All posts tagged: maker

Benchmark, Index, others are in a wild unsolicited bidding war over Anysphere, maker of Cursor

Benchmark, Index, others are in a wild unsolicited bidding war over Anysphere, maker of Cursor

Published by skeptic

There isn’t a shortage of AI-powered coding assistance startups. They include Augment, Codeium, Magic, and Poolside. However, Cursor has become one of the most popular. Its developer, Anysphere, has seen its revenue grow from $4 million annualized recurring revenue (ARR) in April to $4 million a month as of last month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the company’s financials. The company is experiencing faster user adoption and growth compared to other coding assistant providers, another person said. Such fast growth has VCs flocking to it. Anysphere has received unsolicited offers valuing the company at as much as $2.5 billion from Benchmark, Index Ventures, and previous investors  Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive, among others, the person said. Index Ventures declined to comment. Anysphere, Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, and Thrive didn’t respond to requests for comment.   Interest in the company has exploded so fast that last week, the unsolicited offers started at a $1.5 billion valuation, but have already risen to $2.5 billion, the person with direct knowledge of the company said. Sources also told …

Nation’s Largest Generic Drug Maker To Pay 0 Million To Resolve Kickback, Price-Fixing Claims

Nation’s Largest Generic Drug Maker To Pay $450 Million To Resolve Kickback, Price-Fixing Claims

Published by skeptic

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Teva Neuroscience Inc. (collectively, Teva) have agreed to pay $450 million to resolve allegations that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the False Claims Act (FCA), according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Teva is an Israeli company, with U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, and is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the United States, according to the DOJ. The settlement amount was based on Teva’s ability to pay, the DOJ said. As Chase Smith details below, via The Epoch Times, the settlement addresses two alleged kickback schemes. First, Teva allegedly violated and conspired to violate the AKS and FCA by covering Medicare patients’ copays for the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone from 2006 through 2017, while steadily increasing the drug’s price. The DOJ alleged that Teva coordinated with a specialty pharmacy and two purportedly independent copay assistance foundations to ensure donations were used specifically to cover Copaxone copays for Medicare patients with multiple sclerosis, which is prohibited by law. Second, Teva USA agreed to resolve separate allegations …

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It’s Now Obsolete

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It’s Now Obsolete

Published by José

Image by Michael Straight A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton. When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifework, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, 404 media reports. “After 371,091 steps my exoskeleton is being retired after 10 years of unbelievable physical therapy,” Michael Straight posted on Facebook earlier this month. “The reasons why it has stopped is a pathetic excuse for a bad company to try and make more money.” According to Straight, the issue was caused by a piece of wiring that had come loose from the battery that powered a wristwatch used to control the exoskeleton. This would cost peanuts for Lifework to fix up, but it refused to service anything more than five years old, Straight said. “I find …

Third UK sandwich maker recalls product, saying it is a precaution | Food & drink industry

Third UK sandwich maker recalls product, saying it is a precaution | Food & drink industry

Published by skeptic

A third sandwich and wrap manufacturer has recalled one of its products after an E coli outbreak that has left 67 people in hospital and more than 200 in total seriously ill. On Sunday evening the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said This had “taken the precautionary step of recalling its This Isn’t Chicken and Bacon wrap because of possible contamination with E coli”. The FSA said the company, which supplies the vegan meat-substitute wraps only to WH Smith, had not detected E coli in the product. On Friday the Guardian revealed that Greencore, which supplies sandwiches, wraps and salads to many of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, had recalled 45 wraps, sandwiches and salads. Samworth Brothers, which supplies Tesco and the One Stop convenience store chain, has recalled 15 lines of sandwiches and wraps. The This wraps being recalled have a best before date of 18 June. Customers who bought one are asked to return it to WH Smith for a full refund, with or without the receipt. A spokesperson for the FSA said on Sunday …

How to spot a deepfake: the maker of a detection tool shares the key giveaways | Artificial intelligence (AI)

How to spot a deepfake: the maker of a detection tool shares the key giveaways | Artificial intelligence (AI)

Published by skeptic

You – a human, presumably – are a crucial part of detecting whether a photo or video is made by artificial intelligence. There are detection tools, made both commercially and in research labs, that can help. To use these deepfake detectors, you upload or link a piece of media that you suspect could be fake, and the detector will give a percent likelihood that it was AI-generated. But your senses and an understanding of some key giveaways provide a lot of insight when analyzing media to see whether it’s a deepfake. While regulations for deepfakes, particularly in elections, lag the quick pace of AI advancements, we have to find ways to figure out whether an image, audio or video is actually real. Siwei Lyu made one of them, the DeepFake-o-meter, at the University of Buffalo. His tool is free and open-source, compiling more than a dozen algorithms from other research labs in one place. Users can upload a piece of media and run it through these different labs’ tools to get a sense of whether …

