Month: May 2024

Fine dining, at a new high. A Michelin-starred chef will take his cuisine to our upper atmosphere

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

Rasmus Munk, co-owner and chef of Alchemist restaurant, poses inside Alchemist’s kitchen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Monday May 6, 2024. The Danish Michelin-starred chef has teamed up with the Florida-based startup Space Perspective to take fine-dining to our upper atmosphere in late 2025. Six guests are set to ascend to the stratosphere, where they will enjoy an immersive dining experience served up by chef Rasmus Munk. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press

COPENHAGEN (AP) — Ever since humans have journeyed to space, their meals there have proved to be, well, nothing to write home about.

But that could change after a Michelin-starred chef teamed up with the Florida-based startup Space Perspective to take fine-dining to our upper atmosphere in late 2025.

Six guests are set to ascend aboard Spaceship Neptune to the stratosphere, where they will enjoy an immersive dining experience served up by Danish Michelin-starred chef Rasmus Munk.

Munk, 33, will travel with the guests and serve the meal himself, from a small kitchen. He says his menu will be inspired by the impact of space innovation.

“We want to tell stories through the food,” Munk says. “We … want to talk and highlight some of the research that’s been done through the last 60 years.” Continue reading

Illness took away her voice. AI created a replica she carries in her phone

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Alexis Bogan, whose speech was impaired by a brain tumor, uses an AI powered smartphone app to create a audible drink order at a Starbucks drive-thru on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Lincoln, R.I. The app converts her typed entries into a verbal message created using her original voice. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The voice Alexis “Lexi” Bogan had before last summer was exuberant.

She loved to belt out Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan ballads in the car. She laughed all the time — even while corralling misbehaving preschoolers or debating politics with friends over a backyard fire pit. In high school, she was a soprano in the chorus.

Then that voice was gone.

Doctors in August removed a life-threatening tumor lodged near the back of her brain. When the breathing tube came out a month later, Bogan had trouble swallowing and strained to say “hi” to her parents. Months of rehabilitation aided her recovery, but her speech is still impaired. Friends, strangers and her own family members struggle to understand what she is trying to tell them.

In April, the 21-year-old got her old voice back. Not the real one, but a voice clone generated by artificial intelligence that she can summon from a phone app. Trained on a 15-second time capsule of her teenage voice — sourced from a cooking demonstration video she recorded for a high school project — her synthetic but remarkably real-sounding AI voice can now say almost anything she wants. Continue reading

FTX will return money to most customers less than 2 years after catastrophic crypto collapse

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – The FTX logo appears on home plate umpire Jansen Visconti’s jacket at a baseball game with the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 27, 2022, in Minneapolis. Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, and some will get more than that, according to its reorganization plan. FTX said in a court filing Tuesday, May 7, 2024 that it owes about $11.2 billion to its creditors. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn, File)

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.

FTX said in a court filing late Tuesday that it owes about $11.2 billion to its creditors. The exchange estimates that it has between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion to distribute to them.

The filing said that after paying claims in full, the plan provides for supplemental interest payments to creditors, to the extent that funds still remain. The interest rate for most creditors is 9%. Continue reading

French cyberwarriors ready to test their defense against hackers and malware during the Olympics

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Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

Cyber-security experts work at the Yves du Manoir stadium, Friday, May 3, 2024 in Colombes, outside Paris. Cyber-security teams working to protect the Paris Games from hackers and other attackers aren’t willing to divulge too much detail about their work. But they no doubt that cyber-criminals are going to keep them busy. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Just like the Olympic athletes, the cyberwarriors that will be crucial for the success of the Paris Games are deep into training for the big event.

They have turned to friendly hackers to probe their cyberdefenses, like boxers who use sparring partners to ready them for a championship fight. They have studied and analyzed the strengths, tactics and weaknesses of their opponents. Those could be anyone from teenage showoffs and ransomware gangs to Russian military hackers with a track record of malicious cyberattacks.

But unlike the 10,500 Olympians who will converge on France’s capital in July, the cybersecurity engineers behind the Games are hoping to stay out of the spotlight. For them, the equivalent of a medal will be getting through the Olympics – and Paralympics – without a major incident. It would mean that their layers of digital defenses stand up to attempts to paralyze computer and information systems vital for the Games.

“My dream for the Olympics is that technology and cybersecurity aren’t talked about, because that will mean it was a non-issue,” said Jérémy Couture, who heads the Paris Games organizers’ cybersecurity hub. Its job of spotting, analyzing and responding to cyberthreats is so sensitive and critical to the Games’ success that event organizers keep its location secret. Continue reading

Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, an FBI report says

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – An FBI seal is seen on a wall on Aug. 10, 2022, in Omaha, Neb. The FBI says scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year. An FBI report released Tuesday shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.

Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.

“It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.” Continue reading