Tootfinder

"High gas prices are fuelling demand for electric vehicles as drivers seek to save money"
#Cars #Vehicles #ElectricVehicles

Would switching to an EV save you money as gas prices spike?
“Clean power and electrification combined is what provides the most security,” says Ember analyst Euan Graham.

Oil prices have climbed again amid mounting supply fears after the US struck Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil hub and Donald Trump demanded allies help reopen the strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.8% to $104.98 per barrel during early trading on Monday.
Another weekend of violence across the Middle East compounded concerns over the conflict, and its ramifications for global energy markets.
Trump claimed on Saturday that US strikes had “totally …

A classified Israeli military database ... indicated that of more than 53,000 deaths recorded in Gaza, named Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters accounted for roughly 17%. That suggests the rest, 83%, were civilians. These are not the statistics of a war fought with precision, this is a war where imprecision is the aim.
When reported verification times for AI-assisted targets are measured in seconds, ... the consequences are written in rows of small coffins.

The small town of Festus, Missouri
— a community made up of just under 14,000 people
— has become a focal point over the growing backlash against
AI data centers entering communities across the country.
Following the approval of a $6 billion data center project,
voters removed four of the eight members of the Festus city council,
as well as started a petition to remove the remaining city council members and the mayor, reports Politico.

Small Missouri town ousts half its city council after $6 billion AI data center approval — petition calls for mayor's removal as frustration (and violence) over AI data centers mounts
A lawsuit is also seeking to undo the project's approval.

Source: Anthropic is preparing to release Claude Opus 4.7, along with a new AI-powered tool for designing websites and presentations, as soon as this week (Stephanie Palazzolo/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive…

Exclusive: Anthropic Preps Opus 4.7 Model, AI Design Tool
Anthropic is preparing its next flagship model, Claude Opus 4.7, along with a new AI-powered tool for designing websites and presentations, according to a person with knowledge of the products. Those new products could be released as soon as this week, the person said. News of the upcoming AI design tool sent the share prices of Adobe, Wix and Figma down more than 2% in the house following

On the radio, I hear the German research foundation #DFG defend its recent move to allow #AI in project reviews, just with local setups, just for language clarity – lots of reservations.
I then listen to the most recent episode of Mél’s Data Fix podcast. An anonymous guest (🔥) talks about their daily…

Offloading, with [Anonymous]
For this episode, I interviewed someone who asked to be made anonymous (and voice altered) in order to openly discuss their complicated feelings of regularly offloading work tasks to an AI chatbot.…

Are you planning flying in the coming months? Consider train...
"The executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.
KLM, part of the Air France-KLM group, said on Thursday it would cut 160 flights in the coming month because of high kerosene jet fuel prices."

"Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind"
#Trees #Environment
https://

Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind
Sydney communities may be missing out on crucial tree planting projects intended to combat urban heat, leaving western and eastern parts of Greater Sydney with less protection from extreme heat, a University of Sydney-led study has revealed. In a surprising finding, the researchers found that while Greater Sydney's total tree canopy increased by 4.2% from 1.514 billion square meters to 1.578 billion square meters between 2016 and 2022, this growth was not evenly distributed.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom
has scheduled the special election to fill the House seat vacated by
Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress following sexual assault allegations.
The special election is set for
👉Aug. 18.
Newsom issued a proclamation on Tuesday to start the process for the election

Newsom sets date for special election to fill Swalwell’s House seat
Eric Swalwell resigned at 2 p.m. Tuesday, days after he was first accused of sexually assaulting a former staffer.

Google the price of oil, and you’ll most likely find two widely quoted prices for the commodity, one in the United States, the other in Europe.
These prices, which are constantly changing on electronic markets, suggest that although the war with Iran has made energy a lot more expensive, things are not nearly as bad as they were four years ago, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
But if you needed an actual tanker full of oil — and quickly — it would cost you dearly.
On Tuesday, …

Iran War Drives Deeper Oil Shock Than Prices Reveal
The war with Iran is preventing huge amounts of oil from flowing out of the Persian Gulf, but the prices that many people track don’t fully capture the scale of the disruption.