Every day we wake up, drink some coffee, get ready for work and check on the latest tech. So here’s a handful of stories from around the tech world condensed to fit into that first cup. These are things you need to know before you step foot out of your door (or in front of a webcam) and into the real world this morning.
Apple’s New No-Fee Savings Account Pays Over 4% Interest
Last year, Apple rolled out a savings account feature on its Apple Card service. Now Apple announced it
will offer an option to enroll in an Apple Cash Savings account that will pay interest.
Users who sign up will see their Daily Cash rewards from Apple Card purchases, deposited into a savings account that will earn, currently, 4.15%. Users will also be able to add funds directly to the savings account by linking it directly to a bank account. Funds can also be deposited into savings from Apple Cash balances.
Apple won’t charge any fee for the service and there will be no minimum deposit or balance on the service.
If you’re an Apple Card or Apple Cash user, you can sign up by opening the Wallet app, selecting either
Apple Card or the Daily Cash and following the menu prompts. The whole process takes less than a minute and will set you on the path of the miracles of compounded interest at a solid, no-risk rate of return.
Despite Public Skepticism, Elon Musk is Launching His Own AI Venture
Elon Musk has been on record for over a decade warning of the dangers of artificial intelligence and co-founded the formerly nonprofit OpenAI to ensure the technology would be in the public domain.After Musk left the board, OpenAI went private after accepting billions in funding from Microsoft.
Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting Musk filed in Nevada last month to create a privately-held corporation called X.AI, Inc. Musk is listed as the new entity’s sole director and the filing authorizes an offering of 100 million shares.
The name X.AI appears to refer to Musk’s longtime goal of creating “X, the everything app.” He stated that his acquisition of Twitter was also to further this goal:
An “everything app” would serve as an umbrella service to meet most users’ needs, similar to WeChat or Grab in Asia.
Musk recently bought 10,000 GPUs (graphic processing units) which are required for machine learning and could be used for the X.AI venture.
Panic in Mountain View as Samsung Considers Ditching Google For Bing
As the AI arms race rages, Google has taken an unaccustomed underdog role. This is illustrated by a New York Times report that Samsung is considering replacing Google Search with Microsoft’s Bing on its smartphones.
Google’s contract with Samsung is worth $3 billion annually and the threat it will be replaced has caused panic at Google’s Mountain View headquarters according to messages reviewed by the Times.
To keep up with Bing, Google is racing to integrate AI into its, now old-fashioned, indexing algorithm search engine. The new features are being developed under the project name “Magi” and aimed at personalizing the user’s experience. Presumably, Google will employ user profiles it’s collected with its ubiquitous services.
Google has over 160 engineers working full time on the project, according to the report. The plan is to test the service with a million users and expand that number to 30 million by year’s end.
In competition with Bing and ChatGPT, Google’s recently released AI chatbot, Bard, was widely panned. Even Google CEO Sundar Pichai called it a “souped-up Civic” compared to its competitors.
These 10 North American-Made EVs and Plug-In Hybrids Will Get The $7,500 Tax Credit
Last year’s “Inflation Reduction Act” contained a major change in the IRS Clean Vehicle Tax Credit,
requiring EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to be built and sourced from the US, Mexico and Canada to qualify.
Critics argued the new rules would dramatically reduce the number of EVs qualifying after the effective date of April 18. Confirming that prediction, the EPA has released a list of just 10 models currently qualifying for the full $7,500 credit. They are:
- Cadillac Lyriq
- Chevrolet Bolt
- Chevrolet Bolt EUV
- Chevrolet Silverado EV
- Chevrolet Equinox EV
- Chrysler Pacifica PHEV
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring PHEV
- Tesla Model 3 Performance
- Tesla Model Y
Seven other models which satisfy half the domestically-produced requirement, will qualify for a $3,750 tax credit:
- Ford Escape PHEV
- Ford E-Transit
- Ford Mustang Mach-E
- Jeep Wrangler 4xe
- Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe
- Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring PHEV
- Tesla Model 3 Standard Range
However, leased EVs are not subject to the domestic sourcing requirements and will remain eligible for the full $7,500 credit, undercutting the legislation’s stated goal. Motortrend reports that over 80 percent of EVs are leased.
