Apple Advanced AI Features Likely Opt-In; Samsung Foldables Leak; Twice is Twitching Subscription Pricing Up; Musk Diverting Tesla GPUs to His Other Companies

Posted: June 5, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Just a few days until next Monday’s Apple WWDC keynote, and Bloomberg is reporting that the advanced AI features in iOS 18 will most likely be an opt-in service. As we have reported here, Apple has been working with OpenAI for over a year to incorporate its ChatGPT tech into iOS 18. The partnership will be fleshed out for us at the keynote. Meanwhile, Apple has also been hedging their bets, talking to Google about utilizing its Gemini in Apple operating systems. Apple has been working on their own large language model, but apparently felt they were behind the curve enough that they needed to partner with a competitor. It is expected that Apple’s own LLM will be limited to new Siri features, and that they will work on device. the more advanced AI will rely on cloud servers. 

Design info has been leaked about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 and they’re more ‘chonky’ as the saying goes. According to androidpolice.com, the handsets will adapt a boxy design much like the Galaxy S24 Ultra. When they are shown off in about a month, expect new AI features like live translator, circle to search and more. They also will have upgraded camera features and will run on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 silicon. One widely anticipated change…both phones will have a less visible crease! The Z Flip 6 may get an upgraded 50 MP rear cam, too. 

Apparently, ’Tis the Season…we just reported on Spotify jacking up prices, and now here comes Twitch, joining Spotify, Peacock, Max, and others in increasing prices. Engadget.com says starting July 11th, Twitch Tier 1 subscriptions will go up a buck from $4.99 to $5.99. In Twitch’s defense, this is the first increase of monthly subscriptions to US users. Twitch already goosed prices up on Canada, Australia, the UK, and Turkey. 

Again, Elon Musk is being accused of diverting Tesla resources to his other privately owned companies. CNBC reports that…according to emails from Nvidia staffers…he’s redirected some 12,0000 GPUs to his social media platform X. Musk told investors in April that Tesla had spent about a billion dollars on GPUs the first quarter of this year…nearly as much as the car maker dropped on R & D, despite being desperate for new models to add to what is now an old and very limited product lineup that is suffering rapidly declining sales in the US and China. Tesla has been working on its own in-house supercomputer for AI, named Dojo. Musk was accused of diverting Tesla resources previously to his other companies…back in 2022. Senator Elizabeth Warren noted in a letter to Tesla that this could violate what are called ‘anti-tunneling rules’ that are in place to prevent corporate insiders from extracting resources from their firms.

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

Spotify Hiking US Prices Again; New Breakthrough May Allow 1 Minute Charging; X Formally Allows Adult Content; Instagram Confirms Testing Unskippable Ads

Posted: June 3, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s only been a year since Spotify bumped up prices for Spotify Premium in the US…and oops…they’re doing it again! Theverge.com reports that Premium is being increased a buck to $11.99 a month. Spotify Duo is going up two bucks from $14.99 to $16.99 a month. Family will go from $16.99 a month to socking you for $19.99 a month. In an email, Spotify says this is needed “So that we can continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experience.” Also so they can make more money. 

In an amazing study which just appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at University of Colorado Boulder have discovered a new cutting-edge technique that could make it possible to charge devices almost instantaneously. This would make charging phones, laptops, and even electric cars much more efficient and convenient. The foundation of the new technique is based on new insights into how ions move through supercapacitors. According to bgr.com, the key is to make moving ions more efficient. This allows charging a phone battery from dead to 100% in a minute or less! The scientists made a discovery that modifies the Kirchoff circuit law, which has been the rule for 175 years. It’s a bit dense to get into, but they say that the discovery may be the ‘missing link’ they have been looking for. With phones and electric vehicles that could be charged in a minute or less, it would be a whole new world! Let’s hope this gets from lab to general use soon!

