All posts tagged: Asset

Secret Service ending explained | Who was the Russian asset?

Secret Service ending explained | Who was the Russian asset?

Published by Daniella Wilson

*Warning – contains full spoilers for all five episodes of Secret Service.* All five episodes of new spy thriller Secret Service are now available to watch on ITVX, and they see Gemma Arterton’s MI6 agent, Kate, investigating evidence which points towards a top-flight British politician being a Russian asset. This all comes as a leadership election is underway within the Labour Party to replace the Prime Minister, with Amaka Okafor’s Imogen Conrad and Mark Stanley’s Ryan Walker being the two most likely candidates. But, for those who have already got to the end of all five episodes, did one of them turn out to be a Russian asset? And just where did we leave Kate, her husband Stuart (played by Rafe Spall), and the rest of the characters come the end of the season? Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Secret Service on ITV. Who won the leadership election? Mark Stanley as Ryan in Secret Service. ITV/Potboiler Productions Ltd In the end, it was Ryan Walker who won the Labour …

Tesla Cybertruck becomes first AC vehicle-to-grid asset in California through PG&E

Tesla Cybertruck becomes first AC vehicle-to-grid asset in California through PG&E

Published by skeptic

Tesla Cybertruck Powershare Installation PG&E and Tesla have announced that the Cybertruck is now approved to sell power back to California’s grid through the utility’s residential Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) pilot program. The approval comes with up to $4,500 in incentives toward equipment and installation costs. What makes this notable: it’s the first time California has approved an AC-based vehicle-to-grid system for residential use — a technically simpler and cheaper approach than the DC-based setups that Ford and GM rely on in the same pilot. How it differs from Ford and GM’s V2G setups PG&E’s V2X pilot has been running for a while now. The utility kicked off the program with Ford’s F-150 Lightning paired with a Sunrun Home Integration System, and later added GM’s Ultium-based vehicles — the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Equinox EV, Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, and GMC Sierra EV. All of those systems rely on DC bidirectional chargers, which require specialized hardware that can costs between $6,000 and $10,000. Tesla’s Cybertruck takes a different approach. The Powershare system uses AC power natively, which means …

When the pay gap is wide, women see professional beauty as a strategic asset

When the pay gap is wide, women see professional beauty as a strategic asset

Published by José Betancourt

New research indicates that many women view physical attractiveness as a practical tool for getting ahead in life, especially in the workplace. When faced with a large gap in pay between men and women, those who reject traditional gender roles often see beauty as a strategic asset for career advancement. These results were recently published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Societies often place a heavy emphasis on physical appearance. This focus can lead to self-objectification, a process where individuals view themselves primarily as objects to be evaluated based on how they look. Previous studies have linked this phenomenon to negative outcomes for women, including reduced motivation and poorer mental health. In recent years, researchers have also started looking at the potential social advantages of investing in one’s appearance. Economics and sociology researchers often refer to a beauty premium. This concept suggests that attractive individuals tend to receive higher wages, better job evaluations, and more social opportunities. Lead author Lijuan Xiao, a researcher at Xi’an Jiaotong University and Beijing Normal University, along with colleagues, …

Why Hating the Gym Might Be Your Greatest Asset

Why Hating the Gym Might Be Your Greatest Asset

Published by Jenni Sidey

We’d like to start by making two assumptions about you, our friendly reader. One: You know that exercise is good for you. Two: You’d often rather eat a bug than go to the gym. We understand. We have both learned to bring exercise into our routine, but it hasn’t been easy. As introverts, we tend to avoid team activities. We also don’t love doing things that are painful and difficult, especially when other people can see us. But we do it anyway. Why? Beyond not wanting to have to buy new pants, we honestly aren’t always sure. We know the benefits, especially for middle-aged professionals who had their kids later in life. Staying active now means that we can continue to be active as we age. Our older selves will be stronger, more flexible, and recover more quickly from physical injury. And did you know that exercise also speeds future recovery from anxiety and phobias? It’s true! We have also learned that exercise keeps our brains sharp; while problem-solving speed typically peaks in a person’s …

