Innholdsfortegnelse for #548 i Techlife News

Groups that want the U.S. Postal Service to buy more electric delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its mail delivery fleet. Two lawsuits, filed Thursday in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program. Plaintiffs contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come. “Louis DeJoy’s gas-guzzling fleet guarantees decades of pollution with every postcard and package,” said Scott Hochberg, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, referring to the postmaster general. One lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, CleanAirNow KC and Sierra Club in San Francisco. Another was filed by the…

Climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070 — and that’s likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans, according to a new study. This is especially true for Africa and Asia, continents that have been hotspots for deadly disease spread from humans to animals or vice versa over the last several decades, including the flu, HIV, Ebola and coronavirus. Researchers, who published their findings Thursday in the journal Nature, used a model to examine how over 3,000 mammal species might migrate and and share viruses over the next 50 years if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which recent research shows is possible. They found that cross-species virus spread will happen over…

More workers may soon be able to stake some of their 401(k) retirement savings to bitcoin, as cryptocurrencies crack even deeper into the mainstream. Retirement giant Fidelity said that it’s launched a way for workers to put some of their 401(k) savings and contributions directly in bitcoin, potentially up to 20%, all from the account’s main menu of investment options. Fidelity said it’s the first in the industry to allow such investments without having to go through a separate brokerage window, and it’s already signed up one employer that will add the offering to its plan later this year. Fidelity’s offering may be one of just a few for a while, given the substantial concerns about the riskiness of cryptocurrencies. The U.S. government last month warned the retirement industry to…

Former President Donald Trump said that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following Elon Musk’s agreement to buy the social media giant for roughly $44 billion. Trump told Fox News that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been mired in problems since its launch earlier this year. “I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth,”Trump was quoted telling the network. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.” Trump was barred from major social media platforms after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, with Twitter citing the “risk of further incitement of violence.”The decision denied…

Google’s corporate parent posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth since 2020, the latest sign that the huge gains enjoyed by technology companies during the pandemic are fading into the rear-view mirror. For most companies, the numbers announced by Alphabet Inc. would be a cause for celebration. But tech companies are sized up differently, with investors typically measuring them by how much growth they deliver each quarter compared to the previous year. Alphabet began this year with growth trends shifting dramatically downward. That already contributed to a 20% decline in its stock price since it peaked at about $3,030 in early February before a widespread sell-off in tech stocks. The shares shed another 6% in extended trading Tuesday after the latest quarterly numbers came out. The concerns about slowing growth have…

The traditional “20/4/10 rule” of car buying states that you should make a 20% down payment, have a loan no longer than four years, and a total monthly car budget that does not exceed 10% of your take-home pay. But the reality is only 6% of new car shoppers actually followed that advice in March, according to sales data. The average loan term for a new or used car has steadily increased over the last decade and is now about 70 months. The longer loan terms reflect not only a trend of people seeking a way to offset paying for costlier trucks and SUVs but also inflated prices due to a nationwide vehicle shortage. At today’s car prices, the old rule of thumb is not only being ignored but is…

The first sign that not everyone in Robert Eggers’ 10th-century Viking revenge tale “The Northman” has their priorities entirely straight comes early in the film, when the Viking king Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke) returns home to the North Atlantic kingdom of Hrafnsey after a year of fighting overseas. After trudging up on horseback to the snowy cliffside village, Aurvandil’s queen, Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), greets him warmly and, after a hug for their son, Amleth (Oscar Novak), urges him to bed with her. Aurvandil, though, says he has something more pressing to attend to. Rather than join his wife, he takes Amleth to scurry around a fiery cave on all fours, half-naked and barking, while chanting manly oaths of honor with the court fool (Willem Dafoe). Something, you might say, is rotten…

Big tech companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta will have to police their platforms more strictly to better protect European users from hate speech, disinformation and other harmful online content under landmark EU legislation approved last weekend. European Union officials clinched the agreement in principle on the Digital Services Act after lengthy final negotiations. The law will also force tech companies to make it easier for users to flag problems, ban online ads aimed at kids and empower regulators to punish noncompliance with billions in fines. The Digital Services Act, one half of an overhaul for the 27-nation bloc’s digital rulebook, helps cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in efforts to rein in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms. “With the DSA, the time…

Tokyo’s Shibuya is famed for its Scramble Crossing, where crowds of people crisscross the intersection in a scene symbolizing urban Japan’s congestion and anonymity. It may have added another boasting right. Tokyu Railways’ trains running through Shibuya and other stations were switched to power generated only by solar and other renewable sources starting April 1. That means the carbon dioxide emissions of Tokyu’s sprawling network of seven train lines and one tram service now stand at zero, with green energy being used at all its stations, including for vending machines for drinks, security camera screens and lighting. Tokyu, which employs 3,855 people and connects Tokyo with nearby Yokohama, is the first railroad operator in Japan to have achieved that goal. It says the carbon dioxide reduction is equivalent to the…

