Daily Archives: June 13, 2021

Declaring "America is back," President Joe Biden pushed his $2.3 trillion infrastructure package Tuesday, visiting a Ford electric vehicle plant to make the case his plan will tackle climate change, create jobs and help the U.S. lead the world. (May 18) AP Domestic

WASHINGTON An expansive bill aimed at reinvigorating America's technological footprint to counter China has passed the Senate and now heads to the House, where it faces a competing bill and somewhat murky future.

The legislation, called theInnovation and Competition Act, largely drew bipartisan support with the promise of bolstering America's competitive edge byinvestingbillions of dollars in scientificand technological innovations including artificial intelligence, computer chipsand robotics.

It passed 68-32 Tuesday after some drama a few weeks ago ofhours of behind-the-scene negotiations, a flurry of last-minute amendments and an all-nighter of negotiations. Ultimately, Senate leaders canned it until the lawmakers returned from their Memorial Day recess after a compromise could not be reached.

President Joe Biden praised passage of the bill making generational investments in American workers. "This legislation addresses key elements that were included in my American Jobs Plan, and I am encouraged by this bipartisan effort to advance those elements separately through this bill," Biden said in a statement. "It is long past time that we invest in American workers and American innovation."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the bill one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed in a long time and said it would have a huge impact on the American economy and jobs.

"Its the largest investment in scientific research and technological innovation in generations," Schumer said. "It sets the United States on a path to lead the world in the industries of the future."

More: China represents 'unparalleled,' 'severe' threat, US intelligence officials warn

In April, U.S. intelligence officials cast China,the worlds second-largest economy,as an "unparalleled" security threat, warning of Beijing's increasing efforts to suppress its regional adversariesand expand its military might while racing to achieve technological superiority across the globe.

The Senate's action highlights a rare bipartisan consensus in Congress that the U.S. needs a more coherent strategy to respond toChina's rise as a global power.

The bill would boost fundingfor research and technology manufacturing to increase America's competitiveness, strengthen national security and grow the economy.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., co-author of the legislation, singled out the bill's passage as a mark of unity.

"Im proud the Senate voted to advance this bill to outcompete China and invest in the U.S.," Young said in a statement. "Let history record that, at this moment, we stood united."

Schumer said Tuesday that he has already spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and expects to reach a compromise between the chambers to send to the president.

Im quite certain that we will get a really good product on the presidents desk," Schumer said.

The legislation, spearheaded by Schumer and Young,would pumpmore than $200billion into U.S.scientific and technological innovation over the nextfive years.

The bill, which originally began as the Endless Frontier Act, was expanded and renamed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act by Schumer in May. He joked Tuesday that the "frontier" name made it sound like "covered wagon" legislation.

The broadened bill establishesa new directorate for technology and innovationat the National Science Foundationto ensure$100 billion is funneled to the development of artificial intelligences, semiconductors, roboticsand high-performance computing.

Schumer said Washington has let U.S. competitiveness "lag" compared with China's, particularly when it comes to technological innovation.

"Weve become far too complacent, and the United States commits less than 1% of its GDP towards basic scientific research," he said. "That's the fault of government, but it's also the fault of the private sector. The world is so competitive and global competition is so severe, companies feel they can't invest as much in the kind of research that might pay off profits fiveor 10 years down the road."

The expanded legislation would provide$52 billion in assistance to semiconductor manufacturing companies to makecomputer chips, which have been in a global shortage since last summer. The shortage has affected manufacturers and automakers thatuse the chips in vehicles, cellphones and video game consoles.

The microchip shortage explained: How it's impacting car prices and the tech industry

More: As chip shortage cripples auto production, Biden steps in

Seventy-five percent of the world's chipscomefrom Asia, according to a report in September 2020 from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

"Weve seen what happens when our automakers and manufacturers depend on semiconductors made overseas alone. COVID-19 exposed the weaknesses in our supply chains, both our medical supply chains and our manufacturing supply chains," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who sits on theCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, in a news conference.

