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The next wave of electric vehicles will appear in 2020

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Today, however, as American consumers face rising fuel prices and a deepening climate crisis, EVs are undergoing a resurgence in popularity. Over a million plug-in vehicles now drive on US roads and account for 2.5 percent of all new vehicle sales in the country. Though to be fair, that figure pales in comparison to the 55 percent of new car sales of the electric variety in Norway. More EVs are sold to Americans today than cars with manual transmissions. As electric vehicle sales continue to rise, automakers are taking notice and developing their own electric offerings in an effort to tap into the growing market.

Tesla helped create that market and remains an industry leader. The Model S was the bestselling plug-in vehicle between 2015 and 2017, only to be edged out in 2018 by the Model 3. In 2019, Tesla expanded its EV offerings with a pair of new vehicles, the polarizing (but still wildly popular) $39,900 Cybertruck, which debuted at the LA Auto Show in November, and a battery-powered ATV to go along with it. And come late next year, the company plans to put its electric semi into limited production as well.

Tesla is far from the only startup in the electric-vehicle market. Polestar announced in October that it will open its first EV store in Montreal by the end of next year, and Lunaz has quietly set about retrofitting classic luxury cars with 21st century conveniences like cruise control and regenerative braking. We also saw a surge of luxury SUVs with at least hybrid drivetrains, in 2019, such as the Bentley Bentayga, the Audi e-Tron, the Jaguar I-Pace, the (only slightly delayed) Mercedes EQC 400 and the Porsche Taycan all coming to market.

In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find an automaker in 2019 that isn’t currently developing an EV platform. Lexus unveiled its UX 300e in November, Volkswagen showed off its EV wagon concept ahead of the LA Auto Show (immediately after unveiling its XC40 EV), and Toyota gave us a glimpse of its ultra-compact BEV at the Tokyo Auto Show. Lincoln is building an electric SUV of its own based on Rivian’s “skateboard” vehicle platform. Lotus debuted its Evija supercar — capable of charging fully in just nine minutes — at the Guangzhou Auto Show in July. Nissan is developing a dual-motor EV based on its Leaf platform. BMW announced earlier this year that it will begin offering its all-electric Mini Cooper starting next March as well as an i4 with nearly 400 miles of range. Even niche luxury carmaker Karma is working on a pair of hybrid concepts.

Industry stalwarts like Ford and Harley-Davidson are similarly making the jump to EVs. Ford’s Mustang — the iconic American muscle car — is getting an all-electric power plant as part of the company’s Mach-E redesign. Harley, on the other hand, recently resumed production of its LiveWire motorcycle.

Simply put, electric vehicles aren’t going away anytime soon. Even American’s love affair with trucks, SUVs and crossovers can’t diminish interest in electric drivetrains. Mercedes has already committed to having at least an EV option for all of its vehicle models by 2022 and GM announced earlier this month that most of its Cadillacs will be electrified by the end of the next decade. It’s not just automakers taking notice of EVs. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has called for the installation of a million EV charging stations by 2030, more than fifty times the number available today. France set an even more ambitious goal of outlawing the sale of internal combustion vehicles by 2040.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued earlier this year in favor of spending $454 billion over 10 years to replace every gas-powered vehicle on American roads — all 63 million of them — with electric alternatives.

“Critics have long said that bold action on climate change would cost America money and jobs. This is not true,” Schumer wrote in his NYT op-ed. “My plan is estimated to create tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs in this country and should re-establish the United States as the world leader in auto manufacturing.” Of course, that assumes Democrats take back control of Congress following next year’s election.

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New York doctor sues Apple over irregular heartbeat detection

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The doctor hopes to block Apple from using the atrial fibrillation detection method without paying royalties. We’ve asked Apple for comment, although it doesn’t typically comment on lawsuits.

Apple is no stranger to patent lawsuits, although those frequently come from trolls that either didn’t develop a given piece of technology or have no intention of putting it into a real product. This is different — Wiesel is clearly the inventor. Still, he may face a challenging court battle. He’ll have to show that Apple’s technique is highly similar, and not just vaguely familiar-looking.

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Google Search now lets you add movies and shows to a ‘Watchlist’

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If it’s something you can watch on YouTube, the card would include a “Watch now” button with its price and a link that goes straight to its page on the platform. Meanwhile, if it’s something you can catch in the theaters, that option is replaced with a “Get tickets” button that takes you to the Showtimes tab. Also when you put titles to your Watchlist, it gets added to a Collection featuring their cover art, so you can browse through them whenever you’re looking for something to play.

9to5Google says the feature has been rolling out these past few days. We don’t have access to it yet, but social media posts show people have been getting the feature. It seems to be only available on the web via mobile, though, and on the Google app for Android and iOS.

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Image: 9to5Google

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Tesla’s Cybertruck found its way into a Travis Scott music video

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It’s not clear how the EVs ended up in Scott’s video. We’ve asked Tesla for comment.

There’s a good possibility Scott or the producers have a close connection with Elon Musk, though. He’s one of the very few people to drive the Cybertruck in public, and Musk has been spotted hobnobbing with Scott and other stars as recently as Christmas Eve. Whether the video spot represents formal product placement or just a favor for a friend, it clearly represents an attempt to build buzz (not to mention more deposits) for the electric truck well before it’s available to the public.



