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Nieuw-Zeelandse toezichthouder wil mogelijke deregulering van mobiele gespreksafgifte

De Nieuw-Zeelandse handelscommissie is op zoek naar feedback over haar ontwerpbesluit om deregulering te overwegen van de Mobile Termination Access Services (MTAS) - waarmee klanten van het ene mobiele netwerk tegen gereguleerde tarieven kunnen communiceren met klanten van een ander mobiel netwerk via spraakoproepen en tekstberichten (SMS)...




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Lyca Mobile Belgium

This company profile analyses Lyca Mobile Belgium, a provider of mobile services. The report contains information on Lyca Mobile's current position and strategy. It discusses the companies' latest financial figures and gives an overview of their current networks. The report provides details of the product portfolio of Lyca Mobile. It looks at the market in which Lyca Mobile operates as well as its competitors. Furthermore the profile reports on Lyca Mobiles' marketing activities, including its customer strategy. Lastly the profile contains Telecompaper's SWOT analysis of Lyca Mobile Belgium.




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Vodafone posts small drop in H1 EBITDA on fall in German results

(Telecompaper) Vodafone reported higher revenues for the first half of its fiscal year, as growth in Africa and Turkey helped offset the slowdown in its biggest market, Germany...




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1&1 lowers FY revenue outlook again on slow start to mobile network

(Telecompaper) 1&1 has again slightly lowered its estimate for service revenues this year, to EUR 3.31 billion from a previous estimate of EUR 3.33 billion...




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Frontier Fiber Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, Speed and Availability

This fiber provider faces coming changes, so enjoy Frontier's fast speeds, low pricing and simple service terms while you can.




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WOW Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, Speed and Availability

While this cable provider isn’t as well known as others, it still deserves some hype for its solid home broadband offerings. CNET has all the details.




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Vorige week in telecom: Dish, DirecTV sluiten fusieovereenkomst, BouyguesTel signaleert vertraging in mobiele datamarkt

De toekomst van satelliettelevisie staat opnieuw ter discussie nadat de twee grootste aanbieders in de VS, Dish en DirecTV, het eindelijk eens zijn geworden over een fusie...




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Vorige week in telecom: Ericsson, Nokia worstelen zich door tragere capex-cyclus, RedCap komt op de markt en veranderingen bij Tele2

Nog geen tekenen van een opleving in de markt voor netwerkapparatuur, op basis van de kwartaalresultaten van Ericsson en Nokia, terwijl Netflix wist te verrassen met een hogere omzet, zelfs met een seizoensgebonden vertraging in de klantengroei...




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Vorige week in telecom: Big tech floreert met dubbelcijferige groei in Q3; Apple, Samsung veroveren de markt voor premium smartphones

De grootste smartphonefabrikanten waren vorige week allemaal in het nieuws, met kwartaalcijfers van Apple en Samsung en nieuwe toptelefoons van Xiaomi en Honor. De grote Amerikaanse techbedrijven presenteerden ook hun derdekwartaalresultaten, zonder tekenen van een vertraging in hun wereldwijde groei...




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Trump’s Cabinet: Here Are His Picks And Finalists For Key Roles—Mike Huckabee, Kristi Noem And More - Forbes

  1. Trump’s Cabinet: Here Are His Picks And Finalists For Key Roles—Mike Huckabee, Kristi Noem And More  Forbes
  2. Once They Were Neocons. Now Trump’s Foreign Policy Picks Are All ‘America First.’  The New York Times
  3. Trump's top team: who's who?  Hindustan Times
  4. Tracking Trump’s Cabinet picks  POLITICO




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EU to contribute EUR 4.6 mln to Colombia satcom plans

(Telecompaper) The European Union has committed to contributing EUR 4.6 million to assist Colombia in defining a satellite communications scheme, announced the country's Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (Mintic). The project is part of the plan to increase Colombian's internet penetration...




