Places and Things

Comparison: M1 Pro and M1 Max vs. M2 Pro and M2 Max Apple silicon is getting a brand new upgrade in thanks to the M2 Pro and M2 Max, but what’s the comparison between them and the M1 Pro and M1 Max? With the new advancement in tech from Cupertino, users may experience choice-anxiety when determining what device or chipset is right for them. Continue Reading . . . https://www.macobserver.com/tips/comparison-m1-m2-pro/

More details come out on which departments saw layoffs at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Google’s decision to let go of 12,000 employees was only just announced on Friday, but it extended the recent trend of the “Big Tech” companies cutting jobs in previously unheard-of numbers, and now we’ve seen more reports about where those cuts happened. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/21/23564873/google-microsoft-amazon-layoffs-prime-air-google-brain

The red-state backlash against electric vehicles is incoherent — and gaining steam Remember when “getting ICE’d” was a thing? A few years ago, it was not uncommon to spot internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles deliberately parked in electric vehicle-only spots, usually near an EV charging station, effectively blocking access to that charger. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/19/23562259/red-state-ev-bill-wyoming-virgina-youngkin

England is banning the sale of some single-use plastics England will ban businesses from selling and offering a variety of single-use plastics, including plates and cutlery, by the end of the year, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Saturday. The government will begin enforcing the legislation in October 2023. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/england-banning-the-sale-of-some-single-use-plastics-222344569.html

Tesla’s big price cuts mean ‘a major shift in the EV market’ That question has been on the mind of EV buyers, investors, analysts, industry watchers, and Elon Musk stans for months now. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/14/23554886/tesla-price-cut-ev-market-deman-elon-musk

Tesla drastically lowers EV pricing in the US and Europe After steadily increasing prices over the past couple of years, Tesla has cut them drastically across its lineup in the US and Europe, in an apparent bid to boost sales. Continue Reading . . . https://www.engadget.com/tesla-implements-huge-us-price-cuts-across-its-lineup-083211088.html

Can ageing be cured? Scientists are giving it a try Gorbunova doesn’t study humans, though we’re considered long-lived animals too. We outlive all other primates, and not only because they’re more likely to be eaten by lions. Within a generation, Gorbunova believes, we’ll have treatments that extend the human life span by a decade or two. Continue Reading . . . https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2022/12/can-ageing-be-cured-scientists-are-giving-it-a-try

AI Audiobooks From Apple: ‘Digital Narration Technology’ To Deliver Audio For Millions Of Books Apple quietly launched digital narration technology today that uses artificial intelligence to generate human-sounding narration for books. Continue Reading . . . https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2023/01/05/ai-audiobooks-from-apple-digital-narration-technology-to-deliver-audio-for-millions-of-books/

Mercedes-Benz and ChargePoint are going to install thousands of EV fast chargers in the US Mercedes-Benz, MN8, and ChargePoint are joining forces to install 400 fast electric vehicle charging hubs across the US in a major bid to boost EV sales and improve the nation’s struggling EV charging infrastructure. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/5/23538898/mercedes-benz-chargepoint-ev-charging-stations-build

Volcanic Activity on Mars Upends Red Planet Assumptions For decades, planetary scientists assumed Mars was dead. Geologically, that is. Smaller than Earth, the planet would have cooled faster than ours after it formed. It was, for a time, quite volcanically active. Continue Reading . . . https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/volcanic-activity-on-mars-upends-red-planet-assumptions/

MacBook owners have two months to claim up to $395 over butterfly keyboard woes If you bought an Apple MacBook with an ill-fated butterfly keyboard and ended up having to replace either individual keycaps or the whole keyboard, you may be eligible to claim part of a $50 million settlement reached after a class-action lawsuit. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/4/23538548/macbook-class-action-lawsuit-claims-faulty-butterfly-keyboard

Nanoleaf’s new light switches will learn when you need them Nanoleaf is finally bringing its whole-home smart lighting ambitions to fruition with the launch of its first-ever smart switches — and they come with a twist designed to make them smarter than that of the competition. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/3/23530049/nanoleaf-sense-plus-learning-smart-switches-specs-pricing-ces23

Twitter says it will allow more political ads as it tries to claw back revenue Twitter is going to “expand” the political advertising it allows on the platform in “the coming weeks,” the Twitter Safety account tweeted on Tuesday. Continue Reading . . . https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/3/23537947/twitter-political-cause-based-ads