Techlife News #533

More than 80 fact checking organizations are calling on YouTube to address what they say is rampant misinformation on the platform. In a letter to CEO Susan Wojcicki published Wednesday, the groups say the Google-owned video platform is “one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide.” YouTube’s efforts to address the problem, they say, are proving insufficient. “What we do not see is much effort by YouTube to implement policies that address the problem,” the letter says. “On the contrary, YouTube is allowing its platform to be weaponized by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others, and to organize and fundraise themselves.” The problem, these groups said, is especially rampant in non-English speaking countries and the global south. The fact checkers are all members of the International Fact Checking Network and…

Amazon plans to open a new warehouse in central Indiana this year that the online retail giant says will bring hundreds of new jobs to the area. Amazon is leasing the 510,000-square-foot (47,380-square-meter) warehouse along Interstate 65 in Franklin, about 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) south of Indianapolis. The Seattle-based company said Wednesday in a news release that the new sorting and shipping warehouse will bring operations close to area customers and create “hundreds” of jobs in Franklin. Mayor Steve Barnett said the exact number of expected jobs has not yet been shared with the city, the Daily Journal reported. City officials said the warehouse will receive inventory and workers will sort and ship orders. The average starting wage will be $18 per hour, said Kyle DeGiulio, regional economic development manager at Amazon, said in…

Delta Air Lines lost $408 million in the final quarter of 2021, dragged down by a COVID-19 surge that rocked the airline in December, and the carrier predicted Thursday that it will suffer one more quarterly loss before travel perks up in spring and summer. CEO Ed Bastian said 8,000 employees have contracted COVID-19 over the last four weeks. Sick workers and winter storms have led to more than 2,200 cancelled flights since Dec. 24. Cancellations have dropped sharply in the past few days, but the spate of spiked flights cost the airline $75 million and the latest outbreak, caused by the omicron variant of the virus, is expected to push the industry’s recovery back by two months. “I don’t think we’re going to see a pickup in bookings or travel during January…

Honda expects its factories to make more vehicles this year despite a computer chip shortage and supply chain troubles. But because it’s starting the year with so few vehicles at dealers, the company expects U.S. sales to fall below last year’s numbers. The company expects U.S. new vehicle prices to ease a bit from the record of more than $46,000 in December as automakers increase production, but Executive Vice President of National Operations Dave Gardner said prices won’t fall to where they were before the pandemic. A shortage of new vehicles brought on by the global chip shortage has forced Honda and other automakers to cut factory production at a time when demand is strong. That has crimped the supply of new vehicles, in some cases driving prices higher than the window…

The Biden administration said it will hold its first offshore wind auction next month, offering nearly 500,000 acres off the coast of New York and New Jersey for wind energy projects that could produce enough electricity to power nearly 2 million homes. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the Feb. 23 auction in the New York Bight region will allow offshore wind developers to bid on six lease areas, the most ever offered in an auction for offshore wind energy projects. “The Biden-Harris administration has made tackling the climate crisis a centerpiece of our agenda, and offshore wind opportunities like the New York Bight present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fight climate change and create good-paying, union jobs in the United States,” Haaland said. The auction comes after the administration announced a flurry of clean…

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the biggest contract manufacturer of processor chips, reported Thursday its quarterly profit rose 16.4% over a year earlier to $6 billion amid surging demand for chips for smartphones and other electronics. Revenue in the final three months of 2021 rose 21.2% to 438.2 billion New Taiwan dollars ($15.8 billion), TSMC announced. Profit was 166.2 billion New Taiwan dollars. TSMC, headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, makes processor chips for major brands including Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. Chipmakers have benefited from demand for next-generation telecoms, high-performance computing and chips for use in products from cars to medical devices. TSMC announced plans last year to invest $100 billion over the next three years in manufacturing and research and development. Most semiconductors used in smartphones, medical equipment, computers and other products are made in Taiwan,…