When Elon Musk renamed Twitter ‘X,’ there was a certain amount of ribbing about that making it sound like a porn site. Well now, it is moving a little bit in that direction. Arstechnica.com notes that there have been some not safe for work communities on the platform for some time, and now X has added clauses to its rules, formally allowing users to post adult and graphic content on the platform — with a few caveats. Users can now post consensually-produced NSFW content as long as it is prominently labeled as such. The new rules also cover AI-generated videos and images. About 13% of posts on the platform in 2022 contained adult content, according to a Reuters report in 2022 that cited internal company documents. Adult content on X has seemingly gone up since then, especially as porn bots have proliferated on the platform.

Instagram has confirmed that it is testing out unskippable ads. Techcrunch.com reports that the new ad breaks will show a countdown timer that stops your browsing on the app until you have viewed the ad. This will be something of a copycat function to YouTube’s….where you have and ad roll before your video with the little timer in the corner and ‘skip’ appears when you can finally view the video you wanted to watch. Instagram declined to say where in the Instagram app the ad breaks show and whether the company was testing the feature globally. The screenshots, however, show the ad breaks appearing in the app’s Feed while watching video posts. It’s not clear at this time if Instagram creators will have any control over these ads’ appearance. So far, it is just a test…but you might as well brace for it…it will be coming.

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

OpenAI Board Learned of ChatGPT from Twitter; Apple Looks to Black Box AI Cloud Data for Users; Founder Calls for ‘Memetech’ 

Posted: May 29, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

I had originally done a story about a company starting with G, and how there was a large leak about their search algorithm, but after an hour of checking, they hadn’t ok’ed the video…a subtile way of censoring it looks like. Anyway, you will have to check elsewhere for that info. Sorry.

After all the drama of the OpenAI board canning CEO Sam Altman, then hiring him back, more trickles out about what was going on. With ChatGPT being hyped as the biggest thing since fire or electricity, it turns out OpenAI was kind of a snake pit. According to arstechnica.com, in an interview with ‘The Ted AI Show,’ former OpenAI board member Helen Toner said that the OpenAI board was unaware of the existence of ChatGPT until they saw it on Twitter. She went on to share that many at OpenAI were afraid to cross Sam…partially in fear that the company would fall apart. Toner’s main argument is that OpenAI hasn’t been able to police itself despite claims to the contrary. “The OpenAI saga shows that trying to do good and regulating yourself isn’t enough,” she said. This doesn’t bode well for the so-called ’Safety Committee’ formed at OpenAI being able to police anything. 

Although rumors have Apple doing a good deal of their AI right on the latest iPhones in order to keep your data secure, it is expected that at least some information crunching will be done in the cloud. The Information says that Apple plans to process AI applications in a virtual ‘black box’ in the cloud…one that even their employees will be unable to access. This is probably pretty accurate info, as it comes from 4 former Apple employees who worked on the project of integrating AI into Siri. Apple has been working secretly on AI for 3 years, but are still considered to be playing catch up with Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft.

Oh, here’s what we need….better and easier to modify and send memes. As a heavy user of memes, even I have to be skeptical. That said, Alex Taub, a founder of a number of tech startups says it’s time to disrupt the meme ‘industry.’ Techcrunch.com reports that Taub notes that memes are a key component of our online communications. He also says of course it isn’t a necessary thing….but goes on to say that neither are smart refrigerators! Taub says most people that use memes have a meme folder…yep, have a huge one myself. He forsees a program to catalog your memes so you can pull and send an appropriate one to a friend or post it in a good moment. Not just one to talk, Taub has launched Meme Depot…which will be a comprehensive archive of any meme imaginable! Right now he is funding Meme Depot from his past ventures, but expects if it takes off he will make some money from it either by subscription or ads…just like most of the rest of the internet sites do.

