How The Industry Aims To Fix Electric Vehicle Range Anxiety

Automakers are investing billions into an electric-powered future. Last year, 143 new EV’s launched around the globe. Analysts predict record growth of EV sales in 2021, especially in Europe and China.

But, in the U.S., electric vehicles sales represented less than 2% of all autos sold in 2019, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Several hurdles remain for the market to really take off. One of the biggest is charging.

CNBC explores the current state of electric vehicle charging and how automakers like Tesla, GM and companies like ChargePoint and Electrify America are adding charging infrastructure to increase electric vehicle adoption.

Watch the video to learn more.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTOKKKGWV8

Credit: cnbc.com

VW ID.4 Electric SUV Sold Out On The First Day

VW announced that the first version of its ID.4 electric SUV sold out within 8 hours on the first day it opened orders. This is impressive, but, VW only planned to have “a few thousand First Edition models” for the US.

Finally on Wednesday, 9-23, VW fully unveiled the ID.4 after months of teasing. While it has been toned down from the concept with a more traditional design, the specs for the price point have impressed many and it is pushing all-electric vehicles to a wider market.

This version of the ID.4 started at $43,995 before incentives and will be delivered later this year. Now new buyers will have to turn to the $39,995 ID.4 Pro, which comes with fewer design enhancements and will be delivered in early 2021.

The vehicle is equipped with an 82 kWh battery pack (77 kWh of usable energy) that should result in about 250 miles of EPA range. An even less expensive version with a smaller battery pack with likely closer to 200 miles of range is expected to launch in 2022 after VW starts production of the ID.4 in the US. For now, the North American market will get ID.4 electric SUVs made in Germany.

Credit: electrek.co

How To Start A New Line Within A Spreadsheet Cell

From the Archives of CTC, Inc:

To start a new line within a spreadsheet cell, use one of these options:

1. In Microsoft Excel, press Alt + Enter to create a new line within a cell. You can create many new lines in a cell by repeatedly pressing the Alt + Enter key combination.

2. In OpenOffice, LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets, press Ctrl + Enter to create a new line within a cell. As with Excel, you can create many new lines in a cell by repeatedly pressing the Ctrl + Enter key combination.

Microsoft Surface Duo Smartphone

The company's first dual-screen phone points to a future for mobile technology that is both exciting and disappointing. Even with the biggest wrinkles ironed out by a recent update, using the Duo is still an exercise in frustration.

THE GOOD: 

• Two screens are the future
• The hinge is very sturdy, and the whole package feels wonderfully slim
• The screens get plenty bright outdoors
• Includes a bumper case
• Good battery life
• Likable Microsoft user interface
• App groups are awesome
• Will get monthly software updates

THE BAD: 

• Stuttery performance
• Typing is hard
• The camera is bad
• No exterior screen means you can't see the time without opening it
• Not many apps are optimized for two screens
• Only one speaker on a dual-screen phone
• Not 5G capable
• No wireless charging
• No MicroSD card slot
• Not water resistance
• No contactless payments

The two displays aren't the problem; in fact, they're exemplary. Ever use two computer monitors at the same time? It's hard to go back to a single screen afterward, and the same is true here. But what drains the Duo of its mobile multitasking charm is glitchy software that makes this $1,400 phone feel like a work in progress. And as much as Microsoft doesn't want to call it a phone, that's what the Duo is, and it falls short as one in a few key areas.

The Surface Duo is not the first dual-screen smartphone, but it arrives at a time when companies are experimenting wildly with phone designs. Samsung and Motorola, for example, sell devices with folding screens in distinct shapes and sizes. But rather than falling in line with this new (and delicate) folding glass technology, Microsoft is betting big on the two-screen approach, which it hopes will be a boon for productivity. It's even planning a two-screen Windows laptop for 2021.

What makes the Duo even more special is that it's Microsoft's first stab at Android (and a phone) since its Nokia days. Why not use Windows instead of Google's operating system? Apps. The company's Windows Phone mobile OS was crippled because it didn't attract third-party apps, and Microsoft isn't making the same mistake twice. The Google Play Store has almost every app you could want, including those made by Microsoft. And sure, you can install Microsoft's apps on any other Android phone, but running them on the Duo is unique. Microsoft got something right here: Two screens are better than one.

In its closed state, the Surface Duo looks like a small paper notebook, and a pretty one at that. Unlike a lot of modern tech, it feels warm and inviting, as if opening it will unlock the secrets of the universe. Pick it up and it feels lighter than it looks. Its surprising thinness also makes it easy to hold and tote around (unlike some other dual-screen phones), though it is wide, so it might not fit your pants pocket.

There's much more.
Read the entire article >  wired.com

Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE

Apple Bytes: 

Apple Watch Series 6: Featuring a Blood Oxygen sensor and app, new case finishes, and watchOS 7.

Yesterday, 9-16-20, Apple announced Apple Watch Series 6, introducing a revolutionary Blood Oxygen feature that offers users even more insight into their overall wellness. 

