SUMMARY

NYC GETS $25M FOR E-BIKE CHARGING STATIONS, SEEKING TO PREVENT DEADLY... 06

WHO WANTS TO BE A GAME SHOW HOST? THESE DAYS, YOU ALREADY HAVE... 16

BBC NEWS EFFORT TRIES TO POPULARIZE NEW REPORTING METHODS... 26

ITALIAN RESEARCHERS REACH THE EDGE OF SPACE, FLYING ABOARD VIRGIN... 34

WANT A CLIMATE-FRIENDLY FLIGHT? IT’S GOING TO TAKE A WHILE AND COST... 42

HIGH-SPEED INTERNET IS A NECESSITY, PRESIDENT BIDEN SAYS, PLEDGING... 54

MACOS SONOMA: ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY AT THE CORE 66

AMAZON WANTS SMALL BUSINESSES TO HELP MAKE DELIVERIES IN RURAL AREAS... 92

YOUR DOORDASH DRIVER? HE’S THE COMPANY’S CO-FOUNDER 100

STELLANTIS IS SIGNING UP EV CHARGING COMPANIES TO ASSEMBLE ITS OWN... 112

STILL HIRING: BIG TECH LAYOFFS GIVE OTHER SECTORS AN OPENING 120

INSIDER Q&A: JOHN RICCITIELLO, CEO OF VIDEO GAME SOFTWARE COMPANY... 132

NASA OPPOSES LITHIUM MINING AT TABLETOP FLAT NEVADA DESERT SITE... 144

IDRIS ELBA USES HIS BRAINS NOT BRAWN IN THE NEW APPLE TV+ SERIES ‘HIJACK’ 154

JENNIFER LAWRENCE IN THE RAUNCHY TEEN COMEDY ‘NO HARD FEELINGS’ 162

DIEGO LUNA TALKS FILMING ‘ANDOR’ FINAL SEASON AND THE PROSPECTS... 174

SUPREME COURT MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT TO CONVICT SOMEONE... 180

SIRIUSXM IS SHUTTING DOWN ITS STITCHER PODCAST APP TO EMPHASIZE... 188

IS TWITTER READY FOR EUROPE’S NEW BIG TECH RULES? EU OFFICIAL SAYS... 194
NYC GETS $25M
FOR E-BIKE
CHARGING
STATIONS,
SEEKING TO
PREVENT DEADLY
BATTERY FIRES

After a series of fires involving faulty e-bike

batteries including a recent blaze that claimed
four lives, New York City officials announced
that they are receiving a $25 million emergency
grant from the federal government to fund
scores of charging stations citywide.

Mayor Eric Adams hopes the stations will

provide a safer way for delivery workers,
who rely on e-bikes to efficiently do their jobs,
to recharge lithium batteries used to power
their bicycles.

06
Image: Bebeto Matthews
07
08
 “This means that residents will no longer need
to charge the e-bikes in their apartments —
what we find to be extremely dangerous,
particularly when you charge them overnight,”
Adams said at a news conference. He was
flanked by the state’s two U.S. senators who
helped secure the funding from the US.
Department of Transportation.

The announcement comes after a lithium ion

battery caught fire and engulfed an e-bike shop
in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The fire and thick
smoke spread to apartments above the shop,
killing four people and injuring three others,
including a responding firefighter.

In the days since, New York City officials sought

the public’s help in cracking down on unsafe
e-bike shops and fire officials issued at least
10 citations to shops for improper handling
of the batteries.

City officials said they’d previously fined the

shop for its e-bike charging practices, though
inspectors reportedly did not check to see if the
store was selling reconditioned batteries on a
recent visit.

Under new guidelines, fire officials will be

directed to respond to complaints about e-bike
batteries within 12 hours, rather than the
previous policy of three days.

New York City has seen over 100 fires and 13

deaths this year linked to e-bikes, more than
double the total number of fatalities from last
year, officials said.

The city has issued nearly 500 summonses

related to e-bikes, which can result in fines
between $1,000 and $5,000.

Image: Bebeto Matthews

09
 Image: Benny Polatseck
10
11
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The batteries can overheat if defective or
improperly charged.

Adams had announced in March that the city

was working to establish charging stations. The
grant would fund an initial 170 charging units in
about 50 locations.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate

Majority Leader, said the charging stations
proved “new hope” to prevent “these fires that
start from shoddy China-made lithium ion
batteries and chargers,” he said during the
press conference.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said she and Schumer

were working on legislation to establish safety
standards for batteries.

“If passed,” she said, “it would take improperly

manufactured batteries off the market.”

13
16
 WHO WANTS
TO BE A GAME
SHOW HOST?
THESE DAYS, YOU
ALREADY HAVE
TO BE FAMOUS

When producers of “Wheel of Fortune” named

Ryan Seacrest — probably the most ubiquitous
man on entertainment television — as its next
host this week, it surprised virtually no one.

The idea that Sony Pictures Television would

appoint someone relatively unknown as the
figurehead of one of its most valuable properties
was far-fetched. But it wasn’t always that way for
a genre of television that minted such celebrities
like late “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, Bob Barker of

17
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“The Price is Right” and current “Wheel of Fortune”
emcee Pat Sajak.

With Sajak’s impending retirement, after the

show’s next season, it’s the end of an era:
Game shows are now the provenance of the
already famous.

WHY IS PAT SAJAK THE LAST OF HIS

BREED?
Back in 1984, a much younger Sajak was
pictured on the cover of TV Guide alongside
Wink Martindale, Monty Hall, Bill Cullen, Jack
Barry and Barker.

Each of the other men was known primarily as

broadcast television game show hosts.

Now, so is Sajak. He has a handful of other entries

on his resume, disc jockey (many of his ilk also got
their start in radio) and television weatherman
among them. But he was 35 years old when he
started hosting “Wheel of Fortune” and will be 77
when he leaves next year. He’ll be forever known
for standing onstage at the wheel, with Vanna
White at the board.

“He’s kind of the last of the old school,” said Adam

Nedeff, author and researcher for the National
Archive of Game Show History at the Strong
National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

Game shows were once shown live, or taped with

hardly any interruptions, so the skill of an experienced
broadcaster used to those conditions was prized,
Nedeff said. Dick Clark would need it when taping 10
episodes of“The 10,000 Pyramid”in a day.

Trebek similarly had a strong pedigree of television

hosting, much of it in Canada, before he became host
of“Jeopardy!”

19
WHERE’S THE PIPELINE NOW?
Game shows were once a mainstay of daytime
broadcast television, the land of the unhip, but
are much less common today. The Game Show
Network and Buzzr exist on cable for aficionados,
but are heavy on reruns of the classics.

And, let’s be honest, who watches, anyway?

To create interest in game shows these days,

producers look for a name. That makes actors,
comics or other celebrities attractive to front
these shows (some of which have nevertheless
been canceled) — people like Drew Carey (“The
Price Is Right”), Howie Mandel (“Deal or No Deal”),
Meredith Vieira (“Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”),
Wayne Brady (“Let’s Make a Deal”), Steve Harvey
(“Family Feud”), Alec Baldwin (“Match Game”),
Michael Strahan (“The $100,000 Pyramid”) and
Mayim Bialik (“Jeopardy!”). Ken Jennings wasn’t an
actor, but any fan of “Jeopardy!” knew who he was.

“We have a generation of stars who grew up

watching game shows,” Nedeff said. “We have just
reached a point where nobody sees any shame in
hosting a game show.”

No one considers a game show low-rent anymore.

AND WHY SHOULD THEY?

Seriously. Trebek would tape two weeks’ worth of
shows over two days. There’s only 52 weeks a year,
and that didn’t count the show’s vacation periods,
for a salary most of us couldn’t conceive of.

Carey replaced Barker on “The Price is Right”

in 2007. Soon, many viewers will know him
as a game show host instead of an actor and
comedian, if they don’t already.

20
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22
Why would he leave?

Such relatively easy money is why a job like

“Wheel of Fortune” is coveted; Whoopi Goldberg
openly campaigned for the job. And it’s behind
the request Jamie Foxx surprised his management
with in the 2010s.

“Years ago, I was telling my agent, I said, ‘Man,

you gotta get a game show,’” Foxx told in 2019.
He succeeded with “Beat Shazam,” on the Fox
network. Foxx got a payday, and Fox got a
bankable star to entice viewers to a new game.

Several game shows air in prime time now. Even

if networks offer a big check to a star like Foxx, it’s
nothing like paying for the writers, directors and
actors of a scripted series (to remind you, said
writers are now on strike).

Oddly enough, Seacrest’s career path resembles

some of the old-time hosts. Merv Griffin,
the legendary game show impresario, even
offered him a job hosting a quiz game show for
kids when Seacrest was only 23, Nedeff said.
Seacrest has experience as a disc jockey, a talk
show host, a New Year’s Eve concertmaster and
as the longtime host of “American Idol,” once
television’s biggest sensation.

Unlike many game show hosts of yesteryear, he’s

already a celebrity in his own right.“Wheel of
Fortune”is an empire Sony needs to protect: not just
a television show, but video games, a casino game, a
live show and an online merchandise store complete
with a“Wheel”umbrella and silver tote bag.

Seacrest, to be sure, is highly unlikely to muck

that up.

The 48-year-old’s reward is a job he can surely count

on as long as he wants to do it.

