control over their wages and job security.

• President Trump has made his own overtures to workers based on their economic interests, but the Republican Party may not be poised to become the party of workers on its own. - The project of rethinking the relationship between conservatism and labor runs much deeper and broader than the nominee, which is often seen as nationalist rather than populist.

The future of the AI-enhanced classroom - Financial Times

• AI-powered systems are being used in some London private schools to study core subjects for GCSE exams in "teacherless" classrooms.

• AI is unlikely to replace teachers in the classroom, and social interaction between teachers and students is still the best way to learn

• Schools must prepare students to navigate AI-equipped workplaces and empower teachers with more time to do what they do best

• Educational technology companies are launching products using generative AI to help teachers prepare lesson plans and presentations and tasks for students

• Teachers must oversee students' progress and complement online learning sessions with plenty of class discussion and joint activities

• Some schools are expanding the concept of "flipped learning" and moving away from asking students to produce written work at home where AI is easy to deploy

• The advent of AI will necessitate a rethink of what schools teach and how they teach it

Russian lawmakers hit back at arrest of Telegram chief Durov in France - Financial Times

• Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov has been arrested in France for failing to moderate criminal activity on his messaging platform.

• Russian lawmakers have called for his release, warning that the arrest could have political motives and obtain personal data of Telegram users.

• The arrest comes amid a preliminary investigation into whether a lack of moderation on the platform facilitated illegal activity including terrorism, drug peddling, money laundering, fraud, and child exploitation. The platform has gained prominence in recent years to become an important communications tool for global leaders and a resource for sharing news and organizing in geopolitical crises. dreary moderation on Telegram has drawn scrutiny, with researchers warning that it has become a haven for criminals and hackers offering illicit services without repercussions. b. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and a self-declared free-speech absolutist, has clashed with EU and UK leaders over the perceived lax moderation of his platform.

How all-out war between Israel and its adversaries might play out - Financial Times

• Israel threatened to turn Lebanon back 20 years in 2006

• Back-to-back assassinations of senior figures in Hizbollah and its ally Hamas have intensified fears of war

• A full-blown conflict would pit the Middle East's most sophisticated military against arguably the world's most heavily armed non-state actor

• Israel is among the world’s best-equipped armies and with US-made weaponry such as F35 fighter jets

• Hamas, the militant group that Israel has been battling in Gaza for 10 months.

Start-up incubator Y Combinator backs its first weapons firm - Financial Times

• Y Combinator is backing a weapons company, Ares Industries, which has previously shunned the sector.

• The start-up has pitched its $300,000 anti-ship cruise missiles as suited for use in a potential war between the US and China in the Taiwan Strait

• Ares claims that US weapons stockpiles would be exhausted within weeks in such a conflict, and that weapons are too large and too expensive for today's wars

• Tech investors have ditched red lines against investment in military hardware due to conflicts in Europe and the Middle East

• Anduril Industries raised $1.5bn this month to accelerate the production of autonomous weapons for the US military and its allies

• Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent firms, has also made its first investments in defence and weapons.

Ten days that turned the tables on Russia - Financial Times

• Oleg Grishchenko, a dual Russian and American citizen, was caught by Ukrainian troops storming across the border to save his 88-year-old mother's hometown in Sudzha, eastern Ukraine.

• He drove for eight hours and more than 600km, arriving in the town after residents fled in droves and Russian troops warned him of advancing Ukrainian forces.

• Ukrainian troops used his home as a base for the next five days, treating the Grishchenkos "well" and allowing him to bring food to his neighbors barricaded in their homes. Then, on August 15, Ukraine claimed full control of the town and began the Kursk operation, which has been ongoing for over a week

• The operation has been described as the most tactically effective operation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the Kharkiv offensive in 2022

• Analysts, Ukrainian lawmakers, and soldiers worry that the situation could quickly change if Russia advances further into eastern Ukraine

• Russian troops have captured over 590 sq km of territory in eastern Ukraine since May

• Local authorities have ordered the evacuation of families and children from the town.

