Innholdsfortegnelse for #647 i Techlife News

The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors and stifles innovation. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.” The lawsuit — which was also filed with 16 state attorneys general — is the latest example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and competitive market, even as it has lost some significant anticompetition cases. President Joe Biden has called for the Justice Department and the Federal Trade…

Another 78,000 Americans are getting their federal student loans canceled through a program that helps teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public servants, the Biden administration announced Thursday. The Education Department is canceling the borrowers’ loans because they reached 10 years of payments while working in public service, making them eligible for relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. “These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. Congress created the program in 2007, but rigid rules and missteps by student loan servicers left many borrowers unable to get the cancellation they were promised. The Biden administration loosened some of the rules and…

Warnings about deepfakes and disinformation fueled by artificial intelligence. Concerns about campaigns and candidates using social media to spread lies about elections. Fears that tech companies will fail to address these issues as their platforms are used to undermine democracy ahead of pivotal elections. Those are the worries facing elections in the U.S., where most voters speak English. But for languages like Spanish, or in dozens of nations where English isn’t the dominant language, there are even fewer safeguards in place to protect voters and democracy against the corrosive effects of election misinformation. It’s a problem getting renewed attention in an election year in which more people than ever will go to the polls. Tech companies have faced intense political pressure in countries like the U.S. and places like the…

The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide Intel with up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans for computer chip plants in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon. President Joe Biden plans to talk up the investment on Wednesday as he visits Intel’s campus in Chandler, Arizona, which could be a decisive swing state in November’s election. He has often said that not enough voters know about his economic policies and suggested that more would support him if they did know. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the deal reached through her department would put the United States in a position to produce 20% of the world’s most advanced chips by 2030, up from the current level of zero. The United States designs advanced chips,…

Two men are accused of starting a business in China using battery manufacturing technology pilfered from Tesla and trying to sell the proprietary information, federal prosecutors in New York said. Klaus Pflugbeil, 58, a Canadian citizen who lives in Ningbo, China, was arrested this week on Long Island, where he thought he was going to meet with businessmen to negotiate a sale price for the information, federal authorities said. Instead, the businessmen were undercover federal agents. The other man named in the criminal complaint is Yilong Shao, 47, also of Ningbo. He remains at large. They are charged with conspiracy to transmit trade secrets, which carries up to 10 years in prison if convicted. A lawyer for Pflugbeil did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Tesla also…

SpaceX came close to completing an hourlong test flight of its mega rocket on its third try Thursday (14), but the spacecraft was lost as it descended back to Earth. The company said it lost contact with Starship as it neared its goal, a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The first-stage booster also ended up in pieces, breaking apart much earlier in the flight over the Gulf of Mexico after launching from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. “The ship has been lost. So no splashdown today,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot. “But again, it’s incredible to see how much further we got this time around.” Two test flights last year both ended in explosions minutes after liftoff. By surviving for close to 50 minutes this time, The…

U.N. agencies have warned that electrical and electronic waste is piling up worldwide while recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further. The agencies define “e-waste” as any discarded device with a plug or battery, including cellphones, electronic cars and toys, TVs, e-cigarettes, laptop computers and solar panels. In a new report released this week, the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR said some 62 million tons of “e-waste” was generated in 2022, enough to fill tractor-trailers that could be lined up bumper to bumper around the globe. It’s on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030. Metals — including copper, gold and iron — made up half of the 62 million tons, worth a total of some $91 billion, the report said. Plastics…

Boeing is telling airlines to inspect switches on pilots’ seats in its 787 Dreamliner jets after a published report said an accidental cockpit seat movement likely caused the sudden plunge of a LATAM Airlines plane flying to New Zealand. Boeing said it recommended that airlines inspect the motorized cockpit seats the next time they perform maintenance on their 787s. The aircraft manufacturer pointed to instructions that include how to disable motors that move the seats. The company described its advisory as a “precautionary measure.” It did not link the memo to what happened this week on a LATAM Airlines flight between Australia and New Zealand. The Federal Aviation Administration said, however, that the Boeing memo was issued “in response to the incident on LATAM Flight 800.” The FAA said it…

How much does it cost to feel special? At Chuck E- Cheese, the family entertainment and pizza chain, the price is $7.99, $11.99 or $29.99 per month. At the other end of the spectrum, the founder of a shopping app called Long Story Short wants to charge members $1,000 monthly for anonymous access to such hard-to-get goods as a rare Keith Haring artwork. Paid loyalty programs are all the rage in the restaurant and retail worlds. Looking for reliable sales in an unpredictable spending environment, more companies have extended their points-based loyalty tiers to making their most dependable customers feel valued for an up-front fee. Consumers bombarded with membership offers are promised perks such as free deliveries and first dibs on new launches, but also in some cases the right…

As the streaming wars intensify, Apple TV+ has emerged as a formidable contender. It distinguishes itself through a curated selection of content that prioritizes quality over quantity. Though Disney and Netflix are bigger, Apple’s onto a winner with its catalog. A WINNING STRATEGY Launched in November 2019, Apple TV+ entered a market dominated by giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Instead of competing on volume, Apple chose a path less trodden, focusing on original, high-quality content. This strategic choice certainly didn’t win the company favors in the early days. Still, it’s beginning to pay off, as evidenced by the platform’s growing collection of critically acclaimed titles, awards, and nominations. Following the premiere of “Masters of the Air,” viewership across all of Apple TV+ climbed by 65% worldwide compared…

