Innholdsfortegnelse for #503 i Techlife News

Waymo, the self-driving car pioneer spun off from Google, isn’t allowing a recent wave of executive departures to detour its plans to expand its robotic taxi service. The Mountain View, California, company made that clear Wednesday by announcing it has raised another $2.5 billion from a group of investors ranging from venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz to a major car dealer, AutoNation. With the latest fundraising, Waymo has raised a total of $5.7 billion in the past 15 months as it tries to build upon a driverless ride-hailing service that it has been operating in the Phoenix area. The latest fundraising comes after Waymo’s longtime CEO, John Krafcik, stepped down in April, followed by the departures of the company’s chief financial officer and head of automotive partnerships. Waymo…

Landon Cassill will be the first NASCAR driver paid entirely in cryptocurrency in a sponsorship deal with Voyager that begins at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend. Voyager, a cryptocurrency brokerage platform, reached a 19-race deal to sponsor Cassill in the Xfinity Series in his JD Motorsports entry. Voyager will pay the funds in Litecoin to Cassill, who has been avid in the market for several years. Cassill first met Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich at a crypto conference two years ago when Cassill was speaking on a panel. He’d been pitching the sponsorship idea ever since. “Landon Cassill’s focus and determination on the race track translates across everything he does,” said Ehrlich. “Landon also shares our vision of widespread crypto adoption, and we’re proud to be the first company to secure a…

Adding a crew to China’s new orbiting space station is another major advance for the burgeoning space power. Here’s a look at key developments: WHAT’S THE MISSION’S PURPOSE? The three-member crew is due to stay for three months in the station’s main living module, named Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony. They will be carrying out science experiments and maintenance, space walks and preparing the facility to receive two additional modules next year. While China concedes it arrived late at the space station game, it says its facility is cutting-edge. It could also outlast the International Space Station, which is nearing the end of its functional lifespan. The launch also revives China’s crewed space program after a five-year hiatus. With Thursday’s launch, China has now sent 14 astronauts into space since it…

General Motors will raise its spending on electric and autonomous vehicles and add two U.S. battery factories as it gambles that consumers will eagerly switch from gasoline to the new technology. The announcements came as crosstown rival Ford said its entire Lincoln luxury brand lineup would be electric or gas-electric hybrid by 2030, including four fully electric vehicles. For months, the automakers have been one-upping each other with electric vehicle announcements, which have fueled stock price increases for both companies. GM wouldn’t give details about where it will build the new plants, but Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said they would be similar in size to two factories now under construction in Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee. Those factories each will employ more than 1,000 workers and cost about…

President Joe Biden wants to imbue Independence Day with new meaning this year by encouraging nationwide celebrations to mark the country’s effective return to normalcy after 16 months of coronavirus pandemic disruption and more than 600,000 lives lost. The White House is expressing growing certainty that July Fourth will serve as a breakthrough moment in the nation’s recovery, even though the U.S. is expected to fall short of its goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by the holiday. Still, the pace of the nation’s healing will be a stark contrast with the rest of the world struggling to vanquish the virus. The planned celebration will be the largest event of Biden’s presidency and is designed to demonstrate the nation’s victory over the virus as COVID-19 cases and deaths drop…

The 2020 census is expected to cost $14.2 billion, well below a previous estimate of $15.6 billion, reflecting a slowdown in the price tag for the nation’s head count thanks to technological innovations, according to a new watchdog report released this week. The lower cost came even though the Census Bureau spent an extra $1.1 billion responding to the pandemic, whose spread in the U.S. coincided with the start of the nation’s head count for most U.S. residents in March 2020. Technological innovations allowed most households to answer the census questionnaire online for the first time instead of just by mail or phone, surprising statisticians with a self-response rate that exceeded expectations. The innovations also permitted census takers to take down answers from households using mobile devices that also created…

