All posts tagged: infrastructure

Best of How To: The Infrastructure of Community

Published by skeptic

Listen and subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts This episode, from our fourth season, called How to Talk to People, features host Julie Beck in conversation with Eric Klinenberg and Kellie Carter Jackson to explore how both physical spaces and cultural practices affect our ability to connect with one another. The following is a transcript of the episode: [Music] Megan Garber: Hey, it’s Megan Garber, one of the co-hosts from How to Know What’s Real. We’re excited to share with you a special series drawn from past seasons of the How To series. For the next few weeks, we’ll be revisiting episodes around the theme of winding down. This episode is from Season 4, How to Talk to People, and is called “The Infrastructure of Community.” Building a network of friends and support can feel elusive, but in this episode, host Julie Beck and producer Becca Rashid investigate how to slow down and build meaningful connections. [Music] Julie Beck: I think what I’ve observed in public spaces, especially in my …

Universal Plug-and-Charge for EV Charging Stations Is Set to Launch in 2025

Published by skeptic

To fill a car with gas, you generally just need a credit card or cash. To charge an EV at a DC fast-charging station, you need any number of things to work—a credit card reader, an app for that charger’s network, a touchscreen that’s working—and they’re all a little different. That situation could change next year if a new “universal Plug and Charge” initiative from SAE International, a group of EV carmakers and chargers, moves ahead and gains ground. Launching in early 2025, the network could make charging an EV actually easier than gassing up: Plug in, let the car and charger figure out the payment details over a cloud connection, and go. Some car and charging network combinations already offer such a system through a patchwork of individual deals, as listed at Inside EVs. Teslas have always offered a plug-and-charge experience, given the tight integration between its Superchargers and vehicles. Now Tesla will join the plug-and-charge movement proper, allowing Teslas to have a roughly similar experience at other stations. The Electric Vehicle Public Key …

Strategic spatial plan to transform UK energy infrastructure

Published by skeptic

The UK Government is accelerating its mission to become a global clean energy superpower by developing a comprehensive plan to reshape the nation’s energy infrastructure. This strategic move to optimise UK energy infrastructure is designed to fast-track the transition from fossil fuels and create a robust, sustainable energy system that benefits both the economy and the environment. Minister for Energy Michael Shanks explained: “To help drive growth and investment in our clean energy future, we need to provide investors with the long-term certainty and stability that they have been crying out for. “That’s why we need a more strategic approach to our energy system, ensuring we can quickly scale up investment in the right infrastructure where we need it to keep costs down and speed up our transition to clean power. “Delivering the country’s first-ever spatial plan will be a major milestone for our new public energy body.” Long-term stability for investors and communities To ensure the UK’s energy transition is smooth and sustainable, the newly formed National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been tasked …

The Floating Doctors: Mobile medicine comes to Panama’s jungles | Health

Published by Sam

‘A true blessing’ At the conclusion of the second day of the clinic, the tired volunteers walk down a muddy hill to bathe in the cold waters of a nearby river, as there are few available showers in the village. They towel off, have a warm dinner and string up their hammocks for a final night. Over the past two days, beneath the tropical heat and rain, they saw 133 patients and provided assistance and treatment for a number of maladies, from lesions and diarrhoea to fevers, cysts and pregnancy concerns. “As a doctor, you’re always facing an uncertain and challenging environment where you’re questioning yourself,” says Dr Geoff McCullen, an orthopaedic surgeon and professor at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This week, I think our students learned they can face uncertainty, they can face challenges, manage these complexities simultaneously and be decisive about what a patient needs.” Iryna Hrynyk, a Floating Doctors volunteer from the United States, and Federico Criado Rota, a volunteer from Argentina, attend to a patient with …

Intuitive Machines lands .8B NASA contract to build Earth-Moon communications infrastructure

Intuitive Machines lands $4.8B NASA contract to build Earth-Moon communications infrastructure

Published by skeptic

NASA wants to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, but right now, astronauts have to be in direct line of sight with Earth to phone home. The space agency is looking to change that with its developing Near Space Network, and it’s willing to pay potentially huge sums to private companies to help make continuous lunar communications a reality. Those plans got a boost today when NASA announced it had awarded Intuitive Machines a contract to build and deploy a satellite constellation capable of providing navigation and communications for future missions on or around the Moon. The Houston-based company is best known for pulling off the first-ever private Moon landing in February. (That mission was cut short after the lander tripped on a rock and landed on its side, but it still counts.) The company sells a rideshare service to the Moon, but payloads can only transmit data when in direct line of sight with a ground station. The task order contract for the Lunar Relay has a maximum potential value of $4.82 …

