The UKs Climate Change Committee (CCC) has advised the government to ensure half of all homes in the UK have heat pumps electric replacements for gas boilers by 2040 as part of its Seventh Carbon Budget to reach net zero by 2050. It also recommended making four out of five cars electric.
The UKs carbon budgets are intended to help it achieve a balance between the greenhouse gasses it produces and how much is taken out of the atmosphere. Besides switching to electric cars and heat pumps and moving away from fossil fuels, the CCC added that reducing consumption of meat and dairy would also help. Although the UK government isnt bound to accept the CCCs guidance, doing so makes the carbon target legally binding. The government can decide how it wants to hit the goal.
The UK has been pushing for heat pumps since 2021, especially ones powered by hydrogen. Engadget senior editor Dan Cooper also broke down how difficult it was for him to completely eschew natural gas in 2022, citing how expensive it was to install a heat pump even with government discounts. While technology is rapidly becoming more efficient, the CCCs plans arent guaranteed to work.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/half-of-uk-homes-will-need-heat-pumps-by-2040-to-hit-climate-goals-151406654.html?src=rss
More than a quarter of full-time employees expect there will be "revenge-quitting"--resignations because of workplace frustrations--at their companies this year, according to recent research. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
Internal competition can often hinder business growth. Learn how fostering a collaborative culture improves efficiency, innovation, and team alignment. Read more. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
Google has been offering the Results About You tool since 2022 and updated it once in 2023. A part of Google Search, the tool looks for your personal information online and lets you request its removal. Today, the tech giant is announcing the latest changes, including a redesigned hub and the ability to update outdated search results to reflect the latest changes.
The redesign isnt only for show. You can now submit removal requests directly from Search with fewer actions by clicking or tapping the three dots beside a search result. If you manage to have content about you deleted or changed from a website but Google Search hasnt caught up, you can refresh the search, which will recrawl the page and obtain the latest information. In other words, you can always see the most up-to-date results about you.
While these updates are helpful, they dont introduce any major changes. The 2023 update to Results About You was more substantial, introducing proactive searches containing your info and the ability to remove consensual explicit images of yourself.
While Google didnt introduce any significant changes to results about you last year, it did become available in Australia and South Africa last May. However, this helpful privacy feature remains inaccessible in many countries, including Malaysia, where Im from. Google also doesnt say where its available, so youll have to check your Google account to see if it works for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-is-making-it-even-easier-to-remove-your-personal-information-on-search-145326075.html?src=rss
Apparently almost all undergraduate students are using AI now, in one way or another. A new report from the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that 92 percent of students have used generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, for their studies. At the same time, 88 percent of these students have used it for exams. These numbers are a tremendous increase from HEPI's February 2024 report in which 66 percent and 53 percent participants relayed use, respectively.
The top reasons students reported using AI include saving time, improved quality of their work and getting instant support. Wealthier, STEM-focused and male respondents were more enthusiastic about AI in the survey. Students' main arguments against utilizing AI included cheating accusations, being given fake results or hallucinations and getting biased results. Women and younger students were more likely to voice concerns. HEPI surveyed 1,041 British and international students in the UK during December 2024.
Meanwhile, universities tended to score well with students on the integrity of their AI policies. Four-fifths of respondents stated that their school had a clear AI policy and, notably, 76 percent believe their university would spot AI use for assessed work (yes, despite that 88 percent that have done it). Staff are also better prepared to help with AI, with 42 percent of students responding that the staff is "well-equipped," up from 18 percent last year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nearly-all-uk-undergrads-use-ai-in-their-studies-according-to-a-new-report-144221715.html?src=rss
Alibaba is giving people free access to its generative artificial intelligence models that can produce highly realistic videos and images from both text and image input. The company has announced that four variants of its Wan 2.1 series, the latest version of its generative AI technology, are now open source and can be downloaded and modified by users. Researchers, academics and commercial entities can all get them from Alibaba Cloud's ModelScope and Hugging Face platforms, both of which give people access to open-source AI models. As Reuters said, the models Alibaba has open sourced are called T2V-1.3B, T2V-14B, I2V-14B-720P and I2V-14B-480P, with the 14B indicating that the model can accept 14 billion parameters.
Last month, Chinese company DeepSeek made its R1 reasoning model free to download and use, creating a clamor for more open-source AI technologies. DeepSeek even expanded its commitment to the open-source community and is in the process of releasing five code repositories behind its service.
Alibaba was one of the companies that joined the fray to develop generative AI tech following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT two years ago. Just recently, Alibaba Group's Chairman, Joe Tsai, said that the company's generative AI technology will power artificial intelligence features for iPhones meant for sale in the Chinese market. Apple couldn't use the same AI tech for phones released in China due to strict regulations surrounding AI products, so it has to look for local partners, Alibaba being one of them.
Big News from @alibaba_cloud! Meet WanX - our next-gen AI model redefining video generation ! Presenting mind-blowing demos from WanX 2.1 Even more exciting:WanX 2.1 will be OPEN-SOURCE !Coming soon #AIart #OpenSource pic.twitter.com/R1laOyJYAL Wan (@Alibaba_Wan) February 20, 2025
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alibaba-offers-free-access-to-its-ai-model-that-can-generate-realistic-video-and-images-133045633.html?src=rss
Apple is far from saintly, but, compared to its fellow tech giants, it did something right. The company's shareholders have voted to keep its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, following a push by conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), to remove them, Reuters reports. The Center's proposal, Request to Cease DEI Efforts, failed 8.84 billion votes to 210.45 million votes or about 2.3 percent of the vote.
Many of these programs emerged or expanded when the Black Lives Matter movement exploded onto the global stage in 2020. However, President Trump's criticisms and threats that DEIs could violate the law along with spineless greed from executives has seen companies like Meta and Google reduce or even fully remove these programs. Those in favor of the proposal at Apple argued that the company could face an uptick in discrimination cases if current policies remain.
At the meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate."
Now, none of this is to say that Apple has incredible DEI efforts. Previously, its shareholders rejected greater transparency about its racial and gender gaps. They also voted down a measure that would require Apple to further investigate the risks of its AI efforts.
Cook is also doing plenty of appeasing when it comes to Trump. The pair reportedly met last week and Apple has announced $500 billion in US-based spending over the next four years. He also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and attended it alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other tech executives.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-is-keeping-its-dei-program-130033491.html?src=rss
