In the US, increasingly heavy vehicles such as the Ford F-150 are leading to more and more pedestrian deaths in collisions. CC-licensed photo by F. D. Richards on Flickr.
You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam.
There’s another post coming this week at the Social Warming Substack on Friday at 0845 UK time. Free signup.
A selection of 9 links for you. Not pedestrian. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
‘Going back in time’: the schools across Europe banning mobile phones • The Guardian
Ashifa Kassam:
»
Four years after Calvijn College became one of the first schools in the Netherlands to go smartphone-free, it’s no longer an outlier. As students head back into classrooms across mainland Europe, a growing number of them will be forced to leave their mobile phones behind; In France, 200 secondary schools are testing a ban while French-speaking primary schools in Wallonia and Brussels, in Belgium, have moved forward with their own prohibitions. In Hungary, a new decree requires schools to collect students’ phones and smart devices at the start of the day.
Italy and Greece have adopted milder approaches, allowing students to carry their phones with them through the day but barring their use in classrooms.
For those at Calvijn College, the sweeping tide of change is thrilling. From the moment they began requiring students to either leave their phones at home or lock them up for the day, school officials watched as the culture of the school transformed.
“Basically what we had lost, we got back,” said Bakker. “The students playing with each other and talking to each other. And a lot less interruptions in the lessons.”
Other schools across the country began getting in touch, curious about the impact of the ban. In January 2024, the Dutch government entered the debate, urging schools to ban mobile phones, tablets and smartwatches from most secondary school classrooms across the country, The recommendation was recently extended to primary schools.
Late last year, as secondary schools across the Netherlands geared up to follow the recommendations, researchers at Radboud University seized on the chance to take a before and after snapshot of the change.
They polled hundreds of students and parents, as well as dozens of teachers, at two schools with imminent plans to do away with mobile phones on school premises, visiting the schools again three months after the ban was enacted.
About 20% of students reported that they were less distracted once smartphones were off limits, said Loes Pouwels, one of the researchers, while teachers described students as being more attentive and focused on their work in class. “So I think in terms of cognitive functioning, overall it was a positive thing.”
«
Australia thinking of doing the same. Can’t argue that they’re not distracting if you’re trying to work.
unique link to this extract
Goodbye Tinder, hello Strava: have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks? • The Guardian
Chris Stokel-Walker:
»
Singletons looking to shack up with their soulmates online have relied on two key routes in the past decade or so: take your chance on dating apps, or befriend as many mutuals as possible on social media, in the hope that you find the one.
But some have found a third way, using services such as Goodreads and Strava to meet partners with whom they hope to spend the rest of their lives. Those couples proved to be trendsetters. So-called hobby apps – built around activites such as running, reading or movie-going – are having a moment, and not just for love.
It’s all part of a broader movement as people grow tired of the “digital town square” offered on Twitter/X and other social media platforms. At a time when many are abandoning Elon Musk’s social network over his attitude to “free speech” (which some see as “amplifying hate”), competing apps such as Bluesky and Threads are having a resurgence in users.
Whereas some users are switching to Twitter replicas, others are seeking refuge in apps that promise to connect them to people with whom they have common interests. Running app Strava has seen user numbers grow 20% in a year, according to digital market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. That success has led it to add a messaging tool for users to keep in touch, alongside documenting their workouts. Knitting social network Ravelry, which is accessed through a number of third-party apps, has more than 9 million users. Goodreads has clocked up more than 150 million members.
Letterboxd, a film completist’s dream app, where you can tick off the latest movies you’ve seen, and review and rate them, alongside other cinephiles and the occasional famous actor or director, has gone from having 1.8 million users worldwide in March 2020 to more than 14 million users this summer.
«
It’s strange how this stuff comes around. You’re far more likely to find a soulmate in a shared pastime than on a speed dating night or a dating app. And people are now rediscovering that.
unique link to this extract
Ford seeks patent for tech that listens to driver conversations to serve ads • The Record
Suzanne Smalley:
»
Ford Motor Company is seeking a patent for technology that would allow it to tailor in-car advertising by listening to conversations among vehicle occupants, as well as by analyzing a car’s historical location and other data, according to a patent application published late last month.