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Samsung’s newest experiments include hands-free typing and a scalp scanner

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The company might also come to the rescue of anyone grappling with hair loss. Its Becom project uses a handheld device, AI and a mobile app to scan your scalp for dead skin, hair follicle density and other traits, and then suggests the best solution. You can even study trends to see if you’re bouncing back from hair loss.

Other highlights? The “window-shaped” SunnySide produces artificial sunlight that changes over time to help you produce vitamin D without the harmful effects you might experience from natural sunshine, while Ultra V blends a sensor and service to track UV rays and help you deal with skin conditions.

Samsung is also showcasting work from C-Lab’s external startups. You’ll see a PiBo humanoid robot from Circulus that provides info and “simple conversation” based on dialog and facial expressions. FITT produces customized exercise routines and predicts diseases based on fitness tests for cardio, muscle strength and posture. Vtouch uses eye and finger tracking to control devices like cars and smart homes, while Smoothy is a group video chat app that starts in silent mode to let you answer on your own terms.

As in the past, there’s a good chance that some in-house projects will graduate to full-fledged products. Whether or not they’re successful is another matter, but it’s reassuring if you’re worried that C-Lab’s work will remain experimental.

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Study says YouTube ‘actively discourages’ radicalism

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If anything, the researchers found, YouTube has the opposite problem — it’s overly safe. The recommendations tend to clearly favor mainstream channels, including outlets labeled as partisan like Fox News and John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight. Independents and smaller outlets like The Young Turks tend to suffer regardless of their political leanings. Ledwich also warned that the recommendation algorithm tends to promote “filter bubbles” where people rarely see videos that challenge their views.

The study also indicated that the suggestions tended to favor centrist and left-wing channels. It’s not surprising that social justice-oriented videos would lead to those camps, but even a portion of those channels devoted to conspiracies and social conservatism would point users to the center and left. The researchers didn’t accuse YouTube of an anti-conservative bias, but it was definitely harder to see suggestions for right-wing videos if you weren’t already inclined that way.

Ledwich and Zaitsev argued that this shoots down theories that YouTube spreads radicalization like a virus. Instead, they floated a theory from Kevin Munger and Joseph Philips that there’s a “supply and demand” model — if more people are viewing extremist content, that’s because more channels are surfacing to meet existing interest.

This isn’t a definitive conclusion on radicalization for YouTube, let alone the internet as a whole. It doesn’t really address terrorism, for example. However, it does challenge assumptions that YouTube’s current recommendation model allows extreme ideas to spread in a significant way.

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LG’s first indoor gardening appliance helps beginners grow vegetables

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The appliance has enough space for 24 seed packages. LG said that’s enough to satisfy a family of four, although it didn’t say what criteria it used. It’s likely to vary widely based on what you’re growing and how much of a role meat still plays in your diet.

LG didn’t say when the indoor gardening gear would be available or how much it would cost, although it’s clearly more ambitious than a typical countertop model. We’d expect it to be relatively expensive, especially since it’s intended to match other LG kitchen appliances. This is intended for people who either can’t have their own outdoor gardens (such as urban condo dwellers) or intend to shift to a plant-heavy diet without the hassles of pulling weeds or tilling soil.

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Christina Koch breaks record for longest spaceflight by a woman

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This won’t be the longest spaceflight of all time. Scott Kelly set the US record by staying in space for 340 consecutive days between 2015 and 2016, while Russia’s Valeri Polyakov spent just over 437 days aboard Mir. It’s still a very long stretch, however, and it comes on the back of Koch joining fellow astronaut Jessica Meir in NASA’s first all-female spacewalk this October.

The extended trip isn’t just about bragging rights. Koch’s longer-than-planned mission should tell NASA more about the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body. That, in turn, could be vital for the return to the Moon as well as eventual plans to touch down on Mars. What sacrifices Koch has made could pay off if they ensure that explorers come back healthy.

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Sony lands patent for a new PlayStation controller design

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Similar to the buttons on the DualShock 4 attachment that Sony is releasing on January 23rd, the ones on the new design seem to be programmable. You can, say, assign them other buttons’ functions to make your game’s controls feel more intuitive and easier on the hands.

Polygon says the back buttons may be moved to other places, which could either mean that the controller can be customized or that there might be other iterations of the design. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if Sony conjured up the controller for the PS5 and if it will even be released as a real product at all.

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Russia says its hypersonic missile is now in active service

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The news comes as an apparent response to earlier concerns that trouble finding carbon fiber could lead to Avangard missing its planned 2019 debut.

As with earlier claims, it’s difficult to tell how ready the technology really is. How many missiles are there, and how quickly could they be put into use? Will they work as well as claimed? American experts were allowed to inspect the Avangard system on November 26th under the terms of a 2010 nuclear arms treaty, but it’s not clear if the US believes this to be a credible threat. If there are only a handful of missiles or there’s a protracted launch sequence, the missile might not be as intimidating as it sounds.

Still, the claimed deployment is bound to make other countries nervous. Countries like the US, Australia and China are working on their own hypersonic missile systems, but none has reached active duty. Russia’s rush to be first theoretically gives it a bargaining chip with any country that would dare challenge its agenda — do what we say or you’re guaranteed to face casualties. Unfortunately, that may lead to other countries stepping up their own efforts and reproducing the arms race of the Cold War era.

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