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Category: Technology

The U.S. is in a weak position in the China trade war

The U.S. is in a weak position in the China trade war

Politico reports: The White House says it has the upper hand in its trade war with China. Its actions suggest otherwise. Top administration officials spent the weekend trying to defend a carve-out of consumer electronics from the astronomical 145 percent tariffs it levied on China last week. The carve-out was neither an exemption nor a policy rollback, the White House argued, because those electronics are still subject to a separate 20 percent tariff on China and some electronic components could…

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Tesla accused of hacking odometers to rip off customers

Tesla accused of hacking odometers to rip off customers

Futurism reports: Tesla has been accused of manipulating the odometers in its cars to avoid repair responsibilities and warranty agreements. As The Street reports, a class-action lawsuit filed in February claims that Tesla has been trying to dodge warranty-related obligations by intentionally overstating the distances its vehicles travel. The plaintiff, a man in California who bought a used 2020 Model Y with 36,772 miles, noticed an “abnormal spike in average daily miles driven” — despite a “consistent driving routine” —…

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A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE operatives may have taken sensitive labor data

A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE operatives may have taken sensitive labor data

NPR reports: In the first days of March, a team of advisers from President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the Southeast Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board. The small, independent federal agency investigates and adjudicates complaints about unfair labor practices. It stores reams of potentially sensitive data, from confidential information about employees who want to form unions to proprietary business information. The DOGE employees, who are effectively led by White House adviser and…

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Chinese manufacturing is superior — tariffs won’t be enough to shift production to the U.S.

Chinese manufacturing is superior — tariffs won’t be enough to shift production to the U.S.

Wired reports: Dallas-based small business owner Allen Walton says he just sold out of one of his products, a surveillance camera used by law enforcement and private detectives. That would normally be great news for Walton’s electronics company, SpyGuy, which specializes in gadgets like GPS trackers and hidden camera detectors. But thanks to the Trump administration’s ever-shifting tariff policies, Walton says he doesn’t know if he should replenish his stock. His products are mostly manufactured in southern China, and the…

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China halts critical exports as trade war intensifies

China halts critical exports as trade war intensifies

The New York Times reports: China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies…

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The rise of End Times techno-fascism

The rise of End Times techno-fascism

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor write: The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years, it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters (“seasteading”) or pro-business “freedom cities” such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island. Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel…

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Inside Elon Musk’s gleeful destruction of the government

Inside Elon Musk’s gleeful destruction of the government

Rolling Stone reports: Ben Vizzachero had his dream job, working as a wildlife biologist with the Los Padres National ­Forest in California. He was moving up the ladder, had recently received a positive performance review, and was “making the world a better place,” he says. Yet, over Presidents’ Day weekend in February, Donald Trump’s administration told Vizzachero he was being let go for his “performance.” Vizzachero was one of many thousands of “probationary” federal workers who were baselessly fired by…

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Russian networks flood the Internet with propaganda, aiming to corrupt AI chatbots

Russian networks flood the Internet with propaganda, aiming to corrupt AI chatbots

“Annie Newport” and Nina Jankowicz write: Scientists, policy experts, and artists have been concerned about the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence since before the technology was readily available. With most technological innovations, it’s common to ask whether that invention could be maliciously weaponized, and there has been no shortage of experts warning that AI is being utilized to spread disinformation. Just a little more than two years after the public release of AI language models, there are already documented cases of malign actors using the technology…

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DOGE is getting audited by the Government Accountability Office

DOGE is getting audited by the Government Accountability Office

Wired reports: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is auditing Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The probe, which has been ongoing since March, covers DOGE’s handling of data at several cabinet-level agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration, as well as the US DOGE Service (USDS) itself, according to sources and records reviewed by WIRED. Records show that the GAO—an independent auditing, research, and investigative…

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‘0 to 1939 in 3 seconds’: Why anti-Elon Musk satire is flourishing in Britain

‘0 to 1939 in 3 seconds’: Why anti-Elon Musk satire is flourishing in Britain

The New York Times reports: The mischievous posters began appearing all over London in the past two months. On the side of an East London bus stop, one of them shows Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, emerging from a Tesla’s roof with his hand pointing upward in a straight-armed salute. “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,” the ad reads. “Tesla. The Swasticar.” Another mock ad shows Mr. Musk and President Trump in front of a red Tesla…

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Trump’s new tariff math looks a lot like ChatGPT’s — ‘extraordinary nonsense’

Trump’s new tariff math looks a lot like ChatGPT’s — ‘extraordinary nonsense’

The Verge reports: When President Donald Trump began yesterday’s announcement of the White House’s latest trade policy brandishing a novelty-sized cardboard sign labeled “Reciprocal Tariffs,” the immediate and nearly unanimous response was bafflement. Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports into the US, including from uninhabited islands, plus absurdly high rates on specific countries, supposedly based on “tariffs charged to the USA” — which didn’t match up to other, non-cardboard-sign-based estimates. Stock markets have plummeted and consumers…

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BYD posts robust growth in car sales as it takes on Tesla globally

BYD posts robust growth in car sales as it takes on Tesla globally

CNN reports: Chinese electric vehicle champion BYD has reported a 60% surge in sales in the first quarter of the year as archrival Tesla stumbles. The EV maker based in the southern Chinese megacity of Shenzhen sold just over one million new-energy vehicles in the first three months of 2025 – including battery-powered cars, hybrids and commercial vehicles – according to a CNN calculation based on its latest stock exchange filing. Its sales of pure EVs soared 39% to more…

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Top officials placed on leave after denying DOGE access to federal payroll systems

Top officials placed on leave after denying DOGE access to federal payroll systems

Wired reports: Top career officials at the Department of the Interior (DOI) were placed on administrative leave late last week after declining to immediately give affiliates of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) levels of access to a payroll system that would in theory allow them to, among other things, stop individual Supreme Court justices’ paychecks. The New York Times has reported that these officials include DOI’s chief information and information security officers; sources tell WIRED they also include…

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The Proud Boys and militias come to Elon Musk’s defense

The Proud Boys and militias come to Elon Musk’s defense

Wired reports: Over the weekend, thousands of people joined the “Tesla Takedown” protest movement at the company’s showrooms across the country. At the same time, a much smaller number of Elon Musk supporters turned out at Tesla locations for a counterprotest movement that some participants dubbed “Tesla Shield.” While the protest movement comprises people angered at Elon Musk’s role in the dismantling of federal government agencies, the counterprotest movement that showed up this weekend was peopled mostly by MAGA supporters….

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DOGE plans to rebuild SSA codebase in months, risking benefits and even system collapse

DOGE plans to rebuild SSA codebase in months, risking benefits and even system collapse

Wired reports: The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk. The project is being organized by Elon Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, multiple sources who were not given permission to talk to the media tell…

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BYD is the world’s hottest car company, while for Tesla things go from bad to worse

BYD is the world’s hottest car company, while for Tesla things go from bad to worse

CNN reports: In the world of electric vehicles, there’s a Chinese company outdoing Elon Musk’s Tesla. And it’s just getting started. BYD, the Shenzhen-based Chinese EV champion, eclipsed Tesla in annual sales last year. Last week, it unveiled a revolutionary battery charging technology that it says adds 250 miles of range in five minutes, outpacing Tesla’s Superchargers, which take 15 minutes to add 200 miles. And last month, BYD launched “God’s Eye,” an advanced driver-assistance system rivaling Tesla’s Full Self-Driving…

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