Day: June 2, 2023

Reddit is one of the biggest and most important websites on the planet, especially since it’s one of the last places human beings can get questions answered by actual human beings. It’s also a colossally active hub for the discussion of video games, a place where millions of gamers gather every day in communities devoted to everything from retro classics to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. So it sucks to see that the company is about to crush many of the best ways to actually experience the whole thing.

For anyone using the site on a desktop computer the Reddit experience is fine, I guess (“Old Reddit” is better), but on phones, that all changes. Reddit’s official app sucks, and is absolutely loaded with intrusive ads, meaning a lot of people rely on the work of third-party apps—like the incredibly popular Apollo on iOS and my own favourite, Infinity on Android—to browse and comment.

Or they did. Those third-party apps only existed because Reddit allowed them to access their API (essentially their backend); today, the site announced specific changes to that arrangement (first broadly announced last month), implementing charges for the data—similar to those introduced by another platform with popular third-party apps, Twitter—that are so astronomical they’re going to price every third-party app out of the market.

The creator of Apollo has done the math, and says:

I’ll cut to the chase: 50 million requests costs $12,000, a figure far more than I ever could have imagined.

Apollo made 7 billion requests last month, which would put it at about 1.7 million dollars per month, or 20 million US dollars per year. Even if I only kept subscription users, the average Apollo user uses 344 requests per day, which would cost $2.50 per month, which is over double what the subscription currently costs, so I’d be in the red every month.

Meanwhile one of the developers of RIF, another popular Android app, says that they are not only also being priced out (if Apollo can’t afford it nobody can), but that Reddit is also implementing a change where third-party apps would lose access to NSFW subreddits, while the official site would not:

Removal of sexually explicit material from third-party apps while keeping said content in the official app. Some people have speculated that NSFW is going to leave Reddit entirely, but then why would Reddit Inc have recently expanded NSFW upload support on their desktop site?

It’s obvious that the steep pricing, which goes far beyond what these developers were expecting or could ever afford, is not there to make money. Not when it was clear nobody was ever going to be able to pay it. It’s being brought in to crush third-party alternatives, driving every mobile user to the official app where they’ll either have to watch ads or pay for Reddit Premium.

Or, you know, stop going to Reddit.

LONDON — Investment in clean energy will extend its lead over spending on fossil fuels in 2023, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, with solar projects expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time.

Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report.

Around 90% of that clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China, however, highlighting the global divide between rich and poor countries as fossil fuel investment is still double the levels needed to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.

“Clean energy is moving fast – faster than many people realize,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

“For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy. Five years ago, this ratio was one-to-one.”

Around $2.8 trillion is set to be invested in energy worldwide in 2023, of which more than $1.7 trillion is expected to go to renewables, nuclear power, electric vehicles, and efficiency improvements.

The rest, or around $1 trillion, will go to oil, gas and coal, demand for the last of which will reach an all-time high or six times the level needed in 2030 to reach net zero by 2050.

Current fossil fuel spending is significantly higher than what it should be to reach the goal of net zero by mid-century, the agency said.

In 2023, solar power spending is due to hit more than $1 billion a day or $382 billion for the year, while investment in oil production will stand at $371 billion.

“This crowns solar as a true energy superpower. It is emerging as the biggest tool we have for rapid decarbonisation of the entire economy,” energy think tank Ember’s head of data insights, Dave Jones, said in a statement.

“The irony remains that some of the sunniest places in the world have the lowest levels of solar investment.”

Investment in new fossil fuel supply will rise by 6% in 2023 to $950 billion, the IEA added.

The agency did not expressly reiterate its blockbuster projection from 2021 that investors should not fund new oil, gas and coal supply projects if the world wants to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.

Producer group OPEC has said calls by the IEA to stop investing in oil undermine global energy security and growth. Scientists and international climate activists have warned the fossil fuel industry exacerbates the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Related video:

• Swedish startup Luvly is working on tiny electric cars for urban environments. 
• The Luvly O, its first car, will cost around $10,700 and offer 60 miles of range. 
• Luvly plans to flat-pack car parts and ship them to “microfactories” near where customers live. 

If Ikea made an electric vehicle, it might look a little something like the Luvly O. 

The Swedish startup is looking to sell customers on tiny urban EVs that are kinder to the planet and contribute less to congestion than buzzy models like, say, a Ford F-150 Lightning or Tesla Model Y. 

What makes the Luvly O different from other little EVs? The idea is to flat-pack each car’s parts — much like an Ikea Malm, Kallax, or Billy — and then assemble them at “microfactories” close to customers, cutting down on shipping emissions and costs. 

Learn all about the Luvly O below: