Innholdsfortegnelse for #557 i Techlife News

When environmentalist Brent Walls saw a milky-white substance in a stream flowing through a rural stretch of central Pennsylvania, he suspected the nearby rock mine was violating the law. Recent rains had filled the ponds at the mine that allow sediment to settle out of the water, but Walls couldn’t easily take a look because they were surrounded by private property. To quickly investigate and avoid trespassing, Walls captured images of the area with his drone. “That’s when I found the illicit discharge,” he said. The photo of cloudy liquid flowing into the creek provided evidence Walls used to accuse Specialty Granules LLC of violating the Clean Water Act. Fifty years after that landmark legislation was signed into law, drones are giving environmentalists a new tool to capture wrongdoing where…

Europe prepared to lead the world in regulating the freewheeling cryptocurrency industry at a time when prices have plunged, wiping out fortunes, fueling skepticism and sparking calls for tighter scrutiny. The European Union took a first step by agreeing on new rules subjecting cryptocurrency transfers to the same money-laundering rules as traditional banking transfers. A much bigger move was expected as EU negotiators hammer out the final details on a sweeping package of crypto regulations for the bloc’s 27 nations, known as Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA. Like the EU’s trendsetting data privacy policy, which became the de facto global standard, and its recent landmark law targeting harmful content on digital platforms, the crypto regulations are expected to be highly influential worldwide. The EU rules are “really the first…

The race to find mental health treatment can feel like a marathon when you may not have the energy or ability to even make it to the starting line. You may be faced with limited affordable options and a lack of available therapists. “Prior to the pandemic, we had an inadequate workforce to meet the mental health demand of the country,” says Vaile Wright, who has a doctorate in counseling psychology and is the senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. “And that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.” According to the APA’s 2021 COVID-19 Practitioner Survey, 43% of psychologists reported an increase in overall number of patients compared with 2020. At the same time, 41% of psychologists said they couldn’t keep up with demand…

People with hearing loss have a new ally in their efforts to navigate the world: Captions that aren’t limited to their television screens and streaming services. The COVID pandemic disrupted daily life for people everywhere, but many of those with hearing loss took the resulting isolation especially hard. “When everyone wears a mask they are completely unintelligible to me,” said Pat Olken of Sharon, Massachusetts, whose hearing aids were insufficient. (A new cochlear implant has helped her a lot.) So when her grandson’s bar mitzvah was streamed on Zoom early in the pandemic, well before the service offered captions, Olken turned to Otter, an app created to transcribe business meetings. Reading along with the ceremony’s speakers made the app “a tremendous resource,” she said. People with hearing loss, a group…

Amazon’s Alexa might soon replicate the voice of family members - even if they’re dead. The capability, unveiled at Amazon’s Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas, is in development and would allow the virtual assistant to mimic the voice of a specific person based on a less than a minute of provided recording. Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa, said at the event that the desire behind the feature was to build greater trust in the interactions users have with Alexa by putting more “human attributes of empathy and affect.” “These attributes have become even more important during the ongoing pandemic when so many of us have lost ones that we love,” Prasad said. “While AI can’t eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make their…

The German industrial company Siemens will invest more than $100 million in a network of electric vehicle charging stations in North America operated by Volkswagen. Siemens is the first outside investor in the project, Electrify America said this week, and the company is being granted a seat on its board. The network in total has added $450 million in funding, which includes an increased capital investment from Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen originally committed to $2 billion through 2026. The U.S. has a long way to go in adding infrastructure for electric vehicles, with states like California attempting to triple EV sales within four years. Soaring gas prices have contributed to the push for adding more stations. Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group board of management member for technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group…

