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Volkswagen has finally unveiled the version of the ID.Buzz electric van that’s destined for North America, and there’s more to it than you might think. The three-row design with two extra seats is clearly the main draw for roadtrippers and growing families, but this isn’t just a stretched version of the modern Microbus. It boasts a larger 91kWh battery (versus 82kWh for the two-row), a more powerful 282HP motor for the rear-wheel drive trim (versus 201HP) and a higher 99MPH top speed (versus 90MPH). While there are no range estimates yet, there will also be an optional all-wheel drive configuration with a 330HP dual-motor system.

The interior tech hasn’t changed much from the two-row model, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You’ll still face a 5.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.9-inch infotainment display. The larger ID.Buzz now has the easier-to-use interface from the ID.7, though, and you’ll find a total of eight USB-C ports — helpful when friends in the back want to charge their phones. The three-row EV also comes standard with Level 2 driver assistance (including lane centering), and the customizable cabin lighting doubles as a status indicator for everything from charging levels to navigation directions.

The North American van also touts the largest panoramic roof of any car in the VW group at 67.4 inches long, and uses electrochromic glass to turn opaque when it’s not needed. You’ll also find a 110V outlet under the passenger seat area, and a 12V port in the cargo space can charge more of your gear. A nine-speaker audio system is standard, but you can upgrade to a 14-speaker Harman Kardon unit.

Why wear beer goggles when you can wear bing goggles?

Well, now you can, at least if you’re using Kittch’s new AR cooking mode to make chef Ming Tsai’s MingBings. Today Kittch, a culinary video community, announced they have teamed up with Qualcomm to integrate AR features into their cooking app, according to an announcement sent to The Spoon. The collaboration, done in partnership with technical design company Trigger, is being demoed this week at Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara, California.

Kittch app users can access the Kittch AR cooking mode by plugging in AR glasses to a mobile phone and clicking the “view in kitchen” button. From there, users can follow interactive videos and recipes, set timers, and order ingredients via AR gesture control. The new feature was demoed by Ming Tsai and his MingBing recipe here.

Security researchers have detailed the inner workings of the commercial Android spyware called Predator, which is marketed by the Israeli company Intellexa (previously Cytrox).

Predator was first documented by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) in May 2022 as part of attacks leveraging five different zero-day flaws in the Chrome web browser and Android.

The spyware, which is delivered by means of another loader component known as Alien, is equipped to record audio from phone calls and VoIP-based apps as well as gather contacts and messages, including from Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

The undersea cables are being targeted.


Taiwan is beefing up its communications infrastructure to ensure that it remains connected to the rest of the world in case of any emergency. Cindy Wang reports on Bloomberg Television.
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How many times have you wished you could play back your dream on your computer or phone? With this new discovery, the technology might be closer than you think.

In a research published last week on the arXiv server, researchers at the National University of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong reported that they have developed a process capable of generating video from brain scans.

UC San Diego engineers developed the low-cost clip that enables easy and affordable monitoring in resource-poor communities.

University of California San Diego engineers have created a low-cost clip that makes use of the camera and flash on a smartphone to measure blood pressure at the user’s fingertip.

This innovative clip, which can be produced at scale for as little as 10 cents, has the potential to revolutionize routine blood pressure monitoring and make it available to people in resource-poor regions.

Israeli-based health tech company Cordio has developed machine learning software that can be downloaded to a smartphone and help keeps cardiac patients out of the hospital.

One day in the future.

It’s a simple daily habit that could save their life, because one day after repeating their daily refrain, their doctor might be notified that a patient is at risk of heart failure without immediate care.


Israeli-based company Cordio has developed machine learning software that can be downloaded to a smartphone and help keeps cardiac patients out of the hospital.

Digital chips have revolutionized the world beyond all recognition. Yet, despite their enormous advantages to computing, for power-hungry processes like AI, analog might be best.

Digital computer chips are the mainstay of our current digital age.

They are found in almost any device that uses electricity, from fridges to cars and your cell phone. But their predecessor, analog chips, could be about to have a resurgence.

In the past, analog chips governed computing, operating over continuous value ranges.

Human-computer interaction company Sightful is releasing its first product, Spacetop, a screen-less “augmented reality laptop” projecting tabs across a 100-inch virtual screen. The laptop — if you can call it that — is a hardware deck and full-size keyboard with a pair of tailored NReal glasses. The glasses project tabs directly in front of whatever the user is looking at while remaining invisible to anyone else.

Specs-wise, Spacetop is running a Snapdragon 865 paired with an Adreno 650 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, putting it in the same class as some of the smartphones that are already capable of driving AR glasses. It’s not smartphone-sized, however, measuring 1.57-inches high, 10.47-inches wide and 8.8-inches deep, and it weighs in at 3.3 pounds, the same as plenty of laptops we could choose to mention here.

Sightful is clearly gunning for a crossover hit in the work-from-home-or-anywhere market. “Laptops are the centerpiece of our daily working lives, but the technology has not evolved with the modern, work from anywhere, privacy matters, ‘road warrior’ mentality. Meanwhile, augmented reality is full of potential and promise but is yet to find its daily use case,” said Tamir Berliner, Sightful co-founder who previously worked at both Leap Motion and Primesense. “We are at the perfect moment for a significant paradigm shift in a device we all know and love.”