Latest news with #GabbyJones
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Microsoft seeks to placate EU with pledges to unbundle Teams, Office
Global Economy May 16, 2025 The Microsoft Teams app on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images Microsoft on Friday made fresh commitments to unbundle its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 software suites from its Teams workplace communication app in an effort to address competition concerns from European regulators and avoid a possible antitrust fine. The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, said in a statement Friday that Microsoft made a series of commitments to address concerns over the tying of Teams to its widely-used productivity tools, such as Word and Outlook. Under the proposals, Microsoft has said it will make versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 available without Teams at a reduced price, as well as allow customers to switch to the tools without Teams, including under existing contracts. Microsoft also committed to offer Teams' competitors increased interoperability with other Microsoft products and let customers move their data out of Teams to competing products. Interoperability refers to the practice of allowing different applications to communicate with each other more easily. 'The proposed commitments are the result of constructive, good-faith discussions with the European Commission over several months,' Nanna-Louise Linde, vice president of European government affairs at Microsoft, said in a statement. 'We believe that they represent a clear and complete resolution to the concerns raised by our competitors and will provide European customers with more choices.' The EU has been scrutinizing Microsoft's tying of Teams with its popular Office productivity suite following a legal claim made by workplace messaging app Slack in 2020 that the bundle represented an abuse of market power. Slack was acquired by Salesforce for $27.7 billion in 2021. Sabastian Niles, Salesforce's president and chief legal officer, said the European Commission's announcement Friday 'further affirms that Microsoft's anticompetitive practices with Teams have harmed competition and require a binding, enforceable, and effective remedy.' 'We will carefully scrutinize Microsoft's proposed commitments,' he added. Microsoft previously made a pledge to unbundle Teams from Office in 2023, offering to sell Microsoft 365 without the chat and videoconferencing service at a discounted price. It then expanded on that move globally with an offer to sell the two products separately. Friday's news marks an attempt by the Redmond, Washington-based tech titan to end the EU dispute and avert a potential hefty antitrust fine. WATCH: Watch CNBC's full interview with Perplexity co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas READ SOURCE
Toronto Sun
16-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Musk's xAI blames rogue tampering for ‘white genocide' glitches
Published May 16, 2025 • 2 minute read The Grok logo on a smartphone arranged in New York, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. Elon Musk revealed his own artificial intelligence bot, dubbed Grok, claiming the prototype is already superior to ChatGPT 3.5 across several benchmarks. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg Photo by Gabby Jones / Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok blamed unsanctioned changes to its system for responses this week that included controversial theories about 'white genocide' in South Africa. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Grok, the AI bot from Musk's xAI, has thoroughly investigated and reversed the 'unauthorized modification' to its technology, which led to responses that 'violated xAI's internal policies and core values,' it said in a posting Thursday. 'Our existing code review process for prompt changes was circumvented in this incident,' xAI said on its own platform. 'We will put in place additional checks and measures to ensure that xAI employees can't modify the prompt without review.' The responses raised concerns of a lack of oversight and control on AI chatbots such as Grok. The bot this week answered a series of social media posts about enterprise software, baseball salaries and puppies by explaining why claims of 'white genocide' in South Africa are 'highly debated.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Switching enterprise software is hard, like swapping your favourite LEGO castle for wooden blocks,' Grok replied to one user on the X social media platform earlier this week, before abruptly shifting topics a few sentences later. 'I'm unsure about the South Africa claims, as evidence is conflicting. Courts and analysts deny 'white genocide,' but some groups insist it's real.' As AI chatbots become more ubiquitous around the world, there's increasing concern about the potential for them to be manipulated to propagate harmful and misleading narratives. Even small tweaks done within the AI program can result in unpredictable, even rogue behavior by the bots. Musk, who grew up in South Africa, has in the past spouted the false conspiracy that there's a deliberate plot to cause extinction of white people in the country. Recently, the US granted refugee status to White South Africans, as US President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that this group has been the victim of a 'genocide.' As part of the measures to prevent such incidents, Grok's system prompts will be published on GitHub for the public to review and give feedback on, xAI said in its post. The company said it will put in place a 24/7 monitoring team 'to respond to incidents with Grok's answers that are not caught by automated systems.' Celebrity Ontario Toronto Maple Leafs Celebrity Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
European Union accuses TikTok of breaching digital rules