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Forsway obtains ESA funding for Xtend 5G project to combine satellite with ground infrastructure

(Telecompaper) Swedish satellite broadband provider Forsway has announced a development funding contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) with support from the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). Under the Xtend 5G project, Forsway will build a next generation 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) two-way/hybrid...




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Nissan Magnite facelift review: Small changes, big effect

It’s been nearly four years since Nissan brought the Magnite to India, and the compact SUV has shouldered the responsibility of establishing the Japanese brand's presence in the country. The X-Trail is a recent addition, serving more as a brand statement than a bread-and-butter model. Over the past six months, Nissan has despatched more than 12,000 units of the Magnite to its dealers (over 2,000 units every month) and has exported over 30,000 made-in-India models to international markets in the past four years.That the compact SUV will have to soldier on here, combined with the company's aim to export nearly 1 lakh units to 65 left-hand and right-hand-drive markets by 2026, underscores that a lot is riding on this facelift.

Nissan Magnite facelift: exterior, design

While the changes to the Magnite facelift’s design may seem insignificant when seen individually, together they add a dose of ruggedness to the compact SUV. The addition of a piano black appliqué that connects the grille and headlights makes the former look larger. The front bumper gets contrasting silver bits that protrude slightly, adding to the muscular appearance and also serving as fog light housings.

Facelift gets a more muscular-looking facia.

The new, smart-looking dual-tone 16-inch alloys add some freshness to the sides of the Magnite. The tail-lights get new 3D LED signatures that are quite attractive. Also, the Sunrise Copper Orange exterior colour is new and suits the Magnite well, especially with the contrasting black roof.

Nissan Magnite facelift: interior

It’s a similar story on the inside – there are small changes, but the effect is notable. The Magnite facelift’s cabin looks and feels far more premium, thanks to the copper-coloured leatherette finish on the dashboard and door panels, especially compared to the outgoing model’s nearly all-black plastic finish. The steering now gets an all-black finish that contrasts well with the dash, and the seats in the top-spec Tekna+ variant come in dual-tone copper-black leatherette covers that help keep one’s back and bottom cool, especially in conjunction with the strong automatic climate control system.

Leatherette on the dash and doors uplifts cabin tremendously compared to outgoing model.

However, not everything is perfect. The new ambient lights do add to the ambience, but the execution could have been a bit more seamless. In addition, the steering column is visible in the footwell, and the accelerator and brake pedals are placed a little too close together.

In terms of practicality and comfort, the Magnite facelift retains its ability to carry four passengers with ease – though three seated abreast in the back will find shoulder room lacking – and comes with a 336-litre boot, which is good enough for a couple of large suitcases, and expands to 690 litres with the rear seats folded.

Multi-colour ambient lighting feels a bit like an afterthought.
 

Nissan Magnite facelift: features

The faceliftcomes with a slightly expanded feature list. The Magnite has always been a well-equipped compact SUV, and it now adds goodies like engine remote start, auto headlights, an auto-dimming IRVM (the frameless unit picks up fingerprints and smudges too easily), a cooled glove box, and a USB C-Type port for rear passengers. The updated 7-inch digital instrument cluster is less gimmicky than that of the outgoing model, yet it displays the same amount of information, making it a welcome upgrade.

Updated 7-inch digital instrument cluster is less cartoon-ish, a welcome change.

The standard safety kit on every Magnite variant includes six airbags, three-point seat belts for all passengers, ISOFIX anchors, ABS, traction control, a tyre pressure monitor, and a hill-start assist. The higher Techna and Techna+ variants also get a 360-degree camera, which doesn’t have the best resolution but works effectively.

Nissan Magnite facelift: performance, ride and handling

The Magnite is still offered with either a 72hp, 1.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine or a 100hp, 1.0-litre turbo-petrol unit; we’ve driven the latter, and it’s just as enjoyable as before. This three-cylinder unit has a strong mid-range punch and works well with the smooth CVT to mask any lag at lower revs. Speaking of the CVT, at low and medium engine speeds, there’s barely any of that typical ‘rubber band’ effect, but if you drive with a heavy right foot, it will set in. Cabin insulation has improved marginally, but the three-pot engine’s clatter is still audible, and it gets boomier as the revs rise.

