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Updated 2024-11-21 18:15
Best podcasts of the week: The sinister theories behind the ‘Havana syndrome’ phenomenon
In this week’s newsletter: American officials have for years been struck by a mystery illness on diplomatic visits. One journalist investigates why in The Sound. Plus: five of the best anthology podcasts
Cyber-attacks have tripled in past year, says Ukraine’s cybersecurity agency
UK security minister Tom Tugendhat warns of ‘persistent threat’ of Russian attacks on country’s infrastructure
Trump pleads with Meta to restore Facebook account
Former president’s lawyers petition company to allow access following ban from platform in wake of 2021 Capitol attackDonald Trump has petitioned Meta to restore his access to Facebook, as he reportedly looks to shift his 2024 presidential campaign into a higher gear.The former president was banned from Facebook more than two years ago, after his followers attacked the US Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading...
Twitter hit by 40% revenue drop amid ad squeeze, say reports
More than 500 advertising clients have reportedly paused spending since Elon Musk’s takeover in OctoberTwitter remains in the grip of an advertising squeeze, with the social media platform hit by a 40% drop in revenue after more than 500 clients paused their spending, according to reports.The company’s daily revenue was down 40% year-over-year, the tech newsletter the Platformer reported, while the news site the Information said staff were told more than 500 of Twitter’s top advertisers had halted spending since Elon Musk bought it in October. Continue reading...
One Piece Odyssey review – the pirate adventure that manga fans deserve
PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, PC; ILCA/Bandai Namco
‘A little off his rocker’: jurors grilled over views of Elon Musk for shareholder trial
Despite Musk’s claim he can’t get a fair trial in Twitter’s home town, judge sits San Francisco jury for Tesla suitThe shareholder case against the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, got off to a slow start on Tuesday, as potential jurors who variously described the controversial tech billionaire as “narcissistic”, “unpredictable”, “a little off his rocker”, “a genius” and “another arrogant rich guy” were questioned about their impartiality by the judge.But, by the end of the day, nine jurors had been selected to sit on the jury for the San Francisco trial, which hinges on whether Musk cheated investors of “billions” by asserting in 2018 tweets that he had “secured” financing to take the electric automaker private. Continue reading...
The Last of Us recap episode one – welcome to the mushroom apocalypse!
It’s early days, but this video-game adaptation about the world being overrun by fungal zombies is expertly done. Newcomers and original gamers will be amazed• The Last of Us review – one of the finest TV shows you will see this yearSpoiler alert: this recap is for people watching The Last of Us, which airs on Sky Atlantic and Now in the UK, HBO in the US and Binge and Foxtel in Australia. Do not read on unless you have watched episode one.Hello and welcome to The Last of Us episode recaps. We’ll spare you the enthusing about why the 2013 video game adapted for this series is the greatest of all time, and get right to it. Continue reading...
Babbdi review – a moody urban wander straight off a PlayStation 1 demo disc
PC; Lemaitre Bros
Elon Musk breaks world record for largest loss of personal fortune in history
The tech billionaire has reportedly lost $182bn (£150bn) since November 2021, largely due to the drop in Tesla’s share priceElon Musk has broken the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history, according to a Guinness World Records report.The tech billionaire has lost approximately $182bn (£150bn) since November 2021, although other sources suggest that it could actually be closer to $200bn, the report said. Continue reading...
UK car loans: the little-known clause that means you could walk away from your deal
The right to voluntary termination allows the buyer to escape the agreement provided they have repaid 50% of the total amount dueIf you are one of the thousands of people across the UK struggling to meet their car finance repayments, are you aware you can give the vehicle back and walk away debt-free once you have repaid half the amount owed?Car finance payments are typically the second-largest household expense after mortgage costs, and the car industry is nervously waiting to see how many people struggling with the cost of living default on loans, or use a little-known clause to voluntarily terminate their agreement. Continue reading...
