Our universe is a ridiculous place. It’s where all the silliest things we’re aware of happen. And chief among the silliness is the wacky idea of time. Don’t get me wrong, the metaverse is a strong second. Especially Facebook’s Meta’s agonizingly dysfunctional approach to building it. But time’s even stranger than changing the name of the world’s most widely-known technology company to something that literally means “self-referential.” Time is the opposite of self-referential. If it exists in a t
Social media has become a primary source of information for news-hungry audiences around the world trying to make sense of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, it’s being used by the governments of Russia and Ukraine to set the agenda for wider media reporting. Official Russian government accounts have been found to be amplifying pro-Russia disinformation on Twitter. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has taken to the platform to appeal to its two million followers for support. Ha
Ever since artificial intelligence (AI) made the transition from theory to reality, research and development centers across the world have been rushing to come up with the next big AI breakthrough. This competition is sometimes called the “AI race”. In practice, though, there are hundreds of “AI races” heading towards different objectives. Some research centers are racing to produce digital marketing AI, for example, while others are racing to pair AI with military hardware. Some races are betwe
We’ve experienced a radical global shift in the social perception of issues related to diversity. Studies demonstrate a clear trend towards ‘diversity awareness’ over the past decade. But has this translated into gains for STEM? As far as we can tell, the answer’s a tepid ‘sure, a little.’ We’re seeing small changes filter through in the form of corporate and academic commitments, but continuing studies demonstrate there’s a lot of work left to be done when it comes to actual recruitment and equ
After playing a cat and mouse game with Twitter’s board seat, Elon Musk declared his ambition to buy 100% of the company’s shares yesterday. Later, at TED 2022 in Vancouver, the Tesla CEO said that his intention to take over Twitter isn’t driven by economic motives. At the same time, Twitter’s board of directors is considering its options to counter Musk’s bid. A lot’s been going on in the Twitter-Musk universe in the past week, and things are moving at a frantic pace, so we’ll try to break down
German startup Volocopter has been working on its fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft since 2011. After a series of prototypes and “more than 1,500” test flights, the company has developed the full-size pre-production prototype of its air taxi — named VoloCity. On Wednesday, Volocopeter released footage of VoloCity’s maiden flight, which you can watch on the video above. The flight, which took place in December 2021, shows the aircraft taking off, hovering above the gro
This article was originally published on .cult by Doug Neale. .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. If you’ve ever worked on a large codebase, you’ll know that it can suck. Their highly-coupled code and increased deployment risk can slow developer productivity right down. To combat this, many have shifted away from monolithic applicat
The reality is we don’t really hear all that much about the evolution of hyperloops. The companies are like underground moles, sneakily operating in stealth mode on all matters of engineering and propulsion. Or perhaps they’re more like a duck gliding through the water, frantically paddling underneath? But enough with the animal analogies. I wrote an article a bit over six months ago where I took a look at the progress of some of the key hyperloop companies. Following the news of Virgin’s pivot
Sketchy ads, like those for miracle weight loss pills and suspicious-looking software, sometimes appear on legitimate, well-regarded websites. It turns out that most websites don’t actually decide who gets to show ads to their viewers. Instead, most sites outsource this task to a complex network of advertising tech companies that do the work of figuring out which ads are shown to each particular person. The online ad ecosystem is largely built around “programmatic advertising,” a system for plac
In January, Mercedes unveiled its Vision EQXX concept EV, touting it as “the most efficient Mercedes-Benz ever built” — able to deliver a whopping 1,000 km (621 miles) range on a single charge. And as it turns out, the company held true to its word. Today, the German brand announced that its concept car successfully completed a long-range test of 1,008km (626 miles) in real-world conditions. The Vision EQXX is a sleek-looking machine. Credit: Mercedes-Benz The EV traveled across various European