Ford hires former Tesla & Apple executive as advanced tech head
Ford has hired former Apple and Tesla executive Doug Field as its advanced technology chief and embedded systems officer. Field, who led the development of Tesla’s Model 3, most recently served as special projects VP at Apple, which reportedly included Apple’s car project.
New Zealand banks, postal service face outages due to cyber attack
The websites of several financial institutions in New Zealand and its national postal service were briefly down on September 8 due to a cyberattack. New Zealand’s Computer Emergency Response Team said it was aware of a DDoS attack that had targeted the organisations. Some of the affected organisations reportedly include Kiwibank, ANZ, NZ Post and MetService.
Apple’s annual launch event to take place on September 14
Apple has sent out invitations announcing that its annual launch event will take place on September 14. The invitation doesn’t provide any specific details, but the company usually announces its new iPhones in September. In 2020, Apple announced iPhone 12 in October due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Robot worms that can feel their surroundings made by UK engineers
A team of engineers from the University of Glasgow has developed robots that can feel their own surroundings. The robots are inspired by the movements of inchworms and earthworms and are capable of a form of proprioception that allows them to squeeze into tight spots. Further, the 4.5-centimetre-long robots can stretch up to nine times their own length.
Russia’s new space station to use AI and robots: Report
Russia’s new space station will operate autonomously to a large extent, using artificial intelligence, as well as include extravehicular robots. Russia wants to build a station whose efficiency factor will be “several orders of magnitude higher than that of the ISS”, Russian space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin reportedly said.
SpaceX’s 1st all-civilian space mission to be launched on Sept 15 with billionaire Jared Isaacman onboard
Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch its first all-civilian, non-governmental space mission called Inspiration4 on September 15 in Florida, US. Inspiration4 will orbit the Earth at 575 km, higher than the International Space Station (408 km), for three days and then splash down into the Atlantic Ocean. The mission will have four people on board, including Shift4 Payments’ billionaire CEO Jared Isaacman.
