Category: Business

Dutch company launches flying car at Geneva show

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Robert Dingemanse has heard the comparisons many, many times. The Jetsons, Harry Potter, James Bond.

As CEO of a Dutch company developing a flying car, he’s used to curious people whose only frame of reference for his new vehicle comes from cartoons or movies.

But as of this week, Dingemanse’s dream of letting commuters (albeit well-heeled ones) choose whether to drive or fly to work comes a significant step closer. He is unveiling the first production model of the PAL-V Liberty, a three-wheeled, two-seat car and gyroplane rolled into one, at the Geneva motor show.

“Flying cars have been in movies many, many times and they will be available next year,” Dingemanse told The Associated Press at an airport near the southern Dutch city of Breda as he stood next to a sleek, black prototype of the PAL-V Liberty.

The PAL-V Liberty is one of several flying cars in development around the world such as The Transition, a folding wing two-seater being developed by U.S.-based Terrafugia, and an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet being developed by German startup Lilium.

Carlo van de Weijer, director of Eindhoven’s Technical University’s Smart Mobility program, doesn’t see flying cars as much more than a niche market.

“It’s not really going to be a substantial part of the total mobility industry,” he said. “It’s a nice gadget to combine it with a car so … it might be a successful company in selling quite a few,” he said of the PAL-V.

In the air, the PAL-V is pushed forward by a rear mounted propeller driven by two engines. It is stabilized by a larger roof-mounted rotor that bolsters safety.

“The rotor is not powered,” Dingemanse said, “so it’s actually a parachute which is always available.”

Its makers say the PAL-V will drive at up to 170 kilometers per hour (105 mph), fly up to 180 kmh (110 mph) and can fly about 500 kilometers (310 miles) on a single tank of regular unleaded gas.

Land it and the rotor and propeller fold away, the tail retracts and the PAL-V is ready to drive. Switching from road to aircraft mode takes about 10 minutes including performing the necessary checks, the company says.

With a price tag expected to be around 500,000 euros ($615,000) for the first production run of 90, the flying cars are not for everybody, but Dingemanse said he has plenty of buyers lined up. They will have to become certified gyroplane pilots to take their PAL-V into the sky and the company is offering training courses, too.

Just don’t expect this flying car to lift off vertically if it gets caught in a traffic jam. The PAL-V needs a short runway or grass airstrip to take off and land.

With the first production model of the car now ready, the company can begin the final stages of certification with road and aviation authorities in Europe and elsewhere.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it is constantly working to integrate new technology into its regulations.

“Urban mobility technology is highly promising and we are vigorously working towards the development of policy and regulations to support it,” the FAA said in a written response to questions from AP.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Luxury automakers are embracing hybrid cars

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ten years ago, you could count on one hand the number of hybrid models available from luxury automakers. Today, there are 24 and more on the way. It turns out there’s a good reason for the popularity of hybrid powertrains in luxury cars, and it’s not just fuel economy. Hybrids are quiet, improve mileage range and can deliver strong acceleration, especially from a stop. Many luxury automakers have seized on those attributes and have made hybrid versions of premium models. But each automaker takes a different approach.

Hybrids essentially marry electric motors to a conventional engine, relieving the engine of some of the propulsion burden and recovering energy when you slow down. This energy is stored in a battery to be used the next time you need to accelerate. It’s not that simple, however, since the hybrid hardware adds weight, takes up space and increases cost. Still, hybrids have steadily become better over the years.

Plug-in hybrids have ports and are a stepping stone to a pure battery-only electric vehicle, providing several miles of largely all-electric driving. When the battery runs low, these power trains revert to traditional hybrid operation, which draws more heavily from the gasoline engine. If you’re diligent about plugging in and going easy on the accelerator, short trips in a plug-in hybrid can use surprisingly little fuel.

Here is a rundown of what you can expect if you’re shopping for a luxury hybrid:

LEXUS

Lexus offers a hybrid version for almost every model it sells, from its small NX SUV to its premier coupes and sedans. The GS 450h midsize sedan, the LC 500h sport coupe and the RX 450h SUV — all hybrid versions of their conventional siblings — use a six-cylinder engine that’s bolstered by battery-fed electric motors. They aren’t plug-ins, so these hybrids do all the hybrid-related thinking for the driver and ask nothing in return. They do their best work around town, boosting low-end acceleration, adding quietness and maximizing fuel economy.