JD.com Shares Fall as Walmart Plans Up to $3.7 Billion Stake Sale - Wall Street Journal

• Walmart is selling its stake in JD.com worth up to $3.7 billion, allowing it to focus on its strong China operations for Walmart China and Sam's Club.

• The sale signals Walmart's confidence in its ability to compete in the retail market in China

• Citi analysts raised their full-year adjusted net profit estimate by 9.6% due to JD.'s strong profit beat in June and potential for net margin expansion this year

• Walmart can now focus on expanding its stores in China once it no longer owns JD., but analysts warn of potential competition in general merchandise and supermarket categories.

Alibaba, Tencent Cast Wide Net for AI Upstarts - Wall Street Journal

• Alibaba and Tencent are investing billions in incubating China's OpenAI challengers, valuing at least six startups developing large language models at over $1 billion each.

• Both companies have shifted focus to making profits after being hamstrung by regulatory clampdowns, Covid-19 pandemic, and a faltering Chinese economy in recent years

• Generative AI has emerged as a rare exception to their newfound conservatism

• Investment in AI startups is a strategic effort to strengthen their technological edge and expand market influence

• 40% of Alibaba's deals in China and 30% of Tencent's have targeted AI startups since 2023

• China's AI-model arena is getting increasingly crowded, with more than 190 products now on the market, raising fears among some companies that they are falling behind

• Computing tasks typically form the majority of capital expenditure of LLM startups

• Investors provide computing power support in different ways, including renting out hardware, selling cloud computing at discounted rates, and offering funds earmarked for purchasing chips.

Elon Musk's X to Close Operations in Brazil as Clash Over Content Escalates - Wall Street Journal

• Elon Musk's X Corp is closing its Brazil operations after a clash over a judge's order to remove certain content.

• The move does not affect users' ability to access the platform in Brazil, where authorities are clamping down on content on social-media and messaging platforms.

• Musk's more hands-off approach to speech on the service he acquired nearly two years ago is colliding with concerns of officials in multiple continents who fear it enables hate speech and other dangerous content. b

• X decided to close operations to protect the safety of its staff in the face of threats from a Supreme Court justice in Brazil. b- The Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes has been wrangling with Musk for months over content moderation restrictions in an increasingly tense showdown over free speech in Latin America's biggest nation. c- The billionaire has dismantled much of Twitter's infrastructure around content moderation after he took over the company in October 2022. - Musk has clashed with officials in Europe and the US over content policies and advertising.

How the Sparkles Emoji Became the Symbol of Our AI Future - Wall Street Journal

• The sparkles emoji is a symbol used in applications powered by artificial intelligence.

• At least seven of the top 10 software companies by market capitalization use sparkles emojis in conjunction with their AI applications

• Symbols and icons play an integral role in the user experience on computers

• The first known use of sparkles on software dates back to 1990 when Adobe debuted the pixelated icon on Photoshop's wand tool

• Sparkles emoji surged in popularity in mid-2020 after people on TikTok and other social-media platforms began using it for emphasis or sarcastic purposes

• Jasper featured it in a content-creation tool and promotional materials in early 2021, which inspired its use in AI marketing

• Big players like Google and Samsung have featured the symbol prominently in their new AI products

• Zoom conducted heavy internal discussion and research on what icon to use and whether to create a new one.

What Americans Get Wrong About Electric Cars - Wall Street Journal

• EV adoption will remain inconvenient and incremental until America has an adequate away-from-home charging infrastructure

• Without such a network, range anxiety and America's culture of road trips, super commuting and endless errands will make EVs a nonstarter for many people

• A week of relying on a new class of family-size electric vehicle taught me that a lot of people are wrong in how they think about electric vehicles and charging

• The Kia EV9 required charging a vehicle with a nearly 100 kilowatt-hour battery from a conventional home outdoor outlet that usually isn't handling anything more intense than a string of Christmas lights

• For seven days of errands, pickups, and even a lengthy road trip, being limited to charging at the slowest possible rate was just fine

• Real-world efficiency of the EV9 allowed for adequate buffer of range for days when I wanted to go further

• Incremental improvements to the tech in EVs have made it possible for millions of Americans to slot an EV into their lives with little more than an extension cord