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

Google May Partner with TSMC on Pixel 10 Chips; Musks Raises $6 Billion for his xAI; All AI is Beta-Apple May Admit It; Bioprocessor from Human Brain Tissue-Uses Million Times Less Power

Posted: May 28, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Some sleuthing has uncovered evidence that Google may be planning to use Tensor chips made for them by Taiwan Semiconductor, the same firm that furnishes chips to Apple for their mobile devices and M series computers. Androidpolice.com reports that the TSMC chips will be showing up in the Pixel 10 phones next year. The Pixel 9 phones will be out this fall, still powered by Tensor G4 chips from Samsung. Expect the Pixel 9 phones to emphasize more AI features.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Elon Musk has raised an additional $6 billion for his xAI startup…and its Grok chatbot, that Musk says is an edgier version of ChatGPT. According to theverge.com, the big cash came from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and a Saudi prince. Musk has said he would “prefer to build products outside of Tesla” when it comes to AI and robotics unless he gets more control. Tesla shareholders will start voting this week on whether to restore Musk’s $56 billion pay package ahead of its annual meeting on June 13th. A substantial surge from the shareholders, led in some cases by some major holders that together have more stock than Elon, is opposing giving him $56 billion after big losses from a sales decrease first quarter. 

In his PowerOn Newsletter, Mark German says that Apple may choose to label its upcoming AI features iOS 18 as beta or preview. They also did this when they launched Siri years ago. Some might argue Siri is still beta…I certainly would! 9to5mac.com goes on to comment that truthfully, ALL AI should be categorized as beta. There are still numerous instances of what the industry euphemistically calls ‘hallucinatons’ by AI systems. In starker terms, it lies and makes stuff up. One outrageous example from earlier is the lawyer that wrote a brief with ChatGPT, and it included citations from cases it had made up…which the court and opposing counsel quickly pointed out. Another that was just taken down by Google was an AI overview of presidents. the AI said the US has had 42 presidents, and 17 of them have been white. It may be a while yet before AI takes over the world. 

FinalSpark, a Swiss startup, says it has made the world’s first bioprocessor. Bgr.com reports that the device incorporates what they call 16 human brain ‘organoids.’  The claim it uses a million times less power than traditional processors. FinalSpark also says the bioprocessor is capable of learning and processing information. Anyone else getting the vibe of the humans used for batteries in the Matrix movies? They have dubbed the system ‘wetware,’ as it is a mix of biology, software, and hardware. The trick now will be seeing if they can scale it up to a large enough system to actually be marketable. AI and human tissue…yeah, I am definitely getting a Matrix vibe…hope Neo is out there somewhere to get us out of this jam.

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

Britain Already Scrutinizing Microsoft’s New AI Recall Feature; Amazon Alexa Getting Big AI Upgrade-But for a Fee; Spotify Rolling Out its Own Font; Humane for Sale After Smart Pin Flop

Posted: May 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft just announced to great fanfare the new AI Recall feature that will be spotlighted in their new generation of tablets and laptops. According to gizmodo.com, Recall, uses AI to build a “photographic memory” of a user’s laptop activity that they can then search. In other words, Recall constantly takes screenshots of a user’s activity on the computer, whether they’re searching for new recipes online, watching videos, or using apps. This could be good or creepy…your choice…but now, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has told BBC it is reaching out to Microsoft for more info. An ICO spokesperson told the Beebe that companies must “rigorously assess and mitigate risks to peoples’ rights and freedoms” before launching new products, especially those that are potentially invasive. I’d say that a system that records every single thing you do on your computer probably qualifies as invasive!

Amazon is readying a big AI upgrade to Alexa. This will probably be nice to have, as all of the assistants need to get better….looking at you, Siri. If you can’t wait to try it, here’s a little fly in the ointment…Amazon is going to charge a separate subscription on top of the $139 it already whacks you for to be a Prime member. CNBC reports that Amazon has refused to comment on the additional fee so far. If you want to give it a test drive for free while it’s still being tested, you can tell your Echo unit “Alexa, let’s chat,’ and Amazon will notify you when you can access the preview. With Google already getting its Gemini AI assistant out, and Apple about to upgrade Siri with AI at WWDC in June, the race is on to get to smarter…or at least less stupid…assistants. 

Spotify now has its own bespoke typeface…and it is rolling out today. The platform thinks Spotify Mix will improve the experience for your eyeballs. Why call a font ‘Mix?’ Well, theverge.com says Spotify is claiming the name is an homage to the “dynamic and evolving nature of audio culture over the years.” Spotify says “We subtly incorporated the shapes of sound waves to evoke a rhythmic feel. The combination of sharp angles and smooth curves gives the typeface a distinctive character that feels quintessentially Spotify.” Why do I feel like an ad agency wrote that? Although Apple used the Chicago font years ago, even mighty Apple has stooped to using fonts used by we mortal users.

