Innholdsfortegnelse for #584 i Techlife News

Sony unveiled a new high-tech prototype car it will produce in partnership with Honda at the CES tech show. The vehicle, first announced in October, glided out on stage at the CES in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be called the Afeela. Yasuhide Mizuno, CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, said the company expects to take pre-orders in the first half of 2025 and deliver the first cars to customers in North America in spring 2026. “As safety and security are essential to mobility, we will integrate Sony’s sensors and the Honda safety along with other intelligent technologies,” Mizuno said. Sony and Honda announced their 50-50 joint venture in March. It unites Honda’s know-how in autos, mobility technology and sales with Sony’s imaging, network, sensor and entertainment expertise. Production of the…

New York announced a $100 million settlement with Coinbase over what state officials called significant failures in the cryptocurrency trading platform’s systems for spotting potential criminal activity. According to the state Department of Financial Services, Coinbase’s anti-money-laundering program and its system for monitoring transactions for suspicious activity were inadequate for a company of Coinbase’s size and complexity. The department said that the volume of alerts generated by Coinbase’s transaction monitoring system grew so fast that reports of suspicious activity were sometimes filed months after the suspicious activity was first known to Coinbase. “It is critical that all financial institutions safeguard their systems from bad actors, and the Department’s expectations with respect to consumer protection, cybersecurity, and anti-money laundering programs are just as stringent for cryptocurrency companies as they are for…

Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-anticipated technology trend that could soon bring the world’s first fully autonomous fighting robots to the battlefield, inaugurating a new age of warfare. The longer the war lasts, the more likely it becomes that drones will be used to identify, select and attack targets without help from humans, according to military analysts, combatants and artificial intelligence researchers. That would mark a revolution in military technology as profound as the introduction of the machine gun. Ukraine already has semi-autonomous attack drones and counter-drone weapons endowed with AI. Russia also claims to possess AI weaponry, though the claims are unproven. But there are no confirmed instances of a nation putting into combat robots that have killed entirely on their own. Experts say it may be…

Starting Jan. 1, many Americans will qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying an electric vehicle. The credit, part of changes enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act, is designed to spur EV sales and reduce greenhouse emissions. But a complex web of requirements, including where vehicles and batteries must be manufactured to qualify, is casting some doubt on whether anyone can receive the full $7,500 credit next year. The Treasury Department is rolling out more information on which vehicles qualify and how individuals and businesses can access credit beginning in 2023. One big loophole that allows tax credits for EVs purchased for “commercial” use, such as leasing or ride-share, even if they are foreign-made is drawing the ire of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who says it…

Apple is wrapping up development of its long-rumored, long-delayed mixed reality headset and is gearing up for a launch as soon as early this year, according to Mark Gurman. Recent job listings posted by Apple suggest that the company is seeking to fill content creation roles for the device, suggesting that the core technology is set enough that developers, producers, artists, and the like work confidently with it. That’s in contrast to the product’s state not that long ago, when differing opinions about the product’s feature set, specs, and design led to shifting goalposts that would have been a headache for content creators. Apple’s mixed-reality headset is still on track and its future operating system has a new name, according to a report published last week. Bloomberg claims the name…

Indiana has blocked the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from state devices, its technology office said. The Indiana Office of Technology “blocked TikTok from being used in our state system and on our state devices” as of Dec. 7, office spokesman Graig Lubsen told The Journal Gazette. The Office of Technology “is constantly testing the state system and making sure that the integrity is intact,” Lubsen said in an email to the newspaper. The blockage came on the same day that Indiana’s attorney general sued TikTok, claiming the video-sharing platform misleads its users, particularly children, about the level of inappropriate content and security of consumer information. Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita claimed in a complaint that while the social video app says it is safe for users 13 years and…

Salesforce is laying off about 10% of its workforce in the latest round of job cuts in the tech industry as corporations cut back on software and other spending. The San Francisco cloud computing software company will also be closing some offices, according to a regulatory filing this week. “The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions,” said CEO Marc Benioff in a letter to employees. “With this in mind, we’ve made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about 10%, mostly over the coming weeks.” Benioff, who co-founded Salesforce in 1999, recently became the sole CEO after Bret Taylor resigned as co-CEO and vice chairman in November. Benioff said employees being released will receive nearly five months of…

When a power outage knocked out electricity to a multistate region in 2003, Gabriella Barthlow, a financial coach in the Detroit area, was prepared. She had enough money on hand to buy food for herself and her two young children, plus put gas in her car in case they needed to leave home. “I was so happy I had that cash,” she recalls. Now, Barthlow encourages her clients to be similarly ready for unexpected events. Power outages, weather interruptions and other disasters can inflict chaos and take a financial toll — often with little warning — but being prepared can help minimize the damage. Here are steps you can take to make sure you’re ready for the next emergency. SET ASIDE PHYSICAL CASH As Barthlow found, cash can be crucial…

