Protocol Labs, the company behind decentralized file storage network Filecoin, is laying off 21% of its staff, CEO Juan Benet announced in a blog post on Friday......»»

InvestED is the most popular stock trading podcast, with the most Google searches per month Podcasts Animal Spirits and Mad Money are the second most popular podcasts, both receiving 1,400 searches per month worldwide Invest Like The Best is the third most popular stock trading podcast A new study reveals the most popular stock trading […] InvestED is the most popular stock trading podcast, with the most Google searches per month Podcasts Animal Spirits and Mad Money are the second most popular podcasts, both receiving 1,400 searches per month worldwide Invest Like The Best is the third most popular stock trading podcast A new study reveals the most popular stock trading podcasts, with InvestED taking the top spot as the most popular. .first{clear:both;margin-left:0}.one-third{width:31.034482758621%;float:left;margin-left:3.448275862069%}.two-thirds{width:65.51724137931%;float:left}form.ebook-styles .af-element input{border:0;border-radius:0;padding:8px}form.ebook-styles .af-element{width:220px;float:left}form.ebook-styles .af-element.buttonContainer{width:115px;float:left;margin-left: 6px;}form.ebook-styles .af-element.buttonContainer input.submit{width:115px;padding:10px 6px 8px;text-transform:uppercase;border-radius:0;border:0;font-size:15px}form.ebook-styles .af-body.af-standards input.submit{width:115px}form.ebook-styles .af-element.privacyPolicy{width:100%;font-size:12px;margin:10px auto 0}form.ebook-styles .af-element.privacyPolicy p{font-size:11px;margin-bottom:0}form.ebook-styles .af-body input.text{height:40px;padding:2px 10px !important} form.ebook-styles .error, form.ebook-styles #error { color:#d00; } form.ebook-styles .formfields h1, form.ebook-styles .formfields #mg-logo, form.ebook-styles .formfields #mg-footer { display: none; } form.ebook-styles .formfields { font-size: 12px; } form.ebook-styles .formfields p { margin: 4px 0; } Get The Full Ray Dalio Series in PDF Get the entire 10-part series on Ray Dalio in PDF. Save it to your desktop, read it on your tablet, or email to your colleagues (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); Q4 2022 hedge fund letters, conferences and more   The trading world has seen an ever-growing amount of interest over the past few years; worldwide searches for ‘how to get into trading’ increased 178%, and searches for ‘trading tips’ have seen a 195% increase over the past five years. Searches for ‘stock trading tips’ have increased by 204% worldwide over the past five years, proving how many people worldwide are interested in delving into the trading world. With the rise in popularity for podcasts skyrocketing over the past few years too, research was conducted to see which trading podcasts are the most popular. Ranking Most Popular Stock Trading Podcasts The research conducted by UK financial services provider CMC Markets explored Google search data by examining the average number of monthly searches for the top stock and trading podcasts, which resulted in a ranking of the most popular stock and trading podcasts. The most popular podcast in the rankings is InvestED, hosted by three-time New York Times best-selling author and hedge fund manager Phil Town and his daughter Danielle. The pair give advice and cast a light on the best investment strategies used by some of the most influential investors in the world. Stretching over 400 episodes, the father-daughter duo dominates the stock and trading podcast space, with fans worldwide tuning in to hear their advice. Searches for ‘InvestED podcast’ average at 1,600 searches per month worldwide, proving just how popular the podcast is. The following two podcasts in the rankings receive an average of 1,400 searches per month worldwide, placing them in joint second. The Animal Spirits podcast explores life, markets and investing and is hosted by Michael Batnick, a managing partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management and Ben Carlson, the author of the wealth management blog A Wealth of Common Sense. Their goal is to share their experiences in the markets and help make finance more understandable and accessible for their listeners. There are currently 454 episodes available for streaming, and with the podcast averaging 1,400 searches per month worldwide, fans are certainly listening to what they have to share. The Mad Money podcast is hosted by one of Wall Street’s most successful and influential money managers, Jim Cramer. The first episode was released in March 2005, and since then, the podcast has grown into a guide for people worldwide to become better investors. The podcast has a huge number of episodes, so there is plenty of advice on how to dominate the stock market. Cramer helps his listeners navigate the jungle of Wall Street investing in a lightning round where he offers his buy, sell and hold options to callers keen to hear his expertise. The third most popular stock trading podcast in the rankings is Invest Like The Best, hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy. This podcast provides insight into the minds of some of the best business and investment leaders across the globe, highlighting their trial-and-error methods of success and sharing stock market secrets exclusively to the show. The main goal of this podcast is to guide listeners on how to spend their time and money better, resulting in successful investment outcomes. Searches for ‘Invest Like the Best podcast’ average 1,000 searches per month worldwide, which secures its third-place spot in the rankings. The Meb Faber show is the fourth most popular stock trading podcast, averaging 400 monthly searches for the ‘Meb Faber podcast’ worldwide. The podcast aims to help listeners grow through wealth by making smarter investment decisions alongside featuring an array of top investment professionals dishing out their wisdom regarding investments. The podcast currently stretches to 526 episodes and is hosted by Meb Faber, a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management. Faber has also written numerous successful books and is a frequent speaker on investment strategies which is why fans worldwide are keen to be regular listeners of the podcast.   The following two podcasts in the rankings receive an average of 300 searches per month worldwide, placing them in joint fifth. With currently over 1,000 episodes, is Motley Fool Money, a multi-viewpoint podcast hosted by investment genius Chris Hill, in which he is joined by a team of top investment analysts who explore the day's top headlines in finance and business. The podcast is aimed at business-driven investors and helps to break down the stock market by sharing the perspectives of Hill’s special guests. We Study Billionaires is currently strung over 650 episodes and has gained over 95 million downloads. Hosted by Stig Broderson, Clay Finck and Trey Lockerbie, We Study Billionaires is the chief podcast of The Investor’s Podcast Network. During the show, the hosts are joined by some of the industry's most famous financial billionaires, who guide listeners on applying the best strategies and methods in the stock market. The Most Popular Stock Trading Podcasts Rank Podcast Name Search Term Global Monthly Search Volume 1 InvestED Invested Podcast 1,600 2 Animal Spirits / Mad Money Animal Spirits Podcast Mad Money Podcast 1,400 3 Invest Like the Best Invest Like the Best Podcast 1,000 4 The Meb Faber Show Meb Faber Podcast 400 5 Motley Fool Money We Study Billionaires Motley Fool Money Podcast We study Billionaires Podcast 300.....»»

Kelly McKenna, who started her business in February 2021, shares how therapists can diversify their revenue streams and grow their businesses. McKenna started her practice in 2021.courtesy of McKenna Kelly McKenna started her own virtual therapy practice in February 2021. Last year, she booked $350,000 in revenue from working 30-hour weeks. McKenna shares how therapists can diversify their revenue streams and grow their businesses. Kelly O'Sullivan McKenna knew something was missing from her job in 2020. She worked in nonprofit business management, but the role lacked the client relationships she'd fostered seven years earlier while earning her master's in social work. She started a part-time job as a therapist in March to fill that void, and two weeks later, she transitioned from in-person work to telehealth. Her longing for customer connection and her experience with telehealth prompted McKenna to launch a virtual therapy practice in February 2021 called Sit With Kelly. Today, McKenna meets with 15 clients per week – a decrease from 20 clients per week in 2021, to make room for more streams of income – and teaches other therapists how to start their own virtual practices. What's more, she booked $350,000 in revenue last year— more than double what she made at her previous job — which Insider verified with documentation.The telehealth industry grew in popularity during the pandemic, and virtual therapy and mental-health services saw substantial increases. By February 2021, 50% of psychiatry appointments and 30% of substance-use treatments were being conducted virtually, a study by the management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company found. There has never been a better time to start a virtual practice, McKenna said. Her Instagram account, which had 55,300 followers at the time of writing, brought in most of her clients.McKenna shared her advice for finding clients, developing multiple revenue streams, and finding a foothold in the telehealth industry. The interview with McKenna has been slightly edited for length and clarity. Take advantage of a virtual world to connect with clientsMcKenna meets with all of her clients online.courtesy of McKennaTwo weeks after I started with the private practice as a therapist, COVID-19 sent the world into lockdown and moved our clients online. That made the idea of starting my own business much more attainable. With telehealth, I saw a new opportunity. I went from working more than 60 hours per week — including nonprofit work and evening private-practice hours — to about 30 hours per week when I started my own business.But when shifting from insurance-based pay to private pay, therapists either have to be well known in the community or have a strong online presence in order to generate referrals. Whether that's through Instagram or a blog, clients need a reason to make the shift from "I'm looking for a therapist who takes my insurance" to "This therapist understands my issues. I want to work with her."Most therapists weren't taught anything about marketing in school. It's important to invest in learning those skills if you want to run a successful business, and social media is a great way to make sure those potential clients know you exist. Building that presence can ensure you keep your caseload full.Expand business offerings authentically  A post shared by Kelly | Anxiety Therapist (@sitwithkelly) Many of my Instagram followers are therapists who want to start their own business, so I launched an online course and additional coaching products to help them. The course comes in three tiers, which focus on specific aspects of running a virtual business. That way, I'm able to connect with people at all stages of their business-launching journey. Brand partnerships on social media are another arm of my business – bringing in $37,000 in revenue in 2022. But I keep my "influencing" posts separate from my therapy business.In an industry as focused on ethics as therapy, I make sure to only work with brands I use and love. Creators have to be careful with brand partnerships. You don't want to lose trust with your audience. I always make sure it's something that makes sense for my brand, such as CBD gummies or weighted blankets, and that I actually use and believe in.The future of therapy is digital, but not all platforms are equalVirtual therapy is a great opportunity for therapists, but we have to be conscious of the way we perform our services. As a virtual-only practice, I don't take any high-risk clients or those who need in-person meetings, where the therapist might have to physically see the patient to assess their progress.My biggest advice for early therapists is to create a network of other mental-health professionals who specialize in the services you don't. If I'm not the best fit for a client, I'll refer them to other psychiatrists or doctors I know. If you don't have a big professional network yet, starting a professional Instagram page is a great way to begin. Another recent change mental-health professionals have to be mindful of is the arrival of new startups in the virtual-therapy space. These can be affordable options for clients, but they often don't pay therapists nearly what they're worth. That's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about business coaching. Teaching therapists how to do it themselves, market themselves, and create a practice of their own is important to me and the future of the therapy space.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Big Misses From Alphabet, Amazon, And Apple Confirm "The Web 2.0 Bubble Is Bursting" By Dhaval Joshi of BCA Research The Web 2.0 bubble is bursting, with far-reaching consequences. But to understand the consequences, let’s begin with a brief history of the web: how it evolved from the original Web 1.0 to the current Web 2.0, and how it will evolve to the coming Web 3.0. The Web 1.0 Bubble Burst In 2000, The Web 2.0 Bubble Is Bursting Now If you are over the age of 30, you will remember the original Web 1.0 of the 1990s. Web 1.0 was dull. It was like having a massive encyclopaedia at your fingertips – with static, non-interactive, read-only content, whose ownership remained with its creators: typically, the traditional media, and publishing companies. Nevertheless, facilitated by the telecom and tech giants of the time, Web 1.0 expanded the reach of traditional media content to a massive global audience. Thereby was born the Web 1.0 boom, otherwise known as the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) or ‘dot com’ boom. But as in all booms, hopes for a new paradigm of super-growth were shattered, and the Web 1.0 bubble burst in 2000. Then, around 2005, came Web 2.0. The great leap forwards was user-generated content combined with interaction, which became real-time with the introduction of iPhones. First came blogs, then forums, and finally the explosion of social networks such as Facebook and YouTube. However, Web 2.0 also became the web of big data and advertising. Most of the content – whether blogs, videos, or photos – is user-created, but the effective ownership lies with a handful of ‘Web 2.0 oligopolies’ that control or own the networks: Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (now Alphabet), collectively called the ‘FAANG’ stocks. The Web 2.0 oligopolies realised that web users produced vast quantities of data about their lifestyles and consumption habits, which the companies could sell to advertisers and marketers. And on that growth model was born the Web 2.0 profit boom, otherwise known as the ‘FAANG’ boom of the 2010s. To visualise this, compare the performance of the US stock market excluding tech, Amazon and Netflix with the European stock market excluding tech, and the difference through the past decade melts away. Proving that the US market’s spectacular outperformance is almost entirely due to the Web 2.0 boom. But now, the Web 2.0 bubble is bursting, because the scandals of privacy protection and content ownership have put paid to the 2010s growth model. Just as in 2000 for the Web 1.0 companies, hopes for a new paradigm of growth for the Web 2.0 oligopolies have been shattered. All of which brings us to Web 3.0. This is still a work in progress, but after the scandals of Web 2.0, we know the key requirements for Web 3.0 – to protect everyone’s data as well as to reward users for content creation and network participation. This means decentralisation, with no third party imposing the rules. Hence, Web 3.0 will almost certainly be blockchain based and incorporate its technology, such as blockchain tokens and smart contracts.  