With no one at the wheel, a self-driving taxi developed by tech giant Baidu Inc. is rolling down a Beijing street when its sensors spot the corner of a delivery cart jutting into its lane. The taxi stops a half-car-length away. “So sorry,” a recorded voice tells passengers. The steering wheel turns on its own as the taxi makes its way around the cart. A Baidu technician watches from the front passenger seat. Baidu is China’s highest-profile competitor in a multibillion-dollar race with rival autonomous vehicle developers including Alphabet Inc.‘s Waymo and General Motors Co.’s Cruise to turn their futuristic tech into a consumer product. Baidu and a rival, Pony.ai, received China’s first licenses in April to operate taxis with no one in the driver’s seat but with a safety…

A crewless robotic boat retracing the 1620 sea voyage of the Mayflower has landed near Plymouth Rock. The sleek Mayflower Autonomous Ship met with an escort boat as it approached the Massachusetts shoreline Thursday, more than 400 years after its namesake’s historic journey from England. It was towed into Plymouth Harbor — per U.S. Coast Guard rules for crewless vessels — and docked near a replica of the original Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to America. Piloted by artificial intelligence technology, the 50-foot (15-meter) trimaran didn’t have a captain, navigator or any humans on board. The solar-powered ship’s first attempt to cross the Atlantic in 2021 was beset with technical problems, forcing it back to its home port of Plymouth, England — the same place the Pilgrim settlers sailed from…

Airlines that have stumbled badly over the last two holidays face their biggest test yet of whether they can handle big crowds when July Fourth travelers mob the nation’s airports this weekend. Problems were popping up well before the weekend, with some disruptions caused by thunderstorms that slowed air traffic. American Airlines canceled 8% of its flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and United Airlines scrubbed 4% of its schedule both days, according to FlightAware. Holiday revelers planning to drive face their own set of challenges, including high gasoline prices. The nationwide average has eased since hitting a record $5.02 in mid-June to $4.86 a gallon on Thursday, according to AAA, which expects prices to continue to ease because of rising gasoline inventories. Americans are driving a bit less. Gas demand…

With travel prices soaring, customers might be tempted to pick the cheapest base option they find. But the base price of airfare and hotels represents only a fraction of the total costs. A parade of add-on fees await any traveler trying to navigate the checkout process, ballooning the final price. Experts call it “drip pricing.” “It’s called ‘drip’ because surcharges and fees drip out throughout the shopping process,” says Vicki Morwitz, a professor of business and marketing at the Columbia Business School. Customers tend to overpay when prices are presented this way, according to a study conducted by Morwitz and her colleagues. “Customers are more likely to select an option that looks cheaper upfront. Even when they later realize it’s more expensive than they anticipated, they’re more likely to stick…

When President Joe Biden applauded a decision by Intel Corp. to build a $20 billion semiconductor operation on “1,000 empty acres of land” in Ohio, it didn’t sit well with Tressie Corsi. The 85-year-old woman has lived on 7 acres of that land since she and her late husband, Paul, built a house there 50 years ago. They raised four children there and welcomed multiple generations of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including some who lived right next door. “You can see it’s not vacant land,” Corsi said on a recent warm summer day as she sat on her porch. Corsi and more than 50 other homeowners on the Intel site aren’t being forcibly removed. Two holding companies working on behalf of Intel have spent millions on offers to homeowners, often well-above…

Toyota is recalling 2,700 bZ4X crossover vehicles globally for wheel bolts that could become loose, in a major setback for the Japanese automaker’s ambitions to roll out electric cars. Toyota Motor Corp. said the cause is still under investigation, but the whole wheel could come off, risking a crash. “Until the remedy is available, no one should drive these vehicles,” the company said in a statement. Among the vehicles subject to the latest recall, about 2,200 were destined for Europe, 270 for North America, 112 for Japan, and 60 for the rest of Asia, according to Toyota. They were produced between March and June. The bZ4X, which went on sale about two months ago, is a key model in Toyota’s plans to strengthen its electric lineup. Toyota is planning to…

