首屆「大灣區新質生產力企業大獎」以香港企業為主要對象，無論是上市公司、老牌企業或初創公司皆可獲得評選機會。綜合統計，首屆頒得主辦方評審委員會確認獲獎的企業單位合共達到170(待定)家，其中160家為本港上市企業，4家本港老牌企業、另有6家為本港的初創企業。 首屆新質生產力大獎將評選對象以七大範疇予以劃分，分別是： 1.環保節能及新能源、新材料；得獎企業包括福萊特玻璃(06865.HK)、煤氣公司(00003.HK)、基石科技(08391.HK)、海螺環保(00587.HK)、金風科技(02208.HK)、信越化工、Absolute Pure EnviroSci Limited等等。 2.汽車、精密儀器、高端製造及工程；得獎企業包括濰柴動力(02338.HK)、三一國際(00631.HK)、威勝控股(03393.HK)、力勁科技(00558.HK)、丘鈦科技(01478.HK)、鷹普精密(01286.HK)、中芯國際(00981.HK)、小米集團(01810.HK)、比亞迪股份(01211.HK)、德鑄集團等等。 3.生物醫藥, 藥物及儀器製造及醫療服務；得獎企業包括中國抗體(03681.HK)、藥明康得(02359.HK)、廣州白雲山(00874.HK)、華潤醫療(01515.HK)、希瑪醫療(03309.HK)、朝聚眼科(02219.HK)、先健科技(01302.HK)、康臣葯業(01681.HK)等等。 4.資訊科技, 互聯網及人工智能；得獎企業包括浪潮數字(00596.HK)、九方智投(09636.HK)、百富環球(00327.HK)、神州數碼(00861.HK)、創新奇智(02121.HK)出門問問(02438.HK)、智慧選擇科技、提供AI虛擬人方案的數智人國際等等。 5.酒店,餐飲、零售及網上營銷服務；得獎企業包括海底撈(06862.HK)、譚仔國際(02217.HK)、微盟集團(02013.HK)、喆麗控股(02209.HK)、香港科技探索(01137.HK)等等。 6.運輸, 貨運, 物流及供應鏈；得獎企業包括順豐同城(09699.HK)、泛遠國際(02516.HK)、嘉泓物流(02130.HK)、圓通快遞(06123.HK)、德銀天下(02418.HK)等等。 7.金融服務；得獎企業包括提供環保及綠色金融服務的沛然環保(08320.HK)、富途證券、積極發展家族辦公室業務的亨利加集團(03638.HK)、由發明家、星之子陳易希創辧的支付技術公司T Wallet Technology、提供AI投資整合方案的MUXIC AI Investment等等。 主辦機構發言人表示：「新質生產力企業大獎的創立，旨在于表彰和鼓勵優秀企業，促進行業內的創新與發展，特別是新質生產力的發展。新質生產力不僅是衡量企業競爭力的重要指標，也是推動社會進步的關鍵動力。因此，我們的評獎活動將新質生產力作為評審的主要元素之一，以認可那些在創新技術應用、生產效率提升和經濟結構優化、在可持續發展卓有成效的企業。」 新質生產力是指在特定歷史時期，通過技術創新、管理創新、制度創新等方式，推動生產力發展和經濟增長的新興力量。香港企業亦可通過創新及科技、善用綠色金融、注重社會責任、解決特定社會挑戰等路徑，強化香港企業的「新質生產力」： 1.科技應用：利用大數據、雲計算、人工智慧、區塊鏈等技術，提高企業服務的效率和品質，降低了成本，增強了風險管理能力。例子：智慧零售、AI直播、智慧投顧、移動支付、線上銀行服務等。 2.產品和服務創新：推出新的產品和服務，以滿足市場和客戶多樣化的需求。 3.綠色及金融創新：金融業通過提供資金支援和風險管理工具，促進科技創新，為科技型企業提供更全面的金融服務。例子：銀行通過設立科技支行、科技特色支行等，加大對科創企業的金融服務力度。通過綠色信貸、綠色債券、碳金融等工具，支援環保、節能、清潔能源等綠色產業的發展，推動經濟向綠色低碳轉型。 主辦機構目前正評估在大灣區尋找合適的合作夥伴，綜合大灣區的企業特色等因素，將此頒獎活動推向整個大灣區。 關於大灣區新質生產力企業大獎 大灣區新質生產力企業大獎由大灣區家族辦公室協會、香港國際家族辦公室總會、香港國際區塊鏈金融總會、大灣區國際醫療大健康產業總會、財經周刊《金星匯》、以及家族辦公室雜誌《家辦》聯合主辦。 新質生產力企業大獎創立，旨在于表彰和鼓勵優秀企業，促進行業內的創新與發展，特別是新質生產力的發展。新質生產力不僅是衡量企業競爭力的重要指標，也是推動社會進步的關鍵動力。評獎活動將新質生產力作為評審的主要元素之一，以認可那些在創新技術應用、生產效率提升和經濟結構優化、在可持續發展卓有成效的企業。 LinkedIn Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp source

Credit card payments have outnumbered cash payments for several years now, and this trend isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. Credit cards officially overtook cash in 2020. And a growing number of transactions are paid for by card each year. So, if you don’t accept credit card payments already, what are you waiting for? Let’s break it down. Why pay using credit cards? From a consumer’s perspective, there are a few reasons why paying with a credit card is advantageous: Easier to track spending. Credit card statements make it easier to see where the money goes. Potential to earn rewards. Nearly 15% of cardholders increase spending to get rewards and cash back. Additional security and safety (e.g., chargebacks). Most credit card companies offer protections, such as fraud detection and chargebacks. Build credit history. According to one survey, 70% of adults 18 to 34 years old use credit cards to boost their credit scores. Purchase protection. Some credit cards offer benefits that protect purchases, sort of like an additional warranty. Ability to spend more. You can buy more than the cash you have on hand with a credit card. About a third of cardholders in the US increased their reliance on credit cards in 2023—and 43% of those negatively impacted by the rise in cost of living have turned to credit cards to make ends meet. Accepting different types of credit card payments There are three main channels for accepting credit card payments: Online In-person Over the phone How to accept credit card payments online​ Nearly one-third of consumers use credit cards for e-commerce payments. Here’s how to set yourself up for those buyers: Step 1: Choose a payment processing platform that’s compatible with your existing tech stack. Step 2: Set up your account with your chosen payment processor. Connect your e-commerce site with the payment processor. The specific steps will vary depending on your e-commerce platform and payment processor. Note: You don’t actually need an e-commerce site to accept credit card payments online. You can find a credit card payment processor that will do so without an e-commerce site. Many will offer this, including PayPal, Stripe, etc. Step 3: Connect your bank account to your payment processor. Step 4: Share the payment link with your customer, who can then input their payment information. Step 5: The payment processor will take care of the rest! How to accept credit card payments in person For in-person credit card payments, the steps are similar: Step 1: Choose a payment processing platform that’s compatible with your card reader, POS system, and whatever else you use to manage in-person transactions. Step 2: Set up your