The Web 3.0 boom might be imminent, or it may be some years away. But just as the Web 1.0 bubble burst several years before the Web 2.0 boom was born, the bursting of the Web 2.0 bubble is not premised on the birth of the Web 3.0 boom. To repeat, the Web 2.0 bubble is bursting because the scandals of privacy protection and disenfranchising content creators have shattered the growth model of the Web 2.0 oligopolies. And the bursting of this bubble has long-term consequences, which we will now discuss. Consequence 1: The Duration Of The US Stock Market Has Shortened The first consequence is a technical point but nonetheless of huge importance. The US stock market’s duration has shortened. The duration of an investment is simply the time to the average cashflow that the investment generates. As the growth model of the dominant FAANG stocks has shattered, their expected cashflow profile has been pulled forwards, shortening the duration of the stock market. This is important because the duration of any investment determines its sensitivity to a change in bond yields. The shorter the duration, the smaller is its price change for a given move in the bond yield. The US tech sector’s duration has shortened. On the way up through 2018-21, the valuation tracked the 35-year bond price. But on the way down through 2022, it has not tracked the 35-year bond price. The good news of shortened duration is that, through 2022, the US stock market’s valuation fell far less than it would have done with longer duration. But the bad news is that the US stock market’s valuation will rise less when bond yields plunge. Consequence 2: Healthcare Will Outperform Technology In the decades preceding 2010, profits in the US tech sector trended higher broadly in line with those in its fellow ‘growth sector’ US healthcare. But after 2010, US tech profits pulled away from healthcare. As already explained, this profit acceleration was almost entirely attributable to the Web 2.0 boom. But now that the Web 2.0 bubble is bursting, the profit trends of US tech and healthcare are likely to re-converge, which means that the profits of US healthcare will outperform those of tech. Yet US healthcare is still trading at a 20 percent valuation discount to US tech. The combination of superior profit growth and a cheaper valuation means that healthcare is likely to outperform tech massively as the Web 2.0 bubble fully bursts. Our preferred expression of this in the past year has been to overweight US biotech versus tech. This structural position is already up 30 percent, but there is a lot further to go. Stick with it. Consequence 3: Europe Will Outperform The US Finally, to repeat, European versus US stock market underperformance through the 2010s is almost entirely attributable to the Web 2.0 boom. If we exclude tech, Amazon and Netflix from the US stock market and compare with the European stock market ex tech, Europe’s underperformance melts away. In this regard, the Web 2.0 boom, whose benefit was focused in the US FAANG stocks, was different to the Web 1.0 boom, which had no geographical bias, at least between the US and Europe. The Web 1.0 boom boosted the European market as much as the US market. Hence, until the 2010s there was no structural downtrend in European versus US stock market performance. But now that the Web 2.0 bubble is bursting, Europe’s 2010s disadvantage versus the US will become its 2020s advantage. A European renaissance is about to begin, at least relative to the US. Hence, today we are opening a new position on a structural (over 2 year) time horizon: Tyler Durden Fri, 02/03/2023 - 15:00.....»»

Picsart, a photo and video editing company, debuted the tool as a way to help the broken-hearted purge their social media feeds of former flames. A new AI tool lets you swap out images of your ex with red flags and snakes.Picsart Picsart debuted a new AI tool that allows user to replace photos of their ex.  The tool can swap images of former flames with anything, including snakes, red flags, and baguettes.  The tool is the latest artificial intelligence use case as the technology continues to explode.  Broken-hearted and trying to purge pictures of your ex from your social media pages? A new tool puts a cathartic spin on dissolving their digital footprint. Picsart, a photo and video editing company, debuted a new artificial intelligence-powered feature that allows users to replace images of former flames with everything from red flags to snakes. Called "AI Replace My Ex," the tool lets users swap images "with virtually anything" and "in just a few seconds with no design skills required," per Picsart."We've all been there: you have a photo where you look super cute, but it's tainted by the presence of someone no longer in your life," Picsart wrote in a blog announcing the tool Monday. "You'd rather not see or think about them, but don't necessarily want to delete the hundreds (or even thousands) of photos you have together."The tool marks yet another use-case of AI as the technology continues to explode in popularity. It also joins efforts to support jilted lovers ahead of Valentine's Day, including the San Antonio Zoo's annual Cry Me a Cockroach fundraiser, in which you can name a roach, rodent, or plant after an ex or a bad boss. To make the swap, Picsart users can upload a photo, select the ex in question, hit "AI Replace," and then describe a replacement image. In addition to a classic red flag, the blog post shares several examples of ideas for swaps, including a snake ...Picsart... a baguette ...Picsart... and a dog. PicsartUsers can create a limited number of free images before they're required to pay a fee, Picsart said in the blog. While the feature is currently available only on Apple iOS products, it's expected to come to Android soon. Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Punch-Drunk Investors Will Keep Ignoring Reality...Until It's Too Late Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance Back in January 2020, I was pointing out that the coronavirus was going to wreak havoc on markets weeks before it ever happened. As I’ve noted many times on this blog, those days were immensely frustrating. I waited for a collective market ethos that only viewed the news through a backward looking rearview mirror, with the attention span of a fruitfly and the collective IQ of a wooden ping-pong paddle, to catch up to a news story that was unfolding and evolving, by the second, right in front of their eyes. The news - and the ensuing chaos it would create - couldn’t have been more obvious if it was bludgeoning the market over the head with a wooden club, Bamm-Bamm Rubble style. Ultimately, I was proven right in my prognostication when the market crashed in March, before the Fed came in and launched unlimited quantitative easing and the public started to wrap their head around the fact that Covid wasn’t necessarily a death sentence. Current markets seem hell-bent not just on once again ignoring the obvious right now, but spitting the obvious back in the faces of those who use reality as a guide to their decision making. And the real kick in the nuts is that the Fed, the broadest influencer of our economy and market sentiment, isn’t even a tailwind this time. On the contrary, it is a massive headwind. The market is simply still hanging around - like a Mortal Kombat character stunned, but still on his feet, waiting for the Fed to deliver the final blow. Old habits die hard. As I pointed out many times just over the last several weeks, it is difficult to break the psychology of market participants who have been conditioned to buy the dip without consequence for the last 15 years. So, in that respect, I’m not surprised the market is rallying despite economic reality. But to say that the market has been grasping for straws when it comes to reasons to rally would be a vast understatement. Take this week for instance. The market is rallying based on nebulous words Jerome Powell used or omitted from his presser on Wednesday despite the fact that he very clearly stated that more rate hikes were on their way. Its tea leaf reading on top of tea leaf reading, ignoring the very stark reality that interest rates are nearing 5%. There’s nothing to guess or speculate about with rates - they’re most certainly at their highest levels in decades. But instead of the market getting swallowing that pill in advance, we have seen short term whiplash higher in the form of a short squeeze, because there’s too many people that can’t believe the market isn’t responding to the obvious reality that our economy is slowing down and monetary policy isn’t going to help. In other words, these people got caught flat-footed by clearly seeing reality and being short the market as a result. Then, the market does the “wrong thing” by squeezing higher and all of a sudden these people have a crisis of confidence and are mired in FOMO, seduced by the idea that buying the dip is once again the comfort of investing strategy home that we can all return to, akin to a warm blanket and a fireplace on a wintry New England day. And as I said earlier this week in a portfolio/macro update, perhaps, for the very long term, buying the dip is the right plan. Will markets be decidedly higher 10 years from now? Probably. It doesn’t mean that the currency is going to hold up though, but that’s another discussion for another day. I talk about how I invest for this anyways here. But taking a mid-term view, I still believe that this week’s move is nonsensical. Market behavior today centers around ignoring reality. This is a product of 40 years of Fed intervention in markets. When you constantly have somebody at the ready to bail out the market the first half second one person feels discomfort, it creates a foundation of irrational expectations from investors, namely that things are always better than they seem. In my time in markets, I’ve listened to a decade of stories about how “king dollar will never die”, how the market will always go up and how the United States will continue to be the world’s super power, no matter what.  Those statements are made with certainty despite the fact that, mathematically, none of these things are certainties. In fact, just the opposite is true. And so the only way we can try to gauge how close we are to something eventually “breaking” and sending markets lower is to continue to follow the news, objectively, and think critically about it on our own. Get 50% Off: If you enjoy this write-up, consider becoming a paid subscriber. I can offer a 50% discount that is valid for life to anyone that uses this link for an annual plan: Get 50% Off Perhaps you are looking at the same group of facts that I am looking at and you have come to starkly different conclusions. If that’s the case, you likely made a lot of money over the last few weeks and I salute you – that’s what makes a market. However, the reality behind the scenes that the market continues to ignore doesn’t look as though it’s going to get any better anytime soon. I’ll spare you guys the lecture about how 5% interest rates are eventually going to cause the economy to implode. I’ve prattled on about this way too much and continue to believe that it’ll be the case, and that it’s only a matter of time. Let’s only take a look at what’s new. On Thursday night, Apple - the bellweather for tech stocks - reported awful earnings that missed expectations, a rarity for them. Google and Amazon did the same. As far as a gauge for technology stocks goes, that’s about as clear of an indication that we are going to get of an economy that’s slowing down and a technology sector where things are not OK. These reports stand at extremely stark odds with the 16% rally in the NASDAQ that has taken place to start 2023. For a restrictive monetary policy environment, these moves simply don’t make sense. Perhaps it is my fault for expecting that the market would understand and process this and act rationally – after all, the market never acts rationally. And I don’t want to prattle on again about the geopolitical risk I see heading into this year, either. But, for fuck’s sake, yesterday we found a goddamn Chinese spy balloon flying over Montana. The balloon was discovered right about the same time U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns was talking about China’s ambitions towards Taiwan: Burns said that the United States knew "as a matter of intelligence" that Xi had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of self-governed Taiwan by 2027. "Now, that does not mean that he's decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any other year, but it's a reminder of the seriousness of his focus and his ambition," Burns told an event at Georgetown University in Washington. "Our assessment at CIA is that I wouldn't underestimate President Xi's ambitions with regard to Taiwan," he said, adding that the Chinese leader was likely "surprised and unsettled" and trying to draw lessons by the "very poor performance" of the Russian military and its weapons systems in Ukraine. His concluding remarks were notable: “Competition with China is unique in its scale, and that it really, you know, unfolds over just about every domain, not just military, and ideological, but economic, technological, everything from cyberspace, to space itself as well. It's a global competition in ways that could be even more intense than competition with the Soviets was.” If you haven’t read my 2023 outlook, here it is summarized in two pieces: first is my 23 Stocks To Watch in 2023 which explains my macro view and what stocks I’m buying heading into the new year. The second is a piece I wrote a couple weeks ago about several catalysts unfolding that continue to act as waypoints, dictating to me that my thesis is on point - and a piece I wrote last Friday reaffirming additional waypoints. As I have said in many of my pieces, I strongly believe markets in 2023 are going to be driven by both a residual crash coming from this year’s rate hikes and then an eventual Fed pivot, with a fair amount of geopolitical risk on the side. When I put together the 23 Stocks To Watch In 2023 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here), I tried to keep all of this in mind - I wanted to create a somewhat diversified, risk adverse, plan for myself heading into the new year. Whether or not I’m right, we’ll know in about 12 months. So, anyways, I digress. I guess we can just add both balloons (the Chinese spy one, and the stock market bubble) to the long list of things that markets will continue to ignore until they cross the line from prophecies into action. Only at that point (when it’s too late) will the market be able to understand reality, and only because it is literally being forced into not ignoring it anymore. After all, how are you going to make the argument that China isn’t going to invade Taiwan while China is actually invading Taiwan? When it’s too late, the market will finally get it. This is what happened with Covid in February 2020, this is what happened when Lehman Brothers went under and the housing market crashed and this is what happened leading up to the tech bubble crash in the 2000s.  Markets never crash as warning beacons are making their way out. In the case of the housing market, the market didn’t crash when delinquencies started to tick higher, it just ignored it. In the case of the Covid crash, the market didn’t crash based on the news that Covid cases were spreading in the U.S., it just ignored it. In both cases, the market crashed once the the public was forced to confront the reality of what was happening, and I don’t expect 2023 to be any different. Bulls can have their last couple of weeks and their great start to 2023 and celebrate. If you’ve been a short term trader and have made money off this move, I commend you – it’s part of the reason why I like having long exposure in certain select names and sectors. But I still hold firmly in the camp that we are in unprecedented monetary territory and, most importantly, we are there without the backing of the central bank. We could argue over whether or not the next rate hike is going to be 25 basis points, 50 basis points or nothing at all, but it’s immaterial. Stocks are expensive on a PE and market cap/GDP bases, rates are already near 5%, and that’s that. Even cutting rates to zero tomorrow wouldn’t reverse a lot of the trends that have already started economically at this point - they would still have to play their way out of the system before the cut took hold of the economy. Like I said, if you’ve been a bull while I’ve been a bear over the last couple of months, you’ve made money. Congratulations. There’s two ways to look at what the market is doing over the last couple of weeks: either we have firmly shifted into a new era, where we are at the beginning stages of a bull market once again and the fundamentals have changed (this, obviously, I don’t think is the case), or we are drifting further and further off the path of reality, which will eventually only lead to a bigger snap back when the time comes and the market can no longer turn its a blind eye to the obvious, wretched financial reality our country faces. Thank you for reading QTR’s Fringe Finance. This post is public so feel free to share it: Share QTR’s Disclaimer: I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. These positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important. Tyler Durden Fri, 02/03/2023 - 09:45.....»»

