• Energy boss asks Ofgem to help drive down standing charges in energy bills

    Ofgem should help drive down standing charges for energy bill payers around Britain, the head of one of the country’s largest suppliers has said, after announcing that his popular Octopus Energy firm would knock 4 per cent off the standing charge for customers whose bills are regulated by the energy price cap. “Customers really do want to see standing charges come down, and I think Octopus can take a lead on it. I just hope that Ofgem follows,” Jackson told the PA news agency. Asked if other suppliers should follow suit, he said: “If you’re Costa Coffee, I don’t know whether you’d call on Starbucks to do what you do. Other suppliers can do what they like. “I think what’s important here is that Ofgem should start moving costs out of the standing charge and they should do so with a sense…

  • Cost of charging electric vehicles rises by 42 per cent in latest figures

    Electric car owners in the UK have suffered a 42 per cent hike in the cost of using public rapid chargepoints in just four months, according to new figures published by RAC.  The figures show a driver exclusively using rapid or ultra-rapid public chargers currently pays around 18p per mile for electricity, compared with roughly 19p per mile for petrol and 21p per mile for diesel. This rise – caused by the soaring wholesale costs of gas and electricity – has made it nearly £10 more expensive to rapid-charge a typical family-sized electric car to 80 per cent. “It remains the case that charging away from home costs less than refuelling a petrol or diesel car, but these figures show that the gap is narrowing as a result of the enormous increases in the cost of electricity," said RAC spokesman…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • TikTok facing £27m fine for ‘failing to protect children’s privacy’

    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued the social media company with a notice of intent – a legal document that precedes a potential fine. The document sets out that between May 2018 and July 2020, TikTok may have processed the data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent; failed to provide proper information to its users in a concise, transparent and easily understood way; and processed 'special category' data without legal grounds to do so. Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of…

  • Sponsored: Keysight World, innovate to spotlight emerging technologies and trends

    Register Today “Every day, technological advancements are reshaping the human experience - from how we live and work, to how we move through the world. There is no doubt that the rapid pace of technology innovation is only going to accelerate and present new challenges and opportunities for all of us,” stated Jeff Harris, vice president of Portfolio and Global Marketing at Keysight Technologies. “At Keysight World: Innovate, industry leaders, experts, and even a ‘mad scientist’ or two, will share their expertise and predictions to give technology leaders, engineers and innovators a head start on near-term and future developments in technology innovation.” Each day of Keysight World: Innovate will feature an industry expert keynote on near-term trends, a moderated panel discussion on key…

  • Marine trials for hydrogen fuel cell made with PCB technology

    Bramble Energy’s PCB Fuel Cell is designed to provide a zero-emission alternative for diesel-powered vehicles and portable generators that can be made up by printed circuit board factories around the world to save costs and time to market. Trials of the innovative fuel cell on a remotely controlled robot boat, which are believed to be a world first, are due to start in the coming months in partnership with Sea-Kit International, a leading manufacturer of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). The £1.37m project won £964,000 in funding from the Department for Transport through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition in September last year [2021] but was delayed due to global supply-chain issues. Sea-Kit USVs have a dual diesel-electric hybrid drive, which is propelled by an electric motor…

  • View from India: Green flight hope for the future

    Aviation contributes about 2-2.5 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions worldwide. As for India, the country is a leading importer of edible oil. Now here lies an opportunity. Probably this could be reason enough for the country to work towards becoming a hub for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Agri residues-feedstock, municipal solid wastes, renewable biomass and algae could all be used for making SAF. Such residues could be treated and channelled for clearing up the skies. This point was made at the recent Airbus India TAKE OFF 2022. “We focus on sustainable aerospace for safe travel. Around 63 per cent of our fleet is fuel-efficient. Before 2030, our goal is to launch certified commercial aircraft that run on sustainable fuel. By 2035, we want to take aircraft on service. Batteries…

