Samsung has announced that they're launching a special S Pen specially made for its foldable phones like Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold. Other than that, Samsung has kept mum over the S Pen details like its Bluetooth capabilities, pressure sensitivity, precision etc. Just FYI - Samsung has confirmed that it won't launch a new Note at this event.

New type of magnetized cement promises roads that can charge your EVs while you drive. This new type of cement called magment consists of cement and recycled magnetic particles called ferrite. Magment, the German company that makes this cement says that the cement can deliver 95% wireless transmission efficiency. The company wants to test the capability of magment to charge EVs at 200KW+ power on the go.

Fifty years ago, on July 26, 1971 NASA launched the Apollo 15 mission. It was NASA's 9th crewed mission and also the first one to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle - a battery-powered 4-wheeled rover built by Boeing. The LRV had a restricted range of about 9.5 Km from the lunar module; and was designed to operate for a total of 78 hours during the lunar day (which lasts for about 29 days). These cars were left parked on the surface of the moon to wait for the next generation of astronauts.

Starliner's first attempt to go to the ISS in 2019 had resulted in failure. However, Boing is now ready for its second test flight on July 30th. The Starliner will be mounted atop Atlas V rocket; and there will be no crew inside. NASA and Boing are testing Starliner's capabilities. NASA is aiming to have Boing's Starliner along with SpaceX's Crew Dragon ready for ferries to the International Space Station.

Alphabet, the owners of Google believe that the industrial robots need better software to make them easier to use, flexible and cost-effective. Wendy Tan-White (CEO, Intrinsic) wants the modern production lines to make sense of and adjust to the surrounding environments. Google had acquired Boston Dynamics - but sold it to SoftBank (*who sold it to Hyundai in 2017 🙄 *); to make better robots. Intrinsic is currently looking for partners in electronics, healthcare and automotive domains.

While the rest of us seek comfort in N95; LG has upgraded its PuriCare mark with a microphone and speaker. Without making direct references to COVID-19, LG brought its air purifying technology to the mask. The mask incorporates VoiceON technology that detects when the wearer is talking and amplifies voice automatically. LG claims that PuriCare can eliminate 99.7% of viral particles. Overall weight of the mask has been reduced to 94 grams.

China has developed the world's fastest bullet train - capable of running at 600 km/hr. The train can have between two to ten cars, each holding up to 100 passengers. The Japanese aren't behind in the race; and have already developed and tested a train capable of 603 kmph. It's not clear when will these trains be available to public. Given the advancements in high-speed rail-tech; we wonder if Hyperloop will face a competition.

"Ziggy" - is the new vocal command you can issue to Amazon's voice assistant; and it will respond with a masculine voice. Amazon has had "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon" and "Computer" as their wake-up words for years. Amazon won't specifically associate "Ziggy" with masculine and "Alexa" with feminine responses. You'll be able to configure them to your listening pleasures by asking Alexa/Ziggy to "Change your voice". Amazon's competitors - Apple Siri and Google have offered multiple vocal options for long time. Both Ziggy and Alexa identify themselves as man or woman; but "AI".

Samsung has scheduled the Galaxy Unpacked event on August 11th; with a big hint that they'll launch the next foldable phones. Several blogs are hinting at sequels to Z Flip and Z Fold 2 phones and there won't be a new Note. We are not sure if Samsung's closing its Note series in favor of folding phones. We're likely to see a new Galaxy Smartwatch as well. Stay tuned!

It looks like the PlayStation 5 digital edition is set to lose some weight - about ~300 grams, if you care. According to the new listing on Japanese e-commerce site Nojima - the new PS5 will also use an easy-to-use thumb screw for the console's stand. However, that's the only change in the new console; everything else remains the same.

British carmaker Aston Martin has launched 'Valhalla', the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The car boasts of 4L twin turbo V8 engine; supported by a pair of 204_PS electric motor. Valhalla's speed is capped at 330kmph and it's capable of going from 0-100kmph in 2.5s! Just FYI - the IC engine is provided by Mercedes-Benz. Did that surprise you?

Hubble telescope has resumed its operations after a month-long break. The NASA team had halted the operations after an issue with the payload computer. The data collection was stopped and all the other on-board instruments were placed in safe mode. All these instruments are now operational. Hubble's spent 31 years in space; but NASA expects that it will last many more years.

Japanese engineers have achieved 319Tbps data transfer speed using optic-fibers; paving the way for 6G. A 4-core optic-fiber cable was used to fire 552-channel comb laser at multiple wavelengths using rare earth amplifiers.

The experiment was done inside lab; but the research team used a coiled fiber to simulate 3000 Km distance without losing signal quality or speed.

Teachmint lets teachers create digital classrooms with few taps on their mobiles and claims to have amassed over 1m teachers in the last 12 months. The company has now raised $20m in fresh round of funding from Learn Capital and CM Ventures to expand to new geographies and categories. Teachmint had raise $16.5m as series A just about two months ago. Mihir Gupta, one of the co-founders says that Zoom and Google Meet are great services for talking to people - but they do not cater to specific needs of teachers and students.

Almost 70% of Ford EV customers claimed that they missed the fine smell of petrol. Ford's offered a fix in the form of a premium petrol fragrance called "Mach-Eau". The company claims it's designed to please the nose of any wearer. The company surely takes customer satisfaction seriously. We wonder if there will be a fragrance for the Diesel lovers.