Innholdsfortegnelse for #652 i Techlife News

President Joe Biden has a great economic story to tell voters a decade from now, less so in 2024. On Thursday, the Democratic president will head to upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology’s plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with government support. But the initial phase of the project would open the first plant in 2028 and the second plant in 2029, with more time expected for the next two factories to be completed. Staring down a rematch with Republican Donald Trump, Biden is asking voters to believe in a vision for the U.S. economy that is still largely a promise. This at a moment when voters are most worried about enduring pressures from high inflation, which have led most to rate…

The nation’s economy slowed sharply last quarter to a 1.6% annual pace in the face of high interest rates, but consumers — the main driver of economic growth — kept spending at a solid pace. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — decelerated in the January-March quarter from its brisk 3.4% growth rate in the final three months of 2023. A surge in imports, which are subtracted from GDP, reduced first-quarter growth by nearly 1 percentage point. Growth was also held back by businesses reducing their inventories. Both those categories tend to fluctuate sharply from quarter to quarter. By contrast, the core components of the economy still appear sturdy. Along with households, businesses helped drive the…

Technology is pivotal in learning environments that constantly adapt and evolve, and Apple is at the forefront. The Cupertino company has influenced the sector thanks to its range of devices tailored to all levels of education, from iPads for young learners to advanced MacBook Pro models employed in university settings for computer science and engineering. APPLE AND EDUCATION Apple’s commitment to education is evident through its tailored products and educational programs. Statistics show a strong preference for Apple products among students, particularly in the United States, where 71% of college students preferred the Mac. The MacBook Air, first launched in 2008, exemplifies this trend with over 10 million units sold, owning a 9.6% market share among all Mac models in the same year. The popularity of Apple devices in educational…

“Barbenheimer” is a hard act to follow. But as Hollywood enters another summer movie season, armed with fewer superheroes and a landscape vastly altered by the strikes, it’s worth remembering the classic William Goldman quote about what works: “Nobody knows anything.” Four decades later, that still may be true. Yet one thing Hollywood has learned in releasing films through the pandemic and the strikes is how to pivot quickly. The summer of 2023 brought a new enthusiasm for moviegoing, with the fortuitous counterprogramming of “Barbie” and “ Oppenheimer,” and surprise hits like “ Sound of Freedom,” helping the season’s box office crack $4 billion for the first time since 2019. But before the industry could take a victory lap, there was another crisis looming with the dual Hollywood strikes, which…

The Senate passed legislation this week that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that’s expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the short-form video app for income. President Joe Biden signed a bill Wednesday that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban, escalating a massive threat to the company’s US operations. A decision made by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress and came after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. That version had given TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest its stakes…

The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $5.6 million in refunds to consumers as part of a settlement with Amazon-owned Ring, which was charged with failing to protect private video footage from outside access. In a 2023 complaint, the FTC accused the doorbell camera and home security provider of allowing its employees and contractors to access customers’ private videos. Ring allegedly used such footage to train algorithms without consent, among other purposes. Ring was also charged with failing to implement key security protections, which enabled hackers to take control of customers’ accounts, cameras and videos. This led to “egregious violations of users’ privacy,” the FTC noted. The resulting settlement required Ring to delete content that was found to be unlawfully obtained, establish stronger security protections and pay a hefty…

Apple Inc. has officially announced its upcoming “Let Loose” event scheduled for May 7, signaling a significant showcase of new hardware, specifically focusing on the iPad line. The event, which precedes the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) set for June, is anticipated to introduce upgraded models of the iPad Pro and iPad Air, alongside potential new versions of iPad-centric accessories such as the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. Scheduled to be streamed live at 7 AM PT, 10 AM ET, and 2 PM GMT, the event can be accessed via Apple’s official website, Apple TV, or YouTube, ensuring a global audience can tune in for the announcements. With Apple’s knack for keeping product details under wraps, the event still holds a shroud of mystery despite numerous leaks and speculations circulating…

Boeing said this week that it lost $355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers. Boeing’s CEO said the company is in “a tough moment,” and its focus is on fixing its manufacturing issues, not the financial results. Company executives have been forced to talk more about safety and less about finances since a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The accident halted progress that Boeing seemed to be making while recovering from two deadly crashes of Max jets in 2018…

Alex Popken was a longtime trust and safety executive at Twitter focusing on content moderation before leaving in 2023. She was the first employee there dedicated to moderating Twitter’s advertising business when she started in 2013. Now, she’s vice president of trust and safety at WebPurify, a content moderation service provider that works with businesses to help ensure the content people post on their sites follows the rules. Social media platforms are not the only ones that need policing. Any consumer-facing company — from retailers to dating apps to news sites — needs someone to weed out unwanted content, whether that’s hate speech, harassment or anything illegal. Companies are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their efforts, but Popken notes that humans remain essential to the process. The conversation has been…