MERCEDES-BENZ

Mercedes-Benz offers plug-in hybrid versions of its GLE SUV and C-Class sedan, both of which offer more power than any of their respective stablemates except for the high-performance AMG-badged vehicles. The GLE 550e plug-in hybrid and the C350e plug-in hybrid are also the most efficient versions of each model, though you have to pay upfront for the privilege. To that end, the automaker is deploying 48-volt “mild hybrid” tech for its latest six-cylinder models. These vehicles won’t be badged as hybrids, but the guts are all there, albeit in a smaller, less expensive form.

PORSCHE

Porsche goes from mild to wild in the six hybrid variants of the Panamera sedan. Topping the list is the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid that delivers a bruising 680 horsepower. It’s one of the quickest cars on the road, yet it can also travel about 15 miles on battery power alone. Meanwhile, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid’s electric hardware adds 95 horsepower to its gasoline V6 and enhances its ability to go off-road — electric motors allow for precise control when you’re crawling over tricky terrain.

BMW

BMW has a strong hybrid presence, too, offering plug-in hybrid versions of three of its sedans — the 3 Series , the 5 Series and the 7 Series — and its largest SUV, the X5 . The German automaker takes an atypical strategy, with the hybrid versions positioned somewhat lower pricewise in their respective model lineups. For instance, the sticker price of the hybrid 530e iPerformance starts at the same price as the least expensive 5 Series you can buy, the 530i, and matches its acceleration from 0 to 60 mph.

VOLVO

Volvo’s approach toward hybridization is to underpin models with the same plug-in hybrid powertrain. The S90 T8 sedan, the XC60 T8 SUV and the XC90 T8 SUV all sport a turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder engine that drives the front wheels only while the electric motor drives the rear wheels. Each one is the most powerful and fuel-efficient — and the most expensive — version in their respective ranges.

CADILLAC

American automakers don’t have as comprehensive a presence in premium luxury hybrids as others. Cadillac’s CT6 Plug-In sedan is the most significant, and it offers a pleasing mix of luxury, power and electric-only driving range. The brand used to offer the ELR, which was essentially a restyled Chevrolet Volt, but buyers balked at the price and Cadillac discontinued it. It serves as a cautionary tale that hybrid-ness alone isn’t enough to secure success in the luxury segment.

EDMUNDS SAYS: Hybrid powertrains make a lot of sense for premium luxury cars thanks to the power, range, and quieter driving experience they can provide.

____

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Jason Kavanagh is a senior road test engineer at Edmunds.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Scenic island-hopping and a lesson in letting go

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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I’m panicked and soaked as smiling locals fish me out of the bay on the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia. “Trip of a lifetime,” I sarcastically thought as we made our way back to land with an upside-down kayak, our cameras and cellphone ruined.

How did I end up drenched, emotionally drained and out a few thousand dollars in electronics in this remote island nation, one might ask? More importantly, here’s why it was totally worth it.

___

MAJURO

My husband and I traveled to Micronesia on United’s Island Hopper route from Honolulu to Guam. First stop, 4 ½ hours from Hawaii: Majuro (MAH-zhu-row), a coral atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

We shopped for groceries for a stay on a nearby private island but ended up mostly with items like pasta and cereal; fresh produce was scarce and overpriced. After a 30-minute boat ride to Eneko Island, we spent a few days completely alone, kayaking and chasing colorful fish through turquoise water. Evenings offered breathtaking sunsets, stargazing and cooking our carby meals.

Highlights of Majuro included the tiny Alele Museum featuring Marshallese folk art, history and stick charts used for nautical navigation. Handicraft stores downtown sell traditional, intricately woven baskets and bags. Hotel Robert Reimers offers a solid restaurant and accommodations starting at $45. Pricier lagoon-front cabins are a worthy splurge.

For a pampered vacation, the private Bikendrik Island offers two charming bungalows stocked with cognac and Grand Marnier, three-course meals and occasional visits from the lagoon pet, Oscar the octopus. Rates start at $570.

___

POHNPEI

A short flight west (with a quick stop in Kwajalein Atoll, a U.S. military base where you cannot deplane) took us to Pohnpei (PAWN-PAY), a lush, mountainous island and one of four states making up the Federated States of Micronesia.