Elon Musk seeks to move trial out of San Francisco, claiming bias against him
Musk says negative local media coverage of shareholder lawsuit over 2018 Tesla tweet has prejudiced jurorsElon Musk has urged a federal judge to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco because he says negative local media coverage has biased potential jurors against him.Instead, in a filing submitted late on Friday – less than two weeks before the trial was set to begin on 17 January – Musk’s lawyers argue it should be moved to the federal court in the western district of Texas. That district includes the state capital of Austin, which is where Musk relocated his electric car company, Tesla, in late 2021. Continue reading...
Twitter reportedly makes more cuts to online safety teams
A dozen people based in Dublin and Singapore who moderate content and monitor hate speech believed to have been let goTwitter has made more cuts to its trust and safety team in charge of international content moderation, as well as a unit overseeing hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg reported on Friday.The move adds to longstanding concerns that new owner Elon Musk is dismantling the company’s regulation of hateful content and misinformation. Continue reading...
The ChatGPT bot is causing panic now – but it’ll soon be as mundane a tool as Excel | John Naughton
A new AI-assisted chatbot that can generate eerily fluent prose is only the latest in a long series of useful tech accessoriesSo the ChatGPT language processing model burst upon an astonished world and the air was rent by squeals of delight and cries of outrage or lamentation. The delighted ones were those transfixed by discovering that a machine could apparently carry out a written commission competently. The outrage was triggered by fears of redundancy on the part of people whose employment requires the ability to write workmanlike prose. And the lamentations came from earnest folks (many of them teachers at various levels) whose day jobs involve grading essays hitherto written by students.So far, so predictable. If we know anything from history, it is that we generally overestimate the short-term impact of new communication technologies, while grossly underestimating their long-term implications. So it was with print, movies, broadcast radio and television and the internet. And I suspect we have just jumped on to the same cognitive merry-go-round. Continue reading...
Russian hackers targeted US nuclear research laboratories, records reveal
Cold River team launched attack on three facilities last summer as it escalates hacking campaign against Ukraine’s alliesA Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cybersecurity experts.Between August and September, as Vladimir Putin indicated Russia would be willing to use nuclear weapons to defend its territory, Cold River targeted the Brookhaven (BNL), Argonne (ANL) and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories (LLNL), according to internet records that showed the hackers creating fake login pages for each institution and emailing nuclear scientists in an effort to make them reveal their passwords. Continue reading...
Hiking app changes route after rescue of walkers in Lake District
Three people became stranded on steep scree slope while following route set by AllTrails app on Barf fellOne of the world’s most popular hiking apps has changed one of its routes after three walkers had to be rescued while following its directions in the Lake District.The walkers became stranded on a steep scree slope while following a route set by the AllTrails app on Barf fell, near Bassenthwaite Lake. They dialled 999 when they realised there was no safe route down the 469-metre fell as darkness loomed at 3.30pm on Tuesday. Continue reading...
The parent trap: is expensive baby tech making us paranoid?
Fancy monitors, wipe warmers, even a tube to help them pass wind … the baby-gadget market is booming. But how much of it is actually useful? Plus: how to have a baby on a budgetMost nights, around 3am, first-time mum Courtney Sanders is on her phone in the dark as she tries to rock her baby to sleep. Her three-month-old son is struggling with colic-like symptoms and the more Sanders searches for how to help, the more products are suggested to her. “My Facebook is currently full of ads for bedside cribs that come with an incline to help reduce colic – but I already have one of those and it doesn’t do anything.”She’s tried different feeding bottles, teats and milk formulas. The last thing she bought was a Windi. “It’s a tube you put into the baby’s bottom to help them pass wind,” she says. It didn’t work. Right now, she’s searching for a new baby monitor, as the one she bought is too complicated to use. Tomorrow she’s expecting a delivery of Munchy Mitts – a babygrow with silicone mitts for teething babies to chew on. Continue reading...
