Kia Recalls 427,000 Telluride SUVs; Could Roll Away While Parked

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New York — Kia is recalling more than 427,000 of its Telluride SUVs due to a defect that may cause the cars to roll away while they’re parked. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft of certain 2020-2024 Tellurides may not be fully engaged. Over time, this can lead to “unintended vehicle movement” while the cars are in park — increasing potential crash risks. Kia America decided to recall all 2020-2023 model year and select 2024 model year Tellurides earlier this month, NHTSA documents show. At the time, no injuriesmore

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Gmail Revolutionized Email 20 Years Ago

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San Francisco — Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin loved pulling pranks, so they began rolling out outlandish ideas every April Fool’s Day not long after starting their company more than a quarter century ago. One year, Google posted a job opening for a Copernicus research center on the moon. Another year, the company said it planned to roll out a “scratch and sniff” feature on its search engine. The jokes were consistently over-the-top, and people learned to laugh them off as another example of Google mischief. That’s why Page and Brin decided to unveil something no one would believemore

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Swedish Embassy Exhibit Highlights Uses of Artificial Intelligence

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WASHINGTON — Artificial Intelligence for good is the subject of a new exhibit at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, showing how Swedish companies and organizations are using AI for a more open society, a healthier world, and a greener planet. Ambassador Urban Ahlin told an embassy reception that Sweden’s broad collaboration across industry, academia and government makes it a leader in applying AI in public-interest areas, such as clean tech, social sciences, medical research, and greener food supply chains. That includes tracking the mood and health of cows. Fitbit for cows It is technology developed by DeLaval, a producer ofmore

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Chinese Leader to Dutch PM: Restricting Technology Access Won’t Stop China’s Advance

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BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday that attempts to restrict China’s access to technology will not stop the country’s advance.  The Netherlands imposed export licensing requirements in 2023 on the sale of machinery that can make advanced processor chips. The move came after the United States blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the equipment to make them, citing security concerns, and urged its allies to follow suit.  An online report from state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the chip machinery, but quoted Xi as saying that the creation of scientific andmore

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Vietnamese Automaker VinFast to Start Selling EVs in Thailand

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Bangkok — Vietnamese automaker VinFast announced Tuesday that it plans to sell its electric vehicles in Thailand and said it had tied up with auto dealers to open showrooms in the country. VinFast, which only began exporting its EVs last year, faces stiff competition in Thailand from Chinese automakers like BYD. Tesla also recently entered the fray. All were displaying their latest models at the Bangkok International Motor Show. The Thai EV market is small but growing fast, buoyed by incentives and subsidies from the government. The country of more than 70 million plans to convert 30% of the 2.5 millionmore

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US Aims to Tap Domestic Lithium Supply Without Chinese Products

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washington — Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a record conditional loan of $2.26 billion to tap the largest known lithium reserves in North America. The loan is an important step in an effort by the U.S. government to reduce reliance on China for the metal used to make batteries. Analysts, however, say that it may be too late to move away from reliance on China completely when it comes to metal processing and the production of batteries. The DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) says the funds, if approved after review, will help the Lithium Americas Corp. constructmore

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Critics Slam Apple CEO Tim Cook for Laudatory Remarks in China

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 Washington — Tim Cook, CEO of the American technology giant Apple, is facing criticism at home over laudatory remarks he made about China during a recent visit to try to boost sagging iPhone sales in the lucrative market.  Cook was in Shanghai for the opening of China’s largest Apple retail store on Friday and met with Chinese political and business people. He praised China for being “so vibrant and so dynamic,” in remarks widely quoted by state media and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.    The new Apple store took seven years and cost over 80 million yuan (roughly $11.1 million)more

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LogOn: Robots Hand Write Letters for Humans

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Not long ago, people wrote letters by hand. But like many things eclipsed by modern technology, handwritten letters are less common than they used to be. Now, that technology has started writing those letters. VOA’s Julie Taboh introduces us to handwriting robots in this week’s episode of LogOn. …

