News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Chip Subsidies for the Less Innovative

Zakaria: Our Chip Subsidies Are Rewarding Those Who Are Less Innovative the Most

During an interview with PBS’s “Firing Line” that took place on May 1 and was released on Friday, Washington Post columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria stated that the way we’re subsidizing chip companies to manufacture in the U.S. isn’t effective because Intel, the biggest receiver of subsidies “lost out to TSMC in making the most cutting-edge chips of the last generation. It’s losing out to Nvidia in making the cutting-edge chips for the AI generation.”

Zakaria said, [relevant remarks begin around 21:45] “The U.S. is now copying the Chinese model, frankly, where funding chip companies to manufacture in the U.S. I’m not sure we’re doing it right. Look at the company we picked to give the most subsidies to, Intel. Well, Intel is the company that turned out to — lost out to TSMC in making the most cutting-edge chips of the last generation. It’s losing out to Nvidia in making the cutting-edge chips for the AI generation.”

Host Margaret Hoover then said, “You’re saying government shouldn’t pick winners and losers.”

Zakaria responded, “Well, you look at it and you say to yourself, you can see why they picked Intel. It’s safe. It’s secure. It’s sort of like the IBM of the moment. But by the time a company becomes…so stable and secure that the government is willing to pick it, the market has moved and it’s found new innovators.”

Biden on Chinese Green Tech

Trump Lite? Biden Reportedly Plans To Announce Election Year Tariffs On Chinese Green Tech

President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly scrambling to put in place new China tariffs as the 2024 election approaches.

The new tariffs will target what the Biden administration views as key strategic sectors, according to a Bloomberg News report citing anonymous sources, but are likely to do little to effect the overall U.S. trade imbalance with China.

“The US will impose new, elevated tariffs that focus on key industries including electric vehicles, batteries and solar cells. Other existing China levies are expected to largely be maintained. An announcement is scheduled for Tuesday, two of the people said,” Bloomberg news reported.

The Wall Street Journal says the new tariffs will include a quadrupling of duties on electric vehicles. The report is sourced to “people familiar with the matter.”

The Biden administration has struggled over the issue of tariffs. While running for office, Biden derided Donald Trump’s trade policies, claiming that China’s predatory mercantilism posed no threat to the U.S. economy or national security. Many expected that Biden would repeal at least some of the tariffs Trump imposed on exports from China.

But economic nationalism in the U.S. has proved harder to dislodge, a sign of how the once heretical views on trade advanced by Trump have now become embedded in the political mainstream.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has reportedly been instrumental in fighting off the forces inside the Biden White House that sought capitulation to demands from China and corporate America for a retreat on China tariffs.

In a speech in Pittsburgh before an audience of U.S. steel workers, Biden last month proposed to increase tariffs on Chinese steel. That move is widely seen as a cynical ploy for votes in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania since the U.S. already imports very steel from China.

GM Ditches Chevy Malibu

General Motors Scraps Chevrolet Malibu, Switches Focus to Electric Vehicles

General Motors (GM) — the manufacturer of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles — has confirmed the end of one of the most popular sedans in the U.S. as the company switches focus to electric vehicles (EVs).

The Chevrolet Malibu, dubbed “the last midsize car made by a Detroit automaker” by the Associated Press, (AP) is heading for the junkyard, the outlet reported.

The iconic car, first introduced in 1964, sold about 130,000 units in 2023, down from 230,000 sales in 2016 — with many of those being at a low profit to car rental companies.

SUVs and trucks now dominate the auto market, with traditional cars making up less than 20 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales, CNN reported, citing figures from Cox Automotive.

Midsize cars accounted for only eight percent of new U.S. vehicle sales in 2023, down from 22 percent in 2007, the AP reported.

In its crusade to become a staple in American homes, GM said it sold more than ten million Malibus in the nine generations since its introduction.

The manufacturer’s Kansas City plant is set to stop producing the Malibu in November, after which it will reportedly get a $390 million “retooling” to build a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt — a small EV.

Mercedes-Benz is NOT Keen on EVs

Mercedes-Benz Backs Away from Electric Vehicles amid Weak Sales

German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz is backing away from its commitment to fully transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) by 2030 amid weak sales, shifting back to gas-powered cars that remain in demand among car buyers.

