Month: January 2022

Image Credit: Google

Google Photos has long offered an option to upload photos and videos via mobile data. However, to ensure that you do not spend your monthly data volume, there is the option of only backing up videos via WiFi. In India and some other countries where  WiFi is available, connections are not as frequent, this feature is absent and users have the option to set a daily limit for mobile data usage. Now it seems that Google mistakenly implemented the same settings for Android users all over the world.

As spotted by 9to5Google, if you head over to Google Photos > Photos settings > Backup & sync, you’ll find the option to set a daily backup limit when on mobile data. The available allowances include No data, 5MB, 10MB, 30MB, and Unlimited. There’s also another separate toggle for backing up your photos and videos while on roaming. However, the ability to specifically disable video backups while on mobile data has been removed.

The implementation could be a Google mistake, as the Photos support page still references the previous settings. The iOS version of Google Photos also continues to display the option to enable / disable video backups on mobile data. 

Additionally, the daily data limits are very low by US and EU standards and users cannot manually increase them, further indicating that this is a loophole on Google’s part. Limits on daily mobile data usage are useful in countries like Brazil, Thailand, India, and Nigeria, where users have  relatively little data  and do not have access to a network. WiFi  on a regular basis. 

This is not a cause for concern in developed countries, and some users prefer  their photos to be saved to mobile data immediately. Since videos are considerably larger, it usually makes more sense to only save them  when over WiFi. 

Hopefully Google will bring this option back soon.

Source: Tech Crunch

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A whistleblower spoke to The Guardian about a mysterious neurological disease in New Brunswick, Canada. 

They spoke of their concerns about the disease, saying that it was spreading rapidly and that the cases could be higher than previously thought. 

Symptoms include fatigue, hallucinations, muscle weakness, and an anonymous Canadian whistleblower from Vitalité Health Network, one of New Brunswick’s two health authorities,  said that more people are developing symptoms of a mysterious degenerative neurological disease, according to The Guardian.

The Atlantic coast of Canada has been analyzed by researchers for more than two years, but the cause of the disease is not yet known.

Symptoms of the disease include memory problems, muscle cramps, inexplicable extreme  weight loss, pain in the extremities, and hallucinations. 

The disease was originally thought to be a human prion disease, in which proteins called prions cause normal proteins to bend abnormally, but tests have shown that it doesn’t . 

So far, the Office of the New Brunswick  Medical Director of Health has publicly said that 48 people have  the disease, but sources told The Guardian that that number is believed to be much higher the disease, said the bureau.

Speaking to The Guardian about the severity of the disease, the whistleblower said he would go public to raise awareness of how quickly the enigmatic disease is spreading and affecting patients: 

“I’m really concerned about these cases because They appear to be evolving The disease affects women and men equally,  patients since 1885. 

An epidemiological study conducted by the New Brunswick Department of Health ruled out any food, behavioral, or environmental stresses that could cause the disease. 

Following that statement, a document was submitted to the Canadian Association of Neuropathologists claiming that  those who died from the disease died from misdiagnosis or missed diagnoses, such as Alzheimer’s and cancer, and were not part of the group.

Source: Tech Crunch

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Tesla Inc reported quarterly record shipments on Sunday  that far exceeded Wall Street estimates and exceeded a global chip shortage as China’s production spiked.

It was the sixth straight quarter that the world’s most valuable automaker posted record deliveries.
Musk delivered 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter, far more than analysts’ forecast of 263,026 vehicles.
Tesla’s  deliveries from October to December were around 70% above the previous year  and almost 30% above the record deliveries of the previous quarter. “Excellent work from the Tesla team around the world!” Musk wrote on Twitter.

