Hasta La Gadget!

Billionaires, hubris and inappropriate jokes — maybe there is a lesson in the tragic loss.

One of the most influential scientists in technology has passed away. The University of Texas at Austin has confirmed that Dr. John Goodenough, widely credited as the creator of the lithium-ion battery, has died at the age of 100. While you might not have heard of him, he’s effectively responsible for making cellphones, laptops and electric vehicles practical.

Researchers had been exploring lithium batteries before. Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham, for instance, produced a design combining lithium with titanium disulfide. However, The New York Timesnotes it was Goodenough who achieved a major breakthrough in 1980 while at the University of Oxford. He made a cathode with layers of lithium and cobalt oxide that produced a stronger voltage while greatly improving safety. It had much more capacity than previous batteries, such as lead acid (used in cars) and nickel-cadmium (found in many portable electronics).

The technology didn’t flourish until Dr. Akira Yoshino scrapped raw lithium in favor of safer lithium ions. The scientist produced a practical design for Asahi Kasei Corporation, and Sony delivered the first consumer-friendly rechargeable lithium-ion battery in 1991. You know what happened next — the improved performance enabled mobile devices that were either more portable or simply hadn’t been an option before. Cellphones and laptops could become sleeker, faster and longer-lasting, while electric cars were finally viable.

Goodenough was responsible for much more, however. During his stint at MIT in the 1950s and 1960s, he helped pioneer the technology that would eventually become the random access memory (RAM) you see in many computing products. He routinely shared patents with colleagues. He was also an active researcher into his 90s, and until a few years ago was developing next-generation battery tech that promised breakthrough performance for renewable energy and EVs.

While relatively unknown in public circles, Goodenough did receive recognition for his work. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 and the US National Medal of science in 2011, among other accolades.

Industries are slowly moving on from lithium-ion batteries. Automakers are planning EVs with solid-state batteries that deliver higher densities, faster charging and lower costs. However, it’s safe to say the modern tech landscape wouldn’t be what it is without Goodenough’s efforts, and his legacy will likely be felt for years to come.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lithium-ion-battery-creator-john-goodenough-dies-at-100-171553322.html?src=rss

Urtopia may be a relatively new name in the e-bike world, but it makes a strong first impression. With its 4G, GPS, mmWave sensors and even light projection turn indicators, the Carbon 1 felt like the Inspector Gadget of two-wheeled travel, but its exotic design and road-bike leanings meant it wasn’t for everyone. The company’s second bike, the Chord ($1,799), has a much less divisive aesthetic and – unlike its sibling – practicalities like gears and a more upright (and city-friendly) ride. Importantly, the Chord contains all the wireless connectivity of the Carbon 1 at a cheaper price, possibly making it a more compelling package overall.

The Chord feels like Urtopia’s attempt at a stylish city bike in the vague style of Cowboy or VanMoof. The Chord is apparently inspired by pianos, with its black and white colorway and the melodic notes that play when you cycle through the power modes. At 46 pounds (21 kilograms), it’s noticeably heavier than the Carbon 1 (33 pounds/15 kg), but it’s on par with other models in the same category.

The motor is a pretty straightforward 350W hub powered by a removable 360Wh battery. Top assisted speed is 20MPH over four modes: Eco, Comfort, Sport and Turbo. The maximum range is an estimated 75 miles, but that will obviously depend on how much assistance you use. As a Class 1 ebike, there’s no throttle mode here; instead, there’s a Turbo mode with barely any need to pedal to get you up to that maximum speed. As mentioned, the Chord comes with an 8-speed Shimano gear system which, combined with the assistance modes, make for a flexible ride in terms of speed and effort.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

The more interesting features with Urtopia bikes come from its connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 4G. Combined with an accelerometer and a gyroscope the Chord has a surprising amount of situational awareness, which I’ll get to later. Oh, you can also speak to the bike to change settings and use it as a Bluetooth speaker as you ride while receiving visual directions on the dot-matrix screen contained in the “smart box” bike computer. Did I mention there’s a comprehensive app with ride tracking, navigation and deeper settings, too?

Taking the Chord out for the first time, it was hard to ignore the extra weight compared to the aforementioned Carbon 1, but also the similarly pitched Tenways. It’s not chonky in the same way something like the 63-pound (28-kilogram) Velotric Discover 1 is but those extra pounds were noticeable the first time I tried hustling it (upright) into the elevator in my apartment block. Thankfully, it’s not something you’ll notice so much while pedaling.

The riding position is naturally more upright and it makes for a comfortable cruise around town. It’s not designed for off-road, but if you find yourself on uneven pavement or even a short stint on a dirt trail it does a decent job considering. The motor uses a torque sensor to decide when to kick in; it’s a very common system right now and does a good job of delivering power just as you need it.

