All posts tagged: dead

AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models

AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models

Published by skeptic

SimpleClosure added data sales to its services in April. Its Asset Hub platform helps founders sell their code and workspace data—emails, chats, documents. Buyers include foundation AI labs, vendors that construct simulated workspaces for AI training, and mature tech companies building their own models. Asset Hub has handled over 150 deals and expects to return over $10 million to startups by the end of 2026. CEO Dori Yona has seen these transactions, once rare and “somewhat taboo,” become increasingly routine, with 47% of SimpleClosure deals now including code or data sales.  And it’s got company. Industry rival Sunset also has a rapidly growing data resale business. Founder and CEO Brendan Mahony says Sunset values a dying client’s assets by head count, years in operation, volume of data, and how the team used its tools. Particle board, he says, is a good analogy: “This operational exhaust data is like the wood shavings that everyone thought had no value, but it actually has a ton.”  Demand for defunct companies’ data emerged suddenly last year, as AI training …

Trade the iPhone for a Dead Zone

Trade the iPhone for a Dead Zone

Published by Sam Flores

And still, that is just unplugging as tourism, not unlike visiting a spa with a raw-vegan menu and daily yoga classes or attending a writers retreat that brings you breakfast in a basket every morning and someone who cleans your room. Dead-zoning is dabbling in an idealized world as a vacation from your normal hyperstimulated life, but to truly live in such a world is not feasible for most anyone. As when renting a cottage in Provence for a week, you can only pretend. Finding an actual dead zone is surprisingly hard. It takes not just money but also effort to get to tree houses in Central America or mobile camping sites in national parks. And I don’t long to go off into the woods as a way to unplug . I am not 2026’s Henry David Thoreau going to Walden Pond. I don’t want a sojourn; I want this as a lifestyle. I find myself fantasizing about being a nun, but even nuns have podcasts now. There are the few and the brave who …

5 New Novels This Fall That Prove Historical Romance Isn’t Dead

5 New Novels This Fall That Prove Historical Romance Isn’t Dead

Published by Jenni Sidey

There’s definitely a vibe among romance readers that historical romance is in a downturn. Some might even say historical romance is dead. I will admit, it seems like there are fewer and fewer historical romance novels coming out over the last few years. And some of my favorite historical authors are migrating to other subgenres. But I fully reject the notion that historical romance is dead. There are still wonderful historical romance novels coming out every month. Furthermore, I’ve noticed historical fiction becoming more romantic (and more sexy) than it’s ever been before. I would never recommend a story here without a happy ending. But I have rounded up a mix of historical romance novels with a few deeply romantic historical fiction novels for this list. The settings and time periods range from Gilded Age New York to Regency London to Ming Dynasty China. And the spice levels range from closed door to so hot I’m blushing just thinking about them. But all of them were published or will be published in September and October …

Saudi Arabia says 1 dead, 11 injured in latest attack on Riyadh airport | Conflict News

Saudi Arabia says 1 dead, 11 injured in latest attack on Riyadh airport | Conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

Sunday’s strike on King Khalid International airport kills a Pakistani national. Published On 12 Oct 202612 Oct 2026 A projectile has struck Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International airport, killing one person and injuring 11, according to the country’s civil aviation authority. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) identified the deceased in Sunday’s attack as a Pakistani resident and said the injured were transferred to several hospitals for medical care. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The strike on terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights, occurred a day after a Houthi missile hit the airport, killing 12 people and wounding more than 300, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens died on Sunday due to injuries sustained in Saturday’s attack, bringing the death toll to 13. Following Sunday’s attack, GACA said damage assessments and safety inspections of the airport were under way. A witness on board a taxiing aircraft at the airport told the Reuters news agency …

At least 139 dead, 84 missing as migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti | Migration News

At least 139 dead, 84 missing as migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti | Migration News

