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Pelican Press

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  1. Pelican Press
    The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat The story of mirror life: From intriguing idea to unprecedented threat In the coming decades, we might figure out how to make an entirely new kind of life: a mirror cell, in which every molecule is the mirror image of those found in normal cells. Such reversed cells have probably never existed on our planet in its 4.5-billion-year history. Yet we could one day make them – perhaps as a way to make new drugs, or simply out of pure scientific curiosity about the origins and evolution of life. But should we? According to a coalition of synthetic biologists and biosafety specialists, the answer is a resounding “no”. Mirror life, they argue, would pose “unprecedented risks” to the health of every living organism on the planet. If it got out, we might never be able to recapture it, leading to “pervasive lethal infections”. It’s an apocalyptic-sounding threat, but would it really be as dangerous as the team argues if we managed to create these new life forms? And although mirror life could be decades away, could there be things we can do now to reduce the risk? Many of the essential molecules of life can exist in two mirrored forms, like a person’s left and right hands. While these “chiral” molecules are difficult to distinguish from each other, their distinct shapes cause them to behave differently. No matter how much you rotate a left-handed molecule, you will never get it to match a right-handed one.… Source link #story #mirror #life #intriguing #idea #unprecedented #threat Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  2. Pelican Press
    Strategy Game Earth vs Mars Coming to Steam Summer 2025 Strategy Game Earth vs Mars Coming to Steam Summer 2025 Advance Wars inspired turn based strategy game Earth vs Mars is coming to Steam in the Summer of 2025. Source link #Strategy #Game #Earth #Mars #Coming #Steam #Summer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  3. Pelican Press
    Former N.F.L. Player Arrested for Protest Against MAGA Plaque Former N.F.L. Player Arrested for Protest Against MAGA Plaque new video loaded: Former N.F.L. Player Arrested for Protest Against MAGA Plaque transcript Back transcript Former N.F.L. Player Arrested for Protest Against MAGA Plaque Chris Kluwe, a former N.F.L. punter and a resident of Huntington Beach, Calif., was arrested at a city council meeting after speaking out against plans to install a plaque with references to President Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.” “Everyone is in favor of a plaque to celebrate the library, but the vast, vast majority are against including a MAGA acrostic. Unfortunately, it’s clear that this council does not listen. So instead, I’m going to take my time to say what MAGA has stood for these past three weeks. MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the V.A., including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children. MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is. I will now engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.” “Get the — get out.” Recent episodes in U.S. & Politics Show more videos from U.S. & Politics Source link #N.F.L #Player #Arrested #Protest #MAGA #Plaque Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  4. Pelican Press
    Malian film-maker and Cannes Film Festival winner dies aged 84 Malian film-maker and Cannes Film Festival winner dies aged 84 Malian film director Souleymane Cissé, one of the pioneers of African cinema, has died aged 84. His daughter, Mariam Cissé, confirmed his death at clinic in the capital Bamako, expressing shock and mourning “the loss of a man who dedicated his life to film and art”. The cause of his death has not been announced. Cissé gained international recognition in 1987 when his film Yeelen (The Light) won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, making him the first film-maker from sub-Saharan Africa to win an award at the prestigious festival. His trailblazing career spanned more than 50 years, winning many accolades along the way. In 2023, Cissé was honoured by Cannes with a Carrosse d’Or award, usually given to directors who have “marked the history of cinema with their boldness, their exacting standards and their intransigence in staging”. Cissé was also a double winner of the grand prize at the biannual Pan-African Film Festival, Fespaco. At the time of his death he had been due to travel to Burkina Faso to preside over the jury at the festival, which opens on Saturday. Tributes have been pouring in for Cissé for his dedication to African storytelling. Mali’s Culture Minister Mamou Daffé lamented the loss “of this monument of African cinema”, while fellow Malian director Boubacar Sidibé said the country’s film industry was in “mourning”. Film lovers have praised Cissé’s works for their complexity, political engagement and deep humanity. His first feature film, Den Muso (The Young Girl) shot in 1975, was in the local Bambara language, and is considered an African classic. The film is about a young girl who is ******, becomes pregnant and is rejected by her family. The film was banned by the Malian authorities, and Cissé was jailed for having accepted French funding. He wrote the screenplay for his second film, Baara (Work), while in prison. He made other films including Finyè (The Wind) in 1981, and Yeelen (The Light), which won the Jury Prize in Cannes in 1987. His last film in 1995 was Waati (Time). Cissé was born in the Malian capital Bamako, and spent part of his childhood in neighbouring Senegal. Later, he studied film in Russia’s capital Moscow, becoming one of the first generation of African film-makers. Cissé went on to champion government support for and investment in the film industry. He was the founding president of the union representing West Africa’s entrepreneurs in cinema and audiovisual arts. Cissé was often outspoken about other barriers to the spread of African cinema – criticising “censorship” and “contempt”, and urging young film-makers not to act like “beggars who must plead every time for financing from Europe” but instead seek greater independence. Hours before his death, he reportedly urged Mali’s military government to help the country’s industry catch up with its continental rivals. “It is not enough to make cinema, the works must also be visible,” the AFP news agency quoted Cissé as saying. “May the authorities help us with the construction of cinemas.” Additional reporting by Natasha Booty Source link #Malian #filmmaker #Cannes #Film #Festival #winner #dies #aged Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  5. Pelican Press
    NYT Crossword: answers for Thursday, February 20 NYT Crossword: answers for Thursday, February 20 The New York Times has plenty of word games on its roster today — with Wordle, Connections, Strands, and the Mini Crossword, there’s something for everyone — but the newspaper’s standard crossword puzzle still reigns supreme. The daily crossword is full of interesting trivia, helps improve mental flexibility and, of course, gives you some bragging rights if you manage to finish it every day. While the NYT puzzle might feel like an impossible task some days, solving a crossword is a skill and it takes practice — don’t get discouraged if you can’t get every single word in a puzzle. If you’re having trouble completing today’s NYT Crossword, we’re here to help. We’ve got all the answers for today’s clues down below. Please enable Javascript to view this content NYT Crossword answers today New York Times Across 1 Past its glory : FADED 6 Say yes, say : RSVP 10 [Bada bing bada *****!] : SNAP 14 Round windows : OCULI 15 List trimmer : ETAL 16 Move after a touchdown : TAXI 17 Network connections : NODES 18 Lynchian or Felliniesque, say : CINEMATIC 20 This clue : TWENTYONEACROSS 22 Digital work fueled by machine learning, in brief : AIART 23 Stayed put : SAT 24 ___-relief : BAS 27 Go-ahead : NOD 28 Shelter on a tropical island, maybe : HUT 29 With 43-Across, something never to be repeated … or a hint to the answers to the italicized clues : ONE 32 Ancient ******** civilization : OLMEC 34 Who said “A dress is a piece of ephemeral architecture” : DIOR 36 High pair : ACES 37 This answer : FOURTEENLETTERS 40 Subreddits, for example : FORA 41 Alternative to a spicy Dorito : TAKI 42 Throw with great effort : HEAVE 43 See 29-Across : OFF 44 Broadband connection inits. : DSL 45 Slated to be delivered (on) : DUE 47 Battletoads console, for short : NES 48 Singer Winehouse : AMY 49 “___ mia!” : MAMMA 51 This crossword : WEDNESDAYPUZZLE 58 ___ Roy, Booker Prize-winning author, 1997 : ARUNDHATI 59 Ending with home or bed : STEAD 60 Use as a source : CITE 61 Hot spot : OVEN 62 Like an H.P. Lovecraft work : EERIE 63 ****** gemstone : ONYX 64 Lowly worker : PEON 65 Look down on : SCORN Down 1 Character profile? : FONT 2 “Don’t have ___, man!” : ACOW 3 Man : DUDE 4 ___ Ferrante, author of the “Neapolitan Novels” : ELENA 5 Clear-cut : DISTINCT 6 What a budding musical artist hopes to land : RECORDDEAL 7 Stretch : STINT 8 Rooftop spinner : VANE 9 Friendly response, after “My” : PLEASURE 10 0:00 : START 11 Alliance of 32 nations : NATO 12 Enemy alliance of W.W. II : AXIS 13 Many social posts, informally : PICS 19 Exam with a max. score of 528 : MCAT 21 Ex-N.B.A. star ___ Ming : YAO 24 Sensational, on Broadway : BOFFO 25 Icy : ALOOF 26 Blue man group member? : SMURF 28 Home to many kings and queens : HOLIDAYINN 29 Setting for several Herman Melville works : OCEAN 30 Pluck : NERVE 31 Two of spades? : ESSES 33 Queen Elizabeth I has one named for her : ERA 35 Tats : INK 36 Cleared one’s plate, say : ATE 38 Virtual storefront in an online marketplace : ETSYSHOP 39 Nine daughters of Greek myth : THEMUSES 44 Chatted on the Gram, say : DMED 46 Strike caller : UMP 48 Architectural expansion : ANNEX 49 San ___, Calif. : MATEO 50 Follower of the 32-Across : AZTEC 51 Texas city once known as “Six-Shooter Junction” : WACO 52 Shamrock land : ERIN 53 Certain tax : DUTY 54 Only character shown in the final 30 minutes of “2001: A Space Odyssey” : DAVE 55 Zip : ZERO 56 Hideaway : LAIR 57 Locale depicted in Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights” : EDEN Source link #NYT #Crossword #answers #Thursday #February Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  6. Pelican Press
    Champions Trophy 2025: Jamie Smith to bat at number three in England’s opener against Australia Champions Trophy 2025: Jamie Smith to bat at number three in England’s opener against Australia Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith will take the gloves and bat at number three in England’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia on Saturday. Smith, 24, has recovered from a calf injury that ruled him out of the last two T20s and the entire one-day international series against India earlier this month. Phil Salt, who had been England’s first-choice wicketkeeper, remains as opener alongside Ben Duckett while Joe Root drops down to number four. Durham’s Brydon Carse also returns after a toe injury in a three-strong pace attack that also includes Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. England XI: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood Source link #Champions #Trophy #Jamie #Smith #bat #number #Englands #opener #Australia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  7. Pelican Press