Now, about that power. In the scheme of things, a 350W motor is a pretty standard entry-level option; it’s not about to pull your wrists out of their sockets when it kicks in, but it’s gets you to that 20MPH max speed in good time, as long as you’re willing to do the your part on the pedals. The three power modes are spaced adequately for whether you just want a little help or just wanna surprise that weekend warrior as you pass them barely pedaling. Turbo mode will reach max power without you really trying too hard – it’s a good option for if you’re feeling really pooped, and it doesn’t feel like the bike is pulling away from you, which can sometimes be the case with similar modes on higher-powered bikes.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

Utopia’s heavy-tech approach made the Carbon 1 stand out, but it also felt a little unpolished, at least in the first iteration of the app. The built-in GPS and 4G are meant to automatically record your rides and serve them up in the app with a map and statistics. Initially this felt a bit hit-and-miss. The fingerprint reader in the Carbon 1 was a nice touch, too, and it even doubled as an electric bell, but unfortunately it would often sound about half a second after I needed it. With the newer Chord, the software feels more finished from the get-go.

For starters, the bell is still digital (you can even change the sound), but it’s triggered by a much clickier button that’s much more responsive. More importantly, the app feels more refined now and I haven’t seen any rides go missing during my time with it. In fact, they appear almost instantly once I finish.

Of course, automatically mapping rides is cool, but it’s not the primary purpose of the 4G/GPS. That would be the ability to track your bike if someone steals it. As long as the Chord’s within cell coverage, you’ll be able to see its last known location via the app. You can also set it so you receive notification the moment the bike moves – potentially giving you a heads up before a thief can ride off with it. Of course, if the battery runs out or the GPS can’t see the sky it won’t update the app, but the cell lasts for a good amount of time in standby and it only fully turns off if you remove the battery, which requires a key (or bike-breaking brute force).

A quick note on the battery: Its placement under the top tube is a cunning way to semi-hide it, but also provides a little more protection from the elements. On the flip side, there’s no way to fully turn the bike off, so the 4G connection will gently drain the power between rides unless you remove it. In my testing, I also found that the estimated max range of 75 miles feels a little optimistic. It might be possible under optimal conditions, but even on shorter rides of 11 miles, with mixed use of modes and terrain, I had used up a claimed 25 percent of the cell. So if very long rides are your thing, take note.

If, upon hearing about all this 4G data you’ll be using, your first question was how much that’ll cost, the answer is nothing for the first year and then $29 annually after that. While it feels like everything has a subscription attached to it these days, this feels reasonable for the functionality you get out of it – especially if your bike does go missing and this helps you find it.

Beyond knowing where the bike is, the Chord can also guide you to your destination via built-in navigation. To be clear, it’s handled by the app, but when your phone is connected to the bike, the directions will appear on the dot-matrix style display. This also means you can keep your handset safely in your pocket or bag – unlike some bikes that make your phone the bike’s computer, forcing it to remain exposed to the elements.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

With the Carbon 1, I thought the option to play music through the built-in speaker was a novelty at best. The Chord hasn’t changed my mind either. Your music is going to sound pretty bad, but it’s a fun party trick nonetheless. Perhaps it’s more useful for podcasts and audiobooks? Just know that it’s something you can do (but not necessarily something you should). The voice control is a little more practical, but I rarely find a moment where I’d rather lean into the bike and talk to it instead of using the app’s controls.

Another interesting change from the Carbon 1 is that the smart box (formerly, smartbar) is no longer built into the bike. On the Chord it’s a separate unit that you attach manually, opening the door for some level of modularity. Urtopia hints at this in its press materials, suggesting that in the future you could upgrade to a different smart box with a better display, or new features which is an interesting concept if nothing else.

With just its second bike, Urtopia is showing a promising mix of consistency and growth (where needed). The Chord is a pretty enough bike that, if it’s to your taste, would serve as a good general purpose city e-bike. It’s not the most powerful, nor the most longevous in terms of range at this price point. But it’s possibly one of the most tech-laden and featureful if that’s what you’re looking for. Sometime’s it feels like there’s a little too much focus on the tech features and less on the ride itself. The fact that the door for feature upgrades further down the line, via the modular smart box, though, shows some welcome initiative on the company’s part. For the price, though, it’s an easy recommendation if you love a quantified ride and rarely go off-road.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/urtopia-chord-e-bike-151547121.html?src=rss

For the past few years, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line has been the undisputed champion of big flexible phones. But it holds that title almost by default thanks to a lack of real contenders — especially outside of China. But with the Pixel Fold, Google has created a legitimate challenger with an innovative design that directly addresses some of the weaknesses of Samsung’s heavyweight foldable. So even though its $1,799 price will prevent most people from throwing down on a front-row seat, Google’s first flagship foldable phone is definitely a worthy rival.