You may recall the hype and fanfare around the AI Pin from startup Humane. It was a pin you could query and get answers via AI, and it even projected some on to your hand. The little jewel ran $700 plus $24 a month for a subscription. Well, TechCrunch.com notes that Humane has now put itself on the block for between $750 million and a billion. Not bad for a company that had raised $230 million from some big tech hitters, and got so much buzz…then laid a big ostrich-sized egg with the pin. Besides being pricy and in search of a market, the pin allegedly had overheating and battery life issues. Need a big write-off right now, and looking for a hip sounding company with a failed product…here’s your chance!

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

Apple-Accessibility Eye Tracking for Recent iPhones & iPads; Google Opens Smart Home to Everyone; OpenA Chief Scientist Leaves; FTC Warns Car Makers About Selling User Data

Posted: May 15, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple has announced new accessibility features. The biggie is built in eye tracking for iPhones and iPads. Engadget.com reports that devices with the A12 chip or later will gain the ability to use the front facing camera to navigate software without additional hardware or accessories. When enabled, people can look at their screen to move through elements like apps and menus…then linger on an item to select it. Another thing they are adding is vocal shortcuts. AI on the device creates personalized voice commands. You could maybe use Yo, and Siri will…or may…understand and then perform the shortcut or task you associated with the shortcut word.  Voice control and color filters are coming to the interface for vehicles, making it easier to control apps by talking and for those with visual impairments to see menus or alerts. To that end, CarPlay is also getting bold and large text support, as well as sound recognition for noises like sirens or honks. 

Google has announced it is opening API access to its Google Home Smart home platform. Now, according to theverge.com, any app maker, whether smart home related or not, can access the more than 600 million devices connected to Google Home and tap into the Google Home automation engine to make what they are calling smart solutions for users. Any device that uses the Matter protocol or which says Works with Google Home will be accessible. 

Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI co-founder and long time chief scientist has left the building…and company. Techcrunch.com says that CEO Sam Altman posted on X about the departure last night. Altman called it a very sad day, and praised Ilya as having easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field,” and he also called him “a dear friend.” The big brained chief scientist is reportedly planning on working on something he called ‘personally meaningful.’ Ilya did say in a statement that he is leaving OpenAI with the “belief the company will build artificial general intelligence — AI capable of accomplishing any task a human can — that’s “both safe and beneficial.”

A warning has come out for automakers that sell connected cars…that’s virtually all of them these days. It’s from the Office of Technology of the FTC, and they said in a statement that Companies that offer such products “do not have the free license to monetize people’s information beyond purposes needed to provide their requested product or service.” Arstechnica.com notes that the FTC went on to say Just because executives and investors want recurring revenue streams, that does not “outweigh the need for meaningful privacy safeguards.” This sounds like a shot over the bow to car makers that the feds will be coming after them if they don’t stop peddling car owners’ data to all sorts of data brokers and other third parties.

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

Polestar-1st 10 Minute Charge EV; ChatGPT Saves Chat History Even if You Said No; Elon Cans Tesla EV Charging Team; Twitch New Discovery Feed Apes TikTok

Posted: May 1, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In a big, big first, Swedish EV maker Polestar has revealed the first 10 minute charging EV. Thenextweb.com reports that Polestar is using a so-called ‘silicon-dominant’ battery built by Israeli startup StoreDot. The battery uses silicon anodes instead of graphite. They can store 10 times the amount of lithium ions that graphite can, and take up much less space. This makes batteries that last longer and charge faster. Polestar dropped one of the battery packs in a working prototype of a Polestar 5…which is the model due out next year. It charged from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes. This is what you call a game changer! The CEO of StoreDot, Dr Doron Myersdorf, said “Drivers can now truly travel long distances with the same freedom and convenience as traditional petrol-powered vehicles.” The batteries can be dropped into existing EV bodies, and can be charged using regular DC chargers.

