After pausing sales, closing stores, and being unable to pay its bills, beloved Dutch ebike maker VanMoof has officially been declared bankrupt. Just last week, Dutch courts granted the company a two-month ‘suspension of payment’ to protect it from creditors while it worked with administrators to find a solution. However, yesterday, the court of Amsterdam withdrew the suspension of payment and declared all three of VanMoof’s legal entities in the Netherlands bankrupt. VanMoof’s units outside the country are not affected. Such a swift bankruptcy decision usually occurs in cases where authorities can see that a company has exhausted all available…  


E-bike maker VanMoof declares bankruptcy — what it means for you

Ebike maker VanMoof goes bust, leaving riders in disarray

A research team, led by the University of Cambridge, has developed a novel computer memory design, which promises to significantly improve performance while reducing the energy demands of internet and communications technologies. As per the university, AI, algorithms, internet usage, and other data-driven technologies are estimated to require over 30% of our global electricity consumption within the next decade. “To a large extent, this explosion in energy demands is due to shortcomings of current computer memory technologies,” said first author Dr Markus Hellenbrand, from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. “In conventional computing, there’s memory on one side and…  
  

New computer memory tech could power the AI of the future

Amidst the climate and energy crisis, heat pumps have emerged on the housing heating market as a technology that can replace gas and oil, while lowering the energy bills. Yet, their air compression systems require refrigerants to work. These refrigerants, also known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are amongst the most potent greenhouse gasses. Founded in 2017 and having raised €5 million, French deeptech startup Equium is seeking to provide a more ecological alternative. With this aim, it has developed a novel, acoustic heat pump core that harnesses the energy of sound. The so-called Acoustic Heat Pump (AHP) can cover a household’s heating…

French startup uses Hi-Fi speakers to develop eco-friendly heat pumps

About eight or ten years ago, I was excited about smart fabric and connected textiles —  especially about what the next generation could be once the materials evolved. Now, Microsoft’s got me excited again, and, well, skeptical. This week, the tech giant published a filed patent, called “Smart fabric that recognizes objects and touch input.”  In other words, Microsoft is developing fabric that can recognize and identify objects nearby. So what do you mean by smart fabric? Smart fabric refers to textiles that embed technology such as sensors and conductive thread into the structure and function of the material. In…  

Microsoft’s developed smart fabric that can detect objects and gestures

Nearly a year ago, the tech giant cut the plug on the Android Auto for phone screens for users of Android 12, redirecting them to Google’s Assistant driving mode. Now, Google is shutting down the app altogether. If users of Android 11 and older versions open the app, they’ll see the following, terse message: “Android Auto for phone screens will stop working soon” Here’s a screenshot of my Xiaomi Redmi 11 (running on Android 11), when I open it: The app is still usable, but the message reappears every time it’s activated. And there are no further details as to…

Google is killing Android Auto for phone screens

Apple has long had a strange relationship with gaming. In many respects, the company has happily let competitors like Sony and Microsoft gobble up the lion’s share of the market. Yet, over the past few years, Apple has started to address this gap in its offering. The biggest move Apple made in this space was, of course, Apple Arcade, its mobile gaming subscription. But there are growing signs that the company is looking to build on this, especially with recent revelations it has filed a range of patents for game controllers. The first of these was discovered at the end…

Apple patenting game controllers shows it’s taking the sector seriously

Some of the spiciest news to leave the Apple rumor mill this month tells us the company plans to release a 15-inch MacBook Air. Actually, it might not even be called a MacBook ‘Air,’ but it would at least offer a lighter and cheaper alternative to the 16-inch MacBook Pro for those who would like a big screen on their laptop. It’s not the first time we’ve heard this rumor, but it seems increasingly likely to be true thanks to recent reports by Display Supply Chain Consultants and Apple tipster Ming-Chi Kuo. Unfortunately, such a device might not arrive until…