Design and displays

Enough with all the boxing metaphors, let’s look at what we’re actually dealing with here. The Google Pixel Fold features a 5.8-inch exterior screen that opens up to reveal a flexible 7.6-inch interior display, both of which are 120hz OLEDs. On paper, that sounds very similar to what Samsung offers on the Z Fold 4, but Google has played around with the phone’s build and dimensions to create what might be the best showcase of the company’s design chops to date.

Instead of something like Samsung’s skinnier baton-like form, Google chose a wider 17.4:9 aspect ratio for the Pixel Fold’s 2,092 x 1,080 exterior display, resulting in a device shaped more like a passport. The benefit is you don’t need to switch to the bigger interior screen as often. And while this might seem like a minor tweak, it makes a huge difference.

The Z Fold 4’s cover display is so skinny that typing feels cramped. It’s really only usable for basic things like looking up directions or checking notifications. But on the Pixel Fold, everything just kind of works. The screen is small enough that even someone with medium-sized hands like me doesn’t have trouble reaching the corners of the screen, yet big enough that apps look and behave normally. And because you don’t need to open the device as often, the battery can actually last a little longer.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Perhaps more importantly, Google has done some nifty things with the Pixel Fold’s hinge and chassis so there’s essentially no gap between the phone’s halves while still being extremely thin. It measures less than 6mm thick and around 12.1mm when closed, so despite being a touch heavier than the Z Fold 4, it feels more balanced. Unless your jeans are painted on, you shouldn’t have much trouble fitting the Pixel Fold in a pocket. And unlike so many other flexible phones, the Pixel Fold has an IPX8 rating for water resistance, so you don’t need to fear an accidental splash or submersion.

One side effect of having a wider screen on the outside is that when you open the Pixel Fold, you get a landscape orientation that’s great for watching videos. After starting a clip on the outside screen, you can just unfold the phone, expand it and voila, no need to rotate. Instead of going for a completely bezel-less design like most traditional phones, Google gave the Pixel Fold slightly larger love handles. This means there’s no need for a low-res under-display selfie camera like on the Z Fold 4. There’s actually room for an 8-megapixel camera in the top right corner. And that extra space around the hinge lets you hold the Pixel Fold like a paperback book, which is very satisfying when you’re using it as an e-reader.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

It’s about time I addressed the elephant in the room: Yes, there’s a crease. You can feel it with your fingers and, depending on the angle, you can see it too. But Google has managed to minimize how distracting it is. That said, I’ve been using a foldable phone as my daily driver for the last three years, so I may be more used to it than most.

Durability

While foldables have been around for a few years, now that Google is getting into the game, there are some things that potential first-time flexible phone buyers should be aware of. When you first open the Pixel Fold’s box, there’s a warning that calls attention to the phone’s display. Google notes that “flexible screens are softer than traditional phone screens, so avoid contact with sand, crumbs, fingernails or sharp objects.” Additionally, Google says that the owners should not “remove the pre-installed screen protector,” and that users should “avoid installing third-party screen protectors.” In short: you have to be a little more gentle with foldable phones than your standard glass-and-metal handset.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

So far, I haven’t had any issues with the Pixel Fold’s display or its pre-install screen protector. That said, I’ve owned three Galaxy Z Fold phones with similar screen protectors that bubbled up six to eight months after purchase, so it’s possible the Pixel Fold may exhibit similar issues over time. When questioned further about durability and customer support, a Google spokesperson told Engadget “We have rigorously tested the screen protector to stand up to normal wear and tear. If you do encounter an issue, it can be repaired at our service centers for a fee ($29 for preferred care customers or $129 for customers out of warranty).”

Software and apps

We can’t talk about the phone’s interior display without mentioning some of the tweaks Google has made to the apps and UI. Similar to the Z Fold 4, Google created a taskbar for the Pixel Fold, except that this one is a bit more transient. On the home screen, you get your standard row of icons along the bottom. But when you’re in an app, you can swipe up to see the taskbar, and from there you can drag an icon to open it in multi-window mode.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The gesture for summoning the taskbar is like a shorter version of swiping up and holding to see recently used apps. Once you select the apps you want, resizing windows is as easy as dragging the divider left or right. If you’d like your apps to switch sides you can double-tap the middle of the split-screen divider. The idea is for the taskbar to appear when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t. When combined with the App Suggestion feature in Android (which are the apps that have a ring around the icon), it makes for a simple but effective way of multitasking.

