Innholdsfortegnelse for #622 i Techlife News

After a 148-day strike, Hollywood screenwriters secured significant guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence in one of the first major labor battles over generative AI in the workplace. During the nearly five-month walkout, no issue resonated more than the use of AI in script writing. What was once a seemingly lesser demand of the Writers Guild of America became an existential rallying cry. The strike was also about streaming-era economics, writers room minimums and residuals — not exactly compelling picket-sign fodder. But the threat of AI vividly cast the writers’ plight as a human-versus-machine clash, with widespread implications for other industries facing a radically new kind of automation. In the coming weeks, WGA members will vote on whether to ratify a tentative agreement, which requires studios and production companies…

Home loan borrowing costs climbed again this week, pushing the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level in nearly 23 years, another blow to prospective homebuyers facing an increasingly unaffordable housing market. The average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 7.31%, from 7.19% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.70%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loan, also increased. The average rate rose to 6.72% from 6.54% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.96%, Freddie Mac said. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has hit the highest level since the year 2000,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “However, unlike the turn of the millennium, house prices today are rising alongside…

Apple has once again raised the bar with its latest smartwatches: the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Apple Watch Series 9. The smartwatches may be incremental upgrades, but they’re shipped with the powerful new S9 SiP and feature the magical double-tap gesture, meaning your next watch will be an indispensable companion for health, fitness, and everyday life. APPLE WATCH ULTRA 2: RUGGED SOPHISTICATION The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a marvel of engineering, designed for those who demand the best performance and durability. It’s powered by Apple’s all-new S9 SiP, which brings systemwide improvements and new features like on-device Siri and a 4-core Neural Engine that can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast as its predecessor. It might look identical to the first generation, and rumors…

A recycling facility will be built in Kentucky to shred electric vehicle batteries in a $65 million venture between American and South Korean companies that will supply material for a separate battery-related operation in the same town, the companies announced this week. The 100,000-square-foot (9,000-square meter) EV battery recycling facility to be built in Hopkinsville will create about 60 jobs, according to U.S.-based Ascend Elements, which is partnering with South Korea-based SK ecoplant and its electronicwaste recycling subsidiary, TES, on the project. Construction is set to begin in November and be completed in January 2025. Hopkinsville is 170 miles (274 kilometers) southwest of Louisville, Kentucky. “This is just the beginning of an entirely new industry in the United States,” Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, said in a news release.…

Ford Motor Co. said that it’s pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively. The move comes as the company is in the midst of national contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, which wants to represent workers at battery factories and win them top wages. The UAW went on strike against Ford and the other two Detroit automakers, General Motors and Stellantis, on Sept. 15. The union at first targeted one vehicle assembly plant from each automaker, and last week expanded it to parts warehouses. But Ford was spared from the expansion because the union said progress was being made in negotiations. In February, Ford announced plans to build the plant in Marshall, Michigan,…

Nearly 3.4 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the U.S. are under recall due to the risk of engine compartment fires and it’s important for drivers to check if their car is one of them. Both the companies and federal regulators are warning owners of the recalled vehicles to park them outdoors until repairs are made. Mail notifications about the recalls won’t begin until November, but owners can check right now to see if their vehicle in on the list — which covers multiple car and SUV models from the model years 2010 through 2019. Here’s what you need to know about the recalls and what to do if your car is impacted by it. WHY ARE THESE HYUNDAI AND KIA CARS GETTING RECALLED? According to documents posted this week…

Landmark net neutrality rules rescinded under former President Donald Trump could return under a new push by U.S. Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel. The rules would reclassify broadband access as an essential service on par with other utilities like water or power. “For everyone, everywhere, to enjoy the full benefits of the internet age, internet access should be more than just accessible and affordable,” Rosenworcel said at an event at the National Press Club. “The internet needs to be open.” The proposed rules would return fixed and mobile broadband service to its status as an essential telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act. It would also prohibit internet service providers from blocking or throttling lawful Internet traffic and from selling “fast lanes” that prioritize some traffic over…

Amazon is investing up to $4 billion in Anthropic and taking a minority stake in the artificial intelligence startup, the two companies said this week. The investment underscores how Big Tech companies are pouring money into AI as they race to capitalize on the opportunities that the latest generation of the technology is set to fuel. Amazon and Anthropic said the deal is part of a broader collaboration to develop so-called foundation models, which underpin the generative AI systems that have captured global attention. Foundation models, also known as large language models, are trained on vast pools of online information, like blog posts, digital books, scientific articles and pop songs to generate text, images and video that resemble human work. Under the agreement, Anthropic is making Amazon its primary cloud…

