Gnawing, burrowing, infecting: The damages caused to agriculture by insect pests like the Japanese beetle (pictured above) exceed $100 billion every year, according to the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. And along with plant diseases, which the exoskeleton buggers can also transmit, arthropods account for the annual 40% loss of agricultural production worldwide. Enter […]
The entry-level 2022 Polestar 2 will have an EPA-estimated range of 270 miles
As part of its recently announced 2022 lineup, Volvo subsidiary Polestar introduced a new single-motor variant of its Polestar 2 electric sedan. If you were waiting on an EPA estimate before reserving one, wait no more. You can expect to get about 270 miles of range on a single charge from the car’s 75 kWh battery, Polestar announced on Wednesday.
A step forward for CO2 capture
The air we breathe has a carbon problem. But in Hellisheidi, Iceland, a geothermally active plateau just outside of Reykjavik, a new technology is taking a small but mighty step toward fixing it. A plant called Orca, built by Climeworks, is the first-ever facility where CO2 is being filtered directly from the air and stored […]
Will DAOs revolutionize media or just create playgrounds for the rich?
Over the past few weeks a virtual flash mob called the ConstitutionDAO, with thousands of cryptocurrency fans, crowdfunded almost $45 million to buy a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Although they lost the auction, they had already spun up a line of sweatshirts, emblazoned with emojis, distributed by the newsletter company MorningBrew. The plan? Purchase […]
Ford and Rivian cancel plan to jointly develop an EV
Ford and Rivian have abandoned a plan they had to jointly develop an EV together. In an interview with Automotive News, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the automaker will go it alone as it aims to produce 600,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2023. When the company invested $500 million in Rivian in 2019, the two said they […]
Disney+ added fewer subscribers than expected this quarter
The fall hasn’t been kind to Disney’s streaming ambitions. Disney+ added just 2.1 million subscribers in its fourth quarter, giving it a total of 118.1 million customers. That’s in line with the company’s already cautious estimate (in the “low single-digit millions”) and 60 percent more total customers than a year earlier, but well below what some analysts expected. CNBC noted that StreetAccount predicted 9.4 million new users this quarter.
‘Project Cambria’ is a high-end VR headset designed for Facebook’s metaverse
Facebook is working on a new high-end VR headset codenamed Project Cambria. The company teased the device during its recent Connect conference on Thursday. It plans to release the headset sometime next year. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it will be a separate “high-end” product from the company’s $299 Quest 2 headset. It will also cost more than that device.
Mercedes cars will have optional Dolby Atmos audio starting in 2022
You won’t have to buy a Lucid Air if you want a car with more immersive Dolby Atmos. Mercedes will equip its cars with Atmos audio on all models that use both its latest MBUX interface (introduced with the latest S-Class) and an optional Burmester 3D or 4D sound system. Whether or not you’ll driving, you’ll hear compatible music in a vertically enhanced sound field — it might not sound like a “live concert” as Mercedes claims, but it should be a step up from the usual stereo playback.
The grand unified theory of aesthetic vlogging
While we all occasionally note the way information and images are presented, most people tend to prioritize function over aesthetic value. But not aesthetic vloggers. While we all occasionally note the way information and images are presented, most people tend to prioritize function over aesthetic value. But not aesthetic vloggers.
Daily Crunch: Apple, Google bow to Russian pressure
Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Friday, September 17th! What a week, ya’ll. It is now just days before Disrupt, which means the TechCrunch hive is buzzing. I’ll leave it by noting that Reid Hoffman is coming, which is going to be a treat.