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Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Apple Vision Pro prescription lenses will cost $149 extraApple Vision Pro prescription lenses will cost $149 extra
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Microsoft’s observer has reportedly joined the OpenAI board.

    Remember the November upheaval at OpenAI, with Sam Altman fired and rehired as CEO? After all that, new board chair Bret Taylor said the ChatGPT company would “build a qualified, diverse Board of exceptional individuals” that included a nonvoting observer from Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s biggest financial backer.

    Now Bloomberg reports that person is Microsoft vp Dee Templeton, who has been there for 25 years and leads a team responsible for managing its relationship with OpenAI.

    Turmoil at OpenAI: what’s next for the creator of ChatGPT?

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    OpenAI code suggests ChatGPT could sub in for Google Assistant on Android phones soon.

    Over at Android Authority, Mishaal Rahman has evidence that ChatGPT’s developers are working to enable the use of it as your default AI assistant.

    That way, it could replace Google’s Assistant (which is getting a generative AI boost from Bard), Bing, Alexa, or others when you long-press your Android home button. However, the code also suggests access could be tied to paying for a ChatGPT Plus subscription.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Amazon’s last drive-up grocery store is gone.

    In the spring of 2017, just before Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and made big plans to reshape physical stores, it opened two drive-up AmazonFresh Pickup grocery locations in Seattle.

    Now, with grocery delivery commonplace, incumbent chains offering pick-up orders, and Amazon’s own retail plans in retreat, leaving planned storefronts empty, GeekWire and the Seattle Times report both Fresh PickUp locations have shut down, including one in Sodo near Starbucks headquarters that closed in December.

    AmazonFresh Pickup parking spots and storefront
    AmazonFresh Pickup location in Seattle, WA
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    And in other crypto scam news.

    Do you even need deepfakes? The Guardian reports that while “Steven Reece Lewis” helped pull in millions of dollars as CEO of “Hyperverse,” a collapsed crypto / pyramid scheme, their investigation has been unable to turn up any evidence he exists.

    Meanwhile, Web3 is Going Just Great points out a crypto wallet company exec who lost $125k due to a phishing link. Naturally, he’s trying to use the incident to promote his company’s wallet technology instead of reconsidering the whole venture.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Echo’s impending premiere on Disney Plus and Hulu also introduces Marvel Spotlight.

    After a debut in the Hawkeye Disney Plus series a couple of years ago, the Echo show starring Alaqua Cox starts January 9th. Other than serving as another link to the Netflix shows with appearances from Vincent D’Onofrio (Kingpin) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil), it’s appearing on both Hulu and Disney Plus, even as those experiences overlap.

    And it’s the first Spotlight-branded Marvel show, which means:

    ...in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity...our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Porsche’s refreshed Taycan is even faster around the Nurburgring.

    Car enthusiasts recently spotted a facelifted Taycan in testing, and here’s some confirmation. While we’ll have to wait for more details on what’s new for the Taycan in 2024, Porsche said test driver Lars Kern has apparently set a time of 7:07.55 around the 12.9-mile course (in a car with a roll cage and racing seats, on an empty track).

    That’s faster than Porsche’s invented record in 2019, Kern’s best in the current Taycan, and the Tesla Model S Plaid Track Pack’s time last summer.

    Image: Porsche
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    2024 could mark the end of the road for passwords.

    Passwordless logins with passkeys, tied to biometrics or other security options like hardware keys, seem ready to secure our logins. Google is already prompting users to add passkeys to their online security (here’s some helpful info on getting it set up), along with Apple, while password managers, including 1Password, are inching toward supporting a zero-password lifestyle.

    Passkeys: all the news and updates around passwordless sign-ins

    First reported Tesla Cybertruck accident results in only ‘minor’ injuryFirst reported Tesla Cybertruck accident results in only ‘minor’ injury
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    US judge rules there’s ‘no genuine dispute’ UST and other Terra Labs crypto assets are securities.

    Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon is still in Montenegro waiting to be extradited, but the SEC’s case against him will proceed, with a January 29th scheduled start date.

    The TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin, its linked Luna crypto token, and the whole Anchor Protocol crashed in May 2022, wiping out about $40 billion. According to the judge, while UST on its own is not a security, when combined with the Anchor Protocol, it is, while Luna joined investors in a “common, profit-seeking enterprise.”

    OPINION AND ORDER - SEC v. Terraform Labs

    [DocumentCloud]

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