Byton reportedly talks to Foxconn about a cash injection. With a financial contribution of 77 million US dollars, the contract manufacturer could be decisive in ensuring that the SUV M -Byte of the Chinese electric car startup beginning 2020 will go into mass production, reports the business news agency Bloomberg and refers to initiated persons.
Byton ran into financial difficulties last year and closed its operations in July. In April 2020 the startup announced that it would sell half of its 450 to cut jobs in the USA. In March Byton had announced that its SUV M-Byte should be pre-orderable from the second half 2020. For the electric car, 65. 000 reservations have been made, 25. 000 thereof from Germany. The production plant in China has been completed and the Chinese government has given its approval. The coronavirus pandemic got in the way of Byton, with investors holding back their transfers. The company got a lot of attention from the beginning because it was founded by ex-BMW managers.
M-Byte from Byton – outside and inside (31 Pictures) Whether the balls were all in or should still be in, we don’t know.
(Image: Byton) Here Foxconn could step in, which, according to Bloomberg, is also talking to other electric car manufacturers about possible collaborations. According to the report, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer currently generates around half of its sales from Apple, whose iPhones it makes, and apparently wants to diversify its commitments. This also includes a cooperation with Fiat Chrysler announced a year ago. Foxconn has also developed a body and software platform that will help electric car manufacturers to quickly bring their own models to market.
XSplit is a broadcast application like OBS (Open Broadcast Software). There are a few differences in the features because there are paid and free versions of XSplit. XSplit Broadcaster has a professional feel and is not hard to set up because it easily integrates with all the major platforms, including Twitch.
What You Need to Stream on XSplit
XSplit Account
Livestream platform account on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube or Restream
A PC that can handle at least 720p, 30 fps
A capture card if you are streaming from a console.
Mic / webcam / headset: For recording yourself. Check out our lists of best webcams, best gaming headsets and best gaming microphones.
How to Set Up XSplit
1. Sign up for an XSplit account at www.XSplit.com.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Download the Broadcaster software after you sign up for your account.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. When the software downloads it will ask if it can make changes to your computer, click Yes to continue. It will ask you this every time you open Broadcaster.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Click Broadcast in the left corner the select Set Up a New Output. To set up a new output means to connect your streaming platform like Twitch or YouTube. You can set up multiple accounts for multiple streaming platforms.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Each platform will request authorization for XSplit to use it . Click Authorize XSplit to use Twitch (or whatever platform(s) you have).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. After you verify your Twitch account it will show up under Choose a Twitch Account. Once you see the account you want to stream to click on it. You can also have multiple Twitch accounts logged in on XSplit. But you can only stream to one account at a time.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. This is what authorizing XSplit to use your Twitch will look like. Click Next.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
XSplit will automatically determine your server and tell you what your recommended settings are for Twitch and the other platforms available. Just because there are recommended settings doesn’t mean that’s the highest setting you can stream on.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
XSplit Settings for 1920 x 1080 running 60 FPS on Twitch
Twitch Properties are for technical stream settings like your Bitrate and Codec. You don’t usually have to pay attention to these settings. The only thing I would change for a smooth stream with great graphics is the Video Encoding.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Codec encodes or decodes a digital data stream or signal. Currently, it’s on H.264 and is using my graphics card the GTX 1060. I change my Codec to x264 because it has better quality, meaning it gives my stream a more polished look.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Bitrate: The lower the Bitrate the choppier the stream can be. I recommend 5000 for 1080p streams. Running at a lower setting like 1280 x 720 at 30FPS the bitrate should be raised to 4000 maximum and 1500 minimum. And the Codec can still change x264.
That’s recommended bitrate for Twitch. Recommended setting for YouTube & Facebook are 4000 to 6000.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Change the Resolution and Framerate on XSplit
1. Click on theresolution and framerate in the upper right corner.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Scroll down to Resolution and select the resolution works for your stream. The two most common Resolution options are 1280 x720 (16:9) & 1920 x 1080 (16:9).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click onResolution scroll down to Framerate to change your framerate. While streaming at 1920 x 1080 the framerate is usually 60 frames per second. Streaming at 1280 x 720 the framerate is 30 fps.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Import OBS Scenes into XSplit
If you have scenes on OBS that you don’t want to recreate in XSplit, there’s a very easy way to port them over. Before importing your OBS scenes to XSplit you must save your scenes.
1. Open OBS, click Profile in the upper left corner & select Export and choose a place to save them.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Switch to XSplit.
