BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Xiaomi: Electric car buyers told they face six-month wait
Just days after Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi launched its first electric vehicle (EV), buyers have been told they may have to wait up to six months for their car to be delivered. Screen grabs on Chinese social media show the firm advising buyers it could take 27 weeks to deliver the SU7 Max. The company previously said pre-orders had hit 88,898 within 24 hours of it starting to take orders on ... Read more
2024-04-01 00:35:52
Could AI take the grind out of accountancy?
Owen Hewitt, is a trainee chartered accountant at accountancy firm haysmacintyre. He's two years into his training with more exams coming up this year. What's unusual about him and his peers, is that they will be the first generation of accountants to use artificial intelligence (AI) right from the beginning of their careers. Mr Hewitt is hoping that AI will take over some of the more tedious p ... Read more
2024-03-28 19:56:04
The US Lawsuit Against Apple Raises Questions About iPhone and Android's Future
It's a debate as old as the smartphone itself: iPhone or Android? You probably made up your mind a long time ago and never looked back. Now a landmark antitrust lawsuit wants to change that, claiming that it should be easier to switch between the world's two largest mobile operating systems. The complaint, brought by the US Department of Justice and 16 state and district attorneys general, accuse ... Read more
2024-03-26 19:30:25
Apple, Meta and Google to be investigated by the EU
The EU has announced investigations into some of the biggest tech firms in the world over uncompetitive practices. Meta, Apple, and Alphabet, which owns Google, are being looked into for potential breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduced in 2022. If they are found to have broken the rules, the firms can face huge fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover. EU antitrust boss Margret ... Read more
2024-03-25 19:16:49
Apple becomes the latest tech giant under siege
To understand how much the US government's new lawsuit strikes at the heart of the identity Apple has forged for itself, let's first consider the firm's fanbase. Apple has a unique position as a tech brand. I've sat through a lot of Apple events in my time, both virtually and in person, and one thing that always makes us journalists raise an eyebrow is the whooping and cheering from the audience ... Read more
2024-03-24 19:51:48
Apple lawsuit: US accuses tech giant of monopolising smartphone market
The US has filed a landmark lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of monopolising the smartphone market and crushing competition. In the legal action, the justice department alleges the company abused its control of the iPhone app store to "lock in" customers and developers. It accuses the firm of taking illegal steps to thwart apps seen as a threat and make rival products les ... Read more
2024-03-22 19:58:44
Biden administration unveils strictest ever US car emission limits to boost EVs
President Joe Biden has announced the strictest regulation on vehicle exhaust emissions ever introduced in the US in a bid to accelerate the auto-industry's shift to electric cars. It includes a goal for 56% of all new US vehicles sold to be electric by 2032 - a huge increase from current levels. In a concession to car plants, the rule was softened from last year's draft. But the Biden administ ... Read more
2024-03-20 20:30:14
I Met a Hologram on an iPhone. It Was Impressive, if Imperfect
Ericsson is intent on making holographic communication an everyday reality. I saw it done using little more than a couple of phones. Not so long ago, video calling your friends and family on the other side of the world with great ease and little expense was a pipe dream. Now it's our everyday reality. On the horizon is a new technology built to upgrade video calls by bringing the people on the ot ... Read more
2024-03-19 19:42:23
Microsoft Copilot Now Has GPT-4 Turbo for Free: What to Know
The advanced artificial intelligence model powering Copilot's Pro tier wasn't free to all until now. Microsoft's artificial intelligence assistant, Copilot, has received an upgrade to its free tier. GPT-4 Turbo, the OpenAI model that powers Copilot Pro, is now available if you use Copilot free. All you need to do is set Copilot to either Creative or Precise mode to gain access to GPT-4 Turbo. If ... Read more
2024-03-18 19:19:38
Siri Could Become More Like Chat-GPT This Year: Here's How
Apple was the first major tech company to launch a voice assistant back in 2011. But a common criticism of Siri is that it's struggled to compete with Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant and, more recently, ChatGPT-powered assistants. If rumors are right, however, Siri is expected to receive a big brain power boost this year, thanks mostly to AI. The integration of large language models, the techn ... Read more
2024-03-17 19:37:37