Specifically, European startups in the sector have raised over €488 million — and that’s excluding the €855-million debt funding round attracted by Berlin-based unicorn Enpal. Notably, 86.4% of the amount has been injected in German-based startups, including 1Komma5°, Zolar, Sunhero, Enpal, Einhundert, and Sunvigo. 1Komma5° has received the highest funding throughout the year at €200 million. Founded in 2021, the company has secured high-tier investors such as Porsche and is introducing an interesting business strategy: aggregating individual companies that offer solar services and bundling them together....

But a voluntary experiment has begun, as organizations navigate the new landscape of hybrid work, combining the best elements of remote work with time in the office. Yes, there is some push for a “return to normal” and getting workers back into offices. But ideas such as food vouchers and parking discounts are mostly being proposed by city councils and CBD businesses keen to get their old customers back. A wide range of surveys over the past 18 months show most employees and increasingly employers have no desire to return to commuting five days a week....

Colorful iMacs Although we knew iPads were expected at the event, the biggest announcement was arguably the unveiling of a new suite of iMacs with a sleeker, thin-bezel design and, most importantly, a whole array of colors. I mean, just look at these things! I’m very excited that colorful desktop computers are about to come back into vogue, but the new iMacs represent a big jump in performance too. Unsurprisingly, they’re powered by Apple’s custom M1 chip, which means they should offer a major performance boost compared to the previous generation when running optimized software....

Let’s take a look at what’s new in iPhone 13 cameras. iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini While the specifications of the main lens remain the same, Apple has adopted the new 1.7µm pixel size as compared to 1.4µm in the iPhone 12 camera. This will result in photos with better details and texture. Apple claims that the new pixel size will allow the sensors to capture 47% more light....

The sustainability status quo The 1.5-degree pathway outlined in The Paris Agreement demands we halve emissions by 2030, and eliminate them altogether by 2050. This will be a challenge for any industry, but when you consider that transportation is one of the biggest polluters globally, you start to understand our uncompromising attitude. If we’re to reach net-zero by 2050, we have to innovate and then eliminate cradle-to-gate C02e emissions. A big ask....

Smart Home Tech Adoption Rates on the Rise Credit: Pexels.com It’s estimated that the smart home market was worth around $24.1 billion in 2016. That number is anticipated to balloon to $53.45 billion by 2022, when 7 million households (or roughly 55 percent of all homes) will have smart speakers and other products installed in their living spaces. According to a separate set of research, 54 percent of American consumers plan to purchase a smart home device of some sort within the next year....

According to the New York Times, which cites anonymous executives from seven of Facebook’s partners, some of the companies are being cautious about associating themselves too closely with Libra due to the company’s ongoing issues with regulators. The technology giant made headlines last week after it announced Libra’s upcoming launch and revealed its 27 partners, including Mastercard, Uber, and Visa. Not long after that, Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the House of Financial Services Committee, set hearings to look into Libra more closely and told the company to cease the project’s development until questions were answered....

It never hurts when you’re not only one of the most popular games in town, but also one of the most respected. For the past 30 years, Rosetta Stone has grown from tiny upstart company to an acknowledged leader in language learning apps. And with their position as a trusted, reliable teacher of foreign languages have come the accolades — and there have been loads. Mashable called Rosetta Stone “the gold standard when it comes to learning a new language,” while the Wall Street Journal called it “the next best thing to living in a country....

Milk goes off because of microbial growth that occurs over time, emitting increasing amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – such as aldehydes and ketones – that change the liquid’s flavor and smell. The researchers’ invention is premised on the idea that if we could detect these compounds as they accumulate, it would cue us on when milk has reached its peak. To do this as cheaply and efficiently as possible, the researchers created something called a ‘colorimetric sensor’ made from just two ingredients: Schiff’s reagent, a substance which changes color when it detects volatile organic compounds; and silicon dioxide, a mineral which can be ground down into nanoparticles, creating a large surface area and a suitable substrate....

The City of Peachtree Corners in Gwinnett County, Georgia has launched a new solar roadway system that produces energy for an electric vehicle (EV) charging station at city hall. Separately, the city has also revealed a new EV fast-charging plaza for up to 16 vehicles. The plaza is the inaugural project in Peachtree Corners’ new EV strategy, which could serve as a model for other cities. The solar roadway is on a section of an autonomous vehicle test lane in the city’s Curiosity Lab real-world testing environment and has been provided through a partnership with The Ray, a non-profit proving ground in Atlanta....