3. Click Tools located in the upper left menu.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Select Permissions.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Check the box for OBS Scene Importer and click apply.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. Click Import from OBS Studio.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. Select the scenes you’d like to import and click open.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. Click Import. Now your scenes and sources are available in XSplit.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Create New Scenes & Sources in XSplit
If you are starting from scratch and want to build your scenes in XSplit, whether you’re using StreamElements, StreamLabs, or importing an overlay you made yourself, it’s very easy to use.
1. Click the + button to add more scenes.You can rename the Scene by clicking on the white bar toward the bottom.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. To add an overlay as an image, video, or GIF click Add Source at the bottom of the screen. Your File Explorer will open up and you can choose your overlay from there.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to add an Overlay from StreamElements to XSplit
Adding an overlay from StreamElements and StreamLabs is easy. These are free websites in which to create overlays.
1. Sign up for an account on StreamElements using a streaming platform or your email.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Create your overlay.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click the link button to copy the URL to your clipboard.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Switch back to the XSplit software and select paste.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Grab the edges of your overlay to adjust it to the size you want.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Using VCam with XSplit
VCam is an additional free program under the XSplit brand that allows any user to remove background without a green screen and create different effects without any additional software.
1. Download install and run VCam. You can get it on XSplit’s site.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Click continue after Vcam launches and starts its calibration.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can blur your background by moving the slider up & down.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can remove your background.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can add a background from their collection of images or upload your own image, gif, video, or webpage by clicking Add Background.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can also change the brightness, contrast or move the image to the right or left by clicking the edit button near the blur bar.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If you have multiple cameras you can select them from the list.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Click 3 dots “…” to adjust your webcam settings.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to add your webcam or VCam to your Scene
1. Select Add Source ->Devices -> Video and then XSplit VCam or your Webcam.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Use Your Phone or Tablet Instead of a Webcam
If you don’t have a webcam you can use XSplit Connect Webcam which allows you to use your smartphone camera as a webcam.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Open XSplit VCam & select the ^ button.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click Connect your mobile phone camera.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
It is supposed to connect because it’s on the same IP address. However, in my tests, it didn’t yet work because it’s in beta. You may have better luck.
How to add your Mic to your Scene in XSplit
1. Select Add Source ->Devices-> Audio, and then select the mic you want to use.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Additional mic & audio settings are located in the bottom right corner.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Click Settings underneath the mic button for advanced options like using Noise Gate.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Use Noise GateThreshold if you have a fan that your mic is picking up. Sliding the bar down lowers the gate and lets in more noise. Sliding the bar up raises the gate and let’s less noise in. Checking the Noise Suppression box helps lower all background noise.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Clicking the settings button will open general and advance settings.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. In the Audio tab, you can adjust your system sound/headphones, microphone, and control if you’d like your audio to have a delay.
6. Use the Audio Preview section to monitor the final audio output from your stream. It may sound like an echo but the echo won’t show up in recordings or livestream.
7. Click the drop-down menu under System Sound allows to choose what audio your stream picks up, like audio from your entire PC, which might include, Discord notifications or YouTube audio. Or you can set it to just pick up your voice and the gameplay.
Due to latency, there may be a delay between the live feed of the game and when it reaches XSplit (particularly if you are using a capture card). The delay checkbox allows you to create a delay on video and audio sources, like your System sound, Webcam, and microphone.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. The white bars next to the microphone and speakerphone icon control the volumes of your mic and the PC sound. Click and hold the left button on your mouse to make the volumes go up or down.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Set a Delay for a Source in XSplit
1. Find out how much the delay is by measuring it in seconds.
2. Convert that time it into milliseconds. For example, 2 seconds is 2,000 milliseconds.
3. Input that into the delay section and tes it. There will be a lot of fine-tuning to get the delays the sync up.
How to Set Up a Console and Capture Card in XSplit
If you are streaming with a console, you need a capture card to connect it with XSplit
1. Hook up your capture card to your console.
2. Turn on your console.
3. Click Add Source at the bottom of the screen, select devices -> video and select your capture card. You can resize the window by grabbing the edges of the box and pulling them outward or inward.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Set Up PC Game Streaming in XSPlit
If you are streaming PC Games you don’t need a capture card.
1. Open the game you’d like to play.
2. Select Add Source at the bottom of the screen then select Game Capture and the game will appear in the list under Auto-Detect.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Resize the game display by grabbing the edges of the window and pulling them outward if you want to make it bigger or inward to make it smaller.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Start a Livestream in XSplit
After your platform of choice, overlay and gameplay are added and your mic and camera settings are configured, you can start livestreaming.
