Amazon Emissions Increase; Rich Facebook Friends & Success; Israeli Lidar Coming to VW; Code Indicates iPhone 14 Pro Always On Screen

Amazon may have committed to reducing its carbon footprint, but that’s not what is happening so far…according to Amazon. Engadget.com reports that the company’s emissions grew by 18% last year. While people were isolating and buying more during the pandemic, Amazon rapidly expanded its warehouse operations. The number is actually higher than they report…Amazon only counts emissions from Amazon-branded products. Walmart and Target report emissions for all the goods they sell. It should be noted that many of the 3rd party sellers that ship via Amazon are too small to be mandatory reporters.

From the absolutely no surprise department— new research combing through more than 21 billion Facebook friendships confirms something most people already know…having rich friends helps make you more successful. According to gizmodo.com, the research was done by Harvard’s Opportunity Insights. From the massive 21 billion, the Harvard researchers pulled a dataset of 72 million and crunched the numbers. Low income children saw an 8.2% increase in their adulthood incomes when their share of higher income friends increased from 25 to 50%! 

Israeli lidar startup Innoviz has picked up another big customer…Volkswagen. VW will use their tech for vehicles with automated driving capabilities. TechCrunch.com notes that Innoviz revealed in April that it had a deal with BMW…their lidar will be on 2023 BMW i7 electric vehicles. There is also a third major manufacturer that has signed with the firm, as yet unnamed. Lidar helps self-driving vehicles ‘see’ in conditions where cameras can’t. Tesla famously dropped lidar, to the consternation of both drivers and their own engineers, when Elon Musk said it was just too expensive…they were using Velodyne gear that costs thousands. Infotech says their equipment is priced in the hundreds. 

It’s been rumored, and now the latest Xcode 14 beta software indicates that an always on display is coming to the iPhone 14 Pro next month. 9to5mac.com says that always on will be a key feature Apple will tout on its new top of line iPhones. The always on display will work much like the one on the Apple Watch…the display will dim, but key information will still be visible, while consuming minimum battery power. When you move the phone, it will brighten back to normal level, like with the Watch. The new iPhones should bow the middle of September.