Published by Sam Flores

Search and rescue operations conducted after vessel carrying more than 300 people capsizes near Guhere. Published On 11 Oct 202611 Oct 2026 At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died and 84 are missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the United Nations migration agency. In a statement on Sunday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted survivors as saying that the incident happened near Guhere off Djibouti’s eastern coast in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb strait from Thursday night to before dawn on Friday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The boat was heading from Djibouti to Yemen with more than 300 people on board. More than 80 people – all Ethiopians – survived the shipwreck while Djiboutian search and rescue operations continued. “Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac said, lamenting the “devastating loss of life”. That number only includes those buried by authorities in Djibouti. Others have …

At least 139 migrants dead, more than 84 missing after boat capsizes off Djibouti

At least 139 migrants dead, more than 84 missing after boat capsizes off Djibouti

Published by Sam Flores

At least 139 migrants were killed after a boat sank off the shores of Djibouti overnight on October 8-9, a UN agency said Sunday. An earlier statement indicated an initial toll of 109 dead including 15 children, with some 116 missing. The updated figure accounts for the discovery of a further 30 bodies, with a total of 84 individuals remaining unspoken for. Survivors said the vessel – which was carrying 350 people from Djibouti to Yemen – capsized north of the Djibouti town of Obock, according to a statement from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), whose teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency aid. “This is a devastating loss of life. Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives,” said Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, in the statement. Read moreDjibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh wins sixth term in office He said IOM teams were on the ground alongside Djiboutian authorities to provide emergency aid. …

Why young people are finding solace in speaking to the dead

Why young people are finding solace in speaking to the dead

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in It’s a dark — dare I say eerie — Wednesday night in west London and the Spiritualist church is full. ABBA’s “I have a dream” plays softly as more of the congregation filter in. After the opening prayers and three minutes of meditation to Enya’s 2000s hit “Only Time” we’re ready. Ready to speak to the dead. One of tonight’s mediums, a fabulously blonde, tanned and bejeweled woman named Bev Mann stands in the pulpit. She’s joined, she says, by a spirit who reminds her of the comedian Max Wall. He liked to wear wigs. “I knew someone of that description,” a man volunteers. But Bev, she asserts, already knew they were for him. “It feels as though you’ve been down and he’s come forward to lift you up,” she says. “Does that make sense to you?” It does. He smiles. “There’s been a lot to deal with.” Spiritualist churches …

Five Shot Dead at Residence in Georgia’s Douglas, Police Says

Five Shot Dead at Residence in Georgia’s Douglas, Police Says

Published by Sam Flores

Oct 10 (Reuters) – ⁠Five ⁠people ⁠were shot dead ​at a ‌residence in Douglas, ‌Georgia, ⁠on ⁠October 9, the city’s police ​department said on ​Saturday. Officers with the Douglas ⁠Police ⁠Department responded late ⁠on Friday to ​a report of ​shots ⁠fired and found five ⁠people with gunshot wounds who were all ⁠pronounced dead, according to a police statement. The investigation remains ongoing, the department ⁠added. (Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; ​Editing by ​Ros Russell) Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters. The Month in Photos: Sept. 2026 Source link

Royal Mail admits using AI voiceover after daughter of BBC star ‘hears dead father’s voice’ in Christmas advert

Royal Mail admits using AI voiceover after daughter of BBC star ‘hears dead father’s voice’ in Christmas advert

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in The daughter of late TV narrator Paul Vaughan has accused the Royal Mail of using an AI replica of her father’s voice in its Christmas advert last year. Vaughan, who died in 2014 aged 89, is a familiar voice to millions of viewers and listeners in the UK thanks to his work narrating shows such as Horizon and Radio 4’s Kaleidoscope. He also famously provided the narration for the Paddington audiobooks, which he recorded for publisher HarperCollins. The stories were released on cassette tape and CD during the Nineties and 2000s, and modern streaming and digital editions are still popular today. However, it came as a shock to his daughter, Lucy, when she thought she heard her father narrating a Royal Mail advert in November 2025 – 11 years after his death. Her husband, Darren, also believed the voiceover sounded like Vaughan. Knowing he had never worked with Royal Mail, …