How to start a new year better than with a tech watch? 😁

OK, I agree, I’m going to be rather parochial on that one. Well, first of all, I want to wish you a happy new year from the encore Cornerstone team. Hoping to see you all stay healthy on this new year.

In this edition, we’ll roll up over the last news, fresh from end-of-December last year: Samsung + IBM new chip design, Huawei going on ⚡️🚗 electric car market, some open source alternative to Google Product, Firefox going to have ads in the search bar 🤑, Toyota making car owners pay to use key fob (yep 👀), screen you can lick 👅, experiment on beaming. Energy. On earth💥 (like SimCity didn’t tell us that’s a bad, bad, bad idea), and more.

💡 Innovation

Giant Kite Will Pull a Ship Across the Ocean This Month

In an effort to reduce fuel consumption, Airseas developed a Seawing that measures 1000 sq m and flew 300 m above the boat to help tow the ship, and reduce up to 20% of the amount of fuel needed.

IBM and Samsung say their new chip design could lead to week-long battery life on phones

IBM and Samsung have announced their latest advance in semiconductor design: a new way to stack transistors vertically on a chip (instead of lying flat on the surface of the semiconductor).

Huawei joins China’s electric car race in competition with Tesla

The first car with Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system will be the Aito M5, a car that runs on both electricity and fuel, Richard Yu, executive director and CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, said Thursday at the company’s winter product launch event.

🔓 OpenSource

Tractor - LifeTrac 6 - Open Source Ecology

Because open source shouldn’t be only about software but also hardware and public goods, here’s an example of an open source tractor. Yes. You read it right.

Navigate the Web faster with Firefox Suggest

In an effort to stay sustainable financially, Mozilla will test introducing ads in your URL & search bar from their own ad marketplace for users in the U.S.A.

Mapus, open-source Google MyMap

It’s basically Google MyMaps but open-source and for your own usage ❤

🌱 Sustainability & Society

Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

Automakers keep trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet subscription income. Now, it’s Toyota’s turn. Key fob remote start has nothing to do with an app, nor does the car or the fob communicate with any servers managed by Toyota.

India’s Proposed Crypto Bill Banning Payments Could Mean Jail for Violations

Proposed legislation that would ban the use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment in India also seeks to make those who infringe the law subject to arrest without a warrant and being held without bail, according to a source and a summary of the Bill seen by Reuters.

DoorDash tests a full-time employment option in New York as it launches “ultra-fast” delivery

DoorDash announced today that it’s introducing “ultra-fast” deliveries in 10-15 minutes beginning with a single DashMart location in New York City. To start, ultra-fast deliveries will be offered from a new location in Chelsea, with more locations and partners coming over the next few months in New York and elsewhere. The company is additionally beginning to test a new model of employment which relies on full-time employees, not gig workers, to handle these new deliveries.

😁 Fun & WTF

Air Force lab demonstrates a key element for beaming solar power from space

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) and Northrop Grumman’s Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research (SSPIDR) Project announced that it is one step closer to collecting solar power in space and beaming it to Earth using radio frequency (RF).

Take a look at this delicious lickable screen to see the future we knew was coming

If you’ve ever thought, “This 4K HDR OLED TV is great, but I sure wish it tasted better when I licked it,” we may be getting closer to a world where that’s the case—a professor has created a device he calls “Taste the TV,”

Meta Has Created a New Tool to Animate Your Child’s Drawings Using AI

For once, Meta (formerly Facebook) will not incur the wrath of the regulator with a cute project that uses AI to animate your kid drawing.

📊 Trends

Snap launches Story Studio, a standalone video editing app for mobile

Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man. Man destroys God. Man creates Dinosaurs. Yeah, but John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.

Facebook’s “Professional Mode” lets creators monetize their own profile page

Facebook has launched a new professional mode for profiles that will let eligible creators earn money without the need to create a separate Page. The feature is part of Facebook’s parent Meta’s $1 billion investment in creators that includes bonuses for Instagram influencers and an expansion to the Stars program announced yesterday by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

France asks search engines and app stores to remove Wish

France asks search engines and app stores to remove all traces of Wish, the popular e-commerce China-based platform because of counterfeit goods. Ninety-five percent of toys aren’t CE approved (but China Export approved…) and present severe risk for health or fire hazard; as well as 95% of electronics and 62% of jewelry.

That’s all folks

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