Facebook parent Meta’s first quarter profit and its count of daily users jumped past Wall Street’s expectations despite the company’s slowest revenue growth since going public a decade ago. Shares were up sharply in after-hours trading. Meta cut a sharp contrast with Google parent Alphabet, which this week reported what analysts called disappointing earnings, with profit below Wall Street’s expectations. Google also reported a revenue growth slowdown, but for Meta this appeared to have been mitigated by an increase in daily active users that“was enough to send the shorts covering and the stock surging,”said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. “That being said, it was a mixed report overall as the social media giant continues to struggle with slowing revenue growth amid reduced ad spending amid the current inflationary environment,”Cohen…

Russia’s relentless digital assaults on Ukraine may have caused less damage than many anticipated. But most of its hacking is focused on a different goal that gets less attention but has chilling potential consequences: data collection. Ukrainian agencies breached on the eve of the Feb. 24 invasion include the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees the police, national guard and border patrol. A month earlier, a national database of automobile insurance policies was raided during a diversionary cyberattack that defaced Ukrainian websites. The hacks, paired with prewar data theft, likely armed Russia with extensive details on much of Ukraine’s population, cybersecurity and military intelligence analysts say. It’s information Russia can use to identify and locate Ukrainians most likely to resist an occupation, and potentially target them for internment or worse.…

Beth Bowers grew up in the 1960s and 1970s with parents who marched in protests, wrote letters to members of Congress and voted in elections big and small. Her father, a World War II veteran, and her mother, an educational counselor, did not use social media sites in their lifetimes. But Bowers is sure they would be disheartened to see how easily falsehoods about the U.S. elections are disseminated online to millions and millions of people. That’s why the Evanston, Illinois, mom spends a few hours each week scouring Facebook groups for conspiracy theories or lies as part of a nationwide volunteer effort to debunk misinformation about voting. “The good thing about this work is, it’d be so easy to become incredibly cynical and hopeless, but I think we feel…

Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the social media platform where he — the world’s richest person — promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on a wide range of issues to more than 83 million followers. The outspoken Tesla CEO has said he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech. Musk said in a joint statement with Twitter that he wants to make the service “better than ever” with new features while getting rid of automated “spam’ accounts and making its algorithms open to the public to increase trust. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning…

The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones, which are becoming a growing security concern and nuisance. The White House on Monday released an action plan that calls for expanding the number of agencies that can track and monitor drones flying in their airspace. It calls for establishing a list of U.S. government-authorized detection equipment that federal and local authorities can purchase, and creating a national training center on countering the malicious use of drones. The White House in a statement said it was critical that Congress “adopt legislation to close critical gaps in existing law and policy that currently impede government and law enforcement from protecting the American people…

Video meetings dampen brainstorming because we are so hyper-focused on the face in that box that we don’t let our eyes and minds wander as much, a new study found. Staring isn’t good for creativity. While it’s rude to stare at someone in real life, it’s expected when on a video call, researchers said. When it comes to evaluating those new ideas, though, that focus, at least in one-on-one chats, seems to make remote meetings slightly better than in-person chats, study in the journal Nature said. Researchers watched 745 pairs of engineers in five different countries try to come up with creative ideas for using a Frisbee or bubble wrap. Those in the same room generated on average one more idea, which is about 17% more than those in remote…

The Edsel. Quibi. New Coke. The Segway. DeLorean sports cars. The pantheon of colossal business failures has a new member in the CNN+ streaming service. The news network’s subscription offering hadn’t even been operating for a month before Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that it would be shutting down on April 30. “It’s going to be in the Top 10,” said Steve Rosenbaum, executive director of the NYC Media Lab and an expert in business innovation, surveying the lengthy history of products that went belly-up. While “CNN minus” comments quickly proliferated, it’s no joke to the more than 300 people hired for CNN+, which was in development for two years. CNN is expected to absorb some of those jobs but there will be layoffs — a clear picture on…

Drone company DJI Technology Co has temporarily suspended business activities in Russia and Ukraine to prevent use of its drones in combat, in a rare case of a Chinese company pulling out of Russia because of the war. “DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions. Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine,” the company said in a statement released this week. Many Western brands and companies have withdrawn from the Russian market due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but Chinese firms have kept operating there. Beijing has refrained from publicly criticizing Russia over the war. Both Ukraine and Russia are thought to be using DJI drones in combat, even though the company maintains that its products are intended for civilian…

