Kelly Ortberg, who took over as Boeing CEO in August, is weighing the sale of the company’s space division as part of an attempt to turn things around, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The plans, which are reportedly at an early stage, could involve Boeing offloading the Starliner spacecraft and its projects supporting the International Space Station.
Technology
AI models fall for the same scams that we do
The large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots are increasingly being used in attempts to scam humans – but they are susceptible to being scammed themselves.
Udari Madhushani Sehwag at JP Morgan AI Research and her colleagues peppered three models behind popular chatbots – OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, as well as Meta’s Llama 2 – with 37 scam scenarios.
The chatbots were told, for instance, that they had received an email recommending investing in a new cryptocurrency, with…
Technology
A Roundup of Innovation and Wisdom
We’d like to thank SAP for their support. Make sure to catch their Roundtable session: “Visionary Companies Embrace Innovation to Thrive in the Fast-Paced Economy” on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speakers from The Webby Awards and Silicon Zombies will be on panels at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Breakout sessions, and we thank those companies for their support. Check the Disrupt app for more information about Breakout session dates and times.
For more great Disrupt content, check out these partners who will bring their wisdom to our Roundtable sessions:
Take a walk through the Expo Hall and meet Stealth LLM and The Parasol Cooperative — who will also be presenting a breakout session: “Safety, Trust, and Profit: Anticipating Misuse to Build Safer Products and Attract Investment.”
We thank and appreciate Kama Capital (a Fintech Stage sponsor) and VioletX (an AI Stage sponsor).
Geek Ventures, Microsoft Startups, Fintech Americas, Comprehensive.io, and JLL have been very generous in promoting Disrupt to their audiences.
We couldn’t do it without all of our partners, who provide more than just financial support. Their presence at Disrupt gives startups at any stage the tools, knowledge, and community they need to be a success.
See you at Disrupt!
Technology
Boeing reportedly considers selling off its space business
“We’re better off doing less and doing it better than doing more and not doing it well,” Ortberg said during an earnings call this week. “Clearly, our core of commercial airplanes and defense systems are going to stay with the Boeing Company for the long run. But there’s probably some things on the fringe there that we can be more efficient with or that distract us from our main goal here.”
However, sources tell the WSJ that Boeing will likely continue to oversee the Space Launch System, which will eventually help bring NASA astronauts back to the Moon. It’s also reportedly expected to hang onto its commercial and military satellite businesses.
Technology
Look for the AI disclaimer from Google on photos that look a little too good to be true
We’ve all been using photo filters and related tools for years to make our faces, food, and fall decor look their best. AI tools arguably manipulate photos in fundamental ways well beyond better lighting and removing red eyes.
Google Photos has several generative AI features that can alter an image, but Google will now mark on a photo that you’ve used those tools in the name of transparency.
Starting next week, any photo edited with Google’s Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, or Zoom Enhance tools will show a disclaimer indicating that fact within the Google Photos app. The idea is to balance out how easy it is to use AI editing tools in ways that are hard to spot by looking. Google hopes the update will reduce any confusion about image authenticity, whether innocent or done with malicious intent.
Google already marks a photo’s metadata if it’s been edited with generative AI using technical standards created by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). The metadata is only seen when examining the data behind a photo, relevant only for investigative purposes and record-keeping. But the update digs out that bit of metadata to show along with an image’s more mundane details, such as its file name and location.
AI image mania
Google isn’t singling out its AI tools for the transparency initiative either. Any blended image will have a disclaimer. For instance, the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 smartphones have two photo features: Best Take and Add Me. Best Take will meld together several photos taken together of a group of people into one image to show everyone at their most photogenic, while Add Me can make it look like someone is in a picture who wasn’t there. As these are in the realm of synthetic image creation, Google decided to give them a tag indicating they are built from multiple pictures, though not with AI tools.
You probably won’t notice the change unless you decide to check a picture that seems a little too amazing or if you want to check everything you see out of well-founded caution. However, professionals will probably appreciate Google’s move since they don’t want to undermine their credibility in a dispute over whether they used AI. Trusting a photograph isn’t always enough when AI tools are good enough to trick the eye. A tag or lack thereof by Google might boost trust in a photo.
Google’s move points to what may be the future of photography and digital media as AI tools grow more common. Of course, doing so is also a marketing move. It’s a very minor change to Google Photos in many ways, but proclaiming it helps Google look like it’s being responsible about AI while actually doing so.
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Why the feud matters to the internet
One of the world’s biggest web publishing platforms – used by a large chunk of the internet – is locked in a spat which is affecting thousands of businesses worldwide.
