Between highway traffic and underground subway delays, it seems that all of our innovation in the transportation industry has only served to slow us down. But now, there may finally be a way to get out of gridlock. It’s not a car, a plane, or a form of public transportation, but rather something that you may have once deemed suitable only for the very young or very old. Here to prove that scooters are back in vogue (maybe for good) is Ujet, which unveiled its first product, the Ujet electric scooter, at CES.
Combining connectivity with high-performance materials found most often in the aerospace sector, this energy-efficient scooter is not only good for you but good for the planet, too.
“With more of us than ever living in cities, it’s never been more important to make urban environments a place in which people enjoy to live,” said Hugues Despres, CEO, Ujet International. “As a result, Ujet is focused on providing urbanites with great products that help them get around their city with style and ease.”
The smart battery of the Ujet electric scooter comes in two sizes, with ranges of up to 43 miles and 93 miles. All you need to charge either one of these power packs is a standard power socket, and despite their considerable power, they are both about the size of a carry-on suitcase — they’re removable, portable, and rollable, which means you can take them wherever you go. Plus, you won’t have to worry about looking around for a charging station.
The Ujet scooter can be controlled remotely via an iOS or Android app. Whether you need to unlock the scooter, receive directions to where you parked it, or disable it in case of theft, the companion Ujet app can take care of things. Moreover, the app gives users the opportunity to monitor scooter performance including battery level, mileage, saved carbon dioxide emissions, as well as access customer support at a nearby service shop or communicate with a support team member.
To remain as lightweight as possible, the Ujet comes fitted with “the world’s first nano-augmented tire,” constructed with applied TUBALL that contains single-wall carbon nanotubes. This material claims to increase wet and dry grip by a factor of two, helping to increase traction. And thanks to the alloy and carbon composite materials that comprise the Ujet frame, the entire scooter weighs less than 100 pounds.
Be warned, though, this scooter is no plaything — either in function or in price. The Ujet will set you back either $8,900 or $9,900, depending on the selected battery. Ujet will launch first in Europe before coming to the U.S. and Asia in the second half of 2018.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.
Military working dogs charge into places the rest of us would flee. So, I understand why anyone would want to breed tougher, healthier dogs for the job.
Warhound, a new startup from Colossal Biosciences co-founder Ben Lamm and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, has stepped out of stealth with $200 million to clone and gene-edit working dogs for American troops, police departments, and emergency services (via TechCrunch).
AI can describe a picture, identify objects, and answer questions about what a camera sees. But when a blind user needs a quick answer, getting an entire spoken essay about the scene isn't exactly helpful. Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have found that AI-powered visual assistance can leave blind users doing too much work to get the information they actually need.
The study, titled Say It My Way: Exploring Control in Conversational Visual Question Answering with Blind Users, examined how people interact with Be My AI, an AI-powered feature of the Be My Eyes app. The researchers found that users often received lengthy descriptions that didn't adequately address their immediate goals, forcing them to ask follow-up questions or find ways to steer the AI towards a more useful answer.