It took Jack Craven 20 years to grasp that running his family’s wholesale business selling goods to discount stores wasn’t how he wanted to spend the second half of his life. He also figured out his ever-mounting unhappiness had taken a toll on his relationships with loved ones. “I realized that I wasn’t taking ownership of what I really wanted,” said Craven, who lives in suburban Chicago. “I was more focused on blaming others.” So how did he make it through to the other side? With the pandemic’s Great Resignation has come a Great Reinvention as more people of all ages have given up on jobs and find themselves pondering the work-life balance that lends meaning to their lives. At times, it’s transforming a side hustle as Craven did. In…

China has granted Chinese internet services company Baidu and a rival autonomous car company, Pony.ai, permits to provide driverless ride-hailing services to the public in Beijing, a significant regulatory step in the country’s pursuit of driverless technology. The permits given to Baidu and Pony.ai allow them to offer rides without a safety driver behind the wheel to take over in cases of an emergency. The new permits still require a safety supervisor to be seated in the front passenger seat. Baidu said 10 such autonomous cars began offering rides to passengers within a 60-square-kilometer (23-square-mile) area in suburban Beijing from Thursday. Baidu already operates an autonomous fleet of taxis in Beijing under its Apollo Go ride-hailing services, but they must have a safety driver behind the wheel. China has ambitions…

Final Cut Pro is one of the most advanced organizing tools of any professional video editing application and helps filmmakers tell their stories in whole new ways The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are just two blockbusters edited on Final Cut Pro - but in recent years, Apple has reduced updates to its software, prompting some users to complain. THE WORLD’S PREFERRED VIDEO EDITOR Final Cut Pro has come a long way since it first launched in 1998, with the software now ubiquitous in the film and television industry. Although Apple’s also worked on iMovie since 1999, a consumer-focused video editing platform that has been free for all macOS users since 2013, it’s Final Cut Pro that has had the biggest impact on the world…

Twitter’s acceptance of Elon Musk’s roughly $44 billion takeover bid brings the billionaire Tesla CEO one step closer to owning the social media platform. The deal is expected to close sometime this year. But before that, shareholders still have to weigh in, as well as regulators in the U.S. and in countries where Twitter does business, before the deal is completed. OFFER ACCEPTED, NOW WHAT? The process is off to a good start for Musk, given that Twitter’s board has unanimously approved his offer and is recommending shareholders do the same. Upon announcing the deal, Twitter noted that the bid, which represents a 38% premium to the company’s closing stock price on April 1, is a “substantial cash premium”and would be“the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.” When Twitter’s board…

General Motors says it will offer an electrified Chevrolet Corvette as early as next year. President Mark Reuss said in a statement on LinkedIn that the automaker will also sell a fully electric Corvette sometime in the future. An electrified vehicle generally means a gas-electric hybrid or a plug-in rechargeable hybrid, but more details on the vehicles are expected at a later date. Interest in electric vehicles is increasing among consumers as demand for an electric Corvette has been building among the sports car’s fan base. Last August President Joe Biden even discussed how he’d had a conversation with General Motors CEO Mary Barra about wanting to test drive an electric Corvette once it is built. Earlier this month GM and Honda announced that they are planning to co-develop some…

Cookie Monster, Elmo and Abby Cadabby are utterly transformed in a new “Sesame Street” show. You might even say they’re Transformers. The trio of furry monsters wear cool metal suits bursting with gizmos and soar through the air in their new CGI-animated show “Mecha Builders,” adding some science and technology lessons along with their adventures. “These are characters that are beloved and that our audience loves. So it’s just like expanding on these characters and who they can become,” says Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creative and production at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind “Sesame Street.” Each 11-minute episode begins with a problem — a runaway train, a hurtling Earth-bound asteroid, a melting ice slide, a broken movie screen or a wayward boulder — and the trio…

SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Wednesday, less than two days after completing a flight chartered by millionaires. It’s the first NASA crew comprised equally of men and women, including the first Black woman making a long-term spaceflight, Jessica Watkins. “This is one of the most diversified, I think, crews that we’ve had in a really, really long time,” said NASA’s space operations mission chief Kathy Lueders. The astronauts were due to arrive at the space station Wednesday night, 16 hours after a predawn liftoff from Kennedy Space Center that thrilled spectators. “Anyone who saw it realized what a beautiful launch it was,” Lueders told reporters. After an express flight comparable to traveling from New York to Singapore, the crew will move in for…

From algae farming to producing a sort of artificial limestone, ideas for reducing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere are getting a funding boost from famed entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Tesla electric vehicle and SpaceX rocket company developer is bankrolling a $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition for the most promising ways to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by grabbing the gas right out of the air. The 15 early-phase “milestone round” winners were announced and each will get $1 million, a welcome boost for the teams to carry on with and scale up their work. “What we’ve said is you haven’t given us a million bucks; what you’ve done is catalyzed investment in this technology,” said Mike Kelland, CEO of Planetary Technologies, a milestone winner that seeks to increase the ocean’s…