Category: Technology

Hyundai just announced that its forthcoming Ioniq 5 N electric vehicle will go on sale next March via approved retailers, in addition to officially unveiling the car to US-based consumers at AutoMobility LA. The Ioniq 5 N was first teased back in July, so it’s nice to have a definitive release date, despite the lack of pricing information.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is the company’s first N-branded EV, which is basically a sub-brand dedicated to high-performance vehicles. To that end, this upgraded version of the standard Ioniq 5 EV can go from zero to 60 MPH in just over three seconds, with a top speed of 161 MPH. As a reference point, that older Ioniq 5 maxes out at 115 MPH. The dual motors of the Ioniq 5 N create 641 Horsepower (478 kW) with the proprietary N Grin Boost engaged.

This is an electric vehicle, so the battery requires some attention. The Ioniq 5 N’s newly-designed 84 kWH battery features a thermal regulation system to reduce heat-induced power degradation. To that end, you’ll go from 10 percent to 80 percent of juice in just 18 minutes, when connected to a DCFC 350 kW charger.

This vehicle is also outfitted with plenty of high-performance features, many of them with the company’s preferred “N” nomenclature. There’s the specially-tuned N R-MDPS (Rack-Mounted Motor-Driven Power Steering) system, the N Pedal system for responsive handling, the N Drift Optimizer for maintaining the perfect drift angle and the N Brake Regen system to help conserve that all-important juice, among others.

There’s also a greater emphasis on driver feedback, to allow for more precise control during difficult driving conditions. This is aided by the integrated 10-speaker sound system. All aspects of the vehicle, from the steering wheel to the pedals, feature N-branded elements. Finally, there’s a newly-designed control center complete with a sliding armrest, knee pads, shin support, USB-C ports, a wireless charger and, the techiest feature of all, cupholders.

As previously mentioned, the Ioniq 5 N goes on sale next March, with pricing to come at a later date. The standard Ioniq 5 starts at $39,700, so it’ll be more than that, likely much more than that.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hyundais-high-performance-ioniq-5-n-ev-goes-on-sale-in-acmarch-020047724.html?src=rss 

Synex Medical, a Toronto-based biotech research firm backed by Sam Altman (the CEO of OpenAI), has developed a tool that can measure your blood glucose levels without a finger prick. It uses a combination of low-field magnets and low-frequency radio waves to directly measure blood sugar levels non-invasively when a user inserts a finger into the device.

The tool uses magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which is similar to an MRI. Jamie Near, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in the research of MRS technology told Engadget that, “[an] MRI uses magnetic fields to make images of the distribution of hydrogen protons in water that is abundant in our body tissues. In MRS, the same basic principles are used to detect other chemicals that contain hydrogen.” When a user’s fingertip is placed inside the magnetic field, the frequency of a specific molecule, in this case glucose, is measured in parts per million. While the focus was on glucose for this project, MRS could be used to measure metabolites, according to the Synex, including lactate, ketones and amino acids.

Matthew Rosen, a Harvard physicist whose research spans from fundamental physics to bioimaging in the field of MRI, told Engadget that he thinks the device is “clever” and “a great idea.” Magnetic resonance technology is a common technique used for chemical analysis of compounds, however, traditional resonance technologies operate at high magnetic fields and they’re very expensive.

Synex found a way to get clear readings from low magnetic fields. “They’ve overcome the challenges really by developing a method that has high sensitivity and high specificity,” Rosen says. “Honestly, I have been doing magnetic resonance for thirty years. I never thought people could do glucose with a benchtop machine… you could do it with a big machine no problem.”

Professor Andre Simpson, a researcher and center director at the University of Toronto also told Engadget that he thinks Synex’s device is the “real deal.” “MRI machines can fit an entire human body and have been used to target molecule concentrations in the brain through localized spectroscopy,” he explained. “Synex has shrunk this technology to measure concentrations in a finger. I have reviewed their white paper and seen the instrument work.” Simpson said Synex’s ability to retrofit MRS technology into a small box is an engineering feat.

As of now, there are no commercially available devices that can measure blood glucose non-invasively. While there are continuous glucose monitors on the market that use microneedles, which are minimally invasive, there is still a risk of infection.