Apple Watch Series 6 delivers many notable hardware improvements, including a faster S6 System in Package (SiP) and next-generation always-on altimeter, along with its most colorful lineup yet, featuring a beautiful palette of new case finishes and bands. watchOS 7 brings Family Setup, sleep tracking, automatic handwashing detection, new workout types, and the ability to curate and share watch faces, encouraging customers to be more active, stay connected, and better manage their health in new ways.

“Apple Watch Series 6 completely redefines what a watch can do,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “With powerful new features, including a Blood Oxygen sensor and app, Apple Watch becomes even more indispensable by providing further insight into overall well-being.”

Read the complete news release > HERE

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Apple Watch SE: The ultimate combination of design, function, and value

Yesterday, 9-16-20, Apple announced Apple Watch SE, packing the essential features of Apple Watch into a modern design customers love — all at a more affordable price. The largest and most advanced Retina display allows customers to easily see more details and the information that matters most, right on their wrist. Apple Watch SE features the same accelerometer, gyroscope, and always-on altimeter as Apple Watch Series 6, and with the latest motion sensors and microphone, it offers robust health and safety capabilities including fall detection, Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, and the Noise app.

With watchOS 7, users can take advantage of powerful new features including Family Setup, which allows kids or older family members without an iPhone to enjoy Apple Watch, plus sleep tracking, automatic handwashing detection, and new workouts. Apple Watch SE is available in three beautiful case finishes made of 100 percent recycled aluminum, and compatible with all Apple Watch bands including the new Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop.

“Apple Watch SE combines elements of the Series 6 design with the most essential features of Apple Watch, all at a more affordable price,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “We’re excited to offer another great option to help customers stay connected, be more active, and keep an eye on their health.”

Read the complete news release > HERE

Amazon Is Filled With Hard To Spot Fake Reviews

Since Amazon's early days, reviews are the one big metric customers have relied on to determine the quality and authenticity of a product. Amazon's listings often have hundreds or thousands of reviews, instead of the handful found on competing marketplaces. But many of those reviews can't be trusted. Thousands of fake reviews have flooded Amazon, Walmart, eBay and others, as sales have skyrocketed.

From Facebook groups where bad actors solicit paid positive reviews to bots and click farms that upvote negative reviews to take out the competition, fake reviews are getting harder to spot. In July, UCLA and USC released a study that found more than 20 fake review related Facebook groups with an average of 16,000 members. In more than 560 postings each day, sellers offered a refund or payment for a positive review, usually around $6.

The repercussions are getting more serious, too, as shoppers stay home and increasingly turn online for things they'd normally want to shop for in person. In recent months, fake reviews have boosted sales of unsafe products and hurt business for legitimate sellers, causing huge brands to sever ties with Amazon.

Amazon told CNBC it uses "powerful machine learning tools and skilled investigators to analyze over 10 million review submissions weekly, aiming to stop abusive reviews before they are ever published." Still, the company recently removed 20,000 reviews after an investigation found that the top Amazon reviewers in the UK were engaging in fraud.

Watch the video to find out why fake reviews have infiltrated Amazon, how customers can spot an unreliable review, and what the trillion-dollar company and others are doing to stop them.

(be sure to skip or X out any ads that pop up)

DIRECT LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq_Ksga9uHY

Credit: CNBC

Executive Board Minutes

Computer Technology Club, Inc. – Executive Board Minutes
September 11, 2020

The Board meeting was cancelled by COVID-19 venue closures.

SkyDrive Built And Flew A Drone That Carries A Person

Japanese eVTOL startup SkyDrive says it completed the first public test flight of its SD-03 on August 25. eVTOLs, or "electric vertical take-off and landing" vehicles, have received a lot of investment as companies hope to revolutionize transport by making it possible for people to take their commutes to the skies and fly over congested urban areas. As the name suggests, they take off straight into the air, meaning a long runway isn't needed. That's perfect for using them to take off from city rooftops, or other high-congestion areas, which is why companies like Uber are especially excited about them.

SkyDrive's SD-03 is a bit slicker than its earlier prototype aircraft, with a white exterior the company says was inspired by "white birds and the floating clouds in the sky." The SD-03 measures six feet high, 13 feet in length, and 13 feet wide. It features two sets of rotors on the front and two on the rear, with each powered by its own motor. The rotors can be shielded behind curved protectors so they don't risk hitting something (or someone). If it looks like a drone with a person in it, that's because that's basically what it is.

They're giant drones. The recent death of Kobe Bryant in a crashed helicopter may scare some away from the idea of flying around in what looks like a helicopter for one. But companies in the industry say eVTOLS are supposed to be safer because they have multiple rotors that function as fail-safes; if one stops working, the others are supposed to be capable of safely returning the aircraft back down to earth. Think of consumer drones from the likes of DJI but scaled up to carry a person or, in larger iterations, multiple people.

The public test of the SD-03 took place over a 2.5-acre test field owned by Toyota, and lasted four minutes. A human piloted the aircraft in circles but onboard software managed flight stability. That will be important if these types of aircraft are actually going to ferry around people who aren't experienced at operating an aircraft in turbulent conditions, or at all.

