The Biden administration is investing $5 billion to fund electric vehicle chargers over five years. The plan is part of a bipartisan infrastructure package that includes $7.5 billion for EV charging stations. The administration has pledged that half the vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 will be electric or plug-in hybrids.
China's autonomous vehicle industry is seeing a resurgence. The space is seeing more automobile expertise flow in. The industry saw a period of unprecedented acceleration in 2021. Over $8.5 billion was invested in robotaxi startups, self-driving truck developers, lidar makers, smart electric car manufacturers.
Apple launched AirTags in April last year to help track lost items. The small, circular devices can be attached to luggage or keys - anything you could lose. But they can be misused to track people by being hidden in a car or on a personal item. Apple plans to introduce a number of changes to make it harder to misuse them.
Meta has clarified that it's not threatening to pull out of Europe over upcoming data laws. Lawmakers are considering a new rule that requires tech companies to keep the data of European users within the boundaries of the continent. Facebook has more than 309 million daily active users in Europe, and Meta has 427 million monthly active users.
YouTube says it could offer a more social viewing experience for gaming content. YouTube is exploring what proponents call Web3 technologies such as non-fungible tokens. Critics have said scams, copyright theft and other predatory behavior are too common. YouTube said it did not have firm ideas yet but one possibility would be allowing users to watch videos together.
Android 13's first developer preview has just been released. The new features include upgraded theming options and privacy features. Google says it's working with other manufacturers to release the feature more widely. These early previews are meant for developers rather than end users, so it's best to hold off on upgrading until the software is in a more finished state.
Tesla is being sued for alleged racial discrimination and harassment. California regulator claims electric carmaker operates "a racially segregated workplace" Tesla called the lawsuit "misguided" and will ask the court to pause the case. It said it will take other steps to ensure "facts and evidence will be heard"
StaStacy Spikes, the co-founder of MoviePass, says the service will return this summer. The company was recently bought by Spikes after he was ousted from the company in 2018. Helios and Matheson Analytics is the company that bought MoviePass and then blew it up.
Salesforce is planning to release an NFT Cloud, people with knowledge of the matter say. NFTs are unique digital assets stored using blockchain technology. Salesforce could offer a service for artists to create content and release it on a marketplace. The company could also potentially integrate the tool into its own ecosystem, people say.
Disney reported 11.8 million new Disney + subscribers to reach 129.8m subscribers at the end of the holiday quarter. Disney + streaming service added 11.1 million subscribers in the prior quarter. The company reported record income from its theme parks and resorts.