1. Select the button on the top right above your preview window. If you only have one platform click the Stream button and your stream will startup.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Select the platform where you’d like to go live if you have multiple platforms.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click the stream button and your stream is now live. The red button and the message in the bottom right corner confirm your stream is live.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Saving Scenes
You can have multiple scenes for different platforms or games. Multiple scenes saved into one file is a Presentation.
1. To save these scenes select File in the upper left corner, Save Presentation, and choose where to save it.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Select File, New Presentation to create another set of scenes You can even save, load, or add individual scenes by selecting File.
Adding Transitions in XSplit
Transitions are for moving from scene to scene. And XSplit comes with preloaded transitions, which you will find on the bottom right corner of the screen.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You are able to favorite them with the star button.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
And if you have a custom transition that you’ve made, feel free to upload it by selecting the transitions, scrolling to the bottom, and selecting Stinger or Luma.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Express Video Editor
XSplit has its own video editor which is another program you can download from its website.
The startup Nuro is the first company to operate an automated and commercial delivery service in California. The delivery robots of the company founded by two ex-Google employees had already been tested in California in April. Now they have received a commercial license from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The deliveries should 2021 – initially limited to one delivery partner and one city, reports TechCrunch . For these first trips, the specialized R2 robots should not initially be used, but converted, self-driving versions of the Toyota Prius.
In the following months, Nuro also wants to use the R2 bots and deliver for additional partners. It is still unclear in which city and with which company the deliveries will begin – during tests in Texas the R2 delivery van delivered products for Domino’s Pizza and Walmart, among others.
Nuro – Autonomous small delivery van (15 Pictures) The Nuro R2 drives autonomously.
(Image: nuro.ai) R2-Bot manages 40 km / h All Nuro vehicles are only allowed on roads with a maximum speed limit of 56 drive kilometers per hour. The R2 cars manage 40 km / h. In addition, the automated deliveries are initially only allowed in good weather and they are initially only allowed to drive in the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara. Among other things, Palo Alto and Mountain View are located there, where Nuro’s registered office is located.
The Nuro R2 was built with the Detroit-based auto parts supplier Roush and looks like a scaled-down delivery van. Behind two loading flaps on its side is an air-conditioned space, for example for several shopping bags or boxes.
With the help of radar, thermal imaging and 71 – degree cameras the R2 orients itself on roads. Traditional control elements are missing – the R2 has neither a steering wheel nor pedals.
Troubleshooting your system is usually supposed to help solve your problems instead of introducing new issues, but according to reports from some Windows users, the operating system is currently breaking their SSDs and causing blue screens after running its Check Disk Utility.
While Windows does a decent job maintaining disks on its own nowadays, “chkdsk” is a command that tech-savvy users will be plenty familiar with. It’s still useful if you need to repair your storage, but for now, you’ll probably want to avoid using the command.
A thread from German tech forum Planet3DNow, which has been reported on by both Hot Hardware and Windows Latest, points to a forum admin whose SSD file system broke after running chkdsk’s /f parameter on their C drive.
“This is not an isolated case,” the admin writes (via Google translate). “It is also not due to the hardware used by the PCs, because it can also be reproduced in a VM on a completely different system.”
The admin said that the vulnerability appeared after updating to the December 2020 version of Windows 10 64-bit. Other users confirmed that they faced the same issue. Those encountering the bug said that the blue screen error they encountered displayed “NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM,” which renders the system unable to boot.
A Windows Feedback Hub user expressed similar problems, saying “I was doing routine maintenance on my PC, I ran chkdsk c: /f from an elevated PowerShell console and restarted my PC. It seemed to work normally, but after the chkdsk ran, my PC restarted again, then tried to run another chkdsk and failed, then tried to diagnose startup problems and failed and then started the recovery screen.”
Thankfully, Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, but its fix oddly predates these user reports.
The company said in its December 8th updates that “This issue is resolved and should now be prevented automatically on non-managed devices.” However, given that the user reports are only now starting to come in, it’s clear that chkdsk might still be dangerous for some. If you haven’t run across the issue yet, Microsoft suggests restarting your device to help apply the fix.
If you have encountered the problem, Microsoft also posted the following guide to fix your machine:
“1. The device should automatically start up into the Recovery Console after failing to start up a few times.
2. Select Advanced options.
3. Select Command Prompt from the list of actions.
4. Once Command Prompt opens, type: chkdsk /f
5. Allow chkdsk to complete the scan, this can take a little while. Once it has completed, type: exit
6. The device should now start up as expected. If it restarts into Recovery Console, select Exit and continue to Windows 10.