AMD to acquire infrastructure player ZT Systems for .9B to amp up its AI ecosystem play

AMD to acquire infrastructure player ZT Systems for $4.9B to amp up its AI ecosystem play

Published by skeptic

AMD, the chipmaker hot on the heels of Nvidia, today announced a big acquisition to boost its position as an “ecosystem” partner for companies building big AI businesses: it is acquiring ZT Systems, which provides compute design and infrastructure for AI, cloud and general purpose computing, for $4.9 billion. The deal is a mix of cash and stock and includes a contingent payment of up to $400 million if certain performance metrics are met. The plan is to incorporate ZT Systems’ computing infrastructure design business. AMD said it will look to sell ZT Systems’ data center infrastructure manufacturing business to “a strategic partner.” Based in New Jersey, ZT Systems has been privately-held since it was founded in 1994, and has disclosed only one external funding round — it raised $850 million in debt in 2023, according to PitchBook. It works closely with big chipmakers such as Nvidia and Intel across areas such as server solutions for storage, GPU/accelerators, high-performance computing, 5G, and edge computing. AMD said the deal will give it a deeper bench of …

US House Panel to Hold Hearing on Maryland Bridge Collapse

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a May 15 hearing on the federal government’s response to the collapse of a Baltimore bridge. The Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six people. The hearing will include Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy and senior officials with the U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers. The NTSB is expected to announce preliminary findings from the investigation next week. Last month, Homendy said investigators had conducted interviews with key cargo ship personnel in the investigation including the pilots, the second officer – who was the man on watch at the time of the crash – and other key personnel, as well as U.S. Coast Guard personnel. The NTSB has downloaded the voyage data recorder and brought in the manufacturer of equipment in the engine room to closely examine the electrical power system work. The NTSB is also looking at the circuit breakers and has tested the fuel onboard …

No one reveres you like we do – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

Vučić also stressed that, when it comes to cooperation with Beijing, “the sky is the limit.” Serbia stands out as an early adopter of Chinese investments in Europe, such as the construction of the Pupin Bridge in 2013. Since then, investment initiatives have surged, including extensive infrastructure projects such as highways, the Smederevo Ironworks and the Zijin Mining Basin. However, this expansion has come at a cost to Serbia, which has amassed a debt burden of around €3.7 billion, due to the common practice of Chinese investments being bundled into loan schemes. It is also the sole European nation to acquire Chinese HQ-22 “Hong Qi” or Red Flag air defense systems, which has raised eyebrows due to the difficulty of integrating them into its existing weapons systems. Xi stopped in Belgrade after two days in France with President Emmanuel Macron, and before a trip to Budapest to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — like Vučić, another thorn in the West’s side. Swapping Russia for China Xi’s arrival was met with stringent security measures which effectively …

M25 weekend closure: drivers told to stick to diversion to avoid London Ulez charges | Infrastructure

Published by skeptic

Drivers tempted to bypass the official diversion for this weekend’s M25 motorway closure have been warned of potential ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) charges if they stray off course. The London orbital motorway is having its second ever planned closure, with a busy stretch in the south-west closed in both directions for works, potentially bringing long delays and congestion for thousands of drivers. National Highways has urged motorists to avoid travel if possible or stick to the official diversions. Drivers of non-Ulez-compliant vehicles entering the clean air zone will not be charged as long as they stay on the marked route, but will otherwise be liable for the £12.50 charge if they follow their satnav for an attempted shortcut. Only petrol vehicles more than 18 years old or diesels more than nine years old are normally liable for the charge, which was expanded to cover the whole of Greater London last year. The M25 will be closed in both directions between junctions nine and 10 in Surrey from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday while …

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All posts tagged: infrastructure

Best of How To: The Infrastructure of Community

Universal Plug-and-Charge for EV Charging Stations Is Set to Launch in 2025

Strategic spatial plan to transform UK energy infrastructure

The Floating Doctors: Mobile medicine comes to Panama’s jungles | Health

Intuitive Machines lands $4.8B NASA contract to build Earth-Moon communications infrastructure

AMD to acquire infrastructure player ZT Systems for $4.9B to amp up its AI ecosystem play

US House Panel to Hold Hearing on Maryland Bridge Collapse

No one reveres you like we do – POLITICO

M25 weekend closure: drivers told to stick to diversion to avoid London Ulez charges | Infrastructure