The usability imperative for securing digital asset devices

The usability imperative for securing digital asset devices

Published by skeptic

“As you develop these things, you’re a victim of your own development speed,” says Fadell, who developed Ledger Stax, a signing device for securing digital assets, and is now a board member at digital asset security firm Ledger. “If you introduced these features and functions without the proper review, and now customers are demanding security, you’ll realize that you should have designed it differently from the start, and it’s very hard to undo what you’ve already done.” A critical aspect of designing secure technology, however, must be ease of use too. Without it, it is all too simple for users to make a mistake or use an unsafe workaround that undermines device protections. Think a post-it stuck to a monitor or some variation of “123456” or “admin” for passwords. With digital asset security devices like signers—more commonly called “wallets”—such errors could lead to seriously detrimental outcomes. If, for example, a user’s private key falls into the wrong hands, bad actors can use it to steal their digital assets. Estimates suggest that around 20% of all …

We’ve Got a Scarce Asset

We’ve Got a Scarce Asset

Published by Daniella Wilson

Lionsgate Studios COO Jimmy Barge says his company has become an attractive pure-play studio asset after its breakup with Starz. “We see what’s happening in the world of consolidation. Everybody wants studios, we’ve got a scarce asset here already completely separated,” Barge told the Morgan Stanley Investors Conference after Paramount Skydance prevailed over Netflix in a winning bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. “I think we’re just extremely well positioned, with our business hitting on all cylinders at the same time – we’re a pure play studio which has got great scarcity value, great on that industry consolidation point,” he reiterated about the John Wick studio having separated from the Outlander premium network to create two standalone companies. Barge said the formal separation of Lionsgate and Starz “took a while,” before being completed nearly a year ago with an eye to unlocking value for investors by allowing them to evaluate each business separately. Job done, he added on Wednesday, as Lionsgate gets credit for its 20,000-plus-title library just as industry consolidation pushes up price tags for …

An FBI ‘Asset’ Helped Run a Dark Web Site That Sold Fentanyl-Laced Drugs for Years

An FBI ‘Asset’ Helped Run a Dark Web Site That Sold Fentanyl-Laced Drugs for Years

Published by skeptic

“Lin cannot seriously dispute that the decision to allow opioid sales on Incognito was his own,” the prosecution’s filing reads. “And, Lin made that decision knowing full well that encouraging opioids is tantamount to welcoming fentanyl poisonings.” Yet portions of the defense’s memos related to Lin’s sentencing point to several specific instances when the FBI informant, while actively controlled by his law enforcement handlers, allegedly made decisions that allowed sales of fentanyl-tainted products—in several cases approving dealers to continue their sales even after clear warnings that their drugs contained fentanyl, Lin’s defense memo says. In November of 2023, for instance, one Incognito user lodged a complaint that one of the site’s dealers had sold pills containing fentanyl that sent his mother to the hospital. “Someone almost died,” the message read. “Medical bills and the police. Not OK.” Yet according to the defense’s memo, the informant merely refunded the transaction and took no action to remove the dealer from the market. Another Incognito user soon after complained that the same vendor had sold pills that “ALMOST …

Asset Manager Warns That OpenAI Is Likely Headed for Financial Disaster

Asset Manager Warns That OpenAI Is Likely Headed for Financial Disaster

Published by José Betancourt

Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images Just over three years ago, OpenAI opened the floodgates with the launch of ChatGPT. The frantic industry-wide race that followed has resulted in soaring valuations for AI companies, tens of billions of dollars invested in data center infrastructure — and plenty of skepticism as well. For one, experts have pointed out that OpenAI’s business fundamentals are inherently different from those of its competitors like Google. These legacy businesses can tap existing revenue sources to bankroll their major AI capital expenditures. The Sam Altman-led OpenAI, however, has raised record amounts of cash and has vowed to spend well over $1 trillion before the end of the decade without the advantage of an existing business that generates ongoing revenue. (The company’s recent announcement that it’s stuffing ads into ChatGPT is likely a bid to shift that reality.) The gap between the AI industry’s promises of a human-level AI-driven future and reality, in other words, has never been wider much like the enormous gulf between AI company valuations and their lagging revenues. To many …