Author: KnowledgeHippo
The Olympic Games have an ancient history. Now, they will also have a dose of the latest technology.This year, highlights from the Summer Olympics will be brought to you by AI — and more specifically, Al Michaels’ AI-generated storytelling.Executives from NBCUniversal and streaming service Peacock said Wednesday that a customized, daily Olympics reel will be available to streaming subscribers. The reel will feature the voice of Mr. Michaels, the 79-year-old American broadcaster who first covered the Olympics decades ago.Mr. Michaels, however, will not be hiding in a broadcast booth every night to recap the dozens of Olympic events that took…
A patient walks into a hospital room, sits down and starts talking to a doctor. Only in this case, the doctor is a hologram.It may sound like science fiction, but it’s the reality for some patients at Crescent Regional Hospital in Lancaster, Texas.In May, the hospital group began offering patients the ability to see their doctor remotely as a hologram through a partnership with Holoconnects, a digital technology company based in the Netherlands.Each Holobox — the company’s name for the 440-pound, 7-foot-tall device that displays a highly realistic, 3D live video of a person on a screen — costs $42,000,…
Dear Tripped Up,I am a single American mother living in Jordan and working for the United Nations. In September 2019, I adopted my then 5-year-old son from China and promised him that we would return to visit his country every year. But the pandemic broke out. When China finally reopened to tourists in 2023, we got visas and booked a July flight to Beijing via Doha on Qatar Airways, paying a total of about $1,400. My now 9-year-old had worked hard to retain his language and was excited, but nervous. At the time, the Chinese government required passengers to fill…
Construction of some settlements continued under each Israeli government for decades. As of last year, more than 130 settlements had been built with the permission of the Israeli government since 1967.More than 100 unauthorized settlement outposts have been erected since the 1990s, and Israeli authorities are working to legalize many of them retroactively.More than 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank – not counting more than 200,000 in East Jerusalem – along with more than 2.7 million Palestinians. Some of the settlements are home to religious Zionists who believe the area is their biblical right. Many secular and…
On January 19, Angelica Berrie sent an email to Nemat Shafik, the president of Columbia University. Ms. Berrie reported that the Russell Berrie Foundation, named for her late husband, had scheduled three grant payments to Columbia.But after months of campus protests surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, Ms. Berry also issued a warning.As the foundation prepared to transfer nearly $613,000, Ms. Berrie told Dr. Shafik that the future offer would depend in part on “demonstrating that you and leaders across the university are taking appropriate steps to create a tolerant and safe environment for the Jewish members of the Columbia community.”Months passed…
Michael Jackson’s creditor debts and claims at the time of his death in 2009 exceeded $500 million, according to a court filing from the pop superstar’s estate detailing his financial woes toward the end of his life.Jackson owed tour promoter AEG about $40 million, according to the filing, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month and was earlier reported by People magazine. The filing said 65 creditors filed claims against the singer after his death, some of which resulted in lawsuits, and that some of his debt was “accumulating interest at extremely high rates.”A spokesman for…
In January 2020, Robert Williams spent 30 hours in a Detroit jail because facial recognition technology showed him to be a criminal. The match was wrong and Mr. Williams sued.On Friday, as part of a legal settlement over his wrongful arrest, Mr. Williams received a commitment from the Detroit Police Department to do better. The city adopted new rules for police use of facial recognition technology that the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Williams, says should be the new national standard.”Hopefully it will move the needle in the right direction,” Mr Williams said.Mr Williams was the first person…
Since scientists discovered the flu infecting American cows earlier this year, they have wondered how it spreads from one animal to another. An experiment carried out in Kansas and Germany has shed some light on the mystery.Scientists have been unable to find evidence that the virus can spread as a respiratory infection. Juergen Richt, a virologist at the University of Kansas who helped with the research, said the results suggest the virus is primarily contagious through contaminated milking machines.In an interview, Dr. Richt said the results gave hope that the outbreak could be stopped before the virus evolved into a…
Good morning. It’s Friday. Today, and Fridays through the summer, we’ll be focusing on things to do in New York on the weekend.Diana Rodriguez, the executive director of Pride Live, which runs the new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, pointed to an old-fashioned jukebox.“Go ahead, give it a whirl,” he said.I flipped a coin with the Stonewall logo on it and chose a song.The machine whirred, for five seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, as Rodriguez explained that it was the same model that was at the Stonewall Inn the night of the Stonewall Riot 55 years ago — the event…
Rishi Sunak’s bet was significant. Five weeks ago, the British prime minister bet the House on his belief that a summer election could give his Conservative Party a better chance of retaining power than waiting until the autumn.Calling a snap election served as Mr. Sunak’s last throw of the dice. But since then, it turned out that in the days before he stood sullenly in the rain on May 22 and told the country he was going to the polls, several colleagues and subjects were placing bets of the most literal kind.Looking at data from the week before Mr Sunak’s…