Spotify Bows iPhone Lock Screen Widget; No Apple AR Glasses Until 2026 or ’27; Amazon Responsible for Over Half Serious US Warehouse Injuries; Hypersonic Hydrogen Jet in the Works

For those of you who use Spotify…and that’s a heck of a lot of you…here’s a handy new feature. Spotify has announced that they are rolling out a new iPhone Lock Screen widget for phones running iOS16 or later. TechCrunch.com reports that the widget will allow opening the Spotify app right from the Lock Screen, saving some time and hassle. This should be particularly helpful when you are on the go…. in the car or hiking, cycling. Spotify is also now supporting Apple Live Activities, which puts music controls at the bottom of your Lock Screen when you are actively using the app. 

While we all wait for the reveal of the Apple Mixed Reality headset soon…very probably at WWDC in June…it looks like the Apple Glasses have been pushed back a bit more. Now, according to appleinsider.com, it will be 2026 or ’27. That’s the latest from noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. A key is so-called ‘metalens’ technology. The tech uses nanostructure to focus light. The glasses rocking the tech would display content over the real world. In other words, as you walk down the street, and look at a restaurant, you could see the menu hovering in front of you while still seeing the real world as well. An earlier report had mixed reality contacts coming out in 2030, but it looks like that has been pushed further out or shelved for now.  

We all love us those Amazon boxes that land on our porch or at our door. Everyone knows Amazon has a giant workforce in warehouses all over the country (and world, for that matter), so it’s not exactly a surprise that over half the ‘serious’ US warehouse accidents happen at Amazon facilities. Engadget.com says the number was 53% last year, based on data collected by OSHA. This is after Jeff Bezos said 2 years ago the company would spend some $300 million to improve workplace safety. Actually, they have improved….down to 6.9 injuries per 100 workers in 2022 from 7.9 the previous year and 9 per 100 the year before that. They still have a ways to go. Racking up over half the injuries when Amazon has 36% of all warehouse workers. 

Imagine flying from New York to London in 90 minutes! A Swiss startup called Destinus is working on it. Thenextweb.com reports they are developing a prototype hydrogen-powered aircraft that can fly at over 3700 miles per hour! the craft would use hydrogen fueled air-breathing turbojet engines for takeoff and landing, and a separate ramjet engine to make the hypersonic speeds. This has been experimented with by the military for years…often called a ‘scramjet.’ The first model will carry 25 passengers, and be ready by the end of the decade. After that, Destinus plans a 100 passenger model. Liquid hydrogen is 4 times lighter than jet fuel, but cost much more. The cool thing is that the thrust coming out of the engines is water vapor…much more environmentally friendly than even jet fuel. A small plane has already flown, we may hear about the 25 passenger model in the next year.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Tecnhified’ for now.