    WWE 2K25’s Showcase Mode Will Let You Relive–And Change–Bloodline History WWE 2K25’s Showcase Mode Will Let You Relive–And Change–Bloodline History Like previous games in the series, WWE 2K25 features a Showcase mode that will let fans relive the past by taking part in several legendary matches. Essentially an interactive documentary–and hosted by “The Wise Man” Paul Heyman this year–2K Showcase: The Bloodline Dynasty will also allow players to alter the outcomes of these matches. The trip down wrestling memory lane features a selection of classic bouts, including Yokozuna’s infamous battle against Hulk Hogan at the 1993 King of the Ring, the brutal No Holds Barred match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Rikishi, and the Royal Rumble 2022 showdown between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Each match fits into one of three categories–Relive History, Change History, and Create History–and in total, 15 of them have been revealed so far. Here’s the full list: Relive History Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji) vs. Hulk Hogan — King of the Ring 1993 Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley — RAW February 13, 1997 Nia Jax vs. Lyra Valkyria — Queen of the Ring 2024 The Usos vs. The New Day (with Big E) — Hell in a Cell 2017 Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams) — NXT September 13, 2022 Change History The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) vs. The Steiner Brothers — WrestleMania IX Rikishi vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin — No Mercy 2000 Umaga (with Armando Estrada) vs. John Cena — New Year’s Revolution 2007 Tamina vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky ****** — Money in the Bank 2017 Naomi vs. Bayley — Super ShowDown 2020 Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins — Royal Rumble 2022 Create History High Chief Peter Miavia vs. George “The Animal” Steele The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) vs. The Dudley Boyz The OG Bloodline vs. New Bloodline in WarGames The Islanders (Haku and Tama) vs. The Street Profits Showcase Mode is typically one of the biggest highlights of a WWE 2K game, but this year’s version of the mode is a big departure from previous instances, as it focuses on the Anoa’i family instead of a single superstar. The last couple of years in WWE programming have seen Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, and several other members of that extended wrestling dynasty rise to prominence, while other WWE legends like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the late Umaga, and the Wild Samoans have all been praised for their contributions to the sports entertainment industry. Beyond the Showcase mode, you can also hop on a boat and head to The Island–a new social space that looks like it was heavily inspired by NBA 2K’s The City–take part in custom exhibition matches, and chart your own rise to the top as part of the MyRise mode. WWE 2K25 will launch for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 on March 14, but if you purchase the Deadman Edition or The Bloodline Edition, you’ll get into the game a week early on March 7. “With another interesting Showcase subject, fun new match types, and subtly cool new camera controls, I really liked what I played of WWE 2K25,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s WWE 2K25 preview. “There’s a lot more to see, including several major modes like the narrative-driven MyRise, and the card-collecting MyFaction, and possibly the most impactful of them all: the new social space called The Island, so I’ll reserve my final opinion for when I review the game later this year.” Source link #WWE #2K25s #Showcase #Mode #ReliveAnd #ChangeBloodline #History Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  8. Pelican Press
    De Minaur falls to Rublev after his greatest fight De Minaur falls to Rublev after his greatest fight Australia’s tennis battler supreme Alex de Minaur has delivered perhaps his greatest show of defiance on a tennis court at the Qatar Open, resistance so amazing it made his eventual conqueror Andrey Rublev joke he felt like punching him in exasperation. De Minaur was the very model of indomitability, extraordinarily saving seven match points in three separate games and a deciding tiebreak against old foe Rublev before he eventually had to succumb 6-1 3-6 7-6 (10-8) to the volatile Russian in a quite epic quarter-final in Doha on Thursday. Some 45 minutes after he saved his first match point at 5-2 down in the final set with the most spectacular of rallies, second-seeded de Minaur was still battling in his own uniquely tigerish fashion to save the day when he finally hit one backhand wide while trying to repel an eighth match point. Rublev, who’d earlier been in racquet-chucking mood as he attempted to cope with his own failings and de Minaur’s never-say-die excellence, could only laugh wearily afterwards when quizzed about what it was like to face such epic resistance: “Whatever, I wanna punch him!” The pair have habitually enjoyed some hard-fought clashes, with de Minaur doubtless unable to forget his agonising defeat in last year’s *********** Open but this was the closest of the lot as de Minaur himself managed to earn a match point in the tiebreak after all his heroics. Eventually, though, after two hours 39 minutes of see-saw duelling, world No.10 Rublev was the one making it 4-4 in their head-to-head record as he seeks to regain the title he won in 2020. Coming so close will be another heartbreaker for world No.8 de Minaur, who had been hoping to reach his second straight ATP 500 tournament final in the space of a fortnight after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the Rotterdam Open. Source link #Minaur #falls #Rublev #greatest #fight Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  9. Pelican Press
    4 Nations Face-Off just the latest in long history of memorable international hockey competitions 4 Nations Face-Off just the latest in long history of memorable international hockey competitions Descrease article font size Increase article font size The 4 Nations Face-Off has already delivered an instant classic international hockey game with the fight-filled preliminary round matchup between the United States and Canada last week in Montreal. 1:48 National pride on display at Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off opener Previous Video Next Video The U.S.-Canada rematch on Thursday night in Boston could be another memorable country vs. country showdown for a sport with deep roots in international competition. Story continues below advertisement 1972 Summit Series: Canada 6, USSR 5 With the Cold War raging and the Soviet Union challenging Canada’s dominance in hockey, their Summit Series was tied 3-all with one tie going into the decisive Game 8. The Soviets led 5-3 after two periods before Phil Esposito and Yvan Cournoyer evened it and Paul Henderson scored the most important goal in the country’s history to give Canada a 6-5 victory. 2:12 1972 Summit Series: Marking 50 years since iconic Team Canada-Soviet Union battle Previous Video Next Video 1980 Olympics: US 4, USSR 3 Made up of college players who seemed no match for the heavily favoured, professional Soviet Union, the U.S. rallied from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits with Mark Johnson and Mike Eruzione scoring to win 4-3 and produce the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York. The Americans then beat Finland to take home Olympic gold. Story continues below advertisement 2:22 Alberta athletes mark 40th anniversary of Miracle On Ice 1987 Canada Cup: Canada 6, USSR 5 Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Jon Cooper still considers the final between Canada and the Soviet Union the best three-game stretch of hockey ever played, with every game decided 6-5 and the first two going to at least one overtime. Mario Lemieux rushes into the arms of teammate Wayne Gretzky after scoring the game-winner in the Canada Cup final match against the Soviet Union, Hamilton, Ont., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1987. THE ********* PRESS/Blaise Edwards The culmination is referred to simply as “Gretzky to Lemieux” as Wayne Gretzky passed the puck to Mario Lemieux for the winning goal in the final game. Story continues below advertisement 2010 Olympics: Canada 3, US 2 OT A rough start to the tournament on home ice in Vancouver ramped up the pressure for Canada, which led the U.S. until Zach Parise’s tying goal with 24 seconds left in regulation. Sidney Crosby beat Ryan Miller off a pass from Jarome Iginla to score the “Golden Goal” in overtime and keep Canada atop the hockey world. Trending Now Elon Musk’s father chastises his son: He ‘hasn’t been a good dad’ 1 month shy of her 113th birthday, Canada’s oldest person shares some wisdom 1:48 Is Sidney Crosby the next hockey legend? 2018 Olympics: US 3, Canada 2 (shootout) NHL players did not participate on the men’s side, but the women’s tournament ended with an epic showdown between the U.S. and Canada in the final. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored the shootout winner to end the U.S. Olympic gold medal drought in women’s hockey at 20 years. 2:29 Hockey heartbreak for Canada’s women Previous Video Next Video Story continues below advertisement Honourable mentions -Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic beat Canada in a shootout on the way to gold in Nagano in 1998 in the debut of NHL players at the Olympics -Nicklas Lidstrom scored and Henrik Lundqvist made a late save to deliver gold for Sweden against rival Finland in the final of the 2006 Turin Games -The U.S., with T.J. Oshie as the star, beating Russia in an eight-round shootout with Vladimir Putin in attendance at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. &copy 2025 The ********* Press Source link #Nations #FaceOff #latest #long #history #memorable #international #hockey #competitions Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  10. Pelican Press
    GTA 5 PC Getting PS5 and Xbox Series X|S Upgrade March 4 GTA 5 PC Getting PS5 and Xbox Series X|S Upgrade March 4 Rockstar Games has announced that the previously promised upgrades for Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 on PC will release on March 4. The upgrade will bring the game on part with the features added to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of GTA 5. Available for free for all players on PC, the upgrade will allow you to carry over your GTA Online and Story Mode progress without issue. As far as what GTA 5 PC players will get, there a number of new features and even vehicles not previously available. Those features include: Enjoy a range of new vehicles and upgrades at Hao’s Special Works (HSW) that push automotive performance to new heights, and test your driving skills with Premium Test Rides, HSW Races, and HSW Time Trials. Encounter Ambient Animals all across Southern San Andreas and take pictures of them to participate in the daily Wildlife Photography Challenge for new rewards. PC players can sign up for GTA+ Membership to get special benefits in the upgraded version of GTA Online and beyond. Track your criminal movements across all of GTA Online’s updates with the Career Progress feature as you build your empire. Navigate a refreshed Landing Page as your starting destination to get straight into the action. Plus, take advantage of an improved introductory flow for newer players with a GTA$4,000,000 windfall to buy property, vehicles, and other items when you start off as an Executive, Gunrunner, Nightclub Owner, or Biker in the Career Builder. The upgrade also includes kernal-based anti-cheat and “proactive voice chat moderation” for GTA Online. Regarding the new cars, five vehicles will be added: Coil Cyclone II (Super), Imponte Arbiter GT (Muscle), Karin S95 (Sports), Pegassi Weaponized Ignus (Super), and Pfister Astron Custom (SUV). There are also a number of upgraded vehicles across all classes, including: Super: Principe Deveste Eight, Överflöd Entity MT Sports: Bravado Banshee, Bravado Banshee GTS, Grotti Itali GTO Stinger TT, Penaud La Coureuse, Übermacht Niobe Sports Classic: Benefactor Stirling GT, Grotti Turismo Classic Muscle: Bravado Buffalo EVX, Declasse Vigero ZX, Declasse Vigero ZX Convertible Coupe: Annis Euros X32, Übermacht Sentinel XS Off-Road: Maibatsu MonstroCiti, Vapid Firebolt ASP SUV: Karin Vivanite, Weeny Issi Rally Motorcycle: Shitzu Hakuchou Drag Compact: Grotti Brioso R/A Under The Hood Improvements In addition to new additions to vehicles and general features, there are also a number of technical enhancements with the GTA 5 PC upgrade. Those include new ray tracing features exclusive to PC such as ambient occlusion and global illumination. There will also be support for AMD FSR1 and FSR3 and Nvidia DLSS 3 along with general support for higher resolutions, aspect ratios, and framerates. Lastly, DualSense support with adaptive triggers is being added for those who want to use the PlayStation 5 controller on their PC. What do you think of the upgrade coming to GTA 5 on PC? Let us know down below, and join more discussions in the official Insider Gaming forums. For more Insider Gaming, check out the official release date for season 2 of The Last of Us. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #GTA #PS5 #Xbox #Series #Upgrade #March Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  11. Pelican Press