23
BBC NEWS
EFFORT TRIES
TO POPULARIZE
NEW REPORTING
METHODS, BOOST
TRANSPARENCY

The BBC is more aggressively bringing “open

source” reporting and efforts to expose
disinformation to its day-to-day reporting, a
move that signals a potential shift in journalism’s
embrace of new technology.

The just-announced creation of a new BBC

Verify unit is also an attempt by the news
organization to be more transparent in its
reporting, said Deborah Turness, BBC News
chief executive officer.

Practitioners of open source reporting go

beyond traditional methods of interviews
and examining public records to tell stories by
using tools such as satellite images,

26
27
mobile phone recordings, advanced internet
searches and the like.

They have produced some compelling

investigative reporting, but Turness is looking
for more immediacy. For example, when Russia
claimed a Ukrainian drone tried to attack the
Kremlin, the BBC gathered multiple videos of
explosions in the night sky, and quickly found
video footage to map the actions of police in
recent unrest at a housing complex.

The BBC has been using satellite photos in an

attempt to document planning and movement
by both sides in the Ukraine war.

“We are taking a step out front to lead and

experiment in this space,” Turness said.

Many people active in open source reporting

will be playing close attention to whether the
BBC succeeds, said Alexa Koenig, executive
director of the Human Rights Center at the
University of California at Berkeley’s law school.

“There’s really a need for journalists to start

embracing these new methods of fact-finding
to deepen their day-to-day storytelling,” said
Koenig, who helps train students in their use.

The New York Times and Washington Post

both have strong storytelling units but tend
to concentrate on larger, more exhaustive
investigations — such as the Times’“Day of
Rage” video that reconstructed the Jan. 6, 2021,
Capitol attack.

More recently, both newspapers traced online

records on the movements of a man accused of
leaking classified material, and the Post found
video to illustrate an Israeli raid in a civilian area
of the West Bank this spring.

28
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BBC Verify puts various company efforts —
data and video analysis, fact-checking and
countering disinformation — under one roof,
Turness said.

“When you talk to news consumers, they

will tell you that there is so much chaos and
confusion that they no longer know who to
trust,” said Turness, an NBC News executive
from 2013 to 2021. “I think that’s even worse in
the U.S. market.”

As a result, it’s vital for news organizations to

be very transparent to show how they reach
conclusions, particularly when newer reporting
methods are involved, she said.

While Koenig agreed that’s important, she

said great care needs to be taken to avoid
increasing confusion.

“It may look like transparency on the surface,

but it may actually be obfuscating,” she said.
“People don’t understand how to read
satellite images.”

Turness also wants to emphasize exposing

disinformation, particularly with the rapid
advancement of artificial intelligence.

“We’re going to have to move at the same speed

as the AI technology that’s weaponizing the
bulk of fake news,” she said.

31
34
 ITALIAN
RESEARCHERS
REACH THE EDGE
OF SPACE, FLYING
ABOARD VIRGIN
GALACTIC’S
ROCKET-POWERED
PLANE

35
A team of Italian researchers reached the edge
of space Thursday morning, flying aboard Virgin
Galactic’s rocket-powered plane as the company
prepares for monthly commercial flights.

The flight launched from Spaceport America

in the New Mexico desert, with two Italian Air
Force officers and an engineer with the National
Research Council of Italy focusing on a series
of microgravity experiments during their few
minutes of weightless.

One wore a special suit that measured biometric

data and physiological responses while another
conducted tests using sensors to track heart
rate, brain function and other metrics while in
microgravity. The third studied how certain liquids
and solids mix in that very weak gravity.

Virgin Galactic livestreamed the flight on its

website, showing the moment when the ship
released from its carrier plane and the rocket
was ignited. The entire trip took about 90
minutes, with the plane’s touchdown on the
runway prompting cheers and claps by Virgin
Galactic staff.

With the ship’s copilots, it marked the most

Italians in space at the same time. Col. Walter
Villadei, a space engineer with the Italian Air
Force, celebrated by unfolding an Italian flag
while weightless.

Next up for Virgin Galactic will be the first of

hundreds of ticket holders, many who have been
waiting years for their chance at weightlessness
and to see the curvature of the Earth. Those
commercial flights are expected to begin in
August and will be scheduled monthly, the space
tourism company said.

36
37
38
Virgin Galactic has been working for years to
send paying passengers on short space trips and
in 2021 finally won the federal government’s
approval. The company completed its final test
fight in May.

The Italian research flight was initially scheduled

for the fall of 2021 but Virgin Galactic at the time
said it was forced to push back its timeline due to
a potential defect in a component used in its flight
control system. Then the company spent months
upgrading its rocket ship before resuming testing
in early 2023.

After reaching an altitude of nearly 50,000 feet

(15,000 meters), Virgin Galactic’s space plane is
released from a carrier aircraft and drops for a
moment before igniting its rocket motor. The
rocket shuts off once it reaches space, leaving
passengers weight before the ship then glides
back to the runway at Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic has sold about 800 tickets over

the past decade, with the initial batch going
for $200,000 each. Tickets now cost $450,000
per person.

The company said early fliers have already

received their seat assignments.

39
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42
 WANT A
CLIMATE-FRIENDLY
FLIGHT? IT’S
GOING TO TAKE
A WHILE AND
COST YOU MORE

43
When it comes to flying, going green may cost
you more. And it’s going to take a while for the
strategy to take off.

Sustainability was a hot topic this week at the

Paris Air Show, the world’s largest event for the
aviation industry, which faces increasing pressure
to reduce the climate-changing greenhouse gases
that aircraft spew.

Even the massive orders at the show got

a emissions-reduction spin: Airlines and
manufacturers said the new planes will be more
fuel-efficient than the ones they replace.

But most of those planes will burn conventional,

kerosene-based jet fuel. Startups are working
feverishly on electric-powered aircraft, but they
won’t catch on as quickly as electric vehicles.

“It’s a lot easier to pack a heavy battery into a

vehicle if you don’t have to lift it off the ground,”
said Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at
Columbia University.

That means sustainable aviation fuel has become

the industry’s best hope to achieve its promise
of net zero emissions by 2050. Aviation produces
2% to 3% of worldwide carbon emissions, but its
share is expected to grow as travel increases and
other industries become greener.

Sustainable fuel, however, accounts for just

0.1% of all jet fuel. Made from sources like
used cooking oil and plant waste, SAF can be
blended with conventional jet fuel but costs
much more.

Suppliers are “going to be able to kind of set

the price,” Molly Wilkinson, an American Airlines
vice president, said at the air show. “And we
fear that at that point, that price eventually is

44
45
46
going to trickle down to the passenger in some
form of a ticket price.”

With such a limited supply, critics say airlines

are making overly ambitious promises and
exaggerating how quickly they can ramp up the
use of SAF. The industry even has skeptics: Nearly
one-third of aviation sustainability officers in a GE
Aerospace survey doubt the industry will hit its
net zero goal by 2050.

Delta Air Lines is being sued in U.S. federal court

by critics who say the carrier falsely bills itself as
the world’s first carbon-neutral airline, and that
Delta’s claim rests on carbon offsets that are
largely bogus. The Atlanta-based airline says the
charges are “without legal merit.”

Across the Atlantic, a consumer group known by

its French acronym, BEUC, filed a complaint this
week with the European Union’s executive arm,
accusing 17 airlines of greenwashing.

The group says airlines are misleading consumers

and violating rules on unfair commercial practices
by encouraging customers to pay extra to help
finance development of SAF and offset future
carbon emissions created by flying.

In one case, the group’s researchers found Air

France charging up to 138 euros ($150) for the
green option.

“Sustainable aviation fuels, they are

indeed the biggest technological potential
to decarbonize the aviation sector, but
the main problem ... is that they are not
available,” said Dimitri Vergne, a senior policy
officer at BEUC.

“We know that before the end of the next

decade — at least — they won’t be available

47
48
in massive quantities” and won’t be the main
source of fuel for planes, Vergne added.

Producers say SAF reduces greenhouse gas

emissions by up to 80%, compared with regular
jet fuel, over its life cycle.

Airlines have been talking about becoming

greener for years. They were rattled by the
rise of “flight shaming,” a movement that
encourages people to find less-polluting forms of
transportation — or reduce travel altogether.

The issue gained urgency this year when

European Union negotiators agreed on new rules
requiring airlines to use more sustainable fuel
starting in 2025 and rising sharply in later years.

The United States is pushing incentives instead

of mandates.

A law signed last year by President Joe Biden

will provide tax breaks for developing cleaner jet
fuel, but one of the credits will expire in just two
years. Wilkinson, the American Airlines executive,
said that was too short to entice sustainable fuel
producers and that the credit should be extended
by 10 years or longer.

The International Air Transport Association, an

airline trade group, estimates that SAF could
contribute 65% of the emissions reductions
needed for the industry to hit its 2050 net-
zero goal.

But very few flights are powered by SAF because

of the limited supply and infrastructure.

Just before the Paris Air Show opened, President

Emmanuel Macron announced that France would
contribute 200 million euros ($218 million) toward
a 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) plant to make SAF.

49
Many airlines have touted investments in SAF
producers such as World Energy, which has a plant
in Paramount, California, and Finland’s Neste.

United Airlines plans to triple its use of SAF this

year, to 10 million gallons — but it burned 3.6
billion gallons of fuel last year.

Some see sustainable fuel as a bridge to cleaner

technologies, including larger electric planes
or aircraft powered by hydrogen. But packing
enough power to run a large electric plane would
require a fantastic leap in battery technology.

