Source: CNet, Joe Supan
Photo: SOPA Images/Getty Images

Starlink says the price increases will support ongoing improvements to its network.

Starlink is about to get more expensive for its nearly 3 million customers in the US, as it raises prices on almost all plans by $5 to $10 per month. Starlink’s Roam customers who want to put their service on hold will also now have to pay $10 per month for Standby Mode instead of $5, as reported earlier by PCMag.

Emails sent out to customers say that the price increases will kick in for existing customers on or after June 18. The only Starlink plan that remains unchanged is the Roam 300GB plan, which will stay at $80 per month.

Price increases are nothing new in the internet world — 63% of Americans said they saw their internet bill increase last year, according to a 2025 CNET survey — but Starlink has generally gone the other route, offering deals that would lure new customers away from their current internet service providers.

“Pricing has remained unchanged for most residential customers for the past several years, and strong demand for Starlink reflects the value customers continue to see in the service,” the company wrote in an email to customers. “This adjustment supports ongoing improvements and investment in affordable, high-performance products and services as global operating costs continue to rise.”

It’s true that Starlink has seen demand surging in the US. It has about 2.7 million American customers in the US right now, which is nearly double what it was in August 2024. But as Starlink has grown, it’s faced increasing questions about its ability to keep up with that demand.

Starlink is getting faster, but it’s still far slower than most ISPs

Starlink’s email to customers cites “ongoing improvements” to its service as justification for its price increases, and there’s no question that it’s made huge investments in its network. In 2026 alone, Starlink added 7.6 satellites to its megaconstellation every day on average, many of which were its newer Generation 3 (V3) satellites that have increased capacity over previous versions.

But the more customers it adds, the more difficult it is to keep up speeds. One analysis last year from Penn State University’s X-Lab found that Starlink can support only 6.66 households per square mile before speeds drop below FCC broadband minimums (100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload).

Remarkably, Starlink has gotten faster at the same time as it’s added millions of new customers, but it’s still not hitting that FCC minimum for most people. According to the most recent speed test data from Ookla, 44.7% of Starlink customers in the US reached the 100/20 Mbps mark in the fourth quarter of 2025 — a dramatic increase from the 17.4% who met it in the first quarter of 2025. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

While that’s a massive improvement, it’s still a long way from wired connections like cable and fiber. AT&T Fiber, for instance, recorded median speeds of 369/309Mbps in the second half of 2025, according to Ookla.

Pricing has been one lever that Starlink’s used to protect its capacity, but it’s usually been limited to high-congestion areas that already had a lot of users. At my address in Seattle, for example, you’d currently have to pay a $500 “demand surcharge” to get service. But it has generally avoided the kind of blanket price increases that are common in the broadband industry.

As SpaceX prepares for its IPO next month, it’s beginning to act more and more like a traditional internet provider, where price increases are a tried-and-true part of the game plan.

“I suppose it’s a good business model,” wrote one user on Reddit. “They now have a population of dependent people with no other choices so they can do whatever they want until/if a competitor comes.”

Joe Supan is a senior writer for CNET covering home technology, broadband, and moving. Prior to joining CNET, Joe led MyMove’s moving coverage and reported on broadband policy, the digital divide, and privacy issues for the broadband marketplace Allconnect. He has been featured as a guest columnist on Broadband Breakfast, and his work has been referenced by the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, National Geographic, Yahoo! Finance and more. See full bio

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/starlink-hikes-prices-for-nearly-3-million-us-customers-just-one-plan-escaped

Source: FIU Business, Janelle Bombalier
Photo: FIU

We are witnessing an exciting moment in history — the dawn of a new era in business and technology, comparable to the rise of the digital age and the Industrial Revolution. As we look into the future, it is clear that embracing and understanding artificial intelligence (AI) is essential for businesses aiming to prosper in this transformative era.

Whether you are part of a large corporation or a small business owner, you can use AI to increase your competitive advantage.

AI: A New Beginning, Not an End

Similar to how the internet era transformed our daily life and allowed us to connect with people globally, the rise of AI is offering new opportunities for enhanced data analytics and innovation across all industries.

Understanding AI’s Role and Overcoming Misconceptions

AI’s integration into business is often met with hesitation, which can hinder its adoption and popularity. A critical concern is the fear of AI leading to widespread job loss. History, however, shows us that like any major technological advancement, AI transforms jobs rather than eliminating them.

For example, graphic designers who embraced digital tools have flourished. AI offers opportunities for professionals to enhance their skills and efficiency. The key lies in learning to use AI to improve job performance and innovate.

How can AI help support your business needs?

Market Research

Get Data-Driven Insights: AI is highly proficient at obtaining and analyzing large volumes of data, and pulling actionable insights that are beyond human capacity. This capability allows businesses to make more informed and strategic decisions.

Predictive Analytics: AI can predict market trends and consumer behavior, helping businesses anticipate future needs and adjust their strategies accordingly. This foresight is crucial in staying ahead of competitors and meeting market demands. For example, retailers could use predictive models to optimize inventory levels, reduce stockouts, minimize overstock situations, and enhance supply chain efficiency, ultimately improving the accuracy and responsiveness of inventory management processes.

Cybersecurity Risk Assessment: AI algorithms can identify potential risks by analyzing patterns and irregularities in data in real-time. This approach to risk management could help businesses identify cyber-attacks as they happen, reducing the time between threat detection and response.