    North Korea has reopened to Western tourists for the first time since the pandemic North Korea has reopened to Western tourists for the first time since the pandemic North Korea has reopened to Western tourists this week. Westerners can’t visit Pyongyang, but they can go on tours to the Rason Special Economic Zone. A tour guide told *** his first group in years included people from the ***, Australia, and Jamaica. North Korea reopened its borders to Western tourists this week. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has been largely closed to Westerners. But on Thursday, Pyongyang allowed tour groups to visit the country’s Rason Special Economic Zone, a region near the Russian and ******** borders. On Thursday morning, Rowan Beard of Young Pioneer Tours led one of the first foreign tour groups to return to the country. Beard told Business Insider that the group consisted of 10 people from a number of different countries, including Singapore, Australia, the ***, Jamaica, and Germany. “The country has been closed for five years so it’s been a huge build-up and a huge interest from people wanting to go,” he said. While some of the visitors are specifically interested in North Korean culture, history, and society, Beard said that others simply wanted to tick off another country. “Some of the people we’re taking, North Korea is the last country for them to visit,” he said. Another couple, he added, grew up under ********** rule in Romania and wanted to visit North Korea, a ********** dictatorship, for nostalgic reasons. “You get all these different types, it’s a mix of interests,” Beard said. Rowan Beard of Young Pioneer Tours said he visited North Korea a week before it opened to assess conditions in Rason.Courtesy of Young Pioneer Tours Beard told *** that he only learned of the potential reopening about a week prior, so the first group was made up of those who could quickly arrange flights to China and have their entry permits processed in time. Another tour is scheduled for March 2, with 26 people booked onto it, he added. Beard — who said he visited Rason a week before it reopened to assess the conditions — said North Korean officials have not set a specific quota for how many foreign tourists can visit but that numbers are small due to “logistical” limitations. “There are logistical constraints in Rason when it comes to hotel vacancy, the amount of English guides that are available, and the buses they have,” he said. Rowan Beard said there’s been a lot of interest in visiting North Korea’s Rason Special Economic Zone.Courtesy of Young Pioneer Tours The State Department issued a ban on US citizens traveling to North Korea in September 2017 following the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was arrested on a tour and who was released in a vegetative state, dying soon after. A July 2023 State Department travel advisory warns against travel to North Korea, citing a “continuous serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of US nationals.” Russians, however, have been back visiting North Korea’s shores since the start of 2024, and Pyongyang remains closed to all but Russian tourists. Foreign tourists on guided tours generally face strict regulations in North Korea — they must be accompanied at all times and are only allowed to take photos of approved sites. The tourism industry has provided a crucial source of foreign currency for North Korea, which has struggled under international sanctions. Later this year, the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort is set to open and is already advertising tour dates for Russian visitors. Read the original article on Business Insider Source link #North #Korea #reopened #Western #tourists #time #pandemic Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  12. Pelican Press
    Goldman is bullish on this ******** self-driving company as an AI play Goldman is bullish on this ******** self-driving company as an AI play Goldman Sachs is positive on fast-growing autonomous driving company Pony AI. Analyst Allen Chang reiterated a buy rating on the robotaxi stock, raising his 12-month price target to $22.50 from $19.60, implying shares could gain about 22% compared with Wednesday’s close. Guangzhou, China-based Pony AI has been ramping up its robotaxi expansion, according to Chang. In December, the company received a mutual-recognition qualification in the Greater Bay Area of China, easing the path to other qualifications for cross-city operations, the analyst said. The company began driverless tests on a highway in Beijing last month and also announced services in the Hong Kong international airport. “We are positive on Pony AI given the strong [research and development], early mover in getting Robotaxi licenses in tier 1 cities, and ecosystem/partnership in the industry to reduce vehicle costs and customer acquisition costs,” Chang wrote in a note on Wednesday. Pony AI American Depositary Receipts on Nasdaq are ahead about 22% in 2025, after falling 17% in 2024, according to FactSet data. Pony AI came public in late November 2024 in an initial public offering led by Goldman Sachs. PONY 1D mountain Pony AI shares on Thursday —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Source link #Goldman #bullish #******** #selfdriving #company #play Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  13. Pelican Press
    Your House is exactly as terrifying as it sounds in this new text-based narrative thriller, coming soon Your House is exactly as terrifying as it sounds in this new text-based narrative thriller, coming soon Your House is the newest text-based narrative thriller from Patrones & Escondites Explore a mysterious mansion as a rebellious teen, and discover dark secrets Get it on iOS and Android, March 27th Looking to get some thrills? Well, while I can’t promise something akin to a high-octane rollercoaster, if you’re looking for chills and thrills in equal measure, with a heck of a mystery to boot, why not check out the upcoming release Your House from Patrones & Escondites? The best part? It’s set to arrive on March 27th, so you won’t need to wait long to unravel this mystery. Functioning as a prequel (although standalone narrative-wise) to Patrones & Escondites’ previous release Unmemory, Your House is set in the 90s and sees you playing as rebellious teen Debbie. When she’s gifted a house key and mysterious postcard she sets off to unravel the secrets behind a solitary manor, discovering the pasts of three enigmatic characters. Mixing text-based narrative adventure and escape room puzzler, Your House offers all the spooky goodies you’d expected from this story. Whether that’s uncovering hidden passages or dissecting strange riddles, you’ll slowly uncover exactly why Debbie received the clues she did, and a life-altering discovery. In your walls As you may recall, we covered Your House earlier this year over in our regular feature Ahead of the Game. There, Catherine took a gander at the 20-minute demo for Your House, and looked at how its innovative text-based action works. Suffice it to say then that this is one to watch, and with a release so close if you’re looking to put something on your to-play list then Your House may just be the introduction to Patrones & Escondites’ growing back-catalogue of mysteries you need. In the meantime if you’re looking for more top releases, why not check out our other new regular feature with Off the AppStore? In it, we cover newly available releases that break free of the limitations of Google Play or the iOS app store, bringing you ace new titles you otherwise wouldn’t see! Source link #House #terrifying #sounds #textbased #narrative #thriller #coming Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  14. Pelican Press
    Elon Musk Is Focused on DOGE. What About Tesla? Elon Musk Is Focused on DOGE. What About Tesla? Elon Musk’s role as President Trump’s cost-cutting czar and his immersion in right-wing politics appears to be diverting his attention from Tesla at a perilous moment for the electric car company. Tesla’s car sales fell 1 percent last year even as the global market for electric vehicles grew 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that underperformance, and he has offered no concrete plan to revive sales. He has also provided no details about a more affordable model Tesla says it will start producing this year. In the past, Mr. Musk spent months or years promoting vehicles before they appeared in showrooms. And he has spent much of his time since the election in Washington and at Mr. Trump’s home in Florida — far from Austin, Texas, where Tesla has its corporate headquarters and a factory, or the San Francisco Bay Area, where it has a factory and engineering offices. In the past decade or so, Tesla went from a struggling start-up to upending the global auto industry. The company sold millions of electric cars and generated huge profits, forcing established automakers to invest billions of dollars to catch up. Tesla’s success has been reflected in its soaring stock price, which helped make Mr. Musk the world’s richest person. But now, he seems to have lost interest in the grinding business of developing, producing and selling cars, investors and analysts say. That could have serious ramifications for his company and the auto industry, which employs millions of people worldwide. Even before he joined the Trump administration as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk’s running multiple companies had led investors and corporate governance experts to wonder whether he was spread too thin. Besides Tesla, Mr. Musk controls and runs SpaceX, whose rockets carry astronauts and satellites for NASA and others; X, the social media site; and xAI, which is developing artificial intelligence. And he wants to colonize Mars. “We don’t have a C.E.O. who is fully focused on ensuring that Tesla remains a leader in the E.V. space,” said Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who oversees employee pension funds that own Tesla shares worth $1.25 billion. Mr. Lander said he wanted Mr. Musk to stay on Tesla’s board and relinquish his chief executive duties to someone who would do the job full time. “That’s not too much to ask for,” Mr. Lander said. “That’s just the basic model of shareholder governance in America.” Few, if any, executives have ever had such an array of responsibilities, said Eric Talley, a Columbia Law School professor who focuses on corporate governance. And while some of Mr. Musk’s businesses stand to benefit from his ties to the president, it is virtually impossible for Mr. Musk’s commercial