Things To Do In SW Florida

Residents of Winter Park won’t head to the polls in March because the races for two City Commission seats were uncontested — meaning automatic wins for a political newcomer and an incumbent.

Elizabeth Ingram, a trained opera singer who has performed with Opera Orlando, will take Seat 1 as successor to Commissioner Marty Sullivan, who did not seek a third term. In addition, Commissioner Craig Russell will return in Seat 2 for his first full term.

Qualifying in the city of about 30,000 ended Monday. Ingram will take her seat next to Russell after they’re sworn in at the beginning of the March 25 commission meeting.

Ingram, born and raised in the Winter Park house where her parents still live, said she looks forward to working on behalf of fellow residents.

“I think my number one priority is just protecting the look and special charm that Winter Park has which I think really separates it from so many other cities around here,” she said.

Among her other priorities are addressing traffic challenges and improving roadways, responsibly managing the budget without raising taxes, upholding the city’s commitment to public arts and culture, and supporting local businesses and economic growth. read more

By Nilesh Christopher, Los Angeles Times

Chatty bots are sharing their hot takes through hundreds of thousands of AI-generated podcasts. And the invasion has just begun.

Though their banter can be a bit banal, the AI podcasters’ confidence and research are now arguably better than most people’s.

“We’ve just begun to cross the threshold of voice AI being pretty much indistinguishable from human,” said Alan Cowen, chief executive of Hume AI, a startup specializing in voice technology. “We’re seeing creators use it in all kinds of ways.”

AI can make podcasts sound better and cost less, industry insiders say, but the growing swarm of new competitors entering an already crowded market is disrupting the industry.

Some podcasters are pushing back, requesting restrictions. Others are already cloning their voices and handing over their podcasts to AI bots.

Popular podcast host Steven Bartlett has used an AI clone to launch a new kind of content aimed at the 13 million followers of his podcast “Diary of a CEO.” On YouTube, his clone narrates “100 CEOs With Steven Bartlett,” which adds AI-generated animation to Bartlett’s cloned voice to tell the life stories of entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. read more

By Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times

The grocery delivery service Instacart is using artificial intelligence to experiment with prices and charge some shoppers more than others for the same items, a new study found.

The study from nonprofits Groundwork Collaborative and Consumer Reports followed more than 400 shoppers in four cities and found that Instacart sometimes offered as many as five different sales prices for the exact same item, at the same store and on the same day.

The average difference between the highest price and lowest price on the same item was 13%, but some participants in the study saw prices that were 23% higher than those offered to other shoppers.

The varying prices are unfair to consumers and exacerbate a grocery affordability crisis that regular Americans are already struggling to cope with, said Lindsey Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative.

“In my own view, Instacart should close the lab,” Owens said. “American grocery shoppers aren’t guinea pigs, and they should be able to expect a fair price when they’re shopping.” read more

By MATT O’BRIEN

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Robots have long been seen as a bad bet for Silicon Valley investors — too complicated, capital-intensive and “boring, honestly,” says venture capitalist Modar Alaoui.

But the commercial boom in artificial intelligence has lit a spark under long-simmering visions to build humanoid robots that can move their mechanical bodies like humans and do things that people do.

Alaoui, founder of the Humanoids Summit, gathered more than 2,000 people this week, including top robotics engineers from Disney, Google and dozens of startups, to showcase their technology and debate what it will take to accelerate a nascent industry.

Alaoui says many researchers now believe humanoids or some other kind of physical embodiment of AI are “going to become the norm.”

“The question is really just how long it will take,” he said.

Disney’s contribution to the field, a walking robotic version of “Frozen” character Olaf, will be roaming on its own through Disneyland theme parks in Hong Kong and Paris early next year. Entertaining and highly complex robots that resemble a human — or a snowman — are already here, but the timeline for “general purpose” robots that are a productive member of a workplace or household is farther away. read more

In a recent monthly newsletter from IRA expert Ed Slott, a discussion of loan options from retirement accounts referenced a recent study by Fidelity, which found that since 2021 the percentage of employees who had taken such loans climbed from 6.5% to 9.2%.

You are allowed to take a loan from 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans, if the rules of the plan permit. You are not allowed to take loans from IRAs, including SEP, and SIMPLE accounts.

If you take such a loan, you repay the principal and interest over a set term, typically five years, and must repay it in full if you leave employment associated with the plan.

Is it a good idea to borrow from your retirement plan? In my opinion, as long as you can repay the loans on time before you leave your current employer, I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Personally, when I was working full time, my employer, a major bank, offered the 401(k) option to its employees. Because two of my children were attending college, I found that the availability of loan options from my 401(k) account was reasonable compared to other options, and I was never sorry that I used the available loan option. read more