I’m horribly addicted to Twitter. Will Elon Musk save me from myself this year? | Joel Snape
If only Musk would sacrifice his fortune and reputation and close down the site, people like me could get back to doing something useful with our timeWhere are we all going when Twitter dies? Mastodon? Hive? Back to sitting in saggy armchairs reading chunky books? Personally, I’m hoping it’s the latter, but I’m not optimistic. Twitter, of course, has been designed by a lot of very clever people to be extremely addictive, and if everyone switches to something else, it will probably be because it’s more addictive again, prodding all our dopamine-spiking buttons in some as-yet-undiscovered sequence with which battered airport paperbacks will be even less able to compete. Which, come to think of it, means it definitely won’t be Mastodon.Obviously, I’m hopelessly addicted to Twitter, like so many journalists who pretend we are using it for our jobs. I’ve tried to tie myself to the mast like Odysseus, installing apps that block it at certain hours or force me to take a cooling off period before I refresh the page, but I always find a way around them. Even if you delete your account entirely, there’s a 30-day cooling-off period, during which I inevitably re-up, like Odysseus with a pocketknife inside his tunic.Joel Snape is a writer and fitness expertDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Death of the narrator? Apple unveils suite of AI-voiced audiobooks
Exclusive: tech firm quietly launches new audiobook catalogue narrated by AI – but move expected to spark backlashApple has quietly launched a catalogue of books narrated by artificial intelligence in a move that may mark the beginning of the end for human narrators. The strategy marks an attempt to upend the lucrative and fast-growing audiobook market – but it also promises to intensify scrutiny over allegations of Apple’s anti-competitive behaviour.The popularity of the audiobook market has exploded in recent years, with technology companies scrambling to gain a foothold. Sales last year jumped 25%, bringing in more than $1.5bn. Industry insiders believe the global market could be worth more than $35bn by 2030. Continue reading...
Meta dealt blow by EU ruling that could result in data use ‘opt-in’
Irish regulator fines Facebook owner €390m after EU rejects argument for use of data to drive personalised adsThe business model of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta empire has been dealt a blow following a ruling that its legal justification for targeting users with personalised ads broke EU data laws.Campaigners said the move could force the Facebook and Instagram owner to ask users to “opt in” to having their data used for targeted ads. Continue reading...
M3gan review – girlbot horror offers entertaining spin on teenage growing pains
Cheekily enjoyable chiller where a devastated girl seems saved by an eerily self-possessed robot companion – but all is not as it seemsNot a robot so much as a hi-tech Frankenstein’s monster, stitched together with bits of Robocop and Terminator, but cheekily enjoyable just the same. This is a sci-fi chiller co-written by horror experts Akela Cooper and James Wan and directed by Gerard Johnstone. M3gan, or Model 3 Generative Android, is an eerily self-possessed blond tweenage girlbot, voiced by Jenna Davis, a state-of-the-art toy from the near future developed as a personal passion project by engineer Gemma (Allison Williams, from Get Out and HBO’s Girls) to the exasperation of her highly stressed boss David, amusingly played by Ronny Chieng.To be properly developed, M3gan needs to “pair” with a little girl owner; she needs to sync up with an actual human, to learn her owner’s speech patterns, behavioural traits and emotional needs, so she can be properly close with her. And Gemma doesn’t have anyone to fill that post – until her nine-year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw) is orphaned after a car crash and comes to live with Gemma, who must furthermore honour her late parents’ wish that she is homeschooled. This poor little girl, utterly devastated by her mom and dad’s death and without any friends her own age in a new city, is an obvious candidate to be M3gan’s new pal. Continue reading...
Flutes, synths, a human voice – how should electric vehicles sound?
As Australia looks to the US and Europe on electric vehicle safety rules, carmakers are experimenting with sounds that will effectively warn pedestrians
Twitter to relax curbs on political ads as revenues drop
Since Elon Musk’s takeover, advertisers have paused spending amid fears of a rise in divisive contentTwitter has said it will relax restrictions on political advertising as it seeks to generate more revenue after Elon Musk’s $44bn (£36.4bn) takeover of the platform.The social media platform banned political advertising in 2019 after its then chief executive, Jack Dorsey, declared that reaching people with political messages should be “earned, not bought”. Continue reading...