and political interests not to collide in ways that could hurt Tesla and his other companies, Mr. Talley said. “The more you split your loyalties,” Mr. Talley said, “the more it’s going to be difficult to claim you had an undivided loyalty to any company.” Mr. Musk and Tesla did not respond to emails seeking comment. Mr. Musk’s support for right-wing leaders at home and in Germany, Britain, France and other countries appears to have alienated significant numbers of customers. There are signs that Mr. Musk’s political activities and reduced presence at Tesla are also stirring dissatisfaction within the company. The discontent was apparent during an unusual meeting last month at the company’s offices in Palo Alto, Calif., where numerous employees vented their frustrations. A senior executive who spoke at the meeting told the employees that he, too, was discouraged by Mr. Musk’s “mercurial” behavior and by the departure of some senior executives who had been a moderating influence. The chief executive’s polarizing social media posts and work in the Trump administration were driving away customers, prompting some employees to leave and making it harder to recruit new talent to Tesla, the manager said, according to an audio recording of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times. The executive urged employees to focus on their work and tune out Mr. Musk’s comments on X and other forums. “I just kind of ignore it and think about what are we working on and is it exciting to me and is it having an impact?” the manager said. “That’s the best advice I can give for how to handle it.” The recording was first reported by The Washington Post. There are signs that at least some investors are having doubts, too. Tesla’s share price has fallen 25 percent since mid-December, though it is still up about 40 percent since the election. Many investors still have faith in Mr. Musk. That’s why Wall Street treats Tesla as being more than three times as valuable as Toyota, the world’s largest automaker. Optimistic investors believe that the company develop cars that can drive themselves in most conditions. ARK Invest, an investment firm that has long been bullish about Mr. Musk’s endeavors, estimates that Tesla could control half of an estimated $10 trillion market for autonomous ride-hailing services. “I see a path for Tesla being the most valuable company in the world by far,” Mr. Musk said in January. The growth, he added, would “overwhelmingly be due to autonomous vehicles and autonomous humanoid robots.” What Mr. Musk has appeared surprisingly unconcerned about is Tesla’s biggest business today: selling cars. During a conference call last month to discuss Tesla’s fourth quarter results, a financial analyst asked him to elaborate on his plans to sell more cars to take advantage of Tesla’s competitive advantage in technology that allows cars in some cases to steer, accelerate and slow down on their own. Mr. Musk said he didn’t understand the question and said the company already had millions of cars on the road. The company has lost market share to BYD in China; BMW and Volkswagen in Europe; and Hyundai and General Motors in the United States. Some Tesla drivers like the musician Sheryl Crow are so upset by Mr. Musk’s political activities that they are selling their cars or saying they won’t buy another one. In January Tesla’s sales were down 59 percent in Germany, 63 percent in France and 12 percent in Britain after Mr. Musk endorsed right-wing politicians and made inflammatory statements on social media. Tesla sales fell 12 percent last year in California, which accounts for nearly one-third of the electric cars sold in the United States. “The hate is real,” Ross *******, chief executive of ******* Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, wrote on an X post along with a photo of a Cybertruck that someone had defaced with an obscenity. But political blowback is not the company’s only problem. Tesla remains reliant on two vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, for 95 percent of its sales. BYD has more than a dozen electric models, some costing much less than $20,000. The Model 3 starts at $42,000 in the United States. Auto experts say Tesla badly needs a cheaper car to revive sales. But last year, Mr. Musk delayed indefinitely plans to build a low-cost car in Monterrey, Mexico, that would have cost $25,000. The company has promised to begin producing a new model at its existing factories by the end of June, but it has not displayed a prototype or provided details. Analysts expect it to be based on the Model 3 and cost a lot more than $25,000. “You would think they would be doubling down and trying to capitalize on the lead they have on other players,” said Michael Lenox, a professor of business at the University of Virginia. “It begs the question,” he added, “has there been a lack of attention?” Some investors said that Mr. Musk’s lack of interest in selling cars was apparent in how little he had said about Mr. Trump’s initiatives that could hurt Tesla’s sales. The chief executive of Ford, Jim Farley, last week said that some of Mr. Trump’s plans to repeal Biden era incentives for electric cars could force the company to layoff workers. But Mr. Musk has said nothing publicly about them. Environmentalists in particular are very concerned that Mr. Musk, who once talked about electric vehicles as a solution for climate change, has allied himself with climate change deniers. “It’s really concerning that Elon is more focused on D.C. than on advancing E.V. production,” said Katherine Garcia, director of the Clean Transportation for All campaign at the Sierra Club. Mr. Musk has argued that electric cars don’t need government incentives. “You can’t stop the advent of electric cars,” Mr. Musk said in January. “It’s going to happen.” Source link #Elon #Musk #Focused #DOGE #Tesla Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  15. Pelican Press
    A.I. Is Changing How Silicon Valley Builds Start-Ups A.I. Is Changing How Silicon Valley Builds Start-Ups Almost every day, Grant Lee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, hears from investors who try to persuade him to take their money. Some have even sent him and his co-founders personalized gift baskets. Mr. Lee, 41, would normally be flattered. In the past, a fast-growing start-up like Gamma, the artificial intelligence start-up he helped establish in 2020, would have constantly looked out for more funding. But like many young start-ups in Silicon Valley today, Gamma is pursuing a different strategy. It is using artificial intelligence tools to increase its employees’ productivity in everything from customer service and marketing to coding and customer research. That means Gamma, which makes software that lets people create presentations and websites, has no need for more cash, Mr. Lee said. His company has hired only 28 people to get “tens of millions” in annual recurring revenue and nearly 50 million users. Gamma is also profitable. “If we were from the generation before, we would easily be at 200 employees,” Mr. Lee said. “We get a chance to rethink that, basically rewrite the playbook.” The old Silicon Valley model dictated that start-ups should raise a huge sum of money from venture capital investors and spend it hiring an army of employees to scale up fast. Profits would come much later. Until then, head count and fund-raising were badges of honor among founders, who philosophized that ******* was better. But Gamma is among a growing cohort of start-ups, most of them working on A.I. products, that are also using A.I. to maximize efficiency. They make money and are growing fast without the funding or employees they would have needed before. The biggest bragging rights for these start-ups are for making the most revenue with the fewest workers. Stories of “tiny team” success have now become a meme, with techies excitedly sharing lists that show how Anysphere, a start-up that makes the coding software Cursor, hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue in less than two years with just 20 employees, and how ElevenLabs, an A.I. voice start-up, did the same with around 50 workers. The potential for A.I. to let start-ups do more with less has led to wild speculation about the future. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, has predicted there could someday be a one-person company worth $1 billion. His company, which is building a cost-intensive form of A.I. called a foundational model, employs more than 4,000 people and has raised more than $20 billion in funding. It is also in talks to raise more money. With A.I. tools, some start-ups are now declaring that they will stop hiring at a certain size. Runway Financial, a finance software company, has said it plans to top out at 100 employees because each of its workers will do the work of 1.5 people. Agency, a start-up using A.I. for customer service, also plans to hire no more than 100 workers. “It’s about eliminating roles that are not necessary when you have smaller teams,” said Elias Torres, Agency’s founder. The idea of A.I.-driven efficiency was bolstered last month by DeepSeek, the ******** A.I. start-up that showed it could build A.I. tools for a small fraction of the typical cost. Its breakthrough, built on open source tools that are freely available online, set off an explosion of companies building new products using DeepSeek’s inexpensive techniques. “DeepSeek was a watershed moment,” said Gaurav Jain, an investor at the venture firm Afore Capital, which has backed Gamma. “The cost of compute is going to go down very, very fast, very quickly.” Mr. Jain compared new A.I. start-ups to the wave of companies that arose in the late 2000s, after Amazon began offering cheap cloud computing services. That lowered the cost of starting a company, leading to a flurry of new start-ups that could be built more cheaply. Before this A.I. *****, start-ups generally burned $1 million to get to $1 million in revenue, Mr. Jain said. Now getting to $1 million in revenue costs one-fifth as much and could eventually drop to one-tenth, according to an analysis of 200 start-ups conducted by Afore. “This time we’re automating humans as opposed to just the data centers,” Mr. Jain said. But if start-ups can become profitable without spending much, that could become a problem for venture capital investors, who allocate tens of billions to invest in A.I. start-ups. Last year, A.I. companies raised $97 billion in funding, making up 46 percent of all venture investment in the United States, according to PitchBook, which tracks start-ups. “Venture capital only works if you get money into the winners,” said Terrence Rohan, an investor with Otherwise Fund, which focuses on very young start-ups. He added, “If the winner of the future needs a lot less money because they’ll have a lot less people, how does that change V.C.?” For now, investors continue to fight to get into the hottest companies, many of which have no need for more money. Scribe, an A.I. productivity start-up, grapple last year with far more interest from investors than the $25 million it wanted to raise. “It was a negotiation of what is the smallest amount we could possibly take on,” said Jennifer Smith, Scribe’s chief executive. She said investors were shocked at the size of her staff — 100 people — when compared with its three million users and fast growth. Some investors are optimistic that A.I.