Pohnpei’s capital, Kolonia, has souvenir shops, remnants of a historic Spanish wall and a helpful tourism office. Don’t leave without a colorful floral skirt, an island fashion staple. Arnold’s Restaurant offers tasty American fare and Grace’s Special Bakery on Nantuelek street serves sweet treats.

An hour’s drive took us to Pohnpei’s crown jewel: the ancient city of Nan Madol. Picture 13th century ruins rivaling the splendor and lore of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat or Peru’s Machu Picchu, minus the crowds. As with most of this trip, we were the only tourists.

Kepirohi Waterfall is a gorgeous cascading pyramid near Nan Madol. A hard-to-spot sign on Circle Island road marks a turn-off where you pay a $3 entrance fee.

The waterfront Mangrove Bay Hotel has scenic views and a restaurant serving exclusively sushi and chicken wings. The onsite Pohnpei Surf Club can arrange water excursions and guided Nan Madol tours.

To reach some of the 100-plus man-made islets, you can pay local families a few dollars per person to cross their land. But we opted to navigate Nan Madol’s shallow channels by kayak. After winding through dense mangroves for about 30 minutes, the dark, twisty jungle opened into vast, clear-blue ocean. Massive shadows darted around our wobbling vessel — stingrays from a nearby sanctuary.

At this point, I noticed the kayak inching lower into the sea. But we were by then an hour from the marine institute that runs the small boat rental business. We had no choice but to carry on.

On shore we found walls of stacked basalt columns, an engineering feat still shrouded in mystery. We traipsed through megalithic ruins by foot for a few hours before starting our doomed return to civilization. The hull of our punctured kayak was slowly flooding.

My panic grew exponentially after a number of near tips. My husband paddled gently as I clutched the phone, drone and fancy camera purchased days earlier.

The water was calm and we’re both fine swimmers. But I was upset: This was not the plan.

With the dock in sight, the boat’s sway became unmanageable. In the blink of an eye, we were underwater.

___

CHUUK

If Pohnpei was an exercise in rolling with the punches, Chuuk State (CHOOK) was a master class in relinquishing control.

Another hour on the Island Hopper gets you to this large atoll known for world-class wreck diving. The U.S. sank more than 50 Japanese ships here during WWII and most remain preserved in its shallow lagoon.

None of our stops offered much tourist infrastructure, but Chuuk was the most challenging. The handful of tour companies claimed to be fully booked (if they responded at all). The hotel had lost our reservation. We couldn’t get answers to questions like “can we take this tour?” or “do you have a hotel shuttle?” Infrequent taxis stopped running at 5 p.m.

I quickly realized you have to show up in person and keep asking till you get what you need. When we finally reached the Blue Lagoon Resort dive shop, the previously unavailable wreck trips were miraculously available and, it turned out, well worth our efforts.

Chuuk’s underwater world is simply incredible. We swam through massive schools of tropical fish to find a sunken Momi-class destroyer and coral-encrusted cargo ship. There’s plenty for non-divers to see too, like a downed Mitsubishi Zero plane and a 1937 coastal freighter lying 8 feet down. We spent an afternoon on the private Jeep Island with unbelievable coral reef snorkeling and shark spotting.

The airport-adjacent L5 Hotel offers the newest accommodations. But Blue Lagoon and Truk Stop Hotel are best bets for arranging wreck tours.

As we boarded the plane for our final stop in Guam, sunburnt and still reeling from our adventures, my boat-flipping hysteria was a distant memory.

It was a small price to pay for an unplugged, truly unpredictable journey and a much-needed lesson in letting go.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Get lost in 32 rooms of books at the Book Loft in Columbus

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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If you are longing to lose yourself in a good read and happen to find yourself in Columbus, Ohio, you might consider getting lost in a 32-room bookstore, The Book Loft of German Village.

The independent bookstore, which opened more than 40 years ago, is a maze of literature, selling everything from the latest releases and best-sellers to children’s and bargain books, from manga and horror to history and memoir.

The Book Loft is located south of downtown Columbus in the German Village neighborhood, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood was settled extensively by German immigrants in the first half of the 1800s. It was considered a slum in the mid-20th century but thanks to revitalization efforts is now one of the most sought-after real estate zip codes in Ohio.