You can also use the Pixel Fold’s dual displays to do stuff like take selfies using the phone’s high-res rear cameras or show your subjects a live preview of what they look like when you’re taking their photo. But we’ve seen that before on devices like the Z Fold and the new Razr+. Unfortunately, one of the Pixel Fold’s coolest new features — Dual-Screen Interpreter mode — isn’t available yet, as it’s based on features in Android 14, which won’t be out until sometime in the fall.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Google says that over 50 first-party apps have already been optimized for use on devices like the Pixel Fold. Some of the enhancements we’ve gotten a taste of before, like tabletop mode in YouTube. But there are a number of refined examples, including those from third parties like WhatsApp where you can share images from Google Photos just by dragging and dropping. With this much real estate to work with, you really do feel empowered when switching from the outside to the interior display. And after playing games like Asphalt 9 that support adaptive resolutions, I’m really hoping more developers get on board.

Cameras

One of my biggest gripes with the Z Fold 4 is that Samsung wasn’t able to deliver the same level of image quality that you get on the Galaxy S Ultra. But the Pixel Fold doesn’t feel as compromised. It features a 48MP main sensor, a 10.8MP ultrawide and a 10.8MP telephoto with a 5x optical zoom. Combine that with Google’s excellent photo processing and the result is cameras that are just flat-out better.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In daylight, the Pixel Fold’s pics were consistently a touch sharper than Samsung’s while often delivering more detail with better shadows and highlights. Even with Samsung’s food mode activated, the Pixel Fold made my taco dinner look more appetizing too. Google’s Night Sight continues to reign supreme when it comes to capturing clearer and more well-exposed photos in the dark.

Performance and battery life

Powering the Pixel Fold is Google’s Tensor G2 along with 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. It’s not an overflowing well of speed, and as people have experienced on other Pixel devices, the Fold sometimes runs a little warm. But even when I was multitasking or trying to push it, the phone never felt lethargic, which is all I can really ask for.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Meanwhile, even though Google’s 4,820mAh battery is a tiny bit smaller than on the Z Fold 4, there wasn’t a big difference in overall longevity, which is to say it’s pretty good. I ran our video rundown test on both their external and internal displays. On the former, the Pixel Fold outlasted Samsung’s big foldable, posting a time of 22 hours and 21 minutes versus the latter’s 20:45. Using their larger screens, though, the Z Fold 4 came out ahead with a time of 17:13 compared to the Pixel’s 15:42.

Wrap-up

For Google’s entry into the world of fancy flexible phones, the Pixel Fold feels like a win. Its clever hinge and slim chassis make it easy to use and carry, while its wider body delivers on Google’s promise of making the phone’s exterior screen a lot more usable. Featuring strong water resistance, better cameras and UI tweaks to make multitasking a tiny bit simpler, the Pixel Fold more than holds its own against Samsung’s Z Fold 4. And that’s before considering all the great Pixel-specific features like Call Screener, Recorder and more.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

My main gripes (you know, aside from its price) are that it occasionally feels like the phone is never fully open. Sometimes I feel like I have to put more pressure on it than I’d like to make it completely flat. And while it would be nice if the Pixel Fold came with stylus support like the Z Fold 4, I’m happy to wait till Samsung, Google or whoever finds room to store a pen inside the device.

Admittedly, some folks may say that the Pixel Fold isn’t really advancing the overall capabilities of flexible phones, as many of its features like dual-window multitasking are already available on devices like the Z Fold 4. The issue is that until we get a critical mass of big foldables, developers aren’t going to consider tweaking or optimizing their apps. That’s why this phone had to come first. With the Pixel Fold, Google brought its style and rhythm to a title fight and didn’t come up short. But, perhaps most importantly, Google now has a device it can use to shape the future of Android beyond typical glass bricks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-pixel-fold-review-the-challenger-that-samsung-needs-specs-price-170003458.html?src=rss

Because bad ideas come in all shapes and danger levels, the folks at Throwflame have attached one of their electric ARC flamethrowers to the back of a Unitree Go1 quadruped robot (think a poor man’s Boston Dynamics Spot) to create the Thermonator. I think we can all agree this will not end well. At least not for humanity, anyways.

The robot can operate autonomously for navigation or be guided by a wireless controller. The flamethrower gets about 45 minutes of use with a full tank of gasoline/diesel fuel and a full battery. It’s unclear how much battery life the robot dog will have with its flamethrower payload, although I suspect more than enough to put a worried look on Smokey The Bear’s face.

ThrowFlame’s ARC flamethrower has a reach of about 30 feet – about 30 feet too far for a flamethrower attached to a robotic dog. Robots shouldn’t even be allowed to carry flamethrowers. Or guns. But is that stopping Throwflame from accepting pre-orders for the Thermonator soon? Unfortunately, it is not. I’m afraid I have no choice but to add one to my Christmas list.

[via BoingBoing and Gizmodo]