Soon, another billion people will be online, mostly from developing nations. How will these new users embrace this technology to transform their lives, and what will it mean for the rest of the world? Do you want to know what your future holds? A life beyond 150 years old? A world where computers can read our emotions? A planet transformed by unlimited clean energy? Mathematician Hannah Fry will explore these questions and more.
This $10M U.S. Army Laser Melts Drones With $3 Beams | WSJ Equipped
In Ukraine and the Red Sea, low-tech drones are changing the way wars are fought. The U.S. and other countries are investing in a new and inexpensive way to retaliate: lasers. Compared with traditional weapons, lasers present some key challenges: they have a shorter range, limited power and can be harder to fix when issues arise. WSJ explains how the BlueHalo LOCUST laser weapon system works and why the tech is so difficult to perfect.
Exclusive: We tried Meta’s AR glasses with Mark Zuckerberg
Project Orion is Meta’s first pair of true AR glasses. They project hologram onto the world and are controlled with a neural wristband. They aren’t for sale but they’re a prototype of what Meta thinks will replace your smartphone in the coming years.
How the Modern Computer Was Invented by Accident
A chance meeting between John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine led to the modern computer: ENIAC and EDVAC.
How Google Makes Custom Cloud Chips That Power Apple AI And Gemini
Google was the first cloud provider to make its own custom AI chips, called TPUs, when they first came out in 2015 – a trend both Amazon and Microsoft followed years later. Now, Apple has revealed it uses TPUs to train its AI models, positioning Google chips as an alternative to Nvidia’s market-leading GPUs. CNBC got an exclusive look inside the lab where Google makes its chips, and its top executive showcased TPU Version 6, Trillium, and its new Arm-based CPU, Axion, both coming out later in 2024.
Detroit auto engineers tear down BYD’s Seagull: “An extinction-level event”
Auto industry insiders were stunned when Caresoft, a highly regarded engineering consulting firm, tore down BYD’s mass-market EV, the Seagull. Priced around $11,000, the engineers found the Seagull to be well-designed, user-friendly, rich with options, and of surprisingly high quality and reliability. The US automakers reacted swiftly and produced reports insisting that BYD’s entrance into US car markets would be met with strong enthusiasm from buyers, and legacy carmakers would be unable to survive. Because of the Seagull’s low price point, US tariffs of 25% would be irrelevant: BYD could still make high profits even after the tariffs were paid. Or, BYD could simply place final assembly plants in Mexico and avoid them altogether. Aware of this, the Biden Administration in May jacked the tariffs up to 100% and announced that Chinese car plants even in tariff treaty countries would be cut off from US markets.
Big Tech: too big to split
After losing a landmark antitrust case over its dominance in the search market, Google is now facing the real threat of a court-mandated breakup of the search giant. But on the heels of a flashy ‘Made by Google’ event showcasing new phones and AI features, Google is now more deeply integrated than ever – an ecosystem within search, cloud, streaming, hardware… and generative artificial intelligence is the thread tying it tightly together. It all means a potential breakup would be nearly impossible technically – and could hold true for other megacaps including Apple, Amazon and Meta, all of which are facing their own antitrust suits. This week on TechCheck, is big tech too big to split?
Android’s AI Edge: Inside Google’s New Pixel 9 and Plans to Beat Apple | WSJ
Google’s Gemini Live AI voice assistant on Android and Pixel 9 phones sounds almost human. Apple Siri and OpenAI’s ChatGPT have similar advanced voice capabilities on the way but if you have an Android phone, you can get the Gemini app now. WSJ’s Joanna Stern tested it, and spoke exclusively with Google’s Android head Rick Osterloh about the company’s AI ambitions.
The AI Revolution That’s Reinventing Engineering in Dubai
In Dubai, AI technology in engineering is taking a huge step forward. Engineers are able to speed up the process of creating scientific inventions and new objects.
Why Don’t They Launch Rockets From Mountains Or The Equator?
Why aren’t we taking full advantage of the planet we’re living on? If we launched rockets from mountains, they’d be closer to space where the air is thinner so we could use more vacuum-optimized engines.
Or why don’t we launch rockets from the equator? The Earth is moving quite quickly at the equator which gives a substantial boost in the initial velocity of the rocket. I mean it’s free energy right? How much of a difference does launching rockets from different locations actually have?
Today we’re going to dive into the physics of launching rockets from different spots on the earth. We’ll go over the pros and the cons of launching from mountains or closer to the equator in great depth and see if we can figure out why exactly we just don’t see rockets launching from these locations all that often if at all.