The Morning After: Meta’s Threads tops 100 million users in under a week

In just four days of the app going live on Wednesday evening, Threads already has more than 100 million users, according to Quiver Quantitative’s Threads Tracker. Thread is a sibling app to Instagram, making it easy for that platform’s existing billion-plus users to sign up — unless they live in the European Union.

It’s a huge audience already, but it’s still very, very early days for Threads. You can only search for usernames, there are no hashtags and, seemingly specific to me, I can’t upload videos or images.

The worst part of early Threads, however, is the lack of a chronological feed. Instead, its algorithmic feed is bloated with brands, influencers and celebrities – none of which I care about. And if someone you do follow replies to those accounts, that appears in your feed. It’s already making my finger hover dangerously close to the mute and unfollow for several Engadget colleagues who will remain nameless. For now.

We’ve covered our questions about Threads here, but how’s your experience so far?

– Mat Smith

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Scientists make ibuprofen and other common painkillers from paper industry waste

The secret is… turpentine?

According to one study by The Conversation, drug companies produce more carbon dioxide equivalents per million dollars than the automotive industry. In short, drug companies need to reduce their carbon emissions. Here’s a step in the right direction: Scientists from the University of Bath in the UK may have found a way of converting β-pinene, a component in turpentine, into pharmaceutical precursors used to synthesize paracetamol and ibuprofen. What’s notable is that the paper industry produces 350,000 metric tons of turpentine by-product per year.

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Jony Ive’s first post-Apple hardware project is a $60,000 turntable

A turntable that already exists.

Linn

Jony Ive’s design agency, LoveFrom, has worked on typefaces, a charity clown nose and “the future of Airbnb.” But there hasn’t been any hardware since Ive departed Apple, until now. Now, it’s redesigned Linn’s Sondek LP12 to celebrate the modular turntable’s 50th anniversary. Ive told Fast Company that the LoveFrom team’s admiration for Linn made it a “very gentle and modest project.” Perhaps because of that, LoveFrom carried out the work pro bono. Don’t mention Bono.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s final film will be Studio Ghibli’s first IMAX release

‘How Do You Live?’ heads to Japanese theaters next week.

Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, is coming to IMAX theaters. The milestone marks a first for Miyazaki and his animation studios. Past Studio Ghibli films did not receive the IMAX treatment during their original theatrical runs. The movie is also supposed to be Miyazaki’s swan song (again), but details have been sparse until now. Studio Ghibli has not released a trailer for the film or bought any TV spots. The only promotion it has done so far is the single poster the studio shared last month. It doesn’t even have an international release date yet.

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Casetify’s ‘Evangelion’ series lets you put AirPods in the robot

You can also order iPhone cases and chargers celebrating the beloved anime.

Casetify

Casetify is launching a new series of Apple-device accessories based on Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Project-CSTF: Protection from Impact collection lets you drape your iPhone, AirPods or Apple Watch in cases that show off your love of the acclaimed mid-’90s anime series. Like this hulking AirPods Pro case, which is definitely not pocketable.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-metas-threads-tops-100-million-users-in-under-a-week-111515756.html?src=rss 

Google is testing its medical AI chatbot at the Mayo Clinic

Google is already testing its Med-PaLM 2 AI chat technology at at the Mayo Clinic and other hospitals, The Wall Street Journal has reported. It’s based on the company’s PaLM 2 large language model (LLM) that underpins Bard, Google’s ChatGPT rival — and was launched just months ago at Google I/O

Unlike the base model, Med-PaLM-2 has been trained on questions and answer from medical licensing exams, along with a curated set of medical expert demonstrations. That gives it expertise in answering health-related questions, and it can also do labor-intensive tasks like summarizing documents and organizing research data, according to the report. 