Note After completing these steps, the device might automatically run chkdsk again on restart. It should start up as expected once it has completed.”
Given that the original German forum thread was posted on the 18th, we’d suggest restarting your PC if you haven’t since the 8th, and then still being cautious about running the chkdsk command for a while.
The Californian startup Canoo has presented the MPDV, a battery-powered delivery van that is particularly suitable for small businesses and the delivery of goods over the last mile. It is the second vehicle after a van that it wants to offer on its own platform; initially in smaller quantities in the year 2022 and in larger quantities in the following year.
Canoo was founded by former top managers from the German automotive industry (BMW, Opel) and joined 2017 initially as a supplier of EV platforms for the automotive industry and cooperates with Hyundai.
Two versions The now planned electric delivery van should be from 33. 000 US dollars and will initially be available in two versions. The MPDV1 should have a loading volume of 6.5 m 3 , with batteries of the capacities 40, 60 or 80 kWh, whereby the maximum range 370 km, and with an engine power of just under 150 kW. The MPDV2 version should have a loading volume of 14 m 3 , also in three different battery versions with a maximum range of 400 km and it will also be available on 150 bring kW. An even bigger MPDV3 than electric truck is already planned.
Electric multifunction delivery van Canoo MPDV (27 Pictures) (Image: Canoo
) MPDV1 and MPDV2 will initially be launched in the USA. Canoo is targeting Canada, Mexico and Europe as additional markets.
Canoos Van.
(Image: Canoo)
In September 2019 Canoo introduced an electric minivan , which is due to hit the market next year. The platform developed by Canoo itself and known as the “Skateboard” is used. As with delivery vans, it should help create the largest possible interior space.
DAZN announced the launch of a new series to discover the Italian territories and its start-ups, starting with the football teams of the BKT Series. All the details
by Nino Grasso published 17 December 2020 , at 17: 03 in the Startup channel DAZN
It will be available from 18 December on new original content of DAZN , Growing Together , which will talk about the new faces of Serie BKT in the context of the city in which their reference team plays. Starting from the talents of football, some of the most relevant startups of the territories will be explored, real Italian excellences to know. Under the pretext of sport DAZN wants to enhance local realities, giving space to young talents who have contributed to the growth of the territory in which they operate, both on a sporting and corporate level.
“We are proud of this project which is, first of all, the story of people who strongly believe in their idea and carry it forward with tenacity” , commented on launch Veronica Diquattro , Chief Customer and Operation Officer of DAZN, “It is a journey of discovery of excellence: the excellence of football, the territory, innovation with the aim of giving voice and visibility to the talents and the great potential, often hidden, of our country. the territory, sustainability and innovation are values shared by DAZN as by all the partners involved in this project and in together we have the opportunity to tell them and make them known to all sports fans “.
It starts from the South, with the first episodes that are set in Reggio Calabria and Salerno. The first episode will see Enrico Del Prato , midfielder Reggina on loan from Atalanta and the Italian Under 21 national team, who will recount his experience not both as a footballer and as a boy. Alongside its path is that of SmartOsso , startup incubated inside the University of Reggio which invented a dog toy capable of monitoring the health of its 4-legged friend.
Growing Together tells the Italian excellence from football to startups
A Salerno there will be instead Mirko Antonucci , attacker 21 year of Salernitana on loan from Rome who will soon become Sophie’s father and with a story behind it to listen to. The player’s story will be linked to that of the young talents who work in the FarzatiTech , the hi-tech startup made in Cilento that studies and develops innovative traceability systems for the agro-food chain ensuring maximum quality control and certification of all products.
Written and conceived by Francesco Carabelli, Growing Together will develop in 6 episodes from 10 minutes each . From the South, the story will move further and further north: in January 2021, in conjunction with the resumption of the Serie A championship BKT, the episode dedicated to Ferrara will be broadcast ). In this case it will be Salvatore Esposito to tell about himself, midfielder of SPAL and of the national team Under- 21 Italian. In the episode, his path will meet that of Riccardo Minarelli who, after his studies between Milan and London, returned to the Ferrara area to bring his skills to the family farm, inaugurating a new working front in his GestCav thanks to the exploitation of renewable energy and circular economy.
Today, Neverware announced in an FAQ that it’s now part of Google.
Neverware, based in New York City, makes a software application called CloudReady that allows you to convert a PC into a system that runs Chrome OS. In its FAQ, Neverware states that it and its CloudReady software are “officially part of Google and the Chrome OS team.”