Inside The Secret Government Meeting On COVID-19 Natural Immunity Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Four of the highest ranking U.S. health officials—including Dr. Anthony Fauci—met in secret to discuss whether or not naturally immune people should be exempt from getting COVID-19 vaccines, The Epoch Times can reveal. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing in Washington on May 17, 2022. (Shawn Thew/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) The officials brought in four outside experts to discuss whether the protection gained after recovering from COVID-19—known as natural immunity—should count as one or more vaccine doses. “There was interest in several people in the administration in hearing basically the opinions of four immunologists in terms of what we thought about … natural infection as contributing to protection against moderate to severe disease, and to what extent that should influence dosing,” Dr. Paul Offit, one of the experts, told The Epoch Times. Offit and another expert took the position that the naturally immune need fewer doses. The other two experts argued natural immunity shouldn’t count as anything. The discussion did not lead to a change in U.S. vaccination policy, which has never acknowledged post-infection protection. Fauci and the other U.S. officials who heard from the experts have repeatedly downplayed that protection, claiming that it is inferior to vaccine-bestowed immunity. Most studies on the subject indicate the opposite. The meeting, held in October 2021, was briefly discussed before on a podcast. The Epoch Times has independently confirmed the meeting took place, identified all of the participants, and uncovered other key details. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University who did not participate in the meeting, criticized how such a consequential discussion took place behind closed doors with only a few people present. “It was a really impactful decision that they made in private with a very small number of people involved. And they reached the wrong decision,” Bhattacharya told The Epoch Times. An email obtained by The Epoch Times shows Dr. Vivek Murthy contacting colleagues to arrange the meeting. (The Epoch Times) The Participants From the government: Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden until the end of 2022 Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Francis Collins, head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which includes the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, until December 2021 Dr. Bechara Choucair, the White House vaccine coordinator until November 2021 From outside the government: Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on vaccines Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a former member of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the Baylor College of Medicine’s School of Tropical Medicine Fauci and Murthy decided to hold the meeting, according to emails The Epoch Times obtained. “Would you be available tonight from 9-9:30 for a call with a few other scientific colleagues on infection-induced immunity? Tony and I just discussed and were hoping to do this sooner rather than later if possible,” Murthy wrote in one missive to Fauci, Walensky, and Collins. All three quickly said they could make it. Walensky asked who would be there. Murthy listed the participants. “I think you know all of them right?” he said. Walensky said she knew all but one person. “Sounds like a good crew,” she added. From top left, clockwise: Dr. Vivek Murthy, Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky. (Getty Images) ‘Clear Benefit’ During the meeting, Offit put forth his position—that natural immunity should count as two doses. At the time, the CDC recommended three shots—a two-dose primary series and a booster—for many Americans 18 and older, soon expanding that advice to all adults, even though trials of the boosters only analyzed immunogenicity and efficacy among those without evidence of prior infection. Research indicated that natural immunity was long-lasting and superior to vaccination. On the other hand, the CDC published a paper in its quasi-journal that concluded vaccination was better. Osterholm sided with Offit, but thought that having recovered from COVID-19 should only count as a single dose. “I added my voice at the meeting to count an infection as equivalent to a dose of vaccine! I’ve always believed hybrid immunity likely provides the most protection,” Osterholm told The Epoch Times via email. Hybrid immunity refers to getting a vaccine after recovering from COVID-19. Some papers have found vaccination after recovery boosts antibodies, which are believed to be a correlate of protection. Other research has shown that the naturally immune have a higher risk of side effects than those who haven’t recovered from infection. Some experts believe the risk is worth the benefit but others do not. Hotez and Iwasaki, meanwhile, made the case that natural immunity should not count as any dose—as has been the case in virtually the entire United States since the COVID-19 vaccines were first rolled out. Iwasaki referred to a British preprint study, soon after published in Nature, that concluded, based on survey data, that the protection from the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines was heightened among people with evidence of prior infection. She also noted a study she worked on that found the naturally immune had higher antibody titers than the vaccinated, but that the vaccinated “reached comparable levels of neutralization responses to the ancestral strain after the second vaccine dose.” The researchers also discovered T cells—thought to protect against severe illness—were boosted by vaccination. There’s a “clear benefit” to boosting regardless of prior infection, Iwasaki, who has since received more than $2 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told participants after the meeting in an email obtained by The Epoch Times. Hotez received $789,000 in grants from the NIH in fiscal year 2020, and has received other grants totaling millions in previous years. Offit, who co-invented the rotavirus vaccine, received $3.5 million in NIH grants from 1985 through 2004. Hotez declined interview requests through a spokesperson. Iwasaki did not respond to requests for comment. No participants represented experts like Bhattacharya who say that the naturally immune generally don’t need any doses at all. In an email obtained by The Epoch Times, Akiko Iwasaki wrote to other meeting participants shortly after the meeting ended. (The Epoch Times) Public Statements In public, Hotez repeatedly portrayed natural immunity as worse than vaccination, including citing the widely criticized CDC paper, which drew from just two months of testing in a single state. In one post on Twitter on Oct. 29, 2021, he referred to another CDC study, which concluded that the naturally immune were five times as likely to test positive compared to vaccinated people with no prior infection, and stated: “Still more evidence, this time from @CDCMMWR showing that vaccine-induced immunity is way better than infection and recovery, what some call weirdly ‘natural immunity’. The antivaccine and far right groups go ballistic, but it’s the reality.” That same day, the CDC issued a “science brief” that detailed the agency’s position on natural immunity versus the protection from vaccines. The brief, which has never been updated, says that available evidence shows both the vaccinated and naturally immune “have a low risk of subsequent infection for at least 6 months” but that “the body of evidence for infection-induced immunity is more limited than that for vaccine-induced immunity.” Evidence shows that vaccination after infection, or hybrid immunity, “significantly enhances protection and further reduces risk of reinfection” and is the foundation of the CDC’s recommendations, the agency said. Several months later, the CDC acknowledged that natural immunity was superior to vaccination against the Delta variant, which was displaced in late 2021 by Omicron. The CDC, which has made misleading representations before on the evidence supporting vaccination of the naturally immune, did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether the agency will ever update the brief. Iwasaki had initially been open to curbing the number of doses for the naturally immune—”I think this supports the idea of just giving one dose to people who had covid19,” she said in response to one Twitter post in early 2021, which is restricted from view—but later came to argue that each person who is infected has a different immune response, and that the natural immunity, even if strong initially, wanes over time. Osterholm has knocked people who claim natural immunity is weak or non-existent, but has also claimed that vaccine-bestowed immunity is better. Osterholm also changed the stance he took in the meeting just several months later, saying in February 2022 that “we’ve got to make three doses the actual standard” while also “trying to understand what kind of immunity we get from a previous infection.” Offit has been the leading critic on the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which advises U.S. regulators on vaccines, over their authorizations of COVID-19 boosters. Offit has said boosters are unnecessary for the young and healthy because they don’t add much to the primary series. He also criticized regulators for authorizing updated shots without consulting the committee and absent clinical data. Two of the top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials resigned over the booster push. No FDA officials were listed on invitations to the secret meeting on natural immunity. Fauci and Walensky Downplay Natural Immunity Fauci and Walensky, two of the most visible U.S. health officials during the pandemic, have repeatedly downplayed natural immunity. Fauci, who said in an email in March 2020 that he assumed there would be “substantial immunity post infection,” would say later that natural immunity was real but that the durability was uncertain. He noted the studies finding higher antibody levels from hybrid immunity. In September 2021, months after claiming that vaccinated people “can feel safe that they are not going to get infected,” Fauci said that he did not have “a really firm answer” on whether the naturally immune should get vaccinated. “It is conceivable that you got infected, you’re protected—but you may not be protected for an indefinite period of time,” Fauci said on CNN when pressed on the issue. “So I think that is something that we need to sit down and discuss seriously.” After the meeting, Fauci would say that natural immunity and vaccine-bestowed immunity both wane, and that people should get vaccinated regardless of prior infection to boost their protection. Walensky, before she became CDC director, signed a document called the John Snow Memorandum in response to the Great Barrington Declaration, which Bhattacharya coauthored. The declaration called for focused protection of the elderly and otherwise infirm, stating, “The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk.” The memorandum, in contrast, said there was “no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection” and supported the harsh lockdown measures that had been imposed in the United States and elsewhere. In March 2021, after becoming director, Walensky released recommendations that the naturally immune get vaccinated, noting that there was “substantial durability” of protection six months after infection but that “rare cases of reinfection” had been reported. Walensky hyped the CDC study on natural immunity in August 2021, and the second study in October 2021. But when the third paper came out concluding natural immunity was superior, she did not issue a statement. Walensky later told a blog that the study found natural immunity provided strong protection, “perhaps even more so than those who had been vaccinated and not yet boosted.” But, because it came before Omicron, she said, “it’s not entirely clear how that protection works in the context of Omicron and boosting.” Walensky, Murthy, and Collins did not respond to requests for interviews. Fauci, who stepped down from his positions in late 2022, could not be reached. Murthy and Collins also portrayed natural immunity as inferior. “From the studies about natural immunity, we are seeing more and more data that tells us that while you get some protection from natural infection, it’s not nearly as strong as what you get from the vaccine,” Murthy said on CNN about two months before the meeting. Collins, in a series of blog posts, highlighted the studies showing higher antibody levels after vaccination and urged people to get vaccinated. He also voiced support for vaccine mandates. Read more here... Tyler Durden Thu, 02/02/2023 - 21:10.....»»