Punchy turbo-petrol and relatively light weight make the Magnite quicker than you'd expect.

At slower speeds, there is an underlying firmness to the Magnite’s suspension setup, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable at any point. On the highway, the suspension does a much better job of filtering out road undulations, making it an able cruiser. What also helps is the steering that weighs up as the speeds rise, and the 195/60 tyres offer a decent amount of grip, instilling confidence when going through twisty ghat sections. On the other hand, despite doing a good job, the brakes don’t lend as much confidence as they should as the pedal feel is mushy, and there’s some slack before the brakes bite.

Nissan Magnite facelift: price, verdict

On the face of it, it may seem like not much has changed with the Magnite facelift, but that’s not true. It retains all the qualities of its predecessor –brilliant design, comfort, a sporty feel, and a well-equipped interior, all with an attractive price tag– while showing marked improvements in areas such as interior ambience and feel-good features.

 

Other than the visible cost-cutting and the lack of a sunroof at this price point (models such as the Venue, Nexon, and XUV 3XO offer one at the Rs 11.50 lakh that this top-spec Tekna + variant retails for), the Magnite is a more than competent package, especially when one considers that you pay just Rs 23,000 more for it compared to the outgoing model’s top-spec trim. The Magnite model should help Nissan maintain a foothold in India, at least for the near future.

All prices, ex-showroom, India

Also see:

Nissan Magnite: new versus old

Nissan Magnite facelift price, variants, features explained




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Bikes, scooters headed to India from EICMA 2024

EICMA 2024 was packed to the gills with new products showcased by a number of major manufacturers. Here are all the important models that were shown there and will be coming to India.

Aprilia

When Aprilia came out with the RS 457 last year, it was only a matter of time before the Tuono 457 came out. This year, Aprilia finally revealed the small twin-cylinder Tuono and it is what we expected it to be, an upright RS 457. Where Aprilia has diverted from its own recipe, is in the fact that the Tuono 457’s headlight is different from the RS. We expect the Tuono 457 to come to India sometime early next year and it will be made at Aprilia’s Baramati plant. Expect it to be priced a little lower than the RS 457, which is currently priced at Rs 4.10 lakh.

Aprilia also showcased its big bike line-up with the new Tuareg Rally as well as updating the Tuono 660, RS 660, Tuono V4 and RSV4 models for 2025. We expect these bikes to be launched in India come next year.

Also See: Aprilia Tuono 457 breaks cover at EICMA 2024

BMW

The Concept F 450 GS from BMW previews a new road-legal ADV from the Bavarian brand, with the production version slated to arrive in 2025. This is widely expected to be the second engine-platform that the TVS-BMW partnership yields. As such, we can expect competitive pricing due to local manufacturing when the BMW F 450 GS goes from concept to reality. After the adventure-tourer, a roadster and even a sportbike could join both brands’ line-up.

Also See: BMW Concept F 450 GS previews future small-capacity ADV

Ducati

The first models to be powered by Ducati’s new liquid-cooled, 890cc, 90-degree, V-twin are the 2025 Panigale V2 and Streetfighter V2. At 120hp, peak power has gone down significantly from the 150+hp that the Superquadro-powered bikes make; these new V2 bikes are also substantially lighter. Styling changes, on the other hand, are evolutionary not revolutionary and we expect these new models to be launched in India sometime in 2025.

Also See: New Ducati Panigale V2, Streetfighter V2 revealed at EICMA 2024

Hero

Hero showed four new models at EICMA, three ICE bikes and one electric scooter. Arguably, the most exciting of the lot is the Xpulse 210, which uses the Karizma XMR’s motor and repurposes it into an adventure bike. Hero also debuted a new 250cc motor which will power two bikes – the Xtreme 250R and the Karizma XMR 250. All three bikes are expected to come to India next year.