Hydrogen must be chilled and stored somewhere

— it couldn’t be carried in the wings of today’s
planes, as jet fuel is.

“Hydrogen sounds like a good idea. The problem

is the more you look into the details, the more
you realize it’s an engineering challenge but also
an economics challenge,” Richard Aboulafia of
AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consultancy,
said at the Paris Air Show. “It’s within the realm of
possibility, (but) not for the next few decades.”

50
51
HIGH-SPEED
INTERNET IS
A NECESSITY,
PRESIDENT
BIDEN SAYS,
PLEDGING ALL
US WILL HAVE
ACCESS BY 2030

54
55
56
President Joe Biden on Monday said that high-
speed internet is no longer a luxury but an
“absolute necessity,” as he pledged that every
household in the nation would have access by
2030 using cables made in the U.S.

“These investments will help all Americans,” he

said. “We’re not going to leave anyone behind.”

Biden announced that more than $40 billion

would be distributed across the country to
deliver high-speed internet in places where
there’s either no service, or service is too slow.

“But it’s not enough to have access — you need

affordability and access,” the president said,
adding that his administration is working with
service providers to bring down costs on what is
now a household utility — like water or gas —
but often remains priced at a premium.

With Monday’s announcement, the

administration is launching the second phase
of its “Investing in America” tour. The three-
week blitz of speeches and events is designed
to promote Biden’s previous legislative wins on
infrastructure, the economy and climate change
going into a reelection year. The president
and his advisers believe voters don’t know
enough about his policies heading into his
2024 reelection campaign and that more voters
would back him once they learn more.
Biden’s challenge is that investments in
computer chips and major infrastructure
projects such as rail tunnels can take a decade
to come to fruition. That leaves much of the
messaging focused on grants that will be spent
over time, rather than completed projects.

The internet access funding amounts depended

primarily on the number of unserved locations

57
in each jurisdiction or those locations that
lack access to internet download speeds of at
least 25 megabits per second download and
upload speeds of 3 Mbps. Download speeds
involve retrieving information from the internet,
including streaming movies and TV. Upload
speeds determine how fast information travels
from a computer to the internet, like sending
emails or publishing photos online.

The funding includes more than $1 billion each

for 19 states, with remaining states falling below
that threshold. Allotments range from $100.7
million for Washington, D.C., to $3.3 billion
for Texas.

Biden said more than 35,000 projects are already

funded or underway to lay cable that provides
internet access. Some of those are from $25
billion in initial funding as part of the “American
Rescue Plan.”

“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore,” he

said. “It’s become an absolute necessity.”

More than 7% of the country falls in the

underserved category, according to the Federal
Communications Commission ‘s analysis.

Sen. Joe Manchin, who Biden called out as a

“friend” during the announcement, celebrated
the $1.2 billion West Virginia will receive to
expand service in the rural, mountainous state
of around 1.8 million.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo

joined Manchin at a press conference after
Biden’s announcement and said West Virginia’s
allotment would be enough money to “finally
connect every resident.”

58
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60
“When I say everyone, I mean everyone,” she
said. Raimondo said the reason that hasn’t
happened in the past is because it’s expensive to
lay fiber in a rural or mountainous area.

“And so the internet providers haven’t done

it — it doesn’t make economic sense for them,”
she said. “What we’re saying to them now is,
‘With this money, $1.2 billion to connect about
300,000 folks in West Virginia, it is plenty of
money to get to everyone.’”

Congress approved the Broadband Equity, Access

and Deployment program, along with several
other internet expansion initiatives, through the
infrastructure bill Biden signed in 2021.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department

announced winners of middle mile grants, which
will fund projects that build the midsection of
the infrastructure necessary to extend internet
access to every part of the country.

States have until the end of the year to submit

proposals outlining how they plan to use that
money, which won’t begin to be distributed until
those plans are approved. Once the Commerce
Department signs off on those initial plans,
states can award grants to telecommunications
companies, electric cooperatives and other
providers to expand internet infrastructure.

Under the rules of the program, states must

prioritize connecting predominantly unserved
areas before bolstering service in underserved
areas—which are those without access to
internet speeds of 100 Mbps/20 Mbps—and in
schools, libraries or other community institutions.

Hinging such a large investment on FCC data

has been somewhat controversial. Members

61
of Congress pressed FCC Chairwoman Jessica
Rosenworcel about inaccuracies they said would
negatively impact rural states’ allotments in
particular, and state broadband officials were
concerned about the short timeline to correct
discrepancies in the first version of the map.

The second version of the map, which was

released at the end of May and used for
allotments, reflects the net addition of 1 million
locations, updated data from internet service
providers and the results of more than 3 million
public challenges, Rosenworcel, who in the past
has been a critic of how the FCC’s maps were
developed, said in a May statement.

62
63
 macOS

66
ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY
AT THE CORE

67
Apple’s macOS has long been the beating heart
of its Mac computers, powering seamless user
experiences and delivering innovative features.
With the introduction of macOS Sonoma,
Apple has enabled users to personalize with
widgets, experience new levels of gaming
performance, and gain powerful productivity
for video conferencing and browsing.

68
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70
REDEFINING WIDGETS ON MACOS
Widgets have become an integral part of the
Mac experience, and macOS Sonoma takes them
to the next level. Users can now place widgets
directly on their desktops, providing easy access
to the information and functionalities they need
most. With the widget gallery, finding and adding
widgets is a breeze. These widgets seamlessly
blend with the wallpaper, ensuring users stay
focused on their tasks while enjoying the benefits
of real-time information updates. Continuity,
a feature that enables seamless integration
between Apple devices, also plays a role in
widget personalization. Users can now enjoy
the vast ecosystem of iPhone widgets on their
Mac, expanding the range of options available to
them. Furthermore, widgets become interactive,
allowing users to check off reminders, control
media playback, access home controls, and
perform various tasks directly from their desktops.
This enhanced widget experience empowers
users to get more done efficiently and unlocks
new opportunities.

ELEVATING VIDEO CONFERENCING

Video conferencing has become an essential
tool for communication and collaboration,
and macOS Sonoma brings enhanced features
to make it even more effective. The Presenter
Overlay feature elevates a user’s presence by
displaying them on top of the content they are
sharing, making presentations more engaging
and impactful. Additionally, Reactions allow
users to express their emotions during video
calls by seamlessly adding balloons, confetti,
hearts, and more. These reactions can even be
triggered with a simple hand gesture, adding a

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touch of fun to virtual meetings. The improved
Screen Sharing picker simplifies the process of
sharing apps during video calls. With a single
click, users can select and share the desired
app, facilitating smooth content sharing from
their open windows. These enhancements
make video conferencing on the Mac a more
immersive and interactive experience, fostering
better collaboration among users. The best
part? These features aren’t just limited to
FaceTime - just open your favorite video
conferencing tool and enjoy them!

With the advanced media engine in Apple

silicon, macOS Sonoma introduces a new high-
performance mode for the Screen Sharing app.
This mode enables professionals to access their
content creation workflows remotely, with low-
latency audio, high frame rates, and support
for up to two virtual displays. Whether editing
videos in Final Cut Pro, working with complex
3D assets in Maya, or using other professional

74
tools, users can securely access their workflows
from anywhere. The support for reference color
also enables remote color workflows that were
previously limited to dedicated hardware and
specialized software.

PRIVACY AND PRODUCTIVITY UPDATES

TO SAFARI
Safari, renowned for its speed and
performance, receives significant updates in
macOS Sonoma. Private Browsing, a key privacy
feature, now offers even greater protection
from trackers and potential intruders.
Advanced tracking and fingerprinting
protections go the extra mile to prevent
websites from tracking or identifying users,
ensuring their online privacy. Profiles in Safari
enable users to stay organized by separating
browsing between different topics. This feature
keeps cookies, history, extensions, Tab Groups,
and Favorites separate, providing a cleaner and

75
76
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more streamlined browsing experience. Users
can sign in to the same site with both work
and personal accounts, effortlessly switching
between them as needed. Additionally, Safari
introduces web apps that behave like regular
apps, giving users quick access to their favorite
sites and providing an app-like browsing
experience - another first for the Mac and a
major leap forward.

And it’s not just Safari that has been given

some love: macOS Sonoma brings a visual
treat to Mac users with stunning screen savers.
These screen savers showcase slow-motion
videos of breathtaking locations worldwide,
immersing users in the beauty of places like the
skyline of Hong Kong, the sandstone buttes of
Monument Valley in Arizona, and the rolling
hills of Sonoma in Northern California. Shuffling
through different themes, such as Landscape,
Earth, Underwater, or Cityscape, these screen
savers enhance the experience and seamlessly
transition into the desktop, creating a
captivating visual environment.

GAMING, LEVELED UP
Apple silicon, the powerful chip technology in
Macs, has revolutionized gaming performance
on the platform. macOS Sonoma builds on this
foundation by offering tens of millions of Macs
with Apple silicon the ability to run demanding
games with exceptional performance, long
battery life, and stunning visuals. Developers
continue to leverage Metal 3, Apple’s advanced
graphics API, to bring exciting titles like Stray,
Fort Solis, and more to the Mac. To make game
development on Mac more accessible, Metal
introduces a new game porting toolkit. This

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toolkit eliminates months of upfront work,
allowing developers to quickly assess how
well their existing games could run on Mac.
The simplified process of converting game
shaders and graphics code for Apple silicon
maximizes performance and significantly
reduces development time. macOS Sonoma
introduces Game Mode, an optimization
feature that prioritizes gaming performance
by giving games the highest priority on the
CPU and GPU. Game Mode enhances frame
rates, delivers smoother gameplay, and reduces
audio and input latency. Whether using AirPods
or popular game controllers like those for
Xbox and PlayStation, Mac users can enjoy
an immersive gaming experience with lower
latency. We can’t wait to test these new features
and see which games are ported to the Mac in
the coming years.