CloudReady offers a free version for personal use, as well as paid tiers for enterprise and education. The idea is that companies and schools (as well as individuals) can convert old, slow systems into Chromebooks rather than throwing them out — Chrome OS is a less demanding operating system for these machines to run than Windows 10 is.
According to Neverware’s FAQ, not much is going to change for current CloudReady customers in the near future. The company’s website, forums, customer support, and admin portal will continue to function as usual, though it seems that they’ll eventually migrate over to Google’s services.
As the About Chromebooks site notes, some of the software that Neverware makes could help Google continue to push Chrome OS updates to older devices, extending the time frame in which some Chromebooks can receive the latest software. (Google hasn’t said anything of the sort, so that’s just hopeful speculation for now).
Google and Neverware are well acquainted — Google led an investment round in the startup back in 2017.
The Californian startup ZeroAvia, which develops hydrogen-powered propulsion systems for aircraft, receives money from funds in a financing round in which Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos are involved. 21, 4 million US dollars were raised in a financing round at Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Bezos’ Amazon Climate Pledge Fund are involved, according to a press release.
ZeroAvia also partnered with British Airways and received approval from the UK government for new funding for additional 16 , 3 million US dollars, the startup announced. Since its inception, it has collected almost 21 million US dollars in investments.
20 seats, 800 Kilometers ZeroAvia wants from 2023 Drive trains for jets with up to 20 seats and 800 kilometers of range on the market. With the fresh money, it can accelerate the development work, reports ZeroAvia. A good ten airlines are currently showing interest in the company’s technology. Until 2026 planes for 80 Passengers and 800 kilometers and to 2030 for 100 passengers and 1600 Kilometers of range can be equipped with hydrogen technology, is the goal.
In September 2020 takes off a hydrogen piper.
Airbus also wants to build jets that run on fuel cells. The aircraft manufacturer recently entered into a cooperation with the German automotive supplier Elring Klinger. As part of the ZEROe project, the first emission-free commercially operated aircraft should be ready by 2035.
A pure battery drive would push in in aviation over longer distances or for larger aircraft because of the limited service life and weight to its limits, Elring Klinger advertises its technology. Fuel cells, however, are a powerful alternative.
Astra, a California-based startup aimed at launching small satellites, successfully launched its rocket to space for the first time yesterday from Alaska, but the vehicle barely missed reaching the right speed to achieve orbit. Still, the company says the test flight was a major success and is preparing to fly its next rocket, this time with a payload on board.
“This far exceeded our team’s expectations,” Chris Kemp, Astra’s CEO, said on a press call.
Astra’s rocket, dubbed 3.2, took off from Alaska’s Pacific Spaceport Complex just before 4PM ET on Tuesday. The vehicle successfully climbed to space, performing all of its expected engine burns and separations. The rocket reached its target altitude of 390 kilometers, or about 242 miles, and a final speed of 7.2 kilometers per second, or more than 16,000 miles per hour. Unfortunately, that was just short of 7.68 kilometers per second, the speed the company needed to reach to make orbit.
“We were just a few short seconds from putting the upper stage of the spacecraft in orbit,” Kemp says.
The company says it’s an easy fix for the next flight. Kemp blamed the problem on some residual liquid oxygen propellant leftover in the rocket’s tanks, which prevented the vehicle from getting where it needed to go. On the next flight, engineers simply need to adjust the ratio of the propellants in the tanks, Kemp said. “There are absolutely no design changes and no general hardware changes and no software changes,” Adam London, Astra’s co-founder, said during the call.
Kemp says that Astra has another rocket ready to go and a payload ready to fly on it. The company didn’t fly a payload on this flight, but the rocket did signal that it would have released a payload just fine if there had been one on the mission.
“This outcome surprised us and is certainly a nice Christmas present for the whole team,” Kemp said.
This flight comes three months after Astra’s last launch attempt out of Alaska in September. During that flight, Astra’s Rocket 3.1, successfully took off, but the rocket started to drift and the vehicle’s engines shut down early. The rocket then fell back to Earth and exploded on impact.
Formed in 2016, Astra is one of many startups dedicated to launching small satellites into space. So far, just one other launch company, Rocket Lab, has been successful in the arena and has been launching small payloads into orbit since 2018. Astra has claimed that just one launch on its rocket will cost $2.5 million.
The Apple Silicon revolution was launched with the first products on the market, but now it is the software developers who have to respond and it seems that they are doing it en masse. Microsoft has just announced the arrival for everyone of the native Office suite for ARM architecture on Mac systems , and Mozilla has also updated Firefox for work without the need for code translation on Apple’s new systems with Apple M1. And the benefits are significant.