The store is located in a small strip of handsome red brick, pre-Civil War buildings that once housed general stores, a saloon and a nickelodeon movie theater. Visitors will see a “Willkommen” sign and a garden path lined with park benches, reminiscent of a European outdoor cafe. Above the entrance in a patio filled with low-priced books hang both U.S. and German flags.

The interior is truly a warren of interconnected rooms. The shop provides a map to guide intrepid readers on their quest to locate literary gems among the tomes. Every inch of the 32 rooms are filled with books on wooden shelves. Narrow hallways, with barely enough room to squeeze past other patrons, lead to more rooms, or to nooks and cul-de-sacs, to stairs, bends and dead-ends.

Open seven days a week, and brimming with 150,000 individual titles and over 500,000 books in stock, The Book Loft also brims with shoppers. At times almost cramped with bookworms, the store is one of the nation’s largest independent bookstores with a unique feel unmatched by big chains or even smaller indie bookstores.

It’s a few blocks from the state capitol building and also near some of the city’s best restaurants, such as Lindey’s and G. Michael’s, not to mention the tourist favorite Schmidt’s Sausage Haus.

Patience and perseverance are required to find the rooms and books you are looking for. And yes, you’d be guaranteed to find your title faster with an online search, but there’s nothing like that feeling you get browsing in a physical bookstore: a love of books among both shoppers and staff, and a feeling of pride in keeping a beloved indie store going.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Hong Kong’s skyline farms harvest more happiness than food

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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High above downtown Hong Kong’s bustling, traffic-clogged streets, a group of office workers was toiling away not on a corporate acquisition or a public share offering but on harvesting a bumper crop of lettuce atop one of the skyscrapers studding the city’s skyline.

It’s rooftop farming taken to the extreme, and more about reaping happiness than providing food.

The volunteers were picking butter lettuce, Indian lettuce and Chinese mustard leaf in rows of low black plastic planters on a decommissioned helipad on the 146-meter (480-foot)-high roof of the 38-story Bank of America tower, the scenery: a vertiginous panorama of glass office towers framed by lush mountain peaks and Victoria Harbor.

“It’s pretty dirty but still I really enjoy it,” said Catherine Ng, one of five volunteers who work for the property company managing the tower.

The farm is run by Rooftop Republic, a three-year-old startup whose founders are tapping growing interest in organic food and taking advantage of unused roof space in the cramped, high-rent Chinese city.

Hong Kong, with its skinny office blocks and apartment towers and busy, affluent residents, might seem an unlikely place for rooftop farming to catch on. The finance and trading hub has rural suburbs, but farming only takes up 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of its land and agriculture accounts for 0.1 percent of its economic output. Rooftop Republic’s founders say the appetite for their services is growing among Hong Kongers who are seeking a more sustainable lifestyle and concerned about where their food comes from.

“We have been getting more and more interest from people who want to grow their own food,” said Michelle Hong, one of the founders. “A lot of it is triggered by concerns about food safety and the realization that a lot of the food they consume might be laden with pesticides. I think people want to have more control and also more trust.”

Hong Kong imports almost all of its food, much of it from mainland China. Public awareness about food safety in the former British colony has risen after countless food contamination scandals on the mainland.

Rooftop Republic has set up on average one farm a month since its founding and now manages 36 covering more than 30,000 square feet (about 2,800 square meters), including one in mainland China, Hong said. It also provides workshops for companies, building owners, schools, and community groups.

The Bank of America farm was a milestone because it was the first in the city’s financial district. The company has since set up two more in the area and is looking at a few more sites, Hong said. Vegetables from the tower are donated to a food bank for uses in lunch boxes distributed to the needy. Some of its other farms are at hotels or restaurants, which use the herbs, eggplants and melons for dishes on their menus.

Plenty of other groups or individuals have started cultivating their own rooftop vegetable gardens, said Matthew Pryor, a Hong Kong University architecture professor who has counted at least 60 and thinks there are a lot more he doesn’t know about.

Pryor’s research found approximately 1,500 rooftop farmers in the city, cultivating a total area of about 1 ½ hectares. He thinks there’s potential for that to easily grow to 50,000 people working on a suitable rooftop area of 600 hectares.

