How Microsoft could supplant Apple as the world’s most valuable firm | How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires | Explosion in Southwestern Pakistan Kills 52 | Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger isn't selling his music catalog because his kids don't need the money

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� � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � How Microsoft could supplant Apple as the world's most valuable firm - The Economist    For years Microsoft has been trying to coax office workers to write reports, populate spreadsheets and create slide shows using its office software. No longer: now it wants to do the writing and populating for them. At its headquarters in Redmond, a leafy suburb of Seattle, the firm demonstrates its latest wizardry. Beyond the plate-glass windows, snow-capped mountains glisten and pine trees sway. Inside, a small grey rectangle sits at the top of a blank Word document. With a few words of instruction, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI)—or “Copilot”, as Microsoft calls it—finds a vast file in a computer folder and summarises its contents. Later, it edits its own work and succinctly answers questions about the material. It can perform plenty of other tricks, too: digging out emails on certain topics, drawing up a to-do list based on a meeting and even whipping up a passable PowerPoint presentation about your correspondent. This is a glimpse into the future of work. The mind-boggling capabilities of “generative” AI look set to transform many desk jobs. It is also a glimpse into the future of Microsoft, which was once the world’s most valuable public company and hopes to reclaim the title by selling the technology that will power the transformation. Through the firm’s investment in OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, a popular AI chatbot, it is able to inject cutting-edge AI into its products. That does not just mean adding the Copilot to its office-work software (previously called “Office”, but recently rebranded as “Microsoft 365”), which will be rolled out in November. This week the firm will launch a Copilot for Windows, its operating system, which will be able to change your computer’s settings, generate images and summarise web pages. Copilots for its sales software and human-resources offerings are already available. One for its security software is in the works. In February Microsoft added ChatGPT-like functions to Bing, its search engine, in effect another Copilot. With its squadron of Copilots, Microsoft is inserting generative AI into almost every aspect of its business. Continued here How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires - The New Yorker    Early in 2020, the architect Scott West got a call at his office, in Atlanta, from a prospective client who said that his name was Archie Lee. West designs luxurious houses in a spare, angular style one might call millionaire modern. Lee wanted one. That June, West found an appealing property in Buckhead—an upscale part of North Atlanta that attracts both old money and new—and told Lee it might be a good spot for them to build. Lee arranged for his wife to meet West there. She arrived in a white Range Rover, wearing Gucci and Prada, and carrying a small dog in her purse. She said her name was Indiana. As she walked around the property, she FaceTimed her husband, then told West that it wasn’t quite what they had in mind, and that he should keep looking. West said that he’d need a retainer. She reached into her purse and pulled out five thousand dollars. “That was a little unusual,” West recalled. Later that summer, Lee called again, with a new proposal. His wife, he said, had been “driving around Buckhead, and she came across this amazing modern house and thought it had to be a Scott West house.” She was right. The house, on Randall Mill Road, wasn’t quite finished, and it had not been on the market—but Lee told West that he was already buying it, from the owner, for four and a half million dollars. Now he wanted West to redo the landscaping and the outdoor pool, plus some interior finishes. West took another retainer, but he had other clients to attend to, and Lee grew impatient. Eventually, Lee asked West for his money back and began planning the renovations without him. Continued here Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium Explosion in Southwestern Pakistan Kills 52 - Time    (QUETTA, Pakistan) — A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 52 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said. The bombing occurred in Mastung, a district in Baluchistan province, where around 500 people had gathered for a procession to celebrate the birth anniversary of the prophet. Muslims hold rallies and distribute free meals to people on the occasion, which is known as Mawlid an-Nabi. TV footage and videos on the social media showed an open area near a mosque strewn with the shoes of the dead and wounded after the bombing. Some of the bodies had been covered with bedsheets, and residents and rescuers were seen rushing the wounded to hospitals, where a state of emergency had been declared and appeals were being issued for blood donations. Continued here Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger isn't selling his music catalog because his kids don't need the money - Fortune    Among his eight children Mick Jagger boasts designers, actors, models and a journalist — and they’ll need to put at least some effort into making their own way in the world if The Rolling Stones frontman has anything to say about it. The London rock n’ roll legend has an estimated worth of approximately $500 million, but Jagger says he has no plans to up that figure by selling any of the Stones music catalog. It’s a tactic increasingly being used by music stars across the spectrum. Justin Bieber sold his music catalog in 2023 for $200 million, Katy Perry reportedly sold hers this month for $225 million. Continued here

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