All posts tagged: prompts

Philippines earthquake kills 15, prompts tsunami fears: All to know | Earthquakes News

Philippines earthquake kills 15, prompts tsunami fears: All to know | Earthquakes News

Published by Sam Flores

A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines off the island of Mindanao, prompting tsunami risks in several countries.  At least 15 people were feared dead as a result of the tremors. Here is all we know about the earthquake and its immediate aftermath: Where in the Philippines did the earthquake hit? The quake hit early in the morning, shortly before 7:40am local time on Monday (23:40 GMT Sunday), according to the United States Geological Survey. The epicentre was offshore, 32km (20 miles) west of Maasim in Sarangani province on the southern tip of the Philippines’ Mindanao island. The earthquake occurred at an estimated depth of 33km (21 miles). Schools were reopening in the Philippines after a long break, and the tremors were felt strongly in a dozen provinces as far from the epicentre as 420km (261 miles) in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. By late morning local time, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology had reported 138 aftershocks, the highest at a magnitude 6.7. What do we …

Ditch the niceties in AI prompts to save energy use, say researchers

Ditch the niceties in AI prompts to save energy use, say researchers

Published by skeptic

ChatGPT now processes around 2.5 billion queries every day Alina Vytiuk / Alamy Stock Photo UN researchers are urging people to be less polite to artificial intelligences after a report found that cutting words from prompts could reduce ChatGPT’s energy consumption by up to 25 per cent. Removing “please”, “thank you” and other unnecessary words from AI prompts could save 87 to 98 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, the report from the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) found. That is the equivalent of the annual residential electricity use of up to 760,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa. To reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint, people should write concise prompts, avoid getting sucked into conversation loops and refrain from starting relationships with AI, the researchers said. “We are not saying be rude to your AI. But don’t fall into the interaction trap and don’t go falling in love with it either,” says Kaveh Madani at UNU-INWEH. The large language models behind AI chatbots process text in small units known as tokens. Madani …

5 NotebookLM prompts that turn dense topics into simple explanations

5 NotebookLM prompts that turn dense topics into simple explanations

Published by skeptic

I’ve been trying to understand time dilation after watching Interstellar and Project Hail Mary. Both make it central to the plot, and both left me more confused than before. So I turned to NotebookLM, uploaded a handful of sources, and started asking it questions. The raw summaries it gave me weren’t enough. What worked were specific NotebookLM prompts designed to reframe hard content for a beginner, use analogies to make ideas stick, and test whether I’d actually understood what I’d just read. The fun exercise gave me a daisy chain of prompts I now use for every learning challenge. Start with configuring NotebookLM as a Learning Guide. Throw in the right NotebookLM Studio tool, and you can design your own master key for dense topics. This prompt builds a beginner’s map Start here before you read anything else Saikat Basu/MakeUseOf Most tools summarize. This prompt gives you a structure. It breaks a complex topic into four distinct layers: a one-sentence tl;dr, a jargon-free core explanation, a real-world analogy, and a plain-English vocabulary list. That last …

New Virginia Law Banning `Assault Firearms’ Prompts Quick Lawsuits From Gun-Rights Groups

New Virginia Law Banning `Assault Firearms’ Prompts Quick Lawsuits From Gun-Rights Groups

Published by Sam Flores

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has signed legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain semi-automatic firearms, prompting immediate lawsuits from gun-rights groups. The limits on “ assault firearms,” as they are described by the legislation, are among two dozen new restrictions and regulations on guns enacted by the Democratic governor in her first few months in office. That marks a sharp policy reversal from her Republican predecessor, who had vetoed many similar measures. “Firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong on our streets,” Spanberger said in a statement Friday. “We are taking this step to protect families and support the law enforcement officers who work every day to keep our communities safe.” The new gun restrictions move Virginia closer to the likes of California, Illinois and New York, which similarly have full Democratic control of their legislatures and governors’ offices. They also highlight a continued national divide on gun policy, as various Republican-led states have taken steps to relax firearm restrictions that they describe as an infringement on Second Amendment rights. A dozen …

Moldovan Parliament Restricts Use of Russian, Prompts Opposition Walkout

Moldovan Parliament Restricts Use of Russian, Prompts Opposition Walkout

Published by Sam Flores

CHISINAU, May 7 (Reuters) – The parliament ⁠in ⁠ex-Soviet Moldova, controlled by ⁠pro-European President Maia Sandu’s party, curbed the use of the ​Russian language in the chamber on Thursday, prompting a walkout by pro-Russian and right-wing ‌opposition parties. New procedural rules placed ‌time limits on addresses and proclaimed Romanian to be the working ⁠language in ⁠the chamber. Russian had previously been classified as an “inter-ethnic” language and ​documents were routinely translated. Communist member Constantin Staris said the new regulations undermined parliament’s legitimacy. “Under this logic, the next step would be for the Party of Action and Solidarity ​to cancel elections,” he said, referring to Moldova’s pro-European PAS ruling party. Alexandru ⁠Versinin ⁠of the right-wing Democracy ⁠at Home ​party said the restrictions degraded democracy. “Today, they are shutting our mouths. Tomorrow they ​will decide which journalists ⁠can or cannot ask questions,” he said. Parliament’s chairman, Igor Grosu, ruled Versinin out of order for “rudeness” and opposition members walked out. For more than 150 years Moldova has been buffeted by European political upheaval and was, in turn, …

