Innholdsfortegnelse for #670 i Techlife News

Efforts in California to establish first-in-the-nation safety measures for the largest artificial intelligence systems cleared an important vote Wednesday that could pave the way for U.S. regulations on the technology evolving at warp speed. The proposal, aiming to reduce potential risks created by AI, would require companies to test their models and publicly disclose their safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated to, for example, wipe out the state’s electric grid or help build chemical weapons — scenarios experts say could be possible in the future with such rapid advancements in the industry. The bill is among hundreds lawmakers are voting on during its final week of session. Gov. Gavin Newsom then has until the end of September to decide whether to sign them into law, veto them…

Apple’s iPhone lineup has consistently pushed the boundaries of tech, and each iteration sees improvements that enhance user experience, making devices more powerful, efficient, and visually appealing. One of the most significant areas of innovation has been the screen. From the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the screen has evolved in size, tech, and functionality. In 2024, several trends and innovations in screen tech are on the horizon. IPHONE SCREEN SIZE The original iPhone was released in 2007 and featured a 3.5-inch screen. This was considered a large screen size for its time, allowing for a revolutionary touchscreen interface that did away with the physical keyboards of its predecessors. The iPhone’s screen size remained 3.5 inches until the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012, which introduced…

Cruise’s trouble-ridden robotaxis are joining Uber’s ride-hailing service next year as part of a multiyear partnership bringing together two companies that once appeared poised to compete for passengers. The alliance is the latest change in direction for Cruise since its California license to provide driverless rides was suspended in October 2023 after one of its robotaxis dragged a jaywalking pedestrian who had been struck by a human-driven vehicle across a darkened San Francisco street. The incident spurred regulatory inquiries into Cruise and prompted its corporate parent, automaker General Motors, to tamp down its once audacious ambitions in autonomous driving. GM had envisioned Cruise generating $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 as its robotaxis steadily expanded beyond San Francisco and into other cities to offer a driverless alternative to the…

Verizon Communications has long enjoyed its position as the leading provider of mobile services in the U.S. But a new trend of price-conscious customers holding onto their old phones has hurt the bottom line for telecom companies seeking to capitalize off the sale of new mobile phone lines. Enter Verizon Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland, who joined the telecom giant in January. She was Twitter’s first chief marketing officer nearly a decade ago and spent about a year at Peloton after leaving the social media platform in 2022. She started at Verizon in January and announced the company’s first rebrand in nine years, including a bold update to the iconic checkmark logo. The rebrand has been paired with fresh promotion of Verizon’s myPlan platform, which allows customers to pick and…

The notion that online gaming could help players develop charitable habits seemed bold when the anti-poverty nonprofit Comic Relief US tested its own multiverse on the popular world-building app Roblox last year. As philanthropy wrestles with how to authentically engage new generations of digitally savvy donors, Comic Relief US CEO Alison Moore said it was “audacious” to design an experience that still maintained the “twinkle” of the organization that’s behind entertainment-driven fundraisers like Red Nose Day. But the launch was successful enough that Comic Relief US is expanding the game this year. Kids Relief’s second annual “Game to Change the World” campaign features a magical new Roblox world, an exclusive virtual concert and a partner in children’s television pioneer Nickelodeon. The goal is to instill empathy and raise money through…

A French investigative judge extended police custody for the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Durov was detained last weekend at Le Bourget airport as part of a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations. They include complicity in selling child sexual abuse material and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. A statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office said Durov’s police custody order was extended on Monday evening for up to 48 hours. After that, authorities must release or charge him, the prosecutor’s office said in an earlier statement. Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island nation…

If you want to use your shiny new iPhone for as long as possible, you better take good care of it. Most people are now holding on to smartphones longer instead of regularly upgrading them, and there are many reasons why. At the dawn of the smartphone age, you might have upgraded to a new device every few years to make sure you had the latest must-have features or because your carrier’s contract subsidized the purchase of the newest model. But that’s no longer the case as smartphone technology has matured and innovations have become more incremental, and carrier pricing models have changed. There’s also an environmental push to keep old phones out of landfills as electronic waste becomes a larger sustainability issue. Smartphones these days are also just sturdier…

A body camera captured every word and bark uttered as police Sgt. Matt Gilmore and his K-9 dog, Gunner, searched for a group of suspects for nearly an hour. Normally, the Oklahoma City police sergeant would grab his laptop and spend another 30 to 45 minutes writing up a report about the search. But this time he had artificial intelligence write the first draft. Pulling from all the sounds and radio chatter picked up by the microphone attached to Gilbert’s body camera, the AI tool churned out a report in eight seconds. “It was a better report than I could have ever written, and it was 100% accurate. It flowed better,” Gilbert said. It even documented a fact he didn’t remember hearing — another officer’s mention of the color of…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic and vowed that the social media giant would push back if it faced such demands again. In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg alleges that the officials, including those from the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down “certain COVID-19 content including humor and satire.” The officials “expressed a lot of frustration” when the company didn’t agree, he said in the letter. “I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter dated Aug. 26 and posted on the committee’s Facebook page and to its account…

