technology – Page 2

Elizabethtown College sends used computer technology overseas to Ukrainian students in need | Local News

June 2, 2023 Audrey

Elizabethtown College sent a mix of 93 used computers, screens and mice off to Ukraine to help students without necessary technology for their education.

All levels of education in Ukraine have been greatly disrupted by the war, said Andrew Kinsel, founder and owner of the Ukranian nonprofit organization, Ukraine Protection and Development Fund. His organization is facilitating the donation of Elizabethtown College’s computers to Ukrainian students.

The students need donations to replace technology that is often stolen or damaged by Russian soldiers.

Kinsel said in an interview with LNP | LancasterOnline Thursday that a computer that might not be the top of the line in the U.S. is like “gold” for Ukranians – and, it’s a good method of recycling, “Ecologically it’s good… it’s taking junk and giving it to somebody that really needs it.”

Approximately 17 million people have been displaced, roughly 62,000 have died and more than 140,000 buildings have been destroyed in the war Russia waged against Ukraine since February 2022, according to Reuters news agency.

‘I want to cry’: 2 Lancaster County residents with ties to Ukraine react to Russia attack

In fact, the war has hindered education for 5.3 million children in Ukraine, according to UNICEF, and those who could flee could take very little with them – especially not a laptop or computer.

Students in Ukraine are attending school amid air raids and artillery fire, which can make study impossible, Kinsel said.

“I have been in schools in areas liberated from Russian occupation where the roof was damaged, walls shot or all the computers stolen,” Kinsel wrote in a Facebook post. “Universities have suffered rocket attacks and Ukrainian language books burned.”

Multiple efforts, one fund

Kinsel started the Ukraine Protection and Development Fund in May 2022, shortly after the current fighting broke out. Adopt a School, the program Elizabethtown College participated in, is one of the organization’s efforts.

Two Lancaster County men partner with an Ephrata church to provide aid for Ukrainian refugees

Though he’s not sure how many students the organization has helped specifically, Kinsel noted that one computer can help five to 10 students in Ukraine. In some parts of the country no more than five students can gather in one spot to prevent themselves from becoming targets of artillery fire.

Adopt a School is just one program of the Ukraine Protection and Development Fund. Through its other efforts – Generators for Life and Computers for the Front – the organization also donated more than 1,000 pieces of electronic equipment to soldiers on the front line, raised over $500,000 to supply body armor to military units and has donated over 100 electric generators to villages damaged by the Russians.

Kinsel has been living near Kyiv, Ukraine, since 1992. A Houston, Texas, native, Kinsel originally came to Ukraine while interning in the U.S. Embassy there during his time studying at American University in Washington, D.C.

He was planning to return to America that summer but instead, he began working with a startup media

March 2023 – Satellite Technology of the Year Nominees for 2022

March 19, 2023 Audrey

Each year, Via Satellite magazine and its readers recognize a handful of technologies for either their notable level of innovation, their contribution to the development of the space and satellite industries as a whole, their influence on global events, their notable success in the market, or a combination of these achievements. We’ve nominated six standout technologies for our 2022 Satellite Technology of the Year Award, representing a wide range of products and services in connectivity, imagery, software, and emergency services. The 2022 list also includes our first nomination of a technically non-satellite company.

The winner of the award will be determined by a public vote combined with the votes of the Via Satellite editorial board. The winner will be announced during the Via Satellite awards luncheon on Wednesday, March 15, at the SATELLITE 2023 conference in Washington, D.C. Voting is open online from Feb. 22 to 12 p.m. on March 14 and can be accessed at satellitetoday.com/vote. Here are the 2022 Technology of the Year nominees.

Apple iPhone 14 with Emergency Satellite Messaging

There have long been suspicions and rumors that the Apple iPhone could eventually be a satellite device. Each new iteration of the iPhone came with whispers: “Will this be the one?” This is now a reality. With the iPhone 14, Apple brought life-saving emergency text messaging to the world’s most popular handheld device, via satellite. The service is already operational and making an impact. When the service officially saved its first life, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, BBC, and hundreds of other leading cable news shows ran with it as a top story.

To make this difficult satellite-to-cell connection possible, Apple designed and built custom components and specific software and algorithms so that iPhone 14 antennas can connect to the unique frequencies of satellites. It also built ground infrastructure to take data packets relayed from a satellite to emergency services. Apple even built an infrastructure for message relay centers to send critical information to emergency crews when local emergency response infrastructure is not able accept texts, to ensure the service is always available. The company is making a large investment of $450 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to support the infrastructure for the service, and has done a lot of work behind the scenes to make this service a reality.

Apple has the money to invest in its own satellite network, and keeping technologies in-house has been a cornerstone of Apple’s corporate culture. Yet the company made the decision to go with an external partner Globalstar, with an existing satellite network. Via Satellite recognizes this as an extraordinary decision because it brings a much-needed technology to market faster, saving more actual lives today than potential lives in the future. Apple is recognized for the design and implementation of the texting service on such a widely distributed platform. With the iPhone 14 satellite emergency messaging, Apple is bringing a life-saving technology to the masses and raising the profile of what is possible with satellite technology.