Operational Efficiency

Facilitating Routine Tasks: AI can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up employee time for more complex and creative work. This includes tasks like data entry, scheduling, and even responding to basic customer inquiries. We all know how frustrating a “canned” response from a chatbot on a website can be. Generative AI could replace that negative customer experience with chats that provide precise information tailored to your needs 24/7.

Process Optimization: AI can streamline various business processes, ensuring they are more efficient and cost-effective. For example, AI could automate repetitive tasks in the hiring process, such as resume screening and initial candidate assessments; enabling HR professionals to focus on more strategic aspects of talent acquisition. For hiring managers swamped with hundreds of applications to review, this is a real game changer.

Error Reduction: AI systems, with their ability to learn and adapt, significantly reduce the likelihood of human error. This precision is highly valuable in areas like financial accounting or data management.

Customer/Employee Relationship Enhancement

Personalization: AI enables businesses to offer personalized experiences to customers and employees by analyzing their preferences and behaviors. This personalization can be put in place in things like customized marketing, product recommendations, and tailored customer service. You may have noticed when shopping online that you are often given the option to browse through a “You may also like” section. This is a prime example of targeted marketing for products based on consumer behavior. Amazon has reported that the business of cross selling and upselling make up as much as 35% of its revenue.

Customer Insights: Through sentiment analysis and customer feedback evaluation, AI helps businesses understand their customers’ needs and preferences, leading to better product development and customer service strategies. For example, a brand manager may utilize social media listening tools to gather millions of digital messages across the internet and identify the feelings of people towards a brand.

How to Use AI? Implementing AI in business requires a strategic approach for both small and large businesses. Whether your business has a large or smaller budget, there are free and low-cost AI tools that can be helpful to businesses for the growth and efficiency of operations.

For example, an e-commerce company can conduct a thorough analysis and discover that implementing AI could effectively enhance their operations. They can introduce AI chatbots to streamline customer service, use predictive analytics for strategic inventory management, and apply AI for personalized marketing strategies.

For example, a retail company may have a goal of enhancing online customer experience and boosting sales and can select specific AI tools: “Algolia” or “Adobe Sensei” for personalized product recommendations, “Blue Yonder” or “Infor Nexus” to help with inventory management, and an AI chatbot for responsive customer service.

An example of this would be if a financial services firm were to integrate AI into its operational systems and roll out a skill development program, including AI literacy workshops for all staff, specialized training for key departments, and continuous learning opportunities through online courses and certifications. Data Management: AI is only as good as the data it uses. Ensure you have a robust data management strategy.

AI is not just a technological advancement; it’s a strategic tool for businesses seeking to thrive in today’s world. By understanding and leveraging AI’s potential, businesses can unlock new levels of success and efficiency.

In an article published by the Blog of Bill Gates, GatesNotes, it states, “We should keep in mind that we’re only at the beginning of what AI can accomplish. Whatever limitations it has today will be gone before we know it.” This is an important idea to keep in mind at the emergence of the AI era and ask yourself, whether you want to be a pioneer of this transformative time or not.

About the Author

As a content strategist, Janelle Bombalier thrives on the art of storytelling and crafting compelling narratives. Her journey in the world of content has been driven by a relentless curiosity and a commitment to delivering stories that captivate, inform, and inspire.

https://business.fiu.edu/academics/graduate/insights/posts/competitive-advantage-of-using-ai-in-business

Source: Independent, Anthony Cuthbertson
Photo: ChatGPT

The phone calls began out of nowhere and continued, unsolicited, for over a month. Each caller was a different person seeking help – everything from legal advice to being locked out of a home. The one thing the strangers had in common, was that they had found the phone number through Google’s AI.

This is the reported experience of one victim of a new trend known as AI doxxing, which involves popular platforms like Gemini or ChatGPT sharing people’s private information without their consent. In this instance, the victim’s personal phone number appears to have been used as a placeholder whenever users asked the AI to provide contact details for a company or service.

“Strangers are calling me constantly looking for a lawyer, a product designer, a locksmith – you name it,” they wrote in a post to Reddit’s r/Google forum. “Every single one of them tells me: ‘I got your number from Google’s AI’. This is a massive privacy violation and data leak. My phone doesn’t stop ringing with random people expecting a service, and my daily life is being completely disrupted.”

Other reported instances of AI doxxing include Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot exposing home addresses of non-public figures, Meta’s WhatsApp AI assistant mistakenly sharing people’s private numbers, and ChatGPT hallucinating incriminating information about an individual.

A report last month from Virgin Media O2 found that millions of Brits have been served with fake customer service numbers via AI tools, with criminals now exploiting this issue by injecting their own phone numbers into large language model (LLM) powered systems in order to influence the results. By posing as trusted brands, they are able to steal data, perpetuate fraud, and lure victims into scams.

Scammers are able to do this by “seeding poisoned content” across the web in places like Yelp reviews or YouTube comments, according to separate research from AI security firm Aurascape. By including key words like ‘official British Airways reservations number’, the fake phone numbers are picked up by AI web crawlers that are used to train the LLMs.

Security experts say people can avoid falling victim to such scams by only using numbers listed on official company websites. But for those whose phone numbers end up in the answers of chatbot queries accidentally, there seems to be little that can be done to prevent it from happening.

“Standard support forms are a complete dead end,” the person whose number is being served up through Google’s Gemini and AI overviews said. “I submitted an official legal removal/ privacy request to Google, asking them to urgently blacklist my number from their LLM outputs. I haven’t received a single response, and the harassment continues daily.”

