Chevy dealers are already catching flack from customers for GM’s decision to remove popular phone-mirroring services Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from their lineup of EVs. Maybe it would have gone down better if their native infotainment software didn’t immediately shit the bed, resulting in a stop-sale order for the Chevy Blazer EV? Just sayin.

The Treasury Department is set to announce later this week the final set of rules around critical minerals in EV batteries, that will likely target “foreign entities of concerns” — which is government jargon for China. The rules won’t kick in until 2025, at which point the list of EVs eligible for the $7,500 credit is likely to shrink even more.

The move is supposed to save the average household at least $100 a year in lower utility bills. As new water heaters are shipped out over 30 years, energy savings from the tougher standards are also expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 332 million metric tons. That’s like erasing the annual planet-heating pollution of nearly 43 million homes, the Department of Energy says. 

The partnership follows a similar one with Hilton announced in 2022. “Select” luxury and lifestyle hotels in the US are getting the Peloton Row, while there are also rewards for World of Hyatt members, and equipment-less workouts via hotel TVs.

This news comes ahead of Peloton’s next earnings report on Thursday, and rumors of “financial distress” that could lead to bankruptcy.

By simplifying the permitting process, the Biden administration hopes to speed the deployment of solar and wind farms and other energy projects crucial to meeting US climate goals. At the same time, the new rules are designed to make potential impacts on local communities (environmental justice) a bigger consideration when permitting new projects.

James Hoffman, who I trust completely on all things coffee, just published a really good rundown of coffee apps. Which are a thing! Apps for making coffee, apps for finding great coffee, apps for making sure you’re not drinking too much coffee. I fully intend to drink too much coffee testing all of these out. For journalism.

It’s a small change, but you’ll soon be able to use any background with the game art feature on Xbox consoles. Microsoft is testing this change with Alpha and Skip-Ahead Alpha Xbox testers, so expect to see it on all consoles in the coming months.

The mobile apps are available in over 150 countries but European territories are notably absent. That’s about 500 million people who still don’t have access thanks to pesky EU laws that combat disinformation and protect user privacy and data.

Google says it will gradually expand Gemini to additional regions “that are consistent with local regulations and our AI principles.”

While pleading with US lawmakers to protect artists like herself from the threat of generative AI, Twigs revealed that she created an AI version of her likeness.

“In the past year I have developed my own deepfake version of myself, that is not only trained in my personality but also can use my exact tone of voice to speak many languages.”

She plans to use the AI FKA Twigs to help promote her work globally.

“Even with my upcoming album I can explain in depth what it is about creatively. It also allows me to spend more time making art.”

The hearing was related to the bipartisan No Fakes Act bill currently being considered.

looks like a beaut. JB Spielwaren is listing it at a suggested retail price of €220, and Lego’s likely to charge the same in US dollars. (via Jay’s Brick Blog). There’s also a handful of new Lego Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Marvel sets coming, including a fantastic Milano ship from Guardians of the Galaxy with room for every Guardian in the cockpit.

WABetaInfo reports the feature is live in beta version 24.9.10.71 of Meta’s encrypted messaging app. Recently online contacts will only show up for those who haven’t “disabled their last seen and online status,” according to the outlet.

In the wake of more “absolutely hard core” layoffs at Tesla that were especially hard on the charging division, Elon Musk is saying the company still plans to grow its Supercharger network “at a slower pace.”

Compare that to the message he sent internally, as reported by The Information: “We will continue to build out some new Supercharger locations, where critical, and finish those currently under construction.”

OpenAI says free and Plus subscribers can now use the feature without giving over their chats to train its models.

With chat history on, users can pick up previous chats where they left off, and the chatbot will reply as though they never stopped. The company also says users can start one-off chats that aren’t saved in the history.

Because it sure didn’t paint a rosy picture of gaming in the Q1 2024 earnings call — “The demand has been quite weak,” said AMD CFO Jean Hu. AMD’s gaming biz was down 48 percent year over year on both semiconductor (PS5, Xbox, Steam Deck etc) and GPU sales, and it’s forecasting a “significant double digit percentage” decline for the rest of the year too.

AMD also says an AI PC refresh cycle will help PCs return to growth in 2024, and that 150 software vendors will be developing for AMD AI PCs by year’s end. The company’s top priority is ramping AI data center GPUs, though, which are “tight on supply.” New AI chips are coming “later this year into 2025,” too.

Earlier this month, the adult entertainment group Free Speech Coalition filed an emergency appeal to overturn the online age verification law, but the Supreme Court has rejected the request. The group said the law violates free speech rights, as it forces users to upload a photo of their government ID to access porn sites.

Mega Bass is long gone. Extra Bass is over. ULT POWER SOUND is here.

The 13 percent year over year increase comes as AWS sales shot to $25 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company’s cloud division is now at a $100 billion annual revenue run rate — a sign companies are spending more on AI.

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the students negotiating with the university over the encampment, told The City administrators had previously assured him he wouldn’t be disciplined.

I quoted Khalil in my article about the doxxings at Columbia:

I am here on a foreign visa. That’s why for the past six months, I’ve barely appeared on the media. ... I did not participate, fearing that I will be arrested and ultimately deported from this country.

You can read the details of Ver’s alleged misconduct here, but, with this news arriving as Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced for failing to establish adequate anti-money laundering protections, I’m reminded of this line from Ver, quoted in 2014:

“Money laundering is not a crime,” Ver says. “It’s just because certain men with guns don’t like what other people are doing with their own money, so they decide it’s okay to lock those people in a cage.

The China National Space Administration released a video showing its concept for a future lunar base, which it says it will have set up by 2045, writes Space.

The China Global Television Network appears to have blurred out the Shuttle in the video on YouTube.