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Google releases Bard, its competitor in the race to create AI chatbots

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — For more than three months, Google executives have watched as projects at Microsoft and a San Francisco startup called OpenAI have stoked the public’s imagination with the potential for artificial intelligence.But on Tuesday, Google tentatively stepped off the sidelines as it released a chatbot called Bard. The new AI chatbot will be available to a limited number of users in the United States and Britain and will accommodate additional users, countries and languages over time, Google executives said in an interview.The cautious rollout is the company’s first public effort to address the recent chatbot craze driven by OpenAI and Microsoft, and it is meant to demonstrate that Google is capable of providing similar technology. But Google is taking a much more cautious approach than its competitors, which have faced criticism that they are proliferating an unpredictable and sometimes untrustworthy technology.Still, the release represents a significant step to stave...

After JBS shutters plant-based food company, Boulder startup expands its alternative-meat production

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

Just months after JBS USA pulled the plug on its plant-based protein business, a Boulder startup has opened a factory in Thornton to expand its version of a meat alternative.Meati Foods, founded in 2016, started operation in February at a 120,000-square-foot building where it produces plant-based food from mushroom root. The company, which has 300 employees, sells its cutlets and steaks in area Sprouts Farmer Market stores and Birdcall fast-food restaurants.The company recently started shipping to all 385 Sprouts stores nationwide, said Scott Tassani, president and chief operating officer. He said Meati’s footprint was tied to its production capacity, which was limited until the Thornton factory opened.“We have a pipeline of commercial partners that are interested and ready to launch as quickly as we can supply them,” said Tassani, who joined the company in 2021 after nearly 30 years at General Mills.As interest leveled off in meat alternatives and inflation rose, ...

Living with trees: What you need to know about storm protection and insurance coverage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

As the Bay Area dries out from a parade of atmospheric rivers, leaving hundreds of downed trees in their wake, a new set of questions are facing residents: How can trees be protected and risks of damage and danger to life and property reduced? When the damage is already done, who pays?With so many losses, just finding help is a challenge. We asked some experts for insight: Tree Davis, a nonprofit which plants trees in Yolo County; Michal Brower, State Farm Insurance public affairs specialist; and Elizabeth Hartman, spokesperson for Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies. Q: How can I assess the risk of my trees?A: Tree care can significantly extend the performance, lifespan and the benefits of trees. Have your trees inspected periodically. Prune overextended or dead branches. Here are signs of trouble: leaning trees, with raised soil on the side of the trunk opposite the lean: cracks extending into the wood on the trunk or major limbs; “conks,” or fungal fruiting b...

Editorial: Where is California’s comprehensive mental health plan, governor?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

California needs a comprehensive plan to solve its growing mental health problem.The current piecemeal approach is creating confusion among city, county and state leaders while thousands of mentally ill people wander the streets, failing to receive the help or housing they desperately need.The situation calls for Gavin Newsom to provide the leadership Californians expect from their governor. What they’re getting instead is bureaucratic chaos lacking in accountability.On March 19, Newsom unveiled his latest proposal, calling for a bond measure that would raise $3 billion to fund housing for the mentally ill. The governor also wants to divert another $1 billion a year from an existing voter-approved mental health tax.The idea has merit. So does Newsom’s Care Court plan, which was signed into law in 2022 and is designed to make it easier to place severely mentally ill Californians into psychiatric treatment and housing.But it’s not clear how Newsom’s plans fit i...

SF Giants’ answers in catching competition will reveal themselves soon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As the Giants pack up their equipment trucks, they will include four sets of catchers gear. Declared a “true competition” on the first day of camp, San Francisco’s backstop blockade hasn’t resolved itself yet as the team heads north.With less than a week until Opening Day, answers are coming. And at least one decision will have to be made even sooner. While nothing has yet to be finalized, the Giants’ head decision-maker, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, provided some insight on the state of the competition Friday in an end-of-camp media session.The most imminent choice Zaidi and the Giants’ braintrust must make is regarding Roberto Pérez, the veteran former Gold Glover in camp as a non-roster invitee. Pérez’s minor-league deal includes an opt out clause that is triggered on Saturday, giving the Giants 48 hours — until Monday — to add him to their active roster, or he can request his release.While Pérez̵...

