Tech for Good

Climate-friendly AC Does everyone know the ugly, noisy air conditioners (AC) that also contribute to climate change? Gradient, a San Francisco-based startup, offers a heat pump alternative that can help tackle the challenges of traditional ACs. It sits below the window, so light still comes in. It’s large, but not an ugly box. The noisy components are outside, so it’s quieter than traditional units. You can adjust your air from across the world via the app. When the device works both for heating and cooling, it can shrink the carbon footprint of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) by 75%. More efficient ACs already exist, but they require professional installation and have a higher cost. So people tend to buy the lowest efficiency products. Gradient device works like a more expensive heat pump, but it’s easy to install, and the buyer can do it themselves. The company has not revealed the price yet but says it will compete with the lowest-cost ACs. 💡 Article on Fastcompany #startups #HVAC

Retro Future This tech is not going to be mass-market. However, it is so beautiful that I could not resist. Hyundai has built the Heritage Series Grandeur, a modernized, all-electric version of its 1980s saloon car. The EV design keeps the original boxy shape while adding futuristic features like pixel-style LED headlights and taillights. The carmaker has integrated the latest tech alongside retro-cool hardware. They replaced dials and buttons on the dashboard with an ultra-wide, touch-enabled display but maintained the ’80s vibe with a single-spoke steering wheel and jet airplane-style gear selector. Grandeur sound system boasts 18 speakers and delivers rich sound with magnificent clarity and deep bass. The brand claims the dashboard and center console are shaped based on concert hall architecture acoustics. The retro bronze-colored lighting that fills the saloon is usual in vintage audio with vacuum tubes. The "Infinity" mirrors reflect the light and give the cabin a broader sense of space. #EV

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❗️Today we have the first #promo post on the channel. I was not going to advertise any other Telegram channels here for a couple of reasons. First, I do not want you to read any other channels except for TFG (just joking :). Second, I believe, and you have also probably noticed that - there are not so many quality channels out there. However, the channel I am recommending today is definitely worth your attention. Idea Factory is a serious project dedicated to building a startup community. In addition to the excellent opportunity to learn about the best startups, their history, founders, and challenges they faced, Idea Factory has another cool feature. The team collects startup ideas from the community, analyses them, and rewards the best concepts with cash prizes. Their promo post is below 👇. If you are interested in learning to build a business, please check out and join the Idea Factory.

The future of transportation Swedish freight technology company Einride has launched its operations in the United States. Einride provides transport solutions like autonomous "pods," electric trucks, and the "Saga" operating system. The fully electric autonomous pods do not have a front cab, and thus, a human safety operator. The tech combines autonomous with remote driver ability. A human driver monitors the pod at a distance, ready to take over the wheel when required. Without the cabin, there is more space left for the drivetrain and freight. Powered by a 200 kWh battery, the pod truck can cover approximately 125 miles or 200 km on a single charge. Over that distance, it has space for 15 standard pallets, equal to 160 sq ft or 15 m2. Its maximum weight will be around 20 tons. The price is roughly $150,000 per unit. What is even more interesting is the Saga platform. It is not only the IoT system that runs through Einride's autonomous electric trucks and pods. That is a full-scale solution for optimizing routes and running a large fleet of freight transport. We have solid reasons to believe Einride is not merely boosting its progress. The company has already partnered with such giants as Lidl, a multinational grocery behemoth, GE Appliances (GEA), Bridgestone, and Oatly. 🎬 2-minute video with the pods 💡 Article on Techcrunch 🌐 Einride website #AI #robotics #startups

A lasting laptop Today we have tech that Time magazine has named as one of the best inventions of 2021. Meet Framework, the San Francisco startup, and their lasting laptop that you can repair yourself. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a leader in the “right to repair” movement that’s pushing back against manufacturers that make their products unfixable by users, estimates Americans could save $40 billion annually by repairing rather than replacing electronics. There’s a green impact, too, in sending fewer machines and their toxic chemicals to landfills. You can easily customize, upgrade, and repair the Framework laptop. You can choose exactly the ports you want and which side of the notebook you want them on. You can swap the entire motherboard to boost performance as the updated CPU versions are launching. High-use parts like the battery, screen, and keyboard are easy to replace. QR codes on each item take you directly to guides and the listing in the company web store. Besides, Framework has opened the ecosystem for the users to produce the compatible parts themselves. The company has not sacrificed the tech specs in favor of reparability. The laptop meets or beats the best of what’s in the category. Prices range from $999 for the pre-built base version to $1999 for the professional version. You can also choose a DIY option with a required set of spare parts and assemble it at home. 🎬 6-minute video review with a 10 out of 10 rating from iFixit 🌐 Framework website 💡 Article on Time #electronics #startups