“In one example, the controller may monitor user dialogue to detect when individuals are in a conversation,” the patent application says. “The conversations can be parsed for keywords or phrases that may indicate where the occupants are traveling to.”
The tech — labeled as “in-vehicle advertisement presentation” — will determine where a car is located, how fast it is traveling, what type of road it is driving on and whether it is in traffic. It also will predict routes, speeds and destinations to customize ads to drivers, the application said.
The system could pull data from “audio signals within the vehicle and/or historical user data, selecting a number of the advertisements to present to the user during the trip,” the patent application said.
By monitoring dialogue between vehicle occupants the ad controller system can determine when to deliver audio versus visual ads, providing ads to drivers as they travel “through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle,” the application said.
«
Whoa whoa whoa. Adverts? In a car?? Based on your conversation??? This is immediately three strikes against Ford.
unique link to this extract
TV news overtaken by digital rivals for first time in UK • FT
Daniel Thomas:
»
Television has ceased to be the main source of news in the UK for the first time since the 1960s as Britons turn increasingly to online news and social media apps, according to research by the media regulator.
Ofcom said on Tuesday that viewing of TV news had continued to fall steeply, with online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok and digital versions of broadcasters now slightly more widely used as a source of news.
In its annual study of audience habits, the watchdog said 71% of adults obtained news online, compared with 70% via TV — a finding it described as “marking a generational shift in the balance of news media”.
The reach of TV news has fallen from 75% last year. More than four-fifths of people between the ages of 16 and 24 obtained their news from social media, Ofcom found.
The report underlines the pressure on more traditional linear broadcasters such as the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 to accelerate moves to digital platforms, which include their own streaming sites as well as social media apps such as TikTok.
Broadcast executives are investing in creating TV and audio content specifically for such digital channels; the BBC, for example, is focused on growing its services such as iPlayer and Sounds. But they also need to cater for the now diminishing number of mainly older people who watch traditional TV.
…TV remained the leading platform for news among older age groups, serving as the main source for 85% of people over 55, compared with only half of 16- to 24-year-olds.
«
Linear TV will have fallen away too. Quite what the future looks like.. is probably some sort of YouTube/TikTok mixup.
unique link to this extract
The US finally takes aim at truck bloat – The Verge
Andrew Hawkins:
»
This week, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stunned safety advocates by proposing new vehicle rules that it says will help reduce pedestrian deaths in America. The new rules appear aimed directly at the trend of increasingly massive SUVs and trucks, which have been shown to be more deadly to pedestrians than smaller and midsize vehicles.
Never in its 50-plus years in existence has the regulator issued new rules for automakers requiring them to change their vehicle designs to better prevent pedestrian fatalities. If enacted, the new rules could change how vehicles are designed in the US — permanently.
“It’s good to see NHTSA acknowledge that a myopic focus on pedestrian detection — which is imperfect — is no substitute for actually regulating car bloat,” said David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and a Verge contributor.
…SUVs and trucks, two of the most popular segments in the US, have become larger and heavier than ever before. In 2023, 31% of new cars in America weighed over 5,000 pounds (2.27 tons), compared to 22% in 2018, according to a recent investigation by The Economist. And with the shift to electric vehicles, many of those vehicles have become even heavier. The Ford F-150 Lightning has a curb weight of around 6,500 pounds, roughly 60% heavier than its gas equivalent.
Meanwhile, pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed in recent years. Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57%, from 4,779 to 7,522, NHTSA reports. In 2022, 88% of pedestrian deaths occurred in single-vehicle crashes.
«
America seems to be really bad at keeping its people alive, and only noticing that they’re dying in growing numbers long after it’s got out of control. Though of course the NHTSA isn’t going wild with this. It estimates that the changes it’s proposing will save.. 67 lives per year.
unique link to this extract
Apple told to pay Ireland €13bn in tax by EU • BBC News
Charlotte Edwards and Theo Leggett:
»
Apple has been ordered to pay Ireland €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes by Europe’s top court, putting an end to an eight-year row.
The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages in 2016, but Ireland has consistently argued against the need for the tax to be paid.
The Irish government said it would respect the ruling. Apple said it was disappointed with the decision and accused the European Commission of “trying to retroactively change the rules”.
A separate European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on Tuesday also brought a long-running case with Google to a close, with the company ordered to pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine for market dominance abuse.
The EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager praised both judgements. “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice,” she said.
In the Apple case, the ECJ said: “The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover.”
«
This has been chugging on for ages, and covers the period from 1991 to 2014 – 23 years! – when Ireland treated Apple’s Irish subsidiaries in an overly generous fashion.
unique link to this extract
Google loses fight against $2.7bn EU antitrust fine • Reuters
Foo Yun Chee:
»
Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday lost its fight against a €2.42bn ($2.7bn) fine levied by EU antitrust regulators seven years ago, one of a trio of hefty fines meted out to the company for various anti-competitive practices.
The European Commission fined the world’s most popular internet search engine in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
A lower tribunal had endorsed the EU competition enforcer’s decision in 2021, prompting Google to appeal to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union.
CJEU judges noted that EU law does not sanction the existence of a dominant position, but its abusive exploitation.
“In particular, the conduct of undertakings in a dominant position that has the effect of hindering competition on the merits and is thus likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers is prohibited,” they said.
Google has racked up €8.25bn in EU antitrust fines in the last decade. It has challenged two rulings involving its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising service, and is now waiting for the judgments.
«
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking serious money.
unique link to this extract
Why AI is so bad at generating images of Kamala Harris • WIRED
Condé Nast:
»
When Elon Musk shared an image showing Kamala Harris dressed as a “communist dictator” on X last week, it was quite obviously a fake, seeing as Harris is neither a communist nor, to the best of our knowledge, a Soviet cosplayer. And, as many observers noted, the woman in the photo, presumably generated by X’s Grok tool, had only a passing resemblance to the vice president.
“AI still is unable to accurately depict Kamala Harris,” one X user wrote. “Looks like they’re posting some random Latina woman.”
“Grok put old Eva Longoria in a snazzy outfit and called it a day,” another quipped, noting the similarity of the “dictator” pictured to the Desperate Housewives star.
“AI just CANNOT replicate Kamala Harris,” a third posted. “It’s uncanny how failed the algorithm is at an AMERICAN (of South Indian and Jamaican heritage).”
Many AI images of Harris are similarly bad. Meanwhile, a tweet featuring an AI-generated video showing Harris and Donald Trump in a romantic relationship—it culminates in her holding their love child, which looks like Trump—has nearly 28 million views on X. Throughout the montage, Harris morphs into what look like different people, while the notably better Trump imagery remains fairly consistent.
…Despite being a prominent figure, Harris hasn’t been as widely photographed as Trump. WIRED’s search of photo supplier Getty Images bears this out; it returned 63,295 images of Harris compared to 561,778 of Trump. Given her relatively recent entry into the presidential race, Harris is “a new celebrity,” as far as AI image makers are concerned, according to Cuenca Abela. “It always takes a few months to catch up,” he says.
«
So both less photographed – offering less supply for the AI generators – and more difficult.
unique link to this extract
Apple invents its own version of Google Lens called Visual Intelligence • Engadget
Pranav Dixit:
»
Apple has introduced a new feature called Visual Intelligence with the iPhone 16, which appears to be the company’s answer to Google Lens. Unveiled during its September 2024 event, Visual Intelligence aims to help users interact with the world around them in smarter ways.
The new feature is activated by a new touch-sensitive button on the right side of the device called Camera Control. With a click, Visual Intelligence can identify objects, provide information, and offer actions based on what you point it at. For instance, aiming it at a restaurant will pull up menus, hours, or ratings, while snapping a flyer for an event can add it directly to your calendar. Point it at a dog to quickly identify the breed, or click a product to search for where you can buy it online.
Later this year, Camera Control will also serve as a gateway into third-party tools with specific domain expertise, according to Apple’s press release. For instance, users will be able to leverage Google for product searches or tap into ChatGPT for problem-solving, all while maintaining control over when and how these tools are accessed and what information is shared. Apple emphasized that the feature is designed with privacy in mind, meaning the company doesn’t have access to the specifics of what users are identifying or searching.
«
Picking this out because it’s based on a particular button on the iPhone, which is becoming festooned with buttons, compared to what people thought was going to happen a couple of years ago when it was rumoured that there wouldn’t be any buttons at all.
unique link to this extract
| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified
The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 