Frich launches tool that estimates anyone's salary from Instagram posts
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Called Frich Scoop, the feature lets users upload screenshots of anyone's LinkedIn and Instagram profiles to receive a speculative "scoop" revealing estimated income, lifestyle costs, and financial red and green flags.It uses AI image analysis to combine professional and personal online personas, providing users with estimated annual income, monthly lifestyle burn, and projected years to millionaire status - all presented in a shareable, Spotify Wrapped-style format.Frich claims that it is taking on the growing disconnect between what people see on social media and financial reality in an effort to encourage healthier conversations about money.The firm also insists that it only analyses publicly available information voluntarily shared on social platforms and that no personal data is stored and all screenshots are discarded immediately after processing. "We're not claiming to know anyone's real financial situation," says Katrin Kaurov, CEO, Frich. "This is about understanding how we present ourselves online and what signals we're sending. It's meant to be fun and insightful, not invasive."
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The Independent
9 minutes ago
- The Independent
The US Navy is spending millions on testing new drone technology. Setbacks have been significant
The U.S. Navy has experienced several major setbacks in its efforts to develop a new fleet of drones in a race with China. Last month, the Navy was testing autonomous drone boats off the California coast when one vessel stalled. As officials worked to fix a software problem, another vessel plowed into the stalled boat, flipped over the deck, and crashed back into the sea, according to Reuters. The two vessels were built by American defense tech companies, Saronic and BlackSea Technologies. During a test conducted by the Navy weeks earlier, a support boat captain was flung into the water when another autonomous BlackSea vessel that it was towing unexpectedly sped up. This caused the support boat to capsize, four people familiar with the incident told the news agency. The captain declined to seek medical attention. The incident was initially reported by Defense Scoop. Both setbacks were due to software issues and human error. This included breakdowns in communication between onboard systems and external autonomous software, a person with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters. Maritime drones have made a massive impact in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and U.S. military leaders have taken note. They have said repeatedly that they need a large number of aerial and maritime drones to stop a possible attack on Taiwan by China. Taiwan has begun building up its own naval drone fleet. The drones developed in Ukraine often look like speedboats with no seats and can carry weapons, explosives, and surveillance equipment. Primarily remote-controlled and costing nearly $250,000, they have been used for kamikaze missions to take down Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The U.S. is working to build an autonomous naval fleet that can move in swarms without being controlled by humans, costing as much as several million dollars per vessel. Hudson Institute autonomous warfare expert Bryan Clark told Reuters that the recent test mishaps reveal the challenges that the Navy is facing and that it will have to adapt 'its tactics as it better understands what the systems can do and what they can't do." A top admiral of the Navy's autonomous maritime drone acquisition unit was fired in late May. A senior Pentagon official shared their concerns regarding the program during a meeting with Navy leaders last month, according to the news agency. Following the California crash, the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit has put a contract with L3Harris, valued at nearly $20 million, on hold. L3Harris is one of the companies providing the software used to control some of the vessels. A spokesperson for the Pentagon told Reuters that they have conducted the drone tests as part of a "competitive and iterative approach, between operators and industry." In 2023, the Pentagon started its $1 billion Replicator program, a plan to acquire thousands of aerial and maritime drones, as well as the software to control them. The initial systems stemming from the program are set to be announced this month. Procurement records show that the Navy has committed at least $160 million to BlackSea, which manufactures dozens of Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft boats each month. Saronic manufactures the sea drone Corsair, but it hasn't yet revealed a major contract. According to federal procurement records, the company has generated at least $20 million stemming from prototype agreements. Jim Kilby, the acting chief of naval operations, visited a BlackSea facility in June. "These systems will play a critical role in the future of naval warfare by extending fleet reach, improving situational awareness, and increasing combat effectiveness," he said at the time, according to Reuters. Autonomous weapons expert T.X. Hammes told the news agency that the Navy is attempting to change decades of tradition quickly. "You've got a system that's used to building big things, taking years to make a decision, and now suddenly you're asking them to move fast," he said. Last month, President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy package, known as the 'Big, Beautiful Bill', was passed into law. It includes nearly $5 billion for maritime autonomous systems. However, the Navy has faced skepticism from the Trump administration. The Navy's drone procurement unit, called the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants, was recently placed under review, four people familiar with the situation told the news agency. It may be restructured or shut down. A spokesperson for the Navy, Timothy Hawkins, told Reuters that the unit stands by its mission.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump touts his diplomatic record, but the results are mixed
