Innholdsfortegnelse for #614 i Techlife News

DoorDash set records for total orders and revenue in the second quarter as its grocery and convenience deliveries accelerated and it improved driver efficiency. The San Francisco-based delivery company said this week that its total orders rose 25% to 532 million for the April-June period. That was ahead of Wall Street’s forecast of 521 million, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue rose 33% to $2.1 billion, which was in line with analysts’ forecasts. DoorDash raised its full-year forecast Wednesday. The company said it now expects gross order values between $64.2 billion and $65.2 billion for the year, up from the $63 billion to $64.5 billion previously forecast. DoorDash expects adjusted pretax earnings between $750 million and $1.05 billion, up from a range of $600 million to $900 million. DoorDash’s…

China’s internet watchdog has laid out regulations to curb the amount of time children spend on their smartphones, in the latest blow to firms such as Tencent and ByteDance, which run social media platforms and online games. The Cyberspace Administration of China on Wednesday published the draft guidelines on its site, stating that minors would not be allowed to use most internet services on mobile devices from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that children between the ages of 16 and 18 would only be able to use the internet for two hours a day. Children between the ages of 8 and 15 would be allowed only an hour a day, while those under 8 would only be allowed 40 minutes. Only certain services, such as apps or platforms that…

Apple’s tvOS 17 update might not be quite as exciting as iOS 17 or macOS Sonoma. Still, it offers a host of exciting features and enhancements to the Apple TV 4K, solidifying its position as a central hub for entertainment and communication in the home. INTRODUCING FACETIME ON APPLE TV The highlight of tvOS 17 is undoubtedly the addition of FaceTime to Apple TV 4K. With this new feature, users can now enjoy video calls with family and friends on the big screen in their living rooms. This integration not only enhances the FaceTime experience but also transforms Apple TV 4K into a more immersive communication device and further elevates the Apple ecosystem into a hub for families, entertainment, business, and connection. Users can initiate FaceTime calls directly from their…

BMW and Mercedes-Benz are well known for their 7 Series and S-Class flagship sedans. But now you should get familiar with their electric counterparts: the BMW i7 and Mercedes EQS sedan. These two all-electric sedans are among the most expensive, technologically advanced and luxurious electric vehicles on the market. But which one most successfully represents the pinnacle of EV design? Experts compared the i7 and EQS to find out. DRIVING RANGE & CHARGING The EQS ‘ most efficient 450+ trim level boasts an impressive EPA-estimated driving range of 350 miles on a full charge. Even better, it easily surpassed that estimate by driving 422 miles on real-world range test. Drivers has tested other EQS versions and found they all can go farther than their EPA estimates. For 2023, the i7…

Get ready to say goodbye to the once ubiquitous incandescent light bulb, pioneered by Thomas Edison more than a century ago. You can thank — or blame — new federal energy efficiency regulations that went into full effect Tuesday. Quite possibly without you even noticing. The Energy Department rules, which date back to the Obama administration, have been whipsawed in the political process for years. Some conservatives and Republican lawmakers long denounced them for interfering with consumer choice and placing undue burdens on business. Under former President Donald Trump, the Energy Department scrapped them in 2019; the Biden administration subsequently revived them. Yet by the time Aug. 1 rolled around, the critics had gone quiet, possibly because companies and consumers have already started voting for better lighting efficiency with their…

An Australian Senate committee has recommended a ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from federal government devices be extended to China’s most popular social media platform, WeChat. The Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media also recommended in a report late Tuesday that social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter should become more transparent or be fined. Committee chair James Paterson said on Wednesday the report’s recommendations would make Australia a more difficult target for the serious foreign interference risks that the nation faced. “It tackles both the problems posed by authoritarian-headquartered social media platforms like TikTok and WeChat and Westernheadquartered social media platforms being weaponized by the actions of authoritarian governments including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter,” Paterson told reporters. The committee was established last year to examine…

Hyundai and Kia are telling the owners of nearly 92,000 vehicles in the U.S. to park them outside because an electronic controller in an oil pump can overheat and cause fires. The affiliated Korean automakers are recalling the vehicles and also are telling owners to park them away from structures until repairs are made. The recalls cover certain 2023 and 2024 Hyundai Palisades, as well some 2023 Tucson, Sonata, Elantra and Kona vehicles. Affected Kias include the 2023 Soul and Sportage as well as some 2023 and 2024 Seltos vehicles. The companies say in documents posted Thursday by U.S. safety regulators that a capacitor on a circuit board in the oil pump assembly for the transmission may have been damaged by the supplier during manufacturing. That can cause a short-circuit…

