Apple’s “find” app is a little troublesome, 80% of AirPods can’t be sold new

Apple’s iOS 15 operating system integrates AirPods into the “Find” app search. If users accidentally lose their headphones, they have the opportunity to retrieve them through “Find”, but this good intention has now become a small trouble for retailers. According to foreign media reports, if consumers buy AirPods and return them, but consumers have linked the earphones to their Apple IDs and forgot to unpair them from Apple IDs, retailers can hardly sell the new earphones.

“9to5mac” reported that the recent iOS version seems to integrate the “Find” app with AirPods headphones more, but it has also caused trouble for retailers, because consumers have returned Apple ID paired headphones or exchanged for another pair of headphones. Unlinked from the old Apple ID, so the headset cannot be sold as a new one.

If a device refurbisher sells the paired Apple ID paired earphones to the next consumer, the pairing of the earphones may be rejected, and the message “AirPods does not match” will appear on the screen.

“9to5mac” reported that this “finding” little trouble has affected retailers such as Walmart supermarkets. GoTRG, an equipment refurbishment business partnered with Walmart, was forced to stock more than 30,000 affected headphones in just a few weeks. goTRG pointed out that this problem affects at least 80% of AirPods.

R2Cell, which sells refurbished AirPods exclusively on Amazon’s e-commerce platform, was forced to stop selling refurbished AirPods entirely.

The only solution at present is to unlink the Apple ID through the original AirPods consumer. And before returning or replacing AirPods or selling second-hand AirPods, it is best to unpair Apple ID; if you buy new or second-hand AirPods without unpairing, it is likely to be mastered by the previous user using the “Find” App. whereabouts.

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EU blacklists 21 Russian airlines for breaching international safety standards

Reference News Network reported that the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on the 11th that the European Commission added 21 Russian airlines to the EU flight safety blacklist, banning them from flying in EU airspace or subject to operational restrictions, because these companies do not meet international safety standards.

According to the list of the European Commission, there are Aeroflot, Russian national airline (Rossiya), Siberia Airlines (S7), Utair and so on. The Russian Air Transport Agency said it would take measures to respond.

The EU commissioner for transport, Adina Valean, said the blacklisting of the companies was not a response to further sanctions against Russia due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but a response to a decision by Russian regulators; the agency Allowing Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign aircraft without valid airworthiness certificates “violates international aviation safety standards”.

The Observer.com quoted Volian as saying that the restricted Russian airline has “serious safety problems” because Russia forcibly re-registered foreign-owned aircraft and deliberately allowed them to fly without a valid airworthiness certificate.

Foldable pins, dual USB-C holes, Apple’s 35W fast charger appearance exposed

Previous news pointed out that Apple is developing a 35W dual USB-C charging head, which can charge two devices when needed. Now a Twitter account has revealed the appearance of the new charging head.

ChargerLAB posted a set of pictures of Apple’s latest 35W dual USB-C charging head on Twitter. ChargerLAB did not specifically mention the source of the photos.

It can be seen that Apple’s 35W dual USB-C charging head looks different from the existing 20W USB-C charging head. This 35W dual USB-C charging head has a pair of foldable pins, and the two USB-C ports are not designed to be on opposite sides of the pins, but side by side.

And in order to allow users to better unplug the charging head, the other two sides of the charging head have a prototype groove design, which allows users to better hold.

However, it seems that more news about this 35W dual USB-C charging head has not yet been released, and ChargerLAB also pointed out that more news will be brought soon.

Which laptop has the longest lifespan? Battery life competition, MacBook Pro did not win the championship

Can your laptop last all day on a single charge? The US non-profit organization “Consumer Reports” (Consumer Reports) selected the “longest battery life” laptops of various sizes, and it was unexpected that the MacBook Pro was not on the list.

The laptop selection is divided into 17/18-inch, 15/16-inch, 14-inch, 12/13-inch and 10/11-inch models. Unfortunately, Apple’s MacBook series did not rank first in all categories.