account with your chosen payment processor. Connect your card reader, POS, and other relevant technology with the payment processor. The specific steps will vary depending on your chosen platforms and payment processor. Step 3: Connect your bank account to your payment processor. Step 4: Accept in-person credit card payments on your card reader or POS. Step 5: The payment processor will take care of the rest! How to accept credit card payments via phone For accepting credit card payments over the phone, the steps are also similar: Step 1: Choose a payment processing platform that’s compatible with your existing technologies. Step 2: Set up your account with your chosen payment processor and connect your other relevant technology with it. The specific steps will vary depending on your chosen platforms and payment processor. Step 3: Connect your bank account to your payment processor. Step 4: Take credit card payments over the phone and input them into your payment processor. Step 5: The payment processor will take care of the rest! What do you need to accept credit card payments? The only things you really need to accept credit card payments are a payment processor, a payment gateway, a bank account, and a device to access and manage your payment processor. For online payments, you may also need a payment link or website. For in-person payments, you’ll also need a card reader, POS, or mobile phone at the very least. For phone payments, you’ll need a phone and a device to access your payment processor. You’ll also need a credit card payment policy outlining the terms and conditions customers agree to when they make a credit card payment. If you save customers’ payment information to make future purchases faster and easier, include the Credit Card on File (CCOF) policy. What does it cost to accept credit card payments? Unfortunately, it’s not free to accept credit card payments. Accepting credit card payments comes with three fees for businesses. Interchange fee The customer’s issuing financial institution charges an interchange fee, usually the largest of all three fees. It varies depending on the card used and the type of transaction. Assessment fee Each card network—Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, etc.—charges its own fees, mostly percentage-based. American Express is known for having high fees compared to many other networks. Payment processing fee The payment processor also charges a fee. Fee structures for payment processing can be subscription-based, percentages, tiered, or flat fees. Typically, you can expect to pay between 1% and 3% for credit card payments, though the rate can be outside that range depending on the context. Pros of accepting credit card payments There are plenty of benefits for businesses that accept credit card payments: Boost sales. Accommodating more consumer preferences means you have the potential to convert more customers. Plus, consumers are moving away from cash and towards payment methods like credit cards. Speed up the checkout. Cash payments can take longer than quick credit card payments. This is especially impactful, considering 41% of POS payments are by credit card. Offer convenience. Faster checkouts and other features, like saved card information, can create a more convenient checkout experience for customers. Over half (63%) of adults 55 years and above use credit cards primarily for convenience. Drive loyalty. Accommodating customers’ preferences and offering a fast and easy checkout experience will encourage repeat purchases. Eliminate

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Software Spotlight: CrowdStrike CrowdStrike Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM is a cloud-native platform that combines first- and third-party security and IT data, threat intelligence, AI, and automation to help organizations detect, investigate, and respond to threats with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Unified Insights: Integrates endpoint, identity, and cloud telemetry with third-party data for comprehensive visibility. Efficient Scalability: Manages petabyte-scale data with an index-free architecture for seamless storage and retrieval. Unmatched Search Speed: Delivers search performance up to 150x faster than legacy SIEMs, enabling rapid investigations and response. Security information and event management (SIEM) is a device and environmental analysis strategy intended to help secure and protect company operations, data, and personnel. By providing a comprehensive analysis of security-related details and related recommendations, SIEM tools assist in ensuring compliance and remediating potential or active threats. A recent report published by the IMARC