Judges in Munich ruled yesterday that the electric car company can no longer use phrases such as “full potential for autonomous driving” and “Autopilot inclusive” in its German advertising materials, Reuters reports. [Read: Take a look at the officially unveiled BMW iX3] According to the court and the Wettbewerbszentrale, the country’s anti-competitive practice regulator, the claims Tesla makes about its supposed self-driving systems amount to misleading business practices. They might even lead Tesla buyers to thinking their vehicle is far more capable than it actually is and may lead to accidents as we’ve seen in other countries....

DevOps is everywhere. And while it’s an interesting trend, it should be fitted to products, not the other way around. But some people don’t see it that way. I’m often asked questions such as: “Do you think we should start using Docker, or jump straight into Kubernetes?” Such questions are meaningless without even knowing what the product is about. All those fancy terms—cloud, Kubernetes, containers, configuration management, Infrastructure-as-Code—promise some improvement....

Just like everybody else, we’re always prowling for the most useful, powerful new apps to trick out our iPhone or Android device. Thankfully, the holiday shopping bug strikes app sellers as well, meaning some of the biggest, baddest apps around are now available at rock bottom Black Friday prices. With offers slashing hundreds of dollars off each of these five deals, this is probably the best time all year to lock in some of the most vital security, productivity and personal growth apps anywhere at the lowest possible cost....

A commitment to landing atop Google search rankings is like trying to bullseye a moving target. And let’s be honest — lining up just the right keywords while leveraging just the right set of Google algorithm variables to land ahead of everyone else on SERP (search engine results pages) can be almost equal parts luck and magic versus study and game-planning. However, TNW has been telling you this forever: the lack of a sound SEO strategy all but guarantees the luck and magic parts won’t happen....

One day it suddenly became possible to chat with anyone anywhere across the globe, and everything changed. Soon you were able to read about any obscure topic that came across your mind while buying a book or shoes or virtually anything you wanted from the comfort of your living room or office. It was like a totally new world to explore that sprang from our own. It was magical. It was an adventure....

When gyms, pub gardens, and non-essential shops reopened today, the COVID-19 app was supposed to have a new feature that would log every place that a user checked into. If they later tested positive, the app would inform other people who’d been to that venue. But this collection of location data is prohibited by Apple and Google, who developed the decentralized API model on which the app is based. The update has therefore been blocked from Google Play and the App Store....

The search giant said that after listening to the developer feedback it’s giving more time to them to integrate Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for subscription payments in their apps: This means the app in the Indian Play Store won’t have to pay 30% fees to Google for in-app purchases till that date. Currently, UPI allows for recurring payments on select apps. The company is allowing developers more time to integrate that into their app....

David Baker, who led the engineering team for Google Trust and Safety, said he was resigning after more than 16 years because Gebru’s departure had “extinguished [his] desire to continue as a Googler.” Software engineer Vinesh Kannan has also left the company. He tweeted that Google’s treatment of Gebru and diversity recruiter April Christina Curley “had crossed a personal red line.” — Vinesh Kannan (@vineshgkannan) February 3, 2021 Gebru is a widely-respected AI ethicist, who’s best known for a landmark study on race and gender biases in facial recognition systems....

This comes after weeks of being locked out of her work accounts over an investigation related to Mitchell’s objections concerning the controversial firing of her fellow co-lead Timnit Gebru. — MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) February 19, 2021 According to a Google spokesperson, the investigation into Mitchell concerned alleged sharing of internal company files: The firing of Timnit Gebru sent shockwaves throughout the AI community. It’s been widely viewed as a move to remove voices of dissent when those voices, world renowned ethicists hired specifically to investigate and oversee the ethical development and deployment of Google’s AI systems, don’t say what the company wants to hear....

You can scan a sign through Google Lens and it’ll show you translated text in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, or Telugu. With this feature, you can also listen to the translated text. Plus, you can also tap on any of the translated words to trigger a Google search. This feature is quite useful when you’re in a region where you might not recognize signs or menus in local languages. It’s available to all users in India using Google Lens for Android or iOS....