Ample raises $160M to scale its battery swapping service | TechCrunch

August 20, 2021August 19, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

San Francisco-based Ample has raised a $160 million Series C to scale its battery swapping service, the largest round yet for the 8-year-old startup that wants to completely rethink how we use electric vehicles.

Ample’s approach is relatively straightforward: Cars equipped with the company’s modular battery pack can drive into one of Ample’s automated charging pod locations and swap out their depleted batteries for ones that are fully charged. The swapped-out batteries are then recharged in the pod and ready to be reinserted into another vehicle.

The T-Mobile Data Breach Is One You Can’t Ignore | WIRED

August 19, 2021August 16, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

NOT ALL DATA breaches are created equal. None of them are good, but they do come in varying degrees of bad. And given how regularly they happen, it’s understandable that you may have become inured to the news. Still, a T-Mobile breach that hackers claim involved the data of 100 million people deserves your attention, especially if you’re a customer of the “un-carrier.”

As first reported by Motherboard on Sunday, someone on the dark web claims to have obtained the data of 100 million from T-Mobile’s servers and is selling a portion of it on an underground forum for 6 bitcoin, about $280,000. The trove includes not only names, phone numbers, and physical addresses but also more sensitive data like social security numbers, driver’s license information, and IMEI numbers, unique identifiers tied to each mobile device. Motherboard confirmed that samples of the data “contained accurate information on T-Mobile customers.”

9 Simple Ways to Transform Your Morning Routine and Boost Productivity | Entrepreneur

August 19, 2021August 16, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tim Ferriss makes his bed, meditates, does push-ups, writes in his journal and drinks water.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s morning ritual takes three hours to complete.

The way you start your morning often dictates how the rest of your day goes. Smart entrepreneurs know they need to take advantage of this important period of time to maximize their energy levels, maintain focus, increase their productivity and prime themselves for a busy day.

Consider adopting any or all of the following nine morning ritual strategies for a more productive day.

Minka Solar Pods provide versatile off-grid work or chat hubs | Inhabitat

August 18, 2021August 16, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The worlds of business and leisure are changing at an exponential rate, and keeping up with the times means making space for slowing down. London-based design studio Duffy London understands the need for comfortable and functional gathering spots with off-grid functionality as an alternative to the local coffee shop or boardroom for small get-togethers.

Building on the prior success of its indoor Japanese-inspired Minka Pods and Retro Pods, the company has released the outdoor-only Minka Solar Pods, which are designed to break up open spaces with cozy seating for up to four people.

Student-Design Home-Fire Suppression Device | Cool Business

August 17, 2021August 15, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most of us can’t afford homes with fire-extinguishing sprinklers built into the ceiling … and that’s where FACE is designed to come in. It’s a self-contained, heat-activated fire suppression device that’s mounted in the user’s home, wherever it’s most likely to be needed.

Its name an acronym for Fire Activated Canister Extinguisher, FACE was invented by San Francisco high school student Arul Mathur. He tells us that he was inspired to create it after moving from New Jersey to California, where he discovered firsthand just how much of a threat fires pose to people’s dwellings.

“I heard about the hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated their homes every year to flee from wildfires, but I never thought that I could be one of those people,” he says. “Finally, in the summer of 2019, a wildfire threatened to force my family to evacuate our home. At that moment, it became personal. I knew that I needed to do something about it.”

T-Mobile is investigating a reported data breach. It sounds real bad. | Mashable

August 17, 2021August 15, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

T-Mobile customers may want to brace for some bad news.

The mobile service provider is investigating a reported data breach that may have exposed the private info of more than 100 million people. The would-be perpetrator is apparently trying to sell off a portion of the data, Vice noted in a Sunday report.

The site spoke with the anonymous author of a forum post offering up roughly one-third of the T-Mobile USA customer data in exchange for 6 bitcoins (worth a bit less than $280,000 as of Aug. 15). While it could all be BS, Vice was able to look at samples of the data and confirm that the seller has “accurate information on T-Mobile customers.”

The new $2.6 million Lamborghini Countach is a hybrid – CNN

August 16, 2021August 15, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Lamborghini has unveiled a brand new $2.6 million supercar with a very familiar name: the Countach.

The original Lamborghini Countach, unveiled as a concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971, made the Italian automaker world famous. The new Countach, unveiled at an event during Monterey Car Week in California Friday, celebrates the 50th anniversary of that debut.

In many regards, the new Countach is a direct descendent of the original. It has a V12 engine, directly behind the two seats. And, like every Lamborghini sports car since the Countach, it’s shaped like a low-profile wedge.

Why do turtles live so long? | Live Science

August 16, 2021August 15, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, there lives a creature that Guinness World Records has dubbed the “world’s oldest animal on land.” His name is Jonathan, and he’s a giant tortoise. According to Guinness World Records, Jonathan was 187 years old in 2019. Born in 1832, during the reign of Queen Victoria, he was already 80 years old when the Titanic sank deep into the North Atlantic.

Jonathan and other giant tortoises aren’t the only turtles that live a long time, said Jordan Donini, a professor of biology and a turtle ecologist at Florida SouthWestern State College. Sea turtles can live 50 to 100 years, and box turtles can live more than a century, he told Live Science. In fact, scientists don’t know the upper limit on many turtle species’ life spans, simply because individual humans don’t live long enough themselves to find out.

What Are Location-Based Services? | businessnewsdaily.com

August 13, 2021August 12, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Location-based services use real-time geodata from a smartphone to provide information, entertainment or security.

Location-based services rely on consumers’ smartphones to provide interactive opportunities and targeted advertisements.
Location tracking is conducted with GPS data, Wi-Fi data, cellular tower pings, QR codes and RFID technology.
Location-based services include ridesharing service Uber and popular mobile game Pokemon Go.
This article is for business owners who want to learn more about location-based services and how they can use local user data for their businesses.

6 Ways to Find Fitness Motivation | Life Hack

August 13, 2021August 12, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Are you struggling to find the motivation to stick to a workout routine? Well, you’re not alone, whether you’re drained from a job, exhausted with a newborn, intimidated to start or outright lazy, the truth is motivation is easily lost when life gets tough or you don’t work at it on a regular basis. How many new year’s resolutions did you break every February after promising yourself to stick to an exercise plan? Well, many reasons can account for breaking your promises to yourself and you’re going to find out 6 ways to find the fitness motivation you need to get you back on track.