After some protracted legal drama, Subnautica 2 is finally about to launch. The game, which is currently Steam’s most-wishlisted title and was caught up in a dispute between top executives at developer Unknown Worlds and its owner, Krafton, will be available in early access on PC and Xbox Series X / S starting May 14th. […]
$100 Nintendo Gift Cards Discounted $20 at Newegg Today
Nintendo eShop gift cards can be used to buy games, apparel, and even hardware or accessories from its online storefront. No matter what you want to get, you can save a fairly substantial amount by purchasing a twin-pack of $50 eShop gift cards from Newegg. Originally $100, you can get them for $80.50, and thereâs […]
After Developing the Vision Pro, This AR Veteran Returns to Phones
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. When Mark Drummond was working on the Vision Pro at Apple, he had a bit of an epiphany that didn’t really fit Cupertino’s preferred narrative. Drummond was managing the Character […]
California’s Cops Can Now Ticket Driverless Cars
Autonomous vehicles roving California’s roads will no longer be immune to traffic tickets starting on July 1st. New regulations announced by the California DMV this week allow law enforcement to give AV manufacturers a “notice of AV noncompliance” when one of their cars commits a traffic violation, like running a red light or failing to […]
X Unveils AI-Driven Rebuilt Ad Platform
X is rolling out a rebuilt ads platform powered by AI as it works to grow revenue again.
Dental Software Company Resolves Bug Exposing Patient Medical Records
The security bug is now fixed, but the patient who found it said it was challenging to alert the software company about the issue.
137 Ventures, SpaceX backer, raises $700M for two growth-stage funds
VC firm 137 Ventures has raised over $700 million to back growth-stage startups. Its portfolio includes SpaceX, Anduril, Hadrian.
Google Maps Commemorates 20th Anniversary
GNMT). This signified a transition from translating sentences word for word to evaluating whole sentences for syntax and context. It enabled this service to integrate greater nuance into its translations, resulting in more natural interpretations.
Another significant milestone was Google’s acquisition of Word Lens in 2014. Word Lens permits translation to conduct real-time, visual translations through the camera. It’s the technology that enables you to focus on an image of a label in another language through your camera and instantly see its content translated into your preferred language.
With all these enhancements, the Google Translate library has expanded dramatically. What started with two languages, Arabic and English, now encompasses nearly 250 languages and over 60,000 possible language combinations, including numerous regional dialects and indigenous languages.
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Contrasting Blue and Black Solar Panels: Which Variant Delivers Superior Performance?
considering the installation of solar panels on their residence might be curious about the distinctions. Which option is more effective, less expensive, and superior? Presently, the typical response favors black solar panels. Indeed, Consumer Reports’ top three selections for solar panels are all black. Numerous factors contribute to this, including their manufacturing process. Black solar panels are generally monocrystalline, signifying that each solar cell consists of a single crystal. The crystals are produced through the Czochralski process, which extracts a single seed crystal from molten silicon to develop one continuous lattice.
Silicon naturally possesses a dark hue, and its crystalline configuration absorbs almost all light, with minimal reflection, which leads to the black appearance. In contrast, blue solar panels are polycrystalline. They are created by melting silicon crystals together that solidify upon cooling, resulting in the shiny blue hue. Blue panels exhibit a lower efficiency, ranging from 15% to 17%, compared to up to 24% for black solar panels. Nonetheless, they are less expensive to produce as the process results in less silicon waste during manufacturing.
Reasons to invest in black solar panels
Ford’s Latest 2,200 HP Mustang Establishes New EV Global Record
Car manufacturers take pride in showcasing the speed and power of their vehicles to demonstrate to consumers their engineering capabilities. For Ford, this moment arrived when the automaker showcased its latest Mustang Cobra Jet 2200, an electric vehicle meticulously designed for drag racing, at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. The Cobra Jet 2200 debuted on the racetrack with several enhancements under the hood that elevate it beyond the previous model, the Cobra Jet 1800, as the company expands the limits of EV performance.
Equipped with a powertrain delivering 2,200 horsepower and an impressive 1,340 foot-pounds of torque, the new model completed a quarter-mile run in merely 6.76 seconds, marking it as the first EV to reach this milestone. In doing so, the Cobra Jet 2200 set a new EV world record, surpassing its predecessor by a whopping 0.86 seconds. Additionally, it achieved a peak speed of 222 miles per hour, outpacing all other rapid mass-produced EVs with remarkable top speeds. The prior record for the fastest EV quarter-mile time of 7.623 seconds was established in September 2024 by the Cobra Jet 1800. Ford’s strategy to break its own record within approximately a year and a half involved various enhancements to the Jet 2200.
The Mustang Cobra Jet 2200 was designed for high speed.
The impressive 2,200-horsepower output of the Cobra Jet 2200 certainly contributes to its prowess, making it more powerful than the Tesla Model S, despite their differing purposes. However, horsepower alone does not capture the entirety of Ford’s groundbreaking accomplishment. The company needed to reassess its approach to extract the utmost performance from an EV. A crucial aspect was evidently reducing the vehicle’s weight. To achieve this, Ford cut down the number of motors from four in the earlier generation to two, and further decreased weight by employing a custom tube-frame chassis, a carbon-fiber body, and encasing the car in a NASCAR-style vinyl that is 20 pounds lighter than conventional vinyl.
Ultimately, the team succeeded in making the new Jet 2200 1,000 pounds lighter than the Jet 1800, which was itself 1,000 pounds lighter than its predecessor, the Cobra Jet 1400. Another significant advancement is the new Reverse-Acting Centrifugal Clutch (RACC) developed by the company. This clutch pairs with a 5-speed clutchless transmission, allowing the Jet 2200 to “launch in direct drive and then slip during shifts to help prevent tire slip and maintain control as the run progresses.”
Ford asserts that this configuration aids in “maximizing efficiency and power to the ground throughout the run,” and its EV world record is a testament to its power. The company further claims that the vehicle shifts through as many as five gears, enabling it to harness the optimal amount of torque throughout the run. While it did not surpass the highest top speeds of the fastest electric vehicles globally, its quarter-mile performance stands unmatched.
