Move over, OnlyFans, there’s a new feet-sharing game in town. At least, that’s what the plaintiffs argue in a new $25 million class-action privacy lawsuit filed against Foot Locker on Monday. I’m sorry to say that even your feet data isn’t safe.
Audi has finally revealed the Activesphere EV concept it promised last summer. The crossover is built to go off-road, complete with a rugged underbody, a liftable suspension and easy ways to carry your sports gear. The rear can transform into a loading area with enough room for your e-bikes, for instance. It nonetheless features a sedan-like profile and the creature comforts of past concepts, including a spacious, bright interior designed for relaxing while the vehicle is in self-driving mode.
The cabin reflects Audi’s confidence in augmented reality. Occupants wear AR glasses that provide vital performance figures (for the driver) as well as infotainment and virtual assistant controls. You won’t find a conventional row of screens or gauges, and the eyewear can even track your health while you ride an e-bike on a trail. When you’re ready to take control, the dash and steering wheel lift into place. Audi clearly expects you to only occasionally take the helm, such as when you’re venturing beyond asphalt.
Most specifications aren’t available (this is a concept, after all). However, Audi claims a range of more than 372 miles and fast 270kW charging using an 800V architecture. The 100kWh battery pack can charge from 5 percent to 80 percent in 25 minutes, Audi says.
This is the fourth model in Audi’s “sphere” electric concept line. The company kicked off the initiative with the shapeshifting Skysphere roadster in August 2021, and followed that a month later with the upscale Grandsphere sedan. Last year’s Urbansphere was intended as the SUV for future cities, where your car is as much an office (or a refuge from the outside world) as it is transportation.
As with past experiments, the Activesphere isn’t a preview of a production model. It’s Audi’s vision of motoring in the near future, not to mention a demonstration of technical prowess. It’s just a matter of whether or not the concept influences future cars. Audi has played it relatively safe with its existing EV lineup, which largely revolves around familiar-looking SUVs and the Porsche Taycan’s sibling, the e-tron GT. The brand expects to dramatically expand its electric offerings by 2026, though, so we wouldn’t rule out Activesphere-inspired rides.
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Peugeot has an incredibly ambitious EV strategy, replacing its entire fleet with 100% electric vehicles by 2025. Now, the automaker has unveiled its new fleet.
You’ll find “Persona 4 Golden” to be a game that’s not all that different from the original — but it might just be time to hit it retro style.
The Mars Sample Return Program is a bold plan to deliver precious samples of Martian soil back to Earth without human intervention. A part of the plan includes a roughly 8.2-foot-long (2.5 meters) robotic arm that will deliver tubes full of Martian soil to a rocket for delivery back to Earth.
When it comes to the phone apps you rely on every day, from web browsing to email, you might not think too much about switching off the defaults that come with your phone. But the app stores on both Android and iOS are packed with a wealth of alternatives that are worth checking out. Spending some time looking at what…
New York City’s first flood-monitoring network is set to expand. Thanks to $7.2 million in funding from the city, the number of flood-prone areas FloodNet monitors with its sensors will increase from 31 to 500 across all five boroughs. The expansion is expected to start next month and take up to five years.
Data from the sensors is fed into a free web dashboard that residents, city agencies, researchers and anyone else can use to stay on top of and react to flood threats. The dashboard receives water-level readings from the sensors in real time. An interactive map shows where, when and how rapidly water is rising, whether that’s due to seawater surges at the coast or stormwater drains not being able to handle floods. The dashboard also includes historical data, which can help people to track the frequency and severity of floods over time.
Researchers from New York University, The City University of New York, Brooklyn College and the Science and Resilience Institute developed FloodNet. They had assistance from the mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, the NYC Office of Technology & Innovation and neighborhood community groups.
FloodNet’s solar-powered sensors are low cost and open-source. They use ultrasound to measure changes in water levels and wirelessly transfer data to a gateway hub, which then sends the information to FloodNet’s servers and the dashboard.
Sea levels in the city have risen by a foot in the last century, according to the New York City Panel on Climate Change. They’re expected to increase by between another eight and 30 inches by around 2050, and between 15 and 75 inches by the end of the century. More detailed flood data can help city planners and others prepare for permanent water level rises, along with weather events like hurricanes that can quickly wreak havoc.
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