Innholdsfortegnelse for #620 i Techlife News

NASA said Thursday that the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unidentified flying objects are perceived The space agency released the findings after a yearlong study into UFOs. In its 33-page report, an independent team commissioned by NASA cautioned that the negative perception surrounding UFOs poses an obstacle to collecting data. But officials said NASA’s involvement should help reduce the stigma around what it calls UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena. “We want to shift the conversation about UAPs from sensationalism to science,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. He promised an open and transparent approach. Officials stressed the panel found no evidence that UAPs had extraterrestrial origin. But Nelson acknowledged with billions of stars in billions of galaxies out…

China’s Commerce Ministry has protested a decision by the European Union to investigate exports of Chinese electric vehicles, saying Thursday that it is a “protectionist” act aimed at distorting the supply chain. The EU announced Wednesday it will probe government subsidies provided to Chinese automakers that the EU contends keep EV prices artificially low. China has become the biggest market for electric vehicles after investing billions in subsidies to gain an edge. Automakers like BYD and Geely have quickly gained market share after launching sales of EVs to Japan and Europe. “What I want to emphasize is that the investigation measure that the European Union plans to take is to protect its own industry in the name of fair competition,” Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said at a briefing in…

At this year’s Wonderlust event, Apple lifted the lid on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, offering an array of incredible new enhancements and features like the ultra-powerful A17 Pro chip and an all-new titanium frame for advanced durability and performance. INTRODUCING IPHONE 15 PRO In another impressive virtual conference, Apple lifted the lid on several new products at this year’s September keynote, but perhaps most notably, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Speaking of the new flagship models, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said: “This is the most pro lineup we have ever created, with a state-of-the-art titanium design, the best iPhone camera system yet that enables game-changing new workflows, and the A17 Pro chip, which ushers in a…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been talking for months about accomplishing a potentially impossible task: passing bipartisan legislation within the next year that encourages the rapid development of artificial intelligence and mitigates its biggest risks. On Wednesday, he convened a meeting of some of the country’s most prominent technology executives, among others, to ask them how Congress should do it. The closed-door forum on Capitol Hill included almost two dozen tech executives, tech advocates, civil rights groups and labor leaders. The guest list featured some of the industry’s biggest names: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X and Tesla’s Elon Musk as well as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. All 100 senators were invited; the public was not. Schumer, D-N.Y., opened the session by saying that “today, we begin an enormous…

The Nissan Ariya is an all-new electric SUV for the 2023 model year. It’s Nissan’s second EV and serves as a roomier and more powerful complement to the brand’s pioneering Leaf hatchback. However, it’s also going up against many recently introduced SUV competitors, one of which is the Ford Mustang Mach-E. On sale since the 2021 model year, the Mustang Mach-E has earned praise from experts for its performance, range and user-friendly controls. Which one of these small electric SUVs is the better buy? Let’s find out. RANGE & CHARGING The 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E and 2023 Nissan Ariya have a wide range of configurations to choose from. With the Mach-E, there are four main trim levels, two sizes of battery, and choice of rear- or all-wheel drive. The Mach-E’s…

After months of testing, TikTok is fully launching its e-commerce product in the U.S. in an effort to translate the app’s cultural relevance among young consumers to sales. The company said this week its shopping wing, called TikTok Shop, will include several features such as a “Shop Tab,” a marketplace its been testing on the app since August; affiliate videos in user’s feed that allows creators to earn commissions from products; as well as a logistics arm called Fulfilled by TikTok that stores and ships products for merchants. Currently, TikTok spokesperson Laura Perez said more than 200,000 sellers have registered for TikTok Shop. Meanwhile, over 100,000 content creators are participating in the affiliate program, which allows users who have 5,000 followers to create videos that go directly to TikTok’s algorithmically-engineered…

If you think U.S. roads have gotten busier on your morning commute, you’re not alone. The rate of workers driving to their jobs creeped upwards nationwide last year, as did those who carpool to work by car, truck or van. The mean commuting time jumped by almost a minute in 2022 from the previous year, as more businesses ended full-time remote work, a sign that post-pandemic life edged closer in 2022 to what it was before COVID-19. The rate of people working from home dropped from almost 18% in 2021 to 15.2% in 2022, according to new survey data on life in America released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The survey covers commuting times, internet access, family life, income, education levels, disabilities, military service, and employment, among other topics.…

For those who have been paying attention to Elon Musk for at least the past couple years, Walter Isaacson’s biography of the tech billionaire doesn’t feel that surprising. Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk” does a good job hammering home the portrayal of the SpaceX founder and now owner of X — formerly Twitter — as a visionary but mercurial figure who’s given to mood swings and self-destructive behavior. It’s a familiar descriptor for Musk’s fans and detractors, but Isaacson’s biography still offers plenty of revealing details about the tech mogul. In the opening pages of the book on Musk’s childhood, he’s described as someone “not hardwired to have empathy,” a characteristic that comes into play throughout his work endeavors and personal life. What Isaacson doesn’t conclude is whether those characteristics are…

Bye, Lightning cable. Hello, USB-C. Apple is ditching its in-house iPhone charging plug and falling in line with the rest of the tech industry by adopting a more widely used connection standard. A big part of the reason is a European Union common charging rule that’s coming soon for the 27-nation bloc. Here’s a look at the USB-C plug and what it means for consumers: WHAT IS USB-C AND HOW CAN I TELL IT APART FROM OTHER PLUGS? The first part of the acronym stands for Universal Serial Bus, and it replaces earlier versions of the USB cables used on everything from printers and hard drives to computer mice and Kindle readers. The USB-C plug comes in a different shape than its predecessors — an elongated oval. It’s also symmetrical…

Apple on Tuesday unveiled its next generation of iPhones — a line-up that will boast better cameras, faster processors, a new charging system and a price hike for the fanciest model. The showcase at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, comes as the company tries to reverse a mild slump that has seen its sales drop from last year in three consecutive quarters. The malaise is a key reason Apple’s stock price has dipped by about 10% since mid-July, dropping the company’s market value below the $3 trillion threshold it reached for the first time earlier this summer. Investors apparently weren’t impressed with what Apple rolled out Tuesday. The company’s shares fell nearly 2%, a steeper decline than the major market indexes. As has been case with Apple and other smartphone…

The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway. The legal attack will swing into full force in a Washington D.C. federal courtroom that will serve as the battleground for the biggest U.S. antitrust trial since regulators went after Microsoft and its dominance of personal computer software a quarter century ago. The 10-week trial before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is expected to include potentially revelatory testimony from top executives at Google and its corporate parent Alphabet, as well as other powerful technology companies. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page in 2019, will be among the most prominent witnesses likely to testify. Court documents also indicate one of Apple’s highest-ranking executives,…

French regulators ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12, saying it emits electromagnetic radiation levels that are above European Union standards for exposure. The company disputed the findings and said the device complies with regulations. The French government agency that manages wireless communications frequencies issued the order after the iPhone 12 recently failed one of two types of tests for electromagnetic waves capable of being absorbed by the body. It’s unclear why the phone, which was released in late 2020, didn’t pass the agency’s latest round of tests and why it was only that particular model. France’s digital minister said the iPhone 12’s radiation levels are still much lower than levels that scientific studies consider could harm users, and the agency itself acknowledges that its tests don’t reflect typical…

Shares of U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings rose 10% in their stock market debut, in what is the largest initial public offering of shares in nearly two years. The shares opened at $56.10 on the Nasdaq Thursday after having been priced at $51. The offering price gave Arm a market value of $54.5 billion. Most consumers use at least one product that contains Arm’s chips, though many people may not be familiar with the company itself. Its chip design is used in virtually all smartphones, the majority of tablets and digital TVs. More recently, Arm has expanded into artificial intelligence, smart devices, cloud computing, the metaverse and autonomous driving. Arm’s offering is an important development for the IPO market, which has seen relatively few companies go public the past two…

If you have watched a telecast involving basketball superstar LeBron James during the past 20 years, you probably have heard an announcer declare: “You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.”That sentiment sums up how Inflection. ai CEO Mustafa Suleyman feels about artificial intelligence — a technology that he helped advance as a co-founder of DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014. After leaving Google last year, Suleyman started Inflection with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman in an effort to create artificial intelligence, or AI, that won’t veer into racist, sexist or violent behavior. Inflection’s first proof point is an AI-powered assistant named “Pi” that’s touted as a safer alternative to better known chatbots such as Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. Now Suleyman has co-written a book, “The…

The cost of building an artificial intelligence product like ChatGPT can be hard to measure. But one thing Microsoft-backed OpenAI needed for its technology was plenty of water, pulled from the watershed of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers in central Iowa to cool a powerful supercomputer as it helped teach its AI systems how to mimic human writing. As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged that growing demand for their AI tools carries hefty costs, from expensive semiconductors to an increase in water consumption. But they’re often secretive about the specifics. Few people in Iowa knew about its status as a birthplace of OpenAI’s most advanced large language model, GPT-4, before a top Microsoft executive…

After months of complaints from the Authors Guild and other groups, Amazon.com has started requiring writers who want to sell books through its e-book program to tell the company in advance that their work includes artificial intelligence material. The Authors Guild praised the new regulations, which were posted last week, as a “welcome first step” toward deterring the proliferation of computer-generated books on the online retailer’s site. Many writers feared computer-generated books could crowd out traditional works and would be unfair to consumers who didn’t know they were buying AI content. In a statement posted on its website, the Guild expressed gratitude toward “the Amazon team for taking our concerns into account and enacting this important step toward ensuring transparency and accountability for AI-generated content.” A passage posted this week…

From an early model of the iconic alien mothership from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to a complete Stormtrooper costume from “Star Wars,” bidding opens on thousands of pieces Hollywood model maker Greg Jein collected over his lifetime, including many he created during his nearly half-century career. The collection amassed by Jein, who died last year at age 76, will be offered up by Heritage Auctions next month in Dallas. Jein, who had an Oscar and Emmy nominated career making miniature models, was also a collector of costumes, props, scripts, artwork, photographs and models from the shows he loved. “He spent his entire lifetime in a movie industry at a time when practical effects and models were the way that magic happened,” said Joshua Benesh, Heritage’s chief strategy officer.…