His electric car company increased production in China despite increased competition  and regulatory pressure from consumer complaints about product safety. Tesla supplies models made in China to Europe and some Asian countries. On an annual basis, the automaker boosted its deliveries by 87% from a year earlier to 936,172 vehicles in 2021

Musk said in October last year that Tesla will be able to grow at an annual  rate of more than 50% for “an extended period of time.
NEW FACTORY ”.
Ventures. Said on Sunday. “The first is that the demand for their products is skyrocketing. Second, they are doing an excellent job  meeting that demand, ”he said.
Munster said he expected Tesla deliveries to climb to 1.3 million vehicles this year despite headwinds in production at its new factories, including vehicle technologies and new equipment.

In 2020 automakers cut chip orders as the pandemic and lockdown measures hurt demand, but Tesla never lowered its production forecast with suppliers to support its rapid growth plan that helped it beat chip shortages, Musk said.

Unlike most automakers, the software has also been reprogrammed internally to use less scarce chips, according to Musk.Musk, who previously said “2021 was the year of super insane supply chain scarcity,” said in October that he was optimistic that these issues would pass on supply chain costs.
Tesla hit more than $ 1 trillion in market cap in October after car rental  company Hertz announced it had ordered 100,000 of its vehicles.

The stock lost some ground after Musk wrote on Twitter in November that he was considering selling 10% of his stake in Tesla.

Overall, Tesla shares gained 50% last year.

Source: Tech Crunch

FILE PHOTO: NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels

Secretary of Defense  Lloyd Austin said on Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19 and had mild symptoms during the home quarantine.

In a statement on Sunday evening, Austin said he plans to “virtually” attend key meetings and discussions over the next week “whenever possible.” He said  Secretary of State Kathleen Hicks would represent him on relevant matters.

Austin said he last met with President Joe Biden on December 21, more than a week before he started experiencing symptoms, and  tested negative the morning of that day. “I also informed my management team about my positive test result as president, said Austin. My co-workers have started tracking and testing everyone I have come in contact with in the past week.

Austin, 68, said he was fully vaccinated and had a booster shot in October. He said he requested a test Sunday morning after seeing symptoms  at home while on vacation and, given the result, planned to stay in quarantine for five days, according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Vaccines work and will continue to be a military medical requirement for our workforce. I continue to encourage anyone who qualifies to receive a booster vaccination. This is still a readiness issue, ”he said.

Another member of Biden’s cabinet, Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas, tested positive for COVID-19 in October.

Source: Tech Crunch

WIN MCNAMEE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal Twitter account has been permanently banned after repeatedly violating the social media site’s COVID19 disinformation policy, the company said on Sunday. 

The far-right Georgia Republican got the boot following what was her fifth suspension from the social media platform, resulting in her permanent deletion according to Twitter’s COVID-19  guidelines.

“We have made it clear that as part of our strike system for this policy, we will permanently block accounts for repeated violations of the policy,” a Twitter spokesman told HuffPost.Georgia’s 14th Congressional District remained active through Sunday. Greene replied on Twitter on Sunday calling him “an enemy of the United States”.

Okay, I’m going to show America that we don’t need them and that it is time to defeat our enemies. They cannot successfully complete a communist revolution when people tell the truth, She said in a statement. 

Greene’s personal Twitter account was  last suspended for a week in August when she tweeted that COVID-19 vaccines are “failing” and that “the FDA shouldn’t approve Covid vaccines.

Greene  posted on social media on Saturday a list of reasons America “is no longer free” due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson for Greene  told HuffPost that was the job she was penalized for. His list included, among other lies, that “unvaccinated healthy people are an underclass” and that wearing this mask makes children sick and “ruins their natural learning.” Vaccination mandates are multiplying. This post remained visible on his Facebook account until Sunday morning.

Source: Tech Crunch

Image Credit: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

After years of fighting between governments for truly climate-friendly investments, the European Union has drawn up plans to label some natural gas and nuclear power projects as “green” investments. 

The European Commission is expected to propose rules in January to decide whether nuclear and gas  projects are included in the EU’s “sustainable finance taxonomy”. 

This is a list of the economic activities and  environmental criteria that must be met in order to be labeled as a green investment.

