All posts tagged: shut

Why OpenAI really shut down Sora

Why OpenAI really shut down Sora

Published by Miika Tikkanen

OpenAI’s decision last week to shut down Sora, its AI video-generation tool, just six months after releasing it to the public raised immediate suspicions. The app had invited users to upload their own faces — so was this some kind of elaborate data grab? According to a new WSJ investigation, the real explanation is considerably more boring: Sora was a money pit that nobody was using, and keeping it alive was costing OpenAI the AI race. So what happened? After a splashy launch, Sora’s worldwide user count peaked at around a million and then collapsed to fewer than 500,000. Meanwhile, the app was burning through roughly $1 million every day — not because people loved it but because video generation is so costly to run. Every user who dropped themselves into a fantastical scene was drawing down a finite supply of AI chips. While a whole team inside OpenAI was focused on making Sora work, Anthropic was quietly winning over the software engineers and enterprises that drive revenue. Claude Code, in particular, was eating OpenAI’s …

Gordon Ramsay brutally shut down by Charli XCX on The Graham Norton Show

Gordon Ramsay brutally shut down by Charli XCX on The Graham Norton Show

Published by Daniella Wilson

Gordon Ramsay got a taste of his own medicine after being brutally shut down by Charli xcx during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. The hot-headed chef, 59, was on the BBC series to promote his new Netflix documentary, when he revealed how singer and actor Charli xcx’s hit record Brat had affected the behaviour of his daughters. When Norton asked how Megan, 27, Holly, 26, and Tilly, 24, had channelled the energy of the anarchic album, Ramsay said they developed “attitude in abundance” as well as “loud volume”. He added: “I think the older you get, the lower you want the volume.” Charli xcx, real name Charlotte Aitchison, replied to the chef, known for his sweary behaviour on reality shows Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares: “I mean, I feel like they could have got that from you, though, let’s be honest.” Ramsay burst into laughter, saying: “You’re right,” with Norton quipping: “It’s been Brat kitchen, for some time.” open image in gallery Gordon Ramsay and Charli XCX had a funny interaction on …

Santander UK to shut 44 branches – is yours affected? | Money News

Santander UK to shut 44 branches – is yours affected? | Money News

Published by Sam Flores

Santander has announced plans to close 44 bank branches, placing almost 300 jobs at risk. The lender said its move was a continuing response to the changing needs of its customers as more people bank online. News of the fresh closures come less than a year after it revealed plans to shut 95 sites. Santander UK said its latest decision would leave it with just 244 full service branches. Money latest: Check how much your water bill is due to rise The company revealed a list of the locations affected and the dates when closures are due to take place: Andover, Hampshire, 12 MayBanbridge, County Down, 19 MayBangor, County Down, 29 AprilBerwick Upon Tweed, Northumberland, 28 AprilBishop Auckland, County Durham, 5 MayBoston, Lincolnshire, 28 AprilBridgend, Mid Glamorgan, 12 MayBridgwater, Somerset, 29 AprilCwmbran, Gwent, 13 MayEnniskillen, County Fermanagh, 12 MayEvesham, Worcestershire, 28 AprilGlengormley, County Antrim, 6 MayGolders Green, London, 13 MayGosport, Hampshire, 5 MayHaverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, 5 MayHeswall, Merseyside, 13 MayHuntingdon, Cambridgeshire, 5 MayKirkintilloch, Lanarkshire, 29 AprilLeighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, by end of January 2027Leyland, Lancashire, 6 MayLiskeard, …

Shut out the noise and chaos

Shut out the noise and chaos

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild to your watchlist I used to strive for perfection. It was, partly, my own drive for personal achievement, but also an ever-increasing societal pressure – borne through social media – to be faster, better and to have more. In 2023, overwhelmed by noise and chaos and the negativity of social media, I had a wobble, a small breakdown, experiencing anxiety and paranoia for the very first time. There’s a mental health epidemic and its tentacles reach us all. Unfortunately, there remains a stigma that, if you admit to having ever struggled with your mental health, you’re somehow weak and fragile; a precious fruit that must be handled with great delicacy. But, just like a broken bone, our brains can heal with time and patience. Our experiences form a part of who we are and that does not make us weak or vulnerable. We’re moulded and shaped by our past, both good and bad. Ben Fogle on a canal boat in New Lives in the Wild. 5 My own …

Flu Is Relentless. Crispr Might Be Able to Shut It Down

Flu Is Relentless. Crispr Might Be Able to Shut It Down

Published by Miika Tikkanen

As he addressed an audience of virologists from China, Australia, and Singapore at October’s Pandemic Research Alliance Symposium, Wei Zhao introduced an eye-catching idea. The gene-editing technology Crispr is best known for delivering groundbreaking new therapies for rare diseases, tweaking or knocking out rogue genes in conditions ranging from sickle cell disease to hemophilia. But Zhao and his colleagues at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have envisioned a new application. They believe Crispr could be tailored to create a next-generation treatment for influenza, whether that’s the seasonal strains which plague both the northern and southern hemispheres on an annual basis or the worrisome new variants in birds and other wildlife that might trigger the next pandemic. Crispr can edit the genetic code—the biological instruction book that makes life possible—within the cells of every living being. That means it can take different forms. The best-known version is mediated by the Cas9 enzyme; this can fix errors or mutations within genes by cutting strands of DNA. But virologists like Zhao are more interested in …

The Large Hadron Collider Is Being Shut Down

The Large Hadron Collider Is Being Shut Down

Published by José Betancourt

SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 25: The Large Hadron Collider, Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator which will probe deeper into matter than ever – This is the next step of CERN – The workers positioned one of the CMS magnet – The CMS is the largest superconducting solenoid magnet of the world has reached full field – Weighing over 10,000 tons, the magnet of the CMS Collaboration is built around a superconducting solenoid 6 meters in diameter and 13 meters in length – It produces a field of 4 Tesla, almost 100 000 times higher than that of the Earth, and stores an energy of 2.5 GJ, sufficient to melt 18 tons of gold in Geneve, Switzerland on January 25th, 2007. (Photo by Lionel FLUSIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) The Large Hadron Collider is going to be shut down — not permanently, but for a pretty long time — and the famous atom smasher’s eventual final retirement is also something that top scientists are now considering. A 16-mile ring-shaped tunnel near the Swiss-French border, the …

No, Gmail Isn’t Being Shut Down: It’s Just a Hoax

No, Gmail Isn’t Being Shut Down: It’s Just a Hoax

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Key Takeaways Google is not shutting down Gmail, despite a viral hoax claiming so. Google quickly denied the fake news that Gmail is being sunsetted. Gmail remains safe, with no danger of its 1.5 billion+ users losing access to their emails. If you have seen the “news” that Google is sunsetting Gmail, don’t panic: it isn’t true. It’s just a dumb hoax that has gone viral on social media, forcing Google to deny the claim. Why Do People Think Gmail Is Shutting Down? On February 22, 2024, a screenshot of an email started spreading around the web like wildfire. The email claims that Google is sunsetting Gmail on August 1, 2024. One of those who shared the screenshot was Chris Bakke, who claimed to be the SVP of Product at Google. Alongside the official-looking email announcement, he recounted a story about how, due to a miscommunication, Gmail was going away for good. None of this is true, obviously. Google HAS sunsetted the Basic HTML version of Gmail, meaning everyone will be forced to use the …