Author: KnowledgeHippo

For decades, Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta operated with few rules and boundaries. As their power, wealth and reach grew, a wave of regulatory activity, legislation and legal cases erupted against them in Europe, the United States, China, India, Canada, South Korea and Australia. Now that global tipping point for the biggest tech companies to relax has finally been reversed.Companies have been forced to change the everyday technology they offer, including devices and features of their social networking services, which have been particularly felt by users in Europe. Companies are also making consequential changes that are less visible, for…

Since introducing the App Store in 2008, Apple has run it the same way in 175 countries, up to 30 percent of the commission it has collected for each app sold.The company calls the result a financial miracle. The store has generated more than $1 trillion in sales, helped create more than seven million jobs, and earned Apple billions of dollars in annual profits.But as the App Store approaches its 16th anniversary, a patchwork of local rules is upending Apple’s hold on it.On Thursday, European Union regulators will begin enforcing the Digital Markets Act, a 2022 law that requires Apple…

On “The Daily Show” this week, host Jon Stewart broke down as he announced the death of his beloved three-legged pit bull, Dipper — a raw, moving segment that demonstrated the deep grief many pet owners feel.When an animal dies, owners lose companionship, affection and “just unconditional love — and we don’t find that in many places in our lives,” said Sherry Cormier, psychologist and author of “Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness After Loss”. and Grief.”Our society tends to be “grief-phobic,” said Dr. deal with and move on quickly. Dr. Cormier and other weight loss experts said that’s not always…

Claude Folmer was about 40 years old the first time he visited the Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in the French Alps. He remembers enjoying the panoramic view from the observation platform and then going on a short ice hike where he toured the ice cave carved into the surface of the glacier.Four decades later, on a mild, sunny morning in early February, Mr. Folmer — now 80 and accompanied by his grown son, Alain — was looking at the same glacier. He was shocked by the change.”The difference is huge. The glacier was right below,” Mr. Folmer said,…

Gangs attacked Haiti’s largest prison and allowed inmates to escape Saturday night, according to local police unions and a lawyer for some of the inmates, the latest in escalating violence and unrest in the country’s capital, which has been devastated by gang violence for more than two years.While details of the attack remained unclear, at least two of the country’s police unions took to social media on Saturday to call on all officers to report to the national penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, the capital, to help control the situation and prevent the prisoners from escaping.”If we let the gangs take over…

The Internal Revenue Service is on a charm offensive, as long as you don’t make too much money.After a multi-year pandemic hiatus, the agency is restarting its collection efforts, reaffirming its intent to go after high-income earners who owe the most. On Thursday, the IRS announced it was sending letters to more than 25,000 people with income over $1 million who had not filed tax returns since 2017.Everyone else, the agency insists, will benefit from the $80 billion the agency won through the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022. Last year, the IRS appointed Ken Corbin as its…

As IVF grew in popularity, so did the concerns of its opponents. Standard practice involves creating multiple embryos, which are checked for genetic abnormalities and the ones that look the healthiest can be transferred. Extra embryos are often frozen. by one count, there are one and a half million frozen embryos in the United States. After a set period of time, they can be donated to science or destroyed, as the Catholic Church feared.The anti-abortion movement won a partial victory for pro-life at conception in 2001 when President George W. Bush banned the use of federal funds for embryonic stem…

Families in Scotland were expecting to sample chocolate treats and witness “visual wonders” at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow last weekend. Instead, they got some jelly beans, a short walk through an almost empty warehouse, and a visit from the police.The event, Willy’s Chocolate Experience, scheduled for February 24 and 25, was promised on event listing websites to include chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and interactive experiences inspired by scenes from Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.One father, Stuart Sinclair, drove two hours from Dundee to take his three children to the event. “There were maybe…

Israel’s reluctance to fill the current leadership vacuum in northern Gaza was the backdrop to the chaos that left dozens of Palestinians dead on Thursday in the Gaza Strip, analysts and aid workers said.More than 100 were killed and 700 wounded, health officials in Gaza said, after thousands of starving civilians rushed a convoy of aid trucks, sparking a riot and prompting Israeli soldiers to fire into the crowd.The immediate causes of the chaos were extreme hunger and desperation: The United Nations has warned of impending famine in northern Gaza, where the incident occurred. Attempts by civilians to ambush aid…

The University of Florida has terminated all positions related to diversity, equity and inclusion at the school in compliance with new state regulations, according to a university memo released Friday. The move comes nearly a year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that largely prohibited the state’s public universities and colleges from spending federal or state money on DEI initiatives. Under that law, the Florida Board of Regents, which oversees the Florida State University System, also voted to ban state spending on such programs at public universities. The University of Florida’s complaints included closing the office of its…