DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine was behind what it described as a “terrorist attack” and that all eight were intercepted. Several buildings in Moscow were damaged, and some residents were evacuated early Tuesday, the city’s mayor said. At least two of the drones crashed into residential towers, Russian state media reported, citing state emergency services. It was the 17th assault on the city this month, a spate of attacks that has taken a toll on residents. On Monday, Kyiv was targeted with 11 ballistic missiles shortly after 11 a.m.

☆ As Russia Claims Victory in Bakhmut, Ukraine Sees Opportunity Amid Ruins
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia’s claim of victory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. But what comes next is far from clear. While Moscow is trumpeting a “Mission Accomplished” moment in its war, Ukraine — even as it insists Bakhmut has not completely fallen — sees an opening to seize the initiative from the city’s outskirts if Russian forces are no longer pressing forward inside the city’s center. Russia’s capture of Bakhmut would be a powerful symbolic success for Moscow. Thousands of troops from both sides are believed to have been killed in nearly a year of intense fighting there.

Russia’s claim of victory in Bakhmut suggests that the brutal urban combat that marked the deadliest battle of its war in Ukraine might be over. Those gains will allow Ukrainian troops to continue raining artillery on Russian forces trying to hold Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian officials. A battle on May 6 breached Russian lines south of the village of Ivanivske and forced Russian soldiers into a disorganized retreat. Image Ukrainian soldiers west of Bakhmut after rotating out of the city, this month. A Russian capture of Bakhmut “will mean nothing, actually,” predicted Colonel Serhiy Hrabsky, a commentator on the war for the Ukrainian news media.

Mr. Zelensky, American and British officials say, seems to sense that when he shows up in person, he can both break through American resistance to sending more powerful weapons and pressure nations like India and Brazil that have stayed on the sidelines. Even before he arrived, Mr. Zelensky had won a significant victory. Mr. Biden met with the other leaders of the so-called Quad — Australia, India and Japan — on Saturday night. Mr. Zelensky will also meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan on Sunday, the Kyodo News agency reported. The G7 leaders have already pledged at the summit to toughen punishments on Moscow and redouble efforts to choke off funding for its war.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailAmazon drones make 100th delivery, lagging far behind Alphabet's Wing and Walmart partner ZiplineAmazon says its Prime Air drones recently completed 100 deliveries in two small U.S. markets. Meanwhile, competitors like Alphabet's Wing and Walmart partner Zipline have made hundreds of thousands of deliveries, although most of those have been overseas in Australia and Africa. The U.S. is a tough regulatory environment, with strict rules about flying over roads and people and beyond line of sight. Yet some companies have been granted broader certifications. Here's how Amazon fell behind.

☆ As Russia Tries to Pummel Kyiv, a Blast in Crimea Hints at Ukraine’s Reach
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | Matthew Mpoke Bigg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down dozens of Russian missiles in the skies above Kyiv early Thursday, casting flaming debris over the Ukrainian capital on the same day that an explosion derailed a Russian freight train in Crimea, the latest in a series of blasts in Russian-occupied territory. Russia’s railway operator said that “unauthorized persons” were behind the derailment, suggesting an act of sabotage. The Ukrainian authorities, who often do not confirm or deny responsibility for incidents in Crimea or Russia, did not claim any role in the derailment. The missile attack and the explosion in Crimea come as both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for a widely expected Ukrainian offensive aiming to retake occupied land. In anticipation of that campaign, Russia has fired volley after volley of missiles — Thursday was the ninth attack on Kyiv this month — in a long-range effort to demoralize civilians and keep Ukraine’s air defenses tied up away from the front.

Here is a look at the F-16, why Ukraine wants it and why the Biden administration is hesitant to supply it. It has flown in American conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, the Persian Gulf and on homeland defense missions in U.S. airspace. There are approximately 3,000 currently in active military service worldwide, including hundreds in the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Without modern fighter jets, “no air defense system will be perfect,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told European leaders gathered at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, this week. He also said it would be unlikely for Britain, with its “special relationship” with America, to push ahead with trying to provide F-16s if the Biden administration was not at least somewhat on board.

☆ Another Casualty in Ukraine: Teenage Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The yawning crater, carved by a Russian missile strike and flooded with water, cut a jagged path through the middle of a city street. “We could dive in for a swim.”In their baggy sweatshirts, backpacks looped over one shoulder, youths walk the streets of Sloviansk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine, for lack of anything else to do on a spring afternoon. They are living their teenage years in a holding pattern because of the war that rages around them — without prom, graduation ceremonies, movie theaters, parties or sports. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused tremendous direct damage, killing tens of thousands of people and forcing millions of Ukrainians from their homes. But the war has also claimed another casualty: the normal experiences of teenagers like those in Sloviansk who live near combat zones, hanging out in ravaged cities where rockets fly in regularly.