Group found that the global SIEM market reached almost $5.8 billion in 2023. The same report says the market is expected to climb to around $14 billion, especially with more companies investing more resources in protecting against potential threats and resolving vulnerabilities. With that in mind, we take a look at the best SIEM tools and SIEM software solutions available today. ManageEngine Log360 Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Activity Monitoring, Blacklisting, Dashboard, and more Graylog Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Activity Monitoring, Dashboard, Notifications Top SIEM software comparison Those wishing to adopt SIEM or planning to upgrade a legacy SIEM tool to a modern platform should carefully evaluate the available tools. Features such as cloud and on-prem functionality, remediation capabilities, and the platforms supported should be among the top areas to be considered. Cloud Hosted on-prem Remediation Platforms Pricing SolarWinds SEM Yes Yes Includes some automated remediation features. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Starts at $2,992 CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM Yes No Full range of remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, Mac, and Chrome. Contact for quote Splunk Enterprise Security Yes No Some remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Reportedly $173 per month up to $1,800 per GB Datadog Security Monitoring Yes No Limited remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Starts at $15 per host, per month LogRhythm SIEM Yes Yes Limited remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Contact for quote RSA NetWitness SIEM Yes Yes Limited remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Contact for quote ManageEngine Log360 Yes Yes Limited remediation capabilities Windows, Linux, and Mac. Personalized quote via online form IBM Security QRadar SIEM Yes Yes Full remediation capabilities. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Personalized quote via online price estimator Trellix Enterprise Security Manager Yes Yes Remediation capabilities only available with purchase of additional Trellix modules. Windows, Linux, and Mac. Contact for quote AT&T USM Anywhere Yes No Remediation included Windows, Linux, and Mac. Starts at $1,075 per month SolarWinds: Best for log aggregation Image: Solarwinds SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM) is focused on log aggregation and threat detection. It can easily process and forward raw event log data to external applications for further analysis using syslog protocols, which is an area where it stands out from the competition. Why I picked SolarWinds I picked SolarWinds for its extensive log aggregation and log analysis functionality. This allows businesses to know the exact state of their devices, find the root-cause of each log, and consequently implement strategies to improve the same. SolarWinds’ ability to share massive amounts of log data with other applications is a significant plus as well. Pricing SolarWinds annual SEM subscriptions start at $2,992. Perpetual licensing is available for around $6,168. Features Automation to remediate some incidents. Export log data and share it with other teams or vendors. Dashboards indicate the state of security, and reports address compliance requirements. Pre-built connectors pull data from numerous sources. A file integrity checker tracks access and changes made to files and folders to detect unauthorized or malicious activity. Solarwinds SIEM dashboard. Image: SolarWinds Integrations Amazon Web Services. Azure. Heroku. Apache. Oracle. SolarWinds pros and cons Pros Cons Good for network-related events and analyzing per-host activities, such as logons, privilege usage, and registry alterations. Dashboards can become cluttered and hard to understand when processing large amounts of data. Security features include data encryption, single sign-on, and smart card authorization. Can struggle with the complexity of very large enterprise environments. Ability to restrict access from IPs, block applications, and deny access to removable media. Automated does not provide a full range of remediation capabilities. Features Collect logs at petabyte scale. Rapidly access live data with sub-second latency. Fast search, real-time alerting, and customizable dashboards. Retain data as long as you need for compliance, threat hunting, and historical investigations. Next-Gen SIEM in CrowdStrike Falcon platform. Image: CrowdStrike Integrations AWS. Google Cloud. Azure. Red Hat. Other CrowStrike products. CrowdStrike pros and cons Pros Cons Index-free architecture and compression technology minimize the computing and