You won't be taking one anytime soon. Other players in the space include Kitty Hawk, an eVTOL startup backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. And Uber, which has partnered with Hyundai, Bell, and other companies to develop an air-taxi service.

(be sure to skip or X out any ads that pop up)

DIRECT LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58kEzTpPzS0

None of these projects seem to be close to a public debut, however. Any crash could set back eVTOLs by years or decades, helicopter commuting services used to exist in NYC before a fatal crash brought their demise, so companies are working slowly to ensure the highest possible safety. There are also logistical issues with building out the necessary infrastructure, like command and control centers that ensure aircraft don't, you know, crash into each other. Uber has said it expects any eVTOL air-taxi service to launch by 2028 at the soonest.

(be sure to skip or X out any ads that pop up)

DIRECT LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yc2L5koWZY

By the end of the year, SkyDrive hopes to begin testing the SD-03 outside of test fields in Japan so it can prove the technology works in a variety of conditions.

Credit: inputmag.com

Samsung Kills Gallery Sync And Drive In Favor Of OneDrive

What you need to know

• Samsung is ending support for Gallery Sync and Drive storage.
• Data from these sources can be migrated to OneDrive or downloaded for some time.
• The termination of the features will occur over a phased rollout with dates varying based on your region.

Samsung's Gallery Sync and Drive storage for My Files will no longer be supported by Samsung Cloud (via Neowin). Anyone with a premium storage subscription plan will have it canceled beginning April 1, 2021, and might receive a refund. Samsung isn't leaving its customers without cloud storage options, however, as the same features will soon be supported by Microsoft OneDrive rather than Samsung Cloud.

The transition from Samsung Cloud to OneDrive will happen gradually. Samsung breaks down the shutdown process on a support page. The shutdown process will occur in two groups, separated depending on the country that you first signed up for a Samsung account from.

Samsung first rolled out gallery integration with OneDrive toward the end of last year. The feature natively integrates the photo gallery of supported Samsung phones with OneDrive.

If you have data within Gallery Sync or Drive, you can save it in a couple of ways. You can either migrate it over to OneDrive or download the data to a mobile device or PC. Samsung notes that if you migrate or download your data that the cloud versions of the content may be deleted before the official end date.

The rollout is relatively complex, with two groups being spread across three different phases of termination. The first phase of the shutdown stops new registrations for these deprecated services. The next phase discontinues the use of existing Gallery Sync and Drive registrations and the end of OneDrive migration support. The final phase sees the end of data download support. The exact dates of each of these phases depends on your region.

Samsung's support page has a tool to determine which group you are in and outlines all of the relevant dates for the phased shutdown.

While Gallery Sync and Drive support is ending, you will still be able to back up and sync contacts, calendars, and notes to Samsung Cloud.

Credit: Windows Central

Activation Lock And Securing Your iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch

Apple Bytes: 

Find My includes Activation Lock, a feature that's designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, if it's ever lost or stolen. Activation Lock turns on automatically when you turn on Find My [device].

Activation Lock helps you keep your device secure, even if it's in the wrong hands, and can improve your chances of recovering it. Even if you erase your device remotely, Activation Lock can continue to deter anyone from reactivating your device without your permission. All you need to do is keep Find My turned on, and remember your Apple ID and password.

With watchOS 2 and later, you can use Activation Lock to protect your Apple Watch, and with macOS Catalina and Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip, you can use Activation Lock to protect your Mac, too.

Here's how it works

When you turn on Find My [device] on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, or Mac computer that has an Apple T2 security chip, your Apple ID is securely stored on Apple’s activation servers and linked to your device. From that point on, your Apple ID password or device passcode is required before anyone can turn off Find My, erase your device, or reactivate and use your device.

Activation Lock is enabled automatically when you set up Find My.

If your device is lost or stolen

If you ever misplace your device, whether it’s lost or you think it might have been stolen, you should immediately use Mark As Lost in the Find My app.

When you Mark As Lost, this locks your screen with a passcode and lets you display a custom message with your phone number to help you get it back. You can also remotely erase your device if needed, and your custom message continues to display even after the device is erased.

While Activation Lock works in the background to make it more difficult for someone to use or sell your missing device, Lost Mode clearly indicates to anyone who finds your device that it still belongs to you and can’t be reactivated without your password.

To mark a device as lost, sign in to icloud.com/find. Or use the Find My app:

1. Open the Find My app.
2. Tap the Devices tab, then choose a device from the list.
3. Tap Activate under Mark As Lost and follow the instructions on the screen.

Learn more about what to do if your device is lost or stolen. If your iPhone is covered by AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss, the theft and loss coverage requires you to have Find My iPhone enabled on your device at the time it's lost or stolen.

If you forget your Apple ID or password

Your Apple ID is the account that you use to sign in to all Apple services. Usually, your Apple ID is your email address. If you forget your Apple ID, we can help you find it.

A forgotten password can be reset from your device or your Apple ID account page.

If you can't find your Apple ID or reset your password, you'll lose access to your account and might be unable to use or reactivate your device. To help prevent this, visit your Apple ID account page periodically to review and update your account information.

Check for Activation Lock before you buy a device from someone else

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