Hey, you. Yeah you. You like listening to things? Listen to this. You now have access to audiobooks through Spotify. You still listening? Listen closely. At the end of the day, there’s really nothing that makes it worth listening to an audiobook on Spotify versus any other app, at least not yet.
Wintermute, one of the most prominent market makers in the cryptocurrency industry, has been hacked. A cybercriminal stole approximately $160 million in various tokens from the company, according to Wintermute’s CEO. However, the company claims it is solvent and still holds twice as much equity as the amount that was…
“This $250 million is the floor,” Andy Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said at a news conference discussing the COVID-19 fraud scheme.
Officials out West are worried that crucial reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin states are going to run dry in only three years if significant water reductions aren’t implemented soon.
Depression and anxiety are completely normal part of life, but they become problems when they inhibit our day-to-day functions. Given a surge in mental health issues across America, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is proposing anxiety screenings for all adults.
40 privacy and racial justice groups signed an open letter demanding MGM Studios cancel Ring Nation, a dystopian reality television show based on security footage captured from Ring home cameras. The groups warned airing the show risks “normalizing and promoting Amazon Ring’s dangerous network of surveillance…
There’s a lot to love about the new iPhone 14 — and also some things that we would have done differently. Here’s the full breakdown.
A common heart and blood pressure drug could see a second act as a treatment for alcohol use disorder, new government-led research this week suggests. The study has found evidence in both rodents and humans that the medication spironolactone can reduce people’s craving for and consumption of alcohol.
The news keeps coming in tabletop gaming! In anticipation of Internationale Spieltage—also known as SPIEL—games are being announced left and right as publishers ramp up to demo in Germany next week. There’s always a lot happening in the hobby, and this week we’ve got some great mecha games, indie duets, and even a…
GM wants to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035, and it’s now trying to nudge the US government toward the same goal. The automaker has teamed up with an advocacy group, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to develop recommended principles for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) car emissions standards from the 2027 model year onward. The guidelines are meant to accelerate EV adoption in a socially conscious way — and, of course, help GM’s bottom line.
The brand wants standards that ensure at least half of new vehicles sold by are zero-emissions by 2030, with a 60 percent reduction in emissions across a lineup compared to 2021. They need to address multiple pollution sources (such as CO2, nitrogen oxides and particles) and be “performance-based,” GM argues. The company also believes there should be an optional pathway to speed up the launch of breakthrough emissions-reducing technology, and that standards should ensure the benefits of reduced pollution apply to everyone (such as vulnerable communities). Not surprisingly, GM hopes for tight coordination between the public and private realms, including complementary investments.
GM and the EDF want a quick decision process. They’d like the standards to be proposed this fall, and completed by fall 2023. The standards should last until 2032 at a minimum, the partners said, but they also hoped the EPA would extend that to 2035.
There might not be much opposition to the basic concept. President Biden already wants half of new vehicles to be emissions-free by 2030, and the EPA reversed Trump-era standards rollbacks in December. Meanwhile, California, Massachusetts and New York State expect to ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 and frequently push for stricter standards than the federal government. The principles and resulting EPA standards would theoretically help politicians reach these targets sooner by encouraging manufacturers to electrify their fleets quickly.
Whether or not GM and the EDF get their way isn’t clear. The EPA isn’t guaranteed to take the principles to heart, and a change of presidents could lead to weaker rules. We’d add that GM has altered its stance on emissions reductions depending on who’s in office. The firm backed the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke waivers letting California set tougher requirements, only to change its tune after Biden won the 2020 election. Still, we wouldn’t expect GM to back out any time soon. The company has staked its future on EVs, and it stands to profit if the market shifts to eco-friendly vehicles a little sooner.
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