The legislation also would shell out $81 billion in congressional spending to the National Science Foundation budget between fiscal years 2022 and 2026, aimingto energize innovation by revamping ongoing programs and starting the new directorate.

In addition, it would establish tech hubs in places they have not traditionally existed.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., lead sponsor of the Endless Frontiers Actin the House, told USA TODAY investing in tech education is one of the most important aspects of the bill, along with the "fundamental focus in applied science research."

Supporting thegeographical spread of innovation will be "transformative," Khanna said.

More: Biden tells intelligence agencies to step up probe of COVID-19's origins, including theory of Wuhan lab leak

Though the legislation has passed the Senate, it will have to compete against a similar bill inthe House,where the legislation heads next.

The House has introduced another, similar piece of legislation: the NSF for the Future Act.

Both billsfocus on expanding the National Science Foundations budget to boost American innovation.The NSF for the Future Act is a smaller-scale, more narrowly focusedbill that would double the NSF's budget over five years. It also includes a new directorate for science and engineering solutions.

Some have expressed concern with the Senatebill's heavy focus onChina, and others want a piece oflegislation that is morefocusedon applied sciencewith a newtech directorate.

The same piece of legislation has to be passed in both chambers before it is signed by the president.

The chairwoman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, has hailed the NSF House legislation as a "solutions-driven approach."

"I believe the competitive and security threat from China is real. I also believe the solutions-driven approach we take in the NSF for the Future Act offers the nation a win-win science and innovation strategy. History teaches us that problem-solving can itself drive the innovation that in turn spawns new industries and achieves competitive advantage," Johnson said in a hearing on the NSF legislation.

More: Zhurong rover lands on Mars; China joins US as only nations to successfully land on planet

More: An 'ugly poison': Biden signs bill to combat hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders

Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen

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Senate passes bill to boost US science and tech innovation to compete with China - USA TODAY

The economy is booming. Why isnt job growth?

Payrolls have risen 1.6 million in the past three months and are up 1.7% this year through May, which in normal times would be impressive. But these arent normal times. The economy is rapidly reopening, consumers are flush with federal stimulus cash, and retail sales, factory orders and housing are all booming. Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is up 5.3% through May this year, according to a monthly series calculated by IHS Markit .

The gap between GDP and jobs is explained by soaring output per worker. The U.S. is in the midst of a productivity boom. That is positive for wages and inflation because higher revenue can absorb increased wages without companies raising prices. It isnt such great news for the jobs outlook if employers conclude they can meet sales goals with less hiring.

In recessions employers are typically slow to cut jobs as sales slump, which causes productivity to decline. When sales recover, they are slow to add jobs and productivity rebounds. The pandemic has broken with that pattern. Business output per hour has grown in three of the past four quarters. In the January-to-March quarter of this year, it was up 4.1% from a year earlier, the fastest in a decade.

Some of this reflects the unusual patterns of this particular downturn. The losses suffered by low productivity, low wage sectors such as leisure, hospitality and other in-person services artificially boosted average overall productivity.

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Technology Fills the Gap as Jobs Lag GDP - The Wall Street Journal

Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff says the software giant's upcoming $27.7 billion acquisition of messaging app Slack Technologies (WORK) will help the cloud company become "a key leader in the future of work."

"We're going to rebuild all of our technology, once again, to become Slack-first to help our customers have a harness to work in this new world where you're working at home; you're working in the office; you're working at events; you're working anywhere. Well, if you're going to be successful from anywhere, you're going to need an incredible platform like Slack," Benioff told Yahoo Finance Live on Wednesday, taking a pause from his digital hiatus this summer. According to Benioff's Twitter (TWTR) bio, he's "intentionally offline" until Aug. 1.

In December, the software giant signed a definitive agreement to acquire popular messaging software platform Slack Technologies in a cash and stock deal worth $27.7 billion, making it Salesforce's largest-ever acquisition. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

In the company's annual letter, Benioff noted that the integration with Slack improved Salesforce's Service Cloud case close rate by 26%. Benioff told Yahoo Finance that integrating the customer service product with Slack allowed for those cases to "be swarmed."