  • Belfast firm unveils designs for a fully electric ‘flying’ ferry

    Maritime design company Artemis Technologies has described hydrofoil technology as a “game changer” for the global high-speed ferry market.  According to the company, the vessel's ability to raise the hull above the water dramatically cuts drag and provides estimated fuel savings of up to 85 per cent compared to conventional diesel-powered ferries, all while producing minimal wake and noise. It will be 24 metres long and will be able to carry 150 passengers. The model has been designed with a top speed of 38 knots and a battery range of 115 nautical miles at a 25-knots cruise speed. The "flying ferry" is expected to come into service in 2024, running in a pilot service between Belfast and the nearby city of Bangor. Artist impression handout CGI issued by Artemis…

  • Hands-on review: Zhiyun Smooth Q4 smartphone gimbal

    With the Smooth Q4, Zhiyun is pitching its latest smartphone gimbal at "on-the-move lifestyle, fashion, filmmakers, live-streamers, vloggers and influencers". You know, the TikTok, Insta and YouTube generation. This latest three-axis stabiliser is designed and equipped for fast filming capabilities and unbridled creative output, from midnight to high noon. The Smooth Q4 directly succeeds 2021's Smooth Q3 , which was a very decent unit and did the Smooth Q rep no great disservice. Not that Zhiyun keeps all its gimbal eggs in one smartly branded basket. This year alone has seen the launch of the Q4's big brother, the Smooth 5 (no Q); the bigger brother, the Crane M3 (reviewed at the start of Q3, arf!), and the biggest brother, the Weebill 3 (the pro-level, DSLR don). This might seem like…

  • Decommissioned oil rig reopens as public art installation in Somerset

    Dubbed 'See Monster', the former North Sea platform now features four publicly accessible levels that play host to a wild garden of plants, grasses and trees. The installation also includes an amphitheatre, a multi-level slide, a 6,000-piece kinetic installation forming the monster’s 'scales' and a 10-metre waterfall. At the base of the 35-metre-tall structure is a broadcast studio. Those behind the project are hoping it will transform perceptions around how out-of-date industrial infrastructure is disposed of. The project was the brainchild of Leeds-based design and events company Newsubstance and forms part of the 'Unboxed: Creativity in the UK' festival. Image credit: PA Media/Ben Birchall In July, the oil rig was delivered to the beach of the North Somerset…

  • Climate change puts coastal castles at risk

    Conservation charity English Heritage has issued a warning regarding the danger that climate change poses to the survival of several castles on the UK coastline, some of which have stood for hundreds of years.  The charity, which manages over 400 historic sites across England, highlighted six castles threatened by coastal erosion and rising sea levels, and it has launched a multimillion pound fundraiser to repair their walls and improve their defences against storms and more powerful waves. Although coastal erosion is nothing new, English Heritage has stressed the effect that climate change has had on accelerating its progress. The heritage body described the rate of land lost over the last few years as “alarming”, warning that sea levels are now rising at their fastest rate for nearly…

  • Government to borrow £70bn to fund massive energy support scheme

    Newly appointed chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has pledged to “turn the vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth” as he set out the government’s approach to the UK economy. The new schemes have been announced as part of the Chancellor's mini-budget, officially known as a “fiscal event”. They have provided details of how  the government plans to fund the energy price cap for households and businesses and put into practice many of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s promises . Under the presented plan, the government is expected to borrow an extra £70bn over the coming months to fund its massive energy bills support for households and businesses. The combined energy schemes will cost around £60bn over the first six months, the Chancellor announced on Friday, while the business relief…

  • Method for 3D-printing strong stainless steel revealed with particle accelerator

    For airliners, cargo ships, nuclear power plants and other critical technologies, strength and durability are essential. This is why many contain a remarkably strong and corrosion-resistant alloy called 17-4 precipitation-hardening (PH) stainless steel. Now, for the first time ever, 17-4 PH steel can be consistently 3D-printed while retaining its favorable characteristics. A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Argonne National Laboratory have identified particular 17-4 steel compositions that, when printed, match the properties of the conventionally manufactured version. The researchers’ strategy, described in the journal Additive Manufacturing, is based on high-speed data about the printing process…

  • Majority of EV owners are unhappy with public charging infrastructure, survey finds

