Lifeboat Foundation

Google Pay, the digital payment app for desktop, mobile apps, and in stores, was pretty much phased out by the introduction of Google Wallet in 2022. Google Wallet, which is a mobile app for Android users, is used five times more than Google Pay, according to the announcement. Since Wallet can also house credit cards for tap-to-pay, as well as digital IDs, and public transit passes, it’s proven to be the more useful alternative.

It’s somewhat typical for Google to launch products only to shut them down or roll them into other products after a few years due to lack of demand or commercial interest. The Google graveyard includes Jamboard, its cloud gaming service Stadia, and Google Play Music. So this is just one of many Google products to bite the dust. But Google Pay users won’t be left stranded.

If you’re a Google Pay user, you can still use the U.S. version of the app until June 4. But you can still transfer funds from your account into your bank account through the Google Pay website after June 4. After that, Google Pay users will no longer be able to send, request, or transfer money through the app.

A team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to create a supercapacitor simply by mixing cement, the binding ingredient of concrete, and a fine charcoal product called carbon black together with water.

Better yet, this mixture could allow a home to store a full day’s worth of energy in its foundation, potentially paving the way to an efficient renewable energy storage solution that doesn’t rely on mining rare Earth metals.

Roads made up of the material could even power electric cars wirelessly, the researchers say, or windmills could store their generated energy in their base.

Soft robots inspired by animals can help to tackle real-world problems in efficient and innovative ways. Roboticists have been working to continuously broaden and improve these robots’ capabilities, as this could open new avenues for the automation of tasks in various settings.

Researchers at Nagoya University and Tokyo Institute of Technology recently introduced a soft robot inspired by inchworms that can carry loads of more than 100 g at a speed of approximately 9 mm per second. This robot, introduced in Biomimetic Intelligence and Robotics, could be used to transport objects and place them in precise locations.

“Previous research in the field provided foundational insights but also highlighted limitations, such as the slow transportation speeds and low load capacities of inchworm-inspired robots,” Yanhong Peng told Tech Xplore. “For example, existing models demonstrated capabilities for transporting objects at speeds significantly lower than the 8.54 mm/s achieved in this study, with limited ability to handle loads above 40 grams.”

“We create the lowest power performance technology,” said Dipti Vachani, senior VP and general manager for Arm’s automotive business, in an interview, “so that Nuro can then take advantage of all that AI software.”

Nuro was founded in 2016 by Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, two veterans of the Google self-driving car project that would go on to become Waymo. It is one of the few companies operating fully driverless vehicles — that is, vehicles without safety drivers behind the wheel — on public roads today.

Discover the Arc Sport, a revolutionary electric wake boat engineered for performance, sustainability, and seamless user experience.

Former SpaceX engineers have unleashed their latest innovation, the Arc Sport, onto the waters, redefining the landscape of wake sports. Combining cutting-edge aerospace engineering with electric vehicle (EV) technology, the Arc Spor t promises an exhilarating experience like no other.

Boasting a massive 226 kWh battery capacity and a robust 570 horsepower (425 kW) motor, this engineering marvel delivers more than double the torque of its gas-powered counterparts.

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The world’s EV leader, BYD (OTC: BYDDY), announced a stock buyback plan as it continues expanding into new markets. BYD is pushing into different segments with new luxury EVs and mid-size electric SUVs.

After selling a record 526,409 all-electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, BYD topped Tesla to become the best-selling EV maker globally.

The automaker’s success was fueled by its lineup of affordable EVs like the Dolphin, Atto 3 (Yuan Plus in China), and Seal. However, BYD is quickly expanding into new segments.

Fashioned from the same element found in sand and covered by intricate patterns, microchips power smartphones, augment appliances and aid the operation of cars and airplanes.

Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are developing computer simulation codes that will outperform current simulation techniques and aid the production of microchips using plasma, the electrically charged state of matter also used in fusion research.

These codes could help increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process and potentially stimulate the renaissance of the chip industry in the United States.

A nanoporous material that holds hydrogen at twice the density of cryogenic liquid H2 could address the challenges of large-scale liquid and gas storage that have held this clean fuel back.

Hydrogen is finding plenty of applications as a clean fuel – in trucking and commercial vehicles, short range aviation and shipping, for example, where it carries considerably more energy per weight and volume than lithium batteries and can deliver superior range figures and quick refueling. You can burn it more or less like gasoline, or run it through a fuel cell to generate electric power.

It has the highest energy per mass of any fuel, but it’s a pain to store. Keep it in gas tanks and you’ll need some 700 atmospheres’ worth of compression. Keep it as a liquid, and you’ll need to maintain cryogenic temperatures just 20 degrees above absolute zero. And even when squashed into a supercooled liquid, it might be lightweight, but it takes up a surprising and inconvenient amount of volume, making it both energy-hungry and tough to package where space is an issue.

Speaker’s Bio: Catherine (Katie) Schuman is a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee (UT) in 2015, where she completed her dissertation on the use of evolutionary algorithms to train spiking neural networks for neuromorphic systems. She is continuing her study of algorithms for neuromorphic computing at ORNL. Katie has an adjunct faculty appointment with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UT, where she co-leads the TENNLab neuromorphic computing research group. Katie received the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award in 2019.

Talk Abstract: Neuromorphic computing is a popular technology for the future of computing. Much of the focus in neuromorphic computing research and development has focused on new architectures, devices, and materials, rather than in the software, algorithms, and applications of these systems. In this talk, I will overview the field of neuromorphic from the computer science perspective. I will give an introduction to spiking neural networks, as well as some of the most common algorithms used in the field. Finally, I will discuss the potential for using neuromorphic systems in real-world applications from scientific data analysis to autonomous vehicles.

Continue reading “Neuromorphic Computing from the Computer Science Perspective: Algorithms and Applications” »