Want your tech delivered to your home with the same anxiety-inducing speed as your local pizza delivery guy? DoorDash said it was now working with Best Buy to offer door-to-door delivery for tech products, though your average food delivery guy might need a bigger bike if he’s to lug that massive 50-inch flatscreen…
Although Marvel is often, perhaps rightfully, granted dominance over the superhero movie boom of the last decade and a half, it’s arguably Zack Snyder who has, for better or worse, defined that trend more than any other singular figure. But, on the precipice of launching is own new universe, the director seems like…
Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking feat by capturing the first-ever views of Mars from a perspective replicating what an astronaut would see from the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, tasked with preparing for future human missions to Mars, took a series of panoramic images in May from an altitude of approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) – matching the ISS’s orbit around Earth.
The stitched-together images reveal the Martian landscape beneath layers of clouds and dust, providing a unique and informative perspective.
The unprecedented view not only offers stunning visuals of Mars but also aids scientists in gaining new insights into the planet’s atmosphere. While no astronauts are currently on Mars, the captured imagery provides an approximation of the view they might have when orbiting the Red Planet.
Jonathan Hill of Arizona State University, operations lead for Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), highlighted the significance of the perspective, stating:
“If there were astronauts in orbit over Mars, this is the perspective they would have. No Mars spacecraft has ever had this kind of view before.”
Creating this view presented technical challenges that engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space addressed during three months of planning. The THEMIS camera, which is sensitive to warmth, usually points straight down, limiting its ability to capture a broader view of the Martian atmosphere.
To overcome this limitation, the spacecraft had to be rotated almost 90 degrees, temporarily interrupting communication with Earth during the operation.
Odyssey’s THEMIS Views the Horizon of Mars. (Image: NASA)
THEMIS, with its infrared capabilities, can map various features on Mars, including ice, rock, sand, and dust, and measure temperature changes. The captured images will contribute to improving models of Mars’ atmosphere by revealing the positioning of water-ice clouds and dust layers in relation to each other.
The Odyssey mission aims to capture similar images in the future, providing insights into the Martian atmosphere across multiple seasons.
Jeffrey Plaut, Odyssey’s project scientist at JPL, described the achievement as akin to “viewing a cross-section, a slice through the atmosphere,” emphasizing the added detail that this unique perspective provides for scientific understanding.
NASA’s Mars Odyssey Orbiter Captures First-Ever Views of Mars From ISS Perspective
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Puma has taken a significant step toward launching a fully biodegradable shoe with the RE:SUEDE experiment. In this trial, 500 specially designed Suede sneakers were sent to testers for six months of wear, and 412 of them were later sent to an industrial composting facility in the Netherlands.
The shoes, made with Zeology suede, hemp padding and laces, and a hemp-cotton blend lining, were designed to decompose under strict conditions. After about three and a half months, a substantial portion of the leather trainer had broken down and was classified as Grade A compost, suitable for gardening.
The thermoplastic elastomer (TPE-E) soles, however, took around six months to break down into small enough pieces for compost. Puma views the RE:SUEDE experiment as “successful,” though the longer timeframe for sole decomposition deviates from standard industrial composting procedures.
Puma plans to launch a commercial version of the sneaker next year, incorporating a takeback scheme for composting the shoes using a tailor-made process. The company is also exploring a “new business model in composting” that supports the decomposition of the shoes.
The RE:SUEDE shoes. (Image: Puma)
Transparency serves as another crucial element in the RE:SUEDE experiment, with PUMA committing to share comprehensive insights in a detailed report. The transparency aims to provide valuable knowledge to peers and other interested stakeholders, enabling them to glean insights from the experiment and apply these lessons to their respective initiatives.
Marthien van Eersel, Manager of Materials & Innovations at Ortessa, emphasized the significant learning derived from the RE:SUEDE trial. He highlighted the advancements made in streamlining the industrial composting process to accommodate items requiring an extended period to decompose fully.
While all materials in the RE:SUEDE can break down, the sole posed a unique challenge, necessitating additional pre-processing and more time in the composting tunnel for a complete breakdown.
The Re:SUEDE shoe is part of Puma’s efforts to adopt sustainable practices and materials, such as zeolite-based tanning for the suede, and eliminate chrome, aldehyde, and heavy metals from the process. Puma’s previous attempt at a compostable shoe, the InCycle collection in 2012, was discontinued due to poor consumer demand.
Puma Launches A Fully Biodegradable Shoe With The Re:Suede Experiment
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At the recent Redmi event, the company unveiled the K70e, K70, and K70 Pro smartphones, with the K70 Pro receiving a special edition in collaboration with Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse, called the Redmi K70 Pro Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Edition — This special edition commemorates Redmi’s 10 years in the smartphone industry and features distinct design elements.