Are high gas prices burning a hole in your wallet? Then maybe it’s a good time to consider a hybrid vehicle. Hybrids gain improved fuel efficiency thanks to specialized powertrains that combine a gas engine with at least one electric motor that’s powered by a battery pack that does not need to be plugged in. In many cases, the price difference between hybrid and non-hybrid models is small enough that the hybrid will pay for itself or save you money after just a few years of ownership. But which hybrid models are the best? To help you in your search for the top fuel sipper, car experts highlighted five of their highest-ranking hybrids in a variety of prices and body styles. TOYOTA PRIUS This isn’t your parents’ Prius anymore. Unlike…

Hollywood’s writers strike was declared over after nearly five months Tuesday night when board members from their union approved a contract agreement with studios, bringing the industry at least partly back from a historic halt in production. The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America and their joint negotiating committee all voted to accept the deal, two days after the tentative agreement was reached with a coalition of Hollywood’s biggest studios, streaming services and production companies. After the vote they declared that the strike is over and writers would be free to start on scripts. Late-night talk shows — the first to go dark when writers walked out on May 2 — are likely the first shows that will resume. Scripted shows will…

Peloton and athletic wear maker Lululemon have announced a five-year partnership, effectively closing the curtain on Lululemon’s recently acquired connected fitness device, Mirror. The interactive fitness company steps in to become the exclusive digital fitness content provider for Lululemon, which in turn becomes the primary athletic apparel partner to New York-based Peloton. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lululemon, known in its early days for mostly making yoga gear, broadened its athletic apparel offerings and then bought at-home exercise startup Mirror for $500 million in June of 2020, just months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Lululemon’s challenge to Peloton in the connected fitness arena was short-lived. Lululemon said Wednesday that it would discontinue selling Mirror before the end of the year but would continue to provide service and support to users. Mirror, which launched…

Anyone looking for a beautiful photograph of a desert landscape can find many choices from Getty Images, the stock photography collection. But say you’re instead looking for a wide angle shot of a “hot pink plastic saguaro cactus with large arms that stick out, surrounded by sand, in landscape at dawn.” Getty Images says you can now ask its artificial intelligence image-generator to make one on the spot. The Seattle-based company is taking a two-pronged approach to the threat and opportunity that AI poses to its business. First, it sued a leading purveyor of AI-generated images earlier this year for what it alleged was “brazen infringement” of Getty’s image collection “on a staggering scale.” But this week, it also joined the small but growing market of AI image makers with…

A top Apple executive defended the tech giant’s decision to make Google the default search engine on Apple iPhones and Macs, saying there was no “valid alternative.’’ Testifying in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said Tuesday that there wasn’t “anybody as good’’ as Google at helping phone and computer users search the internet. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Google – a company whose very name is synonymous with scouring the web — of smothering competition by paying Apple, Verizon and other tech companies to make its search engine the first users see when they open their devices. Google counters that it dominates the market because its search engine is better than the competition, a position Cue supported…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the tech giant’s Connect developer conference on Wednesday with a focus on virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence The company, which renamed itself Meta two years ago, unveiled the next version of its virtual reality headset, the Quest 3. It will cost $499 and begin shipping Oct. 10. Standing in a courtyard at his company’s Menlo Park, California headquarters, Zuckerberg told the audience of developers, employees and journalists that Meta is “focused on building the future of human connection” — and painted a near-future where people interact with hologram versions of their friends or coworkers and with AI bots built to assist them. “Soon the physical and digital will come together in what we call the metaverse,” he said. Zuckerberg introduced an AI…

U.S. regulators and 17 states are suing Amazon over allegations the e-commerce behemoth abuses its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on and off its platform, overcharge sellers and stifle competition. The lawsuit, filed this week in federal court in Amazon’s home state of Washington, is the result of a yearslong investigation into the company’s businesses and one of the most significant legal challenges brought against it in its nearly 30-year history. The Federal Trade Commission and states that joined the lawsuit allege Amazon is violating federal and state antitrust laws. They are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction that they say would prohibit Amazon from engaging in its unlawful conduct and loosen its “monopolistic control to restore competition.” The complaint accuses the company of engaging in…

British competition regulators gave preliminary approval to Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, easing a final global hurdle that paves the way for one of the largest tech transactions in history to go through. The Competition and Markets Authority said the revamped proposal “substantially addresses previous concerns” about stifling competition in the fast-growing cloud gaming market, which frees players from buying expensive consoles and gaming computers by streaming to tablets, phones and other devices. The updated offer “opens the door to the deal being cleared,” the watchdog said, though there are lingering concerns. Microsoft has offered remedies that the watchdog provisionally decided will resolve those issues, and regulators are now getting feedback from “interested parties” before making a final decision. The announcement shows the…