Hero also showcased a new electric scooter called the Vida Z, with which it will lead its charge into the European market. 

Also See: Hero Xpulse 210 revealed at EICMA 2024

Honda

Honda also showcased a new electric scooter called the CUV e:, which will go into production next year. The CUV e: has two removable batteries and a range of ‘over 70km’. It remains to be seen if this model comes to India or its architecture is adapted for the Indian electric scooter from Big Red.

Alongside the CUV, Honda also updated the Transalp XL750 and Hornet CB750 models with a new front design, revised suspension damping settings and a couple of new colours. Since the Transalp is already sold here, we expect this updated model to come to India soon enough. 

Also See: Honda showcases electric scooter, e-bike concepts at EICMA 2024

KTM

The 390 Adventure R, 390 Enduro R and 390 SMC R were all shown at EICMA and are made by Bajaj. We expect at least the Adventure to be launched in India, if not all three. KTM recently overhauled its entire big bike line-up with new additions to both the 990 and 1390 families, and it is also working on getting its big bikes to India, so expect some of the premium Austrian bikes to come, too.

Also See: KTM 390 Adventure R, 390 Enduro R image gallery

Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield recently launched the Bear 650. It also showed the new Classic 650 Twin at the show, with an India launch expected in February 2025. Alongside its petrol models, the company also debuted its new EV brand, called Flying Flea, which showcased the C6 electric bike.

Also See: Royal Enfield Classic 650 Twin review: All-Time Classic?

Which of these bikes are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments section below.




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Structuring it BIG

The Indian Institute of Interior Designers, Bengaluru Regional Chapter recently hosted the Copenhagen and New York-based Architectural Practice, Bjarke Ingels Group, known widely as BIG, writes Nandhini Sundar



  • Homes and gardens

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Design’s cycle of rebirth

Orange Tree and Raw Collaborative launch a regenerative initiative with Raw Foundry for students



  • Homes and gardens

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Tuticorin’s The Billy O’Tea House features nautical elements and designs with salvaged coastal wood

Crafted using underwater coastal wood and other nautical elements, The Billy O’Tea House in Tuticorin is an ode to the coastal town



  • Homes and gardens

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Intel Denies RMA Request For Core i9-14900K CPU Witnessing Instability Issues Due To Use of Liquid-Metal Thermal Paste



  • HardForum Tech News

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Hero Xpulse 200T 4V: An ideal bike for the daily grind

While it may not be deemed fit for hard-core bikers and offroading, it does come across as a strong contender for regular commutes




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Suzuki rolls out seven millionth bike in India

Suzuki Motorcycle India manufactures the V-Strom SX, Gixxer SF 250, Gixxer 250, Gixxer SF, Gixxer, Access 125, Avenis, Burgman Street and Burgman Street EX entirely in India.




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QJMotor SRK 400 a powerful bike for a high price

The bike does win when it comes to its look and sound, but, is that enough?




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The new Nissan Magnite comes with big updates at the same price

Nissan Motor India has launched the new Nissan Magnite at a special introductory price of INR ₹5.99 lakhs, positioning it as a strong contender in the competitive subcompact SUV segment




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Watch | What is unique about Hyderabadi Biryani?

Its flavour and aroma are a combination of the quality of ingredients — the cooking method, and as in all things creative, the experienced hand of the Khansama, meaning cook.  




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Chennai’s biryani ‘masters’ are experts at cooking massive feasts for thousands of people

Chennai loves its biryani. We meet three celebrated cooks from the city’s biryani hubs: Triplicane, Royapuram, and Periamet




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Karnataka’s Kunbi women farmers hope to bring climate-resilient tubers to urban dining tables

Nestled within the buffer zone of the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve and the Karwar Territorial Forest Division, the Kunbi community hopes to find a new market for their climate-resilient tubers as indigenous ingredients in city chefs’ menus




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The Hindu’s day-long curated walk highlighting Chennai’s Biryani