The Biden administration this week is expected to announce new automobile emissions standards that relax proposed limits for three years but eventually reach the same strict standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The changes come as sales of zero-tailpipe emissions electric vehicles, which are needed to meet the standards, have begun to slow. The auto industry has cited lower sales growth in objecting to the EPA’s preferred standards unveiled last April as part of the most ambitious plan ever to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles. The EPA suggested that under its preferred alternative, the industry could meet the limits if 67% of new vehicle sales are electric by 2032. But during a public comment period on the standards for 2027 through 2032, the auto industry called the benchmarks…

Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging CEO Tim Cook misled investors about a steep downturn in iPhone’s sales in China that culminated in a jarring revision to the company’s revenue forecast. The preliminary settlement filed in Oakland, California, federal court stems from a shareholder lawsuit focused on the way Apple relayed information about how iPhone models released in September 2018 were performing in China, one of the company’s biggest markets. Cook signaled that the new iPhones were off to a good start during an investor conference call in early November 2018, according to the complaint. That reassurance dissolved into a huge letdown on Jan. 2, 2019 when the Cook issued a warning that Apple’s revenue for the just-completed quarter would fall $9 billion…

SpaceX would acquire public land in Texas to expand its rocket-launch facilities under a tentative deal that is moving forward after months of opposition from nearby residents and officials near the U.S.-Mexico border. The tentative land-swapping deal moved forward when the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously voted in favor of swapping 43 noncontiguous acres from Boca Chica State Park with SpaceX, which would give the state 477 acres about 10 miles south of the park near Brownsville, Texas. Some of the 43 contested acres are landlocked with no public access but with protected plant and animal species. Although SpaceX is proposing swapping the public land for 477 acres, it has not yet purchased that property. None of the land in the deal has beach access, but the 43 acres…

Federal officials said Thursday they will review how airlines protect personal information about their passengers and whether they are making money by sharing that information with other parties. The U.S. Department of Transportation said its review will focus on the 10 biggest U.S. airlines and cover their collection, handling and use of information about customers. “Airline passengers should have confidence that their personal information is not being shared improperly with third parties or mishandled by employees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. A spokeswoman for the trade group Airlines for America said, “U.S. airlines take customers’ personal information security very seriously, which is why they have robust policies, programs and cybersecurity infrastructure to protect consumers’ privacy.” In announcing the review, the Transportation Department did not make allegations against any of the…

A judge has denied Apple’s motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit claiming that stalkers are using its AirTag devices to track victims — and that the tech giant hasn’t done enough to prevent them. Apple’s $29 AirTags have become popular items since their 2021 release, helping users keep tabs on the location of anything from their lost keys to wallets and luggage. But stalkers have also taken advantage of AirTags and similar products to follow individuals without their consent. In December 2022, Apple was sued by dozens of plaintiffs who said they were stalked by AirTag users. They alleged that Apple failed to mitigate such dangers and should have done more to protect victims — claiming AirTags “revolutionized the scope, breadth, and ease of location-based stalking” and that current safety…

Theo works weekdays, weekends and nights and never complains about a sore spine despite performing hour upon hour of what, for a regular farm hand, would be backbreaking labor checking Dutch tulip fields for sick flowers. The boxy robot — named after a retired employee at the WAM Pennings farm near the Dutch North Sea coast — is a new high-tech weapon in the battle to root out disease from the bulb fields as they erupt into a riot of springtime color. On a windy spring morning, the robot trundled along rows of yellow and red “goudstuk” tulips, checking each plant and, when necessary, killing diseased bulbs to prevent the spread of the tulip-breaking virus. The dead bulbs are removed from healthy ones in a sorting warehouse after they have…

The popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney has started blocking its users from creating fake images of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to tests of the AI tool. With the election in full swing, it’s time to “put some foots down on election-related stuff for a bit,” Midjourney CEO David Holz told several hundred members of the service’s devoted userbase in a digital office hours event last week. Declaring that “this moderation stuff is kind of hard,” Holz didn’t outline exactly what policy changes were being made but described the clampdown as a temporary measure to make it harder for people to abuse the tool. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Attempts by journalists to test…

Spotify paid out $9 billion in streaming royalties last year, the streaming giant said this week in its latest “Loud and Clear” report. Spotify’s fourth annual report, which originally launched in 2021 following criticism over its lack of transparency, noted record accomplishments, including the highest annual payment from any retailer to the music industry. “This is everything we know about how much is being paid out, how many artists are achieving different levels of success,” says Charlie Hellman, the vice president and global head of music product at Spotify. “So, everyone can have access to the information and be sort of up to date with the state of the industry.” According to the data, 1,250 artists generated over $1 million each in recording and publishing royalties in 2023; 11,600 generated…

France’s competition watchdog hit Google on Wednesday with another big fine tied to a long-running dispute over payments to French publishers for their news. The French Competition Authority said it issued the 250 million euro ($272 million) penalty because of Google’s failure to comply with some commitments it made in a negotiating framework. The dispute is part of a larger effort by authorities in the European Union and around the world to force Google and other tech companies to compensate news publishers for content. The U.S. tech giant was forced to negotiate with French publishers after a court in 2020 upheld an order saying payments were required by a 2019 European Union copyright directive. Google said in a blog post that it agreed to settle the fine, which was imposed…