MIAMI — A defense contractor at the center of one of the biggest bribery scandals in U.S. military history is expected to face additional charges following his return to the United States from Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner swap between the two countries, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Leonard Glenn Francis, who is nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” faced a federal judge for the first…
Beyond the Osprey: DARPA wants high-speed vertical takeoff X-plane
December 28, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with four companies to design an experimental vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft that can fly at speeds far faster than the V-22 Osprey.
The collaboration comes as the U.S. military considers how it…
As AI continues to penetrate the creative space, creating value as well as concerns among many, six-month-old Pika Labs has announced its text-to-video AI platform, Pika 1.0, is now available for everyone.
Accessible via the web, Pika 1.0 allows users to generate and edit…
Quick Charge Podcast: December 26, 2023
December 28, 2023
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and TuneIn, as well as our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded Monday through Thursday and again on Saturday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are…
Volvo’s cheapest and smallest electric SUV, the EX30, is already getting custom design upgrades. A new Sport and rugged Outland edition bring out the best of Volvo’s latest EV.
Volvo is entering unfamiliar territory with its new EX30 electric SUV. The EX30 is aimed at…
Banned! Why 2023 saw more e-bike and e-scooter bans than ever before
December 28, 2023
Electric bicycle ridership grew to never-before-seen levels in 2023. But despite the increased ridership, or perhaps even because of it, this year has seen an increase in the number of limits and bans placed on electric bicycles and e-scooters. Here’s a look back at some…
The 5 AI stories I’m waiting for in 2024 | The AI Beat
December 28, 2023
Exactly a year ago, I published an AI Beat column that detailed 5 AI stories I was waiting to cover in 2023.
Thanks to what I like to call a constant ‘tsunami’ of AI news in the wake of OpenAI’s November 2022 release of ChatGPT, I didn’t have to wait long: From GPT-4 and the EU AI Act to the battle for AI search, open vs. closed AI, and the hunger for training data and computing power, I…
As AI presents a world of unlimited possibilities for software companies, it also has the potential to open Pandora’s box, unleashing unintended consequences. This is especially true as the feature set of AI approaches artificial general intelligence (AGI).
However, it…
11 data predictions for AI-centric enterprise growth in 2024
December 28, 2023
The year 2023 was all about adopting generative AI and foundation models. However, as organizations raced to bring gen AI front and center in their workflows, they realized how important it was to get their data affairs in order.
While companies always understood the role of…
This strange electric bike has three wheels... in a row
December 22, 2023
What has three wheels, three motors, and seemingly endless possibilities? The Dolas Defender 250 electric bike. It may be a three-wheeler, but just don’t call it a tricycle. It’s something of a rollerblade to the rest of the rollerskates of the trike world, fitting all three of its wheels in a single track.
That’s just one of several clever and sometimes strange engineering choices found…
