Apple launched Emergency SOS via satellite in late 2022 with the iPhone 14, becoming the first mainstream phone to offer satellite messaging. Apple’s satellite system uses Globalstar’s LEO satellites (about 1,400 km altitude) with custom hardware and extremely low bandwidth, delivering a few bytes per second and requiring the user to point and hold the…
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Tesla introduced its own charging connector with the Model S in 2012 and opened it as NACS in late 2022. Tesla’s V3 Superchargers deliver up to 250 kW (about 1000 V, 250 A) to compatible vehicles, enabling about 80% charge in roughly 20 minutes under ideal conditions. Ford announced NACS ports for 2025 models in…
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Fujitsu announced R&D on a superconducting quantum computer with over 10,000 physical qubits, targeting completion in fiscal 2030, using its STAR fault-tolerant architecture to reach 250 logical qubits by 2030 and 1,000 logical qubits by 2035 as part of a Japan-backed industrialization effort. IonQ and Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated a quantum-enhanced power-grid optimization using…
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The Perseid meteor shower is already ramping up for Aug 5–6, 2025, with an expected 10–20 meteors per hour under dark skies after midnight. Perseids are famous for fireballs, producing bright meteors that can blaze through moonlight despite lunar glare. The full Sturgeon Moon occurs on Aug 9, and the peak nights Aug 11–13 will…
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NASA formally ended the Lunar Trailblazer mission on July 31 after a Feb. 26 liftoff, a ~$94 million low-cost orbiter meant to map lunar ice with two novel instruments that lost contact the day after launch and showed misaligned solar panels draining the batteries. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity marked 13 years on Mars, with software…
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Roomba Combo J9+ uses a single mop pad on an auto-retract arm with Dry Rug Intelligence that lifts the pad completely off carpet to keep rugs dry, and its Clean Base dock empties into a disposable bag for about 60 days and refills the 210 ml water tank, but it does not auto-wash the mop…
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Galaxy Z Fold 7 uses an Armor FlexHinge with 69 components, is 8.9 mm thick folded (4.2 mm unfolded), weighs 215 g, and uses an Advanced Armor Aluminum frame with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back and Ceramic Glass 2 cover glass, plus IPX8 water resistance. Its cover display is 6.5 inches with a 21:9 aspect,…
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The Segway GT2P uses dual 1500W motors for up to 70 km/h (43.5 mph) in uncapped mode, with 0–48 km/h acceleration in about 3.9 seconds in BOOST mode. The Xiaomi Electric Scooter 5 Pro tops out at 25 km/h (15.5 mph) with a 400W rear motor (1000W peak), a 477 Wh battery, and a 22.4…
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All three color e-readers use a 7-inch Kaleido 3 display with a base 1264×1680 (300 ppi) monochrome resolution and an effective 632×840 (about 150 ppi) when displaying color, supporting up to 4,096 colors. Kindle Paperwhite Color (Colorsoft) offers two color modes (Standard and Vivid), a brighter front light, lacks an accelerometer, is IPX8 waterproof, and…
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The Perseid meteor shower is active from mid-July to late August and is expected to peak around August 11–13 with up to about 100 meteors per hour under dark skies, though the full Sturgeon Moon on August 9 will brighten the sky and reduce counts to mostly the brightest fireballs. On August 4–5, the Moon…
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