The Internet Is Becoming Less Open: That's A Good Thing

On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to decide whether to block lawsuits that Honolulu filed to seek billions in damages from oil and gas companies over allegedly deceptive marketing campaigns that hid the effects of climate change. Now those lawsuits can proceed, surely frustrating the fossil fuel industry, which felt that SCOTUS should have weighed in on this key "recurring question of extraordinary importance to the energy industry" raised in lawsuits seeking similarly high damages in several states, CBS News reported. Defendants Sunoco and Shell, along with 15 other energy companies, had asked the court to intervene and stop the Hawaii lawsuits from proceeding.

On Monday, the US government announced a new round of regulations on global AI chip exports, dividing the world into roughly three tiers of access. The rules create quotas for about 120 countries and allow unrestricted access for 18 close US allies while maintaining existing bans on China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. AI-accelerating GPU chips, like those manufactured by Nvidia, currently serve as the backbone for a wide variety of AI model deployments, such as chatbots like ChatGPT, AI video generators, self-driving cars, weapons targeting systems, and much more.

Dorval Carter is out at the CTA. The transit agency president announced his retirement Monday in a CTA news release, after years in the hot seat as riders complained about unreliable service, conditions on trains and buses and concerns about personal safety. He will step down at the end of this month, according to the release. His retirement comes as a debate brews in Springfield about whether to combine the CTA with Metra, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority, and how to fund transit amid a $771 million budget gap looming when federal COVID-19 relief funding runs out.

We explored all the home security upgrades at CES. Here's what we liked best and how it could revolutionize home safety this year.

It’s becoming more likely that Apple will add an iPhone Air to its lineup in 2025. We already know that the iPhone 17 is slated for a 2025 release. However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests Apple’s next big iPhone update might introduce an all-new model called the iPhone 17 Air. Back in August, ReadWrite mentioned there was speculation that the new phone could be much slimmer, possibly around 2 millimeters thinner than any iPhone we’ve seen so far. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly be 6mm thick, which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever! Source: analyst Jeff Pu pic.twitter.com/fnhKv8qRlU — Apple Hub (@theapplehub) November 19, 2024 Gurman points out that the iPhone 17 Air will feature a base-level A19 chip and a single-lens camera system.

Legalized casino gambling in Thailand appears closer on the horizon after the country’s Prime Minister confirmed the approval of a draft bill to establish land-based casino venues.  In September last year, a public consultation indicated consent for the plans of the new Bangkok administration to shake up the gambling landscape and now Prime Minister Pateogntarn Shinawatra will push ahead with the proposals.  The daughter of the former Thai premier, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra who is a key proponent of the reforms, was sworn in as PM last August but the ambition to deliver large-scale casino resorts predates her appointment, having been on the government’s agenda for a significant time. Previous attempts for such proposals in Thailand have been thwarted, partly due to formidable opposition from conservative figures in the majority Buddhist.