Tesla shares continue slide with shrinking demand and logistics snags
Company has lost more than 65% in value since last year, although it is still world’s most valuable automakerTesla shares started 2023 where they left off last year, plunging more than 14% on Tuesday on growing worries about weakening demand and logistical problems that have hampered deliveries for the world’s most valuable automaker.Once worth more than $1tn, Tesla lost more than 65% in market value in a tumultuous 2022. Tuesday’s slide knocked off nearly $60bn in market value, roughly equal to the valuation of rival Ford, which last year sold three times as many cars as Tesla. Continue reading...
Could a robot ever recreate the aura of a Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece? It’s already happening | Naomi Rea
AI is already capable of mimicking human creativity. Whether or not it makes artists obsolete will be down to how they use itThis month, the internet was flooded with stunningly ethereal digital art portraits, thanks to the work of the latest artificial intelligence-assisted application to go viral: Lensa. Users uploaded their photographs to the app and then – for a small fee – it used AI to transform their profile pictures into, say, a magical elfin warrior princess version of themselves, in no time at all.This year has seen a breakthrough for AI-driven image generators, which are now better than ever in quality, speed and affordability. The AI models are “trained” on millions of pieces of image and text data scraped from publicly available content online, and as in the case of Microsoft-backed DALL-E, can turn short text prompts such as “Ronald McDonald performing open heart surgery” into unique images. Continue reading...
Is modern life ruining our powers of concentration?
Is the ping of a text stealing our focus or do we just lack willpower? And could mindless scrolling ever be good for our brains? Elle Hunt unpacks some surprising truthsHow does it feel inside your head? Turn your attention inwards. Maybe you’re daydreaming, allowing your mind to wander. Or maybe it feels sharp and alert. Maybe your thoughts are forging freely ahead, a sign that you have achieved the fabled state of “flow”. More likely, however, your brain feels like a browser with too many tabs open. From the widespread reports of a post-pandemic “brain fog” and the books on “deep work” and “stolen focus” topping bestseller lists, to the soaring diagnoses of ADHD in adults and children, it seems we are increasingly concerned by our ability to pay attention.Early last year, the Centre for Attention Studies at King’s College London found that 49% of 2,000 adults surveyed felt their attention span was shorter than it used to be. Almost as many (47%) agreed that “‘deep thinking’ has become a thing of the past”. These are generalisations and impossible to quantify – we have no consistent measure of attention or deep thinking, let alone of contrasting those through history with today’s. But the response proves that we at least perceive there’s a problem. Continue reading...
Slumping revenue, Tesla woes and a ‘resignation’: Musk’s wild reign at Twitter so far
Tech tycoon has slashed jobs and lost credibility with investors since buying the social media platformWhen Elon Musk walked into Twitter’s offices on 26 October carrying a sink, one day before he bought the platform for $44bn (£38bn), it was the first sign that the tale of his ownership would not be a conventional one. “Let that sink in!” he tweeted. For everyone swept up in what followed – from thousands of Twitter employees to advertisers and critical journalists – it certainly has now.Musk’s reign since has proved unpredictable and controversial, with the Tesla CEO losing the title of the world’s richest man in the process. Here are some of the standout moments from those eventful past 10 weeks: Continue reading...
AI-assisted plagiarism? ChatGPT bot says it has an answer for that
Silicon Valley firm insists its new text generator, which writes human-sounding essays, can overcome fears over cheating‘A confident bullshitter that can write very convincing nonsense’: not a takedown of an annoying student or a former British prime minister, but a description of an artificial intelligence writing programme that is causing headaches for its makers.With fears in academia growing about a new AI chatbot that can write convincing essays – even if some facts it uses aren’t strictly true – the Silicon Valley firm behind a chatbot released last month are racing to “fingerprint” its output to head off a wave of “AIgiarism” – or AI-assisted plagiarism. Continue reading...