Shortages of computer chips and other parts continued to hobble the U.S. auto industry last year, contributing to vehicle sales dropping 8% from 2021 to their lowest level in more than a decade. But there’s good news for consumers in the gloomy numbers: Vehicle supplies on dealer lots are growing, albeit slowly, and automakers expect at least a small easing in prices this year as inventories grow. Automakers reported that they sold 13.9 million cars, trucks, SUVs and vans last year as the parts shortage limited factory output amid high demand for new vehicles. It was the lowest sales number since 2011 when the economy was recovering from the Great Recession. But sales were up slightly in the fourth quarter and inventories grew as parts supplies improved enough to increase…

Georgia is awarding $234 million in federal COVID-19 relief fund to construct broadband internet to rural locations that don’t currently have connections. Combined with $408 million from an earlier round of COVID-19 aid, plus money from the Federal Communications Commission and private investment, more than $1.5 billion is being given to utilities and others to try to bring high-speed connections to parts of Georgia that lacked them. The grants announced this week by Gov. Brian Kemp are supposed to provide service to nearly 77,000 locations in 28 counties. Kemp said the utilities getting the money have committed to spend about $220 million of their own money to match the federal cash. In February, when the state awarded the $408 million, officials projected the money would link up 132,000 of the…

Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show. The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic. Exhibitors range from big names including Sony and LG to tiny startups. You might see the next big thing or something that will never make it past the prototype stage. On Tuesday night, the show kicked off with media previews from just some of the 3,000 companies signed up to attend. Here are some highlights: POKEMON, BUT MAKE IT BIRDS Bird Buddy showed off a smart bird feeder that takes snapshots of feathered friends as they fly in to eat some treats. The startup says…

Tesla said that sold a record 1.3 million vehicles last year, but the number fell short of CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to grow the company’s sales by 50% nearly every year. The 2022 figure topped the prior record of 936,000 vehicles delivered in 2021, but it was shy of the 1.4 million needed to reach the company’s 50% growth target. Sales grew 40% year over year, while production climbed 47% to 1.37 million. The shortfall came despite a major year-end sales push that included rare $7,500 discounts in the U.S. on the Models Y and 3, the company’s top-selling models. Tesla Inc., which is based in Austin, Texas, also had to deal with rising cases of the novel coronavirus in China, which cut into production at its Shanghai factory. With…

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Tuesday to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his cryptocurrency trading platform as a judge set a tentative trial date for October. Bankman-Fried, 30, denied charges accusing him of illegally diverting massive sums of customer money from FTX to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm. Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, announced his client’s plea, saying: “He pleads not guilty to all counts.” Afterward, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan set a tentative trial date of Oct. 2, saying he might move it forward or backward a day or two. A prosecutor estimated it would take the government a month to present its…

Elon Musk is trying to slash expenses at Twitter as close to zero as possible while his personal wealth shrinks — and this apparently has included falling behind on rent payments at the company’s offices. Twitter owes $136,260 in overdue rent on its offices on the 30th floor of a building in downtown in San Francisco, according to a lawsuit filed by the building’s landlord last week. The landlord at 650 California St., which is not Twitter’s main San Francisco headquarters, served a notice to the social media company on Dec. 16 informing it that it would be in default if it didn’t pay within five days. The five days elapsed without payment, according to the lawsuit. The landlord, Columbia REIT 650 California LLC, is seeking damages totaling the back…

A group of video game testers has formed Microsoft’s first labor union in the U.S., which will also be the largest in the video game industry. The Communications Workers of America said this week that a majority of about 300 quality-assurance workers at Microsoft video game subsidiary ZeniMax Studios has voted to join the union. Microsoft already told the CWA it would accept the formation of the union at its Maryland-based video game subsidiary, fulfilling a promise it made to try to build public support for its $68.7 billion acquisition of another big game company, Activision Blizzard. Microsoft bought ZeniMax for $7.5 billion in 2021, giving the Xbox-maker control of ZeniMax’s well-known game publishing division Bethesda Softworks and popular game franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout. Senior…

Japan adopted a plan to extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors, replace the old and even build new ones, a major shift in a country scarred by the Fukushima disaster that once planned to phase out atomic power. In the face of global fuel shortages, rising prices and pressure to reduce carbon emissions, Japan’s leaders have begun to turn back toward nuclear energy, but the announcement was their clearest commitment yet after keeping mum on delicate topics like the possibility of building new reactors. Under the new policy, Japan will maximize the use of existing reactors by restarting as many of them as possible and prolonging the operating life of aging ones beyond a 60-year limit. The government also pledged to develop next-generation reactors. In 2011, a powerful earthquake and…