storage resources required to ingest and manage data. Evolved from the XDR side, so is more of a log management tool with SIEM-like features than a full-featured SIEM suite. Said to cut log management costs by up to 80% compared to alternative solutions. Strong remediation capabilities, courtesy of integration with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. Splunk Enterprise Security: Best for cloud-native environment Image: Splunk Splunk Enterprise Security offers cloud-based security-related event notifications and log monitoring. It can identify resource bottlenecks, failing hardware, capacity issues, and other potential issues. As it evolved in the era of the cloud, it is particularly well suited to cloud-native environments. Why I picked Splunk Enterprise Security Splunk Enterprise Security got on this list for being specially equipped to protect cloud environments. It enables cloud-native organizations to easily establish security monitoring and unified visibility in the cloud. Its comprehensive visibility capabilities are coupled with 1,500+ detections, thousands of integrations,

While it is unclear which of President-elect Donald Trump’s promised tariffs he intends to actually implement in January, lessons from his first administration, laws governing executive action and U.S. trade agreements together paint a picture of what may be possible, say attorneys at Butzel. source

Earlier this year, China-linked threat group Salt Typhoon allegedly breached major telecommunications companies, potentially gaining access to US wiretap systems. The full scope of the breach remains unknown, and the hackers are potentially still lurking in telecommunications networks.   This breach is hardly the first time a group associated with China targeted critical infrastructure in the US. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, have both been vocal about the threat China poses to US critical infrastructure. In a 2024 opening statement before the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Easterly said, “Specifically, Chinese cyber actors, including a group known as ‘Volt Typhoon,’ are burrowing deep into our critical infrastructure to be ready to launch destructive cyber-attacks in the event of a major crisis or conflict with the United States.” In April, Wray brought up this concern at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats. “The fact is, the PRC’s targeting of our critical infrastructure is both broad and unrelenting.” At the Cyberwarcon conference, Morgan Adamski, executive director of US Cyber Command, chimed in with a warning about how China’s position in critical infrastructure could cause disruptive cyberattacks if the two countries enter into a major conflict, Reuters reports. Related:What Do We Know About the New Ransomware Gang Termite? If conflict does erupt between China and the US, what could disruptive cyberattacks on critical infrastructure look like? What can the government and critical infrastructure leaders do to prepare?   The Possibility of Disruptive Cyberattacks  The US has 16 critical infrastructure sectors. “All of them are called critical because they would impact society to some degree were they to be taken offline,” says Eric Knapp, CTO of OT for OPSWAT, a company focused on critical infrastructure cybersecurity. “And they’re all susceptible to cyberattack to some degree.”  Telecommunications and power could be prime targets for China in a conflict. “Back from the dawn of time when people would go to war, you would try to eliminate your opponent’s ability to communicate and their ability to power their systems,” says Knapp.   But other sectors, such as water, health care, food, and financial services, could be targeted as well.   “The intent of these kind of operations may be to provide a distraction in order to … slow down a US response, if there was to be one, in any sort of conflict involving Taiwan,” says Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence for the counter threat unit at cybersecurity company Secureworks. Related:Finding Your Shadow: Can Shadow IT Be Controlled? While it is uncertain exactly how these attacks would play out, there are real-world examples of how adversaries can attack critical infrastructure to their advantage. “Unfortunately, there’s a roadmap that we can look at that’s happening in the real world right now in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” says Knapp.  Leading up to and following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia executed many cyberattacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, including its power grid.   