The new Mark Wahlberg movie “ Infinite ” poses an intoxicating scenario for all down-on-their-luck know-it-alls: What if you’re actually a reincarnated immortal who is not just the smartest and the best at everything but also necessary to save humanity? In the world of Hollywood wish fulfillment premises, women get to discover they’re secret princesses. Men get to discover they’re secret geniuses who can wield a katana while riding a motorcycle in a high-speed chase. (I know, I know, there are exceptions). This particular story is based on a book, “The Reincarnationist Papers” by D. Eric Maikranz, which the author self-published in 2009 with the goal of getting a movie adaptation made. He offered up a cash reward to a reader who could connect him with a literary agent, a…

The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland tried to restart the computer, but the same thing happened. They’re now trying to switch to a backup memory unit. If that works, the telescope will be tested for a day, before the science instruments are turned back on and observations can resume. For now, the cameras and other instruments are in a so-called safe mode. Launched in 1990, Hubble is showing more and more signs of aging, despite a series of repairs and updates by spacewalking…

IBM unveiled one of Europe’s most powerful quantum computers in Germany, boosting the country’s efforts to stay in the race for what’s considered a key technology of the future. Quantum computers use subatomic particles to get around the limitations of traditional physics and perform calculations at far higher speeds than even the fastest existing supercomputers. While this was long seen as the preserve of arcane research, companies are increasingly hoping to harness quantum computers to develop new materials, drugs or artificial intelligence applications. The new IBM system is the company’s first quantum computer outside of the United States, where it already has more than 30 such computers. It is located at a facility in Ehningen operated by Germany’s Fraunhofer Society research organization. Speaking by video link at the official launch,…

Louisiana has created a framework for self-driving delivery robots to drop off packages on the state’s streets, under a bill backed by lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards. The new personal delivery device law sponsored by Republican Sen. Rick Ward of Port Allen took effect immediately after the Democratic governor signed the legislation. Edwards’ office announced the bill signing Wednesday. Grocery stores, pizza delivery restaurants and Amazon have started working on delivering items with self-driving robots. Ward told his colleagues he envisioned pharmacies, restaurants or other stores near local neighborhoods possibly using the devices to make short-distance deliveries. “Your constituents would be able to place an order for any number of things, and that personal delivery device would be able to pick that up from a store location and go…

Amazon is providing $300 million in low-interest loans to support housing located near mass transit in the Washington, D.C., area and the Seattle and Nashville, Tennessee, regions. The largest amount, $125 million, is earmarked for the nation’s capital region, where Amazon is building a second headquarters that will support 25,000 jobs, the company announced Wednesday. Amazon is working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the region’s Metrorail system. The money will be used to fund 1,000 affordable housing units or low- and moderate income families. Amazon’s second headquarters is being built in the Crystal City neighborhood of northern Virginia, which is served by Metrorail and other forms of mass transit. Amazon also has dedicated $100 million to create 1,200 new affordable housing units near light rail stations…

China’s government said Tuesday no abnormal radiation was detected outside a nuclear power plant near Hong Kong following a news report of a leak, while Hong Kong’s leader said her administration was closely watching the facility. The operators released few details, but nuclear experts said that based on their brief statement, gas might be leaking from fuel rods inside the reactor in Taishan, 135 kilometers (85 miles) west of Hong Kong. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gave no confirmation of a leak or other details. He responded to reporters’ questions by saying, “there is nothing abnormal detected in the radiation level surrounding the plant.” In Hong Kong, radiation levels Tuesday were normal, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Framatome, a French company that helps manage the Taishan Nuclear…

When it came to software enhancements and breakthrough features, this year’s WWDC was a little more understated than previous iterations, but after a year of coronavirus restrictions, it’s understandable that Apple would focus on refining its existing offering than try to reinvent the wheel. Although iOS and iPadOS were the stars of the show at this year’s event, macOS was given some love, too. This year’s release - given the moniker Monterey - is packed with features designed to help users connect, work even smarter, and stay focused. Speaking at the virtual conference, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said: “macOS Monterey is packed with features that help Mac users get more done, connect with friends and family in amazing new ways, and work across Mac and…

