Kalakshar US

Trump media, the company behind the president’s personal social media platform Truth Social, is inexplicably merging with a Google-backed fusion energy company called TAE Technologies. The deal is worth $6 billion, according to reporting by Financial Times.

Why is an entity known for publishing frenzied hot takes by the president at 3AM combining with a fusion energy company? Who the heck really knows, but a statement says the two organizations will join together to build the “world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant.” This would be huge, if true, as there are currently no operational commercial nuclear fusion power plants.

We know what TAE would bring to the table in that scenario. The energy company has been around since the 1990s and has attracted interest from Google, Chevron and others. Trump Media would be a great partner when building a reactor powered by insults, but doesn’t seem to offer much of anything else.

The merger statement does mention that Trump Media would provide TAE with “access to significant capital.” The company lost $55 million last quarter, as there’s only so much money in a social media platform primarily used by just one person.

However, the president himself is likely the world’s most renowned raiser of funds when it comes to personal pet projects. He knows how to get a roomful of billionaires to open up their wallets, provide copious compliments and even hand-deliver gold statues. The terms of the deal state that Trump Media will provide TAE with $300 million in capital as a bonus of sorts, though we don’t know where that money is coming from as it represents over ten percent of the company’s entire valuation.

This is an all-stock deal and stocks aren’t exactly immune from the manipulative whims of billionaires. To that end, shares in Trump Media have risen dramatically since this deal was announced. President Trump shifted his stake in the company to a revocable trust that he is the sole beneficiary of and is controlled by Donald Trump Jr. 

There’s also the potential notion of using access to shore up federal support for grants, low-interest loans and permit approvals. That kind of thing seems particularly thorny and, to put it mildly, legally gray.

Creating a power plant for large-scale nuclear fusion would be an incredible undertaking and it’s something humanity has yet to figure out. TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer told CNN the newly-formed company will have it done in “five-ish years.” Most experts put that time frame in the “30-ish years” category.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-media-is-merging-with-a-google-backed-fusion-energy-company-in-a-deal-worth-6-billion-180910779.html?src=rss 

Amazon just introduced a new feature for Alexa+ called Greetings. This lets Alexa+ answer the doorbell and converse with visitors, which certainly sounds futuristic in a “gated community as dystopia” kind of way.

There are several caveats here. First of all, it only works with certain newer Ring video doorbell models. Customers also have to pony up for a Ring Premium Plan and have access to the Alexa+ early access build. It’s available in the US and Canada and only in English.

If you meet those criteria, this could be a fairly useful little feature. Amazon says it “transforms your Ring doorbell into an intelligent assistant capable of determining who’s at your door, understanding what they need and responding conversationally.” The company promises that the tool operates whether people or home or out doing errands.

How does this work? It’s an AI algorithm that “determines who’s there based on what they’re wearing, holding or their actions.” It will use “visual context, any information the visitor shares and the instructions it’s been given to help manage interactions on your behalf.”

Amazon says that it can, for instance, distinguish if a person is wearing a delivery uniform and tell them to leave the package at the back door. Most of my delivery drivers don’t come to the door in full uniforms because it’s winter and that would be ridiculous. I don’t even expect that during the summer. In other words, this is modern AI and mistakes will happen.

The company gives other examples of how this could be used, like gathering messages from friends who stop by and telling door-to-door salespeople to (politely) bug off. Amazon also says Alexa+ will be able to direct visitors to water and snacks that have previously been laid out. Finally, there’s a way to avoid those pesky cute kids on Halloween while still providing them with treats.

Everything can be reviewed later on via the Ring app, which should provide context as to who has been hanging around the porch. Alexa+ Greetings are rolling out today.

For the uninitiated, Alexa+ is Amazon’s updated chatbot. It’s more conversational than the old Alexa, which could be useful or annoying depending on what you use it for. I use Alexa primarily as an alarm, so I don’t necessarily want a gabfest.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-can-now-answer-your-ring-doorbell-and-talk-to-people-162712774.html?src=rss 

The Federal Trade Commission has sent Instacart a civil investigative demand, seeking information about its AI-powered pricing tool, according to Reuters. This comes after a recently published pricing experiment study showed that the online grocery delivery app gave different users different prices for the same items from the same store location at the exact same time. Some of the testers saw prices up to 23 percent higher than what the other testers saw, though the average difference for the same list of items was around 7 percent. Those higher prices could cost customers over $1,000 more in expenses for the year.

“The Federal Trade Commission has a longstanding policy of not commenting on any potential or ongoing investigations,” the FTC told Reuters in a statement. “But, like so many Americans, we are disturbed by what we have read in the press about Instacart’s alleged pricing practices.”

When the study came out, Instacart told Engadget that the pricing variances were caused by some of its retail partners doing “limited, short-term and randomized tests” to better understand consumers. Those randomized pricing tests were enabled by Instacart’s AI pricing tool called Eversight developed by a company it purchased in 2022. Instacart told CNBC that “much of what’s been reported has mischaracterized how pricing works” on its platform. The spokesperson repeated that retailers conduct pricing tests on its app and said that “prices on Instacart do not change in real time,” aren’t based on supply or demand and that it never uses “personal, demographic, or user-level behavioral data to set item prices.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-ftc-is-reportedly-investigating-instacart-over-its-ai-pricing-tool-130000472.html?src=rss