The Social Web (old posts, page 158)
Harnessing the Universal Geometry of Embeddings
Why Does the US Always Run a Trade Deficit?
The U.S. trade deficit persists due to fundamental macroeconomic imbalances rather than just export shortfalls, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist Thomas Klitgaard. His analysis shows the deficit reflects a persistent gap between domestic saving and investment spending, with the U.S. borrowing from foreign sources to fund domestic investment when savings fall short.
This macroeconomic reality means targeting specific trade categories won't resolve the overall imbalance -- even when the petroleum deficit disappeared by 2019 due to increased domestic production, the total trade deficit grew to $441 billion, consistent with a widening saving gap.
Bureau of Economic Analysis data reveals household saving has remained below pre-pandemic levels as consumers spend down accumulated savings from 2020-21, while business saving has remained relatively stable. Reducing the deficit would require significant macroeconomic adjustments, including higher domestic saving or reduced investment spending, which studies indicate would likely cause economic pain as demonstrated during the 2008 recession.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An upgraded dev experience in Google AI Studio
Gilded Fish: Illustrations of Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine c.1780
Show HN: I made a running app that turns your runs to a virtual garden
Python Tooling at Scale: LlamaIndex’s Monorepo Overhaul
Show HN: Representing Agents as MCP Servers
LLM function calls don't scale; code orchestration is simpler, more effective
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive's Startup in $6.5 Billion Deal To Create AI Devices
Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, said Wednesday his firm was paying $6.5 billion to buy io, a one-year-old start-up created by Jony Ive, a former top Apple executive who designed the iPhone. From a report: The deal, which effectively unites Silicon Valley royalty, is intended to usher in what the two men call "a new family of products" for the age of artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is shorthand for a future technology that achieves human-level intelligence.
The deal, which is OpenAI's biggest acquisition, will bring in Mr. Ive and his team of roughly 55 engineers, designers and researchers. They will assume creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and build hardware that helps people better interact with the technology. In a joint interview, Mr. Ive and Mr. Altman declined to say what such devices could look like and how they might work, but they said they hoped to share details next year. Mr. Ive, 58, framed the ambitions as galactic, with the aim of creating "amazing products that elevate humanity."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.