81
ENHANCED ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES
macOS Sonoma prioritizes accessibility,
making the Mac even more customizable for
users with different needs. Made for iPhone
hearing devices can now connect to the Mac,
allowing individuals with hearing disabilities
to use them for calls and media consumption.
Nonspeaking users can leverage Live Speech
to type and vocalize their thoughts during
calls and conversations, enabling effective
communication. For users with physical and
motor disabilities, phonetic suggestions appear
when dictating and editing text with Voice
Control. This feature enhances the accuracy
and efficiency of text input. Additionally,
macOS Sonoma introduces improvements for
users with cognitive disabilities, automatically
pausing animated images like GIFs in Messages
and Safari for a more manageable browsing
experience. Users who are blind or low vision
can customize text size across Mac apps and
leverage VoiceOver, Apple’s industry-leading
screen reader, for an inclusive experience.

macOS Sonoma brings numerous additional

features and improvements to enhance
the overall user experience. Streamlined
PDF functionality allows for quick form-
filling with AutoFill and smart recipient
recommendations. Notes now display PDFs
and document scans in full width, facilitating
easy viewing and organization. Siri activation
is simplified, allowing users to activate it
simply by saying “Siri.” Password management

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becomes more convenient with the ability to
create password-sharing groups and autofill
one-time verification codes received in Mail
directly in Safari. The Messages app offers an
all-new stickers experience, improved search,
reply features, group enhancements, and
synchronization with Messages in iCloud.
Reminders include intelligent grocery lists
to streamline weekly shopping, along with
the ability to organize lists into sections
and arrange them horizontally using a new
column view. The Keyboard receives an all-

86
new autocorrect feature, inline completions
for faster sentence completion, and improved
dictation accuracy through advanced speech
recognition. Enhanced privacy and safety
measures include expanded communication
safety for AirDrop, Photos, incoming calls, and
FaceTime messages. Additionally, sensitive
content warning prevents unexpected
exposure to explicit images and videos, with
options to block contacts or seek further
resources for assistance.

87
 Image: Kaitlyn Baker
88
 macOS Sonoma introduces a range of exciting
enhancements to make the Mac experience even more
delightful, productive, and accessible. With interactive
widgets, smarter video conferencing capabilities, major
updates to Safari, stunning new screen savers, improved
gaming performance, enhanced hybrid and remote
workflows, and a wealth of additional features, macOS
Sonoma transforms the way users interact with their Macs.

89
92
 AMAZON WANTS
SMALL BUSINESSES
TO HELP MAKE
DELIVERIES IN
RURAL AREAS
AND BIG CITIES

93
Many small businesses have long relied on
Amazon’s platform and delivery pipeline to
boost their business. Now, Amazon wants to
enlist them to help with deliveries, too.

The e-commerce giant this week officially

launched a program it has been piloting
since 2020 that pays small business owners
to deliver packages during the “last mile” of
delivery to customers’ doorsteps. Axios first
reported the launch.

Amazon has long been working on finding

new ways to deliver packages faster and more
efficiently, including working with third-party
delivery companies, increasing its warehouse
space and making other moves.

The program, called Amazon Hub Delivery, will

operate in 23 states and focus on rural areas and

94
Image: Patrick T. Fallon
95
large, dense cities including Seattle, New York,
Los Angeles, Boston and Hoboken, New Jersey.

The small businesses do not need delivery

experience to apply for the program. But
Amazon said businesses need to be able to make
deliveries daily, deliver packages with existing
staff and vehicles, receive packages daily and
store them in a secure area until delivery.

The exact pay is undisclosed, but Amazon

estimates a small business could earn up to
$27,000 a year by making the deliveries. If a
company delivers 30 packages a day —
what Amazon says they will receive, on
average — including weekends but excluding
major holidays, that works out to about
$2.50 a package.

Amazon said it’s interested in partnering with

florists, coffee shops, clothing boutiques, gas
stations, plumbers and hair salons, but it will
consider other businesses too.

For now, the program will remain small.

Amazon wants to partner with 2,500 small
businesses by end of 2023. There are
more than 33 million small businesses in
the U.S., according to the Small Business
Administration. Interested small businesses can
apply at amazon.com/hubdelivery.

96
97
YOUR DOORDASH
DRIVER? HE’S
THE COMPANY’S
CO-FOUNDER

100
101
On a recent afternoon in San Francisco, a
DoorDash driver was circling the neighborhood
— first in his car, then on foot — trying to find the
restaurant where he needed to pick up two orders.
Finally, he Googled the location and realized
DoorDash’s app sent him to the wrong address.

It’s an error he vowed to fix, and he probably will.

Because that worker is Andy Fang, DoorDash’s
chief technology officer and one of the company’s
three co-founders.

“If it happens with one restaurant, it might actually

be happening with a lot of other restaurants as
well,” Fang said after he retrieved the orders and
settled back into his car. “If we can see why that
happened, maybe we can fix other issues too.”

Fang is one of a growing number of executives

who occasionally do the hourly work that makes
their companies hum. Starbucks’ new CEO,
Laxman Narasimhan, is a trained barista and puts
in a half-day of work at a store each month. Uber
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Lyft CEO David
Risher occasionally shuttle passengers. Air New
Zealand CEO Greg Foran has been spotted serving
drinks and snacks on flights.

Amazon recently re-launched a program called

the Associate Experience Week, which encourages
employees to shadow operations workers for a
week to gain a better understanding of their job.
The program is mandatory for some managers. A1
Garage Door Service, which operates in 16 states,
also encourages job-shadowing and requires all
employees to learn skills outside their immediate
responsibilities. A1 CEO Tommy Mello says the
policy promotes empathy and collaboration.

But few companies have a program as robust as

WeDash, which requires thousands of salaried

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DoorDash employees in the U.S., Canada and
Australia to complete at least four deliveries per
year. Employees are strongly encouraged to make
deliveries monthly. They can use work time to
complete those shifts, and they keep any money
they make.

“We just want to make sure that people who are

working here, who are supporting our audiences,
are understanding what people are going
through,” Fang told.

When they started DoorDash a decade ago, while

they were still students at Stanford, Fang and the
company’s other two co-founders — CEO Tony Xu
and Chief Product Officer Stanley Tang — made
all the deliveries themselves.

“We had to. There was nobody else to do them,”

Fang said. “But what we quickly found out was
that by doing these deliveries ourselves, we
learned a ton of insights into what it actually took
to get these deliveries fulfilled.”

The company started WeDash in 2015 to make

sure every employee was getting those insights.
Fang said there are some exceptions; if an
employee can’t drive, for example, they might visit
merchants or work in the call center.

DoorDash has grown exponentially since then.

In 2022, more than 6 million DoorDash drivers
— all independent contractors — fulfilled 1.7
billion orders worldwide. DoorDash has expanded
beyond restaurant delivery into convenience
stores, groceries, pet stores and pharmacies.

Fang, who makes deliveries for at least an hour

each month — sometimes with Xu and Tang
in tow — says he has made real changes to
DoorDash’s app based on his experiences. When

105
he was on the East Coast recently, he set a time to
make deliveries when he returned to California.
But when he got home, he realized the time he
had set was off by three hours because the app
assumed he was still on the East Coast. He got that
bug fixed.

Another new feature, introduced this week,

arose from employee feedback in WeDash. The
feature, Dash Along the Way, lets drivers specify
where they want to start making deliveries
and then assigns them orders that they can
complete en route.

Fang also experiences drivers’ other frustrations.

The wrong address in the DoorDash app cost him
time delivering orders from Bonchon, a Korean
fried chicken chain. On the afternoon, Fang only
made $15.50 for 51 minutes of work. DoorDash
says that’s lower than the $34 per hour that
California drivers make on average, including tips.

It’s also vastly lower than what Fang pulls in as

CTO. His annual compensation in 2022 totaled
$2.79 million and Forbes pegged his net worth
that same year at $1.1 billion, illustrating the gap
between those at the top of a company and those
at the bottom.

DoorDash and others recently pushed back

against a new rule introduced in New York City
implementing a minimum pay rate for app-based
food delivery workers that could nearly triple their
average earnings in the coming years. DoorDash
said it may pursue legal action.

Still, the company is seeking ways to make drivers’

earnings more reliable. This week, it announced
a new Earn By Time mode, which will let drivers
earn a guaranteed minimum rate for the time they

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spend on a delivery, not including tips. Drivers can
still opt for an Earn Per Offer mode, which is how
they have always been paid.

Fang said he knows there are limits to how

much he can understand the day-to-day work
of the company’s drivers, which is why he also
seeks feedback from a council of drivers and
from other employees.

Denise Rousseau, a professor of organizational

behavior at Carnegie Mellon University, said there
is a lot of value in asking workers to do other
jobs within their company. Having senior leaders
participate, as DoorDash does, sends an even
stronger message.