Native office on Apple Silicon systems
Until now, users of new Mac systems with Apple M1 SoCs have had to use the Rosetta 2 layer to translate the Office code and make it executable also through the ARM architecture of the integrated processor. However, Microsoft has announced an update that brings native support for the new chip with Apple custom microarchitecture to almost the entire Office suite : updated apps are Word , Excel , Outlook , PowerPoint and OneNote . The absence of Microsoft Teams stands out.
App updates make them “universal”, so downloading the package is guaranteed to run on both Apple Silicon and Intel processors. The benefit for users is that updates with features and general improvements will be released simultaneously on both platforms. What about Microsoft Teams? It will also arrive as a universal application and native support for Apple M1, however the company has not yet announced the release timing.
On the other hand the competition offers Slack, already available as a beta with native support for Apple’s new hardware platform, however companies that rely on Microsoft Teams have to settle for (we still don’t know for how long) the translated version with Rosetta 2.
The update should take place automatically on all eligible systems, but can also be forced through the Mac App Store (or the Microsoft update tool, if the software has not been installed via the native Big Sur store) for those who have already the Office suite installed on your system. Outlook users not only get native support for Apple Silicon, but also support for iCloud accounts with the ability to synchronize with the email app, contacts and calendars.
Native Firefox arrives on Apple M1 systems
In these hours Mozilla has also released its native Firefox version for Apple M1 and Apple Silicon systems , which is defined as carrying a “huge performance boost” than the previous non-optimized version. Startup times improve 2.5x and web apps are at least twice as responsive, according to proclamations from the development team. To get the different benefits of the update 84 it is necessary to force close the browser and run it again after installing the latest version .
Mozilla not only promises enormously improved performance, but also and above all greater energy efficiency which should produce a longer battery life with the use of the software. Note that Firefox 84 is also the latest version with Adobe Flash support .
Office and Firefox are just some of the apps already optimized to work natively on Apple Silicon. Among the many we mention Pixelmator Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Designer, Darkroom, Fantastical, OmniFocus, BBEdit, Instapaper and Twitter. The native support for Apple Silicon , according to Apple, opens the way for “revolutionary speed and capability” compared to the past with Intel CPUs. Apple M1 is found today on the new MacBook Pro 13 “and MacBook Air, along with the new Mac mini.
Elon Musk’s tunneling venture, The Boring Company, is planning a massive citywide expansion of the currently modest underground transportation system it’s building in Las Vegas. The startup now wants to build a 10-mile sub-surface “loop” that serves the famous Las Vegas Strip of casino hotels and reaches the city’s downtown area as well as McCarran International Airport, all with Tesla vehicles. The Boring Company also wants to build an additional loop that connects properties owned by Caesars Entertainment.
The proposed new tunnels would make it possible to go from the Las Vegas Convention Center to Mandalay Bay in just three minutes, as opposed to 30 minutes by surface roads during peak traffic hours, the company claims.
The plans, first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, were detailed in proposals submitted to Clark County officials on Monday. The Boring Company’s expansion push comes just days after the Las VegasConvention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) finished buying the Las Vegas Monorail, which filed for bankruptcy in September after shutting down in March.
Following the acquisition, the LVCVA killed a noncompete agreement that had previously kept The Boring Company from digging any tunnels that served the same areas reached by the monorail. The monorail is not expected to reopen until at least May 2021.
The Boring Company is still working on making its first underground people-mover open to the public in Las Vegas, located underneath the Convention Center (which is owned by the LVCVA). While it was originally slated to open in January 2021 in time for the yearly Consumer Electronics Show, the trade show’s shift to a virtual event (and the pandemic in general) has muddied those plans.
LVCVA president and CEO Steve Hill told The Verge in May that they would likely wait until the next available trade show to open the so-called Convention Center Loop. On Tuesday, LVCVA senior vice president of communications Lori Nelson-Kraft confirmed that this is still the most likely plan, saying she’s “unsure at this time if we’ll open up the system prior to the first large show we have inside our building.” The Boring Company did not respond to a request for comment.
The Boring Company plans to shuttle up to 4,000 passengers per hour through its tunnels using Tesla Model 3s, Model Xs, and a “tram” built on the Model 3 platform that can fit between 12 and 16 people, Hill told The Verge back in May. While the goal is for those cars to eventually operate autonomously, they will have drivers at the outset. Hill said that the people mover will evolve to following a “conduit” and sensors being laid in the tunnels before actually driving themselves.
