Author: Max Milella

While most big tech platforms are increasingly getting in on the podcast craze, Spotify remains one of the biggest names associated with audio-shows. The audio streaming platform has been committed to continuously improving its podcast experience for some time, and it’s now acquired a fresh startup in pursuit of that aim: Podz. Match made: Spotify and Podz “At Spotify, we are investing to build and scale the world’s best (and most personalized) podcast discovery experience—and we’ve acquired Podz, a small, talented team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers, to help make that experience even better.” the platform said in an announcement. …

BMW’s no stranger to future tech. Aside from all the cool gimmicks it’s been packing into its vehicles, the automaker also has some EVs on offer. Now it’s testing a new hydrogen-powered X5. Meet BMW’s i Next Hydrogen BMW’s hydrogen-powered car is the I Hydrogen Next, which is based on the X5. The i Hydrogen Next trades out the X5’s standard fuel for more sustainable hydrogen fuel cells which the automaker claims give it a very solid 374 horsepower, courtesy of some eDrive gear borrowed from an upcoming electric X model.  The i Hydrogen Next has begun testing on European Roads,…

We’ve been antsy about Facebook acquiring Oculus from day one, and the social media giant has justified our fears a handful of times already. First it announced that to use your Oculus headset you’d need to login with your Facebook account. Then it prevented you from using said account to access more than one Oculus product and deleting your Facebook account also nukes your Oculus purchases. Now it plans to bake advertisements right into your VR experience.  Facebook’s VR ads almost look real Facebook started putting ads into the Oculus app a month ago, but this is the first time…

Earlier this year Jaguar Land Rover committed to going green by offering electric vehicles by 2025, and switching to zero-emission by 2036. In pursuit of this goal, the automaker is working on a Defender that runs on hydrogen. Defender of the earth Jaguar Land Rover calls this zero emissions project ‘Zeus’, which is just plain awesome. The UK-based company has unshockingly received some funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre, a non-profit focused on researching and developing technology for low-powertrains. The APC’s investment fund is partially contributed by the UK government, which seems quite keen to make EVs more attractive in…

You may have recently heard that JBS, the largest meat supplier in the world, was hit by a cyberattack. JBS ended up shilling out $11 million to REvil, the hacker group apparently behind the attack. Now the same hacker group has reportedly targeted a nuclear weapons contractor in the US. REvil strikes again The contractor, called Sol Oriens, consults for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (NSSA), and is self-described as a tech development and research firm. The firm has a nuclear focus and has, according to CNBC, released a job posting looking for a program analyst…

Collaboration apps have become part of with working life. At this point, it’s just a fact. Google Workspace is, unsurprisingly, one of the most well-known and widely used of these collaboration tools, but a decent chunk of its premium content and features was locked behind a paywall. Now, Google is making all aspects of its collaboration tool free for anyone with a Google account. “Google Workspace for everyone” This means that everyone with a Google account will have unfettered access to Gmail, Google Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, etc. and all of their trimmings. Plus, the search-engine titan is bringing…

Aircraft refueling in mid air has been a thing for a hot minute now. Ditto for unmanned aircraft, also known as drones. Now, for the first time ever, the two have been combined in the form of the Boeing MQ-25 ‘Stingray’, which successfully refueled a US navy F/A-18 ‘Super Hornet’ earlier this month. I’m Boeing to need a refuel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2uGkF2J1Y0&t=30s A four and a half hour test flight was conducted from the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, on the 4th of the June 2021. Boeing announced the successful flight later on. The test saw Boeing’s unmanned drone take…

While ebikes certainly aren’t something you often see on a walk down your street or drive to work, they’re becoming increasingly common. More and more brands are launching ebike offerings, and ebike-centred companies are popping up left right and centre. Vvolt is the newest face on the block, and boasts a pretty unique and unlikely ally for its launch bikes: Acer Vvolt and Acer? More like R-Acer Yes, that’s right. Acer. In case you don’t know, while Acer is a pretty wholistic hardware manufacturer, it’s most well known for its laptops. The Taiwanese tech company has added a new piece…

Xiaomi recently revealed its new ‘HyperCharge’ charging tech, which does exactly what it says on the tin: it charges your phone in record time. However, and we did ruminate on this last week, your phone’s battery pays a price for all that wattage: its capacity. Watt’s the deal with HyperCharge, Xiaomi? In case you missed it, Xiaomi’s HyperCharge comes in two flavours: 200W on cable and 120W wireless. That’s a lot of watts. But batteries aren’t invincible. Heck, anyone who’s used a smartphone for longer than two years can tell when the battery begins to feel a little… smaller. Well,…

In a move that smells of future-tech efficiency, Google is now using AI to help design and develop its next line of machine learning capable AI chips. The web giant claims that while the AI algorithm’s designs for chip floor plans are unconventional, they’re nonetheless as or even more efficient than designs laid out by humans. What’s more is that while a human can spend months on end on these designs, AI can put one together in less than a day.  How does it work, Google?  Google published its work in a paper in the journal Nature titled, ‘A graph…