Innholdsfortegnelse for #667 i Techlife News

Four boxes with live Olympics action filled Peacock’s screen during its “Gold Zone” show one afternoon this week — one showing women hammer toss competitors, another with long jumpers going aloft, a third with racers leaping hurdles and the last showing the minutes counting down in the U.S.-Germany women’s soccer match. Occasionally producers punch up a concentrated look at one event. This was a gripping display of the breadth of Olympic sports, and it was hard not to get hooked. Millions of Americans have shared similar experiences during the past week and half, powering a much-needed rebound for Peacock, the streaming service that was often the target of ridicule during Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and Beijing in 2022. “It’s been a real turnaround,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of the…

Samsung is recalling more than 1.12 million electric ranges used for stovetops after reports of 250 fires and dozens of injuries. According to a Thursday notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, these slide-in ranges have front-mounted knobs that can be activated by accident if humans or pets unintentionally contact or bump into them. That poses a fire hazard. To date, Samsung has received more than 300 reports of the knobs activating unintentionally since 2013, the CPSC noted, and the now-recalled ranges have been involved in about 250 fires. At least 18 of those fires caused extensive property damage and seven involved pet deaths, according to the Commission. In addition, the CPSC added, about 40 injuries have been reported, including eight that required medical attention. Consumers can identify whether…

One year ago, Elon Musk controversially decided to change the name of his $44 billion social network Twitter to X. Since then; the platform has been on a journey, with visions of becoming the “app for everything” and changing how we consume news forever. DIRECT FROM THE SOURCE In a world where information flows at the speed of light, X has emerged as a groundbreaking platform to redefine how we consume news. Just as Uber transformed transportation, Airbnb revolutionized hospitality, and DoorDash reimagined food delivery, X continues to disrupt the news industry by becoming the ultimate hub for breaking news, publishing directly from sources. Traditional news channels have long been the gatekeepers of information, often filtering and contextualizing news before it reaches the public. X aims to eliminate the middleman,…

Apple snapped out of a prolonged sales slump during its most recent quarter as the trendsetting company prepares to launch into the artificial intelligence craze with an arsenal of new technology that’s expected to juice demand for its next iPhone. The fiscal third-quarter results announced last week covered an April-June period that’s typically a sluggish stretch for Apple as its loyal customer bases awaits the next version of the iPhone that’s traditionally unveiled shortly after Labor Day. Even so, Apple boosted its sales from a year ago — a welcome reversal of fortune on the heels of five consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines. This time around, Apple’s revenue rose 5% from a year to $85.78 billion — a figure that exceeded analysts’ projections. The Cupertino, California, company earned $21.45…

Markets on Wall Street and in Asia are stabilizing Tuesday following a mini-panic caused by an assortment of factors that stretched from late last week through Monday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rose 1.3% in morning trading and were on track to break a brutal three-day losing streak. The S&P 500 had tumbled more than 6% after several weaker-than-expected reports raised concerns that the Federal Reserve had pumped the brakes too much on the U.S. economy through high interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 10.2% Tuesday, following its 12.4% sell-off the day before, which was its worst since 1987. Stocks in Tokyo rebounded as the value of the Japanese yen stabilized a bit against the U.S. dollar following several days…

The low hum of a high-tech engine greets you when you first open the door to the F1 Arcade in Boston’s burgeoning Seaport District. Inside, the ceilings glow red with the outlines of the world’s iconic Formula 1 tracks. The people behind Puttshack golf and Flight Club darts are turning their attention to F1, combining upscale food and drinks with haptic simulators that bring the bumps and battles of the global motorsports series to fans more accustomed to rush hour traffic. On race days, locals who can’t schlep all the way to Singapore -- much less get behind the wheel of an actual F1 car -- pack the house for watch parties as the sport’s biggest names fight for position. On a recent weekday afternoon, though, they were emulating the…

With all the hubris of a startup founder, Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, took to the stage in March to launch Ed the chatbot. He told parents and students it had “the potential to personalize the educational journey at a level never before seen in this district, across the country, or around the world.” “No other technology can deliver real time on this promise,” he said. “We know it will succeed.” In June, after only three months and nearly $3 million, the district shelved Ed following layoffs of more than half of the staff at AllHere, the startup that made the conversational AI assistant. District spokesperson Britt Vaughan refused to answer questions about the bot’s performance or say how many students and parents used it before…

Delta Air Lines is facing a class action lawsuit, which claims the airline refused to give refunds following a global technology outage last month. Among airlines, Delta was by far the hardest hit hard by the outage, having to cancel thousands of flights, because key systems were crippled by the incident. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division on behalf of Delta customers impacted by the outage. In it, the customers allege that Delta refused or ignored their requests for prompt refunds for their canceled or delayed flights. The complaint also claims Delta didn’t provide all impacted passengers with meal, hotel, and ground transportation vouchers and continues to refuse or ignore requests for reimbursements of those unexpected expenses. “These unfair, unlawful,…

Microplastics have been found in the ocean and the air, in our food and water. They have been found in a wide range of body tissues, including the heart, liver, kidneys and even testicles. But are they actually harming you? Evidence suggests they might, but it’s limited in scope. Some researchers are worried, but acknowledge there are lots of unanswered questions. Dr. Marya Zlatnik, a San Francisco-based obstetrician who has studied environmental toxins and pregnancy, has seen studies raising concerns about microplastics’ impact on the health of babies and adults. But it’s a young research field, and it’s not something she generally discusses with patients. “I’m not entirely sure what to say yet,” Zlatnik said. Here’s a look at what’s known so far: WHAT ARE MICROPLASTICS? Plastics are man-made materials…