Seeking to protect its image as a guardian of personal privacy, Apple maintains it was blindsided and handcuffed by a Trump administration probe that resulted in the company handing over phone data from two Democratic congressmen. Apple delivered its version of events Friday in response to news reports detailing the U.S. Justice Department’s aggressive attempts to use its legal power to identify leaks tied to an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. The Justice Department was able to persuade a federal grand jury to issue a subpoena that culminated in Apple turning over the metadata — information that can include general records of calls and texts — about House Intelligence Committee members Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both California Democrats, during 2018. Both lawmakers were key figures…

A battery recycling company founded by a former executive at Tesla Inc. broke ground on 100 acres (40 hectares) of land at an industrial park near Reno as part of its expansion plan. Redwood Materials, which was founded in Nevada in 2017, is expecting its operations to continue growing with a boost in used battery packs from older electric vehicles, the Reno-Gazette Journal reported. As a result, the company plans to expand its facilities and increase its workforce from just over 100 employees to more than 600 in the next couple of years. In addition to the acquisition at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, the company is also undertaking a major project in Carson City to expand its 150,000-square-foot facility (13,935-square-meter) to 550,000 square feet (51,000 square meters) within the next…

“I am Usnavi and you prob’ly never heard my name,” declares bodega owner Usnavi at the start of “In the Heights,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s contagiously joyous ode to his beloved Washington Heights neighborhood. “Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated.” Um… maybe not for long. Projects by Miranda tend to attract a wee bit of attention. Even in the annals of musical theater, by nature filled with Cinderella stories, “In the Heights” has an amazing backstory. It began two decades ago when a college student at Wesleyan had extra time on his hands — his girlfriend was studying abroad — so he started to write a show. A show that represented the Latino immigrant experience as he, son of Puerto Rican parents, saw it. A show that melded the things he…

An auction for a ride into space next month alongside Jeff Bezos and his brother ended with a winning $28 million bid last weekend. The Amazon founder’s rocket company, Blue Origin, did not disclose the winner’s name following the live online auction. The identity will be revealed in a couple weeks — closer to the brief up-and-down flight from West Texas on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing. It will be the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with people on board, kicking off the company’s space tourism business. Fifteen previous test flights of the reusable rocket and capsule since 2015 — short hops lasting about 10 minutes — were all successful. Saturday’s auction followed more than a month of online…

A cyberespionage campaign blamed on China was more sweeping than previously known, with suspected state-backed hackers exploiting a device meant to boost internet security to penetrate the computers of critical U.S. entities. The hack of Pulse Connect Secure networking devices came to light in April, but its scope is only now starting to become clear. The hackers targeted telecommunications giant Verizon and the country’s largest water agency. News broke earlier this month that the New York City subway system, the country’s largest, was also breached. Security researchers say dozens of other high-value entities that have not yet been named were also targeted as part of the breach of Pulse Secure, which is used by many companies and governments for secure remote access to their networks. It’s unclear what sensitive information,…

A wave of brief internet outages hit the websites and apps of dozens of financial institutions, airlines and other companies across the globe Thursday and Friday. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange said in a post on Twitter Thursday afternoon Hong Kong time that its site was facing technical issues and that it was investigating. It said in another post 17 minutes later that its websites were back to normal. Internet monitoring websites including ThousandEyes, Downdetector.com and fing.com showed dozens of disruptions, including to U.S.-based airlines. Many of the outages were reported by people in Australia trying to do banking, book flights and access postal services. Australia Post, the country’s postal service, said on Twitter that an “external outage” had impacted a number of its services, and that while most services…

Can you mix and match two-dose COVID-19 vaccines? It’s likely safe and effective, but researchers are still gathering data to be sure. The authorized COVID-19 shots around the world are all designed to stimulate your immune system to produce virus-fighting antibodies, though the way they do so varies, noted Dr. Kate O’Brien, director of the World Health Organization’s vaccine unit. “Based on the basic principles of how vaccines work, we do think that the mix-and-match regimens are going to work,” she said. Scientists at Oxford University in the United Kingdom are testing combinations of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech. Smaller trials are also ongoing in Spain and Germany. “We really just need to get the evidence in each of these (vaccine) combinations,” O’Brien said.…