Why did the US just ban TikTok from government-issued cellphones?
Trump tried to impose a total ban on the China-based app and some states have already prohibited its use on official devicesThe US government has approved an unprecedented ban on the use of TikTok on federal government devices. The restrictions – tucked into a spending bill just days before it was passed by Congress, and signed by Joe Biden on Thursday – add to growing uncertainty about the app’s future in the US amid a crackdown from state and federal lawmakers.Officials say the ban is necessary due to national security concerns about the China-based owner of the app, ByteDance. But it also leaves many questions unanswered. Here’s what you need to know. Continue reading...
US bans China-based TikTok app on all federal government devices
Move follows House of Representatives ban, which TikTok called a ‘political measure that will do nothing’ for national securityTikTok has been banned on all federal government devices in the US, with limited exceptions, after Joe Biden signed a $1.7tn (£1.4tn) spending bill on Thursday containing a provision that outlaws the China-based app over growing security concerns.The ban – which was approved by Congress in a vote last week – is a major step targeting the fastest-growing social media platform in the world as opponents express worry user data stored in China could be accessed by the government. Continue reading...
Inflation, tech plunge and ‘crypto winter’: global stock markets in 2022
Shares tumble and government bonds hammered by central banks’ interest rate rises
Investors convert ‘totally worthless’ NFTs into tax write-offs
A new service offers a way to offset losses from NFTs during a grim crypto winter that saw demand for digital collectibles vanishJust a year ago, Washington DC’s Hirshhorn art museum – the capital’s preeminent contemporary art museum – was asking whether non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were “fad or the future of art”. Twelve months on, it looks like “tax write-off” might have been the right answer.This year was not just the year that cryptocurrency values were burned by investor fears, rising interest rates, inflation and scandals, it was the year that crypto’s cartoonish art cousin the NFT – an electronic identifier confirming a digital collectible is real – collided with reality. Continue reading...
Year of the tech grifter: will Silicon Valley ever learn from its mistakes?
The tech industry’s hype machine always trumpets a fresh new ‘genius’ – and it still hasn’t learned its lessonIt was a month of eerie parallels.On 12 December, the disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on fraud charges in the Bahamas, marking a dramatic end to his reign as the head of the now defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Continue reading...
Guardian tech reviews in 2022: better to repair and longer-lasting devices
More devices contain recycled materials and are supported for longer, but there is much more to doWith a year full of pressures on our wallets, comfort and climate, technology took a back seat in 2022. But change for the better is slowly happening as big tech firms wake up to the demands of consumers wanting better, longer-lasting and more sustainable devices.Trends established in the last couple of years continued to gain pace. Recycled material has become mainstream. Devices containing at least some recycled plastic, metal or minerals are available in almost every category. The range of materials being reused is increasing – an important step towards a circular economy even if it is a very long way away from being fully realised. Continue reading...
Police in China can track protests by enabling ‘alarms’ on Hikvision software
Chinese surveillance manufacturer Hikvision has put in place tools to help police track protest activitiesChinese police can set up “alarms” for various protest activities using a software platform provided by Hikvision, a major Chinese camera and surveillance manufacturer, the Guardian has learned. Descriptions of protest activity listed among the “alarms” include “gathering crowds to disrupt order in public places”, “unlawful assembly, procession, demonstration” and threats to “petition”.These activities are listed alongside offenses such as “gambling” or disruptive events such as “fire hazard” in technical documents available on Hikvision’s website and flagged to the Guardian by surveillance research firm IPVM, or Internet Protocol Video Market. The company’s website also included alarms for “religion” and “Falun Gong” – a spiritual movement banned in China and categorized as a cult by the government – until IPVM contacted the company. Continue reading...