A federal judge has branded Google as a ruthless monopolist bent on suffocating it competitors. But how do you go about creating alternatives to a search engine that’s synonymous with internet exploration? It’s a process that may take years to unfold as Google appeals the landmark decision issued this week by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. And with that kind of time frame looming, the forces of technological upheaval may make the exercise moot. The rise of artificial intelligence may reshape the landscape more quickly and profoundly than any judge ever could. The way consumers navigate the internet is more likely to be affected by advances in AI products — such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s own Gemini — before a nearly 4-year-old case brought by the U.S. Justice Department…

Antitrust tensions are heating up in the chipmaking industry. Rivals have accused Wall Street darling Nvidia of abusing its market dominance in selling chips that power artificial intelligence — and the U.S. Justice Department is now investigating these complaints, technology news site The Information reported. According to the news outlet, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the discussions, Justice Department officials are looking into concerns Nvidia is potentially cornering the market and pressuring its customers to unfairly retain business. That includes allegations of Nvidia threatening to punish those who buy products from both the Santa Clara, California-based tech giant and its competitors. The Information also reported that U.S. officials had reached out to several Nvidia competitors about the complaints. The Justice Department declined to comment or provide further information. But…

U.S. stocks are bouncing back after the market experienced its worst day in two years on Monday, but the average investor may still be understandably spooked. Over a three day losing streak, the S&P 500 dipped more than 6% before rallying again Tuesday, up 1.6% in midday trading. “This is what an emotion-driven market looks like,” said Mark Hackett, head of investment research for Nationwide. “You had a three day period that was really very challenging. But the drop was not justified by the data that was out there, which is why you then have a day like today.” For everyday people, what are the best ways to handle market volatility? The top advice is to do nothing, but ultimately your response depends in part on your circumstances and financial…

Sony’s profit rose 6.5% in the last quarter on robust demand for its video games, films and music, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said this week. Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s profit in the April-June quarter totaled 231.6 billion yen ($1.6 billion), up from 217 billion yen, it said. Quarterly sales edged up 1.6% to 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) as Sony’s entertainment business remained strong, although its financial services business lagged. Sony officials said global demand for its animation offerings like “Demon Slayer” remained strong, including on streaming services like Amazon Prime. Hiroki Totoki, chief financial officer and president, promised to leverage Sony’s powerful offerings that he said are rooted in the diversity of its workers and creators. The partnership with Crunchyroll, a U.S. video streaming service, was proving extremely…

A new chief executive takes over at Boeing on Thursday, and he plans to walk the floor of the factory near Seattle that has become the heart of the aerospace giant’s troubles. Robert “Kelly” Ortberg takes over a money-losing company that has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, is struggling fix its aircraft-manufacturing process, and can’t bring two astronauts home from the International Space Station because of flaws in a spacecraft it built for NASA. “I’m excited to dig in!” Ortberg told employees on his first day in the job. Boeing announced Ortberg’s selection just over a week ago, on the same day that it posted another huge loss; more than $1.4 billion in the second quarter, which was marked by a steep drop in deliveries of…

Attorneys for Elon Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors are asking a Delaware judge to vacate her ruling requiring the company to rescind a massive and unprecedented pay package for Musk. The hearing follows a January ruling in which Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick concluded that Musk engineered the landmark 2018 pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. The compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price. Following the court ruling, Tesla shareholders met in June and ratified Musk’s 2018 pay package for a second time, again by an overwhelming margin. Defense attorneys say the vote makes clear that Tesla shareholders, with full knowledge of the flaws in the 2018…

A judge this week ruled that Google’s ubiquitous search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation in a seismic decision that could shake up the internet and hobble one of the world’s best-known companies. The highly anticipated decision issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta comes nearly a year after the start of a trial pitting the U.S. Justice Department against Google in the country’s biggest antitrust showdown in a quarter century. After reviewing reams of evidence that included testimony from top executives at Google, Microsoft and Apple during last year’s 10-week trial, Mehta issued his potentially market-shifting decision three months after the two sides presented their closing arguments in early May. “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the…

This week Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and two of its founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, renewing claims that the ChatGPT-maker betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. The lawsuit, filed in a Northern California federal court, called Musk’s case a “textbook tale of altruism versus greed.” Altman and others named in the suit “intentionally courted and deceived Musk, preying on Musk’s humanitarian concern about the existential dangers posed by artificial intelligence,” according to the complaint. Musk was an early investor in OpenAI when it was founded in 2015 and co-chaired its board alongside Altman. In the lawsuit, he said he invested “tens of millions” of dollars and recruited top AI research scientists for OpenAI. Musk resigned from the board in…

Chipmaker Intel says it is cutting 15% of its huge workforce — about 15,000 jobs — as it tries to turn its business around to compete with more successful rivals like Nvidia and AMD. In a memo to staff, Intel Corp. CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company plans to save $10 billion in 2025. “Simply put, we must align our cost structure with our new operating model and fundamentally change the way we operate,” he wrote in the memo published on Intel’s website. “Our revenues have not grown as expected — and we’ve yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI. Our costs are too high, our margins are too low.” The job cuts come in the heels of a disappointing quarter and forecast for the iconic chip maker…

Airbnb says its profit fell 15% in the second quarter from a year earlier, as higher income taxes cut into the short-term rental giant’s bottom line even as bookings and revenue rose. The profits fell short of Wall Street’s expectations and Airbnb’s stock tumbled 16% in after-market trading. The San Francisco-based company reported on Tuesday net income of $555 million, or 86 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. That compares with net income of $650 million, or 98 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Analysts’ consensus estimates called for earnings of 91 cents per share, according to FactSet. Revenue rose 11% from a year earlier to $2.75 billion, slightly higher than what analysts forecast. The vacation-rental platform said it booked 125.1 million nights…