☆ Amazon's 100 drone deliveries puts Prime Air far behind Alphabet's Wing and Walmart partner Zipline
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Wing CEO Adam Woodworth shows the Alphabet company's delivery drone to CNBC's Katie Tarasov on April 25, 2023, in Hollister, California. Walmart said it made more than 6,000 drone deliveries across seven states in 2022 with DroneUp, Zipline and a third partner, Flytrex. Amazon's VP of Prime Air David Carbon showcased the current MK27-2 drone in Westborough, Massachusetts, on Nov. 10, 2022. Prime Air drones, along with most other delivery drones, operate with a number of federal exemptions that greatly restrict where and how they can fly. Prime Air drones are not expected to exceed 58 decibels, according to an FAA assessment, about the noise level of an outdoor air conditioning unit.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhy it is taking California so long to complete its high-speed railIn 2008, California voted yes to build the nation's first high-speed railway. The plan is to build an electric train that will connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in two hours and forty minutes. But 15 years later, there is not a single mile of track laid, and there isn't enough money to finish the project. The latest estimates show it will cost up to $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco. But progress has been made and construction is well underway.

With 4.5 billion passenger trips taken each year and more than 16 million planes taking off in the U.S. every year, aircraft are responsible for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, and the problem is growing. One proposed solution rivals the power of fossil fuels without the emissions — hydrogen. Aircraft giant Airbus is exploring the technology, as are startups ZeroAvia and Universal Hydrogen. CNBC explores hydrogen planes and whether they could fix aviation's emissions problem.

☆ Why Airbus and others are betting on hydrogen-powered planes instead of electric planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Andrew Evers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

One proposed solution rivals the power of fossil fuels without the emissions — hydrogen. "Airbus has been looking at hydrogen for a long time and recently, within the last years, has increased that focus. Airbus announced concept designs for several zero-emission, hydrogen-powered planes in 2020 and intends to test a hydrogen engine on an A380 in 2026. Two startups, ZeroAvia and Universal Hydrogen, are also pursuing hydrogen-powered aircraft. Both have recently completed test flights with regional-sized planes and are hoping to enter the market by 2025.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow sodium-ion technology will compete with lithium-ion batteriesSodium-ion batteries have a similar design to their lithium-ion counterparts and can be manufactured using related methods. Sodium-ion batteries can't provide the type of range for electric vehicles offered by lithium-ion batteries, but they do present some unique advantages. For instance, the materials used in sodium-ion batteries tend to be cheaper than those in lithium batteries. CNBC spoke to two such companies, Natron Energy and Faradion, that are looking to commercialize the technology.

☆ Homemade, Cheap and Lethal, Attack Drones Are Vital to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Buzzing like an oversize mosquito, a small drone lifted off from a farm field in eastern Ukraine, hovered for a bit, then raced toward Russian positions near the battle-ravaged city of Bakhmut. With a pair of virtual reality goggles strapped around his head, he used joysticks to steer the craft and its payload of two pounds of explosives. Cobbled together from hobby drones, consumer electronics and computer gaming gear, handmade attack drones like this one have emerged as one of the deadliest and most widespread innovations in more than 14 months of warfare in Ukraine. Along the front line, drones extend the reach of soldiers, who can fly them with pinpoint accuracy to drop hand grenades into enemy trenches or bunkers, or fly into targets to blow up on impact. Self-destructing drones, in particular, are easily constructed, and thousands of soldiers on both sides now have experience building them from commonly available parts — though the Ukrainians say they use such weapons more frequently than their Russian opponents.

☆ As Putin Bides His Time, Ukraine Faces a Ticking Clock
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Paul Sonne | Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Both armies have tanks, artillery and tens of thousands of soldiers ready to face off on the battlefields of Ukraine in a long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia. But one thing clearly sets the two sides apart: time. If the Ukrainians fall short of expectations, they risk an erosion of Western support. As a result, there is a sense in Ukraine that its war effort faces a ticking clock. “In countries that are our partners, our friends, the expectation of the counteroffensive is overestimated, overheated, I would say,” Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, said in an interview this past week in Kyiv, the capital.

Whatever the provenance of the two drones that approached the Kremlin early Wednesday morning, one thing was clear: The Russian government wanted the world to know about them. The Kremlin made a deliberate choice to quickly make public what it claimed was a drone attack aimed at assassinating President Vladimir V. Putin. It published an unusual, five-paragraph statement on its website that named the Ukrainian government as the perpetrator and asserted the right to retaliate against Kyiv. The Kremlin’s messaging diverged significantly from its response to previous episodes involving attacks on Russia or Russian-occupied territory. Now the question is whether Russia will use the incident to justify more and even deadlier strikes against Ukraine.