By restricting the “green” label to really climate-friendly projects, the system aims to make these investments more attractive for private equity and to  stop “greenwashing”, in which companies or investors exaggerate their eco-friendly credentials. 

Brussels has also taken steps to apply the system to some EU funds, which means the rules could decide which projects are eligible for specific public funding. 

A draft of the Commission’s proposal, seen by Reuters, would label investments in nuclear power plants as green if the project has a plan, resources and location to  dispose of radioactive waste. 

In order to be considered green, new nuclear power plants must obtain a building permit before 2045.

Investments in natural gas power plants are also considered green if they emit less than 270 g of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour (kWh), replace a more environmentally harmful power plant with fossil fuels, receive a building permit by December 31, 2030 and it is planned to switch to low-carbon gases by the end of 2035. 

Gas and nuclear  generation would be labeled green as they are “transitional activities” defined as those that are not fully sustainable but  have emissions below the industry average and do not contain environmentally harmful assets. .

“Taking into account current scientific advice and  technological progress, as well as the different transition challenges between Member States, the Commission believes that natural gas and nuclear energy play a role in facilitating the transition to a predominantly renewable future,”  the European Commission said in a statement.

To help states with different energy backgrounds make the transition, “under certain conditions, solutions that don’t look ‘green’ at first glance can make sense,” a commission source told Reuters, adding that the solutions are investments in gas and nuclear power would be subject to “strict regulations”. 

EU countries and a panel of experts will analyze the draft proposal, which could change, before it is  published at the end of January. 

Once published, most EU countries or the European Parliament could vetoed it .

The policy has been mired in lobbying from governments for more than a year and EU countries disagree on which fuels are truly sustainable.

 Natural gas emits around half of coal’s CO2 emissions  when burned in power plants, but gas infrastructure has also been linked to methane leaks, a potent EU adviser had recommended that gas-fired power plants shouldn’t be labeled as green investments unless they hit a lower emission limit of 100g CO2e / kWh based on  deep  cuts in deep emissions scientists say are needed to avoid disastrous climate change.

Nuclear power produces very low CO2 emissions but the Commission sought expert advice this year on whether the fuel should be deemed green given the potential environmental impact of radioactive waste disposal.

Some environmental campaigners and Green EU lawmakers criticised the leaked proposal on gas and nuclear.

“By including them… the Commission risks jeopardising the credibility of the EU’s role as a leading marketplace for sustainable finance,” Greens president Philippe Lamberts said.

Austria opposes nuclear power, alongside countries including Germany and Luxembourg. EU states including the Czech Republic, Finland and France, which gets around 70% of its power from the fuel, see nuclear as crucial to phasing out CO2-emitting coal fuel power.

Source: Tech Crunch

Image Credit: REUTERS/Aly Song

China will cut subsidies for New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) such as electric cars by 30% in 2022 and withdraw them all by the end of the year, the Treasury Department said on its website. 

The subsidies for NEVs would be reduced by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively from 2020 to 2022. For NEVs for public transport, subsidies are to be reduced by 10% in 2021 and  20% in 2022.

China, the world’s biggest auto market, has set a target for NEVs, including plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, to make up 20% of auto sales by 2025. 

Global automakers such as Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota Motor Corp (7203. T) and Tesla Inc (TSLA .O) increase production of electric vehicles in China.

NIO (NIO.N) said on Friday that buyers of its ES8, ES6 and EC6 vehicles having posted a deposit  before December 31, 2021 and  taking delivery of their purchases before March 31, 2022, can still benefit from subsidies under the the 2021 Plan. 

Any loopholes in the 2022 policy would be borne by the Shanghai-based company, he said. 

The ministry also said that China will strengthen supervision of  safety issues of NEVs to prevent accidents. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers previously estimated  in December that NEV’s sales  in China would increase 47% to 5 million in 2021.

Source: Tech Crunch

Image Credit: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

Germany’s new  government will offer personal and business tax breaks worth at least 30 billion euros ($ 34.1 billion) during this legislative period, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Sunday.