-driven efficiency will spur entrepreneurs to create more companies, leading to more opportunities to invest. They hope that once the start-ups reach a certain size, the firms will adopt the old model of big teams and big money. Some young companies, including Anysphere, the one behind Cursor, are already doing that. Anysphere has raised $175 million in funding, with plans to add staff and conduct research, according to the company’s president, Oskar Schulz. Other founders have seen the perils of the old start-up playbook, which kept companies on a fund-raising treadmill where hiring more people created more costs that went beyond just their salaries. ******* teams needed managers, more robust human resources and back office support. Those teams then needed specialized software, along with a ******* office with all the perks. And so on, which led start-ups to burn through cash and forced founders to constantly raise more money. Many start-ups from the funding ***** of 2021 eventually downsized, shut down or scrambled to sell themselves. Turning a profit early on can change that outcome. At Gamma, employees use about 10 A.I. tools to help them be more efficient, including Intercom’s customer service tool for handling problems, Midjourney’s image generator for marketing, Anthropic’s Claude chatbot for data analysis and Google’s NotebookLM for analyzing customer research. Engineers also use Anysphere’s Cursor to more efficiently write code. Gamma’s product, which is built on top of tools from OpenAI and others, is also not as expensive to make as other A.I. products. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.) Other efficient start-ups are taking a similar strategy. Thoughtly, a 10-person provider of A.I. phone agents, turned a profit in 11 months, thanks to its use of A.I., its co-founder Torrey Leonard said. The payment processor Stripe created an A.I. tool that helps Mr. Leonard analyze Thoughtly’s sales, something he would have previously hired an analyst to do. Without that and A.I. tools from others to streamline its operations, Thoughtly would need at least 25 people and be far from profitable, he said. Thoughtly will eventually raise more money, Mr. Leonard said, but only when it is ready. Not worrying about running out of cash is “a huge relief,” he said. At Gamma, Mr. Lee said he planned to roughly double the work force this year to 60, hiring for design, engineering and sales. He plans to recruit a different type of worker from before, seeking out generalists who do a range of tasks rather than specialists who do only one thing, he said. He also wants “player-coaches” instead of managers — people who can mentor less experienced employees but can also pitch in on the day-to-day work. Mr. Lee said the A.I.-efficient model had freed up time he would have otherwise spent managing people and recruiting. Now he focuses on talking to customers and improving the product. In 2022, he created a Slack room for feedback from Gamma’s top users, who are often shocked to discover that the chief executive was responding to their comments. “That’s actually every founder’s dream,” Mr. Lee said. Source link #A.I #Changing #Silicon #Valley #Builds #StartUps Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  16. Pelican Press
    Elon Musk Is Focused on DOGE. What About Tesla? Elon Musk Is Focused on DOGE. What About Tesla? Elon Musk’s role as President Trump’s cost-cutting czar and his immersion in right-wing politics appears to be diverting his attention from Tesla at a perilous moment for the electric car company. Tesla’s car sales fell 1 percent last year even as the global market for electric vehicles grew 25 percent. Mr. Musk has not addressed that underperformance, and he has offered no concrete plan to revive sales. He has also provided no details about a more affordable model Tesla says it will start producing this year. In the past, Mr. Musk spent months or years promoting vehicles before they appeared in showrooms. And he has spent much of his time since the election in Washington and at Mr. Trump’s home in Florida — far from Austin, Texas, where Tesla has its corporate headquarters and a factory, or the San Francisco Bay Area, where it has a factory and engineering offices. In the past decade or so, Tesla went from a struggling start-up to upending the global auto industry. The company sold millions of electric cars and generated huge profits, forcing established automakers to invest billions of dollars to catch up. Tesla’s success has been reflected in its soaring stock price, which helped make Mr. Musk the world’s richest person. But now, he seems to have lost interest in the grinding business of developing, producing and selling cars, investors and analysts say. That could have serious ramifications for his company and the auto industry, which employs millions of people worldwide. Even before he joined the Trump administration as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk’s running multiple operations had made investors and corporate governance experts wondered whether Mr. Musk was spread too thin. Besides Tesla, Mr. Musk controls and runs SpaceX, whose rockets carry astronauts and satellites for NASA and others; X, the social media site; and xAI, which is developing artificial intelligence. And he wants to colonize Mars. “We don’t have a C.E.O. who is fully focused on ensuring that Tesla remains a leader in the E.V. space,” said Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who oversees employee pension funds that own Tesla shares worth $1.25 billion. Mr. Lander said he wanted Mr. Musk to stay on Tesla’s board and relinquish his chief executive duties to someone who would do the job full time. “That’s not too much to ask for,” Mr. Lander said. “That’s just the basic model of shareholder governance in America.” Few, if any, executives have ever had such an array of responsibilities, said Eric Talley, a Columbia Law School professor who focuses on corporate governance. And while some of Mr. Musk’s businesses stand to benefit from his ties to the president, it is virtually impossible for Mr. Musk’s commercial and political interests not to collide in ways that could hurt Tesla and his other companies, Mr. Talley said. “The more you split your loyalties,” Mr. Talley said, “the more it’s going to be difficult to claim you had an undivided loyalty to any company.” Mr. Musk and Tesla did not respond to emails seeking comment. Mr. Musk’s support for right-wing leaders at home and in Germany, Britain, France and other countries appears to have alienated significant numbers of customers. There are signs that Mr. Musk’s political activities and reduced presence at Tesla are also stirring dissatisfaction within the company. The discontent was apparent during an unusual meeting last month at the company’s offices in Palo Alto, Calif., where numerous employees vented their frustrations. A senior executive who spoke at the meeting told the employees that he, too, was discouraged by Mr. Musk’s “mercurial” behavior and by the departure of some senior executives who had been a moderating influence. The chief executive’s polarizing social media posts and work in the Trump administration were driving away customers, prompting some employees to leave and making it harder to recruit new talent to Tesla, the manager said, according to an audio recording of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times. The executive urged employees to focus on their work and tune out Mr. Musk’s comments on X and other forums. “I just kind of ignore it and think about what are we working on and is it exciting to me and is it having an impact?” the manager said. “That’s the best advice I can give for how to handle it.” The recording was first reported by The Washington Post. There are signs that at least some investors are having doubts, too. Tesla’s share price has fallen 25 percent since mid-December, though it is still up about 40 percent since the election. Many investors still have faith in Mr. Musk. That’s why Wall Street treats Tesla as being more than three times as valuable as Toyota, the world’s largest automaker. Optimistic investors believe that the company develop cars that can drive themselves in most conditions. ARK Invest, an investment firm that has long been bullish about Mr. Musk’s endeavors, estimates that Tesla could control half of an estimated $10 trillion market for autonomous ride-hailing services. “I see a path for Tesla being the most valuable company in the world by far,” Mr. Musk said in January. The growth, he added, would “overwhelmingly be due to autonomous vehicles and autonomous humanoid robots.” What Mr. Musk has appeared surprisingly unconcerned about is Tesla’s biggest business today: selling cars. During a conference call last month to discuss Tesla’s fourth quarter results, a financial analyst asked him to elaborate on his plans to sell more cars to take advantage of Tesla’s competitive advantage in technology that allows cars in some cases to steer, accelerate and slow down on their own. Mr. Musk said he didn’t understand the question and said the company already had millions of cars on the road. The company has lost market share to BYD in China; BMW and Volkswagen in Europe; and Hyundai and General Motors in the United States. Some Tesla drivers like the musician Sheryl Crow are so upset by Mr. Musk’s political activities that they are selling their cars or saying they won’t buy another one. In January Tesla’s sales were down 59 percent in Germany, 63 percent in France and 12 percent in Britain after Mr. Musk endorsed right-wing politicians and made inflammatory statements on social media. Tesla sales fell 12 percent last year in California, which accounts for nearly one-third of the electric cars sold in the United States. “The hate is real,” Ross *******, chief executive of ******* Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, wrote on an X post along with a photo of a Cybertruck that someone had defaced with an obscenity. But political blowback is not the company’s only problem. Tesla remains reliant on two vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, for 95 percent of its sales. BYD has more than a dozen electric models, some costing much less than $20,000. The Model 3 starts at $42,000 in the United States. Auto experts say Tesla badly needs a cheaper car to revive sales. But last year, Mr. Musk delayed indefinitely plans to build a low-cost car in Monterrey, Mexico, that would have cost $25,000. The company has promised to begin producing a new model at its existing factories by the end of June, but it has not displayed a prototype or provided details. Analysts expect it to be based on the Model 3 and cost a lot more than $25,000. “You would think they would be doubling down and trying to capitalize on the lead they have on other players,” said Michael Lenox, a professor of business at the University of Virginia. “It begs the question,” he added, “has there been a lack of attention?” Some investors said that Mr. Musk’s lack of interest in selling cars was apparent in how little he had said about Mr. Trump’s initiatives that could hurt Tesla’s sales. The chief executive of Ford, Jim Farley, last week said that some of Mr. Trump’s plans to repeal Biden era incentives for electric cars could force the company to layoff workers. But Mr. Musk has said nothing publicly about them. Environmentalists in particular are very concerned that Mr. Musk, who once talked about electric vehicles as a solution for climate change, has allied himself with climate change deniers. “It’s really concerning that Elon is more focused on D.C. than on advancing E.V. production,” said Katherine Garcia, director of the Clean Transportation for All campaign at the Sierra Club. Mr. Musk has argued that electric cars don’t need government incentives. “You can’t stop the advent of electric cars,” Mr. Musk said in January. “It’s going to happen.” Source link #Elon #Musk #Focused #DOGE #Tesla Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  17. Pelican Press
    NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Thursday, February 20 NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Thursday, February 20 Table of Contents Table of Contents How to play Strands Hint for today’s Strands puzzle Today’s Strand answers Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle. Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below. How to play Strands You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable. If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it. Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once. Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow. The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints. Hint for today’s Strands puzzle Today’s theme is “‘Together for the present” Here’s a hint that might help you: a date you don’t want to forget. Today’s Strand answers NYT Today’s spanagram We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own: Today’s Strands answers FIRST SIXTIETH FIFTIETH DIAMOND GOLD PAPER Source link #NYT #Strands #today #hints #spangram #answers #Thursday #February Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  18. Pelican Press
    How Clinton’s “reinventing government” compares to DOGE’s approach: “We cut **** and they cut muscle” How Clinton’s “reinventing government” compares to DOGE’s approach: “We cut **** and they cut muscle” As President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency push to slash spending, Republican allies have pointed to a White House program from 30 years ago as akin to DOGE’s efforts. Over 30 years ago, Vice President Al Gore was tasked by Democratic President Bill Clinton to cut waste, red tape and streamline the bureaucracy to “create a government that works better and costs less.” The “reinventing government” program cut nearly half a million federal jobs and dispensed with a massive number of regulations. But according to the woman who ran the program under the Clinton administration, any similarities between that program and DOGE’s end there. “We cut **** and they cut muscle. It’s as simple as that,” Elaine Kamarck, now a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, told CBS News. “We didn’t have any meltdowns of agencies, we didn’t have any dysfunction going on, and we obeyed the law. When we thought something was wrong, we sent it to Congress and asked them to change it.” The National Partnership for Reinventing Government followed through on Clinton’s promise on the campaign trail to make the government more efficient and effective. The project was spearheaded by Gore and officially created in March 1993, kicking off a review of government agencies that would go on to become the longest-running reform effort in the nation’s history, wrapping up its work in 1998. Kamarck was hired by Gore to direct the program, and the two put together a team of about 400 civil servants to work across a number of teams. They conducted reviews of Cabinet-level agencies with a partner team within the agency and returned recommendations for review. Six months later, the project had yielded hundreds of recommendations bound in a report titled “Creating a Government that Works Better & Costs Less.” The effort, which would ultimately trim the federal workforce by around 426,000 in less than eight years while cutting thousands of pages of regulations, focused on saving the government money. But Kamarck said it also focused on “making the government work better,” with attention toward performance and customer service standards that remain today. “Basically, we worked with people in the government to identify where we could make it work better, and where we could make it cost less,” Kamarck said. The program went on well beyond the six-month review ******* to focus on implementation, acting upon around two-thirds of the recommendations, and yielding an estimated $136 billion in savings for taxpayers. Now, more than three decades later, a new cost-cutting effort is underway. Mr. Trump announced in December that Musk, who played a major role in his reelection effort, would lead DOGE in the new administration, and signed an executive order on his first day in office to officially create the Department of Government Efficiency. Its website says it’s found $55 billion in savings so far, but a CBS News review of those savings shows some discrepancies. Unlike the Clinton-era program, which took six months to make its recommendations, DOGE, in under a month has worked with Cabinet department and agency heads to shrink the government workforce immediately and pause swaths of government spending. DOGE first turned its focus to excising federal contracts and spending on issues like diversity, equity and inclusion provisions and foreign aid and has moved on to other federal agencies. The Trump administration offered a deferred resignation plan to more than 2 million civilian federal employees and convinced 75,000 to accept it before shutting it down and ordered agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees. DOGE has also gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. And an IRS employee associated with DOGE requested access to the IRS’ data system that includes individual taxpayer information in recent days. The moves have sparked controversy — and lawsuits — over the administration’s authority to carry out its dramatic reshaping of the federal government in a compressed ******* of time. Facing scrutiny, Musk and allies have held up the example of the Clinton administration’s government overhaul seemingly as a kind of model for their own. During a hearing held by the House’s newly created DOGE subcommittee last week, one Republican lawmaker showed a video featuring Clinton and Gore’s announcement after the six-month review to remind Democrats of what their “party believed in.” Musk himself has highlighted the comparison between his work and the effort three decades prior in recent days, sharing an AI-generated post on reductions to the federal workforce under the Clinton administration and concurring with a post that called Clinton and Gore “the original Doges.” Kamarck, though she has advocated for new government cuts, said the “big difference” between the Clinton administration program and DOGE is that the earlier program sought to understand what was going on in the agency and what was important — using a fine-toothed comb to make cuts. “If they were doing it the same way we did it, they could do a hell of a lot of good for the government,” Kamarck said. “But instead, they’re just, they’re throwing out the baby with the bath water.” Still, Clinton’s government cutting received its share of criticism, sparking frustrations when the program chose to close many regional offices deemed to be obsolete and incompatible with advancements in electronic communications. Kamarck conceded that they didn’t win every fight. Though they succeeded on procurement reform, pioneered electronic filing of tax returns and generally helped usher the federal government into the internet age, they fell short on civil service reform without an advocate in Congress. And although their effort to reduce the size of the government workforce took place over years instead of weeks, there were some who felt that the buyout strategy they used was not as effective as it could have been. “Many with special skills left, and people who stayed might have been those we’d have wanted to leave,” Donald Kettl, the former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, told Government Executive in 2013. Kamarck said the process the Clinton administration followed is the “harder way to do it” — and not how DOGE is proceeding. “They are pretending that there is no law governing the bureaucracy,” she said. Kaia Hubbard Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. Source link #Clintons #reinventing #government #compares #DOGEs #approach #cut #**** #cut #muscle Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  19. Pelican Press
    Narcissists feel more excluded and experience ‘social pain,’ scientists say – The Washington Post Narcissists feel more excluded and experience ‘social pain,’ scientists say – The Washington Post Narcissists feel more excluded and experience ‘social pain,’ scientists say The Washington PostView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Narcissists #feel #excluded #experience #social #pain #scientists #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  20. Pelican Press
    A four-pack of Chipolo One Bluetooth trackers is on ***** for 32 percent off A four-pack of Chipolo One Bluetooth trackers is on ***** for 32 percent off If you’re constantly losing your keys, wallet and other important stuff, Bluetooth trackers could be a big help. Attach them onto your things and you can monitor their location directly from your phone. Our current favorites are the Chipolo One trackers, and right now you can snag a pack of four for just under $68. Chipolo’s having a ***** that brings the pack down to $75, but you can use the code ENGADGET10 at checkout to get an extra 10 percent off and bring the price down to $67.50. That code works across Chipolo’s site as well, giving you an additional 10 percent off anything else you want to purchase. This gadget not only made our list of the best Bluetooth trackers, but it’s our favorite release in the product category. The One is a near-perfect tracker. The battery lasts two full years, it works great with both Android and iOS devices and the ringer is incredibly loud. This is great news for those who tend to misplace items under mountains of linens or between couch cushions. Chipolo This is over 30 percent off. Save $32 with code ENGADGET10 $68 at Chipolo There’s also no perceptible lag between pressing the Ring to Find button and hearing the trill. This isn’t true of many rival trackers. It even has a handy hole for attaching to keychains and the like. This may seem like an obvious design element, but Apple AirTags lack this hole. The only downside involves the finding network. Chipolo isn’t a big name like Apple or Samsung, so there are fewer people on the network. This could be an issue if you don’t live in a major metropolitan area. Basically, the One is perfect for looking for lost items in or near the home, but not as useful when searching for misplaced stuff (like luggage at an airport) out in the wild. And don’t forget: remember that coupon code from before? It works across the entire site, so feel free to grab a ten percent discount on everything else Chipolo makes using the code ENGADGET10. This includes wallet trackers that are shaped like credit cards and smaller tracking rings. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice. Source link #fourpack #Chipolo #Bluetooth #trackers #***** #percent Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  21. Pelican Press