He helped set up a farm on top of a university building where volunteers, mainly staff, grow tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, lettuce, dragonfruit, papaya, beans, peas and squash.

Pryor said he discovered through his research that their main product isn’t edible.

“The rooftop farms here produce virtually nothing” compared to Hong Kong’s overall consumption, Pryor said. “What they do produce, however, is happiness, and this social capital that they generate is enormous.”

The farms can help stressed-out, overworked and socially isolated Hong Kongers be happier and improve their well-being by letting them hang out with their friends and commune with nature.

Those benefits were on display at another Rooftop Republic farm at airline Cathay Pacific’s headquarters near the city’s airport on rural Lantau Island.

Airline staff planted crops that thrive in Hong Kong’s cool, dry winter growing season, like kale, cabbage, radishes and carrots, which they can take home.

“We’re right by the sea, we have great views of the harbor, at the same time have got great views of the airport. We see planes every two minutes,” said volunteer Prian Chan. “So it’s awesome to be here.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New cars are quickly getting self-driving safety features

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Autonomous vehicles get all the headlines, but automakers are gradually adding advanced electronic safety features to human-driven cars as they step toward a world of self-driving vehicles.

Car and tech companies are rolling out laser sensors, artificial intelligence, larger viewing screens that show more of the road, cameras that can read speed limit signs, and systems that slow cars ahead of curves and construction zones.

Many of the new features repurpose cameras and radar that already are in cars for automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection and other safety devices. The companies also are keeping a closer watch on drivers to make sure they’re paying attention.

On Monday, Arizona’s governor suspended Uber’s self-driving vehicle testing privileges after one of its autonomous vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian last week. But auto engineers and industry analysts still say roads will become safer as more vehicles get automated features that either assist or replace human drivers. The government says 94 percent of crashes are caused by human error.

The cutting-edge devices usually come out first in more expensive vehicles, but go to mainstream vehicles as costs fall.

Here are five new safety devices that are showing up in vehicles:

STAY FOCUSED: A company called NVIDIA is using artificial intelligence and cameras to sense where a driver is looking and focus sensors everywhere else. If a pedestrian or another vehicle appears where the driver isn’t looking, the system will intervene, either sounding a warning or by stopping the car from moving, says Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive business for the Santa Clara, California, company. “Before we get to full automation, if the driver is still in control and responsible, we want to know when we should provide alerts and when we should not,” Shapiro says. NVIDIA has a contract with Volkswagen to deploy the system in the next two years. Other automakers are likely to follow.

LOOKING BACKWARD: When a driver activates a turn signal, an 8-inch screen behind the steering wheel on Hyundai’s new Nexo hydrogen fuel cell vehicle shows everything on that side of the car plus what’s directly behind it. The system uses existing cameras to let drivers see without turning their heads. “The information we can offer from a camera may be better than a live look over the shoulder,” says Cason Grover, senior manager of vehicle technology planning for Hyundai. Other cars have similar technology but most don’t have as wide of a view.

SEEING SIGNS: Mercedes’ new S-Class cars have advanced navigation and global mapping, and cameras that read speed limit signs. These enable the car’s computers to warn drivers of the speed limit or keep them from exceeding it. The system also recognizes upcoming construction zones, curves or roundabouts, and can slow the car ahead of when a driver would. Volvo has a similar system that reads speed signs, including those in school zones.

LASER GUIDED: Smaller versions of those spinning 360-degree mechanical laser sensors that sit atop self-driving cars are coming to mainstream vehicles. The lasers, called Lidar for Light Detection and Ranging, can see far-off objects in the dark, in bad weather, and in great detail. Audi plans to introduce a front-facing laser in the grille of the A8 sedan this fall as part of a limited self-driving system that takes control of the vehicle in freeway traffic jams below 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour). Spokesman Mark Dahncke says Audi is still working to consolidate Lidar with radar and cameras as it steps from human control to limited automated driving.

Audi’s system is the first step toward more widespread use of Lidar. Parts supplier Continental is working on a fully electronic version for an unspecified automaker that can see smaller objects such as bicycles and pedestrians in three dimensions, 200 meters (656 feet) ahead. Currently Continental sells a Lidar system that spots only vehicles and can see only 10 meters (33 feet) forward. The longer-range system integrated into the car’s body is the missing link in the march toward autonomous vehicles, says Arnaud Lagandré, a Continental vice president. “You can see through fog, you can see through rain, you can see through the water splash from the car in front of you.”