Opinion: AI will take us to terrifying and beautiful places. Are we ready?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

As a civilization, we’ve done a collectively poor job recognizing technology that is transformational. In hindsight, we shake our heads and wonder how we could have possibly overlooked the dawn of a new epoch. This being Silicon Valley, there will be another one coming along in six months.The guy who dreamed up the wheel was probably dismissed as a nut. History is full of real whack jobs with names like Da Vinci, Newton and Copernicus. One such whack job, Douglas Engelebart, was the father of trivial things such as the mouse and the teleconference. He was Silicon Valley’s own prophet without honor. He tried once to explain to me why we keep underestimating technologies that are truly revolutionary. It was as if we’re in a car, flying down a dark, twisty road. “It keeps speeding up,” he said, “but the headlights aren’t reaching any further.”Today, we’re flying down a road that’s going to take us to terrifying and beautiful p...

Yemen rebels restrict humanitarian flights arriving in Sanaa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they were imposing severe restrictions starting Saturday on U.N. and other humanitarian flights arriving in the capital, Sanaa.The Houthi-run Civil Aviation Authority said no humanitarian flights would land in Sanaa between March 25-30. It said in a statement they would allow such flights in Sanaa only on Fridays.The Houthis said their decision was in response to an alleged barring of commercial flights to and from the Yemeni capital, and a ban of booking flights from Sanaa.The United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Sanaa International Airport was partly reopened for commercial fights last year as part of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire deal between Yemen’s warring parties. The cease-fire expired in October when the two sides failed to reach a compromise to renew the truce.The Houthi move comes amid an escalation in fighting in the central province of Marib, where the Houthi rebels in recent days at...

Man attacks 3 people with hand grenade, knife in Berlin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German police said Saturday that they have arrested a 61-year-old man after three people were wounded in a hand grenade and knife attack in Berlin. Police said the attacker detonated the grenade in the entrance of an apartment building in the Reinickendorf neighborhood of the German capital on Friday night, wounding two women, aged 42 and 48, and a 61-year-old man. The suspect then allegedly ran toward two of the victims and attacked and wounded them with a knife. All three victims were taken to the hospital. The man suffered life-threatening injuries, police said in a statement.The attacker then fled. Police detained the suspect in a nearby garden later.Police were still investigating possible motives for the attack and whether the suspect and the victims knew each other. They did not release any details on the attacker’s identity or those of the victims as is customary in Germany.German news agency dpa reported that the alleged attacker is a Serb and the two wo...

Biden’s TikTok, oil moves test the loyalty of young voters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Recent moves by President Joe Biden to pressure TikTok over its Chinese ownership and approve oil drilling in an untapped area of Alaska are testing the loyalty of young voters, a group that’s largely been in his corner.Youth turnout surged in the three elections since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, helping Biden eke out victories in swing states in 2020, pick up a Democratic Senate seat in the 2022 election and stem potential losses in the House.But the 80-year-old president has never been the favorite candidate of young liberals itching for a new generation of American leadership. As Biden gears up for an expected reelection campaign, a potential TikTok ban and the Alaska drilling could weigh him down. Meanwhile, his plan to wipe out billions of dollars in student loan debt is in jeopardy at the Supreme Court. The effort, announced shortly before last year’s midterms, was an attempt by Biden to keep a promise he made after defeating progressive Sen...

Últimas noticias de la guerra en Ucrania: Rusia presiona fuerte para lograr una victoria rara pero simbólica

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:47 GMT

Las tropas ucranianas disparan un obús D-30 contra las posiciones rusas cerca de Bakhmut, donde se han producido intensos combates durante semanas. (Crédito: Sergey Shestak/AFP/Getty Images)Mira las actualizaciones más recientes aquíThe-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source