IIB Network

Apple Says Destructive iPad Ad ‘Missed the Mark’

10May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Technology

Apple Says Destructive iPad Ad ‘Missed the Mark’

Apple doesn’t make mistakes often and seldom apologizes, but on Thursday, its head of advertising said the company had erred in making a new iPad commercial that showed an industrial compressor flattening tools for art, music and creativity.“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” said Tor Myhren, the company’s vice president of marketing communications, in a statement provided to the publication AdAge. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”Mr. Myhren said Apple would no longer run the ad on TV.The company had faced a barrage of criticism from designers, actors an...

Why Higher Fed Rates Are Not Totally Off the Table

10May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Business

Why Higher Fed Rates Are Not Totally Off the Table

Investors do not expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again, and officials have made it clear that they see further increases as unlikely. But one important takeaway from recent Fed commentary is that unlikely and inconceivable are not the same thing.After the central bank held rates steady at 5.3 percent last week, the Fed’s chair, Jerome H. Powell, delivered a news conference where what he didn’t say mattered.Asked whether officials might raise interest rates again, he said he thought they probably would not — but he also avoided fully ruling out the possibility. And when asked, twice, whether he thought rates were high enough to bring inflation fully under control, he twice tiptoed around the question.“We believe it is restrictive, and we believe over time it will be suffi...

Israel-Hamas War Updates: Cease-Fire Talks Stall as Anger Flares Over Rafah

9May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

World

Israel-Hamas War Updates: Cease-Fire Talks Stall as Anger Flares Over Rafah

President Biden’s warning over halting weapons supplies has tightened the bind that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel faces, as he is increasingly caught between international calls for a cease-fire and right-wing Israeli demands to proceed with a wide-scale invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza.Mr. Netanyahu, who has insisted over American objections that invading Rafah is necessary, now finds the U.S.-Israel relationship at a moment of crisis that could affect how he conducts the next phase of the war against Hamas.On Thursday, the Israeli leader, alluding to Mr. Biden’s remarks, said in a statement: “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails and with that same strengt...

How Poor Tracking of Bird Flu Leaves Dairy Workers at Risk

9May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Health

How Poor Tracking of Bird Flu Leaves Dairy Workers at Risk

Even as it has become increasingly clear that the bird flu outbreak on the nation’s dairy farms began months earlier — and is probably much more widespread — than previously thought, federal authorities have emphasized that the virus poses little risk to humans.Yet there is a group of people who are at high risk for infection: the estimated 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing to see how many may be infected. None have been vaccinated against bird flu.That leaves the workers and their families vulnerable to a poorly tracked pathogen. And it poses broader public health risks. If the virus were to find its way into the wider population, experts say, dairy workers would be a likely route.“We have no idea if this virus is going to evolve to become...

Lionel Messi’s first Barcelona contract, signed on napkin, on sale at auction

9May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Sports

Lionel Messi’s first Barcelona contract, signed on napkin, on sale at auction

The napkin upon which Lionel Messi’s first Barcelona agreement was informally written has gone on sale at auction.Bonhams — a privately owned, London-based international auction house — are running the auction until May 17, with a starting price of £220,000 ($274.55k), on behalf of Argentine player agent Horacio Gaggioli.The agreement was reached on December 14, 2000, with Barcelona director Carles Rexach desperate for the club to sign Messi, then aged 13.Messi had impressed during his two-week trial with Barcelona in September 2000, but the club was initially reluctant to sign such a young, non-European player.Rexach became concerned that the Catalan club would miss out on the signing of Messi, who had returned to his home city of Rosario in Argentina.Gaggioli told The Athletic last year ...

Biden to Announce A.I. Center in Wisconsin as Part of Economic Agenda

8May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Technology

Biden to Announce A.I. Center in Wisconsin as Part of Economic Agenda

President Biden will travel to Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce the creation of an artificial intelligence data center, highlighting one of his administration’s biggest economic accomplishments in a crucial battleground state — and pointing up a significant failure by his immediate predecessor and 2024 challenger.At a technical college in Racine, Mr. Biden will announce that Microsoft will invest $3.3 billion to build the center, which the tech giant estimates will create 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs, according to the White House. The project is part of Mr. Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda, which has focused on bringing billions of private-sector dollars into manufacturing and industries such as clean energy and artificial intelligence.In his fourth trip to...

Hong Kong Court Bans “Glory to Hong Kong,” a Pro-Democracy Song

8May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Business

Hong Kong Court Bans “Glory to Hong Kong,” a Pro-Democracy Song

A Hong Kong court on Wednesday granted a government request to ban a popular pro-democracy anthem, raising further concerns about free speech in the city.The decision, which overturned an initial ruling, could give the government power to force Google and other tech companies to restrict online access to the song in Hong Kong. The decision threatens to deepen anxiety about the city’s status as an international gateway to China, away from its censorship controls.At issue in the case is “Glory to Hong Kong,” which emerged in 2019 as an unofficial anthem for democracy protests and a flashpoint for the authorities, who considered it an insult to China’s national anthem. The song has been banned from Hong Kong schools and has drawn angry official rebukes when played, apparently by mistake, at i...

Canada Re-Criminalizes Public Drug Use in British Columbia

8May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

World

Canada Re-Criminalizes Public Drug Use in British Columbia

The government of Canada on Tuesday walked back part of a program allowing people in British Columbia to possess small amounts of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, without fear of criminal charges. At the request of the province and after a public backlash, people in British Columbia are no longer permitted to use drugs in public places.Under the changes, which went into effect immediately, adults will still be allowed to possess small amounts of drugs. But they will now have to use them in legal residences, at safe injection sites and at other harm-reduction centers established by the health authorities.The re-criminalization of public drug use in British Columbia underscores the difficulties that governments face as they grapple with the opioid crisis. Even in a province that has been...

Kris Hallenga, Who Urged Early Breast Cancer Screenings, Dies at 38

8May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Health

Kris Hallenga, Who Urged Early Breast Cancer Screenings, Dies at 38

When Kris Hallenga was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer — the most advanced form — at 23, questions swirled through her head: “Why didn’t anyone tell me to check my boobs? Why didn’t I know I could get breast cancer at 23?”If she hadn’t known that she could have breast cancer so young, there was a very good chance that others were equally uninformed, she said in a 2021 interview with The Guardian. She spent the next 15 years educating young people about early detection through her nonprofit organization, CoppaFeel, and in a 2021 memoir, “Glittering a Turd.”On Monday, CoppaFeel announced that Ms. Hallenga had died at 38. A spokesman for the organization said she had died at home in Cornwall, England, and that the cause was breast cancer.“Survival was never enough,” she said during a pub...

Tom Brady ripped by Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart, former Patriots teammates during roast

8May

By Anderson W. WhiteNo Comments

Sports

Tom Brady ripped by Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart, former Patriots teammates during roast

They certainly didn’t pull any punches.In a live show on Netflix that lasted over three hours, a roast of Tom Brady didn’t spare any jokes at the expense of the seven-time Super Bowl winner. Everything from his divorce from Gisele Bündchen, Spygate, Deflategate and Brady’s relationship with Alex Guerrero were on the table.“Before I got to the New England Patriots, we heard about Spygate. Then after I left, we heard about Deflategate,” Randy Moss said. “So I only got one question for you, Tom: ’Why the f— didn’t we cheat when I was there?! I wanted to cheat, too. My kids always ask me, ‘Daddy, why does everyone have a ring but you?’ You know how hard it is to look your kids in the eyes and say, ‘They just don’t trust me enough to cheat’?”A wide array of former teammates and comedians spent ...