If China were to use its positioning in US critical infrastructure to carry out similarly disruptive attacks, they would be dealing with very distributed systems. It would be very unlikely to see something like a nationwide power outage, Knapp tells InformationWeek.   “What you’d likely see is a cascade of smaller localized disruptions,” says Pilling.   Those disruptions could still be very impactful, potentially causing chaos, physical harm, death, and financial loss. But they would not last forever.  “Many of these sectors, for reasons completely unrelated to cyberattacks, are used to being able to resolve issues, work around problems, and get services up and running quickly,” says Pilling. “Resiliency and quick restoration of services, particularly in the energy sector, [are] an important part of their day-to-day planning.”  Related:Why SOC Roles Need to Evolve to Attract a New Generation Threat Actors  Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon are two widely recognized, Chinese cyber threat groups that target US critical infrastructure.   “All [of] these different Chinese threat actor groups, they have different motivations, different goals, different countries that they’re attacking,” says Jonathan Braley, director of threat intelligence at nonprofit Information Technology-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC).   In addition to pre-positioning for disruptive cyberattacks, motivations could also include intellectual property theft and espionage.   While Salt Typhoon is the suspected culprit behind the major breach in the US telecommunications sector, it actively targets victims in other sectors as well. For example, the group reportedly targeted hotels and government, according to FortiGuard Labs.   “Targeting hotels and targeting telcos is often to get information about people’s movements and what they’ve been saying to each other and who they’ve been communicating with. So, it’s part of a collection for a wider intelligence picture,” says Pilling.   Volt Typhoon has targeted systems in several critical infrastructure sectors, including communications, energy, transportation, and water, according to CISA.   “They combine a number of tactics that make them quite stealthy,” says Pilling. For example, Volt Typhoon makes use of living off the land techniques and will move laterally through networks. It often gains initial access via known or zero-day vulnerabilities.   “In some cases, they would use malware but for the vast majority of cases … they were using built-in tools and things that were already deployed on the network to achieve their aims of maintained persistence in those networks,” Pilling shares.   Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon are just two groups out of many China-backed threat actors. IT-ISAC has adversary playbooks for threat actors across many different countries of origin.   “We have about 50 different playbooks for different Chinese nation state actors, which is a lot,” Braley tells InformationWeek. “I think if we look at other countries there might be a dozen or so.”  While China-linked threat groups pose a risk to critical infrastructure, they are not alone.  “As we approach various global conflicts, we need to be prepared that not only we’re going to have these nation states coming out, [but] we also [have] to watch some of these hacktivist groups that

By Jonathan Porter ( December 11, 2024, 5:56 PM EST) — White collar defense lawyers preparing for trial have a lot to consider. One of the biggest concerns is developing a narrative that sticks in the minds of jurors…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Midjourney, the popular AI image generation startup with more than 21 million users on its Discord server alone, is branching out from AI image creation and editing. Patchwork revealed Max Kreminski, leader of Midjourney’s Storytelling Lab, demoed the new tool, called “Patchwork,” in a livestream screenshare on Discord and X via Restream. Screenshot of a Patchwork world. He clarified that it would be a stand alone app that would require Midjourney accounts to log into, and that the URL would be available as a “research preview” in the Midjourney Discord server’s “updates” channel. Users will need to connect their Midjourney Discord account to their Google Account to access Patchwork’s research preview. The company posted instructions for doing so on its X account. The tool appears to be a web-based blank white, infinite canvas with a “toolbox” on the left side of the browser screen, showing a variety of buttons labeled for “character,” “event,” “faction,” “place,” “prop,” and “random,” as well as tools such as “note,” “image,” “portal,” “save” and “share.” “Save” downloads a JSON file with links to all the Midjourney images created