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solid-state batteries

How could solid-state batteries improve next-gen EVs?

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Small electrical gadgets like pacemakers and smartwatches have utilized solid-state batteries. The development of EV battery mass production has been slower than expected.

Toyota claimed to have solved a solid-state battery durability problem, clearing the door for manufacturing, which it anticipates will start in 2027–2028.

solid-state batteries
Image Source: timeslive.co.za

·Solid-state batteries offer higher energy density compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. This means they can store more energy per unit volume or weight, enabling EVs to have longer driving ranges on a single charge.

Also Read: Why did Robinhood Markets remove three crypto tokens?

This improved energy density is particularly advantageous for electric vehicles where maximizing range is a critical factor. Solid-state batteries are considered safer than conventional lithium-ion batteries.

The absence of liquid electrolytes eliminates the risk of leakage, thermal runaway, and fire hazards associated with traditional battery chemistries. This makes solid-state batteries more stable and less prone to accidents, increasing the overall safety of EVs.

These batteries have the potential to support significantly faster charging speeds. Their unique structure and advanced materials allow for improved ion conductivity, reducing charging times compared to lithium-ion batteries. Rapid charging capabilities are crucial for the widespread adoption of EVs by addressing one of the primary concerns of consumers—long charging times.

They exhibit improved cycle life, meaning they can withstand a greater number of charge and discharge cycles before experiencing degradation. This extended lifespan translates into longer-lasting EV batteries that require less frequent replacement, reducing costs and environmental impact.

Solid-state batteries perform better across a wide range of temperatures, including extremely cold or hot conditions. They are less affected by temperature fluctuations, allowing EVs equipped with solid-state batteries to maintain their performance and range in challenging weather conditions.

They offer greater design flexibility due to their solid and flexible nature. They can be made thinner, lighter, and molded into various shapes, allowing for more creative integration into different vehicle designs.

This flexibility could lead to improved space utilization, increased cargo capacity, or even the integration of batteries into structural components, optimizing the overall vehicle design.

Also Read: AI startup Cohere raises funds from Nvidia, valued at $2.2 billion

Solid-state battery cells for EVs have been manufactured in prototype form by automakers and technology companies, but mass production has not yet been scaled up. It is challenging to create a solid electrolyte that is chemically inert, stable, and nevertheless an effective ion conductor between the electrodes.

In addition, they are hard to make and expensive to crack. As a result, liquid lithium-ion batteries are much less expensive than solid-state batteries.

Toyota withheld projected expenses for its new solid-state battery electric vehicle (EV) or the additional investment required to increase manufacturing.

Cohere

AI startup Cohere raises funds from Nvidia, valued at $2.2 billion

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Cohere, which is building an AI model ecosystem for the workplace, recently revealed that it collected 270 million USD as a portion of the company’s Series C investment, demonstrating that there is a lot of funding available for generative artificial intelligence new businesses.

Cohere
Image Source: enterprisetalk.com

Cohere was reportedly in discussions with investors for raising hundreds of millions of bucks previously this year at an estimated value of up to little more than six billion dollars, according to Reuters.

If that information is accurate, Cohere looks to have significantly undervalued the business, an individual with knowledge of the situation informs TechCrunch this particular tranche assesses the organization at between 2.1 billion USD and 2.2 billion USD.

“The new capital will fuel the continued development of Cohere’s AI platform, which is focused on enterprise customers, allowing companies to use their preferred cloud provider to increase data privacy and make implementation simpler,” president and COO Martin Kon told TechCrunch via email.

“The latest round allows us to invest in compute, grow our team, engage with more of the world’s leading enterprises, and further advance our world-leading AI, ultimately empowering companies to build incredible products while keeping their data private and secure.”

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Cohere was established in 2019 by Nick Frosst, who was one of the first executives at Google AI lab in Toronto) along with Aidan Gomez and Ivan Zhang.

Prior to founding Cohere, Gomez collaborated on the seminal article “Attention Is All You Need,” which proposed the Transformer, which is the framework behind well-known large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 powered by OpenAI. Kon became part of the firm in early 2023 after leaving his previous role as the chief financial officer at YouTube.

In addition to other types of artificial intelligence, Cohere has created multilingual models of language that have been taught on data from local people. By concentrating on applications in business cases, Cohere hopes to differentiate itself in the sea of generative artificial intelligence firms.

The artificial intelligence (AI) solution from Cohere is cloud agnostic and may be set up on-site, in a client’s present cloud, a virtual private cloud, or maybe a public cloud such as Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS). The startup employs a hands-on strategy, collaborating with clients to develop unique LLMs based on their confidential data.

