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5/28/2023
China - the world's largest automobile exporter
China is
the world's biggest exporter of cars after overtaking Japan in the first three
months of the year.
China exported
1.07 million vehicles in the period, up 58% compared to the first quarter of
2022.
At the same
time Japan's vehicle exports stood at 954,185.
Last year,
China overtook Germany to become the world's second largest car exporter.
According to
China's General Administration of Customs, China exported 3.2 million vehicles
in 2022, compared to Germany's 2.6 million vehicle exports.
The shift away
from fossil fuels has helped fuel the rise of China's motor industry.
First quarter
exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include electric cars, rose by
more than 90%, compared to a year earlier.
Elon Musk's
electric carmaker has a huge manufacturing plant in Shanghai which exports to
regions including Japan and Europe.
Tesla's
'Gigafactory' is currently capable of producing 1.25 million vehicles a year,
and the company is planning to increase capacity.
Last month, it
started making Model Y sport utility vehicles for export to Canada.
Last, year,
Chinese carmakers saw their market share in Russia jump after rivals including
Volkswagen and Toyota quit the country following the invasion of Ukraine.
From BBC (edited)
5/14/2023
UK's smallest house
The country's smallest house - 3 meters tall and 1.8 meters wide - is in the market town of Conwy in north Wales and is run as a tourist attraction by owner Jan Tyley.
For six months in the year, 50, 000 visitors
can pop inside the property, which is too small to be lived in and hard to move
around as it is.
The house has been preserved as it appeared
more than 100 years ago, having one room upstairs and a second on the ground
floor, but no bathroom.
The house itself has been in Jan's family for five generations, according to Jan, the owner.
She said her great, great grandfather bought the house in 1891 in order to rent it. Nine years later the council told him it was too small to be a house and they ordered him to demolish it. However, thanks to the local newspaper editor, the house was saved after he launched a campaign to find the country's smallest house.
When sofa firm Snug, the sofa-in-a-box company, contacted Jan in 2021 to ask if they could try fitting their Small Biggie inside, she accepted the challenge which formed part of the firm's advertising strategy. The mini makeover included a new rug, flowers, picture frames and cushions.
Tourists looked in disbelief as delivery men tried to get the sofa inside, but it took just minutes to fit it inside the house. Then, the sofa was built piece-by-piece.
Luckily, the sofa didn’t look out of place
alongside the other colourful new style touches.
Jan Tyley, the current owner, said: “The
house is over four-centuries old, and I told Snug multiple times 'There’s no
chance a sofa will get in there'. But I was wrong! I’m so happy now. We have
people from all over the world coming to visit, and I’m delighted we can add
another chapter to the house’s story - the year the house got its first ever
sofa.”
Rob Bridgman, CEO and Co-Founder of Snug, said: “Snug can fix the problems that the traditional sofa market can’t, including making sofas that arrive in a box, that can navigate awkward door frames and stairways, and fit into small spaces. The Small Biggie is our latest creation. Where better to put it to the test than in The Smallest House in Great Britain?
You can also watch the video by clicking HERE
Article from Express (edited)
May AI take your order?
Multiple fast food chains are testing artificial intelligence to take drive-thru orders
Days after Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. announced some of their restaurants
will begin using artificial intelligence to take drive-thru orders, Wendy’s
said it will also pilot AI systems.
Wendy’s will use Google Cloud’s AI technology at a company-operated
restaurant near its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, starting in June. The
restaurant chain will use what it learns during the pilot program to expand to
more drive-thrus nationwide.
The technology can understand order requests and can answer frequently
asked questions. Wendy’s noted that there are billions of possible order
combinations available on the Wendy’s menu, but the technology will still allow
customers to fully customize their meals.
Like Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Wendy’s says AI will free up employees to
provide faster, more efficient service.
Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud said "Generative AI is changing
how people interact with brands, and Wendy's integration of Google Cloud's
generative AI technology will set a new standard for great drive-thru
experiences for the quick-service industry."
According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 3.1 million
Americans who work in the fast food industry. The median pay for fast food and
counter workers in 2022 was $13.43 an hour, which is about $20 below what the
median hourly wage is for the general population.
From Scripps News (edited)
A world where you can take AI everywhere - TED2023
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5/01/2023
TikTok now allows 10-minute videos
TikTok users will soon be able to upload 10-minute-long videos. The video platform launched worldwide in 2018 allowing users to create one-minute videos. That length tripled in July 2021 to three minutes, following demand for longer videos in order to be able to incorporate more into one video.
TikTok
says an extension to 10 minutes will allow people to be more creative. A
company spokesperson said: "We're always thinking about new ways to enrich
the TikTok experience”
The new video length will be useful for many users, who often have to upload a video in several parts in order to give a tutorial or share a storytime.
Ironically, as TikTok expands to offer creators and users longer content, its rivals — based on TikTok’s success — are doing the opposite. Instagram launched short-form videos in the form of Reels, YouTube has the aptly-named Shorts, and Snapchat offers calls Spotlight. All these companies are trying to get the formula right.
With the new 10-minute time TikTok will be a bigger rival to YouTube. However, TikTok could lose users who prefer shorter videos. They could switch to other social media platforms, like Instagram's Reels, Snapchat's Spotlight, or YouTube's Shorts.
Shorter
videos are more popular with younger people, while longer videos are more
suited to older people.
Additionally,
the longer videos may increase TikTok's profits as they are "easier to
monetize ". Short videos are one of the reasons for TikTok's huge
popularity. It has more than one billion monthly active users.
You can also watch the video by clicking HERE
Adapted from Dexerto and The Verge
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