Cadillac recently introduced the Sollei , a green concept vehicle which incorporates bio-based materials.  The Cadillac Sollei is an electric luxurious convertible which features interiors made from Fine Mycelium™ by MycoWorks.  The luxury biobased material was grown from mushroom roots.   The material was incorporated into the wireless charging pad, interior door map pockets and behind the screen.   The interior décor is wrapped in unstained wood veneers while the windshields are framed in brushed aluminum.  The Sollei boasts a luxury Manila cream finish, a pale creamy yellow hue that was used in 1957 and 1958 models. The name “Sollei” has root word SOL (meaning sun) and LEI (meaning leisure).  It was Cadillac’s mission to design a vehicle which is representative of an “open-air, leisurely lifestyle.”  Design director, Erin Crossley expressed the vision for the Cadillac Sollei.   “SOLLEI reimagines the discovery of travel, e...

Apple premiered their yearly Apple Event introducing the new Apple Series 9 Apple Watch and the iPhone 15 standard, plus and pro models.  During the event, a commercial was premiered featuring Octavia Spencer, Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), Lisa Jackson (VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives.  This funny commercial saw Octavia present herself as “Mother Nature,” a stern yet comical corporate responsibility officer.  Before Octavia entered the scene, all the officers and workers at the meeting were shuffling around looking nervous and anxious while drinks shook on the table.   We even saw Tim Cook rehearsing the lines that he would repeat to Mother Nature when she entered.   After Mother Nature arrives, Tim Cook, asks her “how was the weather getting in?” Mother Nature then says, “the weather was however I wanted it to be!”   Mother nature reminds Mr. Cook of his promise in 2020—which is to bring Apple’s carbon footprint to zero by 2030. ...

Sophia is a top selling artist, science lecturer and personality.  She creates NFT (non-fungible token) artwork and was recently featured in a Sotheby’s art auction.  The piece entitled, “Sophia Instantiation” sold for 700k.  The piece included a painted self portrait of Sophia and a 12 second mp4 showing how the art work evolved.  The artwork was a collaboration between artist, Andrea Bonaceto and Sophia. The intention of the collaboration was to “explore the possibility for humans and robots to collaborate not only on operational tasks but also on creative efforts.”   I’m sure we’re all wondering how robot Sophia spent her share of the moolah?  It seems these days that Sophia is worried less about money and more focused on her talents and helping the environment.     Sophia was created by Hong Kong based robotics tech company, Hanson Robotics.  Sophia is run using advanced AI (artificial intelligence)...

Is Apple getting ready to reveal a notch-less iphone? The notch is probably the #1 design issue that iphone users dislike the most since its introduction on the iphone X in 2017. The large notch in the middle of the screen takes away from the edge-to-edge display. Placing the notch in the current location of the phone was not a good design idea.   Apple filed for a patent that expands the phone display, eliminates the notch and scrolls from within. When the display expands, the notch suddenly will become hidden.   The patent was recently won on July 20th.  Did iphone users even care all that much for an edge-to-edge display? Probably not, however, it’s possible that Apple may have wanted to introduce a phone that is somewhat similar to their competitors. When Apple removed the physical home button from their phone a few years ago, they received a ton of backlash and they’re probably still receiving it today.  Some users have publicly voiced their opinions a...

It will be exactly 10 years since the death of Steve Jobs on October 5, 2011. Today, I’m remembering someone who I was fascinated with.  Steve Jobs was an iconic tech leader and businessman. Some would’ve described his approaches and beliefs as unorthodox while others would commend him for them. When pondering the question, “What is Apple?” in an interview with Time, Jobs stated:  “ Apple is about people who think outside the box, people who want to use computers to change the world, to help them create things that make a difference ."  He encouraged others to refrain from adhering to dogma and “living with the results of other people’s thinking.”  During his Stanford commencement speech he exclaimed, “ Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. ” He was a firm believer in following one’s own heart and intuition. Steve Jobs was very particular about the way that he ran his company and this characteristic influenced his views a...

Amazon has opened the world’s most advanced grocery store in Ealing, London this week. The grocery store is the first of its kind with no physical cashiers or checkout process. It is literally “walk out the store” grocery shopping. No wallets or cash are necessary. What lines ??? It’s grab and go! It’s the right grocery store for the folks who have little patience. Once inside the store, the shopper will only need a smartphone with an Amazon Go app installed. When the user signs into their Amazon account and scans it upon entry, they will be able to shop freely inside. Amazon uses sensor fusion technology to track the moves of customers and computer vision and algorithms to help with payment and its contactless checkout experience. No matter what a customer picks up in the store, the sensors are all around. It’s even on the grocery store’s ceilings. The app will add the item to the shopper’s “electronic cart” when the item is picked up in the store. If a shopper puts an item back, ...

Congratulations to Carvey Ehren Maigue who recently won the 2020 sustainability award offered by the James Dyson Foundation. The was created as a way to help young people realize their engineering potential. This year the foundation created a sustainability option for their annual award. Carvey is a 27 year old engineer from the Phillipines who developed a system called aureus system technology that uses particles from waste crop (fruit & vegetables) to harvest invisible uv light from the sun. he was chosen from the top 20 award entries. With Aureus System Technology, Carvey is helping to mitigate climate change by allowing a mode for waste to be upcycled and turned into electricity. When asked how his invention was sustainable, Carvey had this to say: "We need to utilise our resources more and create systems that don't deplete our current resources. While AuREUS aims to generate electricity from natural resources, I also want to show that, even if we want to become m...

Researchers at MIT and spinoff company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, are working on a groundbreaking method for mimicking the sun’s energy. This method entails the use of fusion energy to generate electricity. The researchers will be constructing a reactor called SPARC, which, if successfully built, will allow for the powering of a plant that will utilize fusion energy. A successful construction of SPARC will also help to curb climate change in the future. The reactor is only in the earliest stages of development and researchers AT MIT plan to complete it in the next three to four years. Commonwealth Fusion Systems CEO, dr. bob mumgaard, connected with NYT and expressed his goal for the creation of the company. “We’re really focused on how you can get to fusion power as quickly as possible.” It is Dr. Mumgaard’s hope that the company can develop a practical fusion device that will be able to mimick the sun’s energy, with the ultimate result of helping to decrease the global warming c...

Chhooooo Choooo…Apple is coming through! Apple is the latest big tech company to hop on the green environmental train. A few days ago, the company announced that their new iphone 12 will not ship with accessories that are usually included. Apple announced that the wall charger and lightening earpods will not be included in any future iphone releases. The move is supposedly an attempt by the company to lessen their environmental impact, who estimates that 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions will be cut as a result. According to Apple, there are 700 million lightening headphones and 200 billion power adapters already owned by individuals. Apple fan girls and boys are not buying it and some have expressed outrage about this decision. Is this move by Apple truly a move to protect the environment or is it simply to widen their profit margins?! Apple should probably keep their focus on what they can do as a company to reduce their operational footprint rather than take away from thei...