Techlife News #507

U.S. factory output slid last month as a shortage of computer chips disrupted auto production. Manufacturing production dipped 0.1% in June — third drop in five months, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Overall, industrial prdouction — including output at factories, mines and utilities — rose 0.4% last month after increasing 0.7% in May. Industrial output is up 9.8% from a year earlier. The chip shortage pushed production of cars, trucks and auto parts down 6.6% in June. Excluding autos, industrial production rose 0.4% last month. “The manufacturing sector continues to be hobbled by supply constraints,”said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. “The highest profile example is the struggle by automakers to manage through a chip shortage.” Utility output climbed 2.7% in June as Americans cranked up the air conditioning to battle a heat…

In a medical first, researchers harnessed the brain waves of a paralyzed man unable to speak — and turned what he intended to say into sentences on a computer screen. It will take years of additional research but the study, reported this week, marks an important step toward one day restoring more natural communication for people who can’t talk because of injury or illness. “Most of us take for granted how easily we communicate through speech,” said Dr. Edward Chang, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the work. “It’s exciting to think we’re at the very beginning of a new chapter, a new field” to ease the devastation of patients who lost that ability. Today, people who can’t speak or write because of paralysis have very limited ways…

General Motors is telling owners of some older Chevrolet Bolts to park them outdoors and not to charge them overnight because two of the electric cars caught fire after recall repairs were made. The company said that the request covers 2017 through 2019 Bolts that were part of a group that was recalled earlier due to fires in the batteries. The latest request comes after two Bolts that had gotten recall repairs caught fire, one in Vermont and the other in New Jersey, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said. Owners should take the steps “out of an abundance of caution,” he said. The steps should be continued until GM engineers investigate and develop a repair, he said. The cars should be parked outdoors after charging is complete, GM said in a statement. “We are moving…

Safety regulators are suing Amazon to force it to recall hazardous products sold on its site, including flammable children’s pajamas, faulty carbon monoxide detectors and hair dryers that don’t protect users from getting electrocuted. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which filed the complaint this week, said the online shopping giant stopped selling some of the faulty products. Amazon said in a statement that it was “unclear” why the safety commission filed a complaint when the company already removed the “vast majority” of the hazardous products, notified customers, gave refunds and asked shoppers to get rid of the products themselves. The safety commission said Amazon’s actions were “insufficient” and it wants the company to do more, including issue recalls with the commission and destroy any of the goods sent back by customers. Sen. Richard…

Twitter is disappearing its disappearing tweets, called fleets, after they didn’t catch on. The company began testing tweets that vanish after 24 hours last March in Brazil. Fleets were designed to allay the concerns of new users who might be turned off by the public and permanent nature of normal tweets. “However, we haven’t seen an increase in the amount of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped,” Twitter said in a statement this week. “So as of August 3, Fleets will no longer be available on Twitter.” Kayvon Beykpour, head of consumer product at Twitter, stressed that this is part of how the company works. “(Big) bets are risky and speculative, so by definition a number of them won’t work,” he tweeted. “If we’re not having to wind down features…

TSMC, the biggest contract manufacturer of processor chips for Apple Inc. and other global brands, said Thursday its latest quarterly profit rose 11.2% over a year earlier to $4.8 billion as demand for smartphones and consumer electronics increased. Sales in the three months ending June 30 rose 19.8% to $13.3 billion, said the company, headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc. has said it expects faster growth as next-generation telecoms and computing generates demand for chips. A shift to working remotely in response to the coronavirus pandemic helped propel demand for communications technology. The company, whose customers also include Qualcomm Inc., said in April it plans to invest $100 billion over the next three years to expand manufacturing and research and development. Most semiconductors used in smartphones, medical equipment, computers and other products…