“If you spend your own time on it, that’s not cheap
talk anymore,” she said. “You are trying to convey,
‘This is the focus of our business and we care.’”

Elizabeth Bitter, who delivers for DoorDash in

Broomfield, Colorado, didn’t know about the
WeDash program but has noticed updates in the
app that make their job easier.

DoorDash’s app used to ask if a delivery was

good or bad, and if the driver felt safe or unsafe,
after every delivery. Bitter appreciated the safety
concerns, but filling out the survey slowed
deliveries, so it was a relief when the app recently
stopped requiring that information. Another
recent update lets drivers unassign themselves
from an order if they have to wait too long at a
restaurant to get it.

“It does make me feel better knowing that the

people I work for are getting to experience
firsthand what it’s like to work for them,” said
Bitter, who makes an average of $20 per hour
on DoorDash.

109
112
 STELLANTIS
IS SIGNING UP
EV CHARGING
COMPANIES TO
ASSEMBLE ITS
OWN NETWORK,
WON’T COMMENT
ON TESLA

Image: Pascal Rossignol

113
Stellantis says it is pulling together a network
of public electric vehicle chargers that could
include Tesla and nearly all of the other chargers
in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

But executives wouldn’t say for certain if the

company will follow Ford and General Motors
and sign up with Tesla’s Supercharger network
or adopt Tesla’s connecting plug.

“We will be addressing that question soon,” said

Ricardo Stamatti, senior vice president of the
automaker’s charging and energy business unit.

Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, is signing

up charging companies now and says its
network will include current Jeep chargers at
trail heads as well as chargers that are part of
dealer networks. It’ll be marketed under the
“Free2move Charge,” brand.

The networks on both continents are to start

late this year and have better pricing than the
standard charging company rates, Stamatti said.
He wouldn’t say how many chargers Stellantis
has lined up or identify which vendors, but said
the network will expand.

There are just over 161,000 charging plugs in

the U.S. and Canada now. Most are not the direct
current fast chargers needed to quickly refill
batteries. Stellantis eventually wants to sign
up 100% of the companies in both countries,
Stamatti said.

In Europe, the company plans to get more than

97% of just under 600,000 plugs in its network
by the end of this year, and 99% next year.

The company will offer an app to gain access to

the chargers and make payments, he said.

114
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 Image: Markus Spiske
116
Stellantis has no fully electric vehicles on sale
in North America, but it will roll out an electric
commercial van this year, followed by a Ram
electric pickup and other vehicles.

Stamatti pointed out that the company now

has plug-in gas-electric hybrids on sale in the
U.S. and Canada that also need to be charged.
Plug-ins can go a relatively short distance
on electric power before the gas-electric
powertrain starts up.

If Stellantis joins Tesla and adopts its connector,

that could force the rest of the auto industry
to make the same move. At present, nearly all
automakers other than Tesla use what is called
a CCS connector developed with the Society of
Automotive Engineers.

117
Tesla’s Superchargers are coveted by other
automakers because the company has more
direct current fast-charging plugs in the U.S.
than any other network, and its stations are in
prime locations along freeway travel corridors.

GM and Ford owners will get access to more

than 12,000 Tesla Supercharger plugs. In the
U.S., Tesla has 1,797 Supercharger stations
and more than 19,000 plugs, according to the
Department of Energy.

ChargePoint has the biggest charging network

in the U.S. with more than 32,000 stations and
55,000 plugs, but most of them are Level 2
chargers that can take up to eight hours to get a
battery up to a full charge.

GM and Ford say they’re not paying Tesla

anything for access to the network, but owners
will pay Tesla to charge just like any other
charging system.
Image: Waldemar Brandt
118
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 Image: Justin Sullivan
120
 STILL HIRING:
BIG TECH
LAYOFFS GIVE
OTHER SECTORS
AN OPENING

For the thousands of workers who’d never

experienced upheaval in the tech sector, the
recent mass layoffs at companies like Google,
Microsoft, Amazon and Meta came as a shock.

Now they are being courted by

long-established employers whose names
aren’t typically synonymous with tech work,
including hotel chains, retailers, investment
firms, railroad companies and even the
Internal Revenue Service.

All of those sectors have signaled on

recruiting platforms that they are still hiring
software engineers, data scientists and

121
 Image: Jeff Chiu
122
cybersecurity specialists despite the layoffs
in Big Tech. It’s a chance for them to level the
playing field against tech giants that have long
had their pick of the top talent with lucrative
compensation, alluring perks and sheer name
recognition.

No employer is making a more aggressive

push than the country’s largest: the federal
government, which is aiming to hire 22,000 tech
workers in fiscal year 2023. Federal agencies
have participated in a series of “Tech to Gov” job
forums targeted in part at laid off workers, hoping
to ease their own chronic labor shortages that
have hindered efforts to strengthen cybersecurity
defenses and modernize the way they deliver
benefits and collect taxes.

“It’s a real opportunity for the federal

government,” said Rob Shriver deputy
director of the U.S. office of Personnel
Management. “We have just about any tech
job that anybody could possibly be interested
in the federal government.”

123
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Federal, state and local government tech job
postings soared 48% in the first three months
of 2023 compared to the same period last
year, according to an analysis by tech trade
group CompTIA of data from Lightcast, a
labor analytics firm. It was a sharp contrast
to the 33% decrease in tech job openings
during that period in the tech industry, and a
31.5% slowdown in such postings across the
economy, according to CompTIA’s figures.

Tech hiring reached a historic high of more

than 4 million in 2022, although hiring began
to fall off in the second half of the year,
according to CompTIA. This year, there have
been about 1.26 million tech postings between
January and May, a level more on par with the
pre-pandemic years, said Tim Herbert, chief
research officer at CompTIA.

To be sure, the competition for tech talent

remains tight, and many companies, including
tech companies, are still hiring — just more
slowly. The unemployment rate for tech workers
is just 2%. But some who lost their jobs in Big
Tech swiftly landed jobs at non-tech firms.

After Hector Garcia, 53, was laid off by Meta’s

Facebook in November, it didn’t take long
for him to be snapped up by Abbott, the
Chicago-based global health company, which
expects to hire hundreds of software engineers,
data architects and cybersecurity analysts over
the next years.

“I decided to go for something that I hadn’t

done before,” said Garcia, a data architect
who said he got offers from tech firms but
was intrigued by the idea of working for a
manufacturer that produces something tangible
in medical devices.

125
 Image: Alex Slitz
126
Jonathan Johnson, CEO of online retailer
Overstock, said that he has seen a 20% increase
in applications for tech job openings in first
quarter compared to a year ago. He also noted
that it’s taking a shorter time to fill a spot
compared to a year ago and that the quality of
applicants has improved.

“There’s less demand and more supply,”

Johnson said.

The layoffs have been especially shocking for

the newest generation of workers who are too
young to remember the burst of the dot-com
bubble in 2000 and “grew up consuming the
apps and services of the big tech brands,” said
Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy
officer for Handshake, a leading career site for
college students and graduates.

“The volatility and layoffs of the past year

rocked that image of stability and growth,”
Cruzvergara said.

During the September 2022-2023 school year,

the share of applications by tech majors to tech
companies fell by 4.4 percentage points on
Handshake, compared to last year. In contrast,
the share of applications by tech majors to
government jobs on the platform grew by 2.5
percentage points.

Tech firms still saw a 46% increase applications

from tech majors, as Handshake received
more applications overall from that group.
But the application to government jobs rose
much faster, tripling from last year. Hospitality
and health care jobs also saw an increase in
applications from tech majors — 18% and 82%,
respectively — and their share of applicants
from that pool remained steady.

127
128
Kevin Monahan, director of Carnegie
Mellon University’s Career and Professional
Development Center, said he first saw a shift
last fall before some of the biggest layoffs. More
students returned from internships saying that
tech companies weren’t extending job offers or
return internships at that time.

“Indirectly, students were able to see the writing

on the wall,” Monahan said.

Ly Na Nguyen, a computer science major

at Columbia University, said she went off
LinkedIn for a couple of weeks at the height
of the layoffs because it was so disheartening
to read posts from people shocked over their
dismissals. Nguyen is happy to be returning to
Amazon this summer for another internship,
which she said has added prestige to her
resume. But overtures from outside Big Tech
has have grabbed her attention.

“Right now, I’m super flexible,” Nguyen said. “I’d

definitely look at a government job.”

In March, young tech workers from several

federal agencies spoke at an online forum on
Handshake about the government’s urgent
need to recruit new talent. Less than 7% of the
federal workforce is under 30.

“No one is necessarily going to strike it rich

working in the government,” said Chris
Kuang, co-founder of the U.S. Digital Corp, a
federal fellowship program for early career
technologists, answering a question about
pay. But he encouraged students to consider
benefits such as pension plans, job stability
and the possibility of working on “any issue
under the sun.”

129
“In this economy, a federal job will be one of the
most secure types out there,” Kuang said.

The government faces plenty of competition

from private sector companies making
similar overtures.

Hotels and restaurants also posted slightly more

tech jobs in the first quarter of 2023 compared
to last year, according to CompTIA figures, as
the sector emerges from the economic turmoil
of the pandemic.

Hilton saw a 152% increase in applications to

internships and full-time jobs from tech majors
on Handshake this school year, compared to the
year prior.

“We do want to demystify the siloed thinking of

‘Hey, if I want to work in tech, I have to go work
at a tech firm,” Hilton Chief Human Resources
Officer Laura Fuentes said at Handshake’s
annual conference of company and higher
education leaders.