Astrocast Satellite IoT

Spotify DJ: AI-Run DJ Music Function Works by using OpenAI Technology

March 15, 2023 Audrey

Spotify has place a robot DJ into its app — a computerized tune-spinner with a “stunningly realistic” voice that queues up music dependent on your musical preferences and listening history.

The beta model of DJ is rolling out in English setting up Wednesday for Spotify Top quality customers in the U.S. and Canada.

Spotify, of system, already has many personalised-listening characteristics crafted into the assistance, including with its Every day Blend and Discovery Weekly car-created playlists. What is different about DJ is that it combines Spotify’s personalization engineering with generative AI by way of the use of know-how from OpenAI (the business at the rear of ChatGPT chatbot). Spotify claims it set the AI tech in the hands of its audio editors “to deliver you with insightful facts about the music, artists or genres you are listening to,” in accordance to the organization.

Also, just like a human DJ, Spotify’s DJ supplies ongoing commentary about the tracks and artists it’s enjoying. The characteristic works by using an AI text-to-speech engine from Spotify’s Sonantic acquisition final calendar year. To build the voice design for the DJ in its first release, the corporation turned to its head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, who earlier served as just one of the hosts of Spotify’s initially (and personalized) early morning demonstrate, “The Get Up.” Jernigan’s voice is the to start with product for the DJ, and “we’ll keep on to iterate and innovate, as we do with all our items,” Spotify claimed.

Centered on your tunes-taste profile, the Spotify DJ will scan new releases that it predicts you will like or resurface music that you have experienced on repeat in the earlier. The function also continuously refreshes the lineup primarily based on your responses. If you aren’t into the playlist that the DJ is actively playing, you can click on on the “DJ” button to skip to the up coming genre or mood.

The new characteristic is “a generative, expressive and realistic AI DJ that provides a personalized lineup of new music and commentary to every user, for all people situations you really do not know precisely what you want to hear,” Spotify chief R&D officer Gustav Söderström tweeted.

How to uncover the Spotify DJ:

Go to your New music Feed on Residence in the Spotify mobile app on your iOS or Android unit.
Tap Engage in on the DJ card.
Which is all! The DJ will stream a lineup of personalize audio alongside short commentary on the songs and artists.
To change the style, artist or mood, you can strike the DJ button at the bottom proper of the monitor.

Observe Spotify’s introductory movie for DJ:

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‘Technology lanes’ could be coming to Central Expressway HOV

March 9, 2023 Audrey

The “Technological know-how Lanes” may well be the reply to congestion, underneath-utilization, and an exploding electric powered and low-emission vehicle industry.

COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — It is difficult to consider that U.S. Freeway 75 was the moment a two-lane two-way highway. Now, it really is 1 of the most used highways in the Metroplex. The exponential inhabitants development and improvement up north make it a very important aspect of mobility strategies.

“Training and mobility are the two biggies for why individuals appear to regions. If website traffic is definitely terrible they’re not coming,” said Duncan Webb, a Collin County Commissioner and Chair of the Regional Transportation Council. For 4 a long time, he’s waited for the working day to announce plans for U.S. 75 HOV lanes.

The under-utilized HOV, high occupancy car, lanes of U.S. 75 between LBJ and Allen will be transformed to a a single-of-a-variety lane known as the “Technological know-how Lane.” Webb tells WFAA the job was funded two many years in the past.

The lanes will be common-function lanes for all autos. But, for the duration of morning and evening rush for two hrs heading south and two hours heading north Monday via Friday, the lanes will be for higher-occupancy automobiles, small emission and electric powered automobiles. This means Central Expressway will go from four standard intent lanes to 5 lanes apart from for in between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“It truly is about time. Great career. We ought to be there simply because we’re aiding with the surroundings,” explained Terri Hurst who was charging her Tesla along U.S. Freeway 75.

The designs essential federal acceptance since the HOV lanes ended up funded federally with air good quality funds. Webb tells WFAA that the Regional Transportation Council, TxDOT, and FHWA (Federal Freeway Administration) have mentioned much more than a half a dozen options to make improvements to congestion and decrease less than-utilization of the lanes.

These lanes will be a initial for Texas. And, for Duncan, finally an reply to the a lot of issues about the a long time.

“Not only do I see the pylons but it’s empty but, of class, that is annoying me,” he claimed. Webb tells WFAA that any stalled-out autos on HOV lanes are quite tough to transfer due to the fact of the pylons.

Beneath these new lanes, the flexible plastic pylons will be long gone for very good. The pylons can be uncovered in various stages of disrepair mainly because motorists have regularly operate more than them to enter and exit the lane.

“You will find not several of the standup plastic cones still left,” laughed Steve Cochran.

The new technological innovation lane will be striped like a frequent line, but thicker.

“It’ll just be a dash. You can go in and out in and out whenever you want. Richardson is ecstatic when I threw this proposal out,” explained Webb. The city of Richardson presently does not have any entrances alongside

Impression | Badly out-of-date technology plagues the IRS

February 27, 2023 Audrey

Remark

Sixty-4 decades outdated. Which is the age of the technological innovation that pieces of the Inside Profits Service at the moment depend upon to approach tax returns. It’s time to retire it.