Australia had fired the “first shot” in its deteriorating relations with China four years ago when the then-government banned Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei from rolling out the country’s 5G network due to security concerns, a Chinese ambassador said. Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia since January, gave a rare public address at University Technology Sydney that was repeatedly interrupted by human rights protesters holding signs that read “Free Tibet” and “Hong Kong independence.” In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was not aware of the human rights protesters at Xiao’s speech, but “we hope the relevant people will observe basic diplomatic protocol.” The address comes as China shows signs of thawing a diplomatic deepfreeze of Australian ministers following the election of a new government last month. Bilateral…

The new head of the government’s road safety agency says it will intensify efforts to understand the risks posed by automated vehicle technology so it can decide what regulations may be necessary to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians. In an interview, Steven Cliff, who was confirmed last month as head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the agency is assessing crash data recently reported by automakers and tech companies. Any new regulations NHTSA may impose would fill what critics say is an urgent need to address the growing use of driver-assistance systems on U.S. roads. The systems have been linked to crashes involving deaths and serious injuries, though they also have enormous potential to prevent crashes. There are no federal regulations that directly cover either self-driving vehicles or…

The OPEC oil cartel and allied producing nations decided Thursday to boost production of crude by an amount that will likely do little to relieve high gasoline prices at the pump and energy-fueled inflation plaguing the global economy. The increase of 648,000 barrels per day in August still leaves the world thirsty for oil as it rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic and runs up against the inability of the 23-member OPEC+ alliance to meet its production quotas. OPEC+, which includes Russia, confirmed the decision from its last meeting. Before that, it had been adding about 432,000 barrels per day monthly to put oil back on the market after cutting production dramatically during the height of the pandemic. The increase was seen as a gesture largely by OPEC leader Saudi Araba…

As Apple prepares to send macOS Ventura into public beta later this month, it’s high time to take a closer look at some of the features coming to the operating system later this year. The update will introduce valuable productivity tools and makes our Macs even more powerful. INTRODUCING MACOS 13: VENTURA Every year at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple lifts the lid on the changes it has been working on for Mac. This year, it was a double-whammy, with the company making the unusual move of announcing hardware at the typically software-focused event, showcasing an all-new MacBook Air with an M2 chip, and an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro. In recent years, as Apple has transitioned away from Intel processors to custom chips, the firm has put an increased emphasis…

Instagram is testing new ways to verify the age of people using its service, including a face-scanning artificial intelligence tool, having mutual friends verify their age or uploading an ID. But the tools won’t be used, at least not yet, to block children from the popular photo and video-sharing app. The current test only involves verifying that a user is 18 or older. The use of face-scanning AI, especially on teenagers, raised some alarm bells, given the checkered history of Instagram parent Meta when it comes to protecting users’ privacy. Meta stressed that the technology used to verify people’s age cannot recognize one’s identity — only age. Once the age verification is complete, Meta said it and Yoti, the AI contractor it partnered with to conduct the scans, will delete…

The electric vehicle market is rapidly changing. Two recently released models are blazing the trail for a brand-new segment: the electric luxury sedan class. Those two cars are the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS and the 2022 Audi e-tron GT. Both offer flagship levels of luxury, but they differ greatly in their execution. The car experts compare and contrast these two electric newcomers to help you decide which premium battery-powered four-door is right for you. CHARGING AND RANGE On paper, the e-tron GT’s range is unimpressive, as the EPA only rates it at an estimated 238 miles per charge. But in real-world range testing, it achieved 273 miles. That number likely helps ease range anxiety for first-time EV buyers, but it still falls short of the EQS’ range. With an EPA-estimated 350…

Airbnb is making permanent its ban on parties at homes listed on the site for short-term rentals. The San Francisco company believes the ban has worked, saying this week that reports of parties at listed properties have dropped 44% from a year ago. More than 6,600 guests were suspended last year for related violations, Airbnb said. Airbnb began to crack down on parties in 2019 after a fatal shooting at a party in a house in California. At that time, the company prohibited advertising parties at Airbnb locations on social media. The number of parties at Airbnb locations increased during the pandemic, Airbnb said, as people moved gatherings from bars and clubs to rented homes. That led to a temporary ban in 2020. While making the ban permanent, Airbnb said…