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Google is bringing its Gemini AI assistant into more of its software suite, announcing several new features for Google Maps. Users looking for ideas about places to go in Maps can now ask conversational questions about the type of location they want and receive answers from Gemini. Maps can also use AI to respond to deeper queries about a specific locale. When you're looking at a location on Maps, Gemini can also provide a summary of reviews. These AI-powered features will roll out to the Maps app on Android and iOS beginning this week. The Immersive View Maps feature introduced last year is growing. Google can now apply AI to show what locations will look like at the date and time a person will be present. Immersive View will be available in 150 cities internationally, including Brussels, Kyoto and Frankfurt. New place categories, such as college campuses, are also being added. Driving directions are getting an update too. A button to add stops to driving directions will let users explore notable landmarks or stops along their route. Navigation has also been improved to show more exact details about potentially complicated areas of a route, such as clearer directions about what lane to be in or when to merge. The enhanced driving experience will be available on both Android and iOS, the rollout starts next month in more than 30 metro areas. Waze is also receiving the Gemini treatment in today's announcements. Conversational Reporting that will allow drivers to use natural language to alert the app to road hazards or delays. And why limit AI to Maps when it can be on the whole planet? Google Earth is also getting generative AI tools specifically targeting urban planners with fast access to data.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-is-adding-gemini-ai-powered-tools-to-maps-140045971.html?src=rss
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The US presidential election is in its final stretch. Before election day on November 5, Engadget is looking at where the candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, stand on the most consequential tech issues of our day. While the environment and climate change are standard fare for elections, the 2024 campaign has put a surprising amount of focus on EVs. Cars and trucks are some of the biggest contributors to global warming, spewing millions of tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere every year. So its no shock many believe transitioning from traditional combustion engine vehicles to electric will be key to reining in climate change. Of course, an electric car is only as clean as the energy used to charge its batteries, so the Biden administration has also put a lot of effort into expanding clean-energy initiatives in the US. Kamala Harris is widely expected to continue Bidens work promoting EV adoption and clean energy technology. While Donald Trump has, unsurprisingly, run on a promise to undo it all. Kamala Harris On the campaign trail, Harris hasnt announced any new major policy initiatives regarding EVs or clean energy. Mostly her comments on the matter have been broad but seek to build on the work done by the Biden administration. Between the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the government invested hundreds of billions of dollars in charging stations, EV tax credits, EV manufacturing, wind and solar. Earlier in her career, as a senator from California and as a candidate in 2020s presidential primary, Harris staked out a particularly aggressive stance on EVs and clean energy and made them a core part of her political identity. She supported the Green New Deal and was a cosponsor of the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019, which would have required all passenger vehicles sold in the US to be zero emissions by 2040. Harris has since backed off many of those stronger proposals but remains a staunch proponent of using federal resources to build out EV and clean-energy infrastructure. She was the tie-breaking vote for the IRA, which included directives to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and included $370 billion for wind, solar, battery and EV production. Much of the $1.1 trillion IRA money remains unspent, but the administration has sped up efforts to use those funds ahead of the election. That money has been used to expand charging station infrastructure, begin transitioning the USPS to electric delivery vehicles and increase the amount of electricity produced by wind and solar. Through investments and tax breaks, IRA funds have been used to encourage companies to manufacture more EVs, solar panels, batteries and related components in the US. That includes $100 million announced in May for small- and medium-sized car companies to upgrade their factories for EV production. Harris and Biden have also talked up the fact that the IRA has created 170,000 clean-energy jobs in just one year. The administration also placed stiff tariffs on EVs (100 percent) and solar cells (50 percent) imported from China. Another key component of the legislation are consumer tax credits for the purchase of electric heat pumps, rooftop solar, batteries and EVs. The EV tax credit also comes with specific requirements regarding vehicle eligibility to encourage US manufacturing throughout the supply chain. Buyers can only claim the credit if the car was assembled in the US, has a certain percentage of battery components built in North America and a minimum amount of minerals extracted either in the United States or a country it has a free trade