Homeless Woman Was Living Inside Michigan Rooftop Store Sign With Computer and Coffee Maker

Homeless Woman Was Living Inside Michigan Rooftop Store Sign With Computer and Coffee Maker

Published by skeptic

Contractors curious about an extension cord on the roof of a Michigan grocery store made a startling discovery: A 34-year-old woman was living inside the business sign, with enough space for a computer, printer and coffee maker, police said. “She was homeless,” Officer Brennon Warren of the Midland Police Department said Thursday. “It’s a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign.” The woman, whose name was not released, told police she had a job elsewhere but had been living inside the Family Fare sign for roughly a year, Warren said. She was found April 23. Midland, best known as the global home of Dow Inc., is 130 miles (209 kilometers) north of Detroit. The Family Fare store is in a retail strip with a triangle-shaped sign at the top of the building. The sign structure, probably 5 feet (1.5 meter) wide and 8 feet (2.4 meters) high, has a door and is accessible from the roof, Warren said. “There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini …

How ‘eunuch maker’ livestreamed extreme body modifications and sold body parts | UK news

How ‘eunuch maker’ livestreamed extreme body modifications and sold body parts | UK news

Published by skeptic

Marius Theodore Gustavson had just performed one of his signature procedures in his basement flat when a stranger turned up to buy a penis. The man known as the “eunuch maker” retrieved a jar from a small fridge behind his living room sofa before handing it to the buyer, who paid in cash before leaving. It was yet another deal for Gustavson, the mastermind behind a lucrative website where subscribers could watch videos of extreme body modifications such as castrations and penectomies. Gustavson’s former friend Andrew recalled: “My partner and I were there when a sale went down. We’d never asked about the fridge before but when [Gustavson] walked off with what looked [like something] a bit dodgy, we asked and he said: ‘Oh yes, this is someone’s penis, [it belongs to] this nice little twentysomething from Belgium.’ “But he didn’t come back in with lots of cash. He used the money to buy pizza. It wasn’t a lot.” Gustavson, 46, originally from Norway, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 …

Marius Gustavson: Mastermind behind ‘eunuch maker’ extreme body modification ring jailed for at least 22 years | UK News

Marius Gustavson: Mastermind behind ‘eunuch maker’ extreme body modification ring jailed for at least 22 years | UK News

Published by skeptic

The mastermind behind an extreme body modification ring that carried out “grizzly and gruesome” procedures including castrations has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years. Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation Marius Gustavson, 46, ran a “lucrative business” sharing images of “dangerous, unnecessary and life-changing surgeries” carried out by people with no medical qualifications, the Old Bailey heard. The Norwegian national made almost £300,000 through his open website “eunuchmaker.com”, which amassed 22,841 users as it became increasingly professional. He advertised his services, such as male castration, penis removal and freezing of limbs, while customers paid to view footage of the procedures or could take out a £100-a-year subscription. “Arch-manipulator” Gustavson had his own penis cut off, the tip of his nipple removed, and his leg frozen so that it had to be amputated, and recruited like-minded individuals to assist him, the court heard. Gustavson, who claimed £18,500 in disability benefits after losing his leg and now uses a wheelchair, appeared in court for sentencing by video-link …

ChatGPT maker OpenAI explores whether users can ‘responsibly’ make AI porn

ChatGPT maker OpenAI explores whether users can ‘responsibly’ make AI porn

Published by skeptic

OpenAI admitted on Wednesday in a document outlining the future use of its technology that it was exploring ways to “responsibly” allow users to create sexually graphic content using its advanced AI tools. Richard Drew/AP hide caption toggle caption Richard Drew/AP OpenAI admitted on Wednesday in a document outlining the future use of its technology that it was exploring ways to “responsibly” allow users to create sexually graphic content using its advanced AI tools. Richard Drew/AP OpenAI, the artificial intelligence powerhouse behind ChatGPT and other leading AI tools, revealed on Wednesday it is exploring how to “responsibly” allow users make AI-generated porn and other explicit content. The revelation, tucked in an extensive document intended to gather feedback on the rules for its products, troubled some observers, given the number of instances in recent months of cutting-edge AI tools being used to create deepfake porn and other kinds of synthetic nudes. Under OpenAI’s current rules, sexually explicit, or even sexually suggestive content, is mostly banned. But now, OpenAI is taking another look at that strict prohibition. …