Twitter user ‘Progen’ just released a short video proudly showing AI acting like a digital design assistant for some basic everyday tasks. The A.I. in question is not one entity, but three tools – two of which are open source – working together to deliver a scarily competent service to their human.
Read MoreAuthor Archives: Nigel
Info: Nigel is the managing editor of the Red Ferret, as well as a freelance columnist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Loves tech and fancies himself as a bit of a futurist, but then don't we all?
Ascend Elements – Atomic Upcycling Promises Infinite EV Battery Recycling
Most people will agree that while electric cars and renewable technology is great, a big problem is the huge amount of ugly unsustainable mining that’s needed for the humble battery. Digging the material out of the ground is very carbon intensive, dirty and sometimes downright toxic. So anything that promises to provide a decent recycling route gets our vote. Now a clever company based out of the US has come up with a new recycling technology they claim can recover…
Read MoreSolein – Yet Another Impossible Food From The Minds Of Boffins
So another day, another wonderous technological development. Solein, from Finnish startup Solar Foods, is being billed as a ‘nutritious protein made out of thin air’. Whoa, that’s just what we need to feed the hungry billions. The marketing is extremely slick. There’s lots of gorgeous shots of food, processed product and laboratory stuff, all wrapped in some enticing copywriting. The concept is pretty simple. Take some random microbe, add in carbon (CO2), nitrogen and a couple of other bits, mix…
Read MoreZeekr 001 – First 1000 Kilometer range EV Goes Into Production In China. Deliveries Q2 2023?
According to this report from New Atlas, the first 1000 km EV coming off the production line is going to be the Zeekr 001 in Q2 of next year. You’ll remember a few weeks back we talked about the cool new CATL battery technology which is promising massive range and ridiculously short charge times? Well this is the first fruit of that development cycle. It’s not clear exactly what the charge time will be on the Zeekr 001, but it…
Read MoreSupercharging Science: The Dangers Of Inflating Scientific Research To Hype Vaporware
We recently came across an interesting article in New Scientist magazine which looked very exciting. The headline read ‘Supercharging tweak could fill electric car batteries 90% in 10 mins’. Wow, that sounded like it could really change the EV market significantly. Naturally we started our typical process of due diligence (learned over 20 years of publication) to learn the background to this seemingly revolutionary new tech. Yeah well, about that…
Read MoreOlefy – quantum leap in plastic recycling promises to save the oceans and our landfills
The world is literally swimming in waste plastic. We produce around 300 million tons of the stuff a year, of which a mere 9% gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, oceans and inside poor creatures who mistake it for food (and usually die). So what to do? Well there may be a real hope on the horizon. A Finnish company called Olefy Technology claims that after 40 years of development and testing it can now recycle almost any…
Read MoreQilin 1000 km EV Battery From CATL Will Revolutionize The Motor Industry (No Joke)
The world’s largest EV battery maker, CATL, released a ground breaking 1000 km (620 mile) range battery back in June which set the EV world alight. The new Qilin (pronounced cheeling) battery not only offers mind blowing range and energy density, but features a bunch of other cutting edge tech which will speed up charging to the point where it rivals filling up at a gas station. The first iteration of the battery uses ‘rapid thermal control with a quadruple…
Read MoreTrouble Sleeping? New Temperature Controlled Mattress/Pillow Combo Promises Better Sleep All Round
We all know how important a good night’s sleep can be to our health and well-being. But research shows that between 10% and 30% of adults in the US suffer from chronic insomnia, with up to 48% of older adults affected. Now an enterprising team from the University of Texas at Austin has come up with an innovative solution which might help us all. Their temperature managed mattress and pillow combo is designed to hack the body’s natural circadian rhythms…
Read MoreSamsung Finally Releases Official Repair Parts For Galaxy Phones
Well it looks as though the constant legal pressure is starting to pay off. Samsung is the latest mega-manufacturer to announce a DIY repair option for some of their smartphones. Samsung Self Repair, which is being run in collaboration with ifixit.com, will now provide spare parts for repairing screens, back glass and charging ports. No news on replacing batteries alas, but any news is good news when it comes to DIY repairs for electricals.
Read MoreQuackQuackGo – Google Search Done Like The Good Old Days
Why is Google so awful nowadays? You used to be able to do a search and quickly find stuff. Now you have to wade through adverts, spammers and all kinds of junk results. Well if you’re fed up and can’t take it any more, QuackQuackGo has got your back. It’s basically Google Search with a new front end and results page. It’s like stepping back in time to the early days of simple, accurate and valuable search. Wonderful!
Read MoreThe Google AI Engineer is a Whistleblower. We Ignore His Message at our Peril
(images created by AI via @nightcafe studio) The recent ruckus over Google engineer Blake Lemoine and the LaMDA AI has generated a fair amount of buzz in the world’s media. But now the fuss has subsided, it’s probably a good time to ask what Mr Lemoine was hoping to achieve with his outlandish claim. Things may not be as simple as they appear.
Read MoreParalyzed robo-taxis don’t bode well for the future of autonomous driving
Reports of a mass stranding of Cruise robotaxis in the center of San Francisco a week or so ago have triggered a lot of speculation by the media corps. The upshot is that these VRE (vehicle retrieval events) are happening fairly regularly at the moment, as the company struggles to keep the autonomous car fleet working properly.
Read MoreFirst James Webb Space Telescope image is mind-blowing!
(click on the image above for a larger version) The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived and it’s an absolute beauty. Up above we’ve created a little montage to give you an idea of how sensational this new piece of equipment is. Top left is the new deep space image from the Webb. Top right is the famous Hubble deep space image taken a few years ago. You can immediately see the difference in resolution of…
Read MoreEcoworks – Clever German Two Day Retrofit Can Reduce Home Energy Bills To Zero
The energy used to heat and cool our homes is a big source of carbon emissions, hence the drive to build more new ‘zero carbon’ buildings. But what if you’re already happily living in your home, is there nothing you can do to reduce your bills and emissions? Well of course you can insulate and double glaze etc, but that only goes so far. But now Ecoworks, a German company based out of Berlin, has developed a full retrofit process…
Read MoreAmazon launches new e-cargo bike scheme in London to reduce delivery emissions
The mighty Amazon has just announced a new e-cargo delivery service in parts of London, which will replace a portion of their conventional van deliveries. The company has rolled out this initiative as part of a scheme will include deliveries ‘on foot’ as well, and the company hopes this new micromobility scheme will deliver over 5 million packages across East London over the coming year.
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