The hugely popular Chinese app TikTok may be forced out of the U.S., where a measure to outlaw the video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Biden for his signature. In India, the app was banned nearly four years ago. Here’s what happened: WHY DID INDIA BAN TIKTOK? In June 2020, TikTok users in India bid goodbye to the app, which is operated by Chinese internet firm ByteDance. New Delhi had suddenly banned the popular app, alongside dozens other Chinese apps, following a military clash along the India-China border. Twenty Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed, and ties between the two Asian giants plunged to a new low. The government cited privacy concerns and said that Chinese apps pose a threat to India’s…

British competition regulators said this week they’ll scrutinize recent artificial intelligence deals by Microsoft and Amazon over concerns that the moves could thwart competition in the AI industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it’s looking into Microsoft’s partnership with France’s Mistral AI and the company’s hiring of key staff from another startup, Inflection AI. The watchdog also separately announced that it’s investigating Amazon’s $4 billion investment in San Francisco-based Anthropic. Big Tech companies have been pouring money into generative AI startups amid growing public and business interest in the technology, but the investments have also drawn attention from antitrust authorities. The U.K. watchdog said it was seeking comments from “interested third parties,” before deciding whether to carry out an in-depth antitrust investigation. “We will assess, objectively and impartially, whether…

Oracle Corp.’s planned campus in Nashville, Tennessee, will serve as the business software giant’s world headquarters, placing it in a city that’s a center for the U.S. health care industry, company Chairman Larry Ellison said. Ellison spoke about Oracle’s plans for its Nashville offices during a conversation about health care technology with former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist at the Oracle Health Summit on Tuesday. In 2021, a Tennessee panel approved $65 million in state incentives for Oracle, with the company planning to bring 8,500 jobs and an investment topping $1 billion to Nashville over a decade. Then-Mayor John Cooper’s office announced that the company, currently based in Austin, Texas, planned to build the new campus with 1.2 million square feet (111,400 square meters) of office space. In 2020, Oracle announced…

Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities. The apps were removed from the store after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns. Their removal comes amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology and national security. The U.S. has threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But while TikTok, owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the U.S., apps like WhatsApp and Threads are not commonly used in China. Instead, the messaging app WeChat, owned by Chinese company Tencent, reigns supreme. Other Meta apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger remained available for download, although use of such foreign apps is blocked…

Netflix gained another 9.3 million subscribers to start the year while its profit soared with the help of a still-emerging expansion into advertising, but caught investors off guard with a change that will make it more difficult to track the video streaming service’s future growth. The performance announced last weekend demonstrated that Netflix is still building on its momentum of last year, when a crackdown on free-loading viewers relying on shared passwords and the rollout of a low-priced option including commercials revived its growth following a post-pandemic lull. The strategy resulted in Netflix adding 30 million subscribers last year — the second largest annual increase the service’s history. Netflix’s gains during the January-March period more than quadrupled the 1.8 million subscribers that the video streaming service added at the same…

Faced with falling global sales and a diving stock price, Tesla has slashed prices again on some of its electric vehicles and its “Full Self Driving” system in an apparent effort to boost the company’s earnings growth. But Wall Street was unimpressed and will be looking for other answers from CEO Elon Musk when Tesla releases a report on its first-quarter finances after the U.S. stock market’s closing bell Tuesday. Many industry analysts say a nearly 9% sales decline in the opening three months of 2024 raises questions about demand for Teslas and other electric vehicles. For Musk, the answer appears to be the long-elusive robotaxi, which he has been touting as a growth catalyst for Tesla since the hardware for it went on sale late in 2015. Musk has…

Gaze around the next time you’re stuck in traffic and see if you’re not surprised, maybe even a little saddened, by the monochromatic sea around you. Modern cars come in a fantastic variety of shapes and sizes, but far fewer explore the more vibrant shades of the color wheel. The most popular colors for new cars in North America are white, black, gray and silver, according to automotive paint supplier BASF. Together, they constitute about 80% of the colors in new-car production. Drivers seeking more personality might opt for an automaker’s red, blue or forest green offering, but what if you prefer something more expressive? In the past, you would have been limited to an expensive paint job. Today there’s another option: a vinyl wrap. Experts answer the top questions…

Simmering tensions between Beijing and Washington remain the top worry for American companies operating in China, according to a report by the American Chamber of Commerce in China released this week. The survey of U.S. companies said inconsistent and unclear policies and enforcement, rising labor costs and data security issues were other top concerns. It also said that, despite the insistence of Chinese leaders that Beijing welcomes foreign businesses, many still are hindered from free competition. “The Chinese government has stated that it encourages foreign direct investment, but many of our members continue to encounter barriers to investment and operations including policies that discriminate against them and public relations campaigns that create suspicion of foreigners,” the report said. The report welcomed an improvement in relations in 2023 that was capped…