This biryani tour began at 8 a.m. To celebrate Madras Day, The Hindu organised a day-long curated trail to highlight the unique varieties of this city favourite’s dish. For those of you who could not join us, here’s the list




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Korma, bada gosht, biryani: Here’s what to order at The Ambur Canteen in Chennai

The Ambur Canteen serves a variety of flavours that its founders grew up on, including recipes from their mothers, grandmothers and cooks




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Why India loves gobi manchurian

It may be banned in Goa, but the batter fried cauliflower is part of Indo-Chinese cuisine’s rich history, harking back to the British Raj. And it has plenty of fans




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This Ramzan, Chennai offers Arabian, Hyderabadi and Vegan Iftar boxes

There is a wide range of affordable Iftar take away boxes including vegan, and special Arabian and Hyderabadi dishes are made available on the menu in some restaurants in Chennai throughout the month of fasting




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Circars Bistro: A new hub for American and continental cuisine in Visakhapatnam

Circars Bistro, Visakhapatnam’s newest American and continental dining space, offers a smorgasbord of offerings for the palate




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Teen infected in Canada’s first bird flu case is in critical condition - The Washington Post

  1. Teen infected in Canada’s first bird flu case is in critical condition  The Washington Post
  2. A Canadian teen is in critical condition with what is believed to be bird flu  The Associated Press
  3. Teenager in critical condition with Canada’s first human case of bird flu  The Guardian
  4. H5N1-infected teenager now in ‘critical condition’ say Canadian doctors  The Telegraph
  5. Canadian teen with suspected avian flu in critical condition  University of Minnesota Twin Cities






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Booker Prize Is Awarded to Samantha Harvey’s ‘Orbital’ - The New York Times

  1. Booker Prize Is Awarded to Samantha Harvey’s ‘Orbital’  The New York Times
  2. Samantha Harvey wins the Booker prize for “Orbital”  The Economist
  3. ‘This is a book we need now’: Sara Collins on choosing this year’s Booker winner  The Guardian
  4. Orbital by Samantha Harvey: the Booker prize-winner set to go 'stratospheric'  The Week
  5. The inconvenient truth about this year’s Booker Prize winner  The Independent






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16 Forbidden Doors Hiding Dark Secrets

Doors are usually mundane, but these 16 different doors all hide terrible secrets behind them. Or do they?




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Trump’s Vision for Flying Cars Gains Credibility with Addition of UFO Expert

Trump's flying car initiative gains momentum as UFO expert Dr. Michael Salla signals potential involvement, bringing advanced aerospace expertise to ambitious urban development plan.




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Search Interoperability Standards

The E-Government Act of 2002 calls for the U.S. Federal Government to enhance interoperability by adopting a common search standard. The Categorization of Government Information Workgroup has just finished the second version of their Statement of Requirements for Search Interoperability...




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Gender, Race, and Intersectional Bias in Resume Screening via Language Model Retrieval

Kyra Wilson, Aylin Caliskan, Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, Nov 13, 2024

The topic of AI-based recruitment and hiring has been discussed here before and research continues apace. This item (13 page PDF), despite the characterization in GeekWire, is a fairly narrow study. It looks at three text-embedding models based on Mistral-7B-v0.1, and tests for gender and racial bias on applications containing name and position only, and name and position and some content (the paper discusses removing the name but does do it). The interesting bit is that intersectional bias (ie., combining gender and race) is not merely a combination of the separate biases; while separate biases exaggerated the discrimination, "intersectional results, on the other hand, do correspond more strongly to real-world discrimination in resume screening." Via Lisa Marie Blaschke, who in turn credits Audrey Watters.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]




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Watch: Ambitious robot learns to clean bathroom sink by watching