TRAFFIC LIGHT TIMING: For more than a year, some Audi A4 cars and Q7 SUVs in Las Vegas have been linked to traffic light computers. They get a dashboard countdown telling them when lights will change. This can prevent drivers from running lights and can let them time their travel to avoid stopping. It’s the forerunner to vehicle-to-infrastructure communications that will keep cars moving and could warn drivers that a car is about to run a red light. Audi is testing in several other cities. About 600 city traffic lights in Washington, D.C., were just added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Study reveals bath-time toy’s dirty secret

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Scientists have the dirt on the rubber ducky: Those cute yellow bath-time toys are — as some parents have long suspected — a haven for nasty bugs.

Swiss and American researchers counted the microbes swimming inside the toys and say the murky liquid released when ducks were squeezed contained “potentially pathogenic bacteria” in four out of the five toys studied.

The bacteria found included Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that is “often implicated in hospital-acquired infections,” the authors said in a statement.

The study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, ETH Zurich and the University of Illinois was published Tuesday in the journal Biofilms and Microbiomes. It’s billed as one of the first in-depth scientific examinations of its kind.

They turned up a strikingly high volume — up to 75 million cells per square centimeter (0.15 square inch) — and variety of bacteria and fungus in the ducks.

Tap water doesn’t usually foster the growth of bacteria, the scientists said, but low-quality polymers in the plastic materials give them the nutrients they need. Bodily fluids — like urine and sweat — as well as contaminants and even soap in bathwater add microbes and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus and create balmy brine for bacteria.

“We’ve found very big differences between different bath animals,” said microbiologist and lead study author Lisa Neu, alluding to other types of bath toys — like rubber crocodiles — that also were examined. “One of the reasons was the material, because it releases carbon that can serve as food for the bacteria.”

While certain amounts of bacteria can help strengthen children’s immune systems, they can also lead to eye, ear and intestinal infections, the researchers said. Among the vulnerable users: Children “who may enjoy squirting water from bath toys into their faces,” a statement from the institute said.

The scientists, who received funding from the Swiss government as part of broader research into household objects, say using higher-quality polymers to make the ducks could prevent bacterial and fungal growth. The Swiss government isn’t making any recommendations at this stage.

Known for their squeaks and eulogized in a Sesame Street song on TV, rubber duckies have been a childhood bath-time staple for years. Online vendor Amazon.com lists one such offering — advertised as water-tight to prevent mildew — among the top 10 sellers in its “Baby Bath Toys” category.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Robots break new ground in construction industry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As a teenager working for his dad’s construction business, Noah Ready-Campbell dreamed that robots could take over the dirty, tedious parts of his job, such as digging and leveling soil for building projects.

Now the former Google engineer is turning that dream into a reality with Built Robotics, a startup that’s developing technology to allow bulldozers, excavators and other construction vehicles to operate themselves.

“The idea behind Built Robotics is to use automation technology make construction safer, faster and cheaper,” said Ready-Campbell, standing in a dirt lot where a small bulldozer moved mounds of earth without a human operator.

The San Francisco startup is part of a wave of automation that’s transforming the construction industry, which has lagged behind other sectors in technological innovation.

Backed by venture capital, tech startups are developing robots, drones, software and other technologies to help the construction industry to boost speed, safety and productivity.

Autonomous machines are changing the nature of construction work in an industry that’s struggling to find enough skilled workers while facing a backlog of building projects.

“We need all of the robots we can get, plus all of the workers working, in order to have economic growth,” said Michael Chui, a partner at McKinsey Global Institute in San Francisco. “As machines do some of the work that people used to do, the people have to migrate and transition to other forms of work, which means lots of retraining.”

Workers at Berich Masonry in Englewood, Colorado, recently spent several weeks learning how to operate a bricklaying robot known as SAM. That’s short for Semi-Automated Mason, a $400,000 machine which is made by Victor, New York-based Construction Robotics. The machine can lay about 3,000 bricks in an eight-hour shift – several times more than a mason working by hand.