ChatGPT now saves your chat history, even if you opted out of sharing your data to train the model. According to mashable.com, up to now, your chat history was only saved if you allowed OpenAI to use your conversations to help train the model…which forced users to to decide between keeping their data private and unrestricted functionality of the app. OpenAI has also released a Temporary Chat option…kind of a stealth mode for ChatGPT, which won’t show up in your chat history. If you are cool with the app keeping more tabs on your chat, you can turn on a Memory feature, and it will remember specific characteristics it has picked up from your conversations…oh, that’s not creepy at all. 

In his continuing rampage after a down quarter, Elon Musk has continued laying off staff. Over 10% worldwide have already gotten the chop, and now yesterday, Musk fired virtually the entire EV charging team…the folks responsible for the Supercharger network. Reuters.com notes that this surprised and shocked other car makers who have deals with Tesla to give their customers access to the network. It also calls into question whether Tesla can keep federal subsidies it is getting to expand the reach of its North American Charging Standard system. As usual, Tesla has had no comment on the layoffs. GM and Ford have both announced that they will continue to equip EVs with connectors to use Tesla Superchargers. 

Twitch has introduced its Discoverability Feed, that lets you scroll through live streams like on TikTok. Androidpolice.com reports that users can easily find personalized content on Twitch by scrolling vertically through live streams and clips…and also avoid ads. Even though it has been owned by Amazon since 2014, Twitch has heavy competition from YouTube Live, Kick, Rumble, and other platforms. The Discoverability feature should help small creators to grow their audience more quickly. The future is live on both iOS and Android right now.

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

Meta Shares Fell on Big AI Spending; Biden Signs TikTok Bill-What Now; Threads Passes 150 Million Active Users; TSMC Moving to ‘Ultra’ Advanced Chips

Posted: April 25, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Meta shares dropped yesterday after the company forecasted higher expenses and lower than expected revenue. The expenses mainly due to its big investment in AI. Meta was still down 11% as of this recording…and lost some $200 billion in valuation yesterday, according to Reuters. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call that the focus on AI would “grow our investment envelope meaningfully before we make much revenue from some of these new products.” Meta expects AI features like a new AI chat assistant will driver engagement on its platforms…in other words, a chatbot will make Facebook and Instagram bigger time sucks than they already are for some people!

President Biden signed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok ban, so things are getting interesting for ByteDance, the China based parent company. Theverge.com reports that they have 9 months to sell control of TikTok to a non-Chinese owner. The president can give them an additional 3 months if it looks like they are moving towards that…otherwise it will be banned from both the Google and Apple app stores. TikTok has repeated that it will challenge the law in the courts. Although some 170 million users in the US use the app, it should be pointed out that the Chinese government forces both Apple and Google to block apps from downloading there on a regular basis. 

Threads has passed the 150 million active monthly user mark. As recently as February, they were at 130 million, so growth is accelerating quickly. Mashable.com notes that X claims 550 million active users worldwide, although some research firms dispute X’s numbers. Threads announced yesterday that they are testing the option to archive posts “with a small number of people.” Individual posts can be archived manually, but you can also automatically archive all posts after a certain period of time.

Taiwan Semiconductor will start building what they are calling ultra-advanced 1.6 nanometer chips by 2026. Right now, the fastest, most advanced chips are using 3 nanometer tech. Nikkei Asia repots that the A16 tech was revealed at the North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara Yesterday. TSMC says the 1.6 NM chips will have greatly improved logic density and performance. The new tech delivers poswer to chips from the bottom up instead of top down…avoiding complex internal wiring and improving energy efficiency. Intel has already announced backside power, and will start making 2 NM and 1.8 NM chips in 2025. The present iPhones use TSMC’s 3 NM tech. Many tech experts believe that AI will eventually need even more advanced chips…with sizes under 1 NM. 