During I/O, Google released a paper detailing its work on Med-PaLM2. On the positive side, it demonstrated features like “alignment with medical consensus,” reasoning ability, and even the ability to generate answers that were preferred by respondents over physician-generated responses. More negatively, it showed the same accuracy problems we’ve seen on other Chat AI models

Microsoft is also developing medical AI chat tech based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, having teamed up with the healthcare software company Epic. Google is also working on using its AI for ultrasound diagnosis and cancer therapy, it revealed in March. Both companies have promised to keep patient information confidential, saying they don’t train their models on patient data. Last month, Microsoft expressed alarm about its ChatGPT technology being used by doctors to improve communications with patients. 

In an internal email seen by the WSJ, Google said it believes the updated model could “be of tremendous value in countries that have more limited access to doctors.” Still, Google has admitted that the technology is still in its early stages. “I don’t feel that this kind of technology is yet at a place where I would want it in my family’s healthcare journey,” said Google senior research director Greg Corrado. However, he added that the tech “takes the places in healthcare where AI can be beneficial and expands them by 10-fold.” 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-testing-its-medical-ai-chatbot-at-the-mayo-clinic-102055669.html?src=rss 

Elgato’s Stream Deck+ gets its first discount at Amazon

If you’re looking to up your streaming game this summer, now might be the time to do it. Elgato’s Stream Deck + is down from $200 to $180 — a ten percent discount. This deal is one of the first real sales on the Stream Deck + since it came out last year. 

The Stream Deck + comes with eight customizable LCD keys that automate actions like going live, playing music and changing scenes. It includes a touch bar and four knobs to control parts of your stream, such as audio, lighting and video. The Stream Deck + also has plugins for Camera Hub, Elgato Wave Link, Spotify, Twitch and more. 

Its counterparts, Elgato’s Stream Deck Mini and Stream Deck Classic, are on sale, too, if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper. The Stream Deck Mini is 13 percent off, down from $80 to $69.90, making it the most affordable option in the lineup. It offers six customizable LCD keys and includes integrations like YouTube and Twitch. The main differences here are that the Stream Deck Mini allows you to automate fewer actions at a time, and it doesn’t have the control knobs to manage features like audio and lighting. 

The Stream Deck Classic falls somewhere between its siblings — so it might be your Goldilocks option. It has 15 customizable LCD keys and integrations like Discord and Spotify but no control knobs. The Classic is on sale for $120, down from $150, giving it the largest discount of the three at 20 percent. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elgatos-stream-deck-gets-its-first-discount-at-amazon-093537440.html?src=rss 

Lotus’ Eletre SUV shows the company has finally grown up

We all need to mature someday, and for Lotus, that time is now. Welcome to the Eletre, the company’s first production SUV. An electric one at that, with comfortable seating for four or een five. Lotus has been historically known for producing cars that typified the bare minimum needed for enjoyable driving.

The Eletre? Well, it’s a lot. It weighs a lot, at about 5,500 pounds. Its styling certainly extends to a point of excess, and that interior is nothing if not dazzling. This thing won’t be for everybody, in fact I’m not sure who it is for, but it’s easily the highest quality, and most comprehensive, interior that Lotus has ever produced. And, with an Unreal Engine-based infotainment system sitting on top of not one but two Qualcomm SoCs, plus four separate LIDAR arrays, there’s no shortage of tech cred.

What is missing? The emotionality of all the cars Lotus has produced until now and, frankly, a clear sense of purpose. After a few days behind the wheel I’m not convinced many folks will truly love this thing, but Lotus simply had to evolve to survive, and this is an impressive first effort. Watch the video below for the full story.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lotus-eletre-suv-shows-the-company-has-finally-grown-up-070031949.html?src=rss 

Meta’s Threads races to 100 million users in under a week

Meta’s Twitter competitor is off to a flying start. Within just four days of the app going live on Wednesday evening, Threads already has more than 100 million users according Quiver Quantitative’s Threads Tracker. It helps that Thread is a sibling app to Instagram and it’s easy for the image-sharing platform’s billion-plus users to sign up — unless they live in the European Union, where it’s not yet available.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, has provided several updates on Threads’ user numbers. The app had 10 million users in the first seven hours and more than 30 million by Thursday morning. Around 24 hours later, that figure had more than doubled

It’s very, very early days for Threads, as the app is missing basic features that many users see as essential. It has minimal accessibility options at the minute, with no way to append alt text to an image for those who use screen readers. Search is limited to usernames, there’s no hashtag support and you can’t post to Threads from the web.

