Innholdsfortegnelse for #610 i Techlife News

Meta is poised to unveil a new app that appears to mimic Twitter — a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. A listing for the app, called Threads, appeared on Apple’s App Store, indicating it would debut as early as Thursday. It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the listing teasing a Twitter-like microblogging experience. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it said. Instagram users will be able to keep their user names and follow the same accounts on the new app, according to screenshots displayed on the App Store listing. Meta declined to comment on the app. Musk replied “yeah” to a…

Canada’s government said this week it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram, in response to Meta’s decision to block access to news content on their social platforms as part of a temporary test. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s decision at a news conference. Canada’s move is the latest episode in a dispute that started after Trudeau’s administration proposed a bill that would require technology companies to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online. Meta promised at the time to block Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms to address Canada’s recently passed Online News Act. Rodriguez said the decision from Meta was “unreasonable” and “irresponsible,” and as a result Canada would stop advertising on their platforms. He said…

Apple Inc, the world’s most valuable company, achieved a significant milestone as its stock market value surpassed $3 trillion for the first time, signaling even greater heights for the firm ahead of the release of new iPhones this September and Apple Vision in 2024. $3 TRILLION CAP Apple is onto a winner. The surge in valuation can be attributed to improving inflation conditions and investor optimism regarding Apple’s expansion into new markets and demonstrates the incredible work performed by Tim Cook and Co in recent years to bolster Apple’s market position further and make it a company people want to invest in. Recent gains in Apple shares, the resurgence of technology stocks, and the speculation around artificial intelligence have contributed to this remarkable feat. Furthermore, Apple’s solid financial performance, including…

Federal regulators are looking to crack down on fake reviews and other deceptive internet practices. The Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that would ban paying for reviews, suppressing honest reviews, selling fake social media engagement and more. Businesses would also be prohibited from running company-controlled websites that claim to be independent, and other deceptive practices like “review hijacking,” which makes reviews for one product appear like they were written for significantly different ones. If the proposed rule is approved, following a 60-day public comment period, violators could face hefty penalties. “Our proposed rule on fake reviews shows that we’re using all available means to attack deceptive advertising in the digital age,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “The rule would…

Network infrastructure and 5G technology provider Nokia has signed a new long-term patent license agreement with Apple to replace the current deal between the two companies that is set to expire at the end of 2023. The deal, which enables Apple to use the Finnish company’s technology in its products, covers Nokia’s inventions in 5G and other technologies. The terms of the agreement announced remain confidential. 5G, or Fifth Generation Technology, is the latest iteration of cellular technology, engineered to greatly increase the speed and responsiveness of wireless networks. Nokia’s contributions to 5G include improvements in network speed, latency, and the overall capability to connect more devices simultaneously. One of the key advancements under Nokia’s patents includes massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology. Massive MIMO uses numerous antennas to…

Facebook lost a legal challenge this week at the European Union’s top court over a groundbreaking German antitrust decision that limited the way the company uses data for advertising. The European Court of Justice said competition watchdogs can consider whether companies like Facebook comply with the continent’s strict privacy rules, which are normally enforced by national data privacy regulators. The court ruled that antitrust authorities can take into account any violations of data privacy rules as they investigate whether tech giants are abusing their dominance in the market by boxing out competitors. “We are evaluating the court’s decision and will have more to say in due course,” Facebook parent Meta said in a statement. The court sided with a 2019 German antitrust ruling that threatened to upend Meta’s business model…

TikTok Inc. and a group of five content creators who are suing the state of Montana over its first-in-the-nation law to ban the video sharing app are now asking a federal judge to block implementation of the law while the case moves through the courts and before it takes effect in January. The separate requests for preliminary injunctions were filed Wednesday in federal court in Missoula. The cases challenging the law were filed in May and have since been consolidated by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had the bill drafted over concerns — shared by the FBI and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — that the app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information…

Last month, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards to better reflect an evolving music industry. Of those newly instituted guidelines, protocols involving technological advancements in machine learning sparked headlines: “Only human creators” could win the music industry’s highest honor in a decision aimed at the use of artificial intelligence in popular music. “A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category,” the rules read in part. As the music industry continues to come to terms with this new technology, so too will the Grammys, says Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. “Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason told.…

The U.N. Security Council will hold a first-ever meeting on the potential threats of artificial intelligence to international peace and security, organized by the United Kingdom which sees tremendous potential but also major risks about AI’s possible use for example in autonomous weapons or in control of nuclear weapons. UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward announced the July 18 meeting as the centerpiece of its presidency of the council this month. It will include briefings by international AI experts and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who last month called the alarm bells over the most advanced form of AI “deafening,” and loudest from its developers. “These scientists and experts have called on the world to act, declaring AI an existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war,” the U.N.…