Growing Number Of Doctors Say They Won’t Get COVID-19 Booster Shots Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A growing number of doctors say that they will not get COVID-19 vaccine boosters, citing a lack of clinical trial evidence. “I have taken my last COVID vaccine without RCT level evidence it will reduce my risk of severe disease,” Dr. Todd Lee, an infectious disease expert at McGill University, wrote on Twitter. A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is seen in a file photograph. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Lee was pointing to the lack of randomized clinical trial (RCT) results for the updated boosters, which were cleared in the United States and Canada in the fall of 2022 primarily based on data from experiments with mice. Lee, who has received three vaccine doses, noted that he was infected with the Omicron virus variant—the vaccines provide little protection against infection—and described himself as a healthy male in his 40s. Dr. Vinay Prasad, a professor of epidemiology and biostatics at the University of California, San Francisco, also said he wouldn’t take any additional shots until clinical trial data become available. “I took at least 1 dose against my will. It was unethical and scientifically bankrupt,” he said. Allison Krug, an epidemiologist who co-authored a study that found teenage boys were more likely to suffer heart inflammation after COVID-19 vaccination than COVID-19 infection, recounted explaining to her doctor why she was refusing a booster and said her doctor agreed with her position. She called on people to “join the movement to demand appropriate evidence,” pointing to a blog post from Prasad. “Pay close attention to note this isn’t anti-vaccine sentiment. This is ‘provide [hard] evidence of benefit to justify ongoing use’ which is very different. It is only fair for a 30 billion dollar a year product given to hundreds of millions,” Lee said. Dr. Mark Silverberg, who founded the Toronto Immune and Digestive Health Institute; Kevin Bass, a medical student; and Dr. Tracy Høeg, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, joined Lee and Prasad in stating their opposition to more boosters, at least for now. Høeg said she did not need clinical trials to know she’s not getting any boosters after receiving a two-dose primary series, adding that she took the second dose “against my will.” “I also had an adverse reaction to dose 1 moderna and, if I could do it again, I would not have had any covid vaccines,” she said on Twitter. “I was glad my parents in their 70s could get covid vaccinated but have yet to see non-confounded data to advise them about the bivalent booster. I would have liked to see an RCT for the bivalent for people their age and for adults with health conditions that put them at risk.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization to updated boosters, or bivalent shots, from Pfizer and Moderna in August 2022 despite there being no human data. Observational data suggests the boosters provide little protection against infection and solid shielding against severe illness, at least initially. Five months after the authorization was granted, no clinical trial data has been made available for the bivalents, which target the Wuhan strain as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron. Moderna presented efficacy estimates for a different bivalent, which has never been used in the United States, during a recent meeting. The company estimated the booster increased protection against infection by just 10 percent. The FDA is preparing to order all Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines be replaced with the bivalents. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issues recommendations on vaccines, continues advising virtually all Americans to get a primary series and multiple boosters. Professor Calls for Halt to Messenger RNA Vaccines A professor, meanwhile, became the latest to call for a halt to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are both based on messenger RNA technology. “At this point in time, all COVID mRNA vaccination program[s] should stop immediately,” Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a video statement. “They should stop because they completely failed to fulfill any of their advertised promise[s] regarding efficacy. And more importantly, they should stop because of the mounting and indisputable evidence that they cause unprecedented level of harm, including the death of young people and children.” Levi was referring to post-vaccination heart inflammation, or myocarditis. The condition is one of the few that authorities have acknowledged is caused by the messenger RNA vaccines. Read more here... Tyler Durden Thu, 02/02/2023 - 19:10.....»»

Microsoft's huge OpenAI deal shows that ChatGPT is setting the pace in tech this year, and everyone else will have to keep up. Generative AI like ChatGPT is set to be the defining technology of the year, experts say.Shutthiphong Chandaeng / Getty Images Everyone from big tech companies to VC to casual investors want to get in on the ChatGPT hype. It remains to be seen how generative AI will transform our lives, but the tech is here to stay.  Microsoft's deal with OpenAI is setting the pace, and everyone else will have to catch up. ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm in just a few short months.The viral success of the chatbot, made by OpenAI, has caused a huge ripple across the tech industry. Venture capitalists are betting big on startups that are getting in on the craze, even as Google moves quickly to address the threat that ChatGPT poses to its core search business. In 2022, investors put at least $1.37 billion into generative AI startups, usually at the seed stage. That's almost as much as what was invested in the market in the previous five years combined, according to PitchBook.But the surest sign yet that ChatGPT is setting the pace and defining the tech industry for at least the next year is OpenAI's blockbuster, $10 billion partnership with Microsoft to bring the AI into products like the Bing search engine and Microsoft Office. Indeed, Microsoft is wasting no time, already launching an OpenAI-powered chat transcription and task-suggestion service for its Microsoft Teams app. "Microsoft is set to work alongside OpenAI to create a game-changing technology fully integrated into MSFT over the next decade," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients. "Nadella is not going to repeat the same mistakes and we believe this strategic investment is a smart poker move in this AI arms race that is taking place globally."Which is to say that while it remains to be seen how exactly this technology will transform our lives in the coming months, experts are convinced that ChatGPT and technology like it is here to stay — not some passing fad."We predict we're on the brink of the next platform shift: The knowledge and information economy will be defined by artificial intelligence," VCs at Bessemer Venture Partners wrote in a recent blog post. Why this iteration of ChatGPT made generative AI so popular right now It's important to note that nothing about ChatGPT or generative AI is especially new or novel. As Facebook's lead AI scientist Yann LeCun noted recently, "It's nothing revolutionary, although that's the way it's perceived in the public. It's just that it's well put together, it's nicely done."In other words, OpenAI's real innovation was taking AI technology that was already out there and making it something that was easy and accessible to anybody."The way they've created the user interface and the way that they've exposed the technology in such a useful way and allowing it to be casual or formal — there's a lot of engineering that they did that is really special that has allowed the technology to really shine," said Matt Mead, the CTO at tech modernization firm SPR.As the underlying technology becomes more accessible to developers, we'll see a host of new tools come up that change the way we work, search for information, and interact with services like healthcare, the experts said. Combined with the increasing availability of computing power, and developments in AI itself, there's a new generation of startups just poised to be born."As we've been able to improve the architecture, prices of chips and compute are decreasing and getting more efficient over time, we're able to build models with much more data and there's a confluence of vectors of progress that's all happening at the same time," said Talia Goldberg, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI is just the beginning of what's possible with generative AIMicrosoft's partnership with OpenAI offers some hints about where the technology can go from here. For one, it is poised to disrupt is the search experience. Right now when we search for information in Google we get multiple options back and can pick what we think is the most accurate. However, when you ask ChatGPT something, it comes back with a specific answer. Microsoft hasn't been able to break Google's lead in search, but with the AI technology its Bing search engine could actually compete. It's something VCs are watching closely as they choose which companies to invest in, Goldberg said. Microsoft is "positioned to try and deliver a really radically different and transformative search experience, and compete on a different vector now relative to Google," she said. "and then there's a host of other companies that we think are doing really interesting things." Beyond search, Microsoft's plans around its investment in OpenAI has experts thinking about how they'll sell this tech beyond integrating the technology across its products like Excel, Azure, and its subsidiary GitHub's AI-powered Copilot programming assistant. Some analysts also see an opportunity to offer it as a cloud service that other companies can buy and use, similar to how cloud infrastructure services are sold. That's one reason why there will be a lot more business uses for generative AI technology than consumer use cases in the near term, said Mark Shmulik, a Bernstein analyst.For example, ChatGPT has the potential to disrupt the way people code and how engineering teams are run because it can take less engineers to write code. ChatGPT for example can generate the basic code that actual engineers use and customize to get to an end product, he said. Another example could be an opportunity to use it in the advertising industry to bypass some of the work done by large expensive ad agencies, Shmulik said. Ultimately, there's much more we're going to see with this technology, and Microsoft may have gotten ahead with its OpenAI partnership but many other players are catching up, experts said. "Microsoft has been early and very public with their relationship with OpenAI," Goldberg said. "But they will certainly not be the only large player to be involved with the emerging startup ecosystem here."Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at pzaveri@insider.com or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

It's been an eventful four years for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend, TV host and helicopter pilot Lauren Sánchez. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez were publicly outed as a couple in January 2019 in a tabloid scandal that included leaked texts and allegations of blackmail. Since then, they have both finalized their divorces, embarked on a multi-continental romance, and bought property in Beverly Hills and Hawaii.  Here's how their relationship became public and how they've spent the last four years as a couple. On the morning of January 9, 2019, Jeff Bezos and his now ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, issued a joint statement on Twitter that they were divorcing.Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott.Dia Dipasupil / Staff"As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends," the statement read. "If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again."MacKenzie Scott, formerly MacKenzie Bezos, was one of Amazon's earliest employees. The couple has four children together. Hours later, a second bombshell dropped: Bezos was in a relationship with Lauren Sánchez.Paul Archuleta/Getty ImagesSánchez started her career as a news reporter and anchor — she was a longtime anchor of "Good Day LA" on Fox 11 and worked as a correspondent on "Extra." More recently, she's worked as a helicopter pilot and founded her own aerial filming company in 2016, called Black Ops Aviation. Sánchez has also had TV and film roles, including as the host of the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" and playing an anchor in movies like "Fight Club" and "The Day After Tomorrow," according to her IMDB page. Bezos and Sánchez met through her then-husband, Patrick Whitesell, the co-CEO of Hollywood talent agency WME.Jeff Bezos with Lauren Sanchez and her then-husband, Patrick Whitesell.Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Amazon StudiosSánchez and Whitesell had been married since 2005, but at the time the news broke, the couple had been separated since that fall, Page Six reported. Though it's unclear when Bezos' and Sánchez's romance began, according to Brad Stone's book "Amazon Unbound," the pair connected at an Amazon Studios party for the film "Manchester by the Sea" in 2016.In March 2018, Sánchez was invited to Amazon's annual MARS conference in Palm Springs. One month later, they had dinner with Sánchez's brother, Michael, in Los Angeles. That July, Bezos hired Sánchez's company to film footage for his rocket company, Blue Origin.It was during helicopter rides together that the couple's relationship "blossomed," and Sánchez helped Bezos get over his fear of flying, which followed a 2003 helicopter crash, according to The Wall Street Journal. The National Enquirer said it had conducted a four-month investigation into Bezos and Sánchez's relationship and had obtained texts and photos the couple had sent to each other.Jeff Bezos.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesThe Enquirer said it had tracked the couple "across five states and 40,000 miles, tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and 'quality time' in hidden love nests." Page Six, which published the news a few hours before the Enquirer, reported that Bezos and his then-wife knew that the Enquirer report was coming out and had timed their divorce announcement to get ahead of the news.The gossip site also reported at the time that Bezos and Sánchez started dating after he and Scott had separated the previous fall, and that Scott knew of the relationship. The Enquirer said it had gotten its hands on "raunchy messages" and "erotic selfies," including a text that reportedly read: "I love you, alive girl."Jeff BezosREUTERS/Gary CameronThe tabloid said it also had racy photos of Bezos, including one that was too explicit to print.But according to Stone's book, the tabloid never actually had a "below-the-belt selfie" of Bezos — it was a photo of someone else Michael Sánchez took from a male-escort website and showed to the tabloid over FaceTime.Almost immediately, questions arose about the Enquirer's motives for investigating Bezos and Sánchez, as well as the tabloid's connection to Donald Trump.David Pecker, former CEO of AMI.Marion Curtis via AP, FileA feud has simmered for years between Trump and Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, a frequent Trump target. The Enquirer's publisher, then known as AMI, was run by David Pecker, a longtime Trump ally. (In August 2020, AMI combined with Accelerate 360 to form A360 Media, with Pecker as executive advisor.) By the end of January 2019, The Daily Beast reported that Bezos had started funding an investigation into who had leaked his private messages to the Enquirer. Bezos' personal head of security, Gavin de Becker, headed up the investigation. De Becker said at the time that he thought the leaks were "politically motivated," which AMI denied. The investigation initially pointed to Michael Sanchez, Lauren's brother and an outspoken Trump supporter, as the person who leaked the photos and texts, which Sanchez denied. Then, that February, Bezos dropped a bombshell of his own: an explosive blog post titled "No thank you, Mr. Pecker," in which he accused Pecker and AMI of trying to blackmail him.Bezos speaks at the Economic Club of Washington DC on September 13, 2018.Reuters/Joshua RobertsBezos wrote that the publisher had been threatening him with the publication of his own explicit photos unless he stopped investigating who was leaking his photos and texts to the tabloid.AMI also demanded that Bezos no longer claim the publisher's investigation into his personal life was influenced by political motivations, Bezos wrote. As a result, Bezos published the emails he'd received from AMI."Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten," Bezos wrote.Bezos also hinted in the post that there may have been a link between the investigation into his relationship with Sánchez and the Saudi Arabian government — specifically, that he might have been a target of the Saudis because he owns the Washington Post, which provided "unrelenting coverage," Bezos said, of the murder of its journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi agents. The "Saudi angle" of Bezos' own investigation into the leaks seemed to have "hit a particularly sensitive nerve" with Pecker, Bezos wrote. For its part, the Saudi Arabian government denied any role in the situation and called the whole saga a "soap opera." Things quieted down for Bezos and Sánchez publicly for a few months, until April 2019, when Bezos and Scott finalized the terms of their divorce.Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott.Danny Moloshok/ReutersBezos and Scott both released statements on Twitter saying they had "finished the process of dissolving" their marriage and would be co-parenting their four kids.Scott said she was granting Bezos all her interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as 75% of the Amazon stock they owned, and voting control over the shares she retained.Her remaining stake in Amazon has positioned her among the richest people in the world. Though she's spent the past several years steadily giving away her wealth to a variety of causes, her net worth still stands at $23.1 billion. One day later, Sánchez and Whitesell filed for divorce.Patrick Whitesell and Lauren Sanchez.AP PhotoTMZ reported at the time that the couple filed for joint custody of their two children. The couple reportedly finalized their divorce in October 2019. The Bezos divorce was finalized that July. A few days later, Bezos and Sánchez made their first public appearance as a couple at Wimbledon.Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos at Wimbledon.AP Photo/Tim IrelandThe couple were seated behind the royals at the men's Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at the All England Club. A few months prior to Wimbledon, the couple had attended another exclusive event: the annual Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. There, they mingled with Warren Buffett, Tim Cook, and Mark Zuckerberg, according to Stone's book.The pair was spotted again in August on what appeared to be a fabulous European vacation.The Rising Sun, a yacht that belongs to media titan David Geffen.Victor Fraile/ReutersThey were seen strolling through Saint-Tropez and cruising off the coast of Spain, in the Balearic Islands, aboard media mogul David Geffen's superyacht, the Rising Sun.Other guests reportedly included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and the founder of Thrive Capital, Josh Kushner, along with his supermodel wife, Karlie Kloss. Bezos and Sánchez were then seen on fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg's sailing yacht off the coast of Italy.Diane von Furstenberg and Jeff Bezos pose at the Statue of Liberty Museum opening on May 15, 2019.Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesThe couple appears to be close friends with von Furstenberg and her husband, IAC Chairman Barry Diller.In December 2019, Bezos reportedly threw Sánchez an elaborate 50th birthday celebration.Katy Perry and Orlando BloomPhillip Faraone/Getty ImagesThe celebration included both a private dinner and a star-studded party attended by von Furstenberg and Diller, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, and Timothée Chalamet, Page Six reported.Around the holidays, the couple jetted off to French-speaking Caribbean island St. Barths.Reuters/Andrew CouldridgeThere, they relaxed on yachts and meandered around the island with Sánchez's son with her previous partner, former NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez.In January 2020, Sánchez accompanied Bezos on a trip to India.Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez in India in January 2020.Prodip Guha/Getty ImagesSánchez attended Bezos' visit to Mahatma Gandhi's tomb and walked the red carpet with Bezos at an Amazon Prime Video event in Mumbai. A few weeks later, Sánchez traveled with Bezos to another international event — this time, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, France. Meanwhile, Bezos had become embroiled in a legal spat with Michael Sánchez, Lauren Sánchez's brother.John Sciulli/Getty Images for Politicon; Getty ImagesSánchez filed a defamation lawsuit against Bezos in February 2020, claiming Bezos and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, falsely accused him of providing Bezos' nude photos to the National Enquirer. Sánchez claimed in the suit that Bezos told journalists he had handed over the images to the tabloid, but he says he never had the photos in his possession. Bezos said in a court filing of his own that the suit amounted to "extortion" and directly threatened free speech. Bezos sought to dismiss Sánchez's lawsuit under a California law that's intended to protect against frivolous lawsuits. A judge has since tossed Sánchez's defamation suit, citing a lack of evidence. The judge later ordered Sánchez to pay $218,000 in legal fees for Bezos.In the lawsuit, Sánchez used the word "fiancé" to describe Bezos' relationship to Lauren Sánchez, implying that the couple is engaged.Pawan Sharma/AFP via Getty ImagesHere's the full sentence from the lawsuit (emphasis ours):"While Mr. de Becker's initial asserted theory was that Mr. Sanchez had sold out his sister for $200,000, Mr. de Becker soon realized this theory would not hold up because, among other reasons, it was inconceivable that Mr. Sanchez would ruin his relationship with his sister and her current fiancé, the richest man in the world, for financial gain."Bezos isn't described as Sánchez's fiancé anywhere else in the suit, and Bezos and Sánchez have never confirmed that they're engaged. In December, Page Six published photos of the couple on vacation, noting that Sánchez was wearing a large diamond ring. She has since been spotted several times with the ring on her left hand, where engagement rings are typically worn. At the time lawyers for Michael Sánchez said in a statement, "Michael's complaint speaks for itself." Representatives for Bezos and Sánchez did not respond to requests for comment.News broke in early 2020 that Bezos had purchased the Warner estate, a massive Beverly Hills compound, for $165 million. The purchase was the most expensive home sale in California history at the time.An aerial view of the Warner estate.Los Angeles County/PictometryPrior to the sale, The New York Post reported that Bezos and Sánchez had been house-hunting in Los Angeles for weeks, touring mansions throughout the area.The Warner estate was built by Hollywood mogul and Warner Bros. cofounder Jack Warner in 1937. It spans eight acres and is situated in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Beverly Hills. It's an incredibly private property that's surrounded by tall hedges, blocked off by a large gate, and completely hidden from view from the street.The compound is home to multiple dwellings, including two guesthouses and a 13,600-square-foot mansion. The estate also features a pool, tennis court, and manicured gardens, as well as a nine-hole golf course and a "motor court" with its own garage and gas pumps, according to Architectural Digest. In July 2020, Bezos appeared to make another purchase, this time right next door: a $10 million home that shares a hedge line with the Warner estate. According to property records viewed by both Variety and Daily Mail, Bezos is the new owner of the 1930s-era home on a side street in Beverly Hills' Benedict Canyon neighborhood. In February 2021, Bezos made a major career move: He announced that he would step down as CEO of Amazon in the third quarter of that year.Mike Blake/Reuters; Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty ImagesThe move became official on July 5, 2021, with Andy Jassy — then the CEO of Amazon Web Services — taking his place at the helm of Amazon.Almost immediately after his departure from Amazon became official, Bezos headed for outer space.Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesIn July 2021, Bezos lifted off aboard a Blue Origin rocket in the company's first human spaceflight. Bezos was accompanied by his brother, Mark, 82-year-old aviator Wally Funk, and Dutch teen Oliver Daemen on the quick voyage to the edge of space.Sánchez was in attendance, embracing Bezos after he safely touched down on Earth.A few months later, Bezos expanded his real estate empire once again when he and Sánchez purchased a home on Maui, Hawaii.Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesThe home, which was purchased for an undisclosed sum in October 2021, is located in an isolated area on the island's south shore and is near lava fields, Pacific Business News reported."Jeff and Lauren love Maui, have a home on the island, visit frequently, and want to be a part of supporting the local community," an unnamed person close to the couple told PBN at the time.Bezos had made several donations to local organizations in the weeks leading up the report of his new home purchase on the island, including to organizations that support women and children that have experienced abuse or homelessness and a substance abuse treatment center.Bezos and Sánchez have continued traveling the world, most recently to London.Ricky Vigil/Getty ImagesBezos took a private tour of Buckingham Palace, where "he showed a particular interest in the Throne Room and Ballroom," The Sun reported. He and Sánchez were later spotted having dinner at the The Twenty Two hotel in Mayfair with actor Tom Cruise. The couple now spends their time criss-crossing the globe, distributing funds through their philanthropic endeavors, and hanging out with their blended family, Sánchez told The Wall Street Journal.Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesThe couple is often spotted abroad, as well as attending high-profile parties and galas. But according to Sánchez, when they're spending time at home, it's low-key. "On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids," Sánchez told The Journal. "We are the Brady Bunch!"Meanwhile, Sánchez now serves as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion commitment to combating climate change; is working on a children's book; and formed a new production company called Adventure & Fellowship, which produces promotional films for several of Bezos' endeavors, including Blue Origin and the Bezos Earth Fund.And in early 2024, she plans to lead an all-woman mission aboard a Blue Origin rocket, according to The Journal.  Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The time when tech companies threw money and manpower at their problems is over. Welcome to the 'year of efficiency.' Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said 2023 will be the "year of efficiency."Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Mark Zuckerberg says this will be the 'year of efficiency' at Meta, and he's the 'Chopper in Chief.' His comments reflect a new reality for tech: The era of deep pockets and endless perks is over. The challenge will be cutting back on spending without sacrificing future innovation. Once upon a time, there was a small search startup named Google. It was up against powerhouses like Yahoo and Microsoft in the fast-growing market to help people find exactly what they were looking for.To recruit the talent it needed, Google offered first-class employee perks that would become the stuff of legend: free meals, massages, ping-pong tables, artisanal coffee, and the freedom to use as much as 20% of their time for personal projects that may or may not turn into actual products. Success wasn't quite overnight, but it was close. And as Google grew into the juggernaut that it is today, other companies took notice. Pampering employees and empowering them to chase wild ideas — driverless cars, delivery drones, hot-air balloons that provide internet connectivity — became the norm across Silicon Valley. This model worked splendidly for many companies, right up until it didn't. In recent months, layoffs have swept just about every major tech company (except, notably, Apple), even as Google itself has pared back on its so-called moonshots in a drive to cut costs amid a larger economic slowdown.Enter Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook's parent company Meta, who officially rang in the new era on Wednesday when he declared that 2023 would be the "year of efficiency" at the social network, naming himself the "Chopper-in-Chief." His comments on Wednesday's earnings call officially cement this as the reality check for the tech industry at large, and give a likely preview of what's to come after Google's parent company, Alphabet — and also Amazon and Apple — all report earnings after the bell on Thursday."It's been a rapid phase-change, to take a step back and say, 'okay, we can't treat everything like it's hyper-growth,'" Zuckerberg said on the earnings call. "We have a lot of things now that a lot of people use and that support a large amount of business and we should operate somewhat differently."Facebook is 'flattening' its structure and cutting more jobsFirst and foremost, Zuckerberg said that the company's recent round of 11,000 layoffs were only the tip of the iceberg, with more to come.He further suggested that the company was looking to "flatten" its organizational structure by "removing some layers of middle management." In a more technical sense, the company disclosed that it cut its forecast for capital expenses in the next quarter by $4 billion, largely thanks to a new and more efficient data center design. Even before the earnings call, Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew "Boz" Bosworth wrote in a blog post his belief that corporate philanthropy and worker perks — both hallmarks of Facebook's work culture — could "create drag" on a company, slowing it down at crucial moments. Add it all up, and it becomes clear that Meta is at the vanguard of a new zeitgeist that's gripping Silicon Valley. Instead of throwing money and manpower at problems, Zuckerberg shows that Meta is now learning to live within its means. After years of defying gravity, the tech giants are going to have to start playing by the same rules as any other company in any other sector by reining in costs and being extra-thoughtful about their business.Tech companies will have to balance innovation with cost-cuttingThe tradeoffs of this new, more pragmatic approach, however, may not make themselves known for some time. We've already seen a harsh human cost in the form of tens of thousands of people losing their livelihoods, with many more cuts likely to come. For those who remain, perks will be stripped back as a new culture of efficiency upends the tech office culture to which they've grown accustomed over the last two decades or so.Another tradeoff might come in the form of future innovation. While Zuckerberg said that Meta will continue to invest in its Reality Labs virtual-reality division, which lost over $13 billion in the last quarter alone, he indicated that the unit wouldn't be automatically safe from future cost-cutting or layoffs.Zuckerberg has bet the proverbial farm on the metaverse, and now has to strike the delicate balance between future investment and appeasing Wall Street. Other tech companies will likely be making similar calculations in the year to come.Wall Street, for its part, seems happy with Zuckerberg's approach as laid out on the earnings call: At the time of writing, Meta's stock was up some 26% on the day to $193 a share. That's not quite to the lofty heights of its 52-week high of $248, but it's far better than its low over the same period of $88.09.On the other hand, Zuckerberg said that there could be some silver linings to this new approach for Meta's remaining employees."What makes you a better company over time is being able to execute and do more because you're operating more efficiently," Zuckerberg said on the call. "We're in a different environment now where a lot of what we do, it makes sense to focus on the efficiency a lot more than we had previously and make sure we can work effectively. For what it's worth, I think it'll be a more fun place for people to work because they can get more stuff done." Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

After two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has announced ChatGPT plus, a $20 per month subscription model. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT.Steve Jennings/Getty Images After two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has announced a subscription model for ChatGPT. Users will still be able to access the chatbot for free but those who pay will get extra perks. Here's what we know about the difference between ChatGPT Plus and the free version. After around two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has finally announced plans to monetize its viral AI chatbot, ChatGPT — at least in part.Users will still be able to access the chatbot for free but those who pay a monthly subscription for "ChatGPT Plus" will have priority at busy times and access to new features. Some form of a subscription model for ChatGPT has been in the works for a while. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, floated the prospect in December, calling the operating costs "eye-watering" in a Twitter post. Last month, OpenAI opened a waitlist for the "experimental" update.US users on OpenAI's waitlist will be invited to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus in the next few weeks. Here's how the paid version differs from the free one. Access during peak timesChatGPT's huge popularity has meant some users struggle to access the chatbot when the site is particularly overloaded. Frequent users will be familiar with the "ChatGPT is at capacity now" holding page. However, paying users will get "general access to ChatGPT, even at peak times," OpenAI said in a blogpost.Faster responsesChatGPT usually generates its responses in a matter of minutes or even seconds for simple queries. ChatGPT Plus promises an even faster response time. Sometimes the chatbot can lag with lengthy requests and users are left waiting.It's unclear how powerful the paid version will be but the company is offering up the potential of speedier responses for users with time-sensitive tasks. New features ChatGPT Plus also promises priority access to new features and improvements. It's unclear at this point what these new features will be but OpenAI has already been updating the chatbot with small improvements. OpenAI incorporated feedback mechanisms in the rollout of ChatGPT. There is an option to thumbs up or thumbs down to the chatbot's answers and users can provide more context when things go wrong, allowing OpenAI to collect feedback.It's likely important improvements will also be rolled out to the free version but paying subscribers may get first dibs on coveted new features.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The live feed, provided by NASA, shows astronauts Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata performing the second spacewalk of 2023. Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pictured in his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), or spacesuit, during a seven-hour and 21-minute spacewalk to install a modification kit on the International Space Station's starboard truss structure preparing the orbital lab for its next roll-out solar array.NASA Two astronauts are making a seven-hour spacewalk today outside of the International Space Station. According to NASA, the astronauts are preparing the station for its next solar array installation. This is the 2nd spacewalk of 2023, after astronauts had problems installing arrays during a January mission.  NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan's Koichi Wakata are spacewalking outside of the International Space Station today to complete modification kits for the next sollar array installation on the station, according to a blog from NASA.NASA is currently streaming Mann and Wakata's spacewalk live:Mann and Wakata's mission began early Thursday morning EST and will last approximately seven hours. The astronauts are currently preparing to install two final solar arrays on the ISS. According to NASA, once all six arrays are operational, they will bost the station's power supply by 20% to 30%. This is the 2nd spacewalk of 2023 at the ISS. Mann and Wakata previously started this modification on January 20 but ran into a few issues that prevented them from finishing the job.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

The couple has spent $300,000 on repairs with more to do. They plan to live in the property's main house and rent its small house on Airbnb. DeWitt and Jean Paul.DeWitt Paul DeWitt and Jean Paul bought a 31-acre abandoned farm in Pennsylvania in 2018 and moved from Nevada. The property has a main house, a small house, and three barns — all of which they are renovating. Insider spoke with DeWitt to learn more about their journey and find out what's next on the docket. In May 2018, DeWitt and Jean Paul packed their bags and moved from their suburban home in Las Vegas to an abandoned farm in Pennsylvania.The couple had been living in Vegas, where they raised four children and ran a business, for about 15 years. But after the kids moved out, they were eager to start a new adventure. In March 2018, they sold their businesses and bought another one across the country in Easton, Pennsylvania. After a few months traveling back and forth, they decided to move there permanently. On the hunt for a renovation project, the couple came across a rundown 31-acre farm in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania — a village about an hour and a half from Philadelphia. After some back-and-forth bidding, they won the property for $220,000.The farm includes six structures, some of which needed more repairs than others. Those structures include two small barns, a large barn, a small house, the main house, and a garage/workshop.The couple made renovations to the main house — which spans over 5,000 square feet — to make it comfortable to live in, but have since switched their focus to the smaller house. They've documented the transformation of the farm on their website and Instagram.Once the small house is completed, they plan on renting it out on Airbnb. The main house has already been changed dramatically, and still needs work. DeWitt told Insider that they have no plans to sell once completing renovations. Insider caught up with DeWitt about their renovation origin story, how they were able to do most of the work themselves, and to get an idea of what their plans are for the rest of the property.This story, originally published in 2020, was updated in February 2022.In May 2018, DeWitt and Jean Paul moved from their suburban home in Las Vegas to an abandoned farm in Pennsylvania.DeWitt PaulThey raised four children and ran a business in Las Vegas for 15 years. Once their children moved out, they wanted a fresh start elsewhere.The couple's home in Las Vegas.DeWitt PaulSo, in March 2018, they sold their businesses in Las Vegas and purchased another, in Easton, Pennsylvania.DeWitt PaulThe couple owns a Foot Solutions store — a franchise organization that, according to the website, specializes in personalized assessments, high performance footwear, and custom-crafted arch supports. DeWitt spent one week a month in Pennsylvania until he and Jean decided to pack up their house, rent it out, and permanently move across the country.DeWitt PaulFinding their new home wasn't easy. While on the hunt for a project, the couple came across a rundown, 31-acre farm with a lot of potential. However, their first bid on it was rejected.A garage/workshop on the farm.DeWitt Paul"After losing the bid on another property, we bid on this one sight unseen. There were 4 bids and all were rejected. Our first stop in PA after driving across the country was this property — we wanted to see it before deciding whether to bid again at a higher price," DeWitt wrote in a blog post.After a real-life visit, they decided to place a second, higher bid. They won.A small barn on the farm.DeWitt PaulAround $220,000 later, it was theirs. While the closing price was $220,000, Dewitt estimates that there were about $3,000 worth of additional fees.A small barn on the farm.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmThere are six structures on the farm: two small barns, a big barn, a small house, a garage/workshop, and the main house.A large barn on the farm.DeWitt PaulWhen the couple bought the property, two of the barns were in ruins and both of the houses were uninhabitable. They had their work cut out for them.The small house on the farm.DeWitt PaulThe first major project they embarked on was fixing the main house. According to DeWitt, it was in terrible condition.The main house.DeWitt PaulDeWitt told Insider that while the main house is around just 30 years old, some of the buildings, like the small house, have been on the property for over a hundred years."When we walked through the door we didn't know if we could make it through without gas masks," he wrote in a blog post.The kitchen in the main house.DeWitt PaulThe history of the farm dates back hundreds of years. In fact, according to Dewitt's blog post, the stone walls on the property were likely built in the 1700s.The kitchen in the main house.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmThe previous owner bought the property in 2000. She lived there for 16 years until the bank foreclosed on it. DeWitt believes the property was neglected for most, if not all, of the years after that.An old washer.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmAnd while there weren't any humans living in the main house, there were cats — lots of them.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The Farm"The house was basically being used as a big, huge kitty litter box," DeWitt said.DeWitt PaulDespite its condition, the couple moved into the house three days after closing on the property.DeWitt PaulIn the days before they moved in, they had a plumber fix the kitchen sink, a shower, and a few toilets.DeWitt PaulThey cleaned out a bedroom, painted the floors with oil-based Kilz, set up a bed so they could sleep, and started renovating the house.DeWitt PaulDeWitt told Insider that they did around 90% of the work themselves.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmIt was no small project: The house spans over 5,000 square feet and boasts five bedrooms and six bathrooms.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmBut DeWitt and Jean are no strangers to home-renovation projects. In fact, when they first got married, they flipped a home together.The renovated foyer in the main house.DeWitt PaulThe couple had help when it came to things like plumbing, electrical work, and setting up the kitchen.A renovated living area in the main house.DeWitt Paul"Basically, anything that would have the potential of burning down the house or flooding the house, we had the plumber or the electrician do," DeWitt said.The renovated family room in the main house.DeWitt PaulWhen it came to the kitchen, the couple ran into some structural and ventilation issues.The renovated kitchen in the main house.DeWitt Paul"Unfortunately, when you design a kitchen in an old house, you never know what you are going to run into when you open up the walls," DeWitt wrote in a blog post.The renovated kitchen in the main house.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmFor example, there was a beam centered over the stove where the ventilation hose was supposed to go, forcing them to leave the slinky tube on an angle.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmAccording to DeWitt's blog, they managed to make the hood cover using leftover materials from the demo and other projects. Because they repurposed materials, that project only cost them $46.DeWitt PaulSource: We Bought The FarmThe couple also saved money by using the furniture they brought from Las Vegas. In fact, most of the furniture in the main house is furniture the couple already owned. DeWitt told Insider that they've only spent around $500 on new items.The renovated laundry room.DeWitt PaulHe also revealed that, including the purchase price and renovations, they've spent about $550,000.A renovated office space in the main house.DeWit PaulDuring the start of the pandemic, DeWitt and Jean changed focus from the main house to the smaller home with plans to turn it into a short-term rental.DeWitt PaulThey gutted the interior of the smaller 1,600-square-foot home and pretty much started from scratch.DeWitt PaulOnce they're finished with the smaller house, next up will be renovating one of the barns and finishing up the main house.DeWitt PaulThe main house still has a few incomplete renovations like a new balcony railing, hardwood floors, and a new master bathroom.DeWitt Paul"My wife is the one that does a lot of the work. She's doing it full-time," DeWitt explained to Insider. "She's pretty amazing. She can do just about anything with the right power tool."DeWitt PaulAs for the garage, DeWitt explained that it's in pretty good shape and just needed some door repairs.The garage/workshop.DeWitt PaulAlong with the new additions to one of the barns, they've also added goats — but those aren't the only animal guests.DeWitt PaulIn fact, they've encountered foxes, deer, groundhogs, turtles, frogs, turkeys, vultures, and even bears.DeWitt PaulThey renovated the bigger barn including cleaning it out and adding new doors.DeWitt PaulDeWitt and Jean had planned to finish the renovation in 2021, but have welcomed new grandchildren and spent some time away from the home. Renovations for the smaller home are nearly complete, and DeWitt and Jean expect to rent it out this year.DeWitt PaulRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»