The deal the United States and the European Union reached this week to end their long-running rift over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus will suspend billions in punitive tariffs. It will ease trans-Atlantic tensions. And it will let the two sides focus on a common economic threat: China. But the breakthrough still leaves some trade friction between the U.S. and the EU unresolved. Most prominently, President Biden kept in place import taxes that President Donald Trump imposed on European steel and aluminum, a move that infuriated some of America’s closet allies three years ago. For now, the truce in the Boeing-Airbus dispute goes a long way toward repairing a huge commercial relationship — $933 billion in two-way trade last year despite the pandemic — that came under enormous strain during…

Corporate and tech employees at Amazon won’t have to work in offices full time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted. The Seattle Times reports the online retail giant said in a company blog post that those workers can work remotely two days a week. In addition, the employees can work remotely from a domestic location for four full weeks each year. Amazon’s work policy update follows backlash from some employees to what they interpreted as the expectation they would have to return to the office full time once states reopen. Some tech companies had launched recruiting campaigns that seemed targeted in part at Amazon workers’ dismay over an end to remote work. Most Amazon employees will start heading back to offices as soon as local jurisdictions fully reopen — July 1…

A day after her interview for a part-time job at Target last year, Dana Anthony got an email informing her she didn’t make the cut. Anthony didn’t know why — a situation common to most job seekers at one point or another. But she also had no sense at all of how the interview had gone, because her interviewer was a computer. More job-seekers, including some professionals, may soon have to accept impersonal online interviews where they never talk to another human being, or know if behind-the-scenes artificial-intelligence systems are influencing hiring decisions. Demand for online hiring services, which interview job applicants remotely via laptop or phone, mushroomed during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains high amid a perceived worker shortage as the economy opens back up. These systems claim to…

President Joe Biden installed an energetic critic of Big Tech as a top federal regulator at a time when the industry is under intense pressure from Congress, regulators and state attorneys general. The selection of legal scholar Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission is seen as signaling a tough stance toward tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. Khan was sworn in as FTC chair just hours after the Senate confirmed her as one of five members of the commission on a 69-28 vote. Khan has been a professor at Columbia University Law School and burst onto the antitrust scene with her massive scholarly work in 2017 as a Yale law student, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.” She helped lay the foundation for a new way of looking at antitrust…

NATO leaders expanded the use of their all for one, one for all, mutual defense clause to include a collective response to attacks in space. Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that an attack on any one of the 30 allies will be considered an attack on them all. Until now, it’s only applied to more traditional military attacks on land, sea, or in the air, and more recently in cyberspace. In a summit statement, the leaders said they “consider that attacks to, from, or within space” could be a challenge to NATO that threatens “national and Euro-Atlantic prosperity, security, and stability, and could be as harmful to modern societies as a conventional attack.” “Such attacks could lead to the invocation of Article 5. A decision as to when…

U.K. competition regulators are looking into Apple and Google smartphone operating systems, app stores and browsers, over concern that the control of “mobile ecosystems” by the two tech giants is harming consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority opened a market study of Apple’s iOS, App Store and Safari browser and Google’s Android, Play Store and Chrome browser. The authority said it’s taking a closer look at the “effective duopoly” the two companies have on the various gateways through which users can access online content such as music, TV and video streaming; services such as fitness tracking, shopping and banking; and products like smart speakers and watches. Google said its Android operating system provides people with more choice than any other mobile platform in terms of apps they can use. “We…

Kansas’ largest electric company expects to make its first big investments in solar energy over the next three years and promises zero net carbon emissions in 2045. Environmentalists don’t think Evergy is moving quickly enough. Conversely, other critics worry that its plans could make electricity more costly and less reliable. Evergy outlined its long-term plan in recent weeks for regulators in Kansas, where the company has about 1 million customers, and Missouri, where it has an additional 600,000. The plan is inspiring a debate about climate change, electric rates and promoting social justice through energy policy. It’s the first time a Kansas utility has filed such a plan with state regulators, and Evergy promises to update it every three years. Utilities across the U.S. and investors increasingly see green initiatives…