130
Image: Alex Slitz
131
132
 INSIDER Q&A:
JOHN RICCITIELLO,
CEO OF
VIDEO GAME
SOFTWARE
COMPANY UNITY,
ON AI AND
GAMING’S FUTURE

Image: David Paul Morris

133
John Riccitiello, the CEO of video game
software company Unity, has seen the video
game industry evolve and shift during his more
than two-decade-long career, beginning in
1997 when he became the head of games giant
Electronic Arts.

Unity Software Inc., was founded in Denmark

and is now based in San Francisco. It’s
working with Apple to help bring games to its
upcoming virtual reality headset, the Vision Pro.
Riccitiello recently spoke about how artificial
intelligence is transforming how video games
are created and played.

134
Image: Daniel Acker
135
136
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST TRENDS
COMING DOWN THE PIKE IN GAMING?
Riccitiello: I think AI will change gaming in a
couple of pretty profound ways. One of them is
it’s going to make making games faster, cheaper
and better. It’s already happening. I mean,
you can use AI already for digital humans and
editing environments and all sorts of things
that make it faster. It’s also going to be
possible to realize experiences that were
never possible before.

Q: CAN YOU GIVE SOME EXAMPLES?

Riccitiello: You know “Call of Duty,” you know
“Grand Theft Auto,” you know “Candy Crush.”
Any of these games, every single thing you see
in that game and every line of dialogue, every
environment, every lighting effect was coded by
somebody anticipating that you would use that.
So the perimeter of the game is the content
that’s been put on the DVD or on the internet
download. There is no more. It is what it is. They
can add to it over time by patching games and
adding levels. “Candy Crush” shipped with like
50 and now it’s what?

A: 10,000 I think.

Riccitiello: So they keep adding to it. But each

one is a contained experience. So, I was involved
in launching “The Sims” in 2000, and it was
wonderful game. And you know how they used
“Simlish,” right? Did you know why? Because
there’s so many things you can do in “The
Sims,” it’s like a crazy number of interactions
you can have because you’re actually creating
characters. Those characters interact with
each other. No writer could ever write all the

137
138
appropriate dialogue for that. It would be as big
as the Library of Congress when you’re done.

Q: I THINK I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE

GOING WITH THIS.
A: You know where I’m going, I’m sure. In the
way that GPT 4 works, you can define the
parameters. A player could do this or the game
studio could do it. The game studio could
allow the player to describe this character or
their motivations, in the same way you write in
prompts, to get dialogue back. And they could
do this for all their characters in advance. And
the AI could spawn in any language you want
— English, Russian, Japanese, French, doesn’t
matter. I think that’s a breakthrough. It is actually
really hard to overstate how important that is.
It’s alive.

Another example would be one of my favorite

games of all time, “Grand Theft Auto.” And a lot
of people like “Red Dead (Redemption)” because
they’re such brilliant, realized worlds. Sam and
Dan Houser, the guys who created it at Take-Two
Rockstar Games, are among the most powerful
creators in history. But, again, every store heist,
everything in the game was something they
conceived as being possible. Now what you
can do is you can create that world and you
can basically create a set of things like “this is
the store,”“this is a criminal or not a criminal,”
or a player can say “that’s a criminal.” And
then anything that you could imagine, any
interaction that would take place between
the store and the criminals is possible, including
getting a job there — I mean anything could
be possible.

139
140
Q: BUT WITHIN GUIDELINES?
A: You wouldn’t have to have guidelines, but
it would just look like a complete mess if you
didn’t have something. Some of those guardrails
enable creativity.

Q: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE

METAVERSE?
A: I always thought the word was loaded and
kind of stupid. I gave a talk a couple of years
ago saying I disallowed people at Unity from
using it because I thought it was going to get
overused and tossed out with the trash. That it
was being used and abused by people for their
own purposes.

But then I defined the metaverse as something

very different than what most people do.

Q: HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?

A: I said it’s the next version of the internet. It’s
3D rather than 2D. It’s persistent rather than
not, it’s real time rather than not. And it’s often
a number of other things. And then I tried to
explain what it wasn’t. It wasn’t about avatars, it
wasn’t about XR. It certainly wasn’t about half-
embodied avatars (which, by the way, was built
on Unity by Meta). I was very happy they were
building it and paying us, I just didn’t think that
was what it was.

We have customers like Hyundai building

the factory of the future, where all the robots
and people are interacting in this large
environment and are controlling that. And the
individuals working in the factory are doing
their jobs on iPhones.

141
It’s not going to be one universal 3D world.
I think it’s more likely to be a set of very
immersive experiences. And a lot of people, I
think, pontificate in a way that I don’t buy, that
“no, no, you’re going to want to be in Amazon,
then walk right into “Call of Duty” and walk right
into the NFL show and then walk right into your
chat. And the thing is, that’s really hard to make
that work. People say well, what if I want to
throw a bomb from “Call of Duty” on a chess set
than I am playing? And you have to ask yourself,
would you really ever want to do that past the
first time you did it?

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143
NASA OPPOSES
LITHIUM MINING
AT TABLETOP
FLAT NEVADA
DESERT SITE
USED TO
CALIBRATE
SATELLITES

144
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146
Environmentalists, tribal leaders and others
have fought for years against lithium mining
ventures in Nevada. Yet opposition to mining
one particular desert tract for the silvery white
metal used in electric car batteries is coming
from unusual quarters: space.

An ancient Nevada lakebed beckons as a vast

source of the coveted element needed to
produce cleaner electric energy and fight global
warming. But NASA says the same site — flat
as a tabletop and undisturbed like none other
in the Western Hemisphere — is indispensable
for calibrating the razor-sharp measurements of
hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead.

At the space agency’s request, the U.S. Bureau

of Land Management has agreed to withdraw
36 square miles (92 square kilometers) of the
eastern Nevada terrain from its inventory
of federal lands open to potential mineral
exploration and mining.

NASA says the long, flat piece of land above the

untapped lithium deposit in Nevada’s Railroad
Valley has been used for nearly three decades to
get measurements just right to keep satellites
and their applications functioning properly.

“No other location in the United States is

suitable for this purpose,” the Bureau of Land
Management concluded in April after receiving
NASA’s input on the tract 250 miles (400
kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas.

The bureau has spent nearly three years

fighting mining challenges of all sorts from
conservationists, tribes, ranchers and others who
want to overturn approval of a huge lithium
mine in the works in northwest Nevada near the
Oregon line.

147
In December, the bureau initiated a review of
plans for another lithium mine conservationists
oppose near the California line where an
endangered desert wildflower grows, about 230
miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Reno.

In Railroad Valley, satellite calculations are critical

to gathering information beamed from space
with widespread applications from weather
forecasting to national security, agricultural
outlooks and natural disasters, according to
NASA, which said the satellites “provide vital and
often time-critical information touching every
aspect of life on Earth.”

That increasingly includes certifying

measurements related to climate change.

Thus the Nevada desert paradox, critics say.

Although lithium is the main ingredient in
batteries for electric vehicles key to reducing
greenhouse gases, in this case the metal is
buried beneath land NASA says must remain
undisturbed to certify the accuracy of satellites
monitoring Earth’s warming atmosphere.

“As our nation becomes ever more impacted

by an evolving and changing environment,
it is critical to have reliable and accurate data
and imagery of our planet,” said Mark Moneza
of Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based satellite
imaging company that has relied on NASA’s
site to calibrate more than 250 of its satellites
since 2016.

A Nevada congressman introduced legislation

earlier this month seeking to revoke the bureau’s
decision to withdraw the land from potential
mining use. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei told a
House subcommittee last week that the decision

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underscores the “hypocrisy” of President Joe
Biden’s administration.

“It is supposedly a goal of the Biden

Administration to boost the development of
renewable energy technology and reduce carbon
in our atmosphere,” Amodei said. “Yet they
support blocking a project to develop the lithium
necessary for their clean energy objectives.”

The Carson City, Nevada, company holding most

of the mining claims, 3 Proton Lithium Inc., had
not submitted any formal project plans in 2021
when NASA requested the land withdrawal.
But the firm claimed to have done extensive
research in anticipation of future plans to extract
the brine-based lithium resource it said is one of
the 10 largest deposits in the world.

Chairman Kevin Moore said the tract’s withdrawal

likely will prevent his energy company from
pumping the “super brine” from about one-third
of its claims there, including the deepest, richest
deposits holding about 60% of the site’s value. He
joined Amodei in testifying last week before the
House Resources Subcommittee on Mining and
Mineral Resources.

“This project is a vital part of transitioning to a

green economy, creating good-paying American
jobs, combating climate change, ending
America’s over-reliance on foreign adversaries
and securing a domestic supply chain for critical
and rare earth minerals,” Moore said.

Other opponents of BLM’s move include James

Ingraffia, founder of the energy exploration
company Lithium Arrow LLC. He told the bureau
in earlier public comments that by establishing
obstacles to Railroad Valley lithium mining, it was
undermining efforts to combat climate change.

151
“Essentially, your actions are boiling down
to, ‘There’s a problem that we want to keep
worrying about but NOT allow to be solved,’“ he
said. “It’s self-contradictory.”

3 Proton Lithium insists its brine-pumping

operations would cause little if any disturbance
to the land’s surface. But NASA doesn’t believe
the risk is worthwhile.