After two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has announced ChatGPT plus, a $20 per month subscription model. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT.Steve Jennings/Getty Images After two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has announced a subscription model for ChatGPT. Users will still be able to access the chatbot for free but those who pay will get extra perks. Here's what we know about the difference between ChatGPT Plus and the free version. After around two months of unlimited free use, OpenAI has finally announced plans to monetize its viral AI chatbot, ChatGPT — at least in part.Users will still be able to access the chatbot for free but those who pay a monthly subscription for "ChatGPT Plus" will have priority at busy times and access to new features. Some form of a subscription model for ChatGPT has been in the works for a while. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, floated the prospect in December, calling the operating costs "eye-watering" in a Twitter post. Last month, OpenAI opened a waitlist for the "experimental" update.US users on OpenAI's waitlist will be invited to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus in the next few weeks. Here's how the paid version differs from the free one. Access during peak timesChatGPT's huge popularity has meant some users struggle to access the chatbot when the site is particularly overloaded. Frequent users will be familiar with the "ChatGPT is at capacity now" holding page. However, paying users will get "general access to ChatGPT, even at peak times," OpenAI said in a blogpost.Faster responsesChatGPT usually generates its responses in a matter of minutes or even seconds for simple queries. ChatGPT Plus promises an even faster response time. Sometimes the chatbot can lag with lengthy requests and users are left waiting.It's unclear how powerful the paid version will be but the company is offering up the potential of speedier responses for users with time-sensitive tasks. New features ChatGPT Plus also promises priority access to new features and improvements. It's unclear at this point what these new features will be but OpenAI has already been updating the chatbot with small improvements. OpenAI incorporated feedback mechanisms in the rollout of ChatGPT. There is an option to thumbs up or thumbs down to the chatbot's answers and users can provide more context when things go wrong, allowing OpenAI to collect feedback.It's likely important improvements will also be rolled out to the free version but paying subscribers may get first dibs on coveted new features.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Instagram is in its flop era, going the way of its sister company Facebook. And the platform really only has itself to blame. Welcome to the "year of efficiency," reader. I'm your host, Diamond Naga Siu. Mark Zuckerberg made this not-so-bold assertion during the Meta earnings call on Wednesday — as if mass layoffs in January weren't enough of a sign. We've seen companies pull back on employee benefits. Startups get less funding. And whole divisions (and the workers) are getting cut.This is pretty bleak for tech workers who were living large this time last year. But Wall Street seems to love this switch towards fiscal responsibility: Meta's stock jumped 20% after the report. So let's see what Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon do later today when they each report earnings.In the meantime, if you have any questions about tech layoffs, feel free to ask me anything! I'm hosting a Reddit AMA today at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. in r/cscareerquestions. (Here's my proof, btw.)Before we chat though, let's catch up on today's tech.If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.Getty; Marianne Ayala/Insider1. Instagram is in its flop era. It's going the way of its sister company Facebook. And the platform really only has itself to blame, Chris Stokel-Walker writes for Insider.Instagram essentially launched the $100 billion influencer industry. But it's now floundering while competing with TikTok.Instagram's carefully crafted focus on influencers is exactly what's dragging it down, Chris reported. This dynamic leaves out the majority of its users. TikTok's algorithm takes an opposite approach with spontaneous discovery, keeping users engaged for longer — and less likely to check Instagram.This creates a Catch-22 for the company, Chris adds. Its original model successfully captured a loyal and engaged audience, but is now an outdated approach for a social media platform.Get a first look at the end of Instagram here.In other news:Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new iPhone that was introduced at Macworld on January 9, 2007.David Paul Morris/Getty Images2. An unopened, first-generation iPhone is going for at least $50,000. A cosmetic tattoo artist received the 2007 device but never opened it. Now she's putting it up for auction. And it's going for more than 80 times its original price. Get a piece of tech history here.3. Home Depot is channeling "How do you do, fellow kids?" People have been jamming out to "The Home Depot Beat" on TikTok for years. And the home improvement corporation hopes this can help it connect with young people. Check out the rebrand from "my dad's home improvement store."4. Being nice is a "drag." Philanthropy and employee perks can "create drag" on a company, the Meta CTO wrote in a personal blog post. Andrew Bosworth also said he misses when the company was more focused. More on his call to action, ending with: "The second best time is now."5. Woman says husband "intentionally" drove Tesla off cliff. The man — now charged with three counts of attempted murder — drove off a California cliff. His wife and two young children were all in the Tesla with him. Learn about the grim situation here.6. Big Tech could take a big hit as startups cut costs like cloud computing. Tech giants like Apple and Google are major helpers for startups: payroll, advertising, computing, and other services. This chart highlights 40 tech companies most at-risk.7. The CEO behind ChatGPT is a doomsday prepper. Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI — the company responsible for ChatGPT. He also hoards a stash of gold, guns, and other supplies. Follow his path here on how he reached the helm of one of today's most watched companies.8. Hot to not: Inside Snap's downfall. Snapchat was once the hottest app. But Apple's privacy crackdown was a direct attack on advertising, its most lucrative revenue stream. Now, its rep is dwindling as TikTok and other apps take a stronger hold. More on the dwindling snapstreak here.Odds and ends:The Mercedes-Benz EQB 350.Tim Levin/Insider9. The most affordable electric Mercedes. The Mercedes-Benz EQB starts at around $55k and is more lux than a Tesla. But the vehicle lacks the range of its competitors. Get the full test drive here with us.10. This Chick-fil-A's traffic got so bad, it needs to be demolished and reconstructed. The chicken spot's snaking drive-thru made it a hazard to pedestrians, so a local North Carolina city ordered its demolition. The process could take six months or more to complete. Eat Mor Chikin here.What we're watching today:It's Black History Month! Look into the future of Black entrepreneurship here.Quarterly earnings for Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, and other companies. Keep up with earnings here.Spotify is hosting a Best New Artist Party to honor Grammy nominees.It's National Tater Tot Day.La La La — happy birthday, Shakira!Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Feedback or tips? Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

OpenAI said last month it was testing a paid version of ChatGPT, opening a waitlist for the "experimental" update. ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm.NurPhoto/Contributor/Getty Images ChatGPT has announced ChatGPT Plus, a subscription service that costs $20 a month. The service will offer users faster response times and priority access to new features. OpenAI said last month it was exploring ways to monetize ChatGPT. ChatGPT has announced a subscription service for $20 a month that will offer faster response times and priority access to new features.Despite only being released to the public two months ago, the buzzy AI chatbot has already amassed millions of users. The new subscription plan will allow paid users to have general access to the bot, even during peak times when users are normally made to wait.OpenAI said last month it was testing a paid version of ChatGPT, opening a waitlist for the "experimental" update. However, the $20 price tag is much lower than the rumored $42 per month previously reported by some users. Keeping the chatbot open for free likely comes at a significant cost. OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman tweeted back in December that the company would "have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering." The company said in a blogpost that the subscription service, named ChatGPT Plus, would only be available to customers in the US, although there were plans to expand access and support to more countries soon. The users will be invited from the waitlist, which is still open, over the next few weeks. The chatbot has amassed many fans and critics across a range of industries. Some users have praised the bot's easy-to-use interface, writing style, and ability to process complex subjects, while others have raised the alarm over its tendency to confidently present misinformation as fact.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Elena Duque recommends products she loves to her nearly 130,000 followers on TikTok. She says focusing on one product at a time is the key to a sale. Elena Duque.Courtesy of Elena Duque. Elena Duque is a guest host on the TV channel QVC and has a side hustle as an Amazon influencer. She earns commission by promoting products on TikTok, Instagram, and her blog. Her tips include talking about one Amazon product per post and including a clear call to action. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Elena Duque, a 41-year-old with a side hustle as an Amazon influencer who lives in South Florida. Insider has verified her income with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I have a day job as a guest host on the home-shopping TV channel QVC and spend about 20 hours a week as a content creator — but my main side hustle is as an Amazon influencer.I make at least $1,000 a month in affiliate commissions by sharing my favorite products on Pinterest, TikTok, and my blog. I also share on Instagram, but my engagement and visibility are lower there than on my other platforms.When I applied to be an Amazon influencer in 2019, I had about 20,000 Instagram followers and almost no blog traffic. I was accepted but didn't do anything with the opportunity at first.In 2021, I started a TikTok account, and a few of my videos went viral. I saw results immediately and had more affiliate sales and traffic than before because I kept getting asked in the comments where the items could be purchased. I would respond that they could use my affiliate links in my bio. I now post on TikTok three times a day for my nearly 130,000 followers.Here's my advice to anyone trying to start a lucrative side hustle as an Amazon influencer.Focus on solving a problemPeople don't want to be sold to — they want to solve a problem or feel something. At this point, everyone has something they've purchased from Amazon that they love. Take a video of that product and show how it works or how it's changed your life for the better.People are more inclined to purchase an item that has a clear purpose, so it helps if you're showing how it works, rather than just holding it up. For example, show a hairstyling hack with a curling iron, or if you're trying to sell a sweater, show how to style it for a specific body type.Don't be shy You have to create content to make money. If you aren't comfortable being on camera, find another way to create videos and photos that showcase the product and not you.You don't even have to talk — try using text overlay and voice-overs with a script. I do this on days I'm not feeling myself or don't want to do my makeup, and it works.Capitalize on trendsI mainly post beauty content, but if you look at my Amazon storefront, you'll see an "idea list" with different themes, like favorite fall fashion or backyard decor.Make idea lists for the holidays or trending topics. Even if you don't want to share those products with your social-media following, chances are that if they're looking around your storefront for an item you posted, they'll start to look at what other products you recommend, too.Add links everywhereYou need to put your links in as many places as possible to make them easily accessible.Create an Instagram-story highlight labeled "Amazon" on your Instagram profile, and make sure you post a lot of stories with links to your Amazon store. Then, add those stories to your Amazon highlight, which lives front and center on your page. I have a link in my bio to a landing page on my website with all my affiliate links disclosed.Focus on one item per postI've noticed that my social-media posts that focuses on one item get a lot of attention. You can truly highlight the product and its benefits, which is much easier to digest than a post with multiple products.If you use something all the time — even if you think it's stupid — that's the thing that will sell the most. I posted about a magnesium oil I used before bed for better rest, and people went crazy for it. People also loved when I posted about press-on nails, L'Oréal's hyaluronic-acid eye serum, and RoC's retinol. Being an esthetician helps with my credibility and reviews.Include a call to action This is the most important thing: Tell followers to go to the link to find out more. If you don't tell them where to go, they'll go to Google to find it, and you'll lose the sale.I always include a call to action either in a text overlay, verbally, or in my caption. It's selling but in a casual way. They can click on the link and see more information about the product and then decide whether they want it.Nobody is forcing anyone — I'm almost like a personal shopper and reviewer, and I love that I can help people make informed decisions on products they may have wanted to try but weren't sure about.Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Reality Labs, the business and research unit of Meta that focuses on the metaverse, reported a loss of $4.28 billion in its most recent quarter. Reality Labs, which is Meta's division focused on the metaverse, posted a loss of $4.28 billion this quarter.Meta Reality Labs is the business and research unit of Meta that focuses on the metaverse. It reported a loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the quarter prior. The division lost $13.7 billion in 2022. Reality Labs — the division of Meta that's trying to bring the metaverse to fruition — is shaking out to be a bigger money pit than expected. The company posted its fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, with Reality Labs showing an operating loss of $4.28 billion for the fourth quarter, wider than $3.3 billion in the previous quarter. Still, the number is slightly narrower than analysts' expectations of a loss of around $4.36 billion for the quarter, according to CNBC's reference of StreetAccount. That figure, combined with Meta's strength in its user base and planned cost-cutting, helped the stock jump nearly 19% in after-hours trading.In the past 12 months, Reality Labs has sucked up more than $13.7 billion. In terms of revenue, Reality Labs generated $727 million for the fourth quarter, which was slightly higher than analyst's expectations of $715.1 million, according to CNBC's reference of  StreetAccount. Over the past several months, investors have railed against Meta's decision to continue funneling money into the metaverse. One investor even wrote an open letter to Meta in October titled "Time to Get Fit" where he advised Meta to limit its metaverse spending. Still, the company has been externally defensive of its pursuit of a sweeping new virtual world. In December, the company's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth wrote a blog post titled, "Why we still believe in the future," where he articulated that Meta would continue investing 20% of its spending in Reality Labs. However, in an internal email sent in late December, Bosworth reportedly told the 18,000 members of Reality Labs that the company has solved too many problems simply "by adding headcount." Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for a comment.  Read the original article on Business Insider.....»»