Apple’s rumored 15-inch MacBook Air is long overdue

Every now and then a story pops up that makes us doubt if we’re not living in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. And today, friends, is every now and then.  Since about two weeks ago, all AEG KMK968000T microwave ovens in the Benelux have stopped working. Caused by a wrong software update, the kitchen appliances have achieved a state that is usually reserved for tech writers: an identity crisis. All of them think they’re steam ovens – ovens with a steaming function. The KMK968000T. Black on the outside, panicking on the inside. The microwaves accidentally received a software update that brainwashed them.…

Faulty update brainwashes AEG microwaves into thinking they’re steam ovens

The metaverse has been here for a long time — it just hasn’t been very good. The term, a conceptual catch-all of interconnected virtual spaces, has surged in the cultural zeitgeist since Facebook changed its name to Meta. Once simply the domain of gamers and niche commercial applications, a mainstream embrace of extended reality seems practically inevitable. The immediate problem with this future — whether you’re excited, apprehensive, or otherwise — is that current extended reality (XR) hardware just isn’t ready for the metaverse. Not for mainstream consumers, anyway. The requisite headsets are too expensive, too bulky, or simply not…

The Magic Leap 2 blurs the line between AR and VR — and it’s beautiful

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We might not see an iPhone mini this year — and that’s a big blow to fans of compact form factors in phones. Luckily though, we don’t have to give up all hope for ‘mini’ models as Asus has FINALLY launched the Zenfone 8z (Zenfone 8 in global markets) in India. It launched in global markets around May last year. I can say given the country was going through a devastating second wave of COVID-19, the company missing the initial launch window makes sense. But it had many months after that to release the device. I used the 5.9-inch device…

Asus’ Zenfone 8z is a ray of hope for fans of compact phones

VR headsets can be bulky beings with some of them going up to 900 grams in weight — that’s more than some motorcycle helmets. Earlier this month, a German man even broke his neck playing a VR game, and while a heavy headset wasn’t directly blamed, that sort of weight on one’s noggin likely was at fault in his injury. Motorola has a new solution to take some weight off your head: the company has developed a 5G smartphone that you could wear around your neck, which will host all the processing hardware needed to power an XR headset. This...

Motorola’s XR neckband looks stupid, but it’s actually pretty smart

A trio of separate research teams from three different continents published individual papers indicating similar quantum computing breakthroughs yesterday. All three were funded in part by the US Army and each paper appears to be a slam dunk for the future of quantum computing. But only one of them heralds the onset of the age of nuclear quantum computers. It’s about damn time Maybe it’s the whole concept of entanglement, but for a long time it’s felt like we were suspended in a state where functional quantum machines were both “right around the corner” and “decades or more away.” But…

Nuclear quantum computing: It’s coming

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I don’t know what to believe anymore. After the MacBook Pro was launched with a notch, it appeared that Apple was doubling down on the design feature. Effectively, the notch was now an integral part of Apple’s brand identity. But that might actually be wrong. They lied to us. According to recent leaks, it looks as though the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro range will do away with the notch and replace it with a “pill-shaped” cut out. If you’re asking what the hell that would look like, here’s a useful guide: Mocked up what a potential iPhone 14 Pro with…

Apple might replace the notch with a cut-out — here’s what it should look like

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The big hot-off-the-presses Apple rumor right now is that the company is not building a metaverse. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, despite aiming to release a mixed reality headset this year, the Cupertino-based tech giant thinks the idea of craftings its own virtual environment is “off-limits.” “Here’s one word I’d be shocked to hear on stage when Apple announces its headset: metaverse. I’ve been told pretty directly that the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to — as they can in Meta Platforms/Facebook’s vision of the future — is off-limits from Apple,” Gurman’s newsletter said. I,…

Apple doesn’t care for the metaverse — and that’s totally fine

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All of us at TNW were over the moon when we heard about Samsung’s new remote powered by a Solar panel last year. Saving us the trouble of hunting for AAA batteries is truly the Lord’s work, so thank you Samsung. This year, the Korean tech giant has upped its remote game by including a new ability: Wi-Fi Charging. Yes, the new remote can literally charge through your routers useless signals that bounce around your house. How cool is that! If you’re thinking about how this magic happens, the answer is RF harvesting, which collects radio waves from devices like your…