October 2022 – ENGGtalks®

29 Oct 22

AI-Generated Fashion Is Next Wave of DIY Design

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Could AI inspire your next ugly holiday sweater?As odd as it may sound, recent advancements in machine learning have made it possible. CALA, an “operating system for fashion” that helps designers sketch, prototype, and produce new products, is the first service to implement OpenAI’s DALL-E API. Its new generative AI…

27 Oct 22

Plastic-like material conducts electricity like metal

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

The material has molecular fragments that are jumbled and disordered, but can still conduct electricity extremely well, which goes against all of the standard rules for conductivity. “In principle, this opens up the design of a whole new class of materials that conduct electricity, are easy to shape, and are…

24 Oct 22

View from Brussels: Crucial networks set for better protection

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Deep in the Baltic Sea, two gas pipelines – Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 – lie empty. NS2 had not shipped a single molecule to Germany from Russia thanks to Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of this year. At the end of September, the Danish and…

24 Oct 22

View from Washington: Xi pushes back and forward on US chip clampdown

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

At the end of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping made his first – though not entirely explicit – comments on the technology restrictions imposed by the Biden Administration around semiconductors, AI and supercomputing earlier this month. They came just hours before The…

20 Oct 22

Who Will Fix Hubble and Chandra?

Aerospace & Aeronautical

Elon Musk, step aside. You may be the richest rich man in the space business, but you’re not first. Musk’s SpaceX corporation is a powerful force, with its weekly launches and visions of colonizing Mars. But if you want a broader view of how wealthy entrepreneurs have shaped space exploration,…

19 Oct 22

Sondrel looks to long-term pursuit of custom silicon

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

October is not an auspicious month for stock markets. Thirty-five years ago, Black Monday put the brakes on what had been up to then a display of irrational exuberance for which the markets are notorious for good reason. And October was already famous for sudden drops to the point that…

19 Oct 22

Smart cities can beat the heat if stakeholders work together

Geotechnical & Environmental

The threat that climate change poses to those living and working in urban areas came to the fore this summer as the UK experienced a record-breaking 40°C heatwave. With warnings from the World Health Organisation that extreme temperature events are set to increase in frequency, duration, and magnitude, it’s crucial…

18 Oct 22

Book review: ‘The Sounds of Life’ by Karen Bakker

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Humans are rather poor listeners, compared with our fellow Earth-dwellers. The world is alive with sound that we cannot hear, from the ultrasonic echolocation of bats to the infrasonic ‘drumming heartbeat’ of the Earth’s crust beneath the crashing of ocean waves. In ‘The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology is…

14 Oct 22

When the chips are down: how to ride out the supply storms

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

It hit the car manufacturers first and hard but then spread to other parts of industry during the worldwide pandemic. The shortages became so sharp that manufacturers were taking them out of other products for their own. I’m talking, of course, about semiconductors and the supply chain problems of the…

14 Oct 22

5.3bn mobiles to be junked this year as experts call for higher recycling targets

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

The WEEE Forum, which organises today’s International E-Waste Day, has conducted a survey of 8,775 European households across Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, and the UK. It found that the average household contains 74 e-products such as phones, tablets, laptops, electric tools, hair dryers, toasters and other appliances (excluding lamps).…

Month: October 2022

AI-Generated Fashion Is Next Wave of DIY Design

Plastic-like material conducts electricity like metal

View from Brussels: Crucial networks set for better protection

View from Washington: Xi pushes back and forward on US chip clampdown

Who Will Fix Hubble and Chandra?

Sondrel looks to long-term pursuit of custom silicon

Smart cities can beat the heat if stakeholders work together

Book review: ‘The Sounds of Life’ by Karen Bakker

When the chips are down: how to ride out the supply storms

5.3bn mobiles to be junked this year as experts call for higher recycling targets

Electronic skin can self-heal after a cut, researchers find

IEEE President’s Note: Connecting the Unconnected

3 stories of founders building apps for the LGBTQ+ community

5 ways you can personalize your smartwatch with Wear OS

Here’s how Unilever is harnessing AI to innovate your favourite products