This difficulty of fixing an LLM when it has already been trained was evident this week when OpenAI was forced to acknowledge ChatGPT’s goblin obsession. Whether it’s hallucinations turned into harassment, or poisoned data leading you to scammers, there is currently no easy answer to this problem. While search engines can ‘forget’, AI systems cannot simply unlearn.

Source: Essential California (LA Times)
Photo: Wow News Today

Photos are an expected part of almost any visit to Disneyland. Whether it’s first-time international visitors or longtime returnees, just about everyone is clicking photos at some point.

Hannah Fry of the LA Times documented the growing use of facial recognition technology at the Happiest Place on Earth. Privacy experts are sounding the alarm, while some patrons are trying their best to avoid the technology.

Let’s dive into her reporting to see what’s going on.

Under the mouse’s eye

Photographs of guests’ faces taken at the entrances to Disneyland and sister park California Adventure are run through biometric technology to convert the images into unique numerical values.

The images can then be compared with pictures taken when a customer first used the ticket or annual pass. “Pretty much every other place is doing the same thing,” said John LeSchofs, 73, who visits the park roughly every six weeks with his wife. “The police, the government, they’re all using facial recognition. I don’t think it’s going to stop.”

Disney officials say the technology helps make entering and reentering the park easier and prevents fraud.

Sounding the alarm

The rapid growth of facial recognition over the last decade has raised concerns among privacy experts who caution that such data can easily be turned over to law enforcement entities or make companies hacking targets.

“The normalization of facial surveillance is really problematic,” said Ari Waldman, a professor of law at UC Irvine. “We can’t go around life hiding our faces, so this isn’t just [the] next step in surveillance; it’s qualitatively different. In a world of facial recognition, when people leave their house, it automatically means they’re identified.”

Following a familiar pattern

Venues over the last decade have increasingly relied on facial recognition to speed up entry and purchases for guests.

At Intuit Dome, visitors can use “GameFaceID” to more quickly enter the stadium for Clippers games or live entertainment. To use it, the guest just needs to upload a selfie, and the technology generates face recognition data to identify them at the arena. The venue’s privacy policy states they “may also infer whether you are over 21 from your selfie photo.”

Dodger Stadium also employs facial recognition technology for guests who want to use the “Go Ahead Entry” at certain gates into the ballpark. The technology allows parkgoers to enter without having to produce a physical or digital ticket.

How to avoid Disney’s facial recognition

Guests who don’t want to run their face through the technology can enter through a separate entrance marked with a silhouette of a head and shoulders with a slash through it.

Of the dozens of lines to enter Disneyland and California Adventure, there were only four on Friday that didn’t use facial recognition. Guests in those lines still had their photos taken, but the company said biometric technology wasn’t used. Instead, an employee was seen manually validating tickets.

Notes from the reporter’s notebook

Fry, a breaking news reporter who has covered surveillance, said she wasn’t surprised by Disneyland’s usage of facial recognition technology.

“But it’s truly eye-opening just how much information private companies collect about their customers and what can be done with that data,” she said. “It’s outlined in these companies’ privacy policies, but most people, understandably, don’t pore over those documents and really weigh the benefits and risks.”

She added that she hoped the story helped provide readers “a moment” to think about how their private data are being shared.

“It’s truly up to consumers to determine which technologies they’re OK with using and just how much of their data they want to share,” she said. “I also hope the story provided a sense of agency so people know they can opt out when they go to Disneyland or other venues like sports stadiums that use this facial recognition technology.”

Source: Independent, Anthony Cuthbertson
Photo: People play Pokemon GO on smartphones during the in-person Pokemon GO Tour in Pasadena, California on 20 February, 2026 (AFP via Getty Images)

A 30-billion-image dataset built by players over the last decade is now being used to train an AI navigation system

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Hundreds of millions of Pokemon Go players have unknowingly helped create an AI navigation system that will now be used by delivery robots.

The augmented reality smartphone game, which uses a phone’s GPS and camera to allow players to catch virtual creatures in the real world, has built up a database of more than 30 billion images since it launched a decade ago.

This has allowed Niantic Spatial, a spin-off of Pokemon Go creator Niantic, to develop a Visual Positioning System (VPS) that is able to pinpoint a location to within a few centimetres without relying on GPS satellites.

This visual approach to location and orientation is particularly useful within indoor environments, where GPS signals can be blocked or degraded, as well as so-called urban canyons, where tall buildings can confuse satellite navigation systems.

Niantic Spatial has now partnered with US-based robot delivery firm Coco Robotics to use its VPS technology to help its machines to navigate in challenging urban environments.

“The promise of last-mile robotics is immense, but the reality of navigating chaotic city streets is one of the hardest engineering challenges,” said Niantic Spatial CEO John Hanke.

“We are thrilled to be working with Coco Robotics as our first robotics partner and deploying spatial intelligence to help solve these challenges head-on.”

The crowd-sourced data has been boosted by in-game features like ‘Field Research’ that encourage Pokemon Go players to scan statues and landmarks in order to receive rewards.

These scans can be converted into 3D models that give a highly accurate visualisation for Niantic Spatial’s VPS technology.

Coco Robotics’ delivery bots, which have completed around half a million deliveries to date, already use GPS and will utilise their four cameras to provide feedback for improved VPS directions when delivering groceries and goods.

“It gives us reliable access to localization services that further improve robot navigation,” said Zach Rash, co-founder and CEO of Coco Robotics.

“Looking ahead, we’ll jointly explore new ways to enable Coco’s robots to operate with increasing safety and autonomy in any city.”

https://www.the-independent.com/tech/pokemon-go-delivery-robots-niantic

]]> https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/chatgpt-the-assistant-that-never-logs-off-at-work-or-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chatgpt-the-assistant-that-never-logs-off-at-work-or-home Sun, 26 Apr 2026 18:03:37 +0000 https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/?p=64506 Source: Silicon Bay Partners’ Staff with assistance from ChatGPT Photo: ilgmyzin on Unsplash ChatGPT is essentially a fast-thinking assistant that can write, research, organize, and brainstorm on demand. The real value isn’t just what it can do—it’s how much time and mental energy it can save you when used well. At Work: Where It Becomes […]]]>

Source: Silicon Bay Partners’ Staff with assistance from ChatGPT
Photo: ilgmyzin on Unsplash

ChatGPT is essentially a fast-thinking assistant that can write, research, organize, and brainstorm on demand. The real value isn’t just what it can do—it’s how much time and mental energy it can save you when used well.

At Work: Where It Becomes a Force Multiplier

1. Writing & Communication

ChatGPT can draft, refine, or punch up almost any kind of communication:

Emails (formal, persuasive, or blunt when needed)
Reports and summaries
Proposals and presentations
Social media posts and marketing copy

It’s especially useful when you already know what you want to say but don’t want to spend 30 minutes polishing it.

2. Research & Summarization

Instead of digging through long documents or articles:

Summarize reports into key takeaways
Break down complex topics into simple explanations
Compare options (vendors, tools, strategies)

Think of it as a fast “first pass” researcher—not the final authority, but a huge time-saver.

3. Brainstorming & Strategy

When you’re stuck, ChatGPT helps generate ideas quickly:

Business names, slogans, or product ideas
Marketing strategies or campaign angles
Problem-solving approaches

It won’t replace deep expertise—but it’s excellent for getting unstuck.

4. Data & Organization Help

While not a full analytics tool, it can:

Structure spreadsheets
Suggest formulas or workflows
Turn messy notes into organized plans

You bring the raw input—it helps create order.

5. Coding & Technical Tasks

Even if you’re not a developer:

Generate or debug code
Automate small tasks
Explain technical concepts in plain English

For developers, it’s like a junior assistant that works instantly.

6. Content Creation at Scale

If you create content regularly:

Blog posts
Website copy
Ad variations
Newsletters

It can produce drafts quickly, letting you focus on refining instead of starting from scratch.

At Home: Everyday Life, Simplified

1. Personal Writing

Text messages that don’t sound awkward
Letters or thoughtful notes
Social media posts

Useful when you want to sound sharp but don’t want to overthink it.

2. Planning & Decision Making

Travel itineraries
Meal planning
Daily schedules
Pros/cons lists for big decisions

It’s like having a second brain to organize your thoughts.

3. Learning & Explaining

Break down complex topics (finance, health, tech)
Help kids with homework
Learn new skills faster

You can ask follow-ups endlessly without feeling like you’re bothering anyone.

4. Creativity & Entertainment

Generate jokes, stories, or ideas
Create image concepts or prompts
Help with hobbies (writing, art, projects)

It’s surprisingly good at sparking creativity when you’re bored or stuck.

5. Problem Solving

Troubleshoot tech issues
Draft plans for personal goals
Get step-by-step guidance on unfamiliar tasks

It’s not perfect—but it’s often enough to get you moving.

Where It Really Shines

ChatGPT is most powerful when you:

Give it clear instructions
Ask for revisions (“make it shorter,” “make it funnier,” etc.)
Treat it as a collaborator, not a final decision-maker

Where You Should Be Careful

Don’t rely on it for critical legal, financial, or medical decisions without verification
It can sound confident even when it’s wrong
It works best as a starting point, not the final word

Bottom Line

At work, ChatGPT saves time and sharpens output
At home, it reduces friction in everyday decisions and tasks
Used well, it’s not just a tool—it’s leverage

]]> https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/pittsburgh-wants-to-be-the-next-tech-hub-this-time-it-has-a-real-shot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-wants-to-be-the-next-tech-hub-this-time-it-has-a-real-shot Fri, 24 Apr 2026 05:29:56 +0000 https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/?p=64474 Source: Fast Company, Steven Melendez Photo: Adobe Stock Startups, investors, and City Hall are aligning around a rare mix of talent and cost advantages, even as concerns about displacement grow. When the NFL Draft comes to Pittsburgh next week, civic leaders will be using the spotlight to celebrate football’s Steelers—and the city’s growing reputation as […]]]>

Source: Fast Company, Steven Melendez
Photo: Adobe Stock

Startups, investors, and City Hall are aligning around a rare mix of talent and cost advantages, even as concerns about displacement grow.

When the NFL Draft comes to Pittsburgh next week, civic leaders will be using the spotlight to celebrate football’s Steelers—and the city’s growing reputation as a technology and artificial intelligence hub. The events include an AI pitch competition where judges including area native Mark Cuban will award startups from a 1.75 million prize pool—with preference given to companies with a presence in Pennsylvania.

There’s a growing number of startups that fit that bill.

As the name suggests, VC firm Valley Capital Partners is based in Silicon Valley. But for the past few years, firm general partner Mitchell Kokko has been living across the country in Pittsburgh. The firm considered expanding to a number of cities but was drawn by factors like the area’s universities, relatively affordable housing, a strong business environment, and its location in the Eastern time zone. In Pittsburgh, he says a growing startup scene is taking advantage of strong talent networks, a close-knit business community including nationally known firms, and the area’s low cost of living.