First up is the largest laptop, the 2021 model LG Gram 17 can last 18 hours of web browsing and 10 hours of 4K video playback without a power connection, with the large laptops a landslide winner, with the Dell Inspiron coming in second at 13 hours 25. The report suggests that if you have a budget, you can choose the 2020 LG Gram, with only about an hour less battery life and a much more affordable price.

The 15/16-inch model is the 2021 model Dell XPS 15, with more than 18 hours of battery life for web browsing and 8 hours of 4K video playback, plus a NVIDIA graphics card for gaming.

The longest-lasting 14-inch laptop is the Acer Swift 3 SF314-511-75UX, with over 27 hours of web browsing and 11 hours of video testing, which is quite impressive. The report also recommends the ASUS ZenBook Duo, because in addition to a certain level of battery life (over 21 hours in the network test and 12 hours in the video test), it is also a dual-screen laptop, which can be said to be quite convenient.

The longest-lasting 12/13-inch laptop is the Galaxy Book Pro 360, which can maintain 20 hours of Internet access and 12 hours of 4K video playback. The HP Envy is another option, at the same price but with more storage, nearly 19 hours of web browsing and 7.5 hours of 4K video playback.

The report pointed out that there are not many types of 10/11-inch notebooks. Due to the slow processor and limited storage space, the power is somewhat insufficient. If you want to choose one, you can choose the AK0012DX of the HP Stream 11.

Flexibility to work helps attract talent, Morgan Stanley says Buffett targets WFH business opportunities

The Nikkei Asian Review reported on April 11 that Hitachi plans to offer 15,000 employees the option of flexible working hours starting this fiscal year, hoping to attract more talent. The report pointed out that Hitachi employees can choose to work 9 to 10 hours a day from Monday to Thursday (instead of the currently required 7 hours and 45 minutes) in exchange for a day off on Friday; they can also choose to extend their working hours in the first half of the month in exchange for the end of the month. Take a break.

A survey conducted by the University of Reading in November showed that 68% of 500 UK businesses that implemented a four-day work week said it helped recruit talent. In addition, 66% said flexible working hours helped reduce costs.

According to a survey of 10,737 knowledge workers in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the UK from November 1-30, 2021, Future Forum noted in January that 78% of respondents would like to have a job Flexibility in location was up from 76% in the previous quarter, and the percentage of respondents who wanted flexibility in working hours rose from 93% to 95%.

The survey also showed that half of the respondents said their company has offered flexible working hours, and 42% said business owners have offered flexible working location options.

Before Covid-19, roughly half of the world’s knowledge workers were in the office all day, but in November 2021 the proportion has dropped to 30%.

Morgan Stanley: Buffett bets on hybrid work
CNBC reported on April 8, Morgan Stanley pointed out that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s investment in HP Inc. is Warren Buffett’s investment in hybrid jobs in the post-pandemic era. bet.

Morgan Stanley previously downgraded HP’s investment rating to “underweight” on the grounds that the general economic environment continues to present uncertainties and the outlook for the hardware industry tends to be conservative.

Berkshire disclosed on April 6 that it had bought nearly 121 million shares of HP Inc., making it the largest shareholder in the well-known PC maker.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on March 18 put forward 10 recommendations to cut oil use, including “working from home (WFH)” three days a week as far as possible in advanced economies.

Nearly 5-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell $3.97 on Monday to close at $94.29, the lowest closing level since February 25.

Is it feasible to throw a rocket from the surface? NASA to test SpinLaunch launch system

Half a year ago, SpinLaunch showed a prototype of a suborbital accelerator that “throws the rocket into the sky”. Later this year, the system will try to fly a NASA payload into the sky at 1,000mph to test whether this amazing technology is feasible.

With the advent of the new space age, more and more space startups are investing in the development of new rocket launch alternative systems. SpinLaunch, an aerospace technology development company in the United States, has developed a suborbital accelerator prototype in recent years, which is about 90 meters in diameter and looks like a turbine. A supercharger works like a washing machine.

