This article was originally published on .cult by Adrien Book. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries and share heaps of other untold developer stories from around the world. Remember 2016? Pokemon GO was sweeping the world, and many felt that we were on the cusp of an Augmented Reality revolution. Obviously, this hasn’t materialized. Fast forward to today, and we’re yet again having a very similar conversa
This week in the US, AT&T retired its 3G network to make room for newer 5G cellular bands. While most of our smartphones are embedded with 4G or 5G chips, a lot of transport infrastructure runs on old-school 3G cellular networks. Think of a large number of telematics and IoT-connected devices. As 3G retires, they no longer operate without upgrading to 4G connectivity. In other words, unless your connected devices connect to 4G or higher, your devices are bricked. The entire transport ecosystem
Last year, startup-investor Shekhar Kirani made a controversial series of tweets. In them was a list of characteristics he thinks are found in the best software developers — so-called “10x engineers”. Some of the qualities he mentioned were things like hating meetings, not mentoring other team members, and always using dark color schemes (as someone who sets a white background in my editors, that last one affected me personally). Putting aside its bizarre shallowness, the tweet encourages tolera
This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered “a special operation,” allowing armed forces to move into Ukraine. The offensive wasn’t just limited to military forces, as Ukraine faced major internet disruptions. In this story, we’ll aim to summarize how information flow in the war-affected country has taken a hit. Cyberattacks Yesterday, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine said several government websites were under a DDoS (Distributed Deni
I’ve spent the last eight months turning Google News into my personal playground. I manipulated the algorithm and made it surface my stories whether they were relevant to specific topics or not. This is a big problem. I’m a regular reporter — a writer. I have no programming skills or formal education in computer science. Google’s arguably the most technologically-advanced AI company in Silicon Valley. It also happens to be worth more than two trillion dollars. Google News reaches almost 300 mill
Ever since Star Wars first showed space wizards talking to holograms, calling someone and chatting with their 3D simulacrum has become a staple of science fiction. But based on a patent application published in January, it sure looks like FacebookMeta is trying to make 3D conversations a reality right now — even if not quite the way George Lucas envisioned it. With the disclaimer that many patents never end up becoming an actual product, the patent does hint at how Meta envisions the future of c
My switch to a meatless diet was surprisingly painless. Yet there’s one part of my shameful past that I still miss a decade later: Beef burgers. Not those pompous grass-fed patties on brioche buns. Those poseurs can remain on their (shudder) wooden chopping boards. What I truly yearned for was the most basic of burgers: the type of greasy garbage that makes you look like a bag of milk. The taste, the smell, the carpet bombing of my internal organs… those mouth-watering experiences had become m
It’s been five long years, but Sony has finally revealed the design of its second virtual reality headset. Unsurprisingly named the VR2 (come on, what else did you expect from the company that brought you the PlayStation 5?), the hardware has been unveiled at an interesting time. Not only is there a renewed interest in virtual reality tech (thanks, Meta), but it’s also arriving into a market that has significantly evolved in recent years. In fact, the VR2 serves as an interesting marker to show
Being a passenger in a self-driving taxi sounds cool and all, but it can also be uncomfortable — and even terrifying. Sometimes robotaxis freak out and get confused. Wouldn’t you want to know what happened in those instances? Well, you can’t. At least, regarding Waymo. On Tuesday, the California Superior Court in Sacramento ruled that Alphabet’s Waymo can keep crucial safety and crash data about its autonomous vehicles secret. What’s the story? In January, Waymo sued the state’s Department of
Cars are simply not built for the stresses of modern cities. From traffic to parking, it’s often more a hindrance than a boon to own a four-wheeler in urban environments. But one company thinks its cracked the code for the perfect city vehicle: Arcimoto and its electric autocycles. These are somewhere between a car, bike, and motorcycle. Yesterday, Arcimoto cut the ribbon on a 250,000 square foot manufacturing facility — and launched two new vehicles in the process. I sat down with Mark Frohnm