 “We will relieve people and small and medium-sized businesses by significantly more than 30 billion euros,” Lindner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Noting that the budget for 2022  was drawn up by the previous government under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Lindner said his  2023 plan will include reliefs such as contributions to pension insurance  and the end of an electricity price surcharge.

Meanwhile, Lindner, leader of the fiscally cautious Free Democrats (FDP), said he had asked his cabinet colleagues to review the spending projects of their ministries.

“We have to go back to sound public finances. We have a responsibility towards the younger generation,” he said.

Lindner stated one manner to make financial savings would be to scrap the development of a new authorities terminal at Berlin’s BER airport, set to cost 50 million euros. He recommended a temporary constructing may be used permanently.

The minister is likewise making plans a tax invoice to assist organizations deal with the continuing coronavirus pandemic, along with permitting them to offset losses in 2022 and 2023 in opposition to income from previous years.

Due to the pandemic, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition agreed to use an emergency clause in the constitution for the third year in a row in 2022 to suspend debt limits and authorize new loans of $ 100 billion euros. 

From 2023, the coalition aims to revert to the debt brake rule in the constitution which limits new loans to a small fraction of economic output.

Source: Tech Crunch

US Secretary of Transportation  Pete Buttigieg and the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called on  AT&T and Verizon Communications on Friday to postpone the planned  introduction of the new 5G radio service for January 5th due to aviation safety concerns and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson asked AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg for a delay of no more than two weeks as part of a “short-term proposal.

 The aviation industry and the FAA have  concerns about possible 5G interference  with sensitive aircraft electronics such as radio altimeters that could interfere with flights.

“We are asking your companies  to suspend the introduction of the commercial CBand service for an additional short period of no more than two weeks after the currently planned implementation date on January 5th,” the letter said. 

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said he received the letter and needs time to review it. ATandT did not  comment immediately, but early Friday the two companies accused the aerospace industry of trying to hold up the adoption of the CB spectrum and “being hostage until the wireless industry agrees to pay the cost of upgrading  obsolete altimeters .

Buttigieg and Dickson said that under the framework, “commercial C-band services would begin as planned in January with certain exceptions around priority airports. The FAA and the aviation industry would identify priority airports “where a buffer zone would safely continue flight operations  while the FAA is complete.

” Your assessment of the potential for interference. The government will work to find “measures for all priority airports” so that most “large commercial aircraft can operate safely in all conditions”. This would allow operations around “priority airports on an ongoing basis” with the aim of guaranteeing activation before March 31st to rule out any unforeseen problems. .

On Thursday, the trading group Airlines for America called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop the introduction of a new 5G radio service at many airports, warning that thousands of flights could be interrupted: 

“The potential damage to airlines alone the airlines is great. The CTIA group  said 5G is safe and that the spectrum is being used in around 40 other countries. 

House Transport Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio endorsed the airline group’s motion on Friday, warning that “we cannot afford to experiment with aviation security.

Source: Tech Crunch

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Jaaa) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. are established to work with the United States, and the Bill Gates Company Company to build a high-tech core reactor in Wyoming, the  Yomiuri newspaper reports on Saturday.

The parties will sign an agreement  for JAEA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries beginning in January to provide technical support and data from Japan’s own advanced reactors, the report cites several unidentified sources. 

Terrapower had initially investigated the possibility of building an experimental nuclear power plant with the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp until it was forced to apply for funds to fund half of the $ 4 billion project. new partners after Donald Trump’s administration curtailed nuclear deal with China.

The United States is competing with China and Russia, who also hope to build and export advanced reactors. 

Japan, on the other hand, has a bitter history of decommissioning its advanced prototype reactor, Monju, in 2016, a project that cost $ 8.5 billion but produced little results and years of controversy. since its inception and has been closed due to public distrust of nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

 JAEA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries could not be reached for comment. as their offices were closed over the New Year holidays.

Source: Tech Crunch