The pilot must have seen a crash coming. The BlockDown Web3 conference was kicking off the next day. TNW was flying in to attend — but the fates had other plans. After descending towards the landing strip in Split, Croatia, the plane suddenly reversed course and climbed back into the skies. A shroud of Saharan sand had made it too dangerous to land — and the real drama had only just begun. When we finally arrived in Croatia the next day, the crypto market had entered its biggest downturn in year
There currently exists no machine capable of superhuman feats of intelligence. I’m sorry to be the one who bursts your bubble but, at least for the time being, that’s the way the universe works. It might seem like AI is smarter than humans in some ways. For example, the powerful neural networks used by big tech can sort through millions of files in a matter of seconds, a feat that would take humans more than a single lifetime. But that’s not a superhuman feat of intellect. It’s trading human att
Transport operators are always looking at ways to increase passenger levels. And making comfortable carriages that offer a great user experience is the way forward. This week German long-distance rail operator Deutsche-Bahn launched images of a new interior redesign, part of their goal to modernize and improve the passenger experience. There’s a lot of wood, warm, natural colors, and modern fabrics to help you pretend you aren’t sitting near other people. It looks pretty cool and I am feeling li
Qualcomm announced its XR1-based smart AR viewer last year before the “metaverse” became a buzzword. Now, it’s launching its new XR2-powered reference AR glasses so hardware manufacturers can “enable immersive experiences that unlock the metaverse.” But if we look beyond the marketing speak, the company’s new headset has gone wireless with a sleeker design. What does the new headset offer? The firm says it has a 40% thinner profile than the XR1 reference design, and has equal weight distribution
Traditional computer programming has a steep learning curve that requires learning a programming language, for example C/C++, Java or Python, just to build a simple application such as a calculator or Tic-tac-toe game. Programming also requires substantial debugging skills, which easily frustrates new learners. The study time, effort and experience needed often stop nonprogrammers from making software from scratch. No-code is a way to program websites, mobile apps and games without using codes o
. This week has been a big one in the EU, with the European Commission going all-in on renewable energy and, in particular,solar. In March 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union committed to entirely phase out its dependency on Russian gas, oil, and coal imports. It asked the European Commission to develop a plan on how to do so by the end of May 2022. The REPowerEU plan is the result. An intensive commitment to renewables The plan commits to partnerships with ren
Most phone companies release several models throughout the year to give users more choice — and sell loads more devices than if they just offered a single one. Fairphone, a company with a core mission to make sustainable devices, is trying to chart a different path than most phone makers by breaking that cycle. It’s not a household name when it comes to buying phones. But at its core, the company wants your phone to last longer, and design it in a way that you can easily repair it yourself. We t
As car manufacturers and battery cell makers race to develop more efficient and faster-charging EV batteries, there’s one material that’s been gaining significant traction in replacing mainstream graphite in the battery’s anode: silicon. That’s because silicon has a theoretical energy capacity 10 times higher than that of graphite, meaning it can significantly increase an EV’s range. It can also absorb lithium-ions much quicker during charging — speeding up the process. But adding silicon to the
There are a lot of machine learning developers in the world. But only one has been mentored by both Andrew Ng and Yoshua Bengio, invented a new kind of artificial neural network, contributed to or led research at Google Brain, OpenAI and Apple, and still has fewer than 40 candles to blow out on their birthday cake. And Apple just let him walk out the door and right into Google’s offices where he’ll soon be working for the DeepMind research team. His name is Ian Goodfellow. And letting him walk a
Imagine there is a public speaking square in your city, much like the ancient Greek agora. Here you can freely share your ideas without censorship. But there’s one key difference. Someone decides, for their own economic benefit, who gets to listen to what speech or which speaker. And this isn’t disclosed when you enter, either. You might only get a few listeners when you speak, while someone else with similar ideas has a large audience. Would this truly be free speech? This is an important quest