The key differences in the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Edition include a unique camera island shaped like an inverted convex pentagon, inspired by Lamborghini’s sharp design lines. The back panel, though plastic, incorporates a two-tone Green or Yellow color scheme with a carbon design beneath a protective panel. The overall design is an aesthetic nod to the collaboration with the renowned racing division.
On the software side, the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Edition boasts a custom Lamborghini Squadra Corse theme integrated into the HyperOS interface. The theme showcases the Essenza SCV12, a track-only hypercar with a V12 engine, adding an exclusive touch to the user experience.
Despite the distinctive design, the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Edition shares identical internal specifications with the regular K70 Pro. It houses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, features fast LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, and supports 120W charging for its 5,000 mAh battery.
The Lamborghini Squadra Corse Edition offers a specific configuration with 24 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, emphasizing a high-performance variant. The pricing details for this special edition are yet to be disclosed, and it is anticipated to remain exclusive to the Chinese market.
Redmi K70 Pro Has A Special Lamborghini Edition To Celebrate 10 Years Of The Brand
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In northern Nevada, an innovative geothermal operation called Project Red, developed by Fervo, is supplying clean energy to data centers, including those operated by Google. This small-scale pilot plant produces 2 to 3 megawatts of power, demonstrating a novel geothermal approach that could potentially tap into Earth’s natural heat globally.
Unlike traditional geothermal plants relying on naturally heated water sources, Project Red utilizes an “enhanced” geothermal system (EGS), involving drilling into dry rock and employing hydraulic fracturing techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry.
A pilot plant in Nevada is now making the internet a little more green. (Image: Google)
Fervo drilled two wells over 7,000 feet deep, turning fully horizontal, and connected them through fracking to create an artificial hot spring; Water pumped down one borehole resurfaces significantly hotter through the other, driving turbines to generate power — This method leverages the abundance of hot rock beneath the Earth’s surface, presenting a scalable strategy for geothermal energy production in diverse locations.
While Project Red’s output currently falls slightly short of the initial 5-megawatt estimate, the success of the experiment, with temperatures reaching 375 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom of the boreholes during testing, signals a significant breakthrough. The Nevada site (strategically located near a traditional geothermal power plant) integrates with existing infrastructure, including turbines and power lines, facilitating seamless grid integration.
This new approach addresses challenges faced by tech companies in reducing the environmental impact of power-hungry data centers. Google, having invested in Project Red two years ago, aims to power its data centers with 24/7 clean energy. Geothermal energy, particularly EGS, is seen as a leading candidate to achieve this goal, providing a continuous and reliable power source.
Michael Terrell, Senior Director for Climate and Energy at Google, emphasizes the importance of EGS as an existing technology delivering electrons, contributing to the company’s ambitious 2030 goal for 24/7 clean energy on local grids.
While EGS has inherent challenges, including high initial costs and potential seismic risks, Fervo is working on mitigating these factors through modeling based on geological data and collaboration with government-funded initiatives like FORGE in Utah.
Fervo’s next EGS project in Utah, scheduled for 2026, aims to be significantly larger at 400 megawatts, demonstrating the scalability and potential of this geothermal innovation.
A Greener Internet: Google’s Data Centers Powered With Geothermal Breakthrough
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National security adviser Jake Sullivan has told lawmakers that the White House is not seeking to place conditions on U.S. military assistance to Israel.
Disney CEO Bob Iger—who over the summer described the demands of striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA workers as “not realistic,” then pulled back on that harsh statement by pushing to end the strikes quickly (as backed up by Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav)—has addressed some of his company’s most pressing matters as…
Amazon has hopped on the same bandwagon on which many major tech companies have hitched a ride this year by debuting its own image generator. AWS customers can now check out a preview of Titan Image Generator on the Bedrock console. They can either enter a text prompt to create an image from scratch or upload an image and edit it.
Amazon says the tool can produce large volumes of studio-quality, realistic images at low cost. It claims the AI can generate relevant images based on complex text prompts while ensuring object composition is accurate and that there are limited distortions. This, according to the company, helps with “reducing the generation of harmful content and mitigating the spread of misinformation.”
Those looking to edit an image can isolate areas in which they want to add or remove details. They can, for instance, replace the background or swap an object in a subject’s hand. The AI can also extend an image’s borders by adding artificial details, much like the Generative Expand feature in Photoshop.
Amazon says Titan applies an invisible watermark to images that it generates. The company says this will “help reduce the spread of misinformation by providing a discreet mechanism to identify AI-generated images and to promote the safe, secure and transparent development of AI technology.” It claims that the watermarks are resistant to modifications. According to a demo of the image generator, the AI can also generate a description of the image or relevant text to use in a social media post.
News of the image generator emerged at Amazon’s AWS re:Invent conference, at which the company also showed off its latest AI chips and revealed a business-centric AI chatbot called Q. The company recently started offering advertisers a tool that lets them add AI-generated backgrounds to product images.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-now-has-its-own-ai-image-generator-203025475.html?src=rss
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