The area’s unchanged nature has allowed

NASA to establish a long record of images of
the undisturbed topography to assist precise
measurement of distances using the travel time
of radio signals and assure “absolute radiometric
calibration” of sensors on board satellites.

“Activities that stand to disrupt the surface

integrity of Railroad Valley would risk making
the site unusable,” Jeremy Eggers, a spokesman
for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, told.

“The ultimate decision was to protect Railroad

Valley, which in turn protects the critical
scientific data that multiple economic sectors
rely on,” he said in an email.

152
153
IDRIS ELBA USES
HIS BRAINS NOT
BRAWN IN THE
NEW APPLE TV+
SERIES ‘HIJACK’

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156
Standing 6-foot-2-inches, Idris Elba’s size helps
to sell his characters. As a detective in “ Luther,”
he often averted protocol and went rogue. On
“The Wire,” he played a shrewd, intimidating
crime boss in the drug world. In the 2022 movie
“ Beast,” he protected his daughters from a
ferocious lion while on holiday in South Africa.
But, in his new Apple TV+ series “ Hijack,” it’s his
mental strength that helps him navigate a crisis,
not his build.

Elba plays Sam, a passenger on a flight from

Dubai to London that turns into a hostage
situation. The first two episodes of “Hijack” are
now available on Apple TV+, with one new
episode released weekly.

“I’m used to being cast as a big man,” said Elba.

“In this situation Sam is vulnerable. He isn’t there
to fight.”

Sam’s strength here is that he works as a

corporate negotiator, and his ability to assess
high-stakes situations like mergers and
acquisitions, serves him well. “It’s all a bit of a
psych game,” he said. “Pitting one against the
other and figuring out what your weak spot is.
And then, of course, being able to make people
feel comfortable, not threatened,”

Space — or lack thereof — was an integral part

of filming. The set was an actual plane which Elba
said “really helped” the look and feel of the scenes.

“We thought about builds and then we thought,

‘What if we just bring a plane in and shoot
within what we’ve got?’” said Elba, who was also
an executive producer on the show. “You’ve
just got the space that you’ve got... It felt a little
bit like a play and the camera could only go so
many places.”

157
158
159
The seven-episode series also unfolds in roughly
the same amount of time it takes to fly from
Dubai to London.

“It’s difficult to to make that happen because you

shoot things out of sequence, but each minute of
every episode is important,” said Elba. The show
cuts between what’s happening in the air and on
the ground as officials try to piece together what
they’re dealing with and how to react.

“It just made sense to get these real time

decisions as a way to propel the narrative
forward rather than sort of jump out of time
sequence,” said Elba, adding that the two
perspectives are “really reflective of each other
the whole time.”

“It was very intense,” added Archie Panjabi, who

plays a counter-terrorism official. “As the series
progresses, the tension multiplies and so did
the number of people in the room.” In the end,
Panjabi says there was a feeling of resolution
that was freeing. “I should tell people I spent six
hours on screen saving your butt,” she tells Elba
to laughter.

Elba felt his own kind of relief at the end of six

months of filming, in part because his adrenaline
was often running high even between scenes.

“You stay keyed up. You go to your trailer or

whatever, chill out, but you can’t undo your
mindset. Your body does not know it’s acting.”

160
161
JENNIFER
LAWRENCE IN
THE RAUNCHY
TEEN COMEDY
‘NO HARD
FEELINGS’

162
163
In a saner world, we would have already had a
dozen Jennifer Lawrence comedies.

When aliens arrive they will surely go directly to

IMDB to survey her filmography and wonder why
one of Hollywood’s funniest and most naturally
charismatic stars spent the first decade of her
career in dystopias, action movies and whatever it
is you call “Mother!”

As if to make up for lost time, Lawrence has in

“No Hard Feelings” made the kind of R-rated teen
comedy that has usually launched young actors.
She plays a 32-year-old Montauk Uber driver who,
desperate for money after her car is towed, is
hired by the wealthy parents (Matthew Broderick,
Laura Benanti) of a timid and sheltered 19-year-
old (newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman) to take his
virginity before he heads off to Princeton.

We’ve, of course, had plenty of movies about

teenagers trying to get laid for the first time. But
“No Hard Feelings,” directed and co-written by
Gene Stupnitsky, may be the first in which the
teen in question has seemingly no desire to do so.
He’s heterosexual, his parents are sure based on
his browsing history.

But when Maddie Barker (Lawrence) turns up in

a tight pink dress and heels at the Long Island
animal shelter Percy (Feldman) works at, he
responds mostly with prickliness and fear to
her come-ons. The encounter ends with Percy
spraying Maddie with mace.

Now, a 19-year-old rejecting Jennifer Lawrence

like this is potentially a good way to sever any
possible connection the audience has with one
of your main characters. It’s like having him
smack a child. Some things are unforgiveable.
Maddie and Percy go on a series of increasingly

164
No Hard Feelings Clip – Long Island Iced Tea

165
 No Hard Feelings – Official Red Band Trailer

166
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168
intimate dates, and Percy vows to eventually
“put out.”

The basis of “No Hard Feelings,” all around, is

fairly untenable. Even less believable than Percy’s
response to Maddie is her involvement in this
scheme in the first place. In the movie’s opening
scenes, her car is towed away by a ghosted ex-
boyfriend (Ebon Moss-Bachrach of “The Bear”).
In the uber-rich environs of Montauk, Maddie is
trying to hold onto her house — the one she grew
up in — while foreclosure lurks.

Maddie, forced to rollerblade to her bartending

job, may be financially desperate. But, say what
you will about the gig economy, it offers plenty of
alternatives to earning money besides sleeping
with teenagers who cringe when the restaurant
doesn’t have Pepsi.

And yet, “No Hard Feelings” works better than

it ought to. The preposterousness of the set-up
is, naturally, part of the joke. Feldman, who here
resembles the awkward Linguini of “Ratatouille”
brought to life, brings more sensitivity to the role
than you would expect, and flashes of good comic
timing. So uncomfortable is he on their dates that
at the sound of a break in a nearby game of pool,
he jumps like a frightened cat. Skinny dipping in
the ocean, he doggy paddles.

And while the role forces Lawrence into

raunchy situations that could easily be said
to be beneath her, “No Hard Feelings” gives
her plenty of room to showcase her talent
at upending traditional ideas of Hollywood
glamour. At every moment, she delights
in undercutting her own sexiness; it’s not
every A-lister who’s willing to film a beach
brawl in the nude. Lawrence — Hollywood

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 No Hard Feelings – Official Red Band Trailer #2

170
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screenwriters take note — is more at home
parodying the sex bomb than being one.

Yet while “No Hard Feelings” finally gives Lawrence

(also an executive producer) a platform for some
of the slapstick humor she’s so good at, it also feels
like she’s been inserted into the framework of a
quite male coming-of-age rom-com/fantasy. Big-
screen comedies are dishearteningly few and far
between these days, so it’s temping to applaud
that “No Hard Feelings,” which opens in theaters
Friday, simply exists.

Stupnitsky’s “Good Boys” cleverly shrunk a

familiar genre — the house-party movie — into
an R-rated romp for sixth-graders. But “No Hard
Feelings” can feel stuck in adolescence. There are
times here where you’re glad Lawrence is at least
getting to act with adults. (Natalie Morales and
Scott MacArthur are good as Maddie’s friends.)
Lawrence could have easily carried a comedy
that’s just on Maddie’s level, without the amateur-
escort-for-a-kid storyline.

“No Hard Feelings” does, though, smartly dig into

a generation gap in inverting the genre’s standard
beats. Percy — and many of his classmates — are
depicted as too tethered to their phones and
too delicate to perceived offenses. In one scene,
Maddie tears down the upstairs hall of a high-
school party. Behind every door, there are kids not
making out but calmly texting or playing video
games — a portrait of Gen Z with plenty of basis
in fact. Incredulous, Maddie exclaims: “Doesn’t
anyone f—- anymore?”

“No Hard Feelings,” a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion

Picture Association for sexual content, language, some graphic
nudity and brief drug use. Running time: 103 minutes. Two and a half
stars out of four.

173
 DIEGO LUNA
TALKS FILMING
‘ANDOR’ FINAL
SEASON AND THE
PROSPECTS FOR
LATINO ACTORS IN
THE EMMYS RACE

174
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Diego Luna has mixed emotions about the
looming end of his Star Wars series “Andor.”

“I am very excited filming, all the time I feel that

we are approaching the end and, therefore, the
process is lived with a certain melancholy,” the
Mexican actor said in a recent interview by video
call during a break in shoots in Great Britain for the
acclaimed series’ second season.

Luna knew the series, about a Rebel spy

introduced to fans in 2016’s “Rogue One,” was
meant to last only two seasons. But he’s not
looking forward to the end.

“There is also an inevitable part of saying how sad

it is to leave this team, to leave this dynamic, to
leave this time living here,” he said.

The show has taken a thriller approach to telling

the backstory of Cassian Andor, a thief-turned-spy
for the rebels resisting the brutal Galactic Empire
of the original “Star Wars” trilogy.

Luna’s portrayal of Andor’s survive-at-all-costs

ethos has made placed him on many shortlists
for a drama series actor Emmy nomination. If it
happens, he would be the first Latino actor to get
an Emmy nom in the category in nearly 30 years;
Puerto Rican star Jimmy Smits was the last actor
to compete in the category in 1995 for his role in
“NYPD Blue.”