According to Bloomberg UK, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius told shareholders on Wednesday that the automaker’s “transformation” to EVs “might take longer than expected.”

Källenius had sought to make Mercedes-Benz fully electric by 2030. In July 2021, Mercedes-Benz announced its all-electric push, vowing to shift from an “electric-first” to “electric-only” agenda.

“The EV shift is picking up speed — especially in the luxury segment, where Mercedes-Benz belongs,” Källenius said in 2021:

The tipping point is getting closer and we will be ready as markets switch to electric-only by the end of this decade. This step marks a profound reallocation of capital. By managing this faster transformation while safeguarding our profitability targets, we will ensure the enduring success of Mercedes-Benz. Thanks to our highly qualified and motivated workforce, I am convinced that we will be successful in this exciting new era. [Emphasis added]

Those plans have been slowed as orders for its all-electric sedans have been disappointing and brought margins down to nine percent in the first quarter. Instead, Mercedes-Benz will continue making gas-powered cars past the start of the next decade.

The luxury automaker is not the only one abandoning an electric-only agenda.

In January, Ford Motor Company followed through on plans to scale back production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck — cutting it in almost half — over a lack of demand among American consumers.

Nope, Tesla is NOT Hiring People

Elon Isn’t Hiring: Tesla Implements Hiring Freeze Amidst Ongoing Layoffs

Elon Musk’s has reportedly instituted a hiring freeze across its North American operations, following weeks of layoffs that have impacted thousands of employees.

Gizmodo reports that in a stark contrast to the over 3,400 job postings available across the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico on May 1, Tesla’s job board now lists a mere three positions, all related to its manufacturing development program.

This sudden reduction in job listings comes amidst ongoing layoffs that have affected various departments within the company, including the Supercharger division, public policy team, service advisers, human resource workers, product engineers, and industrializing engineers.

The layoffs, which began on April 16, were initially attributed to the need for cost reductions and increasing productivity by CEO Elon Musk. In an email to employees, Musk expressed his regret over the job cuts but emphasized their necessity as the company prepares for its next phase of growth.

However, in a subsequent email to senior executives, Musk adopted a more stringent approach, demanding that they be “absolutely hardcore” about issuing further job cuts and threatening to ask for resignations from those who retained more than three workers who did not meet his “excellent, necessary and trustworthy test.”

The impact of these layoffs has been far-reaching, with reports suggesting that more than 20,000 people may have been affected in the first round alone. The abrupt nature of the layoffs has left many employees feeling disposable, as evidenced by the testimonial of a former Tesla employee who shared their experience on LinkedIn: “Nothing but an email to make us aware of how disposable we were as employees.”

Adding to the chaos, several high-profile executives have either already resigned or plan to do so later this year, including former senior vice president of powertrain and energy Drew Baglino and senior director of human resources for North America Allie Arebalo. The departure of key personnel during this challenging period raises concerns about the company’s ability to navigate the current situation effectively.

Tesla's Head of Products Resigns

Elon Musk’s Tough 2024 Continues: Tesla’s Head of Product Resigns

Tesla’s Head of Product, Rich Otto, announced his departure on Wednesday after seven years with Elon Musk’s EV company, expressing concerns over recent layoffs and their impact on morale.

Electric-Vehicles.com reports that once a celebrated employee at Tesla, Head of Product Rich Otto announced his resignation in the first days of May after nearly seven years at the company. His departure comes amid a tumultuous period for the electric vehicle giant, which recently initiated significant layoffs that have disrupted morale and equilibrium within the company.

In a LinkedIn post, Otto expressed concern over the corporation’s recent layoffs, describing them as “rocking the company.” He further elaborated that these initiatives have disrupted the company’s harmony, shattered morale, and made it difficult to understand the long-term vision, thereby necessitating his departure.

DOJ VS Tesla

DOJ Prosecutors Investigate Elon Musk’s Tesla over Misleading ‘Self-Driving’ Claims

Reuters reports that U.S. prosecutors are scrutinizing Tesla’s self-driving technology claims to determine if the company misled investors and consumers. Three sources familiar with the investigation say that the Justice Department is examining whether Tesla committed wire fraud, which involves deception in interstate communications, and securities fraud by misleading investors. The SEC is also investigating Tesla’s representations about driver-assistance systems to investors, according to one of the sources.

Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems assist with steering, braking, and lane changes, but are not fully autonomous. The company has warned drivers to stay ready to take over driving, but the DOJ is looking into other statements made by Tesla and CEO Elon Musk suggesting its cars can drive themselves.

The probe has been in the works for some time, with prosecutors requesting information from Tesla about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. Although Tesla has provided voluminous documents, no decision on how to proceed has been made, as the Justice Department reportedly continues to sift through the data. The investigation will need to demonstrate that Tesla’s claims crossed a line from legal salesmanship to material and knowingly false statements that unlawfully harmed consumers or investors.

Bad News for NeuraLink?

Elon’s Creepy Brain Chip Goes Bad: Neuralink Reports First Human Implant Has ‘Malfunctioned’

The Hill reports that Neuralink, the neurotechnology company founded by Elon Musk, revealed on Wednesday that the first implant placed in a human malfunctioned due to the retraction of multiple threads recording brain activity. The patient, 29-year-old quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh, had the Neuralink hardware placed in his brain during a surgery in late January 2023. Following the surgery, several threads had retracted from his brain, resulting in decreased functionality of the Neuralink hardware. This manifested as a reduced ability to control a computer cursor through his brain.

Neuralink has since responded to this issue by adjusting the recording algorithm, improving translation techniques for signal conversion, and enhancing the user interface. These modifications reportedly led to a “rapid and sustained improvement” in bits-per-second, a metric evaluating the speed and accuracy of cursor control. Arbaugh’s performance surpassed the initial results post-surgery.

Although the implant malfunction’s implications for Arbaugh’s safety are uncertain, Neuralink has discussed the possibility of removing the implant. The company has also informed the FDA that they believe they have a solution to the problem, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Breitbart News previously reported on Neuralink’s issues, writing:

A detailed investigation has brought to light the unsettling circumstances surrounding the deaths of monkeys used in Neuralink’s preliminary experiments. Elon Musk has staunchly denied that the deaths were a direct consequence of the implants, maintaining that the chosen test subjects were “close to death already.” However, these assertions are contradicted by accounts revealing severe complications, including chronic infections, paralysis, and brain swelling, experienced by the test subjects, necessitating euthanasia.

Apple iPhone Sales Declining

Apple Battling iPhone Sales Decline amid Strong Global Smartphone Market

As the global smartphone market expands, Apple faces a challenging period with sales declining in almost every market globally. The Company’s iPhone sales are down about 10 percent in the first three months of 2024.

BBC News reports that Apple has reported a decline in sales in almost every market across the globe, with the exception of Europe, according to its latest financial results. The tech giant stated that the demand for its smartphones dropped by more than 10 percent in the first three months of this year, contributing to an overall sales decline of four percent to $90.8 billion. Despite the dip, the results were not as poor as expected, leading to a small rise in Apple’s share price.

Apple attributes the decline to Coronavirus-related supply disruptions, which had caused unusually strong sales during the same period last year. The company remains optimistic, anticipating sales to rebound in the coming months, driven by upcoming product launches and investments in AI.

In the critical greater China market, sales dropped by eight percent. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook attempted to reassure investors about the state of the business in China, noting that iPhone sales were actually up in “mainland” China. Cook maintains a positive long-term view of the Chinese market, despite intensifying competition from local rivals such as Huawei.

Gil Luria, senior software analyst at DA Davidson, commented on the competition in China, stating that local brands like Huawei perform well due to their status as homegrown brands. However, Luria believes that the iPhone still holds an advantage in terms of features, functionality, and prestige, making it the preferred choice for consumers with the resources to buy it.

Apple’s struggles come amidst a period of growth in the global smartphone market, with shipments rising 10 percent in the first three months of the year. Luria attributes Apple’s challenges to a lack of significant improvements in the iPhone since the launch of the iPhone 12 almost four years ago.

Apple Apologizes

Apple Apologizes for ‘Crush!’ iPad Pro Commercial: ‘Missed the Mark’

The tech giant Apple has apologized for the recent iPad Pro commercial that featured the crushing and destruction of creative materials.

As Breitbart News reported, Apple faced intense backlash from artists and creatives when it released the new iPad Pro commercial titled “Crush!” that showed a hydraulic press crushing various instruments, artistic tools, and gadgets, synthesizing them all into a tiny iPad Pro.

“Just imagine all the things it’ll be used to create,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said upon sharing the ad.

On YouTube, the comments were turned off, and the ad received 19,000 dislikes over 17,000 likes.

In a statement to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”

During the initial backlash campaign, artists and creatives said the ad symbolized Big Tech’s takeover of the creative world.

MS AI Data Center

Microsoft to Build $3.3 Billion AI Data Center at Former Foxconn Site

PC Mag reports that Microsoft is making a fresh investment in AI by building a new data center in Racine, Wisconsin, with a price tag of $3.3 billion. This move comes after a previous plan by Apple’s Taiwanese third-party iPhone manufacturer, Foxconn, to construct a display screen factory on the same land fell through. Microsoft promises the new data center will create around 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs.

The announcement of the new data center comes as part of Microsoft’s broader commitment to AI development. Microsoft President Brad Smith is set to officially announce the plans in Wisconsin alongside President Joe Biden. The new facility will help Microsoft meet its increasing need for more computing power to fuel its energy-intensive AI projects.

In recent years, AI’s impact on power grids and the climate has become a growing concern. However, Microsoft is continuing its massive AI push, emphasizing the importance of developing this technology for the future. This week, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott highlighted the company’s commitment to AI development, stating that they have been building “big supercomputers to train AI models” for the past five years.

The new AI data center in Wisconsin will also host a “Datacenter academy” to train 1,000 people in the state for STEM jobs, addressing the growing need for skilled workers in the field. The “Co-Innovation Lab” that Microsoft will build in the state will further contribute to the development of AI technology.

The former Foxconn site was supposed to be home to a 20-million-square-foot factory for television and digital device screens before plans fell apart. Despite spending over $900 million on the project in four years and the state of Wisconsin investing over $200 million, the site remained largely unused.

Rumble Leaves Brazil

Rumble CEO: Leftist Court Censorship Demands Forced Us to Disable Service in Brazil

The CEO of the video platform Rumble, Christopher Pavlovski, told Congress on Tuesday that his company made the “tough decision” to leave the market in Brazil due to repressive demands from the nation’s left-wing courts to censor “unpopular” opinions.

Pavlovski was among several witnesses, including censored journalists, invited to testify before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday on the erosion of civil rights in Brazil under radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the most powerful judge on the Brazilian Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes. Only one of the four individuals invited to testify defended the censorship, claiming it was necessary in light of the January 8, 2023, riot in the capital following Lula’s return to power.

On Tuesday, Pavlovski said, “Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are the cornerstones of a democratic society,” and Brazil’s challenges to these rights were “extremely troubling.”

He noted that, for years, he has seen governments ask online platforms to ban ideas they disagree with and suppress opinions that “do not fit the norm as dictated by algorithms.”

“These things are happening, and I know this personally as the CEO of a platform that receives demands from governments around the world,” Pavlovski continued.

TikTok Files Lawsuit

China’s TikTok Files Lawsuit in Response to U.S. Sell-or-Ban Law

China’s TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in response to the U.S. sell-or-ban legislation recently signed by President Joe Biden, which gives the Chinese company nine months to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.

TikTok and ByteDance filed a court petition against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “for review of constitutionality” of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the Chinese company said on Tuesday.

“Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok,” the petition states in response to the U.S. law giving ByteDance, which is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), until January to sell TikTok.

TikTok and ByteDance, controlled by a hostile foreign country run by communists, ironically go on to call the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act “unconstitutional.”

“Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Act’s sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok’s ownership,” the Chinese companies added.

TikTok and ByteDance further claim that while the Act says the companies have the choice to divest the app’s U.S. business or be shut down, “in reality, there is no choice.”

RFK Jr. VS Meta

RFK Jr. Accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta of Election Interference for Censoring ‘Who Is Bobby Kennedy?’ Film

On Saturday, a political action committee (PAC) supporting Kennedy released a short biographical film about the candidate, narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, but viewers were unable to share the content on Facebook and Instagram, Kennedy’s team said.

Some social media users were told the video was spam or that the link redirected them to a malicious website. Others were told the video contained “graphic and violent content,” while others received a message from Meta saying the content violated community standards, RFK’s campaign explained.

Kennedy’s team added that other social media users simply received an error message saying “upload failed,” and that in some cases, “Meta even removed comments referring to the removal of their posts.”

“If supporters of all candidates do not have equal access to the digital public square, then we have a democracy in name only,” Kennedy said in a press release. “This goes beyond restricting freedom of expression on issues and ideas.”

“Meta is censoring a biographical film about a major candidate in an election year,” the Independent presidential candidate added. “How can voters make an informed choice if they are denied basic information about a candidate’s life?”

DOJ VS Google

Google Antitrust Case: DOJ Accuses Internet Giant of Deleting Sensitive Chat Logs

TechSpot reports that in an ongoing legal battle, the DOJ has taken aim at Google’s document retention policy, alleging that the tech giant deliberately destroyed records that could have exposed its efforts to illegally exclude rivals and maintain dominance in the search market. The government lawyers have asked Judge Amit Mehta to issue harsh presumptions that the deleted chat logs contained evidence of anticompetitive conduct.

During the closing arguments on Friday, Judge Mehta expressed his disbelief at Google’s actions, stating, “Google’s document retention policy leaves a lot to be desired.”

The Justice Department has been unwavering in its approach, requesting the court to assume the worst about the undisclosed conversations. DOJ lawyer Kenneth Dintzer argued that Google failed to fulfill its obligations by informing only one plaintiff, Texas, about its chat retention practices. Dintzer asserted, “Only upon finding that the party acted with the intent to deprive another party of the information’s use in the litigation may the court presume that the lost information was unfavorable.”

In response, Google’s lawyer, Colette Connor, maintained that the DOJ has no proof that the lost chats were relevant to the case. However, the government remains steadfast in its pursuit of evidence to support its claims of Google’s alleged search engine monopoly.

Throughout the trial, DOJ lawyers have drawn parallels between Google’s case and the infamous Microsoft antitrust case from the late 1990s. They argue that Google’s distribution deals with smartphone makers, browsers, and other entities have illegally stifled competition, much like Microsoft’s actions in the past. Dintzer emphasized this point, stating that the Google case “fits like a glove” with the Microsoft precedent.

NASA

NASA Boondoggle: Spacecraft to Carry Astronauts to Moon Suffered Heat Shield Failures in Test Flight

Smithsonian Magazine reports that according to the report, the test flight revealed anomalies with the Orion heat shield, separation bolts, and power distribution, which pose significant risks to the safety of the crew. The inspector general emphasizes that if the heat shield problem were to occur on future Artemis missions, it could lead to the loss of the vehicle or crew.

During the 25.5-day Artemis 1 mission, which launched on November 16, 2022, the uncrewed Orion capsule orbited the moon, performed two lunar flybys, and returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.

However, the protective “char layer” material from the heat shield wore away unexpectedly in more than 100 locations during reentry, cracking and breaking off the spacecraft in pieces instead of melting away as intended. This issue raises concerns about the adequacy of protection for the crew and spacecraft from the extreme heat of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit experienced during reentry.

In addition to the heat shield problems, some bolts on Orion unexpectedly melted and eroded. NASA has made minor changes to the bolt design for Artemis 2, but the bolts’ performance is tied to how the agency addresses the heat shield issue. The spacecraft also encountered power distribution anomalies in its electrical power system, which NASA attributes to radiation and plans to address through software changes.

The launch of the spacecraft caused more damage than expected to the mobile launcher, with repairs costing $26 million, more than five times the $5 million NASA had allocated for repairs.

EDIT by DerVVulfman: The capsule that suffered these failures, the Orion module, was designed by Lockheed Martin and the European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space.