Technology

Clean energy has become an even more divided topic in the US

Published

1 year ago

July 1, 2024

Clean energy has become an even more divided topic in the US

While the majority of Americans would like to see more clean energy from solar and wind farms — support for new renewable energy projects has started to wane, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. It also found a drop in interest in electric vehicles following Biden administration policies to slash greenhouse gas emissions and Republican backlash.

The share of people who favor more solar power has dropped from 90 to 78 percent since 2020, the survey found. Support for wind power among survey participants similarly dropped more than 10 percentage points to 72 percent over the past four years. And just 29 percent of adults said they’d consider an EV as their next car purchase, compared to 38 percent last year.

Image: Pew Research Center

A widening partisan divide on clean energy technologies seems to be driving those changes. The biggest drop in support has been among Republicans in recent years, even though there are differences between how older and younger generations of the GOP view climate change and renewable energy.

The Pew Research Center surveyed 8,638 adults in the US in May of this year. It tries to include participants representative of the US population when it comes to race, ethnicity, gender, education, political affiliation, and more.

The biggest drop in support has been among Republicans in recent years

Back in 2020, 84 percent of Republican survey participants said they’d like to see more solar farms, and 75 percent said they’d favor more wind farms in the US. That support has fallen to 64 and 56 percent, respectively, for solar and wind farms this year. More than 80 percent of Republicans surveyed, compared to 35 percent of Democrats, oppose the Environmental Protection Agency’s new standards for greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes expected to make more than half of car sales EVs by 2032.

Those shifts in opinion coincide with the Biden administration’s push to incentivize new renewable energy projects since he was elected in 2020. President Biden signed the nation’s biggest investment in climate action and clean energy into law in 2022, the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have tried to slow EV adoption by attempting to roll back tax credits for EVs and block the tailpipe pollution rule.

Image: Pew Research Center

While many Republican lawmakers have lambasted the IRA investments in EVs and renewables, a lot of the funding it created for clean tech manufacturing is actually flowing into their districts. Of $206 billion in investments so far, $161 billion is slated for projects in Republican districts, according to a recent Bloomberg analysis. Most of that money supports EV and battery manufacturing. A separate analysis by CNN similarly found that nearly 78 percent of IRA investments go to congressional Republican districts.

We’ll have to wait and see if that infusion of cash happens to shift Republicans’ views on renewables. But the tides could also turn again with younger Republicans, who are far more optimistic about solar and wind energy than their older counterparts. Only 22 percent of Republicans aged 65 or older in the survey said that expanding renewable energy production should be a priority. In contrast, 67 percent of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 29 said renewable energy ought to be the priority over coal, oil, and gas production. In general, young adults are more likely to think climate change will cause more harm in the US in their lifetime, according to another Pew survey published in October.

Technology

TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US

Published

4 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US

After briefly going dark in the US to comply with the divest-or-ban law targeting ByteDance that went into effect on January 19th, TikTok quickly came back online. It eventually reappeared in the App Store and Google Play as negotiations between the US and China continued, and Donald Trump continued to sign extensions directing officials not to apply the law’s penalties.

Finally, in mid-December, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees that the agreements to create TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX as part owners, have been signed, and the deal is expected to close on January 22nd, 2026. His letter said that for users in the US, the new joint venture will oversee data protection, the security of a newly-retrained algorithm, content moderation, and the deployment of the US app and platform.

Read on for all the latest news on the TikTok ban law in the US.

Technology

Secret phrases to get you past AI bot customer service

Published

5 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Secret phrases to get you past AI bot customer service

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

You’re gonna love me for this.

Say you’re calling customer service because you need help. Maybe your bill is wrong, your service is down or you want a refund. Instead of a person, a cheerful AI voice answers and drops you into an endless loop of menus and misunderstood prompts. Now what?

That’s not an accident. Many companies use what insiders call “frustration AI.” The system is specifically designed to exhaust you until you hang up and walk away.

Not today. (Get more tips like this at GetKim.com)

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY GO SLOW ON AI DEVELOPMENT — BUT DON’T KNOW WHO SHOULD STEER

Here are a few ways to bypass “frustration” AI bots. (Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Use the magic words

You want a human. For starters, don’t explain your issue. That’s the trap. You need words the AI has been programmed to treat differently.

Nuclear phrases: When the AI bot asks why you’re calling, say, “I need to cancel my service” or “I am returning a call.” The word cancel sets off alarms and often sends you straight to the customer retention team. Saying you’re returning a call signals an existing issue the bot cannot track. I used that last weekend when my internet went down, and, bam, I had a human.

Power words: When the system starts listing options, clearly say one word: “Supervisor.” If that doesn’t work, say, “I need to file a formal complaint.” Most systems are not programmed to deal with complaints or supervisors. They escalate fast.

Technical bypass: Asked to enter your account number? Press the pound key (#) instead of numbers. Many older systems treat unexpected input as an error and default to a human.

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“Supervisor” is one magic word that can get you a human on the other end of the line. (Neil Godwin/Future via Getty Images)

Go above the bots

If direct commands fail with AI, be a confused human.

The Frustration Act: When the AI bot asks a question, pause. Wait 10 seconds before answering. These systems are built for fast, clean responses. Long pauses often break the flow and send your call to a human.

The Unintelligible Bypass: Stuck in a loop? Act like your phone connection is terrible. Say garbled words or nonsense. After the system says, “I’m having trouble understanding you” three times, many bots automatically transfer you to a live agent.

The Language Barrier Trick: If the company offers multiple languages, choose one that’s not your primary language or does not match your accent. The AI often gives up quickly and routes you to a human trained to handle language issues.

Use these tricks when you need help. You are calling for service, not an AI bot.

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Long pauses and garbled language can also get you referred to a human. (iStock)

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Technology

The latest iPad Air is $400 for the first time and arrives by Christmas

Published

16 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

The latest iPad Air is 0 for the first time and arrives by Christmas

If you have $400 and want an iPad, your options are usually kind of limited to either just the base iPad, or better yet, the latest iPad Mini — if it happens to be on sale when you’re shopping (it is now, but that’s not always the case). But right now, you should consider getting the 128GB version of Apple’s 11-inch iPad Air with the capable M3 processor. At Target, multiple colors of this model are $399.99, beating the previous low of $449.99 we’ve seen during large-scale deal events. Currently, no other retailer is matching this price. This sale ends Saturday night.

$400 is a sweet price for this model, as it debuted in early 2025 for $600. In terms of how it stacks up to other iPad models, Verge editor-at-large David Pierce said in his impressions that the M3 Air is “exactly what you think it is. Which is fine.” I know, that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but it’s been a while since iPads peaked in terms of utility, design, and fast performance. This one carries the torch in Apple’s tablet dominance, and its M3 processor means it’ll be a fantastic tablet for longer than any other iPad at the $400 price point. Read our in-depth impressions.