Quiver Quantitative

Perhaps most gallingly of all for folks used to Twitter, Threads doesn’t yet have a chronological feed of posts. The algorithmic feed is full of brands, influencers and celebrities, making it difficult for users to keep up with what friends and family are posting. A chronological feed is on the way, but Twitter may still be many people’s app of choice for up-to-the-minute news.

“Politics and hard news are inevitably going to show up on Threads — they have on Instagram as well to some extent — but we’re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote, noting that the aim of Threads isn’t to replace Twitter.

“Politics and hard news are important, I don’t want to imply otherwise,” Mosseri added. “But my take is, from a platform’s perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest), or integrity risks that come along with them. There are more than enough amazing communities — sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc — to make a vibrant platform without needing to get into politics or hard news.”

Quiver Quantitative’s Threads Tracker uses data taken from Instagram users’ profiles, according to the person who built the tool, co-founder Christopher Kardatzke. “By viewing the profiles of people who joined the platform, I can see where they were in line and get a general idea of how many users have signed up,” he said. He added that the estimates appear to line up with Zuckerberg’s Threads posts about user milestones.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-threads-races-to-100-million-users-in-under-a-week-070740016.html?src=rss 

Kim Zolciak Boasts About Her ‘Great Marriage’ & Husband’s ‘Tight’ Butt During ‘RHOA’ Return

Shereé Whitfield reunited with most of the original ‘RHOA’ cast members, including Kim Zolciak, during the July 9 episode of ‘RHOA.

Shereé Whitfield reunited with most of the original ‘RHOA’ cast members, including Kim Zolciak, during the July 9 episode of ‘RHOA. 

Evernote is relocating to Europe after laying off most of its US workforce

Evernote has axed most of its workforce. In a statement shared with SFGate, Bending Spoons, the Milan-based app developer that bought the company last November, said Friday it had laid off nearly all of Evernote’s employees in the US and Chile. Bending Spoons plans to move most of the company’s remaining operations to Europe. The layoffs come less than six months after the firm cut 129 positions at Evernote because the app had been “unprofitable for years.” Bending Spoons didn’t share exactly how many employees were affected by this latest round of layoffs. A scan of LinkedIn reveals some software engineers that had been with Evernote for a few years lost their jobs on Friday.

“Our plans for Evernote are as ambitious as ever: Going forward, a growing, dedicated team based in Europe will continue to assume ownership of the Evernote product,” Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari told SFGate. “This team will also be in an ideal position to leverage the extensive expertise and strength of the 400-plus workforce at Bending Spoons, many of whom have been working on Evernote full-time since the acquisition.” Ferrari added Bending Spoons would provide affected employees with 16 weeks of salary, a prorated performance bonus and up to one year of health insurance.

How the company plans to make Evernote successful in a market crowded with competitors like Notion and Obsidian Ferrari did not say. Whatever Bending Spoons has planned for Evernote, there’s no denying this marks another low point for what was once one of the more popular note-taking apps you could download and an early darling of the App Store boom. Evernote enjoyed a valuation of $1 billion at its height, but a lack of focus and buggy software left the company a shell of itself in recent years.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/evernote-is-relocating-to-europe-after-laying-off-most-of-its-us-workforce-205012133.html?src=rss 

Will Smith & Wife Jada Post Birthday Tributes For ‘Sweet’ Son Jaden As He Turns 25

Will teased Jaden about not having any kids yet, as the Oscar winner hilariously pointed out that he had a 2 year old by the age of 25.

Will teased Jaden about not having any kids yet, as the Oscar winner hilariously pointed out that he had a 2 year old by the age of 25. 

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