Michael Franco, New Atlas, Nov 13, 2024

The depth and detail in this paper (8 page PDF) are daunting, but the gist, as summarized in this post, is straightforward: provided only with observations of a human cleaning (" using a so-called instrumented tool, which is a standard tool equipped with additional sensors") the front of an ordinary sink, a robot arm learn to clean entire sinks with varying surface topology. "The model implicitly learned the correct
tool orientation and position w.r.t. the freeform 3D surface." Michael Franco speculates, "a fleet of robots could learn the basic moves from each other through what's known as 'federated learning' and then they could apply those moves to their individual, specified tasks."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]




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How I ship projects at big tech companies

Sean Goedecke, Nov 13, 2024

I remember a phrase from some technical conference a number of years ago: "quality ships." If you ever wondered what this means, this article is for you. It describes what it is to 'shop' a software product, and the sorts of concerns the person responsible has in order to ensure the project ships. After all, the default status for any project is 'not shipped'. There will always be something that could be added, something improved. The idea is to get it in front of as many ideas as possible, deal with the issues, earn the confidence of management, and deliver the result. Via Ben Werdmuller.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]




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NARA to Bid Electronic Records Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has released their Request for Proposal (RFP) for its Electronic Records Archive project. The eight-year performance-based ERA contract could be worth about $122 million.




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Check Accessibility from Your Toolbar

Steve Faulkner recently released a tool for Internet Explorer called the Accessibility Toolbar. It provides one-click access to accessibility validators and has features that go beyond simple accessibility checks.




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E-Bikes For Preparedness

These days, it seems like everyone is into emergency preparedness, or at least wants to think they are. Whether it’s a fear of natural disasters, the communists, the fascists, or even the space aliens, there is no shortage of content these days on social media, blogs, and YouTube. But, we ... [continued]

The post E-Bikes For Preparedness appeared first on CleanTechnica.




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Exploring the Luckeep X2: A High-Performance Urban E-Bike for All Terrains

This Luckeep X2 Stormtrooper E-Bike is Awesome We’ve tested a lot of electric bikes. I like some for certain reasons, others for other reasons, and some I really don’t care for much at all. I have to say that one thing I’ve found over the years is that e-bikes seem ... [continued]

The post Exploring the Luckeep X2: A High-Performance Urban E-Bike for All Terrains appeared first on CleanTechnica.




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Colombia EV Sales Report: 1000 Sales Surpassed in October, Country Reaches 6.4% EV Market Share!

Colombia’s EV market is booming. As I said a couple months ago, we’re not only seeing significant YoY (year over year) growth (as we are in several other markets, including Costa Rica, Uruguay, Mexico, and Brazil), but we’re also looking at “bursts” of demand that lead to significant MoM (month ... [continued]

The post Colombia EV Sales Report: 1000 Sales Surpassed in October, Country Reaches 6.4% EV Market Share! appeared first on CleanTechnica.




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The Domestic EV Supply Chain Is Getting A Big Dose Of Synthetic Graphite

Stellantis is the latest US electric vehicle stakeholder to firm up its EV supply chain with synthetic graphite produced in Tennessee.

The post The Domestic EV Supply Chain Is Getting A Big Dose Of Synthetic Graphite appeared first on CleanTechnica.




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The Extraordinary Traction & Torque of LANKELEISI MG740PLUS Dual-Motor Electric Bike — CleanTechnica Tested

Following Hurricane Helene, I had difficulty getting a dual-motor e-bike shipped to me in Asheville that I so wanted to review. So, as it went back to the company after more than a week of not being able to be delivered in devastated Western North Carolina, they shipped me another ... [continued]

The post The Extraordinary Traction & Torque of LANKELEISI MG740PLUS Dual-Motor Electric Bike — CleanTechnica Tested appeared first on CleanTechnica.




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How Networks Of Ocean Sensors Can Improve Marine Weather Predictability

What difference would it make to be able to unlock ocean data at scale? How would deploying hundreds of marine sensing platforms improve marine weather predictability and accuracy? A company named Sofar is answering some of those questions these days due to their capacity to use real-time data to improve ... [continued]

The post How Networks Of Ocean Sensors Can Improve Marine Weather Predictability appeared first on CleanTechnica.