☀️ It is Sunday's #weeksummary: 1️⃣ From light shows to space flights - Rammaxx, which makes RADs (Rapid Ascent Drones), has proposed using them to launch space rockets 2️⃣ Solar trains for India - an ambitious project of the Indian Railways to power 1 of 4 trains with solar power 3️⃣ The right to be understood - an Android app aimed at providing more communication options for people with speech impairments 4️⃣ Squirrels vs. Engineers 2 - a sequel about squirrel ninjas going through all kinds of tests that a former NASA engineer prepared for them See you all next week. Be safe. Your Tech for Good

Squirrels vs. Engineers 2 Looking at the engagement of the "Squirrels vs. Engineers" post last week, I decided to continue the #fun series. Here is a sequel about squirrel ninjas going through all kinds of tests that a former NASA engineer prepared for them. And all for what? For the sake of a mountain of nuts, of course. This time, Marc Rober was inspired by films and arranged such a tricky obstacle course that, I think, the fluffy tails may start a new round of their evolution with it. https://youtu.be/DTvS9lvRxZ8 PS: By the way, Mark has a course for those wishing to become a creative engineer, which will start on November 22th and will take a month. The last day of signing up for it is tomorrow, November 11th. The training program is quite intensive: 5-10 hours a week. The course is suitable for both children and adults. That is a great chance to understand how an engineer who has worked on the Curiosity rover for seven years thinks. Have a good and safe weekend. PPS: This post is not a promo one.

The right to be understood Google is looking for the help of testers for its Project Relate. That is an Android app aimed at providing more communication options for people with speech impairments. Project Relate is, at its core, a better voice transcription tool. We all know there are many speech recognition engines out there. These engines need lots of recorded speech to learn how to interpret it correctly. However, that data is biased in favor of general speech patterns. Data sets do not represent so well people with accents. And people with speech impairments like those resulting from a stroke or injury are even less commonly included. That makes it practically impossible for them to use traditional voice-powered devices. To help these people be understood, Google has built a database of over a million speech samples by volunteers. They used it to train up the speech-recognition AI and created the Project Relate app. The app has three functions. "Listen" turns the speech directly into the text to be pasted elsewhere or read by others. "Repeat" listens first, then repeats in a clearer computerized voice. "Assistant" forwards their transcribed speech directly to Google Assistant for usual tasks like playing music or asking about the weather. The project leaders are Dimitri Kanevsky, a research scientist, and Aubrie Lee on the marketing team. They both have impaired speech, so it is hard to imagine better candidates for making such project a reality. With current testing, Google wants to understand how the application will work for people in their daily lives, how accurate it is, and what to improve before expanding to a broader audience. 🎬 2.5-minute Project Relate video 💡 Article on Techcrunch 🙌 Sign up as a potential volunteer to make the app better #AI

Solar trains for India India has set an ambitious goal. This summer, Indian Railways (IR) announced their plan to become net-zero carbon by 2030. Nobody else in the world has the same scale and pace attempting to deliver a zero-carbon railway. So, how could India achieve that? Switching trains from diesel to electricity will not be enough. Actually, doing that in India will initially increase pollutions. The country heavily relies on coal to generate electricity. The only way for the country to electrify and decarbonize at the same time is to expand their clean energy capacity. That’s exactly what they intend to do, with plans to install 20GW of solar power on unused railway company land. Making this plan a reality will allow running 1 in 4 trains in India on solar power. The strategy has many other benefits. It would improve air quality. A zero-carbon railway network will cut 5% of India’s total emissions. And of course, it will save a lot of money on fuel: the estimated $2.3 bln a year. Indian Railways have partnered with Riding Sunbeams, a world-leading innovator focused on decarbonizing rail traction networks from Britain. 💡 Article on The Earthbound Report 🧐 More details you can find in the "Riding Sunbeams in India" report. #solar

From light shows to space flights Today we have my favorite drones on the menu. Rammaxx, which makes RADs (Rapid Ascent Drones), has proposed using them to launch space rockets. RADs are like electric rockets that can climb very quickly. Rammaxx is now using them for light shows. The devices take off, light up, engage in the sky picture creation, then return to the pad for wireless recharging. With full illumination, the flight time is only 2 minutes. However, the recharging is quick - 3 minutes. By replacing each other, drones can demonstrate a light image for a long time. The company offers an application in which you can set the trajectory of their flight and the parameters of the light show. Up to five drones can simultaneously be in the sky and work together in a swarm mode. Rammaxx devices are small - weighing only 90 grams, can withstand wind blowing at a speed of 32 km/h. The LED lights installed on the drones are very bright - they give out 3000 lumens. It is not very clear how much the service offered by Rammexx is in demand. Probably not so much, as the team is looking for other uses for their designs. Rammexx proposed the concept of using their RADs (only larger, of course) to launch rockets into space. The idea is to lift them into the sky (up to 5 km above the ground) at a speed of 500 km/h using one drone or a group of five RADs so that the engines start from this height. That is, drones can almost completely replace the first stage burning vast fuel amounts. The tech allows creating and launching ASR (Air to Space Rocket) type rockets. They are cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and safer than the GSR (Ground to Space Rocket). After raising the rocket to the desired height, the drones return to base, charge, and after a while are ready for a new launch. The guys have experimented with their miniature drones, having installed mock-ups of proportional-sized rockets on them. They report the tests to have gone very well. 🎬 A 2-minute video is here 🧾 Drone tech parameters are here #drones #space

