Month: April 2025

Ein chinesischer Hersteller von Maschinen für die Halbleiterfertigung macht Schlagzeilen, Konkurrenz für ASML soll er sein. Ein Blick hinter die Schlagzeilen. Eine Analyse von Johannes Hiltscher (Halbleiterfertigung, Huawei)

Wie KI sinnvoll in die Informationssicherheit integriert werden kann und welche Herausforderungen Sprachmodelle und maschinelles Lernen mit sich bringen, wird in diesem praxisnahen Workshop vermittelt. (Golem Karrierewelt, KI)

In one of the strangest launches we’ve seen in a while, Slate Auto, the reportedly Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup, unveiled its first EV, the Slate Truck. Notably, the vehicle is capable of a claimed 150 miles (241 km) of range at a starting price of less than $20,000, assuming federal clean vehicle tax credits continue to exist.

Slate caused a lot of social media froth when it parked a pair of styling concepts (not functional vehicles) in Venice, California, advertising bizarre fake businesses. Today, the company unveiled the vehicle to the press at an event near the Long Beach Airport.

You wanted a bare-bones EV? Here it is.

The Blank Slate, as the company calls it, is "all about accessible personalization" and includes a "flat-pack accessory SUV Kit" that turns the truck from a pickup into a five-seat SUV and another that turns it into an "open air" truck. The aim, according to a spokesperson for Slate Auto, is to make the new vehicle repairable and customizable while adhering to safety and crash standards.

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In an era of reusable rockets and near-daily access to space, NASA is still paying more than it did 30 years ago to launch missions into orbit, according to a study soon to be published in the scientific journal Acta Astronautica.

Launch is becoming more routine. Every few days, SpaceX is sending another batch of Starlink Internet satellites to orbit, and other kinds of missions fill up the rest of SpaceX's launch schedule. SpaceX, alone, has ample capacity to launch the handful of science missions NASA puts into space each year. If supply outpaces demand, shouldn't prices go down?

It's not so simple. NASA is one of many customers jockeying for a slot on SpaceX's launch manifest. The US military is launching more missions than ever before, and SpaceX is about to become the Pentagon's top launch provider. SpaceX already launches more missions for NASA than any other rocket company.

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The buried roots and stumps of an ancient forest in southern China are the charred remains of an ancient war and the burning of a capital city, according to a recent study from researchers who carbon-dated the stumps and measured charcoal and pollen in the layers of peat surrounding them.

It may not be obvious today, but there’s an ancient forest hidden beneath the farmland of southern China’s Pearl River Delta. Spread across 2,000 square kilometers are thick layers of waterlogged peat, now covered by agriculture. It’s all that is left of what used to be a thriving wetland ecosystem, home to forests of Chinese swamp cypress along with elephants, tigers, crocodiles, and tropical birds. But the peat hides the buried, preserved stumps and roots of cypress trees; some of the largest stumps are almost 2 meters wide, and many have burn marks on their tops.

“These peat layers are locally known as ‘buried ancient forest,’ because many buried trees appear fresh and most stumps are found still standing,” writes Ning Wang of the Chinese Academy of Scientists, who along with colleagues, authored the recent paper. It turns out that the eerie buried forest is the last echo of the Han army’s invasion during a war about 2,100 years ago.

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Earlier this year the folks at Liberux announced plans to build a Linux smartphone that combines the kind of features you’d expect from a modern phone with the hardware you’d expect from a pretty good single-board computer. The Liberux NEXX is expected to have a RK3588s Processor, a 6.34 inch, 2400 x 1080 pixel OLED […]

The post Lilbits: Snapdragon X Chromebooks, Pixel 7a battery swelling, and a Liberux NEXX Linux phone progress update appeared first on Liliputing.

Most modern laptops have battery life measured in hours. Smartphones may run for a day or two, and tablets can sometimes go a bit longer. But the Evertop is a portable computer with an E Ink display and integrated keyboard that promises “hundreds or even thousands of hours” of battery life from a single charge. […]

The post Evertop is a portable retro PC with an E Ink display and hundreds of hours of battery life appeared first on Liliputing.

Comcast executives apparently realized something that customers have known and complained about for years: The Internet provider's prices aren't transparent enough and rise too frequently.

This might not have mattered much to cable executives as long as the total number of subscribers met their targets. But after reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't "winning in the marketplace" during an earnings call today. The Q1 2025 customer loss was over three times larger than the net loss in Q1 2024.

While customers often have few viable options for broadband and the availability of alternatives varies widely by location, Comcast faces competition from fiber and fixed wireless ISPs.

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Donald Trump's executive order requiring artificial intelligence training in education as a national priority has been met with enthusiasm and confusion.

On the one hand, his plans to promote early AI training in K–12 schools appear to be "critical," as Trump says, to "maintain America’s global dominance in this technological revolution for future generations." To that end, the order established an AI Presidential Challenge to highlight significant student and educator achievements and encourage innovative thinking.

"It is the policy of the United States to promote AI literacy and proficiency among Americans by promoting the appropriate integration of AI into education, providing comprehensive AI training for educators, and fostering early exposure to AI concepts and technology to develop an AI-ready workforce and the next generation of American AI innovators," Trump's order said.

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Google's antitrust remedy trial started this week, and the Department of Justice has produced several witnesses to testify about how Google's stranglehold on search has slowed their innovation. On day three, Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko told the court that Google blocked Perplexity from being bundled with Motorola phones, which is precisely the kind of anticompetitive behavior that got it in hot water. It would appear Google is backing away, though, because Perplexity is included with Moto's newly announced flip phones.

During questioning on Wednesday, Shevelenko likened Google's mobile integration contracts to a "gun to your head." He claimed that both Motorola and Perplexity, which positions itself as an AI search engine, were interested in a partnership last year, but the phone maker was unable to get out of its Google distribution contract, which prevented it from using a non-Google assistant platform.

Google has long required Android device makers to use Assistant on their devices, but Google's launch of Gemini added a sense of urgency. Google is pushing Gemini into every corner of its ecosystem with the aim of catching up to ChatGPT, and it might be working. Motorola's 2024 phones were some of the first to prominently feature Gemini as the default assistant instead of Google Assistant. Apparently, that left no room for Perplexity as OEMs are unwilling to risk their Google revenue-sharing agreements.

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