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Florida’s Governor Signs One of Country’s Most Restrictive Social Media Bans for Minors

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida will have one of the country’s most restrictive social media bans for minors — if it withstands expected legal challenges — under a bill signed by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday.  The bill will ban social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental permission for 15- and 16-year-olds. It was slightly watered down from a proposal DeSantis vetoed earlier this month, a week before the annual legislative session ended. The new law was Republican Speaker Paul Renner’s top legislative priority. It takes effect January 1.  “A child in their brain development doesn’t havemore

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US Vice President: Banning TikTok ‘Not at All the Goal’

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 Austin, Texas — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration has no intention to ban TikTok, the popular short video application from Chinese company ByteDance.  Harris told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday that a ban was “not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation.”    The White House urged the Senate last week to swiftly advance a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok over privacy and national security concerns within six months or face a ban.   U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could access American consumers’ data on the platform, whichmore

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TikTok Bill Faces Uncertain Fate in Senate

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WASHINGTON — The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous. “OK, listen, if you ban TikTok I will find you and shoot you,” one said, giggling and talking over other young voices in the background. “I’ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.” Another threatened to kill Tillis, and then take their own life. Tillis’s office says it has received around 1,000 calls about TikTok since the House passed legislation this month that would ban the popular app if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake.more

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At UN, Nations Cooperate Toward Safe, Trustworthy AI Systems

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United Nations — The U.N. General Assembly adopted by consensus Thursday a first-of-its-kind resolution addressing the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate progress toward sustainable development, while emphasizing the need for safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems. The initiative, led by the United States, seeks to manage AI’s risks while utilizing its benefits. “Today as the U.N. and AI finally intersect, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to choose as one united global community to govern this technology rather than to let it govern us,” said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “So let us reaffirm that AI will be created andmore

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Reddit, the Self-Anointed ‘Front Page of the Internet,’ Jumps 55% in Wall Street Debut

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NEW YORK — Reddit soared in its Wall Street debut as investors pushed the valued of the company close to $9 billion seconds after it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Reddit, which priced its IPO at $34 a share, debuted Thursday afternoon at $47 a share. The going price has climbed even higher since, with shares for the self-anointed “front page of the internet” soaring more than 55% as of around 1:20 p.m. ET. The IPO will test the quirky company’s ability to overcome a nearly 20-year history colored by uninterrupted losses, management turmoil and occasional user backlashesmore

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US Takes On Apple in Antitrust Lawsuit

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Washington — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Apple, the first major antitrust effort against the iPhone maker by the Biden administration, alleging it monopolized smartphone markets.   Apple joins a list of major tech companies sued by U.S. regulators, including Alphabet’s  Google, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com across the administrations of both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. “Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.” The Justice Department alleges thatmore

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Biden Administration Unveils Strict Auto Standards to Speed Electric Shift 

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New York — President Joe Biden’s administration announced Wednesday revised pollution standards for cars and trucks meant to accelerate the U.S. auto industry’s shift to electric to mitigate climate change. The rules set ambitious emission reductions for 2032 but are moderated somewhat compared with preliminary standards unveiled last April. Following carmaker criticism, the final rules give manufacturers greater flexibility and ease the benchmarks in the first three years. Those shifts were criticized as a sop to corporations from at least one environmental group, even as the final rule won praise from other leading NGOs focused on climate change. The final rulesmore

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Efforts by US to Crack Down on TikTok Spark Backlash Against Israel

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Washington — The initial backlash came quickly. Within hours of last week’s vote in the House of Representatives approving legislation that could lead to a ban of the popular TikTok app in the United States, anger and outrage poured onto multiple social media platforms. Some of the anger targeted U.S. lawmakers who supported the bill. Some focused on China. And a number of social media accounts, some with large followings, put the blame on Israel and pro-Jewish groups in the United States. “A foreign government is influencing the 2024 election,” Briahna Joy Gray posted on X. “I’m not talking about China,more

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