    ‘I love bass, bass, bass and bass’: DJ Paulette, Carl Craig and more on the best DJ headphones | Headphones ‘I love bass, bass, bass and bass’: DJ Paulette, Carl Craig and more on the best DJ headphones | Headphones Ask any DJ what their most important bit of kit is and they’ll tell you it’s what goes around their head. Whether playing off a laptop, CDJs or decks, a pair of decent headphones is your portal to the mix and an essential element to get right. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Luckily, we’ve assembled some of the world’s best selectors to evangelise about the pairs they’re faithful to: from reliable specialist brands to old-school one-ear models, these are the best DJ headphones for crystal-clear sound and to hear that all-important bass. DJs on their favourite headphones Sennheiser HD 25 £129 at Sennheiser £117 at Amazon I love bass, bass, bass and bass – and Sennheisers hear my call. I first bought these headphones in 1993 and I now use the HD 25-C-II model. They’re perfect for someone with a little head and ears who requires a **** bottom-end and crystal-clear monitoring. The sound has to have the capacity to push through the noise in a festival space and yet be accurate in a quieter, more intimate setting, and the Sennheiser’s small closed-ear cup gives the best sound isolation. They have to work hard and need to be ridiculously durable, as they’re taken on and off my head repeatedly through each set – the 3m spiral cable (or as I fondly call it, the curly pigtail extension cable) has been an essential lifeline, giving me a huge range of movement. And did I say they take a hammering? They may look cheap and plasticky, but the build is hard to beat and every part is replaceable. They are hard-wearing and hard-working. DJ Paulette Reloop RHP-10 Mono £57 at Thomann £59 at Amazon I stayed away from lollipops for a long time because these one-ear headphones were always seen as kind of a New York thing – everyone was following Larry Levan. You’re going to buy a Fender Stratocaster because you love Jimi Hendrix; if you love basketball then you’re going to wear whatever LeBron James is wearing. Larry was the superstar DJ at the time, and everybody followed suit. But I’m from Detroit. One of the main reasons I started using a lollipop, though, has to do with protecting my hearing. Most of us DJs play far too loud, not only in the booth but also to hear what we’re cueing. When I would have headphones strapped around my head all the time, they were hurting my ears. With a lollipop, I don’t need to have it on all the time; often I just hold it with my hand. I use Reloops because they’re cheap and utilitarian. It doesn’t have to look sexy, I’m not taking it out to dinner. Let’s look at it like a hammer: it doesn’t need to be titanium, it just needs to do the job. I have some headphones that are $2,000 and I can stand up on stage and everybody’ll think, “Oh my God, he’s so great with those headphones on.” But no, Reloops do the job. I don’t really care about anything else. Carl Craig Technics EAH-DJ1200 £139 at Discdjstore £169 at Amazon Headphones are possibly the most important thing for a DJ to get right. I’ve been using these Technics ones for more than 20 years – the same make as the legendary turntables. The bass sounds really good through them, and I rarely take them off; I just move the headphones past my ears and over my head to hear the monitors. They’re not too bulky, either, and they’re good value for money. The only downside is that in summer the leather headband can get sweaty when the temperature in the club gets hotter. But it hasn’t stopped me from wearing them for most of my career. Severino Pioneer HDJ-X7 £179 at Selfridges £161 at Amazon There are new models of these headphones available but I got these in 2017. I like comfort and want something that’s going to hug my ear. These can flip around and fold up – there are so many nice elements – but they’re really comfortable, which is the main thing. Sometimes, you get headphones that are too tight or too loose. With these, I can have one can on my ear and one on the side of my head, and it’ll sit there nicely. I think you have to splash out on DJ headphones. You can’t go too cheap because you won’t hear what you need to. You need quality of sound. For me, it’s the bass. I need to be able to hear that kick drum because that’s what you mix with. And then everything else needs to be clear, otherwise it’s distorted, especially in a club – because you have to have it quite loud. Most of us now wear ear defenders, so then you have to have the music in the headphones even louder. These have got a bit of gravitas. They’ve got a weight behind them, and they’re sturdy but comfortable. You can knock these around quite a lot but, if you look after them, they will last you a long time. Smokin Jo skip past newsletter promotion Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Aiaiai Audio TMA-2 DJ £159 at Amazon I had a gig and I’d left my headphones in a club in Ibiza the night before, so my DJ friend lent me his Aiaiais, and I was converted. The good thing about them is that they’re modular: you can buy a new lead or earpieces separately, which is essential when you’re using them all the time. My headphones generally only used to last about a year (because normally the lead connection would get loose, as you move around a lot behind the decks and the headphone wire gets pulled a fair amount), but the Aiaiais have lasted a lot longer. Apart from the obvious – sound quality (and these are also great to listen to music with at home/travelling/in the studio) – the key feature I look for is whether the headphones will stay on my teeny head. Most brands just fall off! Sophie Lloyd Audio-Technica ATH-M50x £115 at Advanced MP3 Players £127 at Amazon Durability is important to me as my headphones get thrown in record bags etc, so they need to be sturdy – and the M50xs came highly recommended. I love them because they don’t break. They also have a rich, full sound: headphones should make you feel like you’re immersed in the music and able to notice the slightest detail in the mix. These headphones also double up as ear defenders: I remember plonking myself in the middle of the New Regency Orchestra, an 18-piece band that I direct, as we were recording the ***** section live. I had the mix of the rhythm section in my ears and was listening to the horns blowing on top through the cans – they certainly protected my ears from being in the direct line of fire of the 12 horns blowing in my face! Plus, they go over the ears and keep them warm, which is handy when I’m DJing in a church for my event Church of Sound – it can get chilly in the winter! Lex Blondin Pioneer HDJ-CUE1 £60 at Argos £54.99 at Amazon I bought these headphones in 2021, and they’ve survived countless festival fields and dark clubs since. A friend recommended them as a great entry-level pair to start getting a bit more serious with. Despite buying other headphones, I do keep finding myself coming back to them more often than not: they do a great job and are Pioneers’ most affordable model. I need them to be comfortable. Great sound, obviously. But also something that can pack down nicely to fit in a bumbag. They’re really flexible, clear on the low end and the finish is clean. Rohan Rakhit Sony MDR-7506 £95 at Gear4music £82.56 at Amazon I bought these while I was on tour about a decade ago because I had lost my other headphones. They were less expensive and I had seen people using them. I still have the same ones all these years later because they’re good quality and unpretentious. You can replace the ear cushions, which wear out with heavy use. They also have a cable that looks like an old-school telephone cable, so there’s some flexibility. Also, I think they look cool: simple, functional, not too “aesthetic” like some boutique ‘phones. They’re also quite slick, not some giant silver plastic thing that has EDM written all over it. I can use them also for vocal recordings because they have closed cups, which is the standard headphone style that you will find in most studios. If aliens would arrive on this planet and would ask me what a headphone is, I would probably show them this one. Matias Aguayo DJ Paulette’s book, Welcome to the Club, is on ***** now. Buy it for £20 at guardianbookshop.com – the paperback is out 29 April. Smokin Jo’s book, You Don’t Need a ***** to DJ, is out now. Buy it for £19.80 at guardianbookshop.com Source link #love #bass #bass #bass #bass #Paulette #Carl #Craig #headphones #Headphones Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  22. Pelican Press
    Trump Team Plans Cuts at HUD Office That Funds Disaster Recovery Trump Team Plans Cuts at HUD Office That Funds Disaster Recovery The Trump administration plans to all but eliminate the office that oversees America’s recovery from the largest disasters, raising questions about how the United States will rebuild from hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities made worse by climate change. The Office of Community Planning and Development, part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, pays to rebuild homes and other recovery efforts after the country’s worst disasters, such as Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Hurricane Milton in Florida. The administration plans to cut the staff in that office by 84 percent, according to a document obtained by The New York Times. The number of workers would be cut to 150, from 936 when Mr. Trump took office last month. Those cuts could slow the distribution of recovery money to North Carolina and other recent disasters, depending how quickly they happen. “HUD is carrying out President Trump’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government to serve the American people at the highest standard,” a spokeswoman for the department, Kasey Lovett, said in a statement. The primary responsibility for rebuilding communities after major disasters falls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps state and local governments pay to repair or rebuild damaged roads, bridges, schools, water treatments plants and other public infrastructure. The agency also provides money to help repair damaged homes. But some disasters are so big that they exceed FEMA’s funding, or the damage doesn’t fit neatly within FEMA’s programs. When that happens, Congress can choose to provide additional help, through a program at HUD called the Community Development Block Grant — Disaster Recovery. That extra help from Congress can involve far greater sums than what FEMA can provide. In 2006, for example, Congress provided almost $17 billion to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. After Hurricane Sandy, Congress gave Housing and Urban Development more than $15 billion to help rebuild the Northeast. As disasters have grown more frequent and severe, HUD’s disaster recovery program has become central to the country’s strategy for coping with climate change. During the 1990s, Congress typically gave the program a few hundred million dollars a year. Over the past decade, by contrast, Congress has often provided billions or even tens of billions annually. HUD’s disaster recovery money also comes with fewer strings attached. The money is largely used to rebuild homes that were either uninsured or underinsured, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not pay for. It also goes toward rebuilding infrastructure that’s not covered by FEMA, like the private roads and bridges that were significantly damaged by Helene in North Carolina. The money can also be used for job training, to help workers whose employers went out of business after a disaster. Because state and local officials are often overwhelmed by a disaster, and because the influx of federal funds is large and quick, one of HUD’s main jobs is ensuring the money isn’t lost to waste, fraud or abuse. That includes tasks like helping state and local governments set up systems to avoid paying contractors twice, according to a former official who worked on the program. It can also mean more complicated tasks like coordinating HUD’s grants with other federal disaster programs. Housing and Urban Development’s community planning and development office was already stretched thin, especially as large-scale disasters have become more frequent. On average, the HUD employees who manage disaster grants are each responsible for overseeing about $1 billion in grants, according to an official who worked in the office. Deep cuts to staffing levels would make it harder for HUD to prevent fraud, waste and abuse, according to two former officials familiar with the program who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. The cuts are being dictated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, whose stated goal is to reduce fraud, waste and abuse. The community planning and development office is responsible for managing other spending programs beyond disaster recovery. Those include paying for infrastructure upgrades like sewers and sidewalks, affordable housing projects and programs like Meals on Wheels. Source link #Trump #Team #Plans #Cuts #HUD #Office #Funds #Disaster #Recovery Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]