Automaker Stellantis is teaming with Archer Aviation to create an electric aircraft. Stellantis, created in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Peugeot, will provide manufacturing technology and expertise, personnel and capital to the joint project. The plane, named Midnight, will be able to carry a pilot and four passengers. The aircraft will have a range of of 100 miles (160.9 kilometers), optimally making back-to-back trips of around 20 miles, with a charging time of about 10 minutes in-between. The aircraft will be produced at Archer’s plant in Covington, Georgia, about 30 minutes southeast of Atlanta. Production is expected to start in 2024. Stellantis has been attempting to advance its electric vehicle capabilities. The company, based in Amsterdam, announced in May that it was investing $3.6 billion…

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in more than three months last week, reflecting a still-robust job market despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and bring down decades-high inflation. Applications for unemployment aid for the week ending Dec. 31 fell by 19,000 to 204,000, the Labor Department reported this week. The labor market is closely monitored by Fed policymakers, who raised interest rates seven times last year in a bid to slow job growth and bring down stubbornly high inflation. So far, there have been little indication that it has weakened the job market enough to for the Fed to alter its course in 2023. Also Thursday morning, the payroll processing firm ADP reported that the U.S. economy gained 235,000…

2022 was the “Year of AI,” with a McKinsey Global Survey suggesting adoption has doubled since 2017. With brands offering access to mind-blowing tech, platforms like ChatGPT and Dall-E are now household names, introducing us to a new world of creativity and possibility. CHANGING THE WAY WE SPEAK - AND WRITE - WITH CHATBOTS If you’ve spent any time on TikTok over the past two months, the chances are that you’ve heard of artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, which OpenAI developed. The tool was even praised by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who wrote, “ChatGPT is scary good. We’re not far from dangerously strong AI” in December 2022 after the software went viral online. The software allows users to type questions using natural language and receive conversational responses, which are generated…

The supply chain shortage continues to tamp down automotive production and sales, but that hasn’t stopped automakers from introducing new and redesigned models. Electric vehicles are the next hot trend, but gas-powered and hybrid vehicles aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and there are plenty of new ones hitting the market this year. The latest models try to sway buyers with more power, the latest tech and fashionable looks. But which are the most impressive? Experts round up five of the most noteworthy vehicles, sorted by price, hitting dealerships this year. 2023 TOYOTA PRIUS When Toyota removed the wraps off the redesigned Prius, most were taken aback by its stylish looks. Gone are the awkward styling and the underpowered hybrid engine. The new powertrain produces almost 200 horsepower — a gain…

Google will pay Indiana $20 million to resolve the state’s lawsuit against the technology giant over allegedly deceptive location tracking practices, state Attorney General Todd Rokita announced. Rokitas filed a separate lawsuit against Google when negotiations between the company and a coalition of state attorneys general stalled, he said. Those states agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with the company in November. As a result of the separate lawsuit, Indiana received about twice as much money as it would have under the deal with the 40 states in the coalition, Rokita said in his announcement. “This settlement is another manifestation of our steadfast commitment to protect Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive schemes,” Rokita said. States began investigating after a 2018 story that found that Google continued to track people’s location…

Chinese technology giant Huawei says it has emerged from “crisis mode” after years of U.S. restrictions that have stifled its overseas sales, even though its revenue for 2022 failed to grow from a year earlier. “U.S. restrictions are now our new normal, and we’re back to business as usual,” Eric Xu, Huawei’s current chairman, said in a New Year’s message released. Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand, has struggled since then-U.S. President Donald Trump blocked its access to U.S. processor chips and other technology in 2019 on grounds that Huawei could facilitate Chinese spying. Huawei denies accusations that it could be a security risk. Huawei’s unaudited revenue for 2022 is forecast to be 636.9 billion yuan ($91.6 billion) — nearly unchanged compared to a year earlier and in…

The Walt Disney Co. is set to turn 100 years old this year, and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, is celebrating with new shows and a Mickey-themed attraction across its two theme parks: Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Both parks will also be decked out with new decor. Festivities officially begin on Jan. 27. And though it might feel like you need a fairy godmother to plan (or pay for) your visit, there are plenty of ways to maximize your time and money to see the new attractions. RUSH TO THE NEW MICKEY-THEMED RIDE IN THE MORNING Many of Disney’s popular characters have their own rides, so it’s only fitting that Mickey Mouse should finally get one of his own. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will open on Jan.…

Chinese regulators have said e-commerce giant Alibaba’s finance affiliate Ant Group can raise $1.5 billion for its consumer finance unit in an important step forward after the government called off a planned IPO two years ago and ordered the firm to restructure. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) in the southwestern city of Chongqing said in a notice dated Dec. 30 that Ant’s consumer credit unit had gained approval to increase its capital to 18.5 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) from 8 billion yuan ($1.16 billion). The approval came weeks after Beijing signaled at an economic work conference that it would support technology firms to boost economic growth and create more jobs. Under the latest capital expansion plan, Ant would contribute 9.25 billion yuan ($1.34 billion) for a 50%…