As the U.S. seeks to curb its dependence on foreign suppliers of lithium, American developers are colliding with a jumble of laws and regulations that leave them unable to proceed with any confidence…
Category: 16 April 2024
SOARING CAR INSURANCE PREMIUMS ARE DRIVING INFLATION
The cost of car insurance rose 2.7 percent in March and has shot up 22.2 percent year on year, CNBC reported. Car insurance makes up 2.85 percent of the Consumer Price Index.
PRODUCER PRICES RISE IN MARCH
The prices factories charge for their products rose 2.1 percent in March from a year earlier, the sharpest monthly increase since last April, The New York Times reported.
RISING MORTGAGE RATES SPOOK HOME BUYERS
The average U.S. rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose last week to 6.88 percent from 6.82 percent the week before, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) reported.
HOME AFFORDABILITY FALLS TO LOWEST IN 40 YEARS
Buying and owning a home takes a bigger slice of a household’s income than it has at any time in the last 40 years, The Wall Street Journal reported.
SPECIAL REPORT: THE NEW BULL MARKET IN COMMODITIES
Gold for June delivery reached $2,448.80 on 13 April before ending the day at $2,374.10, with central banks still on their gold-buying spree.
TEN NEW STUDIES DETAIL HEALTH RISKS OF 5G
Over the past decade, I’ve written many articles discussing the evidence of biological harm from nonionizing electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation and radiofrequency radiation (RFR) from wireless technologies.
APPLE IS BUILDING AI CAPACITY INTO EVERY NEW MAC
After equipping some Mac computers with M3 AI chips late last year, the company will now power all Macs with Apple’s proprietary next-generation M4 chips, people familiar told Bloomberg.
FAST FOOD TURNS TO AI TO CUT STAFF, MAINTAIN PROFITS
Yum Brands—the Kentucky company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and the Habit burger chain—has nearly doubled its investment in technology from $11 billion in 2022 to $21 billion now.
OPENAI UNVEILS NEW VOICE-CLONING PROGRAM
On 5 April, OpenAI unveiled “Voice Engine,” an AI that can clone a person’s voice and speech patterns after hearing a 15-second sample, the company said. The program also can read text aloud in the borrowed voice and enable the cloned voice to speak in foreign languages.