Science and Technology

How to make digital photos from your smartphone look old

How to make digital photos from your smartphone look old

Related media - Linked media Like the allure of vinyl records, classic video games, and even the early Internet, the fascination with old photographic standards like point-and-shoot cameras or 35-millimeter film persists, even in people too young to remember when that equipment was state of the art. The appeal of “vintage” photography goes beyond nostalgia and Instagram filters, judging by the sheer number of apps designed to emulate the film, lenses, and visual quirks of pre-digital photos and films. Despite the irony of using a high-end smartphone’s camera to produce imperfect images that appear oversaturated, jittery, low-contrast, unfiltered, or otherwise…
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The future of Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services

The future of Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services

Associated media - Associated media Ted Sarandos, 59, co-chief executive of Netflix, worked his way up through the now-defunct DVD industry before going straight to Netflix when the company was still renting DVDs by mail. Mike Hopkins, 55, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, was steeped in digital as chief executive of Hulu, the pioneering streaming service owned by Disney, Fox and NBCU, before joining Sony as head of its television unit in 2017. He came to Amazon in 2020 and reports to the company’s chief executive, Andy Jassy, 56, who has no professional background in entertainment. Over…
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wallets are not cool. Go digital.

wallets are not cool. Go digital.

Connected media - Associated media In a survey that asked just over 2,500 Americans about digital payments, about 80% of Gen Z respondents said they use mobile wallets, and among them, half were eager to use their phone a lot of more than paying for things, according to recent data from Pymnts Intelligence, a research firm that studies trade. Younger people are increasingly using their phones for purposes that older adults would use a traditional wallet for, such as carrying around documents like driver’s licenses, boarding passes and event tickets. Some of these digital items can be added to Apple…
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Elon Musk got 72% in Tesla shareholder vote on pay

Elon Musk got 72% in Tesla shareholder vote on pay

Connected media - Related media With the pay package, Musk would own 20.5% of Tesla, up from about 13%. He has said he would like a 25% stake, stressing in January that it would be “enough to be influential, but not so much that it can’t be overthrown.” If he didn’t get such a large stake, he said, “he would rather build products outside of Tesla.” Even after this week’s rally, Tesla shares are down more than 20% this year, versus a 14% gain in the broader stock market. The company remains by far the most valuable auto company, with…
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How to manage your streaming subscriptions as service prices increase

How to manage your streaming subscriptions as service prices increase

Associated media - Connected media Because we forget to unsubscribe In May, Caroline Sinders, a designer and artist, published the results of an independent study on how companies like Netflix, Hulu, Vimeo and The New York Times make it difficult to unsubscribe from their services. The study, conducted in 2022, found that some media companies like The Times created friction in the process, requiring, in some cases, a phone call to cancel a subscription. The Times now allows subscribers to unsubscribe online without calling. Even though the study found that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu were easier to cancel,…
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California proposes 30 AI regulatory laws amid federal gridlock

California proposes 30 AI regulatory laws amid federal gridlock

Associated media - Linked media California lawmakers last month advanced about 30 new AI measures aimed at protecting consumers and jobs, one of the largest efforts yet to regulate the new technology. The bills aim to impose the toughest nationwide restrictions on artificial intelligence, which some technologists warn could kill entire categories of jobs, throw elections into chaos with misinformation and pose national security risks. California’s proposals, many of which have won broad support, include rules to prevent AI tools from discriminating in housing and health services. They also aim to protect intellectual property and jobs. The California Legislature, which…
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How to trace your ancestors using free tools on your phone

How to trace your ancestors using free tools on your phone

Associated media - Connected media Spending time in cemeteries and libraries may not be everyone’s idea of ​​summer fun, but for those interested in finding their roots, gathering information about their ancestors AND a “family” holiday. Sure, genealogy sites have made researching ancestral history much easier with digitized record archives, family tree-building software, and community forums. Hand anything it’s online. As you visit libraries, archives and cemeteries in search of your roots, keep your smartphone or tablet handy: it can help you with translation tools, document scanners and more. Here are some tips that can make your research trips more…
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The Rise and Fall of BNN Breaking, an AI-Generated News Outlet

The Rise and Fall of BNN Breaking, an AI-Generated News Outlet

Linked media - Connected media A closer look, however, would have revealed that individual journalists at BNN published lengthy stories as often as multiple times a minute, writing in generic prose familiar to anyone who has tinkered with the A.I. chatbot ChatGPT. BNN’s “About Us” page featured an image of four children looking at a computer, some bearing the gnarled fingers that are a telltale sign of an A.I.-generated image. How easily the site and its mistakes entered the ecosystem for legitimate news highlights a growing concern: A.I.-generated content is upending, and often poisoning, the online information supply. Many traditional…
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Switching from iPhone to Android is easy

Switching from iPhone to Android is easy

Linked media - Associated media Apple announced that later this year it will improve messaging between iPhone and Android users by adopting advanced communications services, a standard that Google and others built into their messaging apps years ago. Texts sent between iPhone and Android will remain green, but images and videos will be higher quality. Losing your Apple wallet For iPhones, the reference app for making mobile payments in stores is Apple Wallet and for Android users the equivalent app is Google Wallet. The experience of using each wallet app was identical: I loaded my credit cards and the Clipper…
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