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The U.S. federal government could sue Amazon over allegations that the company illegally collected data from children through its smart speakers without parental consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to refer a complaint to the Justice Department, which could file the lawsuit in the coming weeks. More: - The complaint accuses Amazon of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to gain parental consent before gathering children's data through its Alexa-powered devices.
- The FTC also accuses Amazon of storing and retaining that data even when users tried to delete it.
- Once the complaint is referred, the Justice Department would have 45 days to bring a case. If it doesn't, the FTC could pursue the case on its own.
- Previously, Amazon has said that the children's edition of its Echo smart speaker and a related subscription service comply with COPPA.
- The law allows the government to collect civil monetary penalties of up to $50,000 per alleged violation.
BLOOMBERG 
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Tesla delivered a record number of electric vehicles last quarter, according to the company's latest vehicle production and delivery report. Tesla made 36% more EV deliveries in Q1 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier — a jump attributed to the company's decision to cut prices on some models in the U.S. and Europe. More: - In the first quarter, Tesla delivered 422,875 electric cars, including 412,180 Model 3 and Ys and 10,695 Model S and X luxury vehicles.
- This was a 4% increase from the prior quarter, and a company record.
- Tesla is set to report its Q1 financial results on April 19.
- The company plans to deliver around 1.8 million vehicles this year, a 37% increase over 2022.
Zoom out: - In January, Tesla lowered vehicle prices by up to 20%. In some cases, this allowed U.S. buyers to qualify for a $7,500 federal government tax credit for EV purchases.
- The baseline Model Y crossover, for example, was reduced by nearly 20% to $52,990, placing it below the $55,000 cap needed for the U.S. tax credit.
THE VERGE
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A report by TheElec claims Apple paused production on its M2 chips earlier this year due to limited demand for Macs. The report says Apple completely stopped producing its latest chip in January and February before resuming at reduced levels in March. More: - Last month's production numbers were said to be about half of what was produced during the same time in 2022.
- The slowdown was attributed to lower sales of Apple's Mac and MacBooks during that time.
- In January, Apple announced refreshed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops that come with the M2 Pro and M2 Max, its most powerful processors.
- Apple also announced an updated Mac Mini featuring the M2 or M2 Pro chips, its next-generation systems on a chip.
Zoom Out: - The alleged slump in Mac sales mimics the larger trend of declining PC shipments as vendors deal with softened demand and higher inventory levels.
- In Q4 2022, PC shipments fell by more than 28%, the sharpest quarterly drop since the 1990s.
- Apple was the least impacted, with losses as low as 2.1%, IDC data shows.
MAC RUMORS
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Residents of Paris, France have voted to ban electric-scooter rentals in the city. The results of Sunday's referendum mean rental companies will have to pull their combined fleet of 15,000 e-scooters from Paris by Sept. 1. More: - 89% of voters in the referendum voted in favor of the ban. Though the results are nonbinding, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she is "committed to respecting" the result.
- Reports noted that just under 8% of registered voters in the city cast ballots.
- The ban will only apply to rented e-scooters offered by the companies Lime, Tier, and Dott within Paris.
- A spokesperson for U.S.-based Lime said the company remains "hopeful" that it can work with Hidalgo to establish further regulations instead of an outright ban.
Zoom Out: - Last year, Paris claimed about 20 million trips on rental scooters, one of the largest worldwide.
- According to France's road safety agency, nationwide, 34 people died last year and 570 were seriously injured while riding on an e-scooter or similar micro-mobility device.
- Paris previously pledged to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030 as it seeks to become carbon neutral by 2050.
THE GUARDIAN
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Astrolab has signed a deal with SpaceX to transport a lunar rover to the moon in a cargo mission planned for 2026. Astrolab's Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover would be part of the payload in the Starship lunar lander mission, which will be SpaceX’s first commercial contract for moon cargo delivery. More: - The Starship mission is expected to bring 1,000 kilograms worth of payload to the moon's south polar region in mid-2026 or later.
- Astrolab's FLEX rover would be among the items. The vehicle is capable of carrying two astronauts, supplies, and equipment across the lunar surface.
- At full charge, the rover can drive for eight hours and withstand up to 300 hours of darkness and the extreme cold of the moon's south pole.
- Last year, Astrolab shared photos and a video of the FLEX vehicle being piloted by former astronaut Chris Hadfield around California's desert during field testing.
Zoom out: - SpaceX Starship could deliver astronauts to the moon for NASA's Artemis III mission, which is planned for 2025.
- The long-term Artemis program plans to send astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a human presence there.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Twitter on Friday open-sourced most of the code running its recommendation algorithm on its main "For You" feed. Much of the source code was published in two GitHub repositories, along with some of the AI models powering the algorithm. More: - In a blog post today, Twitter said the move was "taking the first step in a new era of transparency."
- According to the post, its recommendation pipeline has three main stages:
- It first gathers "the best Tweets from different recommendation sources."
- Then it uses a machine learning model to rank the tweets.
- Finally, it filters out tweets that are NSFW, those a user has already seen, and tweets from accounts that a user has blocked.
- CEO Elon Musk discussed the move in a Twitter Space today, saying he hopes people could use the code to unearth "issues" and improve it.
- "Our initial release of the so-called algorithm is going to be quite embarrassing, and people are gonna find a lot of mistakes, but we're going to fix them very quickly," Musk said.
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Community Corner Last week, we asked our tech community, "What are some pros and cons of working in tech?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Daniel James Scott (p/sparkcatalyst), Co-Founder of Life Transcript Co, answered, “Pro: It never stops. Con: It 👏 never 👏 stops!”
- Emeka Onu (p/emekaonu), Founder of Trustable.ai, answered, “Pros: The rapid pace of the technology cycle makes it easier to move on from missed opportunities. Despite not having built anything during the web3 and NFT boom, I don't feel like I've missed out. With the current focus on AI, I have a chance to capitalize on this trend and make up for the cycles I may have missed in the past. Cons: Things are moving too fast. YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE.”
- Sofia Quintero (p/sofiaquintero), Founder of Collie, answered, “Big Con: Being a woman+ minority fundraising. It sucks, period. Big Pro: Constant Excitement - I love seeing people (including me) build the future.”
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business, or contact you for more! ⭐️
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QUICK HITS - Quickly familiarize yourself with building on Google Cloud with real-world examples and code snippets in this Google Cloud Cookbook.*
- The New York Times confirmed it will not pay for a verified checkmark on Twitter after the platform pulled its blue verified badge. The newspaper will also not reimburse journalists who sign up for the Twitter Blue paid subscription service.
- Taiwanese computer hardware company Asus plans to release a handheld gaming PC that would compete with Valve's Steam Deck.
- Walmart shut down its branded space "Universe of Play" in Roblox six months after its launch.
- Accenture predicts that the next decade will be defined by three mega tech trends: cloud, metaverse, and AI, which will collapse the distance between digital and physical worlds.
- Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first cellphone call on this day 50 years ago. On April 3, 1973, Cooper successfully dialed his competitors at Bell Labs using a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, which weighed 1.75 pounds and was the world's first portable mobile phone.
- Sharpen your math, data, and CS skills with Brilliant. Quick, hands-on lessons make learning fun and easy. Over 10M+ people agree, so try it today.
*This is a sponsored post
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- April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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