Tech Updates and News

2021-03-03 18:01:26 ​​More than ever, we rely on technologies that can determine our location or pinpoint an object’s position. Precision agriculture, drone delivery, logistics, ride-hailing, and air travel all depend on highly accurate position detection from space. Now a series of deployments and upgrades to satellites in orbit and systems down below are boosting their accuracy from several meters to a few centimeters.

That could mean your phone knows not only which street you’re walking or biking down, but what side of the street you’re on. Even now, a shift in the dirt about the size of the tip of a sharp pencil in landslide-prone regions in China can be spotted from more than 21,000 kilometers above. And someday, that kind of resolution could make it possible for self-driving cars or delivery robots to safely navigate streets and sidewalks. Open / Comment

2021-03-03 08:00:55 ​​former icon was overhauled earlier this year. While the updated icon has avoided comparisons to the Nazi war criminal, it's also been compared to "Avatar" character Aang. Open / Comment

2021-03-02 18:00:42 ​​Hydrogen made using electricity generated from wind or solar power could provide a clean and carbon-neutral source of energy. A kilogram of hydrogen has about three times as much energy as a comparable amount of diesel or gasoline. If it can be made cleanly and cheaply, it could be the key to cleaning up an array of tricky vital sectors.

This so-called “green” hydrogen is today about three times more expensive to produce than hydrogen derived from natural gas, but that’s half of what it cost 10 years ago. And as the cost of wind and solar power continues to drop, and economies of scale around green hydrogen production kick in, it could get a lot cheaper. If that happens, green hydrogen has the potential to become a core fuel for a decarbonized future. Open / Comment

2021-03-02 08:00:55 ​​A new type of battery could finally make electric cars as convenient and cheap as gas ones.

For all the hype and hope around electric vehicles, they’re simply too expensive, their range is too limited, and charging them isn’t nearly as quick and convenient as refueling at the pump for many buyers.
Making electric cars more competitive with gas-powered ones will require a breakthrough battery that remedies those shortcomings. That, at least, is the argument of Jagdeep Singh, chief executive of QuantumScape, a Silicon Valley startup that claims to have developed just such a technology.

The company asserts it did so by solving a chemistry puzzle that has stumped researchers for nearly half a century: how to use lithium, the lightest metal on the periodic table, to boost the amount of energy that can be packed into a battery without posing a routine risk of fire or otherwise sacrificing performance.

VW was impressed enough to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in QuantumScape. The German auto giant also agreed to set up a joint venture with the company to mass-produce the batteries and says they’ll be in its electric cars and trucks on the road by 2025. Open / Comment

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2021-02-26 08:00:46 ​​Amazon One, the biometric device allows customers to pay at Amazon Go stores using their palm says the device is being rolled out to additional Amazon stores in Seattle. This expansion makes the system available across eight total Amazon physical retail stores, including Amazon Go convenience stores, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Books, and Amazon 4-star stores. Open / Comment

2021-02-25 08:00:35 ​​Amazon's new Echo Show 10 swivels its screen to follow you around. The big question is, do you want your camera-equipped smart device to be able to do that? Open / Comment

2021-02-24 18:00:15 ​​Facebook is removing critical functionality for its Australian users: the ability to see, share, and interact with news content on the social media platform.

Moreover, all Facebook users worldwide won’t be able to see news shared by Australian news outlets. Open / Comment

2021-02-24 08:00:25 ​​United Airlines is grounding 24 Boeing 777 planes after an engine failed soon after takeoff, catching fire and dropping debris over Colorado. The plane, which was carrying 231 passengers and 10 crew members, was forced to return to Denver. No injuries were reported. Open / Comment

2021-02-23 18:00:15 ​​Axiom Space, a startup that's building future commercial space stations, and flying the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station using SpaceX's Dragon spaceship, has raised $130 million. Axiom has also been involved in Tom Cruise's ambitious plans to film a movie on the ISS. Open / Comment