First, the rocket is grasped by the rotating arm in the vacuum disk chamber, and then the electric centrifuge, which can generate centrifugal force thousands of times more than gravity, starts to spin the rocket wildly, accelerates to hypersonic speed, and then throws the rocket from the launch tube into the sky at a speed of 5,000mph. Finally, the rocket continued to ignite and propel in the air, sending the payload into the predetermined orbit.

SpinLaunch hopes that the new system will reduce the amount of fuel and hardware needed to launch a rocket into space (forgetting the first booster), at one-tenth the cost of a conventional rocket.

In October 2021, this 50-meter-tall suborbital accelerator prototype successfully flew for the first time, spraying a 3-meter object to tens of thousands of feet above the ground within 1 millisecond, at a speed comparable to that of traditional chemical fuel rockets.

However, as soon as the news came out, the outside world questioned whether this system had commercial value. After all, the rocket caught at the end of the carbon fiber arm would withstand more than 10,000 G forces. Whether the payload (satellite/probe) could withstand the centrifugal force test is a problem The question (astronauts don’t have to think about it at all, they will only be dumped into meat sauce when they get on this rocket), can it really be developed successfully?

NASA recently signed a contract with the company.

Under the terms of the agreement, SpinLaunch will develop and integrate NASA payloads for the suborbital accelerator system, and will launch a test flight at Spaceport America later this year and attempt recovery, albeit at a slower speed of about 1,000mph (Mach 1.3).

SpinLaunch says that the suborbital accelerator can eventually take on small launch vehicles weighing no more than 200 kilograms (but the satellites in the cabin must also be super-sturdy), and the goal is to be ready to launch a system three times larger than the prototype by 2025. The official launch of orbital flight.

The decisive battle in the east of Ukraine is imminent, and German defense manufacturers propose to donate Leopard-1 chariots to Ukraine

As the Russian army retreated to the eastern and southern Ukrainian fronts for preparation, most outsiders believed that the decisive battle of the Ukrainian-Russian war would be in the Donbass region, and Ukraine needed more armored vehicles to improve the chance of victory. German defense manufacturer Rheinmetall said that as long as Germany The government has agreed to deliver the first stockpiled Leopard 1s to Ukraine within six weeks.

The Leopard 1 is the main tank launched by Porsche in 1961 and entered service in 1965. It is the first main tank launched by West Germany after the end of World War II. The vehicle weighs 42.5 tons and has a length of 8.17 meters. , 3.37 meters wide, MTU 10-cylinder 37.4-liter multi-fuel engine with a maximum output of 830 horsepower.

The main armament is a British Royal Arsenal L7A3 105mm rifled gun, two 7.62mm MG3 general-purpose machine guns and smoke grenade launchers, with a top speed of 65 kilometers per hour and a plain combat range of up to 600 kilometers.

Until the 1980s, there were five improved versions of the Leopard 1, and the last A4 and A5 are still in service in Brazil, Denmark, Chile, Greece, Ecuador and other countries.

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war, Germany has announced a number of rearmament plans, including a special military expenditure of 100 billion euros next year, that is, the annual military budget will be increased to 2% of GDP and other goals, and support including Panzerfaust 3 (Panzerfaust 3) anti-armor rockets, and weapons such as the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle delivered to the former East Germany through the Czech Republic.

However, the German economy has long relied on Russian oil and natural gas imports. Prime Minister Schoots has always had reservations about providing more heavy weapons to Ukraine, or asked for a third country to transfer it to slow down the deterioration of relations with Moscow. Public opinion and international criticism have been widely criticized. .

Therefore, Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, a major German defense company, said in an interview with the German media Handelsblatt recently that as long as the German government agrees, the company can transfer the stock Leopard 1 to Ukraine. , the first batch of about 50 can be delivered in as little as six weeks.

