Author: 5hspx

WASHINGTON, DC — Five railroads recently applied for special exemptions to operate trains without the monitoring of Positive Train Control (PTC), a mandated safety technology, but the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rejected the applications, in part due to union opposition.“Our opposition was based on our determination to protect our members and the public from the risks associated with running trains without PTC,” explained Greg Hines, SMART-TD’s national legislative director.Class I carriers BNSF and Norfolk Southern, as well as passenger carriers South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, Caltrain and New Mexico Rail Runner Express, requested waivers. Railroads often request waivers from important…

Whether that means pouring beer in a pub in the summer or working as a holiday representative in a resort near the Mediterranean, we want to hear from young people in Ireland about what seasonal work opportunities are currently available on the continent.If you're under 25 and from Ireland, we'd love to hear from you. Let us know if you've experienced this in recent years and what it was like. Where did you work, what kind of work did you do? Do you have many friends who have experienced it?Have you heard from your siblings or relatives about whether there…

The European Union created the Digital Services Act of 2023 to force digital platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram to fight disinformation, online extremism, and outright fraud. But when France arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov, it was unable to prosecute under this landmark law. The far-reaching DSA represents a significant shift from unbridled internet freedom to tightly regulatory oversight of social media, but several months after it came into force, the difficulty of balancing freedom of expression with government oversight has become clear. Big question marks remain over how the DSA will work, how it will be enforced, and…

Google is again allowing users to generate images of people through its Gemini AI chatbot after it pulled the feature earlier this year following reports of racially diverse Nazis and other historically inaccurate images. In an announcement, Google said it would be rolling out an early access version of the feature to English Gemini Advanced, Business, and Enterprise users “in the coming days.”The upgrade is powered by Imagen 3, the latest version of Google's AI text-to-image generation tool. Google quietly released Imagen 3 through its AI Test Kitchen earlier this month, but it's now rolling out to Gemini in all…

Google has announced that Gemini, its AI tool to rival ChatGPT, now supports AI-generated images of people. The feature had been available on Gemini for some time but was disabled by Google in February after users quickly discovered they could use the tech giant's AI tool to create disturbing images, with Google claiming it had implemented strict guardrails to prevent abuse.In addition to this news, the search engine giant said it will roll out customized Gems, a new feature announced at Google I/O. See: Gemini Live: I used it before you, and it's currently the biggest threat to ChatGPT Gemini…

ChatGPT has already wreaked havoc in classrooms and changed how teachers approach homework creation since OpenAI made its generative AI chatbot publicly available in late 2022. School administrators scrambled to detect AI-generated essays, while students instead frantically searched for ways to hide their synthetic writing. But by focusing on writing assignments, educators have allowed another big shift to occur on the periphery: students are now more frequently using AI to complete their math homework, too.High school and college students across the country are now trying out free smartphone apps that use generative AI to help them solve their math homework.…

The theme of the meeting is “A Time for Hope: The Church's Role in Overcoming War and Conflict.” Bedford Strom's opening remarks touched on persistent barriers to peace and how prayer is the most powerful force for spreading compassion. “I very much welcome the choice of this conference to focus specifically on war and violent conflict,” he said. “The most persistent barriers to the path to peace are the walls we build to limit our sympathies to our own groups.” Bedford Strom cited more prayer as the most powerful force for expanding our empathy. “As Christians and as churches, our…

Bharti Enterprises, the India-based conglomerate led by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, has agreed to buy a 24.5% stake in BT Group from Patrick Dry's Altice. BT shares rose 6.4% at the start of trading.Bharti said it had entered into a binding agreement with Altice to acquire a 10 percent stake in BT immediately, with the remainder “subject to receipt of appropriate regulatory approvals”.Bharti said it supports BT's management and strategy and is not making a bid for the whole company. The company did not disclose the value of its stake. At Friday's closing price, its 24.5% stake in Altice was…

Dive Overview: Boston Scientific announced Tuesday that it has received CE Mark for its latest transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) technology. The device, called the Acurate Prime, is an improved version of Boston Scientific's older Neo2 valve system. Changes include adding a larger valve size, which company executives say will open up 25 percent of the market that the Neo2 does not address. Boston Scientific has not yet approved the Neo2 or Prime in the U.S. The company has abandoned plans to seek approval this year as it waits for a year of clinical trial results. Dive Insights: Boston Scientific…

A white robot called Tianyi stands alongside a silver-and-black Tiangong 1.2 MAX robot during the five-day World Robot Congress 2024 in Beijing on August 22, 2024. Tianyi is 163cm tall and, as a service robot, can identify emotions and interact with people. Compared to the previous version, the 1.1 PRO, the Tiangong 1.2 MAX, which is 173cm tall, can carry heavier loads and walk faster and further. Photo: VCGChina accounts for the largest number of clusters among the world's top 100 science and technology clusters for the second consecutive year, according to early release of the 2024 Global Innovation Index…