As the IRS has lurched from disaster to disaster in new a long time, quite a few of its woes have come to be nicely recognised: It answered only 13 % of phone calls last year. It has a paperwork backlog that features hundreds of thousands of unprocessed returns. It is beset by ongoing staffing shortages, notably the fewest auditors due to the fact World War II. There is been some enhancement. The IRS has hired 5,000 more personnel to remedy phone calls and drastically minimized the backlog, but big difficulties continue being.

The Post’s View: The IRS has challenges. They aren’t the types Republicans complain about.

Its out-of-date know-how has but to be resolved. A new Federal government Accountability Place of work (GAO) report highlights just how dire the IT predicament is. Not only are the programs and hardware historic, but some of the program it makes use of are up to 15 versions driving the recent a single. “These legacy property will go on to contribute to stability dangers, unmet mission requirements, staffing difficulties, and improved costs,” the GAO concludes.

A key challenge is the “Individual Grasp File” that has been in use given that 1970, when Richard M. Nixon was president and the Chevrolet Chevelle was a incredibly hot auto. They both equally are extended long gone, but the Person Grasp File is still the key databases to gather and keep taxpayer information. It was developed with antiquated programming languages COBOL and Assembly. The IRS says it eventually updated some code final year, but COBOL stays in use. Till the learn file is fully modernized, it will keep on being a colossal task to get genuine-time facts on refunds and processing position to taxpayers, not to point out guarantee the newest safety and fraud safety measures. The concentrate on day to solely change the learn file is now 2030, but the GAO warns it’s not likely the IRS will fulfill that deadline. (The IRS declined to supply a new date to The Put up.)

This is unacceptable. Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act previous year, giving the IRS virtually $80 billion to make improvements to functions. Half that cash is for much more auditors to go after corporate and high-earning tax cheats, but about $30 billion is for increasing standard services, which includes IT and staffing. These upgrades are urgently wanted. Property Republicans are erroneous to endeavor to strip away this funding, but lawmakers in equally parties should press for speedier effects.

Catherine Rampell: Why does the IRS need to have $80 billion? Just search at its cafeteria.

Tax filing period is underway and there have presently been problems. The IRS advised persons to wait to file their returns if they lived in about 22 states that despatched

SkyWater CEO Expands ‘Technology Foundry’ Design

November 23, 2022 Audrey

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SkyWater Technological innovation CEO Thomas Sonderman is developing a new sort of chip foundry that shifts onerous multi-billion–dollar fab investments to buyers who bear most of the expense.

The only 100% U.S.-owned foundry was created in 2017 just after private equity trader Oxbow Industries obtained Cypress Foundry Alternatives, a subsidiary of now-defunct Cypress Semiconductor, and mounted previous AMD government Sonderman at the helm of the new enterprise.

By generating a “technology-foundry model, we went after this sweet place of the customization/quantity hole that expected a ton of innovation,” Sonderman instructed EE Times in an special job interview. “It also permitted us to market place ourselves as distinctive than just an additional specialty foundry.”

Sonderman stated he’s pursuing startup consumers that are dismissed by major Asian foundries like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung Foundry. SkyWater also functions with huge gamers like Google, which is creating a new open-source solution to chip style and design.

“The vast majority of SkyWater’s profits has been from ‘technology as a service’ or from clientele with substantial R&D budgets,” Gartner Exploration VP Sam Wang told EE Times. “Recently, SkyWater has available an open up-supply PDK

and MPW [multi-product wafer] products and services, and they are now interesting to quite a few new customers with modest R&D budgets.”

SkyWater also has a crucial consumer in the U.S. Office of Protection (DoD), which has created the organization a trustworthy provider as component of the Defense effort and hard work to generate a secure source chain in the U.S.

Subsequent the Minnesota fab that SkyWater received with the Cypress acquisition, the organization extra an current Florida facility in 2021 and this 12 months announced a new $1.8 billion fab in Indiana. The 1st two fabs make 200-mm wafers, and the Indiana facility may possibly make both of those 200-mm and 300-mm wafers.

SkyWater aims to fill the hole involving ideation of a resolution to a trouble and the realization of that strategy in a actual physical solution, TechInsights vice chair Dan Hutcheson explained to EE Moments.

“They are performing it with a distinctive set of capabilities that have been presently there in Minnesota at a scale compact plenty of to give improved service and be far more cost-productive than a significant-scale foundry,” he stated.

In the next two yrs, SkyWater aims to become a single of a few foundries giving consumers commence-to-complete wafer fabrication and chip assembly in the U.S.

“The objective is to carry the most advanced, heterogeneous-integration engineering to the U.S., beginning on a 200-mm platform,” Sonderman stated. “We’re operating on wafer supporter-out packaging. There’s also a wafer-bonding technology with hybrid bonding technological know-how that we license.”

As Covid locked the environment down, SkyWater began an innovative packaging operation in Florida, TechInsights’ Hutcheson mentioned. “They realized a new know-how from thought to silicon and onto a packaged gadget ready for insertion.”

The notion that a chip foundry really should consider all the chance of investing