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

Apple AI-Totally ‘On-Device’; TikTok Says US Ban Tramples Free Speech; Tesla Cuts Prices-Models S, X, & Y; Twitter Wannabe Post News Closing Down

Posted: April 22, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

In his latest Power On Newsletter, Bloomburg’s Mark Gurman says that the AI feature in Apple’s iOS 18 will be ‘entirely on-device.’ Apple will tout this as giving users more privacy and speed than with AI running from powerful server farms…although the AI Model..code named Ajax…won’t really be as powerful as the ones backed by monster servers. Apple feels that with their tight software and hardware integration that this is the best way for their users…at least for now. Cupertino is doing what all the other big tech firms are…dumping billions into AI, so we may see them open up more to server based large language models before long. We’ll know more after WWDC, which starts June 10th. 

With the passage over the weekend of a bill over the weekend in the House of Representatives that…in addition to foreign aid, demanded that TikTok must be sold to owners not affiliated with the Chinese government or army, a TikTok spokesman has said  the move “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy annually”. BBC.com reports that the company went on to say that its owner ByteDance “is not an agent of China or any other country”. ByteDance points to the many global investment firms that own 60% of it. If signed into law, the bill would give ByteDance a year to sell TikTok to non-Chines owners…or else be blocked in the US. 

As business has slowed, in part due to prospective customers tiring of Elon Musk’s antics, as well as the tepid reception then recall of Cybertrucks…Tesla has chopped two grand off the base prices of their Models S, X, and Y. Engadget.com says the price reductions were posted on X Friday night. Tesla is also cutting its referral program in all markets as of April 30th. This all follows on the heels of the company laying off over 10% of employees worldwide. It should be noted that Tesla had just grown their workforce by 10% over the last couple of years. 

It’s kind of sad to report that Post.News is calling it quits. The Twitter wannabe site was started by the former CEO of Waze, and theverge.com notes that it just never got enough traction to be viable. I was on Post from the start, and it was a real seat of the pants operation…very little staff, and really only had about a half million users….compared to the over 100 million that Meta’s Threads got right away. 

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

Google Fires 28 Employees Over Protest; Media Coalition Asks Feds to Investigate Google Dropping Cal News Links; Algorithm May Double Lithium-Ion Battery Life; Boston Dynamics Robot Goes from Hydraulic to Electric

Posted: April 18, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Google has fired 28 employees over the sit in protests at two of its offices this week. Theverge.com reports that 9 employees had been suspended and then arrested in both California and New York on Tuesday. The employees were protesting Google’s hand in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion Israeli government cloud contract. Amazon is also involved in the Nimbus cloud project. The employees sitting in had to be forcibly removed by law enforcement from Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office. There are claims that Project Nimbus has been used by the Israel Defense Force in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, where thousands have died.

The News/Media Alliance, previously known as the Newspaper Association of America, has ask the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission…as well as the California  Attorney General…to investigate Google after Google removed links to California news media outlets. According to engadget.com, Google has acted in response to a pending legislative measure in Sacramento….which Google vociferously opposes. If the bill becomes law, it would require Google and other tech platforms to pay California media outlets in exchange for links. The bill passed the state Assembly last year. Heaven forbid that online platforms would have to actually PAY for news!

Researchers in Germany have come up with a new algorithm that may help double the life of lithium-ion batteries. Bgr.com says it works by changing the way electricity is sent to the batteries for charging. Right now, batteries get what’s called constant current. That tends to cause cracks in the battery electrodes over time. The new algorithm uses pulsed current. This results in a thinner interface and much less structural wear on the battery, allowing it to hold a higher energy capacity for longer. The researchers think the new algorithm can double the service life of lithium-ion batteries, keeping them at over 80% energy capacity retention. This will be particularly big for EVs, where the battery packs can be a huge expense to replace. 

Boston Dynamics has had their rather amazing Atlas robot for a while now…the one that can walk, stand, jump, and all. It has been cool…but noisy, with hydraulically actuated motors whirring away. Now, TechCrunch.com reports that the new version of Atlas is all electric, no hydraulics. You can still hear the motors humming, but it is much quieter, and a bit less jerky in movement than the old versions. It is smoother…no cables showing, and not such a top heavy torso. the Head is a bit freaky…it looks kind of like a giant searchlight…and it rotates 180 degrees. Boston still won’t say when it will be ready for production at scale.

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

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