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Google announced Tuesday it’s allowing more people to interact with “ Bard,” the artificially intelligent chatbot the company is building to counter Microsoft’s early lead in a pivotal battleground of technology. In Bard’s next stage, Google is opening a waitlist to use an AI tool that’s similar to the ChatGPT technology Microsoft began deploying in its Bing search engine to much fanfare last month. And last week, Microsoft embedded more AI-powered technology in its word processing, spreadsheet and slide presentation programs with a new feature called Copilot. Until now, Bard had only been available to a small group of “trusted testers” hand-picked by Google. The Mountain View, California, company, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., isn’t saying how many people will be given access to Bard in the next step of the…

Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its suite of office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails. The company said the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word and animate slides in PowerPoint. Microsoft 365 General Manager Colette Stallbaumer said the new features are currently only available for 20 enterprise customers. It will roll it out for more enterprise customers over the coming months. Microsoft is marketing the feature as a tool that will allow workers to be more productive by freeing up time they usually spend in their inbox, or allowing them to more easily analyze trends in Excel. The tech giant based in Redmond, Washington, will also add a chat function called Business Chat, which…

Markets this year are roiling, uncertainty abounds and the U.S. government has had to step in to rescue two large American banks in recent days. So why is bitcoin, considered among the riskiest bets of them all, rising so fast? Just months ago, all forms of cryptocurrency appeared to be going up in flames, with bitcoin plunging from almost $50,000 at the start of 2022, to less than $17,000 when 2023 rolled around. Bitcoin has since soared more than 60% and it climbed another 8% this week above $27,000, all in an era of mass layoffs in the tech sector and widespread anxiety about stability in the U.S. banking sector. SO WHAT HAPPENED? The pandemic was an era of massive growth for both technology companies and crypto. That surge began to wane in late…

Electric vehicles, or EVs, had their best-selling year in 2022. Their market share surpassed 5% according to NHTSA, which is nearly double than 2021. In 2023, EV sales should continue to soar. But more importantly for consumers, there will also be a larger selection of models to choose from, including electric sedans, SUVs and luxury models. Experts choose five of the most intriguing new EVs, sorted by price, rolling into dealerships this year. 2024 CHEVROLET EQUINOX EV Chevrolet will launch two electric SUVs with familiar names: the Blazer EV and the Equinox EV. Of the two, the smaller Equinox could be the more significant simply by virtue of its price; Chevrolet estimates it will start around $30,000. That undercuts all of its rivals and is not much more than the gas-powered Equinox,…

Satellite-based communications technology is making its way to our phones, and it’s not just for emergency messaging. This new tech is expanding to standard messengers and making calls viable, ushering in an era of ground-to-orbit connectivity and unlocking endless possibilities. QUALCOMM’S SATELLITE CHIP IS ON APPROACH Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has partnered with Iridium to introduce Snapdragon Satellite, the world’s first satellite-based two-way messaging solution for premium smartphones. Snapdragon Satellite will offer global mobile messaging coverage, starting with devices based on the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform. Powered by Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and Iridium’s weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink, Snapdragon Satellite will provide OEMs and other service providers with truly global coverage for emergency and two-way messaging. The solution will be available on next-generation smartphones, with support for…

In a bid to ease turmoil in the world financial system, Swiss authorities engineered a plan for the UBS bank to acquire its troubled smaller rival Credit Suisse at a marked-down price. It’s another urgent attempt to fight fears that have put the financial world on edge 15 years after the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers pitched the global economy into a crisis. Here are key things to know — and some things that aren’t yet known — about the takeover and the wider market anxiety fueled by bank failures in the U.S. WHY IS UBS TAKING OVER CREDIT SUISSE? Swiss authorities pushed UBS to take over its rival after the price of Credit Suisse shares plunged and depositors fled, raising fears that it could fail. Credit Suisse isn’t just any bank. Unlike…