The LVCVA announced that first project with the Boring Company in 2019 and is paying Musk’s startup $48.6 million to build the tunnels running under the convention center. Since it’s meant to be an amenity for convention-goers, Hill explained in May that he considered the full price tag of $52.5 million to be a sunk cost.
But the expansion, if approved, will be funded differently. The Boring Company will pay for the cost of constructing the main tunnel of the new citywide loop, according to a presentation Hill gave in November, while casinos and other properties along the route that want a station will have to pay to have them built. The company will present its proposal in front of the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday and before county officials in February.
Walmart will use fully autonomous box trucks to make deliveries in Arkansas starting in 2021. The big-box retailer has been working with a startup called Gatik on a delivery pilot for 18 months. Next year, the two companies plan on taking their partnership to the next level by removing the safety driver from their autonomous box trucks.
Gatik, which is based in Palo Alto and Toronto, outfitted several multitemperature box trucks with sensors and software to enable autonomous driving. Since last year, those trucks have been operating on a two-mile route between a “dark store” (a store that stocks items for fulfillment but isn’t open to the public) and a nearby Neighborhood Market in Bentonville, Arkansas. Since then, the vehicles have racked up 70,000 miles in autonomous mode with a safety driver.
Next year, the companies intend to start incorporating fully autonomous trucks into those deliveries. And they plan on expanding to a second location in Louisiana, where trucks with safety drivers will begin delivering items from a “live” Walmart Supercenter to a designated pickup location where customers can retrieve their orders. Those routes, which will begin next year, will be longer than the Arkansas operation — 20-miles between New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana.
“Our trials with Gatik are just two of many use cases we’re testing with autonomous vehicles, and we’re excited to continue learning how we might incorporate them in a delivery ecosystem,” said Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior VP of customer product.
Gatik describes its approach to self-driving hardware and software as “radically divergent.” In a Medium post, Gatik CEO and co-founder Gautam Narang described the process that gives the company the confidence to pull safety drivers out of its vehicles:
We decompose the massive monolithic DNNs into micro-models whose intended functionality is restricted to a very specific explainable task, and build rule-based fallback & validation systems around them. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.
Walmart is working with a variety of self-driving companies in its search for the best fit for the company’s massive retail and delivery operations. In addition to Gatik, the big-box company is working with Waymo, Cruise, Nuro, Udelv, Baidu, Ford, and Postmates.
They are not yet whizzing through the air, the electric high-flyers from the Munich startup Lilium, but the pilot training has already been taken care of. Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT) is to take over the task of finding suitable candidates and making them fit to be able to control the air tax.
First, LAT and Lilium want to develop a training course for qualified professional pilots that will use technology such as Mixed and Virtual Reality (MR / VR). LAT wants to provide the necessary components. The necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities EASA and FAA must also be obtained.
Crisis airline LAT is based in Hallbergmoos near Munich and currently looks after around 200 airlines. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa, which, according to the latest media reports, will continue until the end of this year 29. 000 wants to cut jobs. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa was operating in the red with 1.3 billion euros in the third quarter. Since there has not yet been an agreement in the collective bargaining dispute with the pilots’ union, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr threatened that in the spring 2021 a thousand pilots can be fired. As early as September it became known that Lufthansa intends to phase out the training of new pilots at the Bremen location.
Whiz kid Lilium Jet (43 Pictures) 2025 the second factory is to be put into operation.
(Image: Lilium) Lilium sees the cooperation as an important milestone on the way to becoming an air mobility provider for regional traffic. The start-up’s electric air taxi will have five seats. 2025 According to the company, series production and the operation of regional flight services should start.
In its most recent round of financing, Lilium has collected the equivalent of 000 million euros, new investors are included not boarded. The previous financiers Tencent, Atomico, Freigeist and LGT participated in an unknown amount.
Zoox, a self-driving car company that Amazon bought in June, has finally revealed its robotaxi after six years of gnarly prototypes and secrecy. And while it broadly resembles other first-generation autonomous vehicles from automakers and Silicon Valley startups, Zoox’s robotaxi has a few standout features, as well as an overall polish to it that makes obvious why Amazon thinks it might be the cornerstone of a fledgling autonomous ride-hailing service.
The autonomous “carriage-style” vehicle is an all-electric four-wheeler that seats up to four people, and is similar in appearance to fully self-driving vehicles created by other companies in the space. At just 3.63 meters long, it falls somewhere in between the big, boxy Origin robotaxi from Cruise (which is owned by General Motors) and the delivery-focused robot made by Nuro.