While most of the work WordPress does is not seen by internet users, it says its behind-the-scenes web-building tools power 40% of the world’s websites.
That means its disagreement with a company called WP Engine is causing disruption to the huge number businesses that rely on the two organisations to keep their websites running.
Tricia Fox, who runs an agency that manages about 70 websites – and is caught up in the row – told the BBC: “I can’t run a business on this level of uncertainty.”
The very wide use of WordPress makes it “crucial to the internet”, according to Daniel Card, fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
But that also means “its actions definitely have a big ripple effect online”, he says – a ripple effect firms like Tricia Fox’s are starting to really feel.
Source of the row
The row between the companies begins with the fact that WordPress has two sides: its non-profit organisation, called WordPress.org, and its profit-making arm, called Automattic.
WordPress.org makes its source code open, which mean anyone can use it to create and redistribute their own tools for free.
That’s what WP Engine does to run a web hosting service.
But in return for the source code, WordPress expects those who use it to contribute to its maintenance, for example by fixing bugs and testing new features.
The boss of WordPress accuses WP Engine of failing to do so, going so far as to call it “a cancer to WordPress.”
As a result, in late September, he banned WP Engine from using key parts of WordPress.
WP Engine rejects these claims.
“We are proud of our extensive contributions to the WordPress ecosystem,” WP Engine wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
Counting the cost
Caught in the middle of this row are the countless websites and blogs that rely on the two companies services.
People like Tricia Fox, who uses a WP Engine subsidiary to host the websites her company serves.
She now says she is “almost certain” to migrate her websites to a different host – a decision which she says is worth “tens of thousands of pounds” over the next few years.
She wants to move away from WP Engine because the fallout has resulted in dozens of hours of extra work for her staff – increasing costs for her business.
“The team don’t know if it’s going to work today or not,” Ms Fox told the BBC.
But she worries even a costly move away from WP Engine may not solve her problems, as she would still be using another host based on the WordPress code.
“What’s to stop WordPress from doing this again [to another company]?” she asks.
“Right now we are currently focused on resolving our dispute with WP Engine,” WordPress said when the BBC asked if it would go after other companies in a similar manner.
Wiring the web
The row also underscores how important the open source principle is to the online economy.
While big tech might attract the headlines, for many people and businesses it is something much less eye-catching that keeps them afloat.
“Open source is all about sharing code and standards so everyone benefits, and it’s a huge part of what makes the internet work,” says Daniel Card.
And with WordPress being such a big player in that world, if it makes changes to its tools, he adds, “it’s felt by users everywhere and often impacts hosting, plugins, and web standards across the internet.”
Here come the lawyers
While much of the spat between the two sides has taken place through official social media accounts and blog posts, it has also entered the courtroom.
WordPress.org cannot force WP Engine to contribute to its open source project – but it does have control over its trademarks.
It argues that WP Engine mentions WordPress in its marketing tools to help sell its product – and therefore should pay to use the trademark.
“Any business making hundreds of millions of dollars off of an open source project ought to give back, and if they don’t, then they can’t use its trademarks,” Mr Mullenweg wrote in a blog post.
The trademarks do not cover the “WP” abbreviation, but the WordPress Foundation says: “please don’t use it in a way that confuses people”.
WP Engine has meanwhile filed a legal case against Mr Mullenweg and Automattic, with accusations of attempted extortion, libel and a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act among its complaints.
It claims Automattic told WP Engine they would have to pay “tens of millions of dollars” in order to continue using the WordPress trademarks.
WP Engine has since asked for the legal process to be sped up as its businesses are suffering.
Its recent filing claimed the number of cancellation requests it receives have increased by 14% compared to normal trading, as a result of the disruption.
It said it it is also losing out on potential new customers due to uncertainty over its future access to WordPress products.
Automattic has called the lawsuit “baseless” and “flawed, start to finish.”
“We vehemently deny WP Engine’s allegations – which are gross mischaracterizations of reality,” it said in a statement, adding that it would “vigorously litigate against this absurd filing”.
Technology
ISRO’s new system to detect space junk- The Week
The ISRO has developed a system to track active and dead satellites, said ISRO chairman S Somnath. He added that Safe and Sustainable Operations Management will detect space junk formed due to the collision of objects in space.
Somnath was speaking at the National Space Day celebrations held on Friday in Delhi. The National Space Day fete is held to mark the first year anniversary of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission.