agreement with, or that have been recycled in North America. And each year those requirements increase, ultimately reaching 100 percent of battery components in 2029 and 80 percent of critical minerals in 2027. Donald Trump It might seem glib, but Trumps policies regarding EVs and clean energy can essentially be boiled down to lifting regulations and drill, baby, drill. The former president has said repeatedly he would repeal almost all of the Biden administrations rules regarding emissions, fuel standards and the environment. He also suggested he might get rid of the EV tax credit, which he tried and failed to do during his first term, claiming it unfairly influenced the market, primarily benefited the rich and increased our reliance on China. Considering the price cap on eligible vehicles and requirements regarding component and mineral sourcing, that argument seems on shaky ground. Since securing Elon Musks endorsement, Trump has softened some of his anti-EV rhetoric. However, hes given no indication hes actually reversed any of his positions. Trump has also said he will immediately rescind new fuel efficiency and emissions standards established by the Biden administration. He has argued the efficiency requirements are simply impossible for gasoline-powered cars to meet and effectively create a mandate that 67 percent of auto sales in the US be EVs by 2032. Trump has been even more hostile to clean-energy initiatives. Neither his platform nor the Republican Partys official platform document mention solar energy at all. And wind energy is only mentioned on the Trump site to deride the Biden administrations insane wind subsidies and generally dismiss windmills as dangerous and inefficient. The bulk of the Trump campaigns energy policies are focused on expanding oil and natural-gas drilling and investing in nuclear power plants. Bu he is unlikely to try to end all the IRAs clean energy and EV initiatives as they often lead to job creation in red states. In general, Donald Trump is skeptical of climate change and efforts to limit humans impact on the environment. He has pledged to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord (again) and called for building hundreds of new power plants, including coal, hydro and nuclear, but wind and solar farms are noticeably absent from his plan for American energy independence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/election-2024-what-are-the-candidates-policies-on-evs-and-clean-energy-133030889.html?src=rss
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TikTok currently faces lawsuits from 14 states alleging the platform damages young users' mental health and they're not the only ones who think it. It turns out that Apple apparently privately pressed TikTok to raise its age recommendations from 12 and over to 17 and over, The Washington Post reports. The comments from Apple showed up in South Carolina's compliant against TikTok and were supposed to be redacted but, oops, they were accidentally made public. Let's dive into what was said, shall we? In 2022, Apple had a team review TikTok's age rating and found the platform had "frequent or intense mature or suggestive content." Apple added, "We hope you will consider making the necessary changes to follow the App Store Review Guidelines and will resubmit." We don't know all the details of what Apple requested as only some of the redacted content was made public. Yet, there's plenty of evidence in these momentarily not-redacted documents about TikTok being not so age appropriate. In fact, outsiders and TikTok's own employees found issue with what the company did to reduce content like profanity and eating disorders. The former was found in one out of every 50 pop-up alerts that minors in the US and UK received within a month's time. Advocacy group Accountable Tech found the inadvertently public information and shared it with The Post. The accidentally public bits of South Carolina's complaint further claimed TikTok sought to "leverage goodwill in lobbying efforts" by donating to organizations like parent-teacher associations. The company also sponsored events for politicians, like an event for the foundation of South Carolina Democratic Representative James E. Clyburn, the former House majority whip. For the record, Clyburn joined the minority in voting against TikTok being sold or banned in the US. Unsurprisingly, TikTok wasn't so happy about having this information made public (it's all back behind black marks now). TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek called publishing the redacted information irresponsible, claimed "many of these issues have already been addressed" and stated that the company has always enforced strict policies against nudity, sexually explicit content, and solicitation." South Carolina isn't the only state that's lawsuit had a revealing redaction mistake. Kentucky's accidentally public documents revealed that TikTok had reportedly found "compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety." TikTok also reportedly knew its time limit tool wouldn't be effective for minors (average daily use decreased by one minute and a half after implementation). Then there was another document which allegedly said "across most engagement metrics, the younger the user, the better the performance." Don't you just love when companies have its users' best interests in mind? This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-urged-tiktok-to-increase-its-age-recommendations-redacted-documents-show-131501139.html?src=rss
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