Further demonstrating the power of artificial intelligence when it comes to photorealistically altering footage, researchers from Disney have revealed a new aging/de-aging tool that can make an actor look convincingly older or younger, without the need for weeks of complex and expensive visual effects work.
Airbnb has launched a new long-term listing service intended to make it easier for would-be-renters to find apartments where they’re allowed to sublet short-term. The site, similar to Zillow or StreetEasy, currently shows listings for about 175 buildings in more than 25 U.S. locations.
DoorDash says it is laying off around 1,250 employees in the latest instance of belt tightening at a well-known tech company. CEO Tony Xu wrote in a note to employees that DoorDash sped up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic to catch up with its growth, since the company was actually undersized as of early 2020. Most of DoorDash’s investments are said to be paying off. However, Xu noted that “while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. As a result, operating expenses grew quickly.”
Xu added that DoorDash has “been more resilient than other ecommerce companies.” Third-party data suggests that the company increased its share of the food delivery market to 56 percent of sales as of September. However, DoorDash is still vulnerable to external factors, such as rising interest rates and the threat of a recession.
The company’s growth has slowed and Xu said if DoorDash didn’t cut costs, its operating expenses would outpace its revenue. The layoffs will account for around six percent of DoorDash’s workforce, according to Bloomberg.
DoorDash’s severance package will include 17 weeks of pay along with a February 2023 stock vest for those who are eligible. Health benefits will run through the end of March and COBRA coverage will remain available for up to 18 months. Xu noted that DoorDash will set March 1st as the employment termination date to give immigrant workers who are in the US on visas more time to find another job. Moreover, DoorDash says it will offer recruiting support.
Lyft, another major player in the gig economy space, said earlier this month it would lay off 13 percent (nearly 700) of its employees. Other notable tech companies have conducted mass layoffs in recent months, including Meta, Twitter, Amazon, Roku, Snap, Patreon and Peloton.
Lopez said that the romantic sentence was precisely “how he would sign his emails when we started talking again.”
Chromebooks are quality computing devices. But they may see slow internet speeds at times. Follow these steps to fix a sluggish connection.
In the near future, police in San Francisco may be able to deploy robots armed with explosives and instruct them to kill a human being.
We can now add the European Central Bank to the ranks of high-ranking crypto skeptics, with high-ranking execs going further to say that crypto shouldn’t be legitimized by any government or major financial institution.
It’s now particularly costly for Ukrainians to use SpaceX’s Starllink if they want to stay online during the Russian invasion. The Financial Timesreports that the price of a Starlink satellite terminal has almost doubled in Ukraine, jumping from the equivalent of $385 to about $700. The monthly rate isn’t as expensive as it once was (as high as $100), but it’s climbing from $60 to $75.
It’s not known if prices have also jumped for the Ukrainian government, which obtains Starlink from a variety of sources that include SpaceX itself, foreign governments and even crowdsourcing. Individual prices have climbed in Poland, where some Ukrainians get their Starlink equipment delivered to avoid complications with local deliveries.
The hikes come as Ukraine’s cellular networks are buckling under the strain of Russian attacks on the country’s electrical grid. In some cases, Starlink might be the only way for locals to reach the internet. Some residents in recently liberated areas also lean on the technology while phone carriers are busy restoring service. Higher prices risk putting internet access out of reach, and may force donors to pay more to supply as many terminals as they did before.
We’ve asked SpaceX for comment. The company has complained about its own costs for supplying Starlink access in Ukraine. While it was quick to switch on connectivity after the Russian assault began in February, it has partly relied on US government funding to supply terminals and maintained in September that it couldn’t continue offering service without further aid. After that complaint became public, however, Elon Musk said SpaceX would keep paying for Ukraine even though it supposedly meant losing money.
Outgoing Met Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu says danger posed would have left the Duchess of Sussex feeling “under threat all of the time.”
We may get to see Samsung’s next flagship phones in just a couple of months. Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S23 devices in the US in the first week of February 2023, according to news outlet Korea JoongAng Daily, which cites an anonymous company executive. As The Verge notes, it echoes a previous report by Chosun, stating that the company will reveal the lineup by February next year. The executive reportedly told JoongAng Daily that the flagship phones will be launched at an Unpacked event in the US, which is expected to take place in San Francisco.
While Samsung has yet to formally announce an Unpacked event for the Galaxy S23, the timeline reported by the publications is consistent with the previous flagships’ launch dates. Samsung revealed its Galaxy S22 phones on February 9th earlier this year and introduced a new addition to the lineup: The Galaxy S22 Ultra, which merges the Galaxy S and the Galaxy Note lines and comes with a built-in S Pen slot.
According to previous reports, next S series flagship might ditch the Exynos SoCs that the company typically uses for its European and Asian variants. Instead, Samsung might go all in on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips. Some unofficial renders that floated online also suggest that Samsung is getting rid of the camera bump on the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus, which may simply have three camera lenses protruding from their bodies.
JoongAng Daily said that Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala mentioned earlier this month that the S23 phones will be powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets. The publication also warned that the upcoming lineup is expected to be more expensive than its predecessors due to inflation, among other factors.
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