“Pittsburgh really offers differentiated networks to founders who are looking to sell to enterprise companies,” says Kokko. “Because it’s a smaller hub than a San Francisco or New York City, the major companies all do business with one another.”

And local business leaders are willing to give startups a chance and directly work with their founders, which Kokko says can be critical to the enterprise businesses his firm invests in. “They get faster feedback cycles, and in early-stage startups that can mean the difference between life and death,” he says.

Mayor Corey O’Connor, who took office in January, ran on a platform that included support for businesses large and small, through an economic development program he said would help revitalize business districts across Pittsburgh and also keep affordable housing available even as the city grew. Startups are increasingly setting up shop in the city, though some long-time residents have expressed concern about gentrification with rents on the rise, even while still low by national averages.

One such startup is Factify, a Valley Capital Partners-backed firm that in January announced a $73 million seed round supporting its efforts to build a next-generation document format that it sees as a potential successor to the PDF. The Tel Aviv-based company deliberately chose Pittsburgh as its first U.S. “base of operations,” says founder and CEO Matan Gavish. That was in part based on its desire to work with a tight-knit community of businesses in regulated industries that would adopt the software and collaborate with one another using Factify’s document standard. The city’s closely linked business community made it a natural choice, he says.

“That led us to Pittsburgh from first principles,” says Gavish.

In general, Pittsburgh has long had a presence in AI, robotics, biotech, and other areas of technology thanks in part to institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. But though it’s been home to buzzy tech businesses from Duolingo to Gecko Robotics, startup founders, college grads, and other young Pittsburghers looking for work have often historically made the trek to the Bay Area or other industry hubs. Nearly half of all Pittsburgh-area college grads leave town after graduation, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last year. “The joke is that almost every [Steelers] NFL game is a Steelers home game,” says Kokko. “Because there’s so many people that moved all over the country.”

In recent times, though, that’s been changing, with startups setting up shop and remaining in the western Pennsylvania city, says Mayor Corey O’Connor.

“Now, more and more are starting to stick around, and from those companies you’re seeing spinoffs that create more of a hub in Pittsburgh,” says O’Connor.

That sort of a feedback loop can be important to building an entrepreneurial scene, alongside factors like a skilled workforce, a ready stream of business ideas, and funding, says Olav Sorenson, a professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management who has studied the geography of entrepreneurship.

“Oftentimes, some initial startups and startup success are important, almost like an autocatalytic process just to get things started,” he says.

Bust and boom

The city itself is also looking to help jumpstart the process. O’Connor, who took office in January, has emphasized offering support to businesses looking to start or grow in Pittsburgh, including making it easier to get necessary permits and providing workforce training to get residents ready for today’s jobs. He also fields between 10 and 20 calls per week with businesses, promoting the city’s amenities, including the arts and culture scene and the easy access to the area’s rivers and trails. Of course, those calls also promote the idea that support for business development is available at the highest levels of local government, and O’Connor emphasizes a belief that business growth will help the city’s long-term residents as much as newcomers.

“It’s opportunities for the residents in Pittsburgh that may have never thought they’d see a boom like this before,” he says.

It’s also a city that can offer businesses physical room to grow, he says, including dormant manufacturing centers dating back to its time as a steel and factory hub. It also delivers relatively affordable housing for employees, with local officials pointing to home and rental prices substantially lower than the national average, let alone high-priced hubs like New York and San Francisco.

“The problem with a place like the Bay Area is that it’s become so phenomenally expensive,” says Sorenson. “The same startup could probably get going in a place like Pittsburgh for maybe a third or a quarter the amount of money.”

After all, while Pittsburgh’s population has been on the rise in recent years, its Census-estimated 2024 population of just under 308,000 is still far below its official peak of 676,806, last seen around 1950. And the city was last year named the country’s lowest-price large U.S. housing market by realtor.com and frequently makes other lists of affordable American locales.

“I think Pittsburgh has a unique advantage that’s driven by some of the structural shifts that happened during the collapse of the steel industry,” says Kokko. “And so, what you have is one of the cities in the United States that at one time was the third-largest business hub in the United States, and so you have infrastructure that can support much larger populations.”

“Equitable Development”

As the city’s mayor, and the son of a long-time Pittsburgh politician who was himself elected mayor in 2005, O’Connor naturally emphasizes residents’ longstanding pride in the city despite the decline in size. “When you’re a visitor and you go into a neighborhood, or you run into a Pittsburgher, they’re going to tell you what’s so great about Pittsburgh,” he says.

Still, the rapid growth of the tech sector has gone hand-in-hand with rising costs and gentrification in many cities, and some local advocacy groups have expressed concern about affordable housing in Pittsburgh in recent years, especially for working class residents. Thousands of low-income families, especially Black families, have been displaced from the city in recent years, according to civic organization Pittsburgh United, which has called for “equitable development” in Pittsburgh.

“Our vision of a growing Pittsburgh is a responsibly growing Pittsburgh—a Pittsburgh that includes the folks that have been here forever and for a very long time,” says communications director Kyla Rollins. “And that people that built the city have equitable opportunities to grow alongside this vision of the new Pittsburgh.”

It’s a message that’s not outwardly at odds with City Hall, where O’Connor emphasizes work by the city to promote affordable housing. That includes a Housing Opportunity Fund to assist renters and homeowners, and the possibility of working with community groups to turn vacant city-owned lots into new housing.

