Innholdsfortegnelse for #624 i Techlife News

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts and taken down or labeled thousands of pieces of content since the militant group’s attack on Israel, according to the CEO of the company formerly known as Twitter. Linda Yaccarino on Thursday outlined efforts by X to get a handle on illegal content flourishing on the platform. She was responding to a demand from a top European Union official this week for information on how X is complying with the EU’s tough new digital rules during the Israel-Hamas war. “X is proportionately and effectively assessing and addressing identified fake and manipulated content during this constantly evolving and shifting crisis,” Yaccarino said in a letter to European Commissioner Thierry Breton, the 27-nation bloc’s digital enforcer. Since the war erupted,…

Planes packed with summer travelers boosted Delta Air Lines to a $1.11 billion profit in the third quarter, and the carrier said Thursday that it expects revenue to keep rising into the holiday season. Profit was up 59% from a year earlier, as strong ticket sales — especially for premium seats and international flights — helped Delta shrug off higher labor costs. The Atlanta-based airline predicted ranges for fourth-quarter and full-year profit that mostly exceed Wall Street expectations. “I think we’re closing the year strong, and the holiday bookings that we see right now are pretty good,” CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview. “Domestic (travel) is solid, and international is really strong.” U.S. airlines are flying high as the travel recovery that began last year shows few signs of…

Since its debut, the Tesla Model 3 has been a revelation in the EV market, setting new standards for what consumers can expect from an electric saloon. Tesla is now set to launch a revamped version of this groundbreaking vehicle, which promises many improvements, including a longer range, updated styling, a redesigned interior, and an accessible price tag. STUNNING DESIGN While the basic silhouette of the Tesla Model 3 remains largely the same, the new 2024 facelift brings several aesthetic improvements that are hard to ignore. The most noticeable change is in the headlights. The new, slimmer design resembles those on the Tesla Roadster, adding a touch of sportiness to this family saloon. The front bumper has also been streamlined. Gone are the separate fog lights and multiple vents, replaced…

On the picket lines at a Ford factory west of Detroit, many striking workers don’t think the electric vehicle revolution is coming for their jobs — at least not in the near future. But just in case, they’re backing United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain’s quest to unionize EV battery factories at Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis, matching a breakthrough concession made by General Motors last week. So far, neither Ford nor Stellantis has agreed to the change, which would pull employees at all 10 U.S. battery factories proposed by Detroit automakers into national contracts with the UAW, all but assuring they’ll be unionized. Fain also wants workers at the plants to make top UAW assembly plant wages, which now are $32 per hour. With the UAW strike now in…

New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by “addictive” feeds from accounts they don’t follow, under legislation proposed this week. The bills offered by state leaders are aimed at protecting young people from features designed to keep them endlessly scrolling, endangering their mental health and development, Attorney General Letitia James said. “Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame,” James said. “This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy.” The regulations sought by James and Gov. Kathy…

Taiwan authorities are investigating four Taiwan-based companies suspected of helping China’s Huawei Technologies to build semiconductor facilities. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua said that the investigation will determine if the companies have violated regulations prohibiting sales of sensitive technologies and equipment to China. The Ministry of Economic Affairs summoned the semiconductor and factory services suppliers for questioning after a report by Bloomberg said they were working with Huawei as it builds a network of computer chip plants. The investigation also will study whether the companies exported any any sensitive technologies or products with military applications that are included in Taiwan’s list of Strategic High-Tech Commodities, Taiwan’s China News Agency and other reports said. They said semiconductor material reseller Topco Scientific Co.; cleanroom constructor L&K Engineering Co.; construction and design…

Talks bitterly broke off between Hollywood actors and studios late Wednesday, killing any hopes that the three-month strike by performers would come to an end anytime soon. The studios announced that they had suspended contract negotiations, saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continuing worth it, despite an offer as good as the one that recently ended the writers strike. The actors union decried their opponents’“bullying tactics” and said they were wildly mischaracterizing their offers. On Oct. 2, for the first time since the strike began July 14, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists had resumed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in strike talks. When negotiations resumed with…

The “Mona Lisa” has given up another secret. Using X-rays to peer into the chemical structure of a tiny speck of the celebrated work of art, scientists have gained new insight into the techniques that Leonardo da Vinci used to paint his groundbreaking portrait of the woman with the exquisitely enigmatic smile. The research, published this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, suggests that the famously curious, learned and inventive Italian Renaissance master may have been in a particularly experimental mood when he set to work on the “Mona Lisa” early in the 16th century. The oil-paint recipe that Leonardo used as his base layer to prepare the panel of poplar wood appears to have been different for the “Mona Lisa,” with its own distinctive chemical signature,…