"What does that mean? Swarm means, oh, we have a problem. There's an issue. You can bring the whole team together and kind of swarm around a case or an escalation. We learned a lot about that with our core technology, Chatter. With Slack, it's a whole other level. We're really able to help customers be more connected with their customers in a new way, but also resolve customer service issues even faster. Slack accelerates all of those things," Benioff explained.

As Benioff outlined in the company's annual letter, the broader ambition is to build Slack which the CEO has dubbed "the central nervous system for the new world of work" into Salesforce products to enhance productivity from anywhere and "create the most open and interoperable ecosystem of apps and workflows in enterprise software," Benioff wrote at the time.

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According to Benioff, Slack will be critical in the changing nature of work post-pandemic as more companies offer flexible options for employees to work both on-site and remotely.

"[The] world is changing. We can all see that. The pandemic has caused all of us to change. And we're creating a new work environment. We're going to be working more at home. We're going to be working also at the office," Benioff said.

The CEO pointed that Salesforce had 20% of its workers at home pre-pandemic. He expects that population to increase to about half, but there's "still going to be a large percentage in the office."

To be sure, Salesforce will host off-sites and events, including bringing back its Dreamforce Conference in San Francisco in September with simultaneous events in other locations. However, it will be a much smaller in-person gathering in San Francisco than prior years, and attendees must be fully vaccinated.

Benioff also has ambitions in the post-pandemic world to build a Salesforce ranch similar to General Electric's Crotonville campus, which will service as a training and cultural immersion facility to onboard employees and welcome their families.

"I'm very excited about the future and the future of work. I think Slack will be a key part of it. I think Salesforce Customer 360 will be a key part of it. Tableau, the analytics, MuleSoft. That's why, I think, Salesforce is so well positioned and wants to be a key leader and, I think, is becoming a key leader in the future of work," Benioff said.

Benioff, 56, Benioff started Salesforce in 1999, and in that time, it's become one of the top enterprise software companies in the world with a market cap greater than $218 billion.

The company recently delivered its best first-quarter earnings results ever, delivering revenue of $5.96 billion, up 23% from a year ago. Salesforce expects to generate $26 billion in fiscal 2022, with plans to reach $50 billion in 2026.

"The really exciting story here is that Salesforce is, very imminent, will pass SAP (SAP), and Salesforce will become the number one enterprise applications company in the world, not just number one CRM [customer relationship management], but also number one enterprise applications company," Benioff added.

Photo by: STRF/STAR MAX/IPx 2021 1/4/21 Slack restores service after starting 2021 with outage. STAR MAX File Photo: 11/30/20 'Slack' logo shot off an iphone SE 2020.

Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

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Salesforce CEO: We're going to rebuild all of our technology to become Slack-first - Yahoo Finance

On the surface it was an odd, temporary issue that affected some users and not others. But it was also forcibly changing peoples appearancean important glitch for an app that is used by around 100 million people in the US. So I also sent the video to Amy Niu, a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin who studies the psychological impact of beauty filters. She pointed out that in China, and some other places, some apps add a subtle beauty filter by default. When Niu uses apps like WeChat, she can only really tell that a filter is in place by comparing a photo of herself using her camera with the image produced in the app.

A couple of months ago, she said, she downloaded the Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin. When I turned off the beauty mode and filters, I can still see an adjustment to my face, she said.

Having beauty filters in an app isnt necessarily a bad thing, Niu said, but app designers have a responsibility to consider how those filters will be used, and how they will change the people who use them. Even if it was a temporary bug, it could have an impact on how people see themselves.

Peoples internalization of beauty standards, their own body image, or whether they will intensify their appearance concern, are all considerations, Niu said.

For Dawn, the strange facial effect was just one more thing to add to the list of frustrations with TikTok: Its been very reminiscent of a relationship with a narcissist, because they love-bomb you one minute, theyre giving you all these followers and all this attention and it feels so good, they said. And then for some reason they justtheyre just like, were cutting you off.