Nvidia may have exceeded Wall Street estimates as its profit jumped — buffeted by the chipmaking dominance that has cemented Nvidia’s place as the poster child of the artificial intelligence boom — but investors seemed less than impressed. The company reported a net income of to $16.6 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, net income was $16.95 billion. Revenue rose to $30 billion, up 122% from a year ago and 15% from the previous quarter. By comparison, S&P 500 companies overall are expected to deliver just 5% growth in revenue for the quarter, according to FactSet. However, Nvidia shares slipped nearly 4% in after-hours trading. Nvidia has led the artificial intelligence sector to become one of the stock market’s biggest companies, as tech giants continue to spend heavily on the company’s…

Online reviews and testimonials are a key way that small businesses can attract new customers and boost sales of products. But fake reviews and testimonials have been a persistent problem for small businesses, many of whom rely on recommendations for business. Fake reviews can make it harder for people to trust what they read online and ultimately hurt businesses. In addition, small businesses can find themselves targeted by bad actors who leave negative reviews. Avi Israeli, a dentist and owner of Sage Dental in Wall, N.J., with 15 staffers, said his business has been targeted by fake and erroneous reviews by people with no connection to his office. In addition, people from other states have confused his practice with a chain with a similar name, and post inaccurate reviews that…

Isabella Pires first noticed what she calls the “gradual apathy pandemic” in eighth grade. Only a handful of classmates registered for service projects she helped organize at her Massachusetts school. Even fewer actually showed up. When she got to high school last fall, Isabella found the problem was even worse: a lackluster Spirit Week and classes where students seldom spoke. In some ways, it’s as if students “just care less and less about what people think, but also somehow care more,” said Isabella, 14. Some teens, she said, no longer care about appearing disengaged, while others are so afraid of ridicule they keep to themselves. She blames social media and the lingering isolation of the post-COVID era. Educators say their tried and true lesson plans are no longer enough to…

Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, reported another quarterly drop in sales as Americans pull back on purchases of appliances and other consumer electronics gadgets to focus on essentials. The company’s results, announced Thursday, beat Wall Street estimates, however. The Richfield, Minnesota-based retailer downgraded its sales outlook but raised its earnings view for the current fiscal year. Shares rose more than 7% Thursday. Best Buy reported earnings of $291 million, or $1.34 per share for the three-month period ended Aug. 3. That compares with $274 million, or $1.25 per share, in the year-go period. Sales slipped 3% to $9.29 billion from $9.58 billion in the quarter. Analysts were expecting $1.16 per share on sales of $9.23 billion, according to FactSet. Comparable sales — those sales from online channels…

A Southern California woman fed up with her packages getting stolen out of her post office box sent an Apple AirTag to the address and cleverly tracked down the suspected thief, police said. The woman had had several items stolen from her mailbox at the Los Alamos Post Office already when she thought of the idea, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said. 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. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the post office where the woman told officials her mail had been stolen again — including the package with the AirTag. Law enforcement tracked the AirTag to a block in Santa Maria, about 16…

Prosecutors at a federal labor agency have determined that Amazon is a joint employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered packages for the company in California, pushing back on claims from the online retailer that they are not its employees. The decision, made by a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles, came after the agency investigated unfair labor practice charges filed against the company by the Teamsters union. The prominent labor group represents UPS drivers and has been seeking to unionize Amazon drivers. However, it has encountered challenges, most notably because the company doesn’t directly employ drivers but relies on thousands of third-party businesses that deliver millions of customer packages every day. Currently, over 275,000 drivers are employed with these businesses, which are called Delivery Service…

While many costs have come down for small business, rents remain high and in some cases are still rising, forcing many owners into some uncomfortable decisions. “Every time the rent goes up, we have to raise prices, to keep up with the cost,” said Adelita Valentine, owner of HairFreek Barbers in Los Angeles. “But with the cost of living, it makes it difficult on our customers.” Other owners are choosing to be late on payments or seeking out new locations where the rent is lower. A few are pushing back against their landlord. Although inflation is easing, it remains a top concern for small businesses. According to Bank of America internal data, rent payments per small business client rose 11% year-over-year in July. That’s more than twice the increase for…

Canada announced this week it is launching a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching U.S. tariffs imposed over what Western governments say are China’s subsidies that give its industry an unfair advantage. The announcement came after encouragement by U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cabinet ministers. Sullivan is making his first visit to Beijing. Trudeau said Canada also will impose a 25% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum “Actors like China have chosen to give themselves an unfair advantage in the global marketplace,” he said. There was no immediate response from China. The only Chinese-made EVs currently imported into Canada are from Tesla, made at the company’s Shanghai factory, though the U.S. company could avoid the tariff…