🐤 Patrolling Paris

🎤 Old dogg, new trick: One of the most recognizable aspects of the Olympics is the torch relay from Greece to the site of the games. And this year, there will be a very recognizable figure carrying the flame toward its final destination near Paris. According to Saint-Denis Mayor Mathieu Hanotin, hip-hop veteran Snoop Dogg is on board to serve as a torchbearer “for the last stretch” of the relay. If you want more of the rapper’s commentary throughout the games, you’re in luck: He’ll be among those contributing to NBC’s coverage of the Summer Games.

🏘️ Florida growth: The Sunshine State has been a popular destination for Americans relocating from other parts of the country in recent years, and that trend has resulted in significant population growth. According to the available data, Florida (which is currently the third most populous state in the country) surpassed 23 million residents for the first time this year. Another 350,000 to 375,000 people have moved to the state each year for the past decade, but the aging Baby Boomer population could spell the end of that rapid growth in a few years.

👶 What’s in a name: Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have become one of Hollywood’s most likable couples, so it’s only natural that their fans want to know as many details about their growing family as possible. That was evident in response to the birth of their fourth child last year. Until this week, the general public didn’t know the baby’s name. But Reynolds appeared to spill the beans during the premiere of his new film “Deadpool & Wolverine.” He thanked his kids by name — apparently including the youngest, Olin — during remarks to the crowd.

🔋 Charged up: Although the availability of powerful devices and gadgets can enhance our personal and professional lives immensely, they can also cause quite a bit of desk clutter with charging cords and wires becoming tangled with each other. But adding yet another device might be able to help you keep things more organized. A new generation of powerful and sleek charging stations provide a central location to stay plugged in and free of clutter. And with deals currently available, devices from Sharge and Anker are on sale for under $50.

🏦 Markets: All three major stock indexes finished Tuesday a fraction of a percent lower as investors anticipated influential earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla after the closing bell rang.

The crypto market also moved lower throughout the day for Ether’s exchange-traded funds. Ether’s value remained slightly under where it was on Monday while Bitcoin saw a significant dip in its price throughout the day.

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The Paris Summer Olympics are right around the corner, and it takes a lot more than building a few new stadiums to ensure the games go off without a hitch.

Ready for action

Like the athletes traveling to Paris from around the world, law enforcement personnel throughout the region have been training for the Olympics.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” said Simon Riondet, who heads up an elite team within the Parisian police force. “Be [ready] when we’re going to be needed. And it’s really hard because, contrary to the athletes, we don’t have a date.”

His team recently conducted a series of drills to prepare for a range of potential threats and emergencies.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is using his status to reassure locals and visitors alike that the city will be safe. He has made several public statements in recent days explaining the precautions that are being taken.

In addition to 35,000 officers on patrol throughout the competition, authorities will be:

• Placing an extra 10,000 officers on duty during Friday’s opening ceremony
• Implementing thorough checkpoints around event venues
• Erecting tall wooden structures to block access to iconic local structures
• Employing 650 tactical officers and 22,000 private security contractors

A global concern

Less than a decade after a terrorist attack on French soil claimed the lives of 130 victims, it’s understandable that authorities would emphasize security. But other nations around the world have similar concerns.

Rob D’Amico, a former FBI agent who helped prepare for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said officers should be ready for anything.

“I talk about this with 9/11,” he said. “We never thought that was going to happen, so when we saw intel about it, it was dismissed.”

It’s been nearly a week since businesses across various industries and around the globe were knocked offline entirely due to a defective software update released by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Although there are still some serious questions left to be answered, we’re starting to piece together a better picture of what happened on that fateful day.

78 minutes later

It was just after midnight on the East Coast when people far and wide started to notice something strange was going on. Windows computers operating the CrowdStrike system crashed all at once, disrupting air travel, banks, hospitals, and much more.

Although CrowdStrike quickly acknowledged that its update was to blame, that didn’t mean things were going to be back to normal right away. It was well over an hour (78 minutes, to be exact) before the company released a fix. And for many systems, that by itself didn’t remedy the situation. A large number of computers required an in-person visit by specialists.

Early indicators suggest the corruption had been in the system for some time before it was exposed to the world … and its release seemed to have been made possible due to the way CrowdStrike’s software operates.

At the kernel level

Part of what makes CrowdStrike’s software so effective is that it operates at the “kernel level” of operating systems. In contrast with the “core level” that most systems run, this deeper involvement gives the security programs unrestricted access to hardware, memory, and other key components of computers.

That’s great when it works — but when something goes haywire, it’s particularly destructive.

And Microsoft appears to be receiving pressure from opposing sides: those who say it needs to lock Windows down to prevent future breaches and those who insist CrowdStrike (among other programs) need access to function properly.

We’ve all become accustomed to artificial intelligence platforms promising to revolutionize our lives. But for one labor-intensive aspect of various work environments, AI might soon become a lot more than a clever gimmick.

Everybody take note

From sales to customer service and everywhere in between, workers are often forced to take notes while accessing relevant files to meet the needs of their clients and/or employers. And that’s where Noded AI says it can offer some high-tech assistance.

The company has developed a platform it says can communicate with various common workplace tools to allow users to take notes and access information all within the same application.

Cofounder Steve Wood said that underlying goal involves “reinventing the note-taking space and using AI and a bit of automation data science to basically put notes at the center of the enterprise.”

It might not be the flashiest use for AI … but for those who know the frustration of losing their place (or worse yet, losing their work) while flipping from one app to another, Noded AI could end up being a godsend.

Help vs. hype

Of course, it’s usually a good idea to take any major AI announcement with a grain of salt since the industry is still rapidly evolving and not every promising advancement pans out.

Nevertheless, investors seem to be intrigued by Noded AI’s potential. It scored a whopping $4 million to conclude its stealth startup fundraising period.

And Wood knows a thing or two about disrupting business as usual after having served as the vice president of product and platform for Slack.

For CEO Chris Port, the company is now in its “‘Hello World’ moment” with a handful of companies using early versions of the program and a beta release planned by the end of the year.