    A poll of almost 1,500 members of consumer group Which? who drive a pure electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle showed most of them (about 74 per cent) were unhappy with the current public charging infrastructure.  In addition, two out of five (40 per cent) of those polled reported finding a non-working charger, while 61 per cent have suffered difficulties making payments. Almost half (45 per cent) of those questioned estimated that the nearest public on-street chargepoint to their home is more than a 20-minute walk away. Moreover, t he vast majority of EV owners (84 per cent) who use public chargers want the option of paying by a contactless bank card, the survey suggests. At the moment, m ost chargepoints require drivers to pay through an app. “Our research shows that the public EV charging…

  • Tesla recalls one million vehicles that can pinch people’s fingers

    The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that flaws within certain Tesla models violate federal safety standards for power windows. During production testing in August, the company found that the window reversal system in certain models may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction. Tesla has announced it will recall almost 1.1 million vehicles in the US and said a software update should be able to fix the issue.  The recall is listed on the NHTSA website, and states that the issue may affect 1,096,762 vehicles, including certain 2017 to 2022 Model 3 sedans and some 2020 and 2021 Model Y SUVs, as well as some Model S sedans and Model X SUVs from 2021 and 2022. Owners of affected vehicles will be notified by letter, starting from 15 November. Tesla said that…

  • Japan’s next great earthquake probed by deepest-ever scientific ocean drilling

    The findings, published in the journal Geology , are a puzzle because the fault produces a great earthquake almost every century and was thought to be building for another big one. “This is the heart of the subduction zone, right above where the fault is locked, where the expectation was that the system should be storing energy between earthquakes,” said Demian Saffer, director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) who co-led the research and scientific mission that drilled the fault. “It changes the way we’re thinking about stress in these systems.” Although the Nankai fault has been stuck for decades, the study shows that it is not yet showing major signs of pent-up tectonic stress. According to Saffer, that doesn’t alter the long-term outlook for the fault, which…

  • Scientists build electronic ‘brains’ for solar-powered micro-robots

    The development could set the stage for a new generation of microscopic devices that can track bacteria, sniff out chemicals, destroy pollutants, conduct microsurgery and scrub the plaque out of arteries. Although  microscopic machines have already been designed to crawl, swim, walk and fold themselves up, there were always 'strings' attached; to generate motion, wires were used to provide electrical current or laser beams  had to be focused directly onto specific locations on the robots. "Before, we literally had to manipulate these 'strings' in order to get any kind of response from the robot," said Itai Cohen, professor of physics. "But now that we have these brains on board, it's like taking the strings off the marionette. It's like when Pinocchio gains consciousness." The 'brain…

  • Fracking ban lifted but Tories unsettled by seismic shift in policy

    Liz Truss' unpopular decision to approve the lifting of England’s fracking ban has caused anger from Tory MPs, compounded by the threat from opposition parties that they will use this issue to drum up support in key electoral battlegrounds. Rees-Mogg claimed that the impact of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine means that securing domestic energy supplies is now vital. The moratorium on fracking had been in place since 2019 following a series of earth tremors. Conservatives representing seats in northern England hit out at the move to end the ban, which unequivocally breaks a clear Tory manifesto promise. Labour said the Truss government had created a “charter for earthquakes” while the Liberal Democrats said voters in rural areas were being treated as “guinea pigs” for the fracking…

  • Ofcom to probe cloud market dominance of Amazon, Microsoft and Google

    UK regulator Ofcom has announced its plans to launch a probe into the dominance of technology titans Amazon, Microsoft and Google in cloud services "in the coming weeks".  The regulator is set to launch a market study that will assess how well the market is working, as well as any barriers to new entrants into the sector. It is expected to focus on the so-called 'hyperscalers', which let businesses access computing power and data storage from remote servers, rather than host it on their own private infrastructure. The three hyperscalers – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google – alone account for around 81 per cent of revenue in the UK public cloud infrastructure services market, according to Ofcom. “The way we live, work, play and do business has been transformed by digital…