☀️ Here's the usual weekend's post summary: 1️⃣ Solid-state batteries - two news about solid-state batteries coming closer to mass production. That could mean improving the EV industry's fire safety 2️⃣ Unknown Earth - a drone mapping our oceans and using the technology of generating clean energy from natural temperature changes 3️⃣ Toyota's first EV - Toyota revealing its first all-electric car, the bZ4X SUV 4️⃣ Airspeeder League - the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) racing league aiming to transform the aerial transport 5️⃣ Squirrels vs. Engineers - Friday's fun reality show where squirrels challenge the engineer in the battle for walnuts 6️⃣ Guys, I need your attention - the explanation of the channel's advertising policy and a poll to understand your attitude to it I appreciate all the feedback and support from you. Be safe and see you around next week. Your Tech for Good #weeksummary

☀️ Here's the usual weekend post summary: 1️⃣ Solid-state batteries - two news about solid-state batteries coming closer to mass production. That could mean improving the EV industry's fire safety 2️⃣ Unknown Earth - a drone mapping our oceans and using the technology of generating clean energy from natural temperature changes 3️⃣ Toyota's first EV - Toyota revealing its first all-electric car, the bZ4X SUV 4️⃣ Airspeeder League - the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) racing league aiming to transform the aerial transport 5️⃣ Squirrels vs. Engineers - Friday's fun reality show where squirrels challenge the engineer in the battle for walnuts 6️⃣ Guys, I need your attention - the explanation of the channel's advertising policy and a poll to understand your attitude to it I appreciate all the feedback and support from you. Be safe and see you around next week. Your Tech for Good #weeksummary

Guys, I need your attention. As the owner and creator of the Tech for Good channel, I do everything myself. I research and create content, answer questions and comments, sometimes requiring even more research than the post itself. As for the channel management, I find other channels for advertising TFG; I communicate with the channel admins, work out ad creatives, test them and place them; I run analytics and spend money to grow this wonderful community. I hope you are finding something new and worthwhile for yourself on the channel. And I assure you the content will always be free for the community members. At the same time, I was pretty often contacted about the paid promotion here on the channel. I refused everyone. However, at this point, I am thinking: why not make awesome ads on this channel that would pay for my work here? I am clearly stating the conditions: promo posts will be published no more than two-three times a week. There will always be a #promo hashtag, so you know they were paid. No nonsense like scams, "quick money," "get slim eating burgers all night long," or "crypto-anarchist" channels. It could be various events, forums, courses, announcements of a scientific and tech orientation - something that could be interesting and useful to you. I will analyze each advertiser using the same research skills I am using for creating TFG content. At the same time, I do not want to do something that our community will not like. So, in the next post, there is a poll where you can express your opinion about such promotion. I am sure that together we will find a format that is convenient for everyone.

Squirrels vs. Engineers Some of our subscribers accuse me of being boring with my posts on the channel. I agree, but sometimes, the tech can be fun. And here is a good example. This video of the rather popular YouTuber Mark Rober has received more than 2 million likes, and there is a reason. During the lockdown, Mark decided to have fun watching the birds. However, the squirrels have spoiled the fun by galloping to the feeder and eating all the birds' food. An aspiring bird-watcher bought a squirrel-proof feeder, which they quickly learned to open. The one they couldn't open, they just threw to the ground. All the contents turned into an all-inclusive buffet and were instantly annihilated. Mark decided that squirrels were an equally entertaining subject for a bored engineer and created a whole obstacle course for them in the spirit of the Fort Boyard show. There are automatic cameras, scales, a hanging ladder, a labyrinth, and even a holographic image of a nut. Telling the truth (spoiler), only one show participant was tempted by the fake bait, which sent him on an epic flight to the protective net. Mark found out that four squirrels were visiting his yard, learned to recognize them, and gave them names. While it took these little pussies a few days to master the obstacle course and remember how to navigate it, their flying skills and quick wits are as impressive as Mark's ingenuity. All in all, enjoy! And have a good weekend. #fun

Airspeeder League Airspeeder is a newly formed electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) racing league headquartered in London. It has just completed its first competitive drag race in Southern Australia. The drag race put two teams from Alauda Aeronautics, an electric aviation company based in Adelaide, Australia, head-to-head. Alauda designs, engineers, and builds the racing aircraft called "Speeders" that participate in all Airspeeder racing events. The Speeders are operated remotely by pilots who sit in ground-based cockpits and use VR first-person view (FPV) haptic suits to control the eVTOL aircraft. The new racing league, called the Airspeeder EXA series, will also use remote piloting. However, it will consist of four teams competing in three international events across a complete grid of electric racing. We will know the teams in January. They will consist of experts in motorsport, aviation, gaming, and technology. The philosophy behind the new competition is that nothing accelerates technical progress like sporting competition. Airspeeder believes that the next generation sport plays the same role the pioneers of Formula One did nearly a century ago in driving technical development and building public acceptance for a new mobility revolution. The eVTOL sector aims to transform urban aerial transport, global logistics, and even remote medical transport with a clean-air, zero-emissions aerial transport solution. 🎬 1-minute video of the drag race 💡 Article on Electrek 🌐 Airspeeder website #EV #sports

Toyota's first EV Toyota has just revealed its first all-electric car: the bZ4X SUV. "bZ" stands for "beyond zero" - Toyota's latest electrification strategy and a sub-brand for its upcoming EVs. The car features sharp lines and an aggressive design. As for the tech specs, Toyota makes for a decent entry to a mid-level SUV in the EV industry. Battery pack enables a range of 500 km (310 miles) for the front-wheel-drive version and 460 km (286 miles) for the all-wheel-drive version. The time to charge to 80% capacity is 30 minutes. The bZ4X also supports bidirectional charging for vehicle-to-home capability. As an option, you can install a solar roof, which Toyota says "generates electricity equivalent to 1,800 km of driving distance per year." The front-wheel-drive version has a single 150 kW motor; the all-wheel-drive version boasts an 80 kW motor on each axle. One of the options is a "wing-shaped" steering wheel, which according to the automaker, improves visibility. It looks similar to the "Yoke" steering wheel of Tesla's Model S Plaid. However, Toyota managed to fix the major problem with Tesla's wheel by introducing a "one motion grip." That means the driver does not need to change grips when steering, greatly reducing the burden on the driver for U-turn, garage parking, and winding roads. Toyota will release the pricing and availability details in the coming months. The electric SUV is expected to land first in Japan in mid-2022. 🎬 2-minute promo video 📷 Please visit the link for the EV's photos. 💡 Article on Electrek #EV

Unknown Earth We know the surface of Mars better than our planet's underwater. We have explored and mapped only 20% of the seas and oceans' depths. This situation may change very soon. The BedRock robot is an underwater drone for mapping the ocean floor. Why do we need it? To make navigation safer, create more accurate climate models, lay telecommunication cables, build offshore wind farms and protect the inhabitants of the deep water. The device developer is the Seatrec startup, which is only five years old. It was founded by oceanographer and former NASA employee Yi Cha. During his work at the space agency, he mastered the technology of generating energy from natural temperature changes. That tech made it possible to create a mapping drone, not depending on a power source. To explore the depths of the sea, most often we use submarine robots, but as a rule, they run on batteries, so they cannot sail far from the boat, where they return to recharge. Seatrec is a game-changer. The existing submarine devices can use their energy recovery module as well. The BedRock works simple - it goes down a kilometer under the water and uses sonar to map the bottom, then rises to the surface and sends the collected data via satellite. The device travels in cold or warm streams. The substance inside the energy module freezes and melts, creating pressure, producing thermal energy that feeds the robot. The device itself costs $ 20,000; the power module will cost another $25,000. So far, the startup produces no more than a hundred drones per year. Researchers and scientific organizations are the core startup's clients. 🎬 2-minute video of the SEATREC device 💡 Article on CNN #startups #robotics #thermal

Solid-state batteries When I write about EVs, I often get comments about how dangerous they are, as the batteries inside can ignite and cause a really big fire. Today I want to present you one of the techs that can potentially improve the EV industry's fire safety. I am talking about solid-state batteries. What does solid-state mean? It refers to the stuff between the anode and the cathode of a battery cell. That is where the electrical charge is stored. Virtually all of it contains volatile solvents that make it into a semi-liquid paste similar in appearance and texture to fig jam. That paste contains lithium, which under some circumstances can form sharp spikes of metal called dendrites. Those spikes can cause a short circuit inside a cell which then leads to overheating. If the cell gets hot enough, the paste ignites. That makes the nearby cells overheat and ignite. We know what happens next because all of us have seen those videos with EVs burning like hell. Solid-state technology eliminates that semi-liquid paste and replaces it with a solid substance. The benefit is no dendrites and no fires. Scientists also expect improvements in energy density and battery life from solid-state technology. Last week has brought us two news meaning that solid-state batteries could soon come closer to mass production. Please follow this link to read the details. #EV #basics