Twitter outage: Elon Musk says ‘works for me’ as users report problems with website
The technical failure comes after mass layoffs at the tech firm following its takeover by Elon MuskTwitter users have reported a massive global outage with many unable to access the website and its features for hours.According to downdetector.com, which tracks site traffic, the website became unavailable shortly before midnight GMT (11am Thursday AEDT, 7pm Wednesday EST), with outages most commonly reported on website rather than the app. Continue reading...
Mastodon founder says investors lining up since Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
Eugen Rochko has ‘offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ from Silicon Valley private equity firmsThe founder of Mastodon has said he has rejected approaches from more than five US-based investors, as the Twitter rival grows in popularity after Elon Musk’s chaotic debut as a social media owner.Eugen Rochko, who launched the open-source social network in 2016, told the Financial Times he had received the offers from Silicon Valley private equity firms to put “hundreds of thousands of dollars” into the product. Continue reading...
‘He’s having the time of his life!’ How Tariq the Corn Kid embraced global fame – and broccoli
The seven-year-old’s deep love of sweetcorn made him a viral sensation. But how do you top meeting Michelle Obama and starring on The Drew Barrymore Show?It was the height of summer when seven-year-old Tariq declared: “For me … I really like corn” – and promptly became an internet sensation. His video interview with Julian Shapiro-Barnum, host of web series Recess Therapy, went viral, as his description of corn as “a big lump with knobs” and general enthusiasm for the vegetable racked up views around the world.“What do you like about corn?” asks Shapiro-Barnum in the video, which was shot at Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival in Prospect Park, New York. “Ever since I was told that corn was real, it tasted good,” says a gap-toothed Tariq, seemingly bemused by the sheer existence of corn. “But when I tried it with butter, everything changed! … I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing! It’s corn!” Continue reading...
Cybersecurity firm links Piers Morgan Twitter hack to leak of 400m records
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison among politicians and celebrities whose details were in sample of allegedly hacked data published onlineThe former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison appears to have been caught up in a leak of partial data on 400 million Twitter users, along with celebrities including the model Cara Delevingne, US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and pop singer Shawn Mendes.Morrison’s Twitter account was included in a sample of data released by an alleged cybercriminal last week.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
Tesla stock marks lowest close in years as investors worry about Musk’s focus
Experts blame Elon Musk’s management style at Twitter for the electric carmaker’s financial problemsTesla shares fell on Tuesday to their lowest in more than two years, marking the company’s worst day in eight months, as Elon Musk’s electric carmaker confronts a rocky financial period.The company’s stock has lost more than half its value since the start of October. Investors worry that Twitter is taking much of Musk’s time, now that he is the social network’s owner and CEO. Continue reading...
The best of the long read in 2022
Our 20 favourite pieces of the yearGary Hersham has been selling houses to the very rich for decades. At first, £1m was a big deal. Now he sells for £50m, £100m, even £200m. What does it take to stay on top in this cut-throat business? Continue reading...
Reliance on hi-tech solutions to climate crisis perpetuates racism, says UN official
Rapporteur Tendayi Achiume says projects are at expense of marginalised groups and Indigenous peoplesThe world’s reliance on hi-tech capitalist solutions to the climate and ecological crises is perpetuating racism, the outgoing UN racism rapporteur has warned.Green solutions including electric cars, renewable energy and the rewilding of vast tracts of land are being implemented at the expense of racially and ethnically marginalised groups and Indigenous peoples, Tendayi Achiume told the Guardian in an interview. Continue reading...
‘Hack’ of UK cabinet minister’s Twitter account changes profile picture to Elon Musk
Education secretary Gillian Keegan’s account was completely altered, with profile picture showing Elon MuskThe Twitter account of the British education secretary appears to have been hacked. The profile picture was changed to one showing Elon Musk and several tweets were posted promoting a cryptocurrency event.On Christmas Day the account of Gillian Keegan, the MP for Chichester, replied to a number of tweets with links to a website advertising cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and dogecoin. Continue reading...
