Lifeboat Foundation

The next chapter of GM’s electrification strategy is officially underway. The Verge reports GM has started deliveries of the Hummer EV as promised, with its first “supertruck” (an Edition 1) rolling off the line at Factory Zero in Hamtramck, Michigan. The automaker didn’t name the initial customer, but that person clearly paid for bragging rights given the Edition 1’s $110,295 sticker.

You’ll have to wait considerably longer for other trim levels. The $99,995 3X (which drops from 1,000HP to ‘just’ 830HP) doesn’t arrive until fall 2022, while the $89,995 2X variant (625HP) will wait until spring 2023. The $79,995 2 trim doesn’t surface until spring 2024. All but the base version deliver a claimed 300 or more miles of range, while that ‘entry’ model musters 250 miles per charge.

The steep prices won’t leave Tesla, Hyundai and other EV competitors too worried. This is a luxury machine that will sell in limited numbers. However, popularity isn’t entirely the point. This is the first consumer-oriented vehicle to ship using the Ultium battery technology that will underpin numerous GM EVs going forward, including the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevy Silverado. The Hummer is both a halo vehicle for the brand and an answer to challengers like Tesla and Rivian.

Less than a week before the Christmas holiday, French IT services company Inetum Group was hit by a ransomware attack that had a limited impact on the business and its customers.

Inetum is active in more than 26 countries, providing digital services to companies in various sectors: aerospace and defense, banking, automotive, energy and utilities, healthcare, insurance, retail, public sector, transportation, telecom and media.

Lockheed Martin’s new hypersonic plane is expected to travel at Mach 6.

The Lockheed Martin SR-72, which is rumored to be the world’s fastest plane, is expected to make a test flight in 2025, eight years after its private proposal in 2013.

SR-72 will be the successor of the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest manned aircraft which smashed speed records in 1974 and was retired by the U.S. Air Force back in 1998.

Continue reading “The World’s Fastest Plane’s Successor Will Reach Over 4,600 Miles” »

It burns about half the fuel of the same-sized rotorcraft.

In 1989, Vox conceptualized fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing airframes (VTOL), along with a plethora of sketches that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie, for a way to innovate the idea. Several prototypes and component tests later, the aircraft is in its final stages of assembly, and testing is expected to start next year.

Revolving around the concept of increasing the safety and convenience of the passenger, this hybrid aircraft can also fly three times faster than a helicopter.

Continue reading “A New Hybrid Aircraft Is 3 Times Faster Than a Helicopter” »

The race is on.

The EV industry is getting more competitive.

Continue reading “China’s Huawei Says Its New Model Is Superior to Tesla’s Model Y” »

Micro-electromechanical systems or MEMS are tiny integrated devices that combine mechanical and electrical components. Traditional manufacturing techniques such as milling, turning, and molding become impractical at small scales so MEMS devices are fabricated using the same batch processing techniques used to fabricate integrated circuits. These devices can range in size from a few microns to several millimeters.

Because MEMS devices are a hybrid of mechanical and electronic mechanisms, they’re generally fabricated using a combination of traditional integrated circuit technologies and more sophisticated methods that manipulate both silicon and other substrates in a manner that exploit their mechanical properties.

Continue reading “The World Of Microscopic Machines” »

AMD to offer five Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000WX CPUs for workstations.

Dual-processor workstations are the stomping grounds of companies like Dell, HP, and Lenovo. They tend to cost as much as a car and are aimed at the most performance-demanding professionals with very deep pockets. It is hard to expect motherboard makers to offer dual-socket sWRX8 platforms at this time since 128-core/256-thread machines are complete overkill even for the workstation segment (which is why this capability might be canned if AMD feels that it is easier to offer Epyc platforms for the same market segment instead). Meanwhile, the report also says that Asus and Gigabyte intend to release all-new single-socket motherboards for the upcoming Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000WX CPUs.

AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Pro retains eight memory channels to provide loads of bandwidth and support for plenty of memory for professional applications. The CPUs will continue to use the sWRX8 socket, though we do not know whether the new products will be drop-in compatible with the existing sWRX8 platform (probably they will, albeit with a BIOS update).

Continue reading “Threadripper Pro 5000WX’s Secret Weapon: Up to 128 Cores per Workstation” »

PENA, the division of Panasonic which produces lithium-ion batteries at the Sparks Gigafactory, will move into an existing building at 645 E. Plumb Lane, about half a mile east of the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. PENA’s headquarters will move from the Gigafactory to the Plumb Lane campus.

“Our new facility in Reno underscores our commitment to evolving and growing to stay at the forefront of the mobility market,” Allan Swan, president of PENA, said in a news release. “Investing in innovation and workforce initiatives in the local community supports our mission of creating a future powered by sustainable energy.”

And soon it will even dock automatically.

X Shore, the Swedish sustainable boat firm responsible for the Eelex 8,000 recently opened two new offices in the U.S. as part of its plans for expansion, following its U.S. debut at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in March.

Continue reading “X Shore: The ‘Tesla of the Seas’ Is Now Selling Its Luxury EV Boat in the U.S.” »