“Big emphasis for us [is] to make sure that if you’re living in your neighborhood now, you’re going to live there 20 years from now,” he says.

The extended deadline for Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards is Friday, April 24, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steven Melendez is an independent journalist living in New Orleans.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91526667/pittsburgh-next-tech-hub

]]> https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/millions-of-resumes-never-make-it-past-the-bots-one-man-is-trying-to-find-out-why/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=millions-of-resumes-never-make-it-past-the-bots-one-man-is-trying-to-find-out-why Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:00:13 +0000 https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/?p=64447 Source: MSN, Lauren Weber Photo: ‘There’s a standard bell curve in statistics. It didn’t make sense that my failure rate was 100%,’ said Mobley. U.S. job hunters submit millions of online applications every year. Often they get an automatic rejection or no response at all, never knowing if they got a fair shake from the […]]]>

Source: MSN, Lauren Weber
Photo: ‘There’s a standard bell curve in statistics. It didn’t make sense that my failure rate was 100%,’ said Mobley.

U.S. job hunters submit millions of online applications every year. Often they get an automatic rejection or no response at all, never knowing if they got a fair shake from the algorithms that gatekeep today’s job market.

One worker, Derek Mobley, is trying to discover why.

Mobley, an IT professional in North Carolina, applied for more than 100 jobs during a stretch of unemployment from 2017 to 2019 and for a few years after. He was met with rejection or silence each time. Sometimes the rejection emails arrived in the middle of the night or within an hour of submitting his application.

Mobley, now 50 years old, noticed that many of the companies he applied to used an online recruiting platform created by software firm Workday. The platforms, called applicant tracking systems, help employers track and screen job candidates.

In 2023 Mobley sued Workday, one of the largest purveyors of recruiting software, for discrimination, claiming its algorithm screened him out, based on his age, race and disabilities. Mobley, a Black graduate of Morehouse College who suffers from anxiety and depression, said the math didn’t add up.

He says he applied only for jobs he believed he was qualified for. “There’s a standard bell curve in statistics. It didn’t make sense that my failure rate was 100%,” said Mobley, who has since gotten hired and twice promoted at Allstate.

His suit is now emerging as the most significant challenge yet to the software behind nearly every hiring decision these days. Last month—after several failed challenges by Workday—a federal judge in California said Mobley’s age-discrimination claim could proceed, for now, as a collective action. The ruling opens the door to millions of potential claims from job seekers over the age of 40.

While the judge has ruled that Workday didn’t intentionally discriminate against Mobley, she left open the door for him to prove that Workday’s technology still had the effect of penalizing him because of his age. She hasn’t addressed the race and disability claims.

Mobley still has a tough case to prove, and the suit may go through years of legal wrangling. Yet the case could force Workday to part the curtains on how its algorithm scores applications, a process that has remained a black box since job searches began moving online decades ago.

“Hiring intermediaries have pretty much been excused from regulation and they’ve escaped any legal scrutiny. I think this case will change that,” said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor at Emory University School of Law and author of “The Quantified Worker.”

Workday says Mobley’s claims have no merit. It said its software matches keywords on résumés with the job qualifications that its employer-customers load for each role, then scores applicants as a strong, good, fair or low match.

While employer clients can set up “knockout questions” that lead to automatic rejections—for example, asking if a person has legal authorization to work in the U.S. or is available for weekend shifts—the software is designed so employers make the final decisions on candidates who make it through the initial screen, Workday argued in court filings.

“There’s no evidence that the technology results in harm to protected groups,” the company said.

A rocky career path

Before his job search, Mobley’s career path hadn’t been smooth. He was laid off in the recession that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and again after the housing meltdown in 2008. After that, he left finance and transitioned to what he viewed as a more recession-proof career in technology, earning an associate degree in network system administration.

Still, steady jobs were hard to come by. He spent a year as a contractor at IT firm HPE, hoping the stint would turn into a permanent position. Mobley said he was let go, and he later joined a lawsuit against HPE alleging age and race discrimination. The case was settled in 2020. HPE declined to comment.

That job loss led to two years of unemployment, starting in 2017. He applied to more than 100 jobs and found himself on Workday’s recruiting platform over and over.

He didn’t get a single interview, let alone a job.

Soon, Mobley felt he discerned a pattern. “It dawned on me that this must be some kind of server reviewing these applications and turning me down.”

He worried that hiring software screened him out because it picked up on his age and race through details on his résumé or that it detected his anxiety and depression through personality tests he took as part of some job applications.

The frustrations of the job search weighed on his emotional health, credit and retirement savings, he said. He stayed afloat by driving for Uber and working short-term jobs.

Mobley eventually did find a job, the old-fashioned way. In 2019, he said, a recruiter for Allstate called him. A phone screen led to an interview with a hiring manager and then an offer. He is now a catastrophe controller, managing the workflow of customers’ property and auto damage claims.

Mobley said he suspects Workday’s software flagged his profile, essentially blackballing him across its entire system, regardless of which company he applied to.

Workday disputes that idea, and HR technology experts are skeptical of the theory. Employers customize recruiting software with their own criteria, they say, creating closed systems that shouldn’t theoretically speak to each other.

But there is evidence that underlying scoring algorithms can shut out certain job seekers, said Kathleen Creel, a computer scientist at Northeastern University who has been following the Workday case. That might happen, she said, through mechanical errors such as misclassifying a previous job title, or by incorporating more complicated algorithmic mistakes that penalize members of a single group or people with certain combinations of characteristics.

