Good morning. It’s a new week, and it’s time to get into the tech news.
1. Tesla batteries under the microscope
The Guardian ran a banger article over the weekend on Tesla’s home batteries, which pried into how the company restricts interactions with third parties.
In some markets overseas, Tesla is required to open up its batteries to interact with non-Tesla tech in a user’s home, however, the Powerwall 2 battery which is offered to Australians doesn’t have interoperable abilities enabled.
“Batteries that do not offer their full performance via an open standards-based, non-cloud control port are too easily locked into a particular business model to the detriment of their owners,” chief executive of Reposit Power Dean Spaccavento said.
2. New wind farm for the Hunter
A new wind farm located east of the Hunter Valley’s Muswellbrook will consist of 54 wind turbines, leveraging the Liddell substation’s transmission lines and boasting 347mW of energy generation – enough to power a projected 172,600 homes, and equated to taking about 300,000 cars off the road for a year.
The Federal Government said that this project will produce 154 construction jobs and 15 operational jobs to keep the turbines going.
“Under Labor, we’ve already seen a 25 per cent increase in renewable energy in our grid. Our plan will deliver cheaper power bills and cleaner energy for all Australians,” the Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek said. Keeping in mind the Government is still approving coal mines.
3. Martians come in peace
AP reports that the test crew of NASA’s test on a Mars-stationed habitat has finally returned to Earth… Well, they exited the habitat that was located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The crew of four spent a year in the testing environment, 3D-printed to mimic what might best suit the Martian world best for when humans arrive. “
We cannot live, dream, create or explore on any significant timeframe if we don’t live these principles, but if we do, we can achieve and sustain amazing and inspiring things like exploring other worlds,” crew flight engineer Ross Brockwell said. We assume they come in peace.
4. Musk: oops
Elon Musk has moved to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former shareholders in Twitter, alleging that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO waited too long in 2022 to reveal his substantial stake in the social media platform, per Reuters. “This is not a scheme to defraud,” Musk said. “All indications – including those in the pleadings – point to mistake.”
5. YouTube introduces ‘erase song’ tool
YouTubers that have received copyright takedowns for the music used in their videos are now able to edit out the songs and keep other audio bits intact, Engadget reports. Previously, creators would need to mute entire sections of a video or reupload the video entirely after an edit to dodge a copyright claim, however this new feature offers quick resolutions for potential problems.
BONUS ITEM: Lmao.
The Epic Games Store app for iOS has now been un-rejected by Apple and development is back on track. Now about those 9 to 16 day TestFlight app approval delays… https://t.co/89uYZh5iQF
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 5, 2024
Have a lovely day.
Image: iStock