CNN —President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden capped South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official state visit with a glamorous state dinner at the White House Wednesday night to celebrate the two nations’ 70-year alliance. May we do it together for another 170 years.”But Biden wasn’t the only leader who took the mic. Following a round of musical performances, his South Korean counterpart joined him on stage to give his own – a karaoke rendition of Don McClean’s “American Pie” – which received a standing ovation from the crowd. The elaborate dinner is the result of weeks of careful diplomatic preparations, with each detail meticulously planned by a team of White House chefs, social staff, and protocol experts. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pose with South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee in front of the Grand Staircase of the White House before an official State Dinner, in Washington, U.S. April 26, 2023.

STARYI SALTIV, Ukraine — The families milled about, greeting one another and exchanging news, or sitting at picnic tables laid with candy, Easter eggs and freshly baked bread, reviving village life in an improbable place: the cemetery. Outside the cemetery’s checkerboard of graves, which were festooned on Sunday with fresh flowers and where children ran about collecting candy, the village of Staryi Saltiv is a grim tableau of ruins. “You can see people are returning to clean the cemetery, and the village is coming back to life,” said Natalia Borysovska, a seamstress whose house was destroyed last year. She had no home to return to after fleeing — but still a family plot to tend. Families spend time in cemeteries each year on the first Sunday after the Orthodox Easter, tidying up graves and leaving food and flowers for their dead loved ones.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow autonomous inventory robots could save retailers billionsOutfitted with cameras and sensors, autonomous inventory robots can verify price signs and look for out-of-stock items. Inventory is one of the biggest challenges retailers face. Missed sales from empty shelves and out-of-stock items cost U.S. retailers $82 billion in 2021, according to NielsenIQ. But an army of inventory robots is being deployed that could help retailers appease angry customers, boost sales and respond to the ongoing worker shortage.

☆ Why Porsche, Mercedes and GM are betting on silicon-anode batteries
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Andrew Evers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Batteries made with silicon instead of graphite — the commonly used material in battery anodes today — have been shown to enable significantly higher energy density and faster charging. Amprius is already working with Airbus , the U.S. Army, AeroVironment and BAE Systems on early iterations of its silicon-anode batteries. Sila Nanotechnologies, which was started by a group of ex-Tesla battery engineers, is also working on silicon-anode technology. Porsche also plans to use silicon-anode technology in its vehicles, and has invested in Washington state-based Group14 Technologies. Watch the video to learn more about silicon-anode batteries and why the auto industry is betting on them.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow silicon could enable cheaper EVs, electric flight and more powerful batteriesLithium-ion battery performance has reached a plateau in recent years, but a breakthrough in battery technology is about to change that. Using silicon instead of graphite, the commonly used material in battery anodes today, enables significantly higher energy density and faster charging. The new tech has attracted the attention of big players such as GM, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Airbus. CNBC spoke with Sila, Amprius and Group14 to learn how the new batteries will transform EVs and more.

☆ ‘A Quick Death or a Slow Death’: Prisoners Choose War to Get Lifesaving Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In Russian prisons, they said they were deprived of effective treatments for their H.I.V. On the battlefield in Ukraine, they were offered hope, with the promise of anti-viral medications if they agreed to fight. About 20 percent of recruits in Russian prisoner units are H.I.V. After he was sentenced to 10 years for drug dealing, the doctors in the Russian prison changed the anti-viral medication he had been taking to control H.I.V. to types he feared were not effective, Timur said.

☆ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on how his big bet on A.I. is finally paying off
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Katie Tarasov | Andrew Evers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNvidia CEO Jensen Huang on how his big bet on A.I. is finally paying offAhead of this year's Nvidia GTC developer conference, CNBC sat down with founder and CEO Jensen Huang to talk about ChatGPT, gaming, the omniverse, and what's next. In this full interview, Huang takes us on the journey of Nvidia, from its early days in a condo to the dominant player in GPUs, gaming, and now A, which is a major focus of GTC this year. Huang also talks about how he handled China export controls, and geopolitical tensions swirling around Taiwan where most of its chips are made.

☆ Cryptocurrency signaling an inexorable change in financial services: Digital asset custody platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCryptocurrency signaling an inexorable change in financial services: Digital asset custody platformAndrew Economos of Hex Trust says cryptocurrency is showing that the digitalization of the economy is continuing to happen.

☆ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's bet big on A.I. is paying off as his core technology powers ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

As the engine behind large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Nvidia is finally reaping rewards for its early investment in AI. Nvidia counts on China for about one-quarter of its revenue, including sales of its popular AI chip, the A100. Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang shows CNBC's Katie Tarasov a Hopper H100 SXM module in Santa Clara, CA, on February 9, 2023. Nvidia founders Curtis Priem, Jensen Huang and Chris Malachowsky pose at the company's Santa Clara, California, headquarters in 2020. "We invented this new way of doing computer graphics, ray tracing, basically simulating the pathways of light and simulate everything with generative AI.

Search resuls for: "Andrew E"

25 mentions found