Mission Everywhere

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat : Apple debuts OpenELM, a family of language models with 270M, 450M, 1.1B, and 3B parameters, designed to run on-device, pre-trained and fine-tuned on public data   —  Just as Google, Samsung and Microsoft continue to push their efforts with generative AI on PCs and mobile devices … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Ll3Ow47

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced job cuts on the evening of Sunday, April 14 . Spencer Platt/Getty Images and Taylor Hill/Getty Images Tesla employees say they've been left in limbo after a week of layoffs. Elon Musk announced a more than 10% cut in staff numbers at Tesla last week. After mass jobcuts on Monday, some layoff notices continued to trickle in. In the wake of Tesla's mass layoffs last week , some workers who are still at the carmaker say they feel as if they've been left in limbo. "I keep waiting for Elon to send another email and tell us they're finally done firing people," one current Tesla worker, who requested anonymity to speak on the conditions of their employment, said. "We need some level of closure or a sign that we can stop worrying about losing our jobs." Tesla workers have been put through the wringer ever since layoffs started on Sunday, April 14. Even before the cuts started, some staff said they were nervous about ...

Chris Morris / Fortune : Taylor Swift's new album smashed streaming records; Spotify says it had 300M+ streams on launch day and became 2024's most-streamed album within just 12 hours   —  Never bet against Swifties.  —  Taylor Swift's loyal fan base not only sent the singer's latest album, The Tortured Poets Department … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/sD5JcSu

Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a glass during a ceremony of receiving diplomatic credentials from foreign ambassadors at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin Russia's economy could begin to see major challenges in the next year-and-a-half, think tank researchers write.  Putin is facing a policy "trilemma" as the nation wades through the third year of war in Ukraine.  "Russia's economy is now stable both in spite of and as a result of Western sanctions." Russia's economic strength could last another year-and-a-half before it starts to fade, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Washington DC-based think tank pointed to the nation's show of defiance amid its invasion of Ukraine, with the Russian economy still strong despite rising military costs and Western trade restrictions . The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the country will grow faster than all other developed ec...

Amanda Taylor, a pro-choice politician in Missouri thought she was being targeted by anti-abortion extremists. Courtesy of Amanda Taylor A pro-choice politician in Missouri thought anti-abortion extremists were targeting her. She was mailed an eerie anonymous drawing that she believed was "related to abortion." It turned out it was marketing for "The First Omen" a film about the birth of the antichrist. Amanda Taylor gets a lot of mail. The Missouri-based mom has spent the last few years establishing herself as a film blogger and recently turned her hand to politics, meaning her mailbox is full of promotional materials from film studios and leaflets concerning local issues. But when Taylor, who is running for the state's House of Representatives as a Democratic Party candidate picked up her mail in late March and opened an envelope to find nothing but what appeared to be a children's drawing, her mind went into overdrive. Why? Well, the crudely...

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge : A look at Home Assistant, an open-source smart home platform with an estimated 1M users, as its creators announce a foundation to help it reach the mainstream   —  How Home Assistant plans to transition from an enthusiast platform to a mainstream consumer product. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ZkoWMpL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Global Images Ukraine/Getty Ukraine's Zelenskyy said Americans are not 'funding war' but 'protecting democracy' with their aid. Zelenskyy said Ukrainians are fighting so that the US and others don't have to. Once passed by the Senate and signed by Biden, ammo and weapons could reach Ukraine in days. Americans may be fatigued by the war in Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reminded them on Sunday that at least they don't have to fight in it. The Ukrainian president's comments came Sunday morning on "Meet the Press" on NBC News, just one day after the House of Representatives approved a long-awaited aid package for Ukraine. Zelenskyy spoke with NBC's Kristen Welker. He said the United States is "protecting democracy" in Europe. "The Americans are not funding the war in Ukraine. They are foremost protecting freedom and democracy all over Europe. And Ukrai...