Boeing deliveries of new airline jets slumped in the third quarter as the company struggled with production problems that are cutting into its ability to generate cash. Boeing said this week that it delivered 27 planes in September, including 15 of its bestseller, the 737 Max. That was far behind European rival Airbus, which delivered 55 planes last month. It brought the Arlington, Virginia, company’s quarterly total to 105 deliveries, down from 112 in the same period last year. Boeing gets the largest share of the purchase price when it delivers planes, so the dip hurts cash flow. The pace of Max deliveries is also falling short of the company’s goal of producing 38 new 737s per month. Production and deliveries of the Max and the 787 Dreamliner have been…

The notion that hundreds or even thousands of electric-powered air taxis could be whisking people over jammed roads is inching away from science fiction and closer to reality. Battery technology is improving enough for eVTOLs – short for electric vertical takeoffs and landings, the name given to these aircraft that can act like helicopters near the ground but fly like small planes. The bigger question may be whether there is a profitable business in producing them. JoeBen Bevirt is an evangelist for the new industry and the founder and CEO of Joby Aviation Inc., which delivered its first eVTOL to the Air Force last month. Bevirt insists that his Santa Cruz, California-based company, whose largest shareholder is Toyota (11%), can meet an ambitious target of entering commercial air taxi service…

Jeep maker Stellantis says it will build a second electric vehicle battery factory in Kokomo, Indiana, that will create 1,400 new jobs. The $3.2 billion joint venture plant with South Korea’s Samsung SDI is to start production early in 2027. Construction already is underway on the companies’ first joint venture factory in Kokomo, which is scheduled to open early in 2025. That $3.1 billion plant announced in May of 2022 also is expected to create about 1,400 new jobs. The city of Kokomo, which is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north of Indianapolis, made a compelling case to locate the second factory there, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer for North America Mark Stewart said in a statement this week. Samsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi said Kokomo will be the company’s largest…

A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments in a case filed by TikTok and five Montana content creators who want the court to block the state’s ban on the video sharing app before it takes effect Jan. 1. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula is not expected to rule immediately on the request for a preliminary injunction. Montana became the first state in the U.S. to pass a complete ban on the app, based on the argument that the Chinese government could gain access to user information from TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing. Content creators say the ban violates free speech rights and could cause economic harm for their businesses. TikTok said in court filings that the state passed its law based on “unsubstantiated…

Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can witness the resolution of one of the world’s most heated debates on cultural heritage. All they need is a smartphone. Visitors can now pinch and zoom their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked. That includes a collection of marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon more than 200 years ago that are now on display at the British Museum in London. Greece has demanded they be returned. For now, an app supported by Greece’s Culture Ministry allows visitors to point their phones at the Parthenon temple, and the sculptures housed in London appear back on the monument as archaeologists believe they looked 2,500 years ago. Other, less widely known features also appear: Many of…

As soon as the federal pandemic relief started arriving at America’s schools, so did the relentless calls. Tech companies by the dozens wanted a chance to prove their software was what schools needed. Best of all, they often added, it wouldn’t take a dime from district budgets: Schools could use their new federal money. They did, and at a tremendous scale. Analysis of public records found many of the largest school systems spent tens of millions of dollars in pandemic money on software and services from tech companies, including licenses for apps, games and tutoring websites. Schools, however, have little or no evidence the programs helped students. Some of the new software was rarely used. The full scope of spending is unknown because the aid came with few reporting requirements.…

Starting next year, people who want to buy a new or used electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle will be able to get U.S. government income tax credits at the time of purchase. Eligible buyers, including those that bought an EV or hybrid this year, have had to wait until they filed their federal income tax returns to actually get the benefits. The Treasury Department says the near-instant credits of $7,500 for an eligible new vehicle and $4,000 for a qualifying used vehicle should lower purchasing costs for consumers and help car dealers by boosting EV sales. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the credits, buyers can transfer the credits to dealers, which can apply them at the point of sale starting Jan. 1. Plus, the government says people can…

Amazon is heading into one of its biggest sales events of the year — Prime Day — with a lawsuit hanging over its head that accuses it of preventing sellers from hawking their merchandise at lower prices on other sites. The Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited antitrust case is the agency’s most aggressive move yet to tame the market power of Amazon, a company that’s become synonymous with online shopping and fast deliveries. Under chair Lina Khan, the agency hasn’t been shy about taking big swings against some of America’s biggest companies and testing the limits of competition law to reverse what many of her supporters see as decades of weak antitrust enforcement. But that approach has also led to some high-profile setbacks, most notably in the FTC’s bid to block…