Such scoring systems can disadvantage qualified workers, according to researchers at Harvard Business School, who have found that the systems effectively screen out millions of workers by scoring them low for all kinds of reasons, such as having gaps in their résumés or not matching every qualification listed on a lengthy job description. The researchers didn’t test for illegal discrimination, such as discrimination based on age, gender or race.

Since 2022, Workday has built a team focused on ensuring its products meet ethical artificial-intelligence standards. “Our customers want to know, can I trust these technologies? How were they developed?” Kelly Trindel, who leads the ethical AI team, said at a conference this month at New York University Law School.

Still, the company has fought some efforts to regulate automated hiring tools. In 2023, a New York City law went into effect requiring employers that use technology like chatbot interviewing tools and resume scanners to audit them annually for potential race and gender bias, and then publish the results on their websites. When the bill was proposed, Workday argued to loosen some of the rules.

If Mobley succeeds, software companies and their customers may be required to do more due diligence and disclosure to ensure they don’t enshrine bias. Employment lawyers say any finding of liability could open the door to job seekers also suing employers who use them.

“This isn’t a personal vendetta,” Mobley said. “I’m an honest law-abiding person trying to just get a job in an honest way.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/millions

]]> https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/eight-things-you-should-never-share-with-an-ai-chatbot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eight-things-you-should-never-share-with-an-ai-chatbot Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:40:10 +0000 https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/?p=64440 Source: Life Hacker, Emily Long Photo: Yalcin Sonat / Shutterstock A reminder that your conversations aren’t private or secure. It probably goes without saying at this point, but your conversations with AI chatbots aren’t private—everything you type or upload to Gemini, ChatGPT, and other models might be read and used in a variety of ways. […]]]>

Source: Life Hacker, Emily Long
Photo: Yalcin Sonat / Shutterstock

A reminder that your conversations aren’t private or secure.

It probably goes without saying at this point, but your conversations with AI chatbots aren’t private—everything you type or upload to Gemini, ChatGPT, and other models might be read and used in a variety of ways. If you wouldn’t send a document or repeat information to someone you don’t know, you shouldn’t include it in a chatbot prompt either.

Researchers at Stanford reviewed the privacy policies of the six U.S. companies that developed the most popular AI chatbots, including Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, and found that all of them use chat data by default for training purposes. Some retain said data indefinitely, and most merge it with other information collected from consumers, such as search queries and purchases. In most cases, you can opt out of having your data used to train LLMs, but chats can also be read by human reviewers, and long-term retention policies increase the risk of your stored information being leaked in a breach.

If you’re going to use an AI chatbot, these are the things you should avoid sharing:

Login credentials: Obviously, you should never paste prompts with usernames and passwords into a chatbot, including documents that contain login credentials. AI is also abysmal at generating secure passwords—use the tools in your password manager instead, or better yet, opt for a passkey if available.

Financial data: AI chatbots aren’t financial experts, and you shouldn’t upload documents or use data related to your specific finances in prompts. This includes bank statements, credit card numbers, investment information, account numbers and balances, etc. Sharing financial details anywhere that isn’t secure increases the risk of theft, fraud, and targeting by scammers.

Medical records: AI chatbots also aren’t medical professionals and shouldn’t be relied upon for medical advice. You probably don’t want your medical records to be used to train LLMs—plus, uploading them exposes them to potential data breaches.

Personally identifiable information (PII): AI prompts should never include information like your name, address, email, phone number, birth date, Social Security number, passport number, or any other data that could be used to steal your identity. (Financial information and medical records are also considered sensitive PII.)

General health information: In addition to keeping your sensitive medical records private, you should avoid giving chatbots seemingly benign information about your health that could be used to profile you. For example, the Stanford report notes that it’s possible for AI chatbots to infer health status from a request for heart-friendly dinner recipes, which could eventually be accessible to insurance companies. This also includes information related to topics like sexual health, medication use, and gender-affirming care.

Mental health concerns: Another thing your chatbot isn’t is a therapist. AI has been unhelpful at best and harmful at worst when it comes to mental health. Even with updates intended to protect users in crisis, chatbots aren’t a replacement for real, human support.

Photos: AI image editing is popular, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk. You may not want your personal photos used for training purposes, and image metadata contains information like your GPS location. At the very least, avoid uploading images of people (especially minors), and consider stripping EXIF data before sharing.

Company documents: AI may be useful for summarizing documents, creating presentations, drafting emails, and completing other work-related tasks more quickly, but you should use caution when uploading files containing sensitive company information to a chatbot. Your employer may even have a policy prohibiting it.

The bottom line is that you should be cautious what you share with AI chatbots—assume everything in your prompts is stored and could be read by someone else. Avoid anything that is personal or identifiable, and enable all available privacy settings (such as data sharing and training opt-outs).

https://lifehacker.com/tech/what-not-to-share-with-ai-chatbot

]]> https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/landlines-in-2026-the-underrated-lifeline-you-didnt-expect/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=landlines-in-2026-the-underrated-lifeline-you-didnt-expect Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:21:33 +0000 https://ourblog.siliconbaypartners.com/?p=64420 Source: CNet, Ian Sherr Photo: Iryna Veklich/Getty Images When mobile networks fail, a landline can keep you connected. Even in a smartphone-driven world, a home phone can be your safety net. Landline phones, the precursor to today’s iPhones and foldable smartphones, were once a staple in every home, but now they may seem like ancient […]]]>

Source: CNet, Ian Sherr
Photo: Iryna Veklich/Getty Images

When mobile networks fail, a landline can keep you connected.