Published May 15, 2025 • 2 minute read The TikTok logo on a smartphone arranged in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. The Supreme Court signaled it's likely to uphold a law that would ban the popular TikTok social media platform in the US if it isn't sold by its Chinese parent company by Jan. 19. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg Photo by Gabby Jones / Bloomberg LONDON — European Union regulators accused TikTok on Thursday of breaching digital safety rules because of shortcomings in the video sharing app's online ad database. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account TikTok's ad repository isn't up to the standards required by the bloc's Digital Services Act, known as the DSA, the 27-nation EU's executive Commission said in preliminary findings from its investigation. The Commission said ad databases are vital for researchers to detect scam ads as well as so-called hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake ads, 'including in the context of elections.' The DSA is a wide-ranging rulebook that aims to clean up social media platforms and protect users from risks including election-related disinformation. Provisions include requiring platforms to be transparent about digital ads, including informing users why they're being shown a specific advertisement and who paid for it. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Commission said TikTok doesn't provide necessary information about the content of ads, the users targeted, and who pays for them. The database doesn't allow for a comprehensive search for ads based on this information, 'thereby limiting the usefulness of the tool,' it said. TikTok did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The shortcomings in TikTok's ad database prevent a 'full inspection' of the risks posed by its ad targeting systems, said Henna Virkkunen, the commission's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. 'Transparency in online advertising — who pays and how audiences are targeted — is essential to safeguarding the public interest,' Virkkunen said. 'Whether we are defending the integrity of our democratic elections, protecting public health, or protecting consumers from scam ads, citizens have a right to know who is behind the messages they see.' TikTok now has a chance to reply before the Commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine of up to 6% of the company's annual global revenue. TikTok is being scrutinized in a separate EU investigation into whether it failed to deal with risks to Romania's presidential election, which was thrown into turmoil last year over allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling. Toronto Maple Leafs Relationships Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Olympics
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Uber targets commuters with cheaper pooled rides, price-lock pass
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up TECH Advertisement Apple readies feature that lets Vision Pro users scroll with their eyes A woman tried on a pair of Apple Vision Pro goggles in an Apple Store in Pittsburgh. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press Apple Inc. is developing a feature for its Vision Pro headset that lets users scroll through software with their eyes, aiming to enhance the device with a novel interface. The eye-scrolling capability is being tested as part of visionOS 3, an upcoming version of the Vision Pro's operating system, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Already, the headset lets users navigate the software by looking at objects and then selecting them by pinching their fingers. The idea is to leverage the Vision Pro's existing eye-tracking hardware and software to take the system a step further, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the technology is still under wraps. Apple is planning to introduce the new Vision Pro operating system at its annual developer conference starting on June 9. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement STREAMING Max, once known as HBO Max, is calling itself HBO Max again. Got it? The HBO Max streaming service is displayed on a laptop computer in an arranged photograph taken in New York on May 28, 2020. Gabby Jones/Bloomberg It's not Max. It's HBO Max — again. In a surprise pivot, Warner Bros. Discovery executives announced Wednesday that the streaming service Max would be renamed HBO Max, reinstating the app's old name and abandoning a contentious change that the company introduced two years ago. The reason for the change, executives explained, was straightforward. People who subscribe and pay $17 a month for the streaming service wind up watching HBO content such as 'The White Lotus' and 'The Last of Us,' as well as new movies, documentaries and not a whole lot more. 'It really is a reaction to being in the marketplace for two years, evaluating what's working and really leaning into that,' Casey Bloys, the chair of HBO content, said in an interview. HBO, a trailblazer of the cable era, has been on a very bumpy ride to finding an identity in the streaming era. There was HBO Go (2008), HBO Now (2015), HBO Max (2020), Max (2023), and now, once again, HBO Max (2025). — NEW YORK TIMES CONSUMER SAFETY Ford recalls nearly 274,000 Navigator and Expedition SUVs due to risk of loss of brake function Ford is recalling nearly 274,000 of its Expedition and Lincoln-branded Navigator SUVs across the United States due to an issue that may cause a loss of brake function while driving, increasing crash risks. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the front brake lines in these now-recalled cars 'may be in contact' with their engine air cleaner outlet pipe due to a potential installation defect. That can result in a brake fluid leak and/or a loss of brake function. The recall covers 223,315 Expeditions and 50,474 Navigators between model years 2022 and 2024. Ford expects that just 1 percent of these vehicles have the defect, per a recall report dated Friday. Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this recall — but the Michigan-based auto giant had received 45 warranty reports of front brake line leaks as of April 17, NHSTA documents note. As a remedy, Ford and Lincoln dealers will inspect the front brake line of impacted vehicles and replace it or the air cleaner outlet pipe if necessary, free of charge. Dealer notifications were planned to begin Wednesday, the recall report notes, with owner letters set to be mailed out between May 26 and May 30. In the meantime, drivers can also confirm if their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA site or Ford's recall lookup. The company's number for this recall is 25S47. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement LABOR Burberry to cut about a fifth of workforce in turnaround bid A sign at a Burberry Group Plc luxury fashion store on Regent Street in London. Simon Dawson/Bloomberg Burberry Group Plc plans to cut almost a fifth of its workforce as its new chief executive tries to turn around the British trench-coat maker, after its push into high fashion flopped amid slumping global demand for luxury goods. The London-based company plans an additional $80 million of savings in the next two years, affecting as many as 1,700 roles — equivalent to 18 percent of its global workforce. The savings are on top of the $53 million set out by chief executive Joshua Schulman in November. Most job cuts will be office roles in the UK, Schulman told reporters on a call Wednesday, though global retail positions will be affected. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement TRADE In UK-US deal, hormone-fed beef is off the menu As Britain and the United States finalize the first bilateral trade deal to follow President Trump's global tariff blitz, British trade negotiators are still refusing to let American beef and chicken treated with hormones and chlorine into British supermarkets, a top US official acknowledged Tuesday — suggesting that Trump's efforts to bend countries to his will on trade will have limits when they clash with hot-button local food customs. US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said during the Oval Office announcement of the deal last week that she wanted Britain to take 'all meats,' seemed to soften that stance following talks in London this week. During a news conference Tuesday, Rollins suggested that American exporters might make concessions and wean themselves from ranching and processing practices that are standard in the United States but rejected by British and European regulators. Britain have not released details on all the products the agreement will cover, but it allows 'reciprocal' market access for beef, according to the British government. British officials have been adamant that restrictions will remain on importing hormone-fed beef and chlorine-rinsed chicken — two US products that have been an irritant in transatlantic trade talks for years. — WASHINGTON POST INTERNATIONAL Thai officials seize over 200 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the US Thai officials displayed samples of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States which they said they seized at Bangkok Port during a press conference in Bangkok. Sakchai Lalit/Associated Press Thai officials on Wednesday said they seized 238 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the port of Bangkok, one of the biggest lots they've found this year. The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department. The waste was found on Tuesday after the containers became the subject of a routine random inspection, officials said. A UN report last year said electronic waste is piling up worldwide. Some 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2022 and that figure is on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030, the report said. It said only 22 percent of the waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022 and that quantity is expected to fall to 20 percent by the end of the decade due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, and inadequate management infrastructure. Theeraj said Thai authorities are looking to press charges including falsely declaring imported goods, illegally importing electronic waste, and planning to re-export the waste back to its country of origin. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
Toronto Sun
08-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Molson Coors cuts outlook on weak U.S. beer demand
Published May 08, 2025 • 1 minute read Coors Light beer. Photo by Gabby Jones / Bloomberg Molson Coors Beverage Co. lowered its full-year guidance as the challenging consumer environment in the U.S. drives shoppers away from the company's products. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Coors Light and Miller Lite manufacturer now expects 2025 underlying diluted earnings per share to increase in the low single digits. It previously said profit would rise in the high single digits. It also projected a low single-digit decline in sales, lowering its previous guidance of a low single-digit increase. The company blamed macroeconomic pressure and weaker consumer demand. It also took a hit from the loss of its Pabst Brewing contract, and this time, international beer sales didn't save the company the way they did last quarter. The beer maker also disclosed that CEO Gavin Hattersley plans to retire by the end of the year. Shares fell 7% at 9:33 a.m. as markets opened in New York. Beer sales fell across the board. Volumes dropped 8% globally, and fell nearly 9% in the U.S. While the company pointed to macroeconomic pressure and the end of its Pabst contract, beer demand has been slipping for some time. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. More drinkers are reaching for spirits, canned cocktails, or skipping alcohol altogether, which is a trend Molson Coors has been trying to counter with investments in non-alcoholic drinks and premium brands like Peroni and Madri. It recently took a stake in Fever-Tree and began distributing the mixers in the U.S. Molson Coors' investment in Fever-Tree is already starting to show results, Hattersley said on a call with investors, calling the early signs 'promising.' 'Every single case we sell of Fever-Tree is incremental to our business,' he said. The company has exclusive rights to distribute the mixers in the US and plans to use its network to scale the brand further. Toronto Maple Leafs Canada Editorial Cartoons Ontario Sunshine Girls
