Technology News Era

If you read a lot of tech news, you’d think we’re merely months away from being able to hail a robotaxi in Europe. Unfortunately, this will be wrong: because those articles are most likely talking about projects in North America. The EU approach to autonomous ridesharing and ride-hailing is vastly different to the US. So, we had a simple question: when will we be able to catch a robotaxi and Europe? And why can’t we yet? Currently, there are robotaxis (and a small number of roboshuttles) in the US, but only roboshuttles in Europe, terms we’ll define later. This difference… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/QjMD1rG

Amidst rising climate concerns and the current energy crisis, European oil companies are trying to pivot from fossil fuels to renewable power — and spending a huge amount while doing so. Most recently, British/Shell agreed to buy Europe’s biggest biogas producer, Denmark-based Nature Energy, for €1.9 billion. As part of the deal, the oil giant will acquire Nature Energy’s 14 industrial plants and an international development pipeline of about 30 plants across Europe and North America. This comes one month after rival BP announced its $4.1-billion plan to buy Archaea Energy, a US-listed biogas producer. What is biogas? Biogas —… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/wZkQyqE

When it comes to B2B products, it’s all about building relationships, something that can be challenging for startups entering traditional industries like rail. But over the last few years, the rail industry has reached out to startups to provide a way to gain their insights and draw them into its ecosystem. Examples of these initiatives include the UK’s Rail Innovation Group — an incubator for rail startups — and Deutsche Bahn’s DB Mindbox. Since 2015, the latter in particular, has organised hackathons and supported more than 150 startups with their proof of concept, 60% of which continue their business cooperation… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2tLKrnk

Suddenly finding yourself unemployed is a precarious position to be in, and not even severance pay can take the sting out of the confidence knock a lay-off brings. The unprecedented tech layoffs that have occurred in recent weeks at the likes of Meta and Stripe have sent shockwaves through the industry, as thousands of workers brace themselves for the task of finding a new role in a less buoyant job market. However, the industry as a whole remains stable. In fact, according to a report by Gartner, IT expenditure is expected to increase by 5.1% and hit $4.5 trillion by… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/qWr5OHP

When British director Scott Mann’s latest film, Fall, was on the precipice of receiving an “R” rating from the MPAA over the number of “F” bombs dropped over its one hour and 47-minute run time, he did what any reasonable person would: he used artificial intelligence to digitally alter the actor’s performances in order to change the swear words into more palatable terms. A stroke of fricking genius, if you ask us. For those who are curious: about 35 “F” words stood between a PG-13 rating and an R rating. Mann’s dilemma, then, became trying to figure out how to… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/Gyvg0uz

When learning a different language, the easiest way to get started is with fill in the blank exercises. “It’s raining cats and …” By making mistakes and correcting them, your brain (which linguists agree is hardwired for language learning) starts discovering patterns in grammar, vocabulary, and word sequence — which can not only be applied to filling in blanks, but also to convey meaning to other humans (or computers, dogs, etc.). That last bit is important when talking about so-called ‘foundation models,’ one of the hottest (but underreported) topics in artificial intelligence right now. According to a review paper from… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/E7P9Gns

All around the world, governments are investing in public transport to reduce car use and create a greener world. And, now, Eastern Europe is going all in with the rail infrastructure project Rail Baltica. Rail Baltica aims to integrate the Baltic States within the European rail network. It’s one of Europe’s most substantial investments to improve mobility and travel options, and it’s the largest Baltic-region infrastructure project in the last 100 years. The project includes five European Union countries — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and, indirectly, Finland. It will connect Helsinki, Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevežys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw. But… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/IoLCrKy