Even in a smartphone-driven world, a home phone can be your safety net.

Landline phones, the precursor to today’s iPhones and foldable smartphones, were once a staple in every home, but now they may seem like ancient technology. But they still have a role to play today—especially during a major mobile network outage.

Outages can leave you stranded without one of your most critical lines of access to the world for hours if you’re reliant only on a cellphone. And if your smartphone can’t make phone calls, it’s not much good in an emergency.

You might reconsider the role of this home device, once standard issue but now nearly obsolete. Here’s what to think about when deciding whether to keep (or get) a landline.

Remember the landline?

Landlines are telephones that connect to specialized wiring in our homes. The iconic image is that of a rotary-dial phone — usually rented from the phone company — that either hung on the wall or sat on a counter or table, though push-button and later cordless landlines replaced many of those oldsters in the 1980s. Landline phones connect through a global communication network that was built over more than a century. But as cellphones became broadly available and affordable, many people chose to drop their landlines altogether.

A 2022 survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only about 29% of US adults lived in a house with a landline phone, down from more than 90% in 2004. The crossover happened over 10 years ago, in 2015, when smartphone sales entered a boom period that reshaped the tech industry and helped turn iPhone maker Apple into one of the world’s most highly valued companies.

Ann Williams is one of the folks who hasn’t given up on their landlines yet. When asked why she keeps hers around, she describes moving to Huntsville, Alabama, after a tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011, when dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people and knocked out power for days. Although she moved there after the tornadoes, hearing about the event brought home to her the importance of always needing a phone connection.

“The weather here is so unpredictable,” she told me in an interview. But landlines have dedicated power and often work even in an outage. “We remember a day when it was absolutely necessary to have (the landline),” Williams said.

What makes landline phones more reliable

Landline phones operate on a separate infrastructure, built from copper phone lines that are inexpensive to build and rather reliable. They also don’t have the drawbacks of cellular networks, like dropped calls, poor and distorted quality or weak reception.

A key reason people keep landlines around is that they tend to work even during power outages, which is a big plus for folks whose work involves emergency services, business or health care.

Analog fax machines are also built around landline phone systems, which means most hospitals and doctors’ offices, as well as policy and law offices, need to keep a landline connection running.

Remember cordless phones and phone books?

The US Federal Communications Commission has effectively ended the requirement that phone companies provide traditional analog landlines, and carriers are actively retiring them in favor of newer technologies. As a result, more homes and business offices are being built with Ethernet jacks rather than phone jacks.

Landline phone connections aren’t cheap, either. Standalone home phone plans from big carriers like AT&T can run about $25-$70 per month, depending on the plan and features. CenturyLink’s home phone service starts around $30 per month, and other providers, such as Spectrum, often charge around $30 or more for basic voice service, with lower promotional rates sometimes available when bundled with internet or TV.

And not all landlines use copper phone lines. Increasingly, companies are piggybacking their phone systems on their internet connections, a service called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. AllConnect currently tracks only three service providers offering old-style landlines: CenturyLink, Comcast Xfinity and Cox.

How to get a new landline service
If you’re ready to get set up with a landline, call your local phone company to learn about phone services. If you live in an apartment building, it’s important for you to find out where the phone junction box is. Typically, the landlord should know, and if not, the local phone company should be able to find it.

Here are some follow-up questions you want to ask, and what to look for in the answers:

Are the landlines VoIP or are they POTS? Ideally, if you’re looking for security and reliability, POTS is what you want. VoIP can work, but understand that it likely relies on your internet modem and connection.

If VoIP, does the company have backup power systems to ensure the voice line remains operational during a power outage? Most companies sell backup batteries that you can buy directly from them. You can use an uninterrupted power supply, perhaps from CyberPower or APC. Do note that these are different from portable power supplies.

Portable power supplies do allow you to stay electronically powered on the go, but those aren’t meant to continuously monitor for power outages and then kick in as needed.

Typically, local calls are free, but dialing out of your area code costs. What’s the rate structure? Companies like AT&T charge extra fees tor nationwide and international long-distance calls. Long-distance calls in particular are usually charged per minute, and companies don’t always publish that information on their websites. Make sure you know what it’ll cost, and if it’s too much, consider using a chat app like Signal, WhatsApp, Google Meet or Apple FaceTime for your long-distance calls instead.

What should you do with a landline phone?

If you have a landline but leave it languishing, just sucking money out of your bank account each month, you aren’t alone. But there are some ways to make it more useful.

Google Voice is a popular option that gives you a new phone number acting as a central hub. When someone calls, Google Voice rings all the phones you’ve connected, whether it’s a home landline, a cellphone, a work phone or anything else.

There are other such services too, including Zoom and RingCentral, if you don’t like working with Google.

A landline phone can also connect with home security systems and medical alert sensors to help ensure that if you’re in an emergency, help will be there as soon as possible.

What to do if you can’t get a landline connected

If you’re ineligible for a landline or don’t like the service being offered, you do have more options from satellite providers. Companies such as HughesNet and SpaceX can support VoIP over their internet connections.

Phone makers like Apple are also slowly building satellite messaging into their devices. The iPhone has a feature called Emergency SOS, which can connect with a satellite to send location data to your friends or an emergency text to authorities.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/why-you-may-still-need-your-landline

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