Robinhood

Why did Robinhood Markets remove three crypto tokens?

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Days after the U.S. securities regulator launched a crackdown against the major exchanges in the sector, Robinhood Markets said on Friday that it is withdrawing three cryptocurrency tokens from its platform.

On June 27, the online brokerage said that customers will no longer be able to trade Solana, Cardano, or Polygon using Robinhood.

Robinhood
Image Source: reuters.com

The move by Robinhood was made in response to the SEC classifying these tokens as securities in its lawsuit against Binance and another complaint it filed the next day against Coinbase. It is clear that the SEC’s legal action is already having an impact on the cryptocurrency market.

Also Read: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches in early 2024

The operation of Binance.US and CEO Changpeng Zhao are the targets of the SEC’s lawsuit, which was filed on Monday. It makes 13 allegations against Binance, including that it engaged in a “web of deception,” fraudulently inflated trading volumes, misappropriated user cash, and claimed fake independence of the US corporation while actually being in control of it.

Meanwhile, the US branch of Binance has chosen to stop accepting deposits in dollars. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is stepping up its campaign of repression against the bitcoin industry as these actions are being taken.

Binance.US, regarded as Binance’s independent partner, announced on Twitter on Thursday that its partner banks were getting ready to stop providing access to dollar withdrawal routes by June 13. After the SEC requested an asset freeze via a court order, the decision was made. Customers can withdraw their money till Tuesday.

Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform designed to provide fast and scalable solutions for decentralized applications. It utilizes a unique combination of technologies, including a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus mechanism and a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

Solana aims to address the scalability limitations faced by other blockchain platforms, offering high throughput and low transaction fees. It has gained attention for its potential in supporting various applications, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Cardano is a blockchain platform that emphasizes security, scalability, and sustainability. It uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called Ouroboros, which aims to provide a secure and energy-efficient network.

Cardano is developed with a strong focus on academic research and aims to offer a robust infrastructure for decentralized applications and smart contracts. The platform aims to provide scalability through its layered architecture, with plans to introduce additional layers for governance and sidechains.

Also Read: Google AI to power virtual travel agent from Priceline

Polygon is a layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain. It aims to address the scalability issues of Ethereum by providing a framework for building and connecting scalable and interoperable blockchain networks.

Polygon utilizes various technologies, including sidechains, Plasma, and a PoS consensus mechanism, to enable faster and cheaper transactions while leveraging Ethereum’s security.

It offers developers the flexibility to create dApps with Ethereum compatibility while benefiting from the scalability and low fees provided by the Polygon network.

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches in early 2024

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The release date for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the follow-up to the acclaimed RPG remake, has been announced. It will launch on the PS5 at the beginning of 2024.

The second game in the Final Fantasy VII remake series, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, explores the tale of the legendary fantasy game that reinvented the RPG subgenre in three different games.

Final Fantasy VII
Image Source: gematsu.com

After escaping the dystopian city of Midgar, the enduring heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII are rejoined in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. They then set out on a quest to find Sephiroth, the furious swordsman from Cloud’s past who was believed to have perished.

Also Read: Google AI to power virtual travel agent from Priceline

Players will experience an expansive universe in this stand-alone adventure, which has been built expressly to take advantage of the PlayStation 5 console’s capability and features a new level of graphical richness.

Players will experience a compelling narrative filled with puzzles to solve as they follow each party member’s personal journey and forge stronger ties with one another as they take on formidable foes.

Final Fantasy is a long-running and highly popular role-playing video game franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and published by Square Enix.

The series originated in 1987 with the release of the first Final Fantasy game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in Japan. Since then, the franchise has expanded to include numerous mainline entries, spin-off games, sequels, prequels, and other related media.

Each mainline Final Fantasy game typically features a new world, characters, and storyline, although certain elements such as recurring creatures, spells, and themes may be present across multiple titles.

The series is known for its engaging narratives, memorable characters, intricate battle systems, and beautiful music composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

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The franchise has been a pioneer in the RPG genre, introducing various innovations and setting high standards for storytelling and gameplay mechanics. Some of the most notable entries in the series include Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XV.

The games often blend fantasy and science fiction elements, offering rich and immersive worlds for players to explore.

Final Fantasy has had a significant impact on the gaming industry and has garnered a dedicated fanbase worldwide. It continues to be a prominent and influential franchise, with new titles and remakes being released on various platforms, including consoles, handheld devices, and PC.