SAM’s mechanical arm picked up bricks, covered them with mortar and carefully placed them to form the outside wall of a new elementary school. Working on a scaffold, workers loaded the machine with bricks and scraped off excess mortar left behind by the robot.

The goal, said company president Todd Berich, is to use technology to take on more work and keep his existing customers happy. “Right now I have to tell them ‘no’ because we’re at capacity,” he said.

Bricklayer Michael Walsh says the robot lessens the load on his body, but he doesn’t think it will take his job. “It ain’t going to replace people,” Walsh said.

The International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers isn’t too concerned that robots will displace its members anytime soon, according to policy director Brian Kennedy.

“There are lots of things that SAM isn’t capable of doing that you need skilled bricklayers to do,” Kennedy said. “We support anything that supports the masonry industry. We don’t stand in the way of technology.”

The rise of construction robots comes as the building industry faces a severe labor shortage.

A recent survey by the Associated General Contractors of America found that 70 percent of construction firms are having trouble finding skilled workers.

“To get qualified people to handle a loader or a haul truck or even run a plant, they’re hard to find right now,” said Mike Moy, a mining plant manager at Lehigh Hanson. “Nobody wants to get their hands dirty anymore. They want a nice, clean job in an office.”

At his company’s mining plant in Sunol, California, Moy is saving time and money by using a drone to measure the giant piles of rock and sand his company sells for construction.

The autonomous quadcopter can survey the entire 90-acre site in 25 minutes. Previously, the company hired a contractor who would take a whole day to measure the piles with a truck-mounted laser.

The drone is made by Silicon Valley-based Kespry, which converts the survey data into detailed 3-D maps and charges an annual subscription fee for its services. The startup also provides drones and mapping services to insurance companies surveying homes damaged by natural disasters.

“Not only is it safer and faster, but you get more data, as much as ten to a hundred times more data,” said Kespry CEO George Mathew. “This becomes a complete game changer for a lot of the industrial work that’s being accomplished today.”

At Built Robotics, Ready-Campbell, the company’s founder and CEO, envisions the future of construction work as a partnership between humans and smart machines.

“The robots basically do the 80 percent of the work, which is more repetitive, more dangerous, more monotonous,” he said. “And then the operator does the more skilled work, where you really need a lot of finesse and experience.”

Built Robotics recently used its automated bulldozer — retrofitted with sensors and autonomous driving technology — to grade the earth on a construction site in San Jose. The project allows the startup to both test its technology and generate some revenue.

“I’m very excited about where autonomous machines could be used in our industry,” said Kyle Trew, a contractor who worked with Built Robotics on the San Jose project. “Hopefully I can use this as a tool to get an edge on some of my competitors.”

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Amazon Go executives share insights into shopper behavior

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A key executive behind Amazon Go, the online leader’s much heralded cashier-less grocery store, says she was surprised at how many customers were hesitant to just walk out the store.

“What we didn’t necessarily expect was how many people would stop at the end on their first trip or two and ask, ‘Is it really OK if I just leave?'” said Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, which opened in January in Seattle.

That was one of the insights she and another executive shared at Shoptalk, a retail industry event that kicked off its four-day run Sunday. Puerini also noted that the best-selling item has been chicken sandwiches. Other popular items include meal kits and fresh fruit. Puerini said the store is geared toward people who are hungry or in a rush. She says that she’s pleased at how many customers come back frequently.

With the Amazon Go app, the retailer can get real-time customer feedback, which helps guide the store in what to stock. In fact, after hearing from vegans complaining about how cheese is mixed into the salads, Amazon Go is now offering the cheese on the side, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of technology of Amazon Go and Amazon Books who shared the stage with Puerini.

With Amazon Go, shoppers enter by scanning their phones. The store technology itself keeps track of what they pick up and charges them after they leave. It uses computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors to analyze what people are grabbing.

Kumar says one of the biggest challenges is having its computers discern products that look similar like a sugar-free Red Bull drink and the regular version.

As for rolling out Amazon Go technology at Whole Foods Market, which Amazon purchased last year, Puerini says there are no plans to launch what she calls “just walk out” technology at the chain.

“The work we do with them (Whole Foods) is focused on making natural and organic food available to more people,” she said.

But as far as expanding Amazon Go stores, Puerini just said, “Stay tuned.”