  • UK ‘in recession’ as Bank of England hikes interest rates to 14-year high

    The central bank had previously projected the economy would grow in the current financial quarter, but said it now believes gross domestic product (GDP) will fall by 0.1 per cent. This comes after a reported 0.2 per cent fall in GDP in the second quarter, meaning that the economy is now in recession. A recession is when GDP shrinks for two consecutive quarters. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to raise rates to 2.25 per cent – their highest since November 2008 – from 1.75 per cent, in an effort to grapple big increases in the cost of living. In committee minutes, it said the “tight labour with wage growth and domestic inflation” above targets called for a “forceful response”. Nevertheless, the hike was below the expectations of the financial markets, who had predicted…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Nasa prepares to intentionally crash spacecraft into a small asteroid

    A spacecraft built by Nasa is set to intentionally smash into a small asteroid as part of a planetary protection test mission, to help prove that this could be an effective way of deflecting dangerous incoming rocks. The chosen asteroid, named Dimorphos, orbits Didymos in around 11 hours and 55 minutes, but Nasa astronomers hope that Dart will destroy itself and cut about 10 minutes off this time. The collision is expected to take place at about 6.8 million miles from Earth.   "Dart's target asteroid is not a threat to Earth but is the perfect testing ground to see if this method of asteroid deflection - known as the kinetic impactor technique - would be a viable way to protect our planet if an asteroid on a collision course with Earth were discovered in the future," a Nasa spokesperson…

  • AI system that keeps ships from hitting whales launches off California

    Whale Safe, a technology-based mapping and analysis system to help prevent whale-ship collisions, is scheduled to launch off to the San Francisco Bay Area Region, after finding success in southern California.  The announcement comes on the heels of the news of the death of Fran, the most photographed whale in California, caused by a ship strike. Whale Safe has been developed by the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, in collaboration with the Marine Mammal Center, to help detect endangered whale presence and track ship speeds to provide data to the shipping industry, public and government to reduce preventable whale deaths.  "Whale Safe is on a mission to help save the incredible mammals who have ruled the oceans for tens of millions of years,” said Marc Benioff, chair and co-CEO of Salesforce…

  • View from India: Mixed tech makes IR journey memorable

    With around 24 million passengers commuting a day, Indian Railways (IR) is described as the lifeline of the nation. With 5G, the number of trains that run on the existing tracks can increase and efficiency levels are expected to improve. Trains may communicate with each other through the 5G network; smart ticketing and smart coaches are other hallmarks. The next-gen designs in locomotives are being implemented through multiple software and a fusion of technologies such as AI-ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning) and AR-VR (augmented reality and virtual reality). “We have partnered with Indian Railways for making 14,000 coaches, 3,500 metro coaches and over 3,000 IR locomotives. In 2018, we did locomotive broad gauge, which was a Make in India product as it was manufactured in…

  • Biology continues to inspire AI

    There is no guarantee that artificial intelligence needs to match what happens in biology or even be biologically inspired. The early days of AI research focused far more heavily on building machines that could reason more formally about the world around them compared to the approaches in vogue today; these consist of feeding enormous quantities of data in the hope that a training algorithm will help a similarly large network of simple arithmetic blocks figure out some complex, common pattern intuitively. “My big question is how do we get machines to learn more like animals and humans? We observe astonishing learning abilities from humans who can figure out how the world works partly by observation, partly by interaction. And it’s much more efficient than what we can reproduce on machines…

  • Is the quest for driverless trucking in it for the long haul?

    The global trucking industry is estimated to be worth around £600bn annually, equivalent to $700bn in the US, where truck driving is the number one occupation in no fewer than 29 states. In addition, the sector has emerged as the key battleground in the development of automated driving. Engineers’ initial efforts focused on the quest to build commercially viable driverless automobiles, but in the last year there has been a move toward the commercial vehicle sector. This shift can be seen in several key partnerships that have been signed between tech startups and the world’s largest truck manufacturers. Waymo, often seen as the leader in driverless technology, has partnered with Daimler, the world’s largest truck manufacturer. Meanwhile, TuSimple is teaming up with Traton, a subsidiary of…

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