Category: News and Views

BMW, Jaguar and VW imported banned Xinjiang parts – Senate probe | BBC News

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BMW, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Volkswagen (VW) used parts made by a supplier on a list of firms banned over alleged links to Chinese forced labour, a US congressional report has said.

At least 8,000 BMW Mini Cooper cars were imported into the US with components from banned Chinese firm Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group (JWD), according to the report by Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden’s staff.

“Automakers’ self-policing is clearly not doing the job,” the Democrat Senator said.

BMW said it had “strict standards and policies regarding employment practices, human rights, and working conditions, which all our direct suppliers must follow”.

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Microsoft Build 2024: All the AI and hardware products Microsoft announced | TechCrunch

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Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows — and the PCs running it. At a keynote ahead of its annual Build developer conference this week, the company unveiled a new lineup of Windows machines it’s calling Copilot+ PCs, plus generative AI-powered features like Recall, which helps users find apps, files and other content they’ve viewed in the past. Copilot, Microsoft’s brand of generative AI, will soon be far more deeply integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are on the way. We’ve rounded up all the major announcements here.

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Google is launching a new Android feature to drive users back into their installed apps | TechCrunch

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Google has a new plan to promote Android apps outside of its Play Store. It was launched last week at its Google I/O 2024 developer conference, where the company spoke of a plan to re-engage users with apps they already have installed on their devices, as well as new ones, by giving developers a place to showcase their content in a unique way. Already, the company has more than 35 developer partners on board to test the new offering, including Spotify, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok and Shopify

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How to turn off Google AI Overviews | Mashable

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I’ll get straight to the point: there’s no “off” button for Google’s new AI Overviews feature. There is instead a “Web” button, buried in the “More” section of Google’s familiar row of buttons that look sort of like folder tabs, alongside things like “Images” and “News.”

Searching the new “Web” tab will get you the sort of results page you’re used to, with no AI-written summary of Google’s findings — just some links.

There’s a more elaborate, but much more complete solution to your problem as well, and I’ll go into that below. Using the Web option, however, is the simplest way out of the mess you’ve found yourself in.

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OpenAI and Google’s latest AI announcements make one thing clear: They’re officially rivals. | Mashable

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At Google I/O earlier this week, generative AI was unsurprisingly a major focal point.

In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai pointed out that “AI” was said 122 times, plus two more times by Pichai as he closed out the event.

The tech giant has injected AI features into seemingly all of its products and services, including Search, Workspace, and creative tools for videos, photos, and music. But arguably the biggest news of the day was how Google’s announcements compared to those from OpenAI. Just a day before Google I/O, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o, a “natively multimodal” model that can process visuals and audio in real-time, which ostensibly ramped up the burgeoning rivalry.

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The backbone of America’s economy was just dealt a serious blow | CNN Business

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US consumers could be reaching their breaking point. After dealing with elevated inflation and the highest interest rates in decades, they’re starting to rein in their spending.

Last month, retail sales were unchanged from March, when spending increased by a downwardly revised 0.6%, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.

April spending missed the 0.4% increase that economists had projected, according to FactSet. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation.

By comparison, a year ago, retail sales surged by 3%. Stripping away auto sales, April retail sales were up by 0.2% last month, matching economists’ expectations.

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Uber will now let you book a shuttle to the airport | CNN Business

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Uber wants to make it cheaper to get a ride to the airport, concerts or sporting events.

The rideshare company on Wednesday announced the launch of Uber Shuttle, an offering that will let users book up to five seats in a shuttle from a central location to an event or the airport – for less than the cost of a regular Uber ride. The cost of the shuttle rides won’t be affected by surge pricing, a common affliction when lots of people are looking for rides at the same time.

Riders can book their space on the shuttles, which will hold between 14 and 55 seats, up to a week in advance and will receive a QR code ticket to board. Uber plans to partner with local shuttle companies with commercially licensed drivers to facilitate the offering, but users will be able to rate and tip drivers within the Uber app like with any other ride.

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OpenAI unveils huge upgrade to ChatGPT that makes it more eerily human than ever | Live Science

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A new version of ChatGPT can read facial expressions, mimic human voice patterns and have near real-time conversations, its creators have revealed.

OpenAI demonstrated the upcoming version of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, called GPT-4o, in an apparently real-time presentation on Monday (May 13). The chatbot, which spoke out loud with presenters through a phone, appeared to have an eerie command of human conversation and its subtle emotional cues — switching between robotic and singing voices upon command, adapting to interruptions and visually processing the facial expressions and surroundings of its conversational partners. During the demonstration, the AI voice assistant showcased its skills by completing tasks such as real-time language translation, solving a math equation written on a piece of paper and guiding a blind person around London’s streets.

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Sun launches strongest solar flare of current cycle in monster X8.7-class eruption | Live Science

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The sun has just spat out the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, which began in 2019, according to a breaking report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.

The monster flare is a category X8.7, making it considerably stronger than the X2.2 flare that erupted from the sun last week — triggering radio blackouts and widespread auroras on Earth that were visible as far south as Mexico.

However, the latest flare is unlikely to result in any geomagnetic storms or aurora activity, as the sunspot group responsible for the blast is located at the very edge of the visible side of the sun, according to NOAA. However, high-frequency radio blackouts are still likely on Earth.

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How Paris Became a 15-minute city | Fast Company

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Four years ago, Paris embraced the idea of the 15-minute city—the concept that you should be able to live a short walk or bike ride from work, school, stores, and other aspects of daily life.

Since then, the city has radically changed. There are now 746 miles of protected bike lanes, and more Parisians bike than drive. Empty offices have been redeveloped with housing, coworking spaces, gyms, shops, and other uses under one roof. The mayor recently said that 2025 would be the year of “hyper-proximity,” with even more focus on bringing services to each neighborhood so people don’t have to get in the car every time they need to run an errand.

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