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New York Bans AI-Enabled Rent Price Fixing

2 days 23 hours ago
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law legislation banning the use of price-fixing software by landlords to set rental rates. From a report: New York is the first state to outlaw algorithmic pricing by landlords, following a number of city-wide bans in Jersey City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. Software companies such as RealPage offer landlords algorithms that can set rental prices. The software can also help determine the ideal number of people to live in a unit or the terms of a lease renewal. RealPage says it can help its clients "optimize rents to achieve the overall highest yield, or combination of rent and occupancy, at each property." But the "private data algorithms" advertised by these software companies, Hochul says, cause the "housing market distortion" that harms renters "during a historic housing supply and affordability crisis." Not only does the law outlaw setting rental terms with the software, it also says that any property owners who use the software will be considered colluding. In other words, two or more rental property owners or managers who set rents with an algorithm are, in practice, choosing to not compete with each other, whether they do so "knowingly or with reckless disregard," the law says. This is a distinct violation from simply using the software itself.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hyperscalers try to beat the heat with larger racks, more air flow

2 days 23 hours ago
Most datacenters to ditch 19-inch standard for 21-inch OCP kit by 2030

Datacenters are set to standardize on the larger, 21-inch rack format by 2030, according to Omdia, as hyperscalers and server makers fully embrace it, leaving enterprises to the existing 19-inch standard.…

Dan Robinson

Chamber of Commerce sues over Trump's $100K H-1B paywall

2 days 23 hours ago
US biz lobby claims president overstepped his authority with proclamation demanding hefty visa fee

The US Chamber of Commerce (CoC) has filed a suit accusing President Trump of exceeding his authority by seeking to slap a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.…

Joe Fay

Samsung To Showcase Its First Ever Trifold Phone Later This Month

2 days 23 hours ago
An anonymous reader shares a report: Samsung Electronics will unveil its highly-anticipated trifold smartphone when world leaders and global dignitaries gather at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month. It will be the company's first device with two hinges -- allowing it to work as either a conventional smartphone or a significantly larger tablet when fully unfurled -- and will be displayed at an exhibition of cutting-edge Korean technology on the sidelines of the multilateral summit, according to a person familiar with the matter. For Samsung, the Gyeongju-hosted APEC event will provide a global spotlight for a product it hopes will burnish its reputation as an engineering pioneer. Alongside Huawei, Samsung has led the move to develop foldable phones, and Huawei introduced the world's first trifold device in China last year. The Korean company now has the opportunity to take the form factor global.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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