Latest news with #BrianBaker
Al Arabiya
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Arabiya
Paris unveils mural of Josephine Baker to honor her legacy
Paris is reviving the spirit of US-French entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker with a new mural. Fifty years after her death, Baker now gazes out over a diverse neighborhood of northeast Paris thanks to urban artist FKDL and a street art festival aimed at promoting community spirit. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Baker became a megastar in the 1930s, especially in France, where she moved in 1925 as she sought to flee racism and segregation in the United States. In addition to her stage fame, Baker also spied on the Nazis for the French Resistance and marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington. She died in Paris in 1975. 'I feel moved and I feel happy because this is part of a memory of my mother,' her son Brian Baker told the Associated Press at the unveiling of the mural Saturday. He was one of 12 children Josephine Baker adopted from around the world that she called her 'rainbow tribe' and what her son called a 'little United Nations.' The mural of Baker meant to symbolize freedom and resistance is among several painted in recent days in the neighborhood and organized by the association Paris Colors Ourq. The artist FKDL said he focuses on bringing women back into the urban landscape. 'Josephine Baker has always been for me a somewhat iconic figure of that era. Both wild and free-spirited but also deeply connected to music, musicals, and dance,' he said. 'She was an extraordinary character, an incredible woman.' Baker was the first Black woman inducted into France's Pantheon, joining such luminaries as philosopher Voltaire, scientist Marie Curie, and writer Victor Hugo. 'My mother wouldn't have liked words like 'iconic,' 'star,' or 'celebrity.' She would have said no, no, let's keep it simple,' her son said.
Economic Times
08-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Apple under pressure to shine after AI stumble
Industry insiders will be watching to see whether Apple addresses the AI stumble or focuses on less splashy announcements, including a rumored overhaul of its operating systems for its line of devices. "The bottom line is Apple seemed to underestimate the AI shift, then over-promised features, and is now racing to catch up," Gene Munster and Brian Baker of Deepwater Asset Management wrote in a WWDC preview note. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Pressure is on Apple to show it hasn't lost its magic despite broken promises to ramp up iPhones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as rivals race ahead with the will showcase plans for its coveted devices and the software powering them at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) kicking off Monday in Silicon event comes a year after the tech titan said a suite of AI features it dubbed "Apple Intelligence" was heading for iPhones, including an improvement of its much criticized Siri voice assistant."Apple advertised a lot of features as if they were going to be available, and it just didn't happen," noted Emarketer senior analyst Gadjo Apple delayed the rollout of the Siri upgrade, with hopes that it will be available in time for the next iPhone release, expected in the fall."I don't think there is going to be that much of a celebratory tone at WWDC," the analyst told AFP. "It could be more of a way for Apple to recover some credibility by showing where they're headed."Industry insiders will be watching to see whether Apple addresses the AI stumble or focuses on less splashy announcements, including a rumored overhaul of its operating systems for its line of devices."The bottom line is Apple seemed to underestimate the AI shift, then over-promised features, and is now racing to catch up," Gene Munster and Brian Baker of Deepwater Asset Management wrote in a WWDC preview also include talk that Apple may add GenAI partnerships with Google or Perplexity to an OpenAI alliance announced a year its lineup with AI is only one of Apple's who build apps and tools to run on the company's products, may be keen for Apple to loosen its tight control of access to iPhones."There's still a lot of strife between Apple and developers," Sevilla said. "Taking 30% commissions from them and then failing to deliver on promises for new functionality-that's a double black eye."A lawsuit by Fortnite maker Epic Games ended with Apple being ordered to allow outside payment systems to be used at the US App Store, but developers may want more, according to the analyst."Apple does need to give an olive branch to the developer community, which has been long-suffering," Sevilla said. "They can't seem to thrive within the restrictive guardrails that Apple has been putting up for decades now."As AI is incorporated into Apple software, the company may need to give developers more ability to sync apps to the platform, according to Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi."Maybe with AI it's the first time that Apple needs to rethink the open versus closed ecosystem," Milanesi to the WWDC buildup is that the legendary designer behind the iPhone, Jony Ive, has joined with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to create a potential rival device for engaging with AI."It puts Apple on the defensive because the key designer for your most popular product is saying there is something better than the iPhone," Sevilla WWDC has typically been a software-focused event, Apple might unveil new hardware to show it is still innovating, the analyst while unlikely to come up at WWDC, Apple has to deal with tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump in his trade war with China, a key market for sales growth as well as the place where most iPhones are has also threatened to hit Apple with tariffs if iPhone production wasn't moved to the US, which analysts say is impossible given the costs and capabilities."The whole idea of having an American-made iPhone is a pipe dream; you'd have to rewrite the rules of global economics," said of the things Apple has going for it is that its fans are known for their loyalty and likely to remain faithful regardless of how much time it takes the company to get its AI act together, Milanesi said."Do people want a smarter Siri? Hell yeah," Milanesi said. "But if you are in Apple, you're in Apple and you'll continue to buy their stuff."