Lucy Guo

From Dreamer to Achiever: The Unforgettable Journey of Lucy Guo

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At age 25, Alexandr Wang maintains the record of becoming the youngest self-made billionaire all over the globe. His start-up, Scale AI, which he founded together with someone in 2016, accounts for the majority of his “one billion dollar” worth of assets. The tech firm has currently a 7.3 billion USD market worth. Wang has caused impacts in the IT industry, but he’s not the only one. Lucy Guo, the previous co-founder, also seems to be receiving well-deserved praise.

Lucy Guo
Image Source: tuko.co.ke

She was recently ranked second after Kylie Jenner in Forbes’ list of the wealthiest self-made women under 40, having a probable market worth of 440 million USD. Rihanna, Huda Kattan, Maria Sharapova, & Taylor Swift are among the other celebrities on the list.

Also Read: Alexandr Wang: From MIT Dropout to youngest billionaire

Guo picked up programming while she was in the second grade, as per a New York Post feature. Guo, whose parents both work as electrical engineers, did not have parents who would push them to go after their passions. Since it’s challenging for women to succeed in the industry, her mother in particular discouraged her from going into technology.

The 27-year-old tech genius seemed unfazed, though. Guo ultimately enrolled in Carnegie Mellon’s computer science program but left early to go after a Thiel Fellowship, which was created by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal.

As per the fellowship’s website, it “gives US$100,000 to young people who want to build new things instead of sitting in a classroom”.

Source: scmp.com

Lucy Guo credits her early acquaintance with tech due to her growing up in Silicon Valley.

She started building websites in the sixth grade after learning how to program, and by the time she was a senior in high school, she was bringing in five figures through online marketing and advertisements.  She produced consumer online and mobile applications as a part-time developer, such as FriendSwipe, AccessURL, & Pokecrew.

She was working at Quora prior to co-founding Scale AI, and she then became Snapchat’s first female creator.

In 2018, the same year Wang and Guo were named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list, Guo quit Scale AI. She still has a six percent ownership position in the business.

She helped establish the business firm Backend Capital in 2019 in its earliest stages, as reported by Forbes. She started the tech startup, Moment this April. The moment is supported, according to its website, by Antifund, a venture capital company established by Geoffrey Woo along with Jake Paul.

Google AI

Google AI to power virtual travel agent from Priceline

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According to reports, Google is bringing its own AI engine to Priceline, an online travel firm, to assist users book trips using a chatbot.

According to Google and Priceline, the new feature, which will include a more advanced chatbot, could go available as early as this summer. Now that Priceline has access to Google’s generative AI, the platform can more effectively extract data from various sources, like hotels.

Google
Image Source: rappler.com

The customer can then be presented with that data in a way that makes it seem as though a human wrote it, as Google’s Bard is known for doing.

Also Read: Google quietly ends support for decade-old Chromecast

The chatbot would act as “a personal concierge” for users, said Martin Brodbeck, Priceline’s chief technology officer, to Reuters. Brodbeck stated, “You can easily find out that in Bryant Park there’s a Christmas market that runs from early November all the way through the beginning of January when you’re actually booking your hotel.”

The digital infrastructure of Priceline will also receive support from Google on the backend. The hundreds of software professionals who work at Priceline are apparently going to use artificial intelligence to generate code. Additionally, Google’s search engine will be integrated into the company intranet, and its AI will help sell popular spots to consumers.

When combined with excellent generative-AI content, Brodbeck told Reuters, “You could have it create images like a lovely beach.”

Google has long been the distant No. 3 provider of cloud services like data storage, so using AI to attract customers could help it catch up to rivals Amazon and Microsoft. The adoption of cutting-edge technology on Priceline’s website would give it an advantage over other travel-related marketplaces, some of which are looking into how customers will respond to AI.

Expedia Group, a competitor company, claimed that a smartphone app will use ChatGPT to power conversations. According to Rathi Murthy, its chief technology officer, this provides travelers with “inspiration on places to go” and booking possibilities.

Expedia Group, a competitor, said that ChatGPT would be used to facilitate conversations on its mobile app. According to its chief technology officer Rathi Murthy, this is providing travelers with “inspiration on where to go” and booking options.

Also Read: Snap hires new head of engineering from Google

Google has historically been a rival to Priceline, despite the fact that Brodbeck said its cloud computing skills were the catalyst for the collaboration. According to Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, the capacity to create applications on top of generative artificial intelligence has recently attracted business.

According to Kurian, who was referring to the amazing prehistoric period when a vast variety of new species evolved, “There is kind of a Cambrian moment happening now where there is an explosion of this technology.”