Innholdsfortegnelse for #648 i Techlife News

When a 900-foot container ship struck the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 2007, the span stood firm and no one died, either on the ship or the highway above. The bridge’s supports were protected by a fendering system of concrete and other materials that was installed to absorb such strikes. And it’s now prompting the question: Could such a system — or others like it — have saved Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge? Some experts are saying yes. Sherif El-Tawil, a University of Michigan engineering professor, said there are several safety measures that “would have made a huge difference” had they been in place Tuesday morning when a cargo ship plowed into the bridge and caused its collapse. El-Tawil said a fendering system may have softened the 985-foot-long ship’s blow.…

With Apple unveiling a new method for training large language models (LLMs), rumors circulating about new acquisitions at the Cupertino company, and chip announcements from NVIDIA, the AI race is heating up in what could be the biggest year ever for technology. APPLE’S RACE TO CATCH UP Nothing has stood still for long in the world of technology, but when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), Apple is struggling to compete with established and emerging players. We only have to look at the current state of Siri compared with the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But the tide could be turning, with Apple making significant strides with the development of a new training method for large language models (LLMs) that adeptly combines textual and visual data. This breakthrough, encapsulated in their…

Nestor Cortes got behind the plate in a batting cage and watched an 8-foot-high, 1,200-pound robot spit out fastballs, cutters and sweepers just like the ones spinning off the fingertips of his left hand. “It was like seeing myself pitch. That was crazy,” the New York Yankees All-Star left-hander said. Technology has come a long way since the days of the Iron Mike. The Trajekt Arc pitching machine uses baseball’s high-tech data to mimic the way balls break from every big league pitcher and has been approved by Major League Baseball for in-game use this year in batting cages. Using video of deliveries and data, the robot allows a hitter to step in against recreated offerings from any pitcher he wants to face. Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani said he…

Download the mental health chatbot Earkick and you’re greeted by a bandana-wearing panda who could easily fit into a kids’ cartoon. Start talking or typing about anxiety and the app generates the kind of comforting, sympathetic statements therapists are trained to deliver. The panda might then suggest a guided breathing exercise, ways to reframe negative thoughts or stress-management tips. It’s all part of a well-established approach used by therapists, but please don’t call it therapy, says Earkick co-founder Karin Andrea Stephan. “When people call us a form of therapy, that’s OK, but we don’t want to go out there and tout it,” says Stephan, a former professional musician and self-described serial entrepreneur. “We just don’t feel comfortable with that.” The question of whether these artificial intelligence -based chatbots are delivering…

Visa and Mastercard announced a major settlement with U.S. merchants on Tuesday, potentially ending nearly two decades of litigation over the fees charged every time a credit or debit card is used in a store or restaurant. The deal would lower and cap the fees charged by Visa and Mastercard and allow small businesses to collectively bargain for rates with the payment processors in a similar way that the large merchants do on their own now. Industry groups for retailers both small and large said the settlement is a positive development, but far more needs to be done to remedy the current swipe-fee situation. They noted that the lowered fees would be only for a limited period of time — three to five years — after which the fees would…

The Wisconsin Supreme Court this week let stand a lower court ruling that declared some delivery drivers for Amazon were employees as the state argued, not independent contractors as the online retail giant contended. The court, in a unanimous decision, said the appeal was “improvidently granted,” meaning the Supreme Court should not have reviewed the case. That decision dismissing the case, issued after the court heard oral arguments, leaves a 2023 Wisconsin appeals court ruling against Amazon in place. That ruling found that drivers in the Amazon Flex program are a part of the state’s unemployment insurance system and entitled to jobless pay if they are laid off. The decision means an Amazon subsidiary, Amazon Logistics, will likely be hit with a tax bill of more than $200,000. Justice Ann…

Chinese electric vehicle makers are showcasing their latest models, including a flying car, as they take on global rivals at the Bangkok International Motor Show. Companies like BYD, XPeng and Great Wall Motors are quickly growing their sales in Thailand, challenging longstanding market leaders like Toyota, Isuzu and Ford, as they expand exports across the globe. And Thailand, one of the biggest markets in Southeast Asia, a region of more than 600 million people, has made developing its EV market a priority. Tesla launched sales in late 2022, offering its popular Model 3 and Model Y at prices aimed at competing with rivals like China’s BYD. BYD, or Build Your Dreams, displayed a wide range of its EV lineup, including its Dolphin, a pure EV that it says runs 490…