To further differentiate, Zoox has spent the last few years working on outfitting its autonomous vehicle with the ability to drive both forward and backward, and side to side, or “bi-directionally.” Combined with four-wheel steering functionality, Zoox says its vehicle will be able to handle precise maneuvers like “tight curbside pickups” and “tricky U-turns.” Zoox also claims its vehicle is the first of its kind to be able to travel at up to 75 mph, a possible nod to ambitions to one day put the vehicles on the highway.
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Photo: Zoox
Like most early autonomous vehicles, Zoox’s robotaxi is decked out in safety technology. There’s a crown of six LIDAR pucks up top, as well as multiple radar sensors and cameras. Zoox says this provides a 270-degree field of view at each corner, virtually eliminating blind spots as well as providing redundancy in case a sensor fails. The sensor suite allows the vehicle to see objects up to 150 meters away, Zoox says.
The interior of Zoox’s vehicle is less coldly technological. The cozy bench seats, which face inward (hence the term “carriage-style”) are surrounded by what looks like textured fabric. The seats also conceal what Zoox says is a radical rethink of how airbags work. There are cupholders and wireless charging mats between seats. And the ceiling has a starry sky pattern, the kind commonly seen in luxury vehicles like the Rolls Royce Ghost. A small touchscreen at each seat is the most obvious tech found inside; Zoox says passengers will use these to control music, air conditioning, or see their route and ETA.
Photo: Zoox
The robotaxi is powered by a 133kWh battery pack, which is a little bigger than the packs that currently power Tesla’s most capable vehicles. Zoox says these battery packs will last for 16 hours of continuous use.
That should be plenty of juice to help Zoox and Amazon start chipping away at their collective goal, which is creating an autonomous ride-hailing service. It’s a goal that Zoox has been pursuing since it was founded in 2014, and one it sought in almost theatrical secrecy before stumbling through a public spat with its co-founder and CEO in 2018, who was ultimately pushed out. The company has been testing prototypes of its self-driving vehicle in San Francisco and Foster City in California, as well as in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Of course, Zoox is just part of Amazon’s increasingly massive push into the transportation sector. Not only has the e-commerce giant essentially built out its own shipping infrastructure, but it has poured a ton of money into buzzy EV startup Rivian (and is working with the company on a fleet of electric delivery vans). It also has a stake in Aurora, the autonomous vehicle outfit that just acquired Uber’s self-driving division.
With the Linux distribution KaOS, updates are carried out continuously according to the rolling release principle. In addition, the developers summarize the innovations several times a year in a stable ISO image. As the latest stable version, the recently released KaOS 2020. 11 makes it easier for interested beginners the first steps.
The distribution relies entirely on the KDE Plasma Desktop and the latest software from the KDE suite. It is not based on Debian or Arch Linux, but was developed independently from the ground up. Updates are carried out continuously according to the rolling release principle. The console tool “pacman”, which is also used in Arch-Linux, is used for package management. Users can also use the graphic software management Octopi.
What’s new in KaOS 2020. 11 In the release announcement on the KaOS website there is an overview of the news in the new KaOS. Output 2020. 08 contains the latest packages from the KDE pool. This includes the Plasma Desktop 5. 20. 3, KDE Frameworks 5. 76. 0 and the KDE Application Suite 20. 08. 3. The Linux kernel 5.8. 15 and Qt version 5 work under the hood. 15. 2. LibreOffice 7.0.3.1 inherits Calligra as a pre-installed office suite.
The Plasma Desktop 5. 20 also brings innovations. The task bar of the Plasma Desktop only shows icons and thus looks tidy. With the key combination of Ctrl + arrow keys, windows snap quickly to the edge of the screen. Changes made in the system settings can be easily tracked by means of a colored marking. The new Plasma System Monitor can be installed from the package sources, which will be delivered with the upcoming Plasma Desktop 5. 21.
Installation and file system The graphical installation program Calamares guides you through setting up the system and for the first time offers the option to use a swap file instead of a swap Partition. KaOS uses the XFS file system instead of Ext4. Beware of systems with RAID configuration: Installation is not possible here.
KaOS 2020. 11 is in the download area of the project website as an ISO image for 64 – Bit-x 86 systems are available. The developers advise against using the startup media producers Rufus and Unetbootin. In a short experiment, KaOS could be started without any problems from a USB stick that was written to with Etcher.
The developers summarize all innovations in KaOS 2020. 11 in the release announcement on the KaOS website.
(ndi)
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