Although the Leopard 1 has been in service for a long time, the A4 and A5 versions of the 1970s and 1980s can still compete with the Russian T-72 series of chariots. Although the Ukrainian army needs additional conversion training before receiving it, Papuyage Speaking to the Business Daily, he believes that the Ukrainian army should be able to complete the training in a short period of time. Marcus Faber, head of defense policy of the German Free Democratic Party, also believes that in the urgency of the war, the Ukrainian army may change training faster than usual. Expect to be shorter.

It is not clear which government will come forward if the German government agrees to the handover. Based on Germany’s policy of reluctance to hand over weapons directly, foreign media believe that Rheinmetall may cooperate with the Italian government to remove the nearly 1,000 vehicles from the country’s inventory of Leopards. Among them, select vehicles in good condition and send them to Ukraine, just like the recent cooperation with the Czech Republic to hand over the BMP-1.

Since Moscow’s recent strategic goal has shifted to consolidating the Donbas and Uranian coastlines, if the Ukrainian army wants to completely expel the Russian army, it will need more heavy weapons such as armored vehicles, fighter jets, anti-ship missiles and long-range anti-aircraft missiles. If Germany can hand over the Leopard 1 tank, it will be of great help to the Ukrainian army in the future decisive battle in Donbass.

The UK-Germany 725km submarine cable is expected to start construction this year

Under the shadow of the Russian-Ukrainian war, countries are also striving to ensure energy supply. The 725-kilometer-long submarine cable plan connecting the UK and Germany has also made new progress. At present, more than 1.5 billion pounds of contracts have been signed, and the project is expected to start this year.

NeuConnect is the UK’s first power grid directly connected to Germany, with a total length of 725 kilometers, allowing 1.4GW of electricity to be transported in both directions. At present, NeuConnect has signed contracts with Prysmian S.p.A. and Siemens, and Prysmian will be responsible for the design, manufacture , installation, testing and commissioning of 725 kilometers of line, Siemens is responsible for the design and construction of the UK and Germany converter station (converter station), the total value of the two contracts is about 1.5 billion pounds.

Among the investors behind the NeuConnect plan are Meridiam, Allianz Capital Partners and Kansai Electric Power. NeuConnect said that since key contractors are now in place, it is expected to complete financial settlement in the next few weeks, and construction can begin this year.

Julia Prescot, Chairman of the Board of NeuConnect and Co-Founder of Meridiam, said, “Our need for a more resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure has never been greater, so the team is delighted that NeuConnect can reach another key milestone, a step towards a vital energy line. An important step.”

NeuConnect sees this as an invisible “energy highway” and the first grid to directly connect the UK and German energy markets.

However, the NeuConnect project is not the first line to connect the UK with European countries. In 2021, a 724-kilometer submarine cable connecting the UK and Norway has been launched. Norway’s abundant hydropower resources will be able to assist the UK’s power grid system. The wind power generation resources in Norway can also help Norway to stabilize power supply; and the United Kingdom also announced a multi-billion-pound underwater energy highway plan in 2020, which will send more Scottish power to England, and will develop a high-voltage high-voltage with a total capacity of 4GW. DC line.

U.S. inflation rises to 8.5% in March, the highest in more than 40 years

Driven by energy and food, U.S. consumer prices surged 8.5 percent in March from a year earlier, the biggest gain in more than 40 years. Inflation has not eased, and Federal Reserve officials have more reason to raise interest rates by 2 yards in May, accelerating the pace of monetary policy tightening.

The U.S. Labor Department announced today that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.5 percent in March, the highest level since December 1981. The data was slightly higher than market expectations of 8.4%, surpassing February’s 7.9%, and the sixth consecutive month that inflation was above 6%.

Excluding volatile energy and food prices, core inflation rose 6.5% annually, in line with market expectations. The figure was up from 6.4% in February and the highest since August 1982.

