Innholdsfortegnelse for #662 i Techlife News

Do Americans want plant-based options at fast-food restaurants? Two recent moves show restaurant chains are still undecided. On Wednesday, Panda Express said it is reintroducing plant-based chicken – which it developed with El Segundo, California-based Beyond Meat – at hundreds of U.S. stores. Beyond Orange Chicken will be available for a limited time, Panda Express said. But last week, McDonald’s revealed it has pulled the plug in the U.S. on the McPlant, the plant-based burger it co-developed with Beyond Meat. During an appearance at the Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said the company’s 2022 test of the McPlant at stores in San Francisco and Dallas was “not successful in either market.” “I don’t think the U.S. consumer is... looking for the McPlant or other…

Chinese automaker BYD inaugurated its first electric vehicle plant in Thailand on Thursday, part of the company’s push into Southeast Asia while it also tackles wealthier markets in the U.S. and Europe. The factory’s opening comes on the same day that the European Union is expected to begin imposing higher tariffs on EVs made in China due to concerns over competition from the cheaper-priced imports. In the U.S., the Biden administration also is raising tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100% from the current 25%. The U.S. currently imports very few Chinese cars, but like the European Commission, it worries that subsidies hurt domestic companies and cost jobs. The new factory in Rayong, south of Bangkok, was built in just 16 months and has an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles.…

iPadOS 18 sees Apple push the boundaries of what the iPad can do with new features and enhancements designed to make the tablet more versatile, intelligent, and user-friendly than ever before, thanks to Apple Intelligence, new customization options, and all-new iPad apps. APPLE INTELLIGENCE Apple Intelligence is at the core of iPadOS 18, a groundbreaking personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context. Built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iPadOS 18, iOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. This system leverages the power of Apple silicon and the Neural Engine, offering useful and contextually relevant features. One of the standout aspects of Apple Intelligence is its commitment to privacy. Data processed through Apple Intelligence is not stored or made accessible…

With many jobs expected to eventually rely on generative artificial intelligence, states are trying to help workers beef up their tech skills before they become outdated and get outfoxed by machines that are becoming increasingly smarter. Connecticut is working to create what proponents believe will be the country’s first Citizens AI Academy, a free online repository of curated classes that users can take to learn basic skills or obtain a certificate needed for employment. “This is a rapidly evolving area,” said state Democratic Sen. James Maroney. “So we need to all learn what are the best sources for staying current. How can we update our skills? Who can be trusted sources?” Determining what skills are necessary in an AI world can be a challenge for state legislators given the fast-moving…

While plenty of happy couples can trace their meet-cute moment to an online dating app, many others find the never-ending process of likes, swipes, taps and awkward DMs that go nowhere to be exhausting — leading to a phenomenon known as “dating app burnout.” That was the case for Marilyn Espitia, a 31-year-old freelance photo editor and photographer in California who first ventured into online dating in college, when she met her former partner and now father of her child on OkCupid. Today she is single, and has been for about three years. While she’s still a “hopeless romantic” who plans to keep using these platforms — primarily Hinge — Espitia says she’ll get off an app or pause her profile when it becomes a little too much. “It starts…

European Union regulators accused social media company Meta Platforms of breaching the bloc’s new digital competition rulebook by forcing Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them. Meta began giving European users the option in November of paying for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram as a way to comply with the continent’s strict data privacy rules. Users can pay at least 10 euros ($10.75) a month to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data. The U.S. tech giant rolled out the option after the European Union’s top court ruled Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users, in a decision that threatened its business model of tailoring ads based on individual users’ online interests and digital activity. The…

General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements. The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit over 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed. The EPA says the vehicles will remain on the road and cannot be repaired. The GM vehicles on average consume at least 10% more fuel than the window sticker numbers say, but the company won’t be required to reduce…

The U.N. General Assembly adopted a Chinese-sponsored resolution with U.S. support urging wealthy developed nations to close the widening gap with developing countries and ensure they have equal opportunities to use and benefit from artificial intelligence. The resolution approved this week follows the March 21 adoption of the first U.N. resolution on artificial intelligence spearheaded by the United States and co-sponsored by 123 countries including China. It gave global support to the international effort to ensure that AI is “safe, secure and trustworthy” and that all nations can take advantage of it. Adoption of the two nonbinding resolutions shows that the United States and China, rivals in many areas, are both determined to be key players in shaping the future of the powerful new technology — and have been cooperating…