How Midjourney 8.1 Raw Interprets One-Word Prompts

How Midjourney 8.1 Raw Interprets One-Word Prompts

Published by skeptic

Midjourney 8.1 introduces “raw mode,” a feature designed to reduce the AI’s default artistic stylization, resulting in more literal interpretations of user prompts. Thaeyne tested this setting using one-word prompts, keeping the seed fixed at 777 to ensure consistent outputs. The experiment included terms ranging from abstract concepts like “Accretion” to detailed visuals such as “Damask,” offering a clear view of how the model transitions between photorealism and abstract representation. Explore how raw mode shifts the balance between realism and stylization, with specific examples like “Petrichor” and “Chiaroscuro” showcasing its range. Learn how this setting compares to default modes in terms of user control and output variability. This overview also examines practical considerations for creative applications and potential limitations when working with raw mode in AI-generated imagery. Understanding Raw Mode TL;DR Key Takeaways : Midjourney 8.1 introduces “raw mode,” a feature that minimizes artistic enhancements, offering users more literal and precise interpretations of prompts. Raw mode emphasizes photorealism and avoids over-stylization, making it ideal for users seeking greater control over AI-generated imagery. Testing with one-word …

Writer launches AI agents that can act without prompts, taking on Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce

Writer launches AI agents that can act without prompts, taking on Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce

Published by skeptic

Writer, the enterprise AI agent platform backed by Salesforce Ventures, Adobe Ventures, and Insight Partners, today launched event-based triggers for its Writer Agent platform, enabling AI agents to autonomously detect business signals across Gmail, Gong, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, and Slack — and execute complex multi-step workflows without any human initiating the process. The release, which also includes a new Adobe Experience Manager connector and a suite of enhanced governance controls such as bring-your-own encryption keys and a Datadog observability plugin, represents Writer’s most aggressive bet yet on fully autonomous enterprise AI. It arrives at a moment when AWS, Salesforce, and Microsoft are all racing to establish their own agentic platforms, and when the question of how much autonomy enterprises will actually hand to AI agents remains deeply unresolved. “We are launching a series of event triggers that power and drive our playbooks to be more proactively called,” Doris Jwo, Writer’s VP of Product Management, told VentureBeat ahead of the announcement. “We’re building on the ecosystem to actually for these connectors, such as …

UK spring sunshine prompts warnings over unsafe fake designer sunglasses | Health

UK spring sunshine prompts warnings over unsafe fake designer sunglasses | Health

Published by Jenni Sidey

While many will be enjoying the spring sunshine, experts have cautioned against wearing fake designer sunglasses, warning they could do more harm than good. As the College of Optometrists notes, sunglasses not only protect the eyes against glare on sunny days, but can also shield them from harmful ultraviolet (UV) light. That’s important because UV rays have been linked to a number of eye conditions. In the short term, for example, they can cause a temporary but painful condition called photokeratitis – essentially a “sunburn” on the cornea, which sits at the front of the eye. In the longer term, UV exposure is associated with the development of early-onset cataracts, non-cancerous growths on the cornea known as pterygia, some types of eyelid cancer, and potentially even age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to sight loss. However, experts have warned wearing fake designer sunglasses could be worse for your eyes than going without as they often lack crucial UV filters. Alex Day, a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields eye hospital, said: “When you buy fake sunglasses, you …

Eric Swalwell resignation over sex misconduct prompts Ethics panel remarks

Eric Swalwell resignation over sex misconduct prompts Ethics panel remarks

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. House impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) delivers part of the impeachment managers’ opening argument in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on charges of inciting the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, on the floor of the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 10, 2021. U.S. Senate TV via Reuters The House Ethics Committee on Monday issued a rare, lengthy statement outlining its work to root out sexual misconduct in Congress, as lawmakers feel increased pressure to crack down on lawmakers’ misdeeds in the wake of two high-profile resignations. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both resigned from the House last week amid allegations ranging from sexual misconduct to assault, and some lawmakers are calling for a broader crackdown on elected official misdeeds. “The Committee on Ethics (Committee) is dedicated to maintaining a congressional workplace free from sexual misconduct and ensuring that any individuals responsible for misconduct are held responsible for their behavior,” the committee wrote in its statement. “There should be zero tolerance for …