Twitter restores suicide-prevention hotline feature after outcry
Top official confirms feature was removed but only temporarily, following Reuters report that prompted criticism of Elon MuskTwitter has restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, after coming under pressure from users and consumer safety groups.The feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, placed a banner at the top of search results for certain topics, listing contacts for support organizations in many countries related to mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, Covid-19, gender-based violence, natural disasters and freedom of expression.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org Continue reading...
Elon Musk says he will not sell more Tesla stock for about two years
Chief executive’s comments come amid concerns over softening demand for electric carsThe Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has said he will not sell any more of the electric car company’s stock for about two years.While speaking in a Twitter Spaces audio chat on Thursday, Musk said he foresaw the economy would be in a “serious recession” in 2023 and demand for big-ticket items would be lower. Continue reading...
Tesla behind eight-vehicle crash was in ‘full self-driving’ mode, says driver
San Francisco crash is the latest in a series of accidents blamed on Tesla technology, which is facing regulatory scrutinyThe driver of a 2021 Tesla Model S told California authorities the vehicle was in “full self-driving mode” when the technology malfunctioned, causing an eight-vehicle crash on the San Francisco Bay bridge last month.The crash on Thanksgiving Day resulted in two juveniles being transported to hospital and led to lengthy delays on the bridge. The incident was made public in a police report on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Investigation of Musk’s Neuralink targets federal oversight of animal testing
Sources tell Reuters law enforcement authorities are concerned about USDA’s record on animal welfare violationsLaw enforcement officials investigating Elon Musk’s Neuralink over its animal trial program are also scrutinizing the US Department of Agriculture’s oversight of the company’s operations, after the agency failed to act on violations at other research organizations, according to several people familiar with the matter.Reuters reported on 5 December that the USDA’s watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, is investigating Neuralink, a medical device company that is developing brain implants, over potential animal-welfare violations. A federal prosecutor in the civil division at the US attorney’s office for the northern district of California requested the investigation, people familiar with the matter said. Continue reading...
Police provide first official details of Elon Musk’s alleged stalker incident
Police say a member of Elon Musk’s security team is currently a suspect in their investigation, not a victimThe Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, tweeted last week that a “crazy stalker” followed a car carrying one of his children in Los Angeles last Tuesday night, “thinking it was me”, and that the stalker blocked the car from moving and climbed on to its hood.A new statement from local police provides the first official account of what happened during the incident. The South Pasadena police department has confirmed that an incident involving two vehicles was reported to the police on Tuesday night, but said that a member of Elon Musk’s security team is currently a suspect in the investigation, not a victim. Continue reading...
FTX seeks to claw back donations to politicians and charities
Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange had reputation for corporate philanthropy to tune of hundreds of millions of dollarsFTX, the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has started trying to claw back payments made by its former management to politicians, celebrities and charities, as it continues to progress through bankruptcy proceedings in the US.FTX “intends to commence actions before the bankruptcy court to require the return of such payments, with interest accruing from the date any action is commenced”, the company said, sharing an email address – FTXrepay@ftx.us – that recipients could use to voluntarily return money. Continue reading...
Are your gadgets watching you? How to give the gift of privacy
Our guide to the data collected by popular smart devices, from sleep and fitness trackers to DNA kitsThe season of holiday gift buying is upon us, and it can be hard to resist the coolest new tech gadgets. But not all items are created equal when it comes to privacy, experts say.In the US, there are few limits on what companies can do with your data, putting the onus on us to do our homework, says Hayley Tsukayama, a senior legislative activist at the digital advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She urges people to think through the privacy implications of gifts they’re giving to friends and family. Continue reading...
Amazon workers vote to strike at Coventry depot in UK first
GMB union hails major victory as staff back stoppages over their demand for a pay rise to £15 an hourAmazon workers at a vast depot in Coventry are poised to go on strike in the new year, demanding pay of £15 an hour, after securing a historic yes vote in a ballot for industrial action.Members of the GMB union opted to hold a second ballot after narrowly missing the 50% turnout threshold earlier this year. Continue reading...
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