Detailing ISRO’s policy against littering in space, Somnath said the system also tracks the movement of unwanted satellites and anything that is above 10 cm in size. “We have created a mathematical model for the same. We can model them, we can understand them, we can predict their movement. We already have certain observational capabilities. And are now trying to expand it,” he said. ISRO has vowed to bring satellites back to Earth after the completion of their mission life.
The ISRO chairman reminisced about the Chandrayaan-3 mission and the impact the mission had on the country. He also briefed on the National Space Day celebration held with the participation of departments, ministries, educational institutions, science organisations, NGOs, and the general public.
The event held at Bharath Mandapam Convention Centre in New Delhi also saw President Droupadi Murmu sharing her concern over the space debris as a result of numerous satellites being placed in orbit. “Space debris can cause problems for space missions,” she said while lauding ISRO for setting itself a target to make future space missions debris-free by 2030.
The President also appreciated the ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operations Management Facility, which ensures continuous progress of space research activities.
The event was also attended by Minister of State for the Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh. The minister said that the government has set a target of $ 44 billion in revenue by 2032. As per the new report released by a European consulting firm, the space sector generated $60 billion in revenue in the last ten years against an investment of $13 billion.
Technology
Roborock Qrevo Curv vs. Qrevo Master
The Roborock Qrevo Curv was one of many new devices shown off during IFA 2024. Offering a shocking amount of suction and an updated vacuuming setup, it’s poised to be one of the best robot vacuums of the year. But how does it stack up with the existing Roborock Qrevo Master? More importantly, should owners of the Qrevo Master make the jump to the Qrevo Curv? Here’s a closer look at both robot vacuums to help you decide.
Pricing and design
The Roborock Qrevo Curv is priced at $1,600, making it one of the most expensive robots on the market. It offers a striking dome-shaped docking station and is a stark departure from the rectangular shapes of the competition. Most shoppers should find it to be a well-designed device.
The Roborock Qrevo Master was originally priced at $1,600, but it seems to have been permanently slashed to $950 following the arrival of the Curv. It boasts a traditional rectangular docking station. It looks great — but after seeing the Curv, it definitely seems a bit dated. Still, at under $1,000, it’s a better choice for frugal shoppers.
Winner: Roborock Qrevo Master
Vacuuming
Churning out 18,500Pa of suction, the Qrevo Curv is remarkably powerful. Combined with its new DuoDivide Brush that’s built to avoid tangles and a redesigned FlexiArm swinging side brush, it cleans thick carpets as well as some cordless vacuums. Its brushes can also lift while mopping to ensure they don’t get wet.
The Qrevo Master can also lift its brushes and uses a FlexiArm swinging side brush, but its bristles don’t use the new design — making it a bit more prone to tangles. The same goes for its older DuoRoller Brush on the bottom. The biggest difference, however, is when it comes to suction levels. The Qrevo Master tops out at 10,000Pa.
Both docking stations can hold up to seven weeks of dust, making them incredibly hands-free when it comes to vacuuming operations.
Winner: Roborock Qrevo Curv
Mopping
Mopping specs are largely the same across both robots. They use dual rotating mopping pads that spin at 200 rpm, offer a variety of different water flow levels, and feature a swinging mop to clean near baseboards. Once a cleaning run is completed, it’ll head back to the dock.
Here, its mops will be rinsed with hot water until no dirt is detected. The docking station will then automatically clean its own washboard to ensure all the debris knocked off the mops is washed away into its dirty water reservoir. Mops will then be dried with warm air to ensure nasty odors don’t develop.
Winner: Tie
Additional features
Both robots are packed with additional features. This includes a built-in voice assistant, a powerful mobile app to customize your settings, premium obstacle detection, and the fun ability to capture snapshots of your pets. The Qrevo Curv also features a liftable chassis to climb over thresholds up to 4cm and the ability to heat its water up to 75 degrees Celsius compared to just 60 degrees Celsius on the Master.
Winner: Roborock Qrevo Curv
Verdict
The Roborock Qrevo Curv is undoubtedly the better robot vacuum and mop combo. More suction, better roller brushes, a bold new dock design, and the ability to climb over thresholds make it superior to the older model. Of course, it’s also much more expensive, clocking in at a cool $1,600.
If you need the absolute best robot vacuum, however, it’s an easy recommendation. It offers nearly double the suction of the Master, allowing it to give even the thickest carpets an impeccable clean.
On the other hand, if you already own the Master, don’t feel the need to rush out and buy the Curv. Mopping performance is largely the same across both devices, as are many of the additional features. So unless you need the extra suction for plush carpets, you can probably pass on an upgrade.
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