Apple has announced their annual developers conference ‘WWDC 2024’ will take place June 10 through June 14. The big summer event will be live-streamed, but some select developers have been invited to attend in-person events at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California, on June 10. The company typically showcases their latest software and product updates — including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AppleTV and Vision Pro headset — during a keynote address on the first day. Contributing to a drop in Apple’s stock price this year is concern it lags behind Microsoft and Google in the push to develop products powered by artificial intelligence technology. While Apple tends to keep its product development close to the vest, CEO Tim Cook signaled at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in February that it…

Aidan Gomez can take some credit for the ‘T’ at the end of ChatGPT. He was part of a group of Google engineers who first introduced a new artificial intelligence model called a transformer. That helped set a foundation for today’s generative AI boom that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and others built upon. Gomez, one of eight coauthors of Google’s 2017 paper, was a 20-year-old intern at the time. He’s now the CEO and co-founder of Cohere, a Toronto-based startup competing with other leading AI companies in supplying large language models and the chatbots they power to big businesses and organizations. Gomez spoke about the future of generative AI. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: WHAT’S A TRANSFORMER? A: A transformer is an architecture of a neural network…

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House would require the identification and labeling of online images, videos and audio generated using artificial intelligence, the latest effort to rein in rapidly developing technologies that, if misused, could easily deceive and mislead. So-called deepfakes created by artificial intelligence can be hard or even impossible to tell from the real thing. AI has already been used to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice, exploit the likenesses of celebrities and impersonate world leaders, prompting fears it could lead to greater misinformation, sexual exploitation, consumer scams and a widespread loss of trust. Key provisions in the legislation would require AI developers to identify content created using their products with digital watermarks or metadata, similar to how photo metadata records the location, time and settings of a picture.…

The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous. “OK, listen, if you ban TikTok I will find you and shoot you,” one said, giggling and talking over other young voices in the background. “I’ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.” Another threatened to kill Tillis, and then take their own life. Tillis’s office says it has received around 1,000 calls about TikTok since the House passed legislation this month that would ban the popular app if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake. TikTok has been urging its users — many of whom are young — to call their representatives, even providing an easy link to the phone numbers. “The government will take away…

Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country’s booming but crowded market for electric cars. The tech company start taking orders for the SU7, a sporty four-door sedan, after a launch event with founder Lei Jun in Beijing. Analysts think it will be priced in the 300,000 yuan ($40,000) range. Government subsides have helped make China the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, and a bevy of new makers are locked in fierce competition. Most of the industry’s sales have been domestic, but Chinese makers are pushing into overseas markets with lower-priced models, posing a potential challenge to European, Japanese and American auto giants. Lei is not bashful about that challenge, saying at an unveiling of the SU7 in December that Beijing-based Xiaomi aims…

Shares of Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16% in the first day of trading on the Nasdaq, boosting the value of Trump’s large stake in the company as well as the smaller holdings of fans who purchased shares as a show of support for the former president. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. merged Monday with a blank-check compan y called Digital World Acquisition Corp. Trump Media, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, has now taken Digital World’s place on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Shares closed at $57.99, up 16.1%, giving the company a market value of $7.85 billion. At one point the stock was up about 59%. Trump holds a nearly 60% ownership stake in the company, now worth about $4.6 billion. Many of those…

A 420-meter (quarter-mile) white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept northern Netherlands could usher in a new era in the transportation of people and freight. The tube is the heart of the new European Hyperloop Center that opens and will be a proving ground in coming years for developers of the evolving technology. Hyperloop, once trumpeted by Elon Musk, involves capsules floating on magnetic fields zipping at speeds of arund 700 kph (435 mph) through low-pressure tubes. Its advocates tout it as far more efficient than short haul flights, high-speed rail and freight trucks. But since Musk unveiled the concept that he said could shuttle passengers the nearly 400 miles (645 kilometers) between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes, it has progressed at a…

A top U.S. prosecutor announced criminal charges Tuesday against a once-ascending company in the cryptocurrency world and two of its founders in a bid to send a message to other players in the industry to follow U.S. laws. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said conspiracy charges against KuCoin and two executives should warn other crypto exchanges that they cannot serve U.S. customers without following U.S. laws. An indictment in Manhattan federal court said the company and its founders tried to conceal the existence of its U.S. customer base. In December, New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a payout of more than $22 million from KuCoin to refund $16.7 million to over 150,000 New York investors and provide New York state with over $5.3 million. KuCoin was also required to cease…

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating TikTok over its data and security practices, a probe that could lead to a settlement or a lawsuit against the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. The investigation is the latest battle in Washington for the social media company, which is already fighting against a federal bill that could ban the platform in the U.S. if it doesn’t break ties with its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance. In its investigation, the FTC has been looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data, said the person, who is not authorized to discuss the investigation. The agency also is scrutinizing the company over…