Sam Altman is the CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, the buzzy AI firm he cofounded with Elon Musk. He's also Silicon Valley royalty, and a prepper. Sam Altman is well known in the startup scene in Silicon Valley, and his latest company's product, ChatGPT, is the talk of the AI industry.Courtesy of Sam Altman Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the buzzy AI firm he cofounded with Elon Musk. Before that, he was well known in Silicon Valley as president of startup accelerator Y-Combinator. Here's how the serial entrepreneur got his start — and ended up helming one of today's most-watched companies. Sam Altman, 37, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He learned how to program and take apart a Macintosh computer when he was 8 years old.f11photo/ShutterstockSource: The New Yorker He told The New Yorker that having a Mac helped him with his sexuality. Altman came out to his parents when he was 16.Matt Weinberger/Business Insider"Growing up gay in the Midwest in the two-thousands was not the most awesome thing," he told The New Yorker. "And finding AOL chat rooms was transformative. Secrets are bad when you're eleven or twelve."Source: The New YorkerHe attended John Burroughs School, a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school in St. Louis.Joseph Sohm / ShutterstockAltman came out as gay to the whole community after a Christian group boycotted an assembly at his school that was about sexuality."What Sam did changed the school," his college counselor, Madelyn Gray, told The New Yorker. "It felt like someone had opened up a great big box full of all kinds of kids and let them out into the world."Source: The New YorkerAltman studied computer science at Stanford University for two years before he and two of his classmates dropped out to work full time on their mobile app, Loopt, that shared a user's location with their friends.turtix/ShutterstockSource: The New YorkerLoopt was part of the first group of eight companies at startup accelerator Y Combinator. Each startup got $6,000 per founder, and Loopt was in the same batch as Reddit.Getty ImagesSource: The New Yorker, The Business of BusinessLoopt eventually reached a $175 million valuation, but it didn't garner enough interest, so the founders sold it for $43 million in 2012.Drew Angerer/GettyThe $43 million sale price was close to how much it had raised from investors. The company was acquired by Green Dot, a banking company known for prepaid cards.One of Loopt's cofounders, Nick Sivo, and Altman dated for nine years, but they broke up after they sold the company.It's unclear what Altman's current net worth is.Source: The Wall Street Journal, All Things Digital, Y Combinator, The New YorkerAfter Loopt, Altman founded a venture fund called Hydrazine Capital, and raised $21 million. That included a large part of the $5 million he got from Loopt, and an investment from billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.Peter Thiel holding hundred dollar bills while speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference.Marco Bello/Getty ImagesAltman invested 75% of that money into YC companies, and led Reddit's Series B fundraising round.He told The New Yorker, "you want to invest in messy, somewhat broken companies. You can treat the warts on top, and because of the warts the company will be hugely underpriced."At 31, Altman was chosen by Paul Graham, who founded Y Combinator in 2005, to succeed him as president in 2014.Sam Altman, chief executive officer of Y Combinator, speaks to reporters on the first day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 11, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesWhile he was YC president, Altman taught a lecture series at Stanford called "How to Start a Startup," in the fall of 2014.Lucy Nicholson/ReutersSource: How to Start a StartupIn 2015, Altman was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for venture capital at age 29.Sam Altman.Courtesy of Sam AltmanSource: ForbesAfter he became YC president, he wanted to let more science and engineering startups into each batch, and chose a fission and a fusion startup for YC because he wanted to start a nuclear-energy company of his own. He invested his own money in both companies and served on their boards.Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 8, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Drew Angerer/GettyMark Andreessen, cofounder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said, "Under Sam, the level of YC's ambition has gone up 10x."Source: The New YorkerAltman once told two YC founders that he likes racing cars and had five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla. He also said he likes renting planes and flying them all over California.The McLaren 720S.McLarenSource: The New YorkerAltman told the founders of the startup Shypmate that, "I prep for survival," and warned of either a "lethal synthetic virus," AI attacking humans, or nuclear war.Drew Angerer/Getty"I try not to think about it too much," Altman told the founders in 2016. "But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to."Source: The New YorkerAltman's mom is a dermatologist, and told The New Yorker, "Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He'll call and say he has a headache—and he'll have Googled it, so there's some cyber-chondria in there, too. I have to reassure him that he doesn't have meningitis or lymphoma, that it's just stress."Getty ImagesSource: The New YorkerAltman has a brother, Jack, who is also a cofounder and CEO at Lattice, an employee management platform. Along with their brother Max, the Altmans launched a fund in 2020 called Apollo that is focused on funding "moonshot" companies.Julia and Jack Altman walk near their home in the Mission District of San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, July 7, 2019.San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images/Contributor"Moonshot" companies are startups that are financially risky but could potentially pay off with a breakthrough development.Source: InsiderIn 2015, Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the time. Their goal for the non-profit artificial intelligence company was to make sure AI doesn't wipe out humans.Elon Musk and Sam Altman speak onstage during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on October 6, 2015 in San Francisco, California.Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair"We discussed what is the best thing we can do to ensure the future is good?" Elon Musk told The New York Times in 2015. "We could sit on the sidelines or we can encourage regulatory oversight, or we could participate with the right structure with people who care deeply about developing A.I. in a way that is safe and is beneficial to humanity."Source: Insider, The New York TimesSome of Silicon Valley's most prominent names pledged $1 billion to OpenAI along with Altman and Musk, including Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, and Peter Thiel.LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman is a financial backer of OpenAI.Tony Avelar/APSource: InsiderAfter the 2016 election, Altman, who tweeted that he voted against Donald Trump, said he decided to talk to 100 Trump supporters around the US to understand what they did and didn't like about the president. He also wanted to know "what would convince them not to vote for him in the future."Donald Trump and Hillary ClintonDrew Angerer/Getty ImageIn a thread on Twitter, Altman said he was "voting against Trump because I believe the principles he stands for represent an unacceptable threat to America."He also said Peter Thiel, who was still working with YC at the time, "is a high profile supporter of Trump," and that, "I disagree with this."But, he said, "YC is not going to fire someone for supporting a major party nominee."YC and Thiel stopped working together a year later in 2017 for unspecified reasons.During his interviews, Altman said he "did not expect to talk to so many Muslims, Mexicans, Black people, and women in the course of this project."He said almost everyone he approached was willing to talk to him, but they also didn't want to share their names in fear of being "targeted by those people in Silicon Valley if they knew I voted for him." Altman said one of the people he talked to in Silicon Valley made him sign a confidentiality agreement before talking because she was scared of losing her job for supporting Trump.Source: Twitter, Sam Altman, InsiderAltman stepped down as YC president in March 2019 to focus on OpenAI. He stayed in a chairman role at the accelerator.Sam Altman, CEO of Y Combinator@samaSource: InsiderAt a StrictlyVC event in 2019, Altman was asked how OpenAI planned to make a profit, and he said the "honest answer is we have no idea."OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon MuskGettyAltman said OpenAI had "never made any revenue," and that it had "no current plans to make revenue." "We have no idea how we may one day generate revenue," he said at the time.Source: TechCrunchAltman became CEO of OpenAI in May 2019 after it turned away from being a nonprofit company into a "capped profit" corporation.Skye Gould/Business Insider"We want to increase our ability to raise capital while still serving our mission, and no pre-existing legal structure we know of strikes the right balance," OpenAI said on its blog. "Our solution is to create OpenAI LP as a hybrid of a for-profit and nonprofit — which we are calling a 'capped-profit' company."Source: Insider, FortuneAltman flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where he demonstrated OpenAI's AI models for him, WSJ reported. After that, OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.President of Y Combinator, Sam Altman speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 - Day 1 on May 5, 2014 in New York City.Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunchSource: The Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn, InsiderCurrent and former insiders at OpenAI told Fortune that after Altman took over as CEO, and after the investment from Microsoft, the company started focusing more on developing natural language processing.Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.Steve Jennings/Getty ImagesAltman and OpenAI's chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, said the move to focus on large language models is the best way for the company to reach AGI, or adjusted gross income. Source: FortuneOn October 21, 2021, Altman and his cofounders, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, launched a global cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin, which wanted to give everyone in the world access to crypto by scanning their iris with an orb.Worldcoin founders Alex Blania and Sam AltmanMarc Olivier Le Blanc/WorldcoinThe company was started in 2020, but stopped operating in a few countries in 2022 due to logistics issues. The company recently tweeted that it has reached 1 million people, and has onboarded over 150,000 first-time crypto users.Source: Bloomberg, Insider, TwitterUnder Altman's tenure as CEO, OpenAI has released popular generative AI tools to the public, including DALL-E and ChatGPT.Screenshot of Dall-E webpageOpenAIBoth DALL-E and ChatGPT are known as "generative" AI, meaning the bot creates its own artwork and text based off information it has been fed.After ChatGPT was released on November 30, Altman tweeted that it had reached over 1 million users in five days.Source: Insider, Insider, TwitterChatGPT was made public so OpenAI could use feedback from users to improve the bot. A few days after its launch, Altman tweeted that it "is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness."Getty ImagesAltman tweeted in December that ChatGPT was "great" for "fun creative inspiration," but "not such a good idea" to look up facts.ChatGPT recently began testing a paid version of ChatGPT called "ChatGPT Professional" that is supposed to give better access to the bot. Back in December, Altman tweeted that OpenAI "will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering."Source: Insider, Insider, Twitter, Twitter, TwitterThis month, Microsoft again announced it was making a "multibillion dollar" investment into OpenAI. Although specifics of the investment were not shared, it is believed Microsoft's investment is worth $10 billion.Y Combinator President Sam AltmanDavid Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBefore Microsoft's investment, other venture capitalists wanted to buy shares from OpenAI employees in a tender offer that valued the company at around $29 billion.Source: Insider, FortuneAltman is still interested in nuclear fusion, and gave Helion Energy $375 million last year.Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, walks from lunch during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 06, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images"Helion is more than an investment to me," Altman told TechCrunch. "It's the other thing beside OpenAI that I spend a lot of time on. I'm just super excited about what's going to happen there."He told TechCrunch that he's "happy there's a fusion race," to build a low-cost fusion energy system that can eventually power the Earth.Source: TechCrunch, CNBCOpenAI just launched its pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 a month.Illustration: ChatGPTFuture Publishing/People who pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus get benefits such as using the site even when traffic is high, faster responses from the bot, and first access to new features and ChatGPT improvements.The subscription is only available for people in the US, and OpenAI said it will start inviting people on the waitlist to join in the next few weeks. Source: OpenAIRead the original article on Business Insider.....»»