It’s been a big week of updates on all things Google. Yesterday the company launched a bunch of handy updates for Android Auto, giving the in-car digital experience a much-needed refresh with added features and a far superior user interface. Let’s take a look. Split screen for the win I’m liking the split screen functionality Android‘s making split screen mode standard across all screen types and sizes, including widescreen and portrait. This removes the need to fiddle through lists of apps. Na
This week, escooter company Bird launched the latest tech to stop bad rider behavior. The Bird VPS (Visual Parking System) was shown on stage at Google I/O, demonstrating the latest tech to monitor escooter parking. The tool is powered by Google’s ARCore Geospatial API, enabling Bird to geo-localize parked scooters with pinpoint accuracy. This is achieved by taking advantage of the tech giant’s years of 3D scanning, global Street View data, and augmented reality technology. Let’s look at how it
Tesla has finally opened orders for its long-anticipated, electric Semi truck — to US customers at least. Expectedly, the automaker didn’t reveal any production date, but this week it did give us a better glance at performance figures, claimed range, and pricing. Credit: Tesla Performance specs Tesla will offer two different Semi models: one with 482km (300 miles) of range, and one with 804km (500 miles). Both are powered by four rear-axle motors. According to the company, they can deliver a 0 t
Some cryptocurrencies have always been fairly volatile, with values soaring or plunging within a short space of time. So for the more cautious investor, “stablecoins” were considered the sensible place to go. As the name implies, they are designed to be a steadier and safer bet. At the moment though, that stability is proving hard to find. The value of one of the most popular stablecoins, Terra (also known as UST), has fluctuated wildly in the last few days, before dropping dramatically – and is
Elon Musk said today he’s temporarily putting the Twitter deal on hold — because of bots. Yep, you read that right. Musk said the company has to prove that bots consist of less than 5% of users on the platform. This comes after a Twitter filing with SEC earlier this month, that claimed that the number of bots and spam accounts in its daily active users count — 229 million in Q1 2022 — is less than 5%. Removing bots from Twitter was the Tesla CEO’s one of the most advertised pitches when he was t
The road map to replacing old-fashioned carbon-emitting cars with electric vehicles is well developed – at least in theory. All the major car makers (and even some of the smaller ones) are publicly committed to electric. But actually, buying a new electric car? That’s another matter entirely. Volkswagen, the largest car manufacturer in the world, recently announced it had sold out of electric vehicles in the US and Europe for the rest of 2022. Ford’s E-Transit sold out before it had even started
Black holes are among the most profound predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Originally studied as a mere mathematical consequence of the theory rather than as physically relevant objects, they soon became thought of as generic and sometimes inevitable outcomes of the gravitational collapse that initially forms a galaxy. In fact, most physicists have suspected that our own galaxy revolves around a supermassive black hole at its center. There are other ideas too – such as “dark
The ACLU and Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition company, reached a legal settlement earlier this week that’s been hailed as a huge win by both parties. The big story here is that Clearview AI can no longer sell its databases to third party companies — but that’s not exactly news. Up front: The suit was filed in 2020 by the ACLU. It alleged that Clearview AI had failed to comply with the Illinois biometric information privacy act (BIPA). As Tech Crunch’s Taylor Hatmaker recently wro
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla’s Supercharger network in the US (and in North America, in general) will open up to non-Tesla EVs. This will expand the Non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot, which was launched last November and is currently available in France, Norway, and the Netherlands. While Elon — being Elon — didn’t disclose a specific timeframe, he did hint at the addition of a different connector: “It’s a little trickier in the US because we have a d
In the last few years, our awareness of the impact of carbon emissions has skyrocketed. In response, many cities are trying to reduce the use of cars (particularly ICEs) within inner urban areas in favor of pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit. But does such an approach actually make a real difference to air pollution levels? Let’s take a look: What’s the problem with cars? You probably know the stats, but let’s take just a quick refresher. According to joint research from Harvard Universit