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently invoked his success at resolving international conflicts, casting himself as a global peacemaker while his aides and some foreign leaders push for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He has found Russia's war in Ukraine to be far more vexing. Trump has put himself squarely in the middle of the diplomatic attempts to bring peace but has wavered on what he's willing to do to achieve it. Here are some of the foreign disputes Trump has intervened in since beginning his second term in January, using a mix of threats, inducements and the power of his office to shape the behaviors of allies and foes. Trump brought together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on August 8 to sign a joint declaration pledging to seek peaceful relations between nations that have been at odds since the late 1980s. "I got to know them through trade," Trump said later in a radio interview. "I was dealing with them a little bit and I said, 'Why you guys fighting?' Then I said, 'I'm not going to do a trade deal if you guys are going to fight. It's crazy.'" The two countries had committed to a ceasefire in 2023. In March they said they had agreed on the text of a draft peace agreement, but that deal has not been signed. The White House-brokered declaration falls short of a formal peace treaty that would place legally binding obligations on both sides. One snag is over whether an agreement requires Armenia to revise its constitution. The leaders also struck economic agreements with Washington that granted the U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through southern Armenia. The Trump administration said this would allow for greater exports of energy. In documents released at the time, the corridor was named after Trump. Trump helped bring Thailand to the table for talks after long-simmering tensions with Cambodia spilled over in July into a five-day military conflict, the deadliest fighting there in over a decade. The U.S. president reached out to acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai two days after fighting erupted along a 200-km-long (125 mile) stretch of the border. Trump withheld deals on tariffs with both countries until the conflict ended. Up to that point, Bangkok had rejected third-party mediation and had not responded to offers of help from Malaysia and China, Reuters reporting showed. Trump's intervention helped get Thailand to the table, according to Lim Menghour, a Cambodian government official working on foreign policy. Subsequent talks yielded a fragile agreement to end hostilities, resume direct communications and create a mechanism to implement the ceasefire. Trump went on to impose a 19% tariff on both countries' U.S.-bound exports, lower than he had initially floated. Trump has maintained strong U.S. backing for Israel as it pummels Gaza and tries to uproot Hamas. He has also supported its efforts to disable other Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah and the Houthi movement, and Tehran itself. The U.S. president is working to expand the Abraham Accords, an initiative from his first term that aims to normalize diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations. But a solution to Israeli-Palestinian and Iranian conflicts has eluded Trump, just as it has all U.S. presidents for decades. Washington provides weapons and diplomatic cover to Israel as its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed international condemnation of the humanitarian toll of his military campaign in Gaza. Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza in January, after Trump's election but before his inauguration. The deal had been mediated by Egypt and Qatar and also involved personnel from the outgoing Biden and incoming Trump administrations. Israel abandoned the ceasefire in March. Talks toward a new ceasefire collapsed in July. Mediators are trying to revive a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan but Israel is also planning a new, expanded military operation in Gaza. Trump has blamed Hamas for not seeking a reasonable settlement of the conflict and pressured them to do so. Trump initially pursued talks with Tehran over its nuclear program. Israel launched an aerial war on Iran on June 13 and pressed Trump join in. He did on June 22, bombing Iranian nuclear sites. He then pressed Israel and Iran to join a ceasefire that Qatar mediated. The situation remains bitter and unstable. Iran continues to reject U.S. demands that it stop enriching uranium for its nuclear program. And Israel has said it will strike Iran again if it feels threatened. Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on June 27 under pressure from Trump, raising hopes for the end of fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. The fighting is the latest episode in a decades-old conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Rwanda sent thousands of soldiers over the border, according to analysts, to support M23 rebels who seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas earlier this year. Rwanda denies helping M23. In February, a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal. Then, in March, Qatar brokered a surprise sit-down between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame during which the two leaders called for a ceasefire. Qatar has also brokered talks between Congo and M23, but the two sides are yet to agree on a peace deal and violence continues. At the White House, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Trump that past deals had not been implemented and urged Trump to stay engaged. Trump warned of "very severe penalties, financial and otherwise" if the agreement is violated. U.S. officials worried conflict could spiral out of control when nuclear-armed India and Pakistan clashed in May following an attack in India that Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Consulting with Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance pushed Indian and Pakistani officials to de-escalate the situation. A ceasefire was announced on May 10 after four days of fighting. But it addresses few of the issues that have divided India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars since their independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Days after the ceasefire, Trump said he used the threat of cutting trade with the countries to secure the deal. India disputed that U.S. pressure led to the ceasefire and that trade was a factor. Egypt and Ethiopia have a long dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo regards as a national security issue and worries will threaten its Nile River water supplies. "We're working on that one problem, but it's going to get solved," Trump said in July. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt later included Egypt and Ethiopia in a list of conflicts that "the president has now ended." It's unclear what Trump is doing on the issue. In public statements, he has largely echoed Cairo's concerns, and some of his statements have been disputed by Ethiopia. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed to open the dam in September over the objections of both Sudan and Egypt. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who welcomed Trump's comments on the issue, has vowed to protect his own country's interests. Kosovo and Serbia still have tense relations nearly five years after agreements Trump brokered with both during his first term in office to work on their economic ties. Without providing evidence, Trump said in June he "stopped" war between the countries during his first term and that "I will fix it, again," in his second. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO bombed Serb forces to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians from the region during a 1998-1999 counter-insurgency war. But Serbia still regards Kosovo as an integral part of its territory. The countries have signed no peace deal. Kosovo's prime minister Albin Kurti has sought to extend government control over the north, where about 50,000 ethnic Serbs live, many of whom refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani said in July that "the last few weeks" Trump had prevented further escalation in the region. She did not elaborate, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied that any escalation had been forthcoming. Trump, who said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he could solve the war in Ukraine in one day, has so far been unable to end the 3-1/2-year-old conflict that analysts say has left more than 1 million people dead or wounded. "I thought this was going to be one of the easier ones," Trump said on August 18. "It's actually one of the most difficult." Trump's views on how to best bring peace have swung from calling for a ceasefire to saying a deal could still be worked out while the fighting continued. He has threatened tariffs and sanctions against Putin, but then backed off them again after an Alaska summit where the two leaders appeared before backdrops that said "Pursuing Peace." Trump, who has sometimes criticized and sometimes supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, this week said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal. He subsequently said he had ruled out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine, but the U.S. might provide air support to help end the hostilities. Europeans have worried that Trump might push Zelenskiy to accept a proposal from Putin that included significant territorial concessions by Kyiv and limited security guarantees from Washington. Despite talk of a possible meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, there was no let-up in the fighting. Russia this week launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, the largest this month. Trump in June vowed to "get the conflict solved with North Korea." The U.S. president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held three summits during Trump's 2017-2021 first term and exchanged a number of letters that Trump called "beautiful," before the unprecedented diplomatic effort broke down over U.S. demands that Kim give up his nuclear weapons. North Korea has surged ahead with more and bigger ballistic missiles, expanded its nuclear weapons facilities, and gained new support from its neighbors in the years since. In his second term Trump has acknowledged that North Korea is a "nuclear power." The White House said in June that Trump would welcome communications again with Kim. It has not responded to reports that Trump's initial efforts at communication with the North Korean leader have been ignored.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Tech selloff pushes down Nasdaq, S&P 500; investors cautious ahead of Fed meeting
Aug 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on Wednesday, with a selloff in tech stocks driving the Nasdaq to a two-week low as caution prevailed ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium this week. After driving much of the market's recovery from the April selloff, tech stocks are pulling back as investors reassess high valuations. The S&P 500 technology index (.SPLRCT), opens new tab slid 1.1% on the day. "We're seeing more downside in the names that have run the most over the last four months, in tech in particular, and maybe a little bit of profit taking in anticipation of more data on the economy and more guidance from the Fed," said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran. Analysts listing other factors behind the tech sell-off mentioned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's comments last week about artificial intelligence stocks being "in a bubble," and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study that showed many tech companies were struggling to translate AI into actual profits. Some investors also worried about government interference in the private sector. President Donald Trump's administration is looking into taking equity stakes in chip firms such as Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab, weeks after unprecedented revenue-sharing deals with Nvidia and AMD. Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab slid 1.2% and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab fell 2%, while Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab and Micron (MU.O), opens new tab fell between 7% and 5.3%. Nvidia's quarterly results on August 27 are keenly awaited for clues on demand for artificial intelligence. Other megacap growth names such as Apple and Meta (META.O), opens new tab also came under pressure, falling 1.8% and 0.9%, respectively. "It's much more about profit-taking and temporary rebalance here," said Phil Blancato, chief executive officer of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York. "If you get a Federal Reserve (interest rate) cut or a mention of it on Friday, this will reverse pretty quickly, but this is a lot to do with names pushed up to really lofty levels." At 1:55 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 9.10 points, or 0.02%, to 44,931.37, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 23.18 points, or 0.36%, to 6,388.19 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab lost 182.28 points, or 0.85%, to 21,132.67. The Nasdaq was on track for its biggest two-day drop since April, when U.S. tariff announcements had rattled global financial markets. Minutes from the Fed's July meeting, where interest rates were left unchanged, showed almost all policymakers viewed it as appropriate to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25% to 4.50%, despite two dissenters. Remarks from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic are expected on Wednesday afternoon. The central bank's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, kicks off on Friday, with Chair Jerome Powell expected to speak, remarks that will be closely watched for policy signals. Investors have been pricing in a 25-basis-point rate cut in September, according to data compiled by LSEG. Meanwhile, investors also monitored Trump's call for the resignation of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, with the president citing allegations that she was involved in mortgage fraud. Earnings from big retailers, seen as a barometer for the health of the American consumer, are also due this week as sentiment has taken a hit from concerns that tariffs could drive prices higher. Target (TGT.N), opens new tab tumbled 6.6% after the company named a new CEO and retained its annual forecasts that were lowered in May. Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder (EL.N), opens new tab fell 5.3% after tariff-related headwinds weighed on its annual profit forecast. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 125 new highs and 55 new lows on the NYSE. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 110 new lows.
