Yay! Even more AI!
If you thought 2024 would bring the downfall of this year’s favourite keyword, think again. Nearly every company out there is only just dipping its toes into the AI pool, while the bigger names out there are diving in, head first. Samsung falls into the latter category, with the South Korean conglomerate reportedly packing its next big thing — the S24 Ultra — to the brim with AI features. Apparently, that’ll be the case for plenty of its devices, with on-device AI reportedly also AI wending its way to the company’s line-up of Galaxy Buds.
Artificially intelligent earbuds have yet to be confirmed by Samsung, with the news coming out of a report from Maeil Business Newspaper and followed up by SamMobile — a more reputable outlet. If true, the next iteration of Galaxy Buds could arrive in the second half of 2024, and bring with them the ability to translate languages in real-time when on a voice or video call, or when talking face-to-face.
And it might do so without requiring an active internet connection, something that Google’s efforts can’t claim to pull off. This won’t be a first for Samsung, either. We know that live language translation will be a key feature in Gauss, Samsung’s take on generative AI for the S24, though whether it’ll be available on all buds at the launcher remains to be seen. It’ll likely stick to tradition by releasing its AI features on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro before eventually trickling the features down to cheaper models later.
See, Eskom? This is how it’s done
Things are looking up. For South Africa, at least. Not only has Eskom suspended load shedding until Friday this week, but the latest round of predictions are pointing to yet another petrol and diesel price drop. Now, TotalEnergies has broken ground on a new project that’ll see a 216MW solar plant and a 500MWh battery storage system come to life before 2025 is over.
It’ll be officially erected in the Northern Cape, according to the company’s statement after reaching financial close on the project. The solar plant will “supply dispatchable renewable electricity to the South African national grid for twenty years equivalent to over 400 GWh per year.” In addition, thanks to a Power Purchase Agreement signed by both TotalEnergies and Eskom (and the storage system), 75MW of “dispatchable power” will be flowing through Eskom’s grip “on a continuous basis from 5 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., i.e., for longer than the available sunshine.”
“Thanks to its innovative hybrid design, it will enable us to supply continuous green electricity over a longer period and beyond the hours of sunshine. This project will not only contribute to the country’s energy transition, but also to strengthening the resilience of its power system,” said Vincent Stoquart, Senior VP of Renewables at TotalEnergies.”
The One Piece is real (on Netflix)
Getting into One Piece in 2023 isn’t easy. For one, there are more than 1,000 chapters of the original manga to get through – with no real end in sight. You’d think the anime adaptation might be a simpler undertaking, but with as many episodes as there are chapters, that’s debatable. While neither the manga nor anime has reached ‘the One Piece’, there’s already a remake waiting in the wings. And of course, Netflix is involved.
For once, that hasn’t put us off the idea entirely. Netflix is calling the new adaptation ‘The One Piece’, and it’ll be Wit Studio (famous for its work on the earlier seasons of Attack on Titan and Spy X Family) handling all the animation. It confirmed that the new series would be kicking things off from the East Blue saga, though it’s keeping details under wraps for the most part.
“With The One Piece, the committee aims to provide viewers with a fresh yet familiar experience, utilizing cutting-edge visual technology to reimagine Luffy’s adventures through the beloved East Blue saga.”
Netflix’s announcement did come with a teaser trailer but don’t get your hopes up for more than anything other than a retelling of the news we’ve just reported. The only tangible fruits of the collaboration come in the form of that poster you see above. Oh, and another of Oda’s works — ‘Monsters 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation’ is getting the anime treatment, premiering on Netflix in January.
Fifth time the charm, huh?
Anyone who checked out last week’s Light Start might be wondering how they missed SpaceX’s massive Falcon Heavy launch that was initially scheduled for 03:15 AM on Tuesday, 12 December. The answer is simple — it never happened. You can thank Florida’s rocky weather over the past week for the four (that’s right, four) consecutive delays. SpaceX gave up on the daily launch attempts and has finally settled on a new date; Thursday 28 December.
The mission, when it eventually takes place, will see SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy booster carry Space Force’s X-37B space plane up into low-Earth orbit. Space Force’s mission, on the other hand, will see the uncrewed plane conduct a series of tests while it’s up there, including flying in “new orbital regimes, experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies, and investigating the radiation effects on materials provided by NASA,” according to the Space Force.
Should everything go to plan, we’ll finally see the rocket take its leave on 28 December 2023. The four-hour launch window will open at 07:00 PM ET. That’s 02:00 AM on the morning of Friday, 29 December for any South Africans hoping to catch a glimpse of the launch. It’ll be streamed in all the usual places on YouTube, though SpaceX wants you to believe the best place is on the @SpaceX account on X.com.