Credit Acceptance Q1 net income down 35%; loan volume grows
Credit Acceptance Corp. Q1 2024 earnings: Net income fell 35 percent year over year during the first quarter as the major national car loan company grew its loan portfolio but had higher expenses......»»
VW puts $5B into cash-hungry Rivian, and Rivian will help fix up VW’s software
Rivian gets a third major partner, and new cars arrive later this decade. Enlarge (credit: Rivian) Volkswagen is committing $5 billion to upstart EV company Rivian, with $1 billion in cash upfront and $4 billion over tim.....»»
Assessing the place of citizen science in modern research
In recent years, numerous fields of research have seen an explosion in the volume and complexity of their scientific data. To keep pace with these changes, EU-funded research projects are increasingly crowdsourcing their data through citizen science.....»»
YouTube tries convincing record labels to license music for AI song generator
Video site needs labels’ content to legally train AI song generators. Enlarge (credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty) YouTube is in talks with record labels to license their songs for artificial intelligence tool.....»»
Star Wars behind the scenes: Creating the unique aesthetic of The Acolyte
Ars chats with production designer Kevin Jenkins and cinematographer Chris Teague. Enlarge / A mysterious assassin is targeting Jedi masters in The Acolyte. (credit: Disney+) The Star Wars franchise is creeping up on the.....»»
OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Mac is now available to all users
It supports pretty much everything but API calls. Enlarge / The app lets you invoke ChatGPT from anywhere in the system with a keyboard shortcut, Spotlight-style. (credit: Samuel Axon) OpenAI's official ChatGPT app for m.....»»
Researchers upend AI status quo by eliminating matrix multiplication in LLMs
Running AI models without matrix math means far less power consumption—and fewer GPUs? Enlarge / Illustration of a brain inside of a light bulb. (credit: Getty Images) Researchers claim to have developed a new way to r.....»»
The mythical griffin was not inspired by a horned dinosaur, study concludes
The mythological creatures are instead "chimeras of big cats and raptorial birds." Enlarge / Painting of a gryphon, or griffin, a lion-raptor chimera from ancient folklore. (credit: Mark Witton) The gryphon, or griffin,.....»»
Ketamine pills for depression show positive results in trial—but with caveats
A slow-release oral dose showed good safety, but efficacy is shaky. Enlarge (credit: Getty | RJ Sangosti) After an MDMA therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder dramatically failed to impress Food and Drug Administrati.....»»
Taking a closer look at AI’s supposed energy apocalypse
AI is just one small part of data centers’ soaring energy use. Enlarge / Someone just asked what it would look like if their girlfriend was a Smurf. Better add another rack of servers! (credit: Getty Images) Late last.....»»
The math on unplayed Steam “shame” is way off—and no cause for guilt
It's fun to speculate, but sales and library quirks make it impossible to know. Enlarge / Blast away all the guilt you want in PowerWash Simulator, but there's no need to feel dirty in the real world about your backlog. (credit:.....»»
Verizon screwup caused 911 outage in 6 states—carrier agrees to $1M fine
Verizon initially failed to remove a flawed update file that caused two outages. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | David Ramos) Verizon Wireless agreed to pay a $1,050,000 penalty to the US Treasury and implement a complia.....»»
Julian Assange to plead guilty but is going home after long extradition fight
"Julian is free!" wife wrote after Assange struck deal with US government. Enlarge / Julian Assange in an airplane in a photo posted by WikiLeaks on June 25, 2024. (credit: WikiLeaks) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has.....»»
Microsoft risks huge fine over “possibly abusive” bundling of Teams and Office
Microsoft vows to make more changes facing EU fine over Teams bundling. Enlarge / A screen shows a virtual meeting with Microsoft Teams at a conference on January 30, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (credit: Cesc Maymo / Contributor |.....»»
Saturn’s moon Titan has shorelines that appear to be shaped by waves
The liquid hydrocarbon waves would likely reach a height of a meter. Enlarge / Ligeia Mare, the second-largest body of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell) During its T85 Titan flyby on Ju.....»»
“Energy-smart” bricks need less power to make, are better insulation
Cutting the energy used while firing the bricks means big savings at scale. Enlarge / Some of the waste material that ends up part of these bricks. (credit: Seamus Daniel, RMIT University) Researchers at the Royal Melbou.....»»
Is generative AI really going to “wreak havoc” on the power grid?
AI is just one small part of data centers’ soaring energy use. Enlarge / Someone just asked what it would look like if their girlfriend was a Smurf. Better add another rack of servers! (credit: Getty Images) Late last.....»»
Is the total value of unplayed Steam games really $19 billion? Probably not.
It's fun to speculate, but sales and library quirks make it impossible to know. Enlarge / Blast away all the guilt you want in PowerWash Simulator, but there's no need to feel dirty in the real world about your backlog. (credit:.....»»
The dark side of loan guarantee programs for SMEs
There is always a downside. Even for loan guarantee programs for small businesses, launched during financial crises to stave off the drying up of credit, particularly likely in periods of recession. It turns out these programs also have negative effe.....»»
Sir Peter Beck unplugged: “Transporter can do it for free for all we care”
"Look, there's no accidental monopoly. They are a ruthless competitor." Enlarge / Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck speaks during the opening of the new Rocket Lab factory on October 12, 2018, in Auckland, New Zealand. (credit: Phil Walt.....»»
iOS 18’s drive-formatting option shows how far iPhones have come for power users
The beta's Files app lets you format external drives in APFS, exFat, and FAT. Enlarge / The 2024 iPad Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon) Apple has added the ability to format external drives in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, the major so.....»»