Compared with February, the CPI rose by 1.2%, and the monthly growth rate was higher than the 0.8% in February; the monthly growth rate of core inflation was 0.3%, which was lower than the market expectation of 0.5%.

The main “culprits” behind the surge in U.S. consumer prices are the same as in previous months, still energy and food.

The Russian military invaded Ukraine aggressively on February 24, which stimulated international oil prices to hit a 14-year high in early March. After the United States and other Western countries released oil reserves, gasoline prices in the United States dropped slightly in recent weeks and are still close to record highs. As the impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus 2019) on the economy diminishes, private demand has picked up, and the prices of food such as meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables have risen steadily, and it is difficult to cool down food inflation.

Gasoline prices rose 18.3 percent in March, accounting for more than half of the overall increase in the CPI, according to the Labor Department. Fueled by gasoline, energy prices rose 11% month-on-month and 32% year-on-year.

Food prices in March rose 1% month-on-month, with an annual growth rate of 8.8%, the highest since May 1981.

In the past two years, the U.S. economy has gradually emerged from the shadow of COVID-19, private consumption has been booming, and the labor market has recovered. However, due to the chaotic global supply chain, inflation remained high after surging a year ago or so, and the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), which regards price stabilization as one of its missions, had to respond cautiously.

To tame inflation, Fed officials decided in mid-March to raise interest rates by 1 yard (0.25 percentage point) to take the benchmark rate away from the levels that have been approaching zero in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the futures market, investors generally expect that the Fed officials will announce a 2-yard rate hike after the meeting on May 3-4, and more actively promote the normalization of monetary policy.

Shanghai continues to dynamically clear, Tesla may suspend work until May 15

Shanghai has finally ushered in the initial “micro-unblocking”, but under the premise of the continuous dynamic clearing policy, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory is still unable to start construction, and the shutdown time may exceed original expectations.

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has been suspended since March 28, and it was originally expected to resume work in mid-April, but due to the continued tension of the epidemic, the resumption of work seems to be a long way off.

Shanghai announced the “micro-unblocking” of some areas yesterday. Only about one-fifth of the citizens can go out to take a breath, and most of the rest are still staying at home according to regulations. The Pudong Lingang Industrial Zone, where Giga Shanghai is located, is continuously closed. The latest news pointed out that the Shanghai Gigafactory may not resume work until May 15.

“According to local contacts in China, Tesla’s Shanghai plant will need to be shut down for at least a month.” Gordon Johnson, an analyst at research firm GLJ Research, said the worst thing is that the Shanghai plant is not expected to resume until the third quarter of 2022. maximum capacity.

Since the electric vehicle factory is not a necessity for people’s livelihood, and Tesla employees come from many different regions, the priority of reopening will be very low, and it is impossible to put all of them in place at one time. It must be partitioned to allow some employees to gradually return to the factory.

According to Tesla’s estimation, it will take 2-3 days to restore the original production capacity for one day of shutdown. If the dynamic clearing can be achieved on June 1, then Tesla will need at least the third quarter to restore the original production capacity. productivity. In other words, in the second quarter of this year, Tesla is likely to experience losses not seen in a long time.

“We don’t think the stock price has fully priced in the shutdown in Shanghai, and Tesla’s production in the second quarter of this year is likely to be less than 190,000 vehicles,” Gordon Johnson said. Compared to the 300,000-plus vehicles in the past two quarters, the second quarter does not look optimistic.

Tesla’s stock price has tumbled for two days in a row, causing many investors to panic, but don’t forget that Gordon Johnson is also a super black, always estimating Tesla’s situation from the worst angle, and this time is no exception. According to the current official statement, the resumption of work will be re-evaluated every week. Although the resumption of work in mid-April seems hopeless, it is uncertain whether it will be delayed until mid-May.

Don’t forget that the entire Shanghai city is heavily involved in the Chinese economy. Under political considerations, the city closure policy will be a “dynamic” decision, not a monolithic one, just like the reset policy.