  23. Pelican Press
    Did Siri break the law? Apple’s latest privacy complaint in France doesn’t bode well Did Siri break the law? Apple’s latest privacy complaint in France doesn’t bode well France’s human rights NGO, Ligue des droits de l’Homme, has accused Apple of violations of privacy, unlawful processing of personal data, and deceptive commercial practice, as first reported by Radio France and Le Monde. The privacy complaint is based on information provided by a former employee who has supposedly shared proof of the massive collection and processing of Siri’s voice recordings without user consent. The French complaint – filed with the Paris prosecutor on Thursday, February 13, 2025 – comes only weeks after the Big Tech giant agreed to pay $95 million in settlements for a similar lawsuit in California, despite not admitting wrongdoing. Invasion of privacy and GDPR violations Frenchman Thomas Le Bonniec began working for Globe Technical Services (GTS) in Cork, Ireland, in the spring of 2019. He was part of a team tasked to improve Siri’s multilingual chatbot response by listening, transcribing, and tagging the recordings triggered by Apple’s vocal assistant. “On the very first day, we were told we were going to work on recordings of people talking to their assistant Siri or on recordings captured without their knowledge when the machine was triggered by mistake,” Le Bonniec told Radio France. His job mainly involved checking Siri’s transcriptions for accuracy and determining whether they were accidental recordings. During his time at GTS, Le Bonniec said he and his colleagues listened to a considerable number of very private conversations triggered by mistake. Some in the team, Le Bonniec explained, were also tasked with labeling duties. “They had to compare the keywords spoken during a recording and relate them to the data stored in the devices to which we had access such as contacts, geolocation, music, films, brands, etc. They tagged this personal data with keywords,” he added. As consulted by Radio France’s investigation unit, the LDH’s complaint accuses Apple’s practices of going against GDPR rules on data protection and informed consent. La @LDH_Fr dépose plainte contre Apple et son assistant vocal “Siri” pour violation de la vie privée, traitement illicite des données personnelles et pratique commerciale trompeuse. Pour lire l’enquête de Stéphane Pair à lire dans son intégralité pic.twitter.com/3MqY9b5P00February 14, 2025 Talking to a French TV channel, LDH president Nathalie Tehio said the complaint focuses on two main offenses: the invasion of privacy through recordings made without individuals’ consent, and the violation of EU personal data protection law. “It’s not just spied on, it’s recorded. There is listening, recording, and even sending,” said Tehio. “There is recording without people’s knowledge. This is an infraction. On the other hand, there is a violation of the GDPR, that is to say, the fact that we have not given our informed consent for this aspiration of personal data. These are two crimes.” Contacted by TechRadar, an Apple spokesperson pointed out how the French case is only a privacy complaint at the time of writing and no investigation has been opened yet. Apple also explains it made some changes in 2019 to ensure Siri’s compliance with the company’s privacy commitment. These include no longer retaining audio recordings of Siri interactions. Users can also opt in or opt out of allowing Siri to improve by learning from the audio samples of their requests. As per Apple’s statement published in January 2025, “Apple has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it to anyone for any purpose. We are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private, and will continue to do so.” What’s next? Whether the LDH complaint will open up a wider investigation into Apple’s data handling practices is too early to know for certain. As mentioned earlier, however, Apple is currently dealing with similar issues back home. The California class action lawsuit, Lopez et al v. Apple Inc, accuses Siri of disclosing private conversations to advertisers. Despite not confirming such allegations, Apple decided to settle for $95 million “to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019,” a company spokesperson told TechRadar at the time. Considering that, as research from one of the best VPN providers Proton VPN shows, Big Tech needed less than three weeks this year to pay off over $8 billion in 2024 fines, the California lawsuit’s settlement seems to be set to to pile up among the costs of doing business rather than having a real impact. Source link #Siri #break #law #Apples #latest #privacy #complaint #France #doesnt #bode Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  24. Pelican Press
    2 Auto Stocks to Let Go and 1 Worth Buying for the Long Haul 2 Auto Stocks to Let Go and 1 Worth Buying for the Long Haul Most investors fall into what’s called “Indicator purgatory,” where they rely heavily on indicators and chart patterns to tell them where to start buying and selling in the market. However, there comes a point in the economic cycle, such as today, when those strategies become too crowded, and most participants collectively look at the same set of indicators all at once. This is when professional money managers and traders start to zoom out to generate the best ideas, the ones that earn them the big bucks, so to speak. One simple way they achieve this is by considering economic data as a whole, such as the recently released retail sales data, which, despite a contraction, still shows investors a massive opportunity to adjust their portfolios. While there are dozens of ideas to be had within this report, today’s focus is on the automotive sector. Particularly, why investors should consider selling or avoiding names like O’Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ:) and AutoZone Inc (NYSE:) while also looking to buy the heavy discounts in Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:) as fantastic risk-to-reward setup based on fundamentals. Not a Great Month in Auto Parts Looking at the latest release in retail sales data can shine a brighter light on the reality of the market (and the economy) today. While auto parts are still leading the way with a 6.4% annual growth rate, zooming in could show a potential downside to some of the overextended stocks in the space. This stems from the fact that auto parts sales contracted up to 2.8% over the past month, showing a potential slowdown and retreat from their bullish momentum. However, it is still too early for investors to decide whether this will become a long-term theme. Especially now that new car prices and financing rates are not the most favorable for buyers, this could lead them to the used car market or to simply maintain the car they currently have. Of course, this could create a strong tailwind for auto parts demand, but there’s a risk that it won’t be as aggressive as some think. Cutting O’Reilly and AutoZone out of a portfolio might be beneficial from a risk management perspective, despite what Wall Street analyst ratings might suggest. O’Reilly and AutoZone trade within 95% of their 52-week highs, while Advance Auto Parts only trades at 54%. Additionally, macroeconomic headwinds such as persistent inflation and weakening consumer sentiment could put further pressure on discretionary spending, even for vehicle maintenance. If sales continue to soften, valuations for these stocks could come under scrutiny, making it even more critical for investors to assess their exposure in the sector. Better Reward, Lower Risk in Advance Auto Parts More than that, investors can look to the valuation multiples inherent in these stocks, such as the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which also favors Advance Auto Parts from a risk-to-reward perspective. By trading at only 15.6x forward P/E, Advance Auto Parts offers a steep discount to O’Reilly’s 26.2x and AutoZone’s 20.0x. That’s not all. The thesis behind the market shifting to bulk orders to maintain or trade used cars favors Advance Auto Parts and its business model the most, even as it falls out of favor from Wall Street ratings due to bearish momentum. This could be why contrarian analysts have landed on a much more optimistic outlook when it comes to the company’s underlying earnings power. Investors can see that through the forecast for up to $0.96 in earnings per share (EPS) for Advance Auto Parts in the next 12 months, a massive jump from today’s net loss of $0.04 per share. With this in mind, it becomes clear that Advance Auto Parts is superior to the flattish forecasts in O’Reilly or the single-digit percentage increase in AutoZone. Investors need to remember that analysts will guard their jobs and reputations when rating these stocks, which is why they might have leaned on boosting AutoZone and O’Reilly rather than Advance Auto Parts when it comes to price targets, but that doesn’t truly reflect the underlying momentum in these names. With this in mind, and knowing that EPS growth typically drives a stock’s price higher, investors can see that Advance Auto Parts offers a much better setup than its competitors, where the downside is relatively already priced in. This simple setup also explains why up to $550 million in institutional capital made its way into Advance Auto Parts stock over the past quarter alone, led by those at the Vanguard Group and Price T Rowe Associates, each with a stake of $314.2 and $316.2 million, respectively. On the other hand, up to $4.04 billion in institutional capital was sold over the past quarter, a potential sign of investors realizing that the stock might be overextended today. For AutoZone, those from the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decided to unload up to 1.4% of their holdings in AutoZone stock as of February, another sign of lost confidence in these extended names, adding to the optimism in Advance Auto Parts stock. Original Post Source link #Auto #Stocks #Worth #Buying #Long #Haul Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
  25. Pelican Press
    James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon The James Bond film franchise will no longer be controlled by the Broccoli dynasty, after long-serving masterminds Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson announced they are stepping down. The Bond films were launched by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli in 1962, before his daughter and stepson took over. The pair will now give creative control to Amazon MGM Studios, which was formed when Amazon bought Bond’s parent studio in 2022. The new deal comes after mounting speculation about the fate of the British spy, four years after his last outing in No Time to Die, which was also Daniel Craig’s final appearance in the role. A statement said Broccoli and Wilson will “remain co-owners of the franchise” as part of a new joint venture but Amazon MGM Studios “will gain creative control”. Wilson, 83, said: “With my 007 career spanning nearly 60 incredible years, I am stepping back from producing the James Bond films to focus on art and charitable projects. “Therefore, Barbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.” Broccoli, 64, added: “My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father, producer Cubby Broccoli. “I have had the honour of working closely with four of the tremendously talented actors who have played 007 and thousands of wonderful artists within the industry. “With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the films, I feel it is time to focus on my other projects.” Source link #James #Bonds #longserving #producers #give #control #Amazon Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

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