But there is competition in the space for no-prick diagnostics tools. Know Labs is trying to get approval for a portable glucose monitor that relies on a custom-made Bio-RFID sensing technology, which uses radio waves to detect blood glucose levels in the palm of your hand. When the Know Labs device was tested up against a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor in a study, readings of blood glucose levels using its palm sensor technology were “within threshold” only 46 percent of the time. While the readings are technically in accordance with FDA accuracy limits for a new blood glucose monitor, Know Labs is still working out kinks through scientific research before it can begin FDA clinical trials.

Another start-up, German company DiaMonTech, is currently developing a pocket-sized diagnostic device that is still being tested and fine-tuned to measure glucose through “photothermal detection.” It uses mid-infrared lasers that essentially scan the tissue fluid at the fingertip to detect glucose molecules. CNBC and Bloomberg reported that even Apple has been “quietly developing” a sensor that can check your blood sugar levels through its wearables, though the company never confirmed. A scientific director at Synex, Mohana Ray, told Engadget that eventually, the company would like to develop a wearable. But further miniaturization was needed before they could bring a commercial product to market.

Rosen says he isn’t sure how the sensor technology can be retrofitted for smartwatches or wearables just yet. But he can imagine a world where these tools complement blood-based diagnostics. “Is it good enough for clinical use? I have to leave that for what clinicians have to say.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/researchers-use-magnetic-fields-for-non-invasive-blood-glucose-monitoring-215052628.html?src=rss 

A set of features rolling out to Google Photos today will make it much easier to declutter your photo library, the company announced in a blog post. Google Photos will now automatically identify similar photos that you took in rapid succession – helpful for those times when you clicked 50 shots of that gorgeous sunset to get the one perfect frame you will never look at again – and group them in a single “stack” to clean up your library.

The service will select a top pick that best represents the moment, but you can manually choose an image you want too. If you prefer to have multiple sunsets littering your library, you can turn off stacking.

Photos will also automatically organize your pictures, separating IDs, receipts, and tickets into different albums, a feature that seems like it should have been there ages ago given how good Google Photos is at recognizing what’s in your images. You can also add an event to your calendar directly from a screenshot or a photo of a ticket, which seems really useful.

Unsurprisingly, Google says that all these features are powered by AI, something that the company has lately been cramming into all its products in general. Google Photos, however, has always been powered by AI. For years, the service sucked up all your photos and stored them in exchange for training its machine learning algorithms on them to be able to recognize their contents. That’s why you can search Google Photos for pictures of dogs or the beach, for instance, so easily (Google stopped providing free storage for Photos a couple of years ago).

Earlier this year, Google added another AI-powered feature to Photos that creates personalized scrapbook montages. Google’s algorithms sort your photos into relevant categories and create titles that you can modify if you want. Google also lets people use AI to easily make edits, such as removing unwanted people or objects from photos.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-photos-has-new-ai-powered-features-to-clean-up-your-library-204512642.html?src=rss 

Cameo has added a pair of timeless superstars to its stable of celebrities (a term used loosely in some cases) available for personalized video greetings. Cookie Monster and Elmo, who may or may not have fallen on hard times, will shamelessly plug their services on the six-year-old platform, offering to count to your kid’s age or rattle off words that start with the same letter as your child’s name — for $25 a pop. Perhaps that relatively low price for the Sesame Street icons is because humans don’t appear to record their voices: Cameo describes the characters as “powered by artificial intelligence.”

Cookie Monster and Elmo join a Cameo crew that also includes Kenny G ($350 per message), Danica McKellar ($150) and Billy Dee Williams ($300), among many others. Other animated characters on the platform include Thomas the Tank Engine, Grumpy Bear (from Care Bears) and JJ from CoComelon.

“Hiya, it me, Cookie Monster,” the perpetually hungry, AI-fueled blue Muppet says in a sample Cameo on the service’s website. “Me so excited to meet you and maybe share a cookie or two. Me love to sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ say goodnight before bedtime or just say hi. Me can’t wait.”

Disclosures on the websites for the Sesame Street characters notify customers that AI powers them. “Elmo is a virtual character powered by artificial intelligence,” the description reads. “They will take the details you give them and craft a custom video just for you!” Engadget reached out to Cameo to clarify which parts of the message are AI-generated; we’ll update this article if we hear back.

Whether parents will find it worth paying for “personalized” greetings conjured by artificial intelligence remains to be seen. Still, at least the algorithmically created furry monster messages only cost around 12 percent of the price of Michael Rapaport.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-powered-elmo-and-cookie-monster-are-shilling-25-video-messages-on-cameo-185614571.html?src=rss