A vintage Apple computer signed by company co-founder Steve Wozniak is being sold at auction. The Apple-1 set in motion the company that in June became the first publicly traded business to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value, according to RR Auction in Boston. The computer has been restored to a fully operational state and comes with a custom-built case with a built-in keyboard, the agency said. “It’s an incredibly rare commodity,” said Tim Bajarin, chairman of Creative Strategies, a technology research firm with deep knowledge of the industry. “You can trace the growth of the PC industry to the Apple-1.” The computer, which originally sold for about $666, is expected to sell for about $200,000 at an auction that runs through Aug. 24. An Apple-1…

Tesla is ramping up efforts to open showrooms on tribal lands where it can sell directly to consumers, circumventing laws in states that bar vehicle manufacturers from also being retailers in favor of the dealership model. Mohegan Sun, a casino and entertainment complex in Connecticut owned by the federally recognized Mohegan Tribe, announced this week that the California-based electric automaker will open a showroom with a sales and delivery center this fall on its sovereign property where the state’s law doesn’t apply. The news comes after another new Tesla showroom was announced in June, set to open in 2025 on lands of the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York. “I think it was a move that made complete sense,” said Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of…

The European Union said that it has opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft over concerns that bundling its Teams messaging and videoconferencing app with its Office productivity software gives it an unfair edge over competitors. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top competition enforcer, said it would carry out its in-depth investigation “as a matter of priority.” The investigation stems from a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, which makes popular workplace messaging software. Slack, owned by business software maker Salesforce, alleged that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance to eliminate competition — in violation of EU laws — by illegally combining Teams with its Office suite, which includes Word, Excel and Outlook. “Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe. We…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday sued USASF Servicing, the financial arm of a chain of auto dealerships found mostly in the South, alleging the company committed a laundry list of illegal practices, like disabling borrowers’ cars, double-billing customers, and illegally repossessing cars. The bureau is seeking to get millions of dollars in refunds for thousands of USASF customers, as well as impose fines and penalties against the Georgia-based company. USASF is affiliated with U.S. Auto Sales, a dealership chain that sold used cars mostly to customers with low incomes or bad credit that operated a “buy here, pay here” business model at its 31 dealerships. U.S. Auto Sales mostly shut down its dealership operations in April, but USASF is still operating as the loan servicer for the company.…

Amazon has begun offering its Fresh grocery delivery service to customers who aren’t Prime members. The initial rollout will only be available in a dozen cities, including Boston, Phoenix, Dallas and San Francisco, the company told customers Wednesday in an emailed announcement. Previously, Amazon had only offered grocery deliveries for Prime members, who pay $139 a year for faster shipping and other perks. Non-Prime members who’re interested in trying out the service will pay $13.95 for deliveries under $50. That’s $4 more than Prime members have to pay for the same order size. Deliveries for orders between $50 and $100 will cost $10.95, and orders over $100 will incur a $7.95 fee. The company said pick-up orders are free from select metro areas. Amazon operates 44 Fresh grocery stores across…

Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods. Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to compose documents and get work done. Some are using it on tasks with the potential for high-stakes consequences, from psychotherapy to researching and writing legal briefs. “I don’t think that there’s any model today that that doesn’t suffer from some hallucination,” said Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude 2. “They’re really just sort of designed to predict the next word,” Amodei said. “And so there will be some rate at which the model does…

The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram to deliver content to users have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies suggest addressing these challenges is not as simple as tweaking the platforms’ software. The four research papers, published in Science and Nature, also reveal the extent of political echo chambers on Facebook, where conservatives and liberals rely on divergent sources of information, interact with opposing groups and consume distinctly different amounts of misinformation. Algorithms are the automated systems that social media platforms use to suggest content for users by making assumptions based on the groups, friends, topics and headlines a user has clicked on in the past. While they excel at keeping users engaged, algorithms have been criticized for amplifying misinformation…

China imposed restrictions this week on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the 17-month-old war. It has been stung by reports that both sides might be using Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and possibly attacks. Export controls take effect to prevent use of drones for “non-peaceful purposes,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. It said some drone exports still will be allowed. China is a leading developer and exporter of drones. DJI Technology Co., one of the global industry’s top competitors, announced in April 2022 it was pulling out of Russia and Ukraine to prevent its drones from being used…