Better more storage than LNG terminals?
The consulting company Prognos AG does not expect bottlenecks in the gas supply for the coming winter. Efforts to save could “no longer be proven in January, neither in private households nor in industry and commerce”. However, the mild weather has ensured low gas consumption, write the Prognos analysts in a study for the Bavarian Business Association. The interest group of German gas and hydrogen operators, INES, also expects no problems in completely filling up the gas storage tanks by next winter. However, he suggests building a larger buffer with more gas storage rather than too many new LNG terminals. In this way, the upcoming changes due to the planned climate neutrality of Germany can also be better taken into account.
Chinese Employment in India
Apple wants to become less dependent on China and is having its contract manufacturers such as Foxconn set up one large factory after the next in India. The problem: The working conditions in India currently do not allow the flexibility of working hours known from the People’s Republic. Apple’s solution: Together with Foxconn, the iPhone group is lobbying – and, according to a report in the Financial Times, seems to have already achieved initial success. For example, the Indian state of Karnataka overturned the law for Apple, which allowed a maximum of 9 hours of work at a time. Apple partner Foxconn will be allowed to have people in its factories work around the clock in 12-hour shifts. At the same time, the limit of overtime that can be worked within three months increases from 75 to 145 hours.
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Microsoft is disbanding the AI ethics team
Microsoft has fired a team tasked with ensuring AI products are introduced ethically, responsibly, and sustainably. This is reported by the US magazine Platformer and points out that Microsoft is dissolving the team at the very moment when the US company is investing immense resources in artificial intelligence and seems to be more than one step ahead of the competition. Although Microsoft continues to maintain the “Office for Responsible AI”, the team that has now been dissolved was responsible for ensuring that the principles developed there also found their way into the products.
No more NFTs at Meta
Facebook and Instagram will no longer have NFT features. So-called collectibles should be a kind of currency and a way of monetization for creators. Meta wanted to ride the hype around NFTs. That’s over now. The new focus in terms of monetization is on the reels, the short Tiktok-style videos. In addition, work is continuing on Meta Pay and the options for paying directly via Messenger.
(igr)