in the canvas. Midjourney considers each canvas a separate digital “world.” To switch between worlds, the user creates a “portal,” a small black circular button. To generate a new world, the user enters a text prompt into an editor bar at the top of the “create” screen and selects one or more of a set of 10 different image styles. This then produces a new whiteboard with a bunch of new still image assets and text boxes or entities known as “scraps”, including input boxes that allow the user to prompt new images or settings that fit the initial world description, even whole new AI generated character descriptions. In the demo livestream, the character name automatically populated with Marcus “Dizzy” Gillespie, echoing the name of the famous jazz musician. Dragging the description into a new character image creator box produces four new AI-generated images. Adding new character boxes, the user can then prompt to create names and characteristics, as well as motivations that can spur a conflict for the basis of a story. The user can then link characters together with lines that denote connections between them. They can also write action sequences and scene descriptions that each narrate a story. Each character can be used in multiple images and these images gathered together with a single option. The user can “share” the board with other Midjourney users who can collaborate, purportedly in real-time, with multiple cursors moving across the same shared canvas. A single world can support dozens, even up to 100 users, according to Kreminski. However, he noted that the more users, the more chaotic the experience would be. Kreminski said only users who are logged in can view boards (for now), but in the future, boards may be viewable by non-users. He mentioned that tabletop roleplaying groups were already using the feature to chart their campaigns. He also said that Midjourney version 7 (V7) would include a setting to allow multiple character consistency across different and new images. Moving towards immersive, 3D worlds Kreminski further revealed that there were at least 3 different large language models powering the application, including a fine-tuned open source one unique to Midjourney. Ultimately, it appears to be a novel, complex, powerful, somewhat overwhelming yet compelling tool for storyboarding. I could easily see it being used by writers and film directors, game designers, comic book creators and even live theater directors and writers. In the long term, Kreminski said there was a “very clear path in terms of escalation of the details and interactions in the worlds,” including fully immersive 3D virtual reality scenes, but that was likely years away. The news comes as other AI researchers, startups such as Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, and big tech companies such as Google seek to develop AI that can create 3D immersive, navigable worlds online from simple prompts or images. More Midjourney updates coming soon In addition, Midjourney’s creator David Holz joined the announcement livestream to state the startup would launch multiple model personalization modes in the coming days. Currently, Midjourney allows users to rate images to personalize the kinds of visuals they want to see in generations, and fine-tune the model to personal preferences. Now, the startup will allow users to have multiple personalized versions they can toggle between. In addition, Holz shared that Midjourney would allow users to upload and reference multiple images to boards to guide generations. Furthermore, sometime after Christmas (December 25), Midjourney will be introducing video models and a Midjourney V7 AI image generator that will feature increased prompt understanding. Holz further revealed that Midjourney is working on three to four new hardware projects and said the startup was “trying to branch out and become a full research lab…it may take us six months to announce all six things.” source

By Kenneth Nunnenkamp, Giovanna Cinelli and Eli Rymland-Kelly ( December 9, 2024, 7:32 PM EST) — In a ruling eagerly awaited by the cryptocurrency industry, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on Nov. 26 that immutable smart contracts on the Tornado Cash crypto-transaction software protocol are not “property,” subject to the sanctions jurisdiction asserted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Anthropic has officially rolled out its Claude 3.5 Haiku model to all users through the Claude chatbot on the web and mobile apps, as sighted by AI power users on X. Previously limited to developers accessing it via Anthropic’s API following its launch in October 2024, this smaller, faster model has garnered attention for its