Stellantis says that when it starts to sell compact and midsize electric vehicles off new underpinnings next year, they will be able to go up to 435 miles (700 kilometers) per charge. The company made the claim Wednesday as it unveiled its new medium-sized platform designed for the purpose of housing battery packs and electric drive trains. Stellantis says the range will be best in the compact and midsize segments, which generally is about 300 miles at present. Carlos Tavares, CEO of the company that was formed in a merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot S.A., said Stellantis plans to roll out no fewer than 47 EVs worldwide by the end of next year. Details on the vehicles will come later in the year, he said. The first vehicle…

A European space telescope blasted off last weekend on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe. SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighborhood. It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this fall. Flight controllers in Germany declared success nearly an hour into the flight, applauding and shouting “Yes!” as the telescope phoned home after a smooth liftoff. “I’m so thrilled, I’m so excited to see now this mission up in space, knowing it is on its way,” the European Space Agency’s director general, Josef Aschbacher, said from the Florida launch site. Named for antiquity’s…

More than 150 executives are urging the European Union to rethink the world’s most comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence, saying that upcoming regulations will make it harder for companies in Europe to compete with rivals overseas, especially when it comes to the technology behind systems like ChatGPT. Officials at companies from French planemaker Airbus and carmaker Renault to Dutch beer giant Heineken signed an open letter to EU leaders saying the 27-nation bloc’s groundbreaking legislation may put shackles on the development of generative AI. That technology gives popular AI chatbots like ChatGPT the power to generate text, images, video and audio that resemble human work. “Such regulation could lead to highly innovative companies moving their activities abroad “ and investors withdrawing their money from AI development in Europe, the letter…

With layoffs, bank closures and inflation, financial tensions remain high for many Americans heading into the summer. In a fall 2022 survey conducted by The Harris Poll for the American Psychological Association, 83% of adults said inflation was a source of stress, and 56% said they and/or their family had to make different choices in the last month because they didn’t have enough money. Making tough money choices is stressful, and sacrificing “wants” to afford the “needs” can be disappointing. But, if you’re questioning the financial impact of your summer plans or they have suddenly become out of reach, there are still ways to have fun, save money and put yourself in a better place for next year. PIVOT TO A POSITIVE MINDSET In the face of canceled summer plans,…

Apple became the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value, marking another milestone for a technology juggernaut that has reshaped society with a line-up of products that churn out eye-popping profits. Apple shares closed up 2.3% at $193.97 last week, bringing its market value to $3.04 trillion. Apple is one of a handful of technology companies, including Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia, that helped drive the S&P 500 to a gain of nearly 16% in the first half of the year. The 47-year-old company co-founded by Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs had briefly eclipsed a $3 trillion market value on back-to-back days in January 2022, but couldn’t hold on by the time the market closed. Instead, Apple’s stock sunk into a prolonged descent…

A judge this week prohibited several federal agencies and officials of the Biden administration from working with social media companies about “protected speech,” a decision called “a blow to censorship” by one of the Republican officials whose lawsuit prompted the ruling. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana granted the injunction in response to a 2022 lawsuit brought by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri. Their lawsuit alleged that the federal government overstepped in its efforts to convince social media companies to address postings that could result in vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic or affect elections. Doughty cited “substantial evidence” of a far-reaching censorship campaign. He wrote that the “evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread…

The second-largest electric vehicle fast-charging network in the U.S. says it will add Tesla’s connector to its charging stations, another step toward adopting Tesla’s plug as the industry standard. Electrify America, with 800 direct-current fast-charging stations and more than 3,600 plugs nationwide, said Thursday it will work to add Tesla’s connector to existing and future chargers by 2025. The Volkswagen subsidiary, formed as part of the settlement to the company’s diesel emissions-cheating scandal, is second only to Tesla in number of fast-charging plugs in the U.S. “We look forward to continuing to support industrywide standards that increase vehicle interoperability and streamline public charging,” Electrify America CEO Robert Barrosa said in a statement. The company also will keep the Combined Charging System, or CCS, connector at its stations. At present most…

Goodbyes don’t tend to mean much in the Hollywood franchise system. Death isn’t a reliable end for characters or, lately, even actors. Technology, nostalgia and the often-inflated value of brands and IP have created a nightmarish cycle of resurrection and regurgitation, curdling what we love most. And yet when someone like Harrison Ford says he’s hanging up Indiana Jones’ fedora, for better or worse, you believe him. “Indiana Jones” producer Frank Marshall has also said that they won’t recast the character, which seems more dubious and, though well-intentioned, something he won’t be able to guarantee. All it takes is a new executive demanding a reboot. Not that it would ever really work, though. Any self-respecting movie fan knows the truth: The magic of Indiana Jones belongs wholly to Harrison Ford.…

It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when she was a recent college graduate in San Diego. Bomba had deja vu from San Francisco, where the air was so thick with smoke people had to mask up. They figured they left wildfire worries behind in California, but a Canada that’s burning from sea to warming sea brought one of the more visceral effects of climate change home to places that once seemed immune. “It’s been very apocalyptic feeling, because in California the dialogue is like, ‘Oh, it’s normal.…