14. Okt. 2024 2 min read B&B

B&B #5: Tesla, the latest Nobel Prize winner and Boeing's problems

Tesla's latest innovations, the latest Nobel Prize winner and Boeing's financial issues.

Headlines

Vocabulary

Tesla shares slide after Cybercab robotaxi revealed

Elon Musk has unveiled the firm's long-awaited robotaxi: enthüllen
...the multi-billionaire reiterated his view that fully self-driving vehicles will be safer than those operated by humans: wiederholen
...given his track record of failing to meet his own deadlines: Erfolgsbilanz
Without external subsidies, or Tesla making a loss on every vehicle, it doesn't seem plausible: Zuschüsse, plausibel
But the research community "is not sold on whether the Tesla style of doing things can give the safety guarantees that we would like: sie sind nicht davon überzeugt
Tesla also seems poised to post its first ever decline in annual sales: bereit, Rückgang

Demis Hassabis: from video game designer to Nobel prize winner

Sir Demis Hassabis got his big break in the tech world: Durchbruch
Hassabis has always extolled the benefits of gaming and has described it as a gateway to AI: die Vorzüge von etwas anpreisen, ein Tor zu etw
Hassabis’s expertise is sought after: gefragt
Hassabis is at the forefront of a multibillion-dollar AI boom: an der Spitze stehen
The potential pitfalls of AI: Fallstrick
the threat of extinction from AI: die Gefahr des Aussterbens durch KI

Boeing will shed 17,000 jobs as financial woes deepen

Boeing will shed 17,000 jobs: Boeing wird 17.000 Arbeitsplätze abbauen
the aviation giant grapples with mounting losses and manufacturing disruptions: steigende Verluste, Unterbrechungen
...where a stalemate between the company’s largest employee union dovetails with ongoing legal troubles and safety woes: Sackgasse, Gewerkschaft, zusammenpassen
...he pledged to fix the fractured relationship between the company and its more than 170,000 employees: Versprechen, gebrochen
Boeing began furloughing workers: Kurzarbeit
Boeing agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud: Boeing bekennt sich in einem Fall von Betrug schuldig

Video of the Day

60 second culture - University degrees in the UK (Universitätsabschlüsse in Großbritannien)

There are four types of university degree grade in the UK, which is slightly different to the US and other Anglophone countries. They are, from best to worst:

First class honours (or "a first")
Upper second class honours (or "2:1")
Lower second class honours (or "2:2")
Third class honours (or "a third")

Anything below the above is a fail. So when The Guardian states that Hassibis got "a double first in computer science at Cambridge University", it means that he got the best possible grade in both parts of his degree at one of the best universities in the world.

The percentage of students who get first class degrees has gone up signficantly in the UK recently - to around 30% as in 2023.