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Phone apps push people to take their pills

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Take two tablets and a selfie? Your doctor’s orders may one day include a smartphone video to make sure you took your medicine.

Smartphone apps that monitor pill-taking are now available, and researchers are testing how well they work when medication matters. Experts praise the efficiency, but some say the technology raises privacy and data security concerns.

Selfie medicine works like this: Open an app on your phone, show your pills, put them in your mouth and swallow. Don’t forget to show your empty mouth to the camera to prove today’s dose is on its way. Then upload the video proof to the clinic.

Fans say the technology addresses a big problem: About half of drugs for chronic conditions aren’t taken as prescribed because of cost, side effects or patient forgetfulness.

With treatment for opioid addiction, a skipped dose can mean a dangerous relapse. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is funding research to tailor a smartphone app for those patients and see if they’ll use it.

“If we can keep patients engaged, we can keep them in treatment longer,” said lead researcher Dr. Judith Tsui of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

The next phase of her research will compare a group of patients who use the monitoring app called emocha (ee-MOH-kuh) with those who don’t to see if there’s a difference.

At one Tennessee treatment center, some patients with opioid addiction are already using the app to upload selfies of their daily dose and answer questions about how they’re doing.

“Every time they sign on, it allows us to capture data. Are they having cravings? Suicidal tendencies?” said Scott Olson, CEO of Dallas-based Pathway Healthcare, which is trying the app at its Jackson, Tennessee, site. “Maybe a phone call from a counselor might make the difference between staying clean and a relapse.”

Olson thinks insurers will pay for the service with more evidence. For monitoring tuberculosis patients, health departments pay roughly $35 to $50 per patient each month for systems that include encrypted data storage. A small health department might pay as little as $500 a month.

The idea of watching someone take their medicine — called directly observed therapy or DOT — has roots in tuberculosis where one person’s forgetfulness can be serious for everyone. If patients don’t take all their antibiotics, their infectious TB germs can get stronger, developing drug resistance and endangering the broader community.

But taking a handful of pills daily for up to a year is difficult, so public health departments traditionally sent workers to people’s homes and workplaces to watch them take their doses. Today, many TB patients prefer remote monitoring. Nurses like it too.

Nurse Peggy Cooley has used Skype for years to chat live with patients taking TB medicine.

“We can accomplish in a two-minute phone call something that might have taken an hour to do and most of that hour was in the car,” said Cooley, who works for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department in Washington state.

The new uploaded selfies don’t need an appointment. They are a daily routine for many tuberculosis patients in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston, where savings on mileage and worker time amounted to $100,000 in a recent year.

In Boston, Albuquerque and five other cities, researchers are studying whether the technology works for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that’s surging among a new generation of injection drug users. New drugs for hepatitis C can cure, but they’re expensive — $75,000 for a 12-week course of treatment — so insurers want to make sure patients take them.

“I think it holds a lot of promise,” said researcher Dr. Alain Litwin of University of South Carolina School of Medicine, who’s testing whether patients do better when someone watches them take their pills.

What’s next? An insurer in Maryland plans to use the technology in diabetes and high blood pressure to make sure Medicare and Medicaid patients take their medicine. Startups selling the apps say they could be used by faraway adult children monitoring an elderly parent’s daily pill-taking.

Experts worry about privacy, data security and penalties for poor pill-taking.

“That’s the biggest ick factor,” said Carolyn Neuhaus, a medical ethicist at the Hastings Center in New York. “You can imagine a program where benefits are tied to compliance and the insurer says, ‘We won’t pay for medication anymore unless you’re taking it correctly.'”

Globally, the rapid spread of smartphones creates an opportunity to eradicate TB, say the app developers.

But eliminating TB may take simpler, cheaper technologies that can be scaled for millions of cases, said Dr. Daniel Chin, who leads TB efforts for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The group supports research in China and India on two homegrown technologies. China’s tool, about the size of a child’s shoebox, reminds patients to take their pills and saves data for review. In India, the government favors a blister pill pack printed with phone numbers; a patient punches out a daily pill, then calls the revealed number.

Worldwide, TB kills more than 1.6 million people annually, even though most deaths are preventable with treatment.

“If we are going to eliminate the disease, we need technology,” said Dr. Richard Garfein of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, who helped develop one of the smartphone apps, SureAdhere.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow