![]() FedNow should launch in 2023 between May and July. "We think the Kids' Code, as we call it, would make tech safer for children by essentially requiring these companies to better protect them."Īn anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: Federal Reserve Vice-chair Lael Brainard gave a timeline for the launch of FedNow, the platform it has been working on to enable nearly instant payment settlement within the U.S. "The digital ecosystem is not safe by default for children," said Buffy Wicks, a Democrat in the State Assembly who co-sponsored the bill with a Republican colleague, Jordan Cunningham. It aims to hold online services to the same kinds of basic safety standards as the automobile industry - essentially requiring apps and sites to install the digital equivalent of seatbelts and airbags for younger users. Rather than wade into heated political battles over online content, the legislation takes a practical, product-safety approach. ![]() The bill, the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, could herald a shift in the way lawmakers regulate the tech industry. From a report: The new rules would compel many online services to curb the risks that certain popular features - like allowing strangers to message one another - may pose to child users. Now California lawmakers have passed the first statute in the nation requiring apps and sites to install guardrails for users under 18. But the same techniques may pose risks to scores of children who have flocked to online services that were not specifically designed for them. Social media and game platforms often use recommendation algorithms, find-a-friend tools, smartphone notices and other enticements to keep people glued online. But even in these areas, officials discovered 20,356 undeclared pools, according to an announcement this week from France's tax office, the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFiP), first reported by Le Parisien. The project is somewhat limited in scope, and has so far analyzed photos covering only nine of France's 96 metropolitan departments. Software was developed to identify pools, with this information then cross-referenced with national tax and property registries. From a report: The project to spot the undeclared pools began last October, with IT firm Capgemini working with Google to analyze publicly available aerial photos taken by France's National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information. In France, housing taxes are calculated based on a property's rental value, so homeowners who don't declare swimming pools are potentially avoiding hundreds of euros in additional payments. The French government has collected nearly $10 million in additional taxes after using machine learning to spot undeclared swimming pools in aerial photos. Plus, if lots of buildings in a single city adopt smart glass, it can reduce the peak load on the local electric grid during times of heavy use. Smart glass can help reduce a building's heating or cooling energy needs by about 20%, per a U.S. Conversely, the tint can be decreased in colder seasons, allowing more natural heat to pass through. When the summer sun is hitting the side of a building, the tint level can be increased, allowing visible light to pass but blocking some solar radiation - thereby reducing incoming heat. When small amounts of electricity are applied to those layers, ions move between them, changing the glass' tint level. Smart glass contains thin layers of metal oxide. Smart glass, also called "dynamic glass" or "electrochromic glass," differs from regular glass in that its tint level can be adjusted on demand - think Transitions glasses, but for buildings. While it didn't get much mainstream attention, that credit stands to increase adoption by reducing the effective cost of retrofitting old buildings or using smart glass in new construction. The IRA, which President Biden signed into law earlier this month, includes a 30% smart glass tax credit. While eco-friendly buildings aren't as sexy or exciting as electric cars, anything that makes them greener is a big win for hitting climate goals. From a report: Buildings account for 27% of annual global carbon dioxide emissions, by one estimate. Among the Inflation Reduction Act's little-noticed yet potentially game-changing provisions: a big incentive for "smart glass," which can make buildings significantly more energy efficient.
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