Boeing announced plans to acquire key supplier Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion, a move that it says will improve plane quality and safety amid increasing scrutiny by Congress, airlines and the Department of Justice. Boeing previously owned Spirit, and the purchase would reverse a longtime Boeing strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes. That approach has been criticized as problems at Spirit disrupted production and delivery of popular Boeing jetliners, including 737s and 787s. “We believe this deal is in the best interest of the flying public, our airline customers, the employees of Spirit and Boeing, our shareholders and the country more broadly,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement last weekend. Concerns about safety came to a head after the Jan. 5 blowout of…

Three years ago, Google set an ambitious plan to address climate change by going “net zero,” meaning it would release no more climate-changing gases into the air than it removes, by 2030. But a report from the company this week shows it is nowhere near meeting that goal. Rather than declining, its emissions grew 13% in 2023 over the year before. Compared to its baseline year of 2019, emissions have soared 48%. Google cited artificial intelligence and the demand it puts on data centers, which require massive amounts of electricity, for last year’s growth. Making that electricity by burning coal or natural gas emits greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane, which warm the planet, bringing more extreme weather. The company has one of the most significant climate commitments…

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay $14.4 million to settle allegations that the global software giant retaliated and discriminated against employees who took protected leave, including parental and disability, the California Civil Rights Department announced Wednesday. The proposed settlement stems from a multiyear investigation by the California agency and the consent decree is subject to approval in state court in Santa Clara County, where the Redmond, Washington-based company has an office. The state agency, which launched its investigation in 2020, alleged that employees who took leave from work due to pregnancy or disability, or to bond with a new baby or care for a sick family member, received lower bonuses and unfavorable performance reviews. Those factors, in turn, harmed employee eligibility for merit pay increases and promotions and the practice…

California lawmakers voted to advance legislation this week that would require artificial intelligence companies to test their systems and add safety measures to prevent them from being potentially manipulated to wipe out the state’s electric grid or help build chemical weapons — scenarios that experts say could be possible in the future as technology evolves at warp speed. The first-of-its-kind bill aims to reduce risks created by AI. It is fiercely opposed by venture capital firms and tech companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Google. They say the regulations take aim at developers and instead should be focused on those who use and exploit the AI systems for harm. Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, who authors the bill, said the proposal would provide reasonable safety…

The Supreme Court this week kept on hold efforts by Texas and Florida to limit how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users in a ruling that strongly defended the platforms’ free speech rights. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said the platforms, like newspapers, deserve protection from governments’ intrusion in determining what to include or exclude from their space. “The principle does not change because the curated compilation has gone from the physical to the virtual world,” Kagan wrote in an opinion signed by five justices. All nine justices agreed on the overall outcome. The justices returned the cases to lower courts for further review in broad challenges from trade associations for the companies. While the details vary, both laws…

U.S. new-vehicle sales rose only slightly in the second quarter, despite larger discounts and slightly lower prices. But brisker sales could be on the horizon: Auto industry analysts say they expect prices to drop further and there’s a possibility of interest-rate cuts that would make taking out a loan for a new vehicle more affordable. Overall, U.S. sales were up only 0.1% compared to a year ago, as still-high prices kept many potential buyers out of the market, according to preliminary tallies this week by Motorintelligence.com. Sales were crimped in late June, when cyberattacks knocked out software from CDK Global that dealerships use to do sales paperwork. CDK said most dealers were back up by Tuesday afternoon, but companies such as General Motors said the problem pushed some deliveries into…

Anyone who shops or uses the internet probably has encountered a TikTok trend - whether they know it or not. Since the social media platform made its U.S. debut almost six years ago, short videos posted there have created a rapidly changing menu of food and fashion fads. Many of these latest rages have gone on to inspire sales of countless products and to shape news coverage despite having names that can confuse people who are not chronically online. TikTok also has popularized phrases like “I’m looking for a man in finance” - from a satirical song about searching for a tall, wealthy man who works in the finance industry and “the ick” - an expression of disgust or repulsion, as Merriam-Webster puts it. Here are a few of the…