There are other possible contenders: Pedro

Pascal for “The Last of Us,” Jenna Ortega for
“Wednesday” and Selena Gomez for the
comedy series “Only Murders in the Building.”
While Luna is happy he’s in the mix, the long
drought for Latin actors is troubling.

“What makes me sad is the fact, the fact that the

last nomination for a Latino actor in this category

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was so many years ago, it is very absurd knowing
the number of interesting stories that have
been told, the number of actors who have done
memorable jobs,” he said. “But it’s also exciting to
know that I’m not the only one and that makes me
think that good things are coming for people who
look like me, who come from where I come from.”

For now, Luna focuses on “what has already

happened”, including the positive reception that
“Andor” has received.

Created and produced by Tony Gilroy, “Andor” has

received nominations for honors at the BAFTAs,
Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards and
numerous others. It’s a rare achievement for a sci-fi
series, which generally do not find themselves in
the main categories at shows like the Emmys.

“There are many prejudices in some way with

science fiction cinema and with ‘Andor’ very
beautiful things have happened,” Luna said. “It’s
very nice to see that for the team, the people who
do this, the people in the industry are celebrating
them and the series.”

When asked if there will be more action or if the

second season, which will arrive in August 2024,
will be darker, Luna stressed that the series lives in
the middle of both forces.

“It’s the balance that makes this series stick,” he

said. “I think that if something characterizes this
series, it is the depth it has in the portrait of its
characters. Being the last season, you got to follow
the path of all these characters that you met in the
first, and well, many of them are not in ‘Rogue One’
and the stories have to be (brought) to an end.”

179
SUPREME COURT
MAKES IT MORE
DIFFICULT
TO CONVICT
SOMEONE
OF MAKING
A THREAT

180
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182
The Supreme Court ruled this week to make it
more difficult to convict a person of making a
violent threat, including against the president or
other elected officials.

The Biden administration had warned that the

internet and social media have expanded the
number and kinds of threats in recent years,
including online harassment, intimidation and
stalking. And they warned the case could affect
the ability to prosecute threats against public
officials, which have increased in recent years.

The high court was ruling in a case that involves a

man who was sentenced to more than four years
in prison in Colorado for sending threatening
Facebook messages. The man’s lawyers had
argued that he suffers from mental illness and
never intended his messages to be threatening.

The question for the court was whether

prosecutors must show that a person being
prosecuted for making a threat knew their
behavior was threatening or whether
prosecutors just have to prove that a reasonable
person would see it as threatening.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a majority of the

court that prosecutors have to show that “the
defendant had some subjective understanding
of the threatening nature of his statements.”

“The State must show that the defendant

consciously disregarded a substantial risk
that his communications would be viewed as
threatening violence,” she said.

Seven justices agreed with the outcome. Two

conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Amy
Coney Barrett, dissented.

183
The Biden administration had been among
those arguing for the lower “reasonable
person” standard.

“Threats of violence against public officials in

particular have proliferated in recent years,
including threats against Members of Congress,
judges, local officials, and election workers,” the
Biden administration had noted, saying the case
could affect prosecutions in those cases.

Speech of all kinds is generally protected by

the free speech clause in the Constitution’s First
Amendment but so-called “true threats” are
an exception.

The specific case before the justices involved

Billy Counterman. He contacted a musician
through Facebook in 2010 to ask her if she
would perform in a benefit concert he said he
was organizing. The woman, Coles Whalen,
responded but nothing ever came of it.

Whalen forgot about the exchange, but four

years later, Counterman began sending her
Facebook messages again. He ultimately sent
hundreds of messages including ones that were
rambling and delusional and others that were
quotes and memes. Whalen never responded
and blocked Counterman several times, but he
would just create a new account and continue
sending messages.

Counterman believed Whalen was responding

through other websites and Facebook pages.
Whalen became concerned after Counterman’s
messages — including “You’re not being good
for human relations. Die. Don’t need you.” and
“Was that you in the white Jeep?” — suggested
he was following her in person. Eventually, the
messages were reported to law enforcement

184
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and Counterman was arrested. He was convicted
and lost an appeal.

The justices’ ruling is a victory for Counterman

and sends his case back to lower courts for
another look. In a statement, his attorney John
Elwood said that they are “gratified that the
Supreme Court agreed with Billy Counterman
that the First Amendment requires proof of
mental state before it can imprison a person for
statements that are perceived as threatening.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose

office prosecuted Counterman, said in a
statement that the decision will make it “more
difficult to stop stalkers from tormenting
their victims.”

The case is Counterman v. Colorado, 22-138.

187
SIRIUSXM IS
SHUTTING DOWN
ITS STITCHER
PODCAST APP TO
EMPHASIZE ITS
FLAGSHIP APP

188
189
190
Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut
down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of
August in favor of its own SiriusXM app, part of a
larger effort to emphasize its own brand.

Many of the podcasts featured on Stitcher are

already available on the SiriusXM app, and
all podcasts on Stitcher “can also be found
anywhere else podcasts are distributed,” the
company said. SiriusXM Holdings Ltd. does not
have exclusive podcasts.

The company is sending existing Stitcher users

an offer for a free six-month trial of its platinum
SiriusXM service, which includes the company’s

191
streaming services for music, sports and sports
talk, other talk shows and news.

No layoffs are planned as part of the change.

Stitcher, which SiriusXM acquired in 2020 for
$325 million, has emphasized the simplicity
of its app, noting on its website that it was
“designed for podcasts and nothing else.” Its app
and website had a combined 900,000 unique
visitors as of March, according to Comscore.

SiriusXM plans a revamp of its own app later this

year that will also emphasize ease of use and
price flexibility.

192
193
IS TWITTER
READY FOR
EUROPE’S NEW
BIG TECH RULES?
EU OFFICIAL
SAYS IT HAS
WORK TO DO

194
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196
Twitter needs to do more work to fall in line with
the European Union’s tough new digital rulebook,
a top EU official said after overseeing a “stress
test” of the company’s systems in Silicon Valley.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton said that

he noted the “strong commitment of Twitter to
comply” with the Digital Services Act, sweeping
new standards that the world’s biggest online
platforms all must obey in just two months.

However, “work needs to continue,” he said

in a statement after reviewing the results of
the voluntary test at Twitter’s San Francisco
headquarters with owner Elon Musk and new
CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Breton, who oversees digital policy, is also

meeting other tech bosses in California. He’s the
EU’s point person working to get Big Tech ready
for the new rules, which will force companies
to crack down on hate speech, disinformation
and other harmful and illegal material on
their sites. The law takes effect Aug. 25 for the
biggest platforms.

The Digital Services Act, along with new

regulations in the pipeline for data and artificial
intelligence, has made Brussels a trailblazer in
the growing global movement to clamp down
on tech giants.

The mock exercise tested Twitter’s readiness to

cope with the DSA’s requirements, including
protecting children online and detecting and
mitigating risks like disinformation, under both
normal and extreme situations.

“Twitter is taking the exercise seriously and

has identified the key areas on which it needs
to focus to comply with the DSA,” Breton said,
without providing more details. “With two

197
months to go before the new EU regulation
kicks in, work needs to continue for the systems
to be in place and work effectively and quickly.”

Twitter’s global government affairs team tweeted

that the company is “on track to be ready when
the DSA comes into force.” Yaccarino tweeted that
“Europe is very important to Twitter and we’re
focused on our continued partnership.”

Musk agreed in December to let the EU carry

out the stress test, which the bloc is offering
to all tech companies before the rules take
effect. Breton said other online platforms will
be carrying out their own stress tests but didn’t
name them.

Despite Musk’s claims to the contrary,

independent researchers have found
misinformation — as well as hate speech —
spreading on Twitter since the billionaire Tesla
CEO took over the company last year. Musk
has reinstated notorious election deniers,
overhauled Twitter’s verification system
and gutted much of the staff that had been
responsible for moderating posts.

Last month, Breton warned Twitter that it “can’t

hide” from its obligations after the social media
site abandoned the bloc’s voluntary “code of
practice” on online disinformation, which other
social media platforms have pledged to support.

Combating disinformation will become a legal

requirement under the Digital Services Act.

“If laws are passed, Twitter will obey the law,”

Musk told the France 2 TV channel when asked
about the DSA.

Breton’s agenda included discussions about

the EU’s digital rules and upcoming artificial

198
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intelligence regulations with Meta CEO Mark
Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose
company makes the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.
But a briefing for journalists was canceled.

The DSA is part of a sweeping update to the

EU’s digital rulebook aimed at forcing tech
companies to clean up their platforms and
better protect users online.

For European users of big tech platforms, it will be

easier to report illegal content like hate speech,
and they will get more information on why they
have been recommended certain content.

Violations will incur fines worth up to 6%

of annual global revenue — amounting to
billions of dollars for some tech giants — or
even a ban on operating in the EU, with its with
450 million consumers.

Breton also is meeting Jensen Huang,

CEO of Nvidia, the dominant supplier of
semiconductors used in AI sytems, for talks
on the EU’s Chips Act to boost the continent’s
chipmaking industry.

The EU, meanwhile, is putting the final touches on

its AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of
rules on the emerging technology that has stirred
fascination as well as fears it could violate privacy,
upend jobs, infringe on copyright and more.

Final approval is expected by the end of the

year, but it won’t take effect until two years later.
Breton has been pitching a voluntary “AI Pact” to
help companies get ready for its adoption.

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