ability to outperform larger models on key benchmarks while maintaining a competitive price point. According to the third-party benchmarking organization Artificial Analysis, Claude 3.5 Haiku “has a lower latency compared to average, taking 0.80s to receive the first token (TTFT),” yet “is slower compared to average, with a output speed of 65.1 tokens per second.” The release — which hasn’t been officially announced — comes on the heels of major updates from Anthropic’s AI rivals OpenAI and Google, which have also shipped new models to general availability in their chatbots as the year winds down, namely OpenAI’s o1 and o1-mini models and Google’s Gemini 2. The question for Anthropic is whether customers will be impressed enough with Claude 3.5 Haiku’s performance to sign up for its Pro tier — or to continue using it instead of some of these other advanced and fast rivals. Claude 3.5 Haiku is accessible through the Claude Chatbot As the fastest and most cost-effective model in Anthropic’s lineup, Claude 3.5 Haiku excels in real-time tasks such as processing large datasets, analyzing financial documents, and generating outputs from long-context information. It features a 200,000-token context window — more than the 128,000-token window on OpenAI’s GPT-4 and GPT-4o — allowing it to handle extensive input with ease. On the Claude chatbot, Haiku brings functionality that enhances its versatility. Users can analyze images and file attachments, making it useful for multimedia tasks and workflows involving large document sets. Haiku also integrates with Claude Artifacts, the interactive sidebar first introduced in June 2024. Artifacts provides a dedicated workspace for manipulating and refining AI-generated content in real time, including running full apps. In my test of Artifacts with Haiku this morning, it was able to code a fully playable version of Pong in less than a minute: Despite its strengths, Haiku has limitations. It does not currently support web browsing or image generation, both of which are offered by competitors like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and GPT-4. Additionally, my brief test of it this morning showed it failed on the “Strawberry Test,” a common user-designed challenge in which an AI must identify all three R’s in the word strawberry. Access and subscription details Claude 3.5 Haiku is freely accessible via the Claude chatbot, but users face a variable daily message limit depending on server demand. For example, on the free tier this morning when I tried it out, I was able to perform approximately 10 exchanges (20 total messages in and out) before reaching Anthropic’s quota, which resets daily. To unlock more extensive usage, users can subscribe to the Claude Pro plan, priced at $20 per month. This subscription provides up to five times the free tier’s usage, priority access during high-traffic periods, early access to new features, and access to additional models like Claude 3 Opus. The pricing structure mirrors OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus subscription, offering a premium experience for power users. Performance and cost On the API, Claude 3.5 Haiku offers exceptional performance at an affordable price. Starting at $0.80 per million input tokens and $4 per million output tokens, it provides an economical solution compared to larger models like Claude 3 Opus. Developers can reduce costs further using prompt caching, which offers up to 90% savings, and the Message Batches API, which cuts costs by 50%. In benchmark testing, Haiku has surpassed many larger, publicly available models. Its performance includes a 40.6% score on SWE-bench Verified, a key coding benchmark, demonstrating its strength in tasks requiring intelligence and speed. This makes Haiku an excellent choice for user-facing applications and time-sensitive workflows. Key considerations While Claude 3.5 Haiku delivers strong capabilities, potential users should consider its current limitations. The lack of web browsing and image generation may make it less appealing for certain use cases compared to competitors. Furthermore, the daily message cap may be inconvenient for users who don’t wish to upgrade to the Claude Pro subscription. However, with features like image and file analysis, robust coding capabilities, and integration with Artifacts, Haiku remains a powerful tool for tasks requiring speed and precision. The Artifacts feature, in particular, extends its functionality beyond text generation, enabling collaborative editing and real-time content refinement. For users ready to explore its potential, Claude 3.5 Haiku is now live and available through the Claude chatbot on web and mobile apps on iOS and Android. source