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TikTok changed the shape of some peoples faces without asking - MIT Technology Review

NFTs have recently taken the world by storm, as media headlines in the last month will attest. The digital artist Beeple sold the NFT for one of his pieces for a record US$69mn in a Christies auction. Jack Dorsey just sold a digital version of his first tweet for over $2.9mn in the same way, with the buyer comparing it to the Mona Lisa. The band Kings of Leon are even selling their new album in the form of an NFT.

In simple terms, NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, provide verification of ownership of a digital asset. They are unique digital tokens stored on a blockchain ledger, which means that they cannot be changed or tampered with. Traditional artworks, such as paintings or sculptures, are valuable because they are one of a kind and cannot be replicated. Conversely, digital files can be easily and endlessly copied. However, by purchasing an NFT, the buyer can prove that they own the rights to the "original" digital asset.

There have been mixed responses to NFTs sudden popularity, with some seeing it as the emergence of a new asset class, while others cannot wrap their heads around the idea of paying such large sums of money for a digital asset that can be duplicated.

However, surely this is a natural evolution in todays digital world? As with traditional art, digital art is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. In theory, anyone could have an excellent replica made of a traditional artwork if they wanted to, but a large part of arts value is derived from its originality. Serious art collectors dont want a copy. Countless people around the world have Matisse prints on their walls, but it isnt the same as owning the original painting. Why should it be so different for digital art?

Blockchain is enabling monetary value to be assigned to the digital twin of a physical asset and, by virtue of distributed ledger technology, creating a virtual environment in which the authenticity of a digital asset or twin is a separate value in its own right - due to the unique corresponding verification on a blockchain. Digital twins have not instantly taken off in the mainstream, as the risk of duplication has been a significant deterrent however, NFTs are paving the way for a new era of trust in digital assets.

For our part, we see NFTs as yet another way that blockchain is creating opportunities and shaping the world in which we live. Blockchains ability to record data securely and immutably is an incredibly important technological advancement, and it is no surprise that it is being capitalised on in so many different ways.

This powerful technology has certainly come a long way since its origins as the foundation of cryptocurrency, and we are seeing new applications every day. We set up Finboot in the first place because we could see the value of introducing blockchain to enterprise supply and value chains, and were seeing the technology deployed in a number of ways by our clients, from invoice reconciliation to the verification of sustainability credentials, giving them a competitive edge as well as building trust.

Some might be skeptical about NFTs but they would be wrong to dismiss it as a passing fad. NFTs effectively solve the problem of authenticity and, because the tokens are stored on a decentralised database, the record is public, significantly reducing the possibility of theft or fraud or theft. NFTs are a game-changer, and this is just the start.

This article was contributed by Juan Miguel Prez Rosas, CEO, Finboot

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NFTs: A token of trust in the digital world | Technology & AI - FinTech Magazine - The FinTech & InsurTech Platform

NextNav, whose primary product is a next-generation GPS system that provides far more spatial data than a standard system, such as where in a building an item is located, is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

The SPAC is Spartacus Acquisition Co., and the expertise of much of its management team has been in telecommunications.

Neil Subin, one of the largest principals behind Spartacus, described NextNav on a call with investors as having a GPS platform that is a hyperaccurate, ubiquitous, resilient, 3-dimensional, positioning navigation and timing network. The network has an extraordinary opportunity for disruptive use.

Like other networks in the past, its the network itself that drives the use case, not the opposite, Subin said, according to a transcript of the call provided by the company.

Gary Parsons, the chairman of NextNav, did make reference on the call to areas of the supply chain that could benefit from its capabilities.

The NextNav technology fits under the heading of Enterprise Internet of Things (IoT), Parsons said, which is a key market, particularly with asset tracking.

Asset tracking out on the open road works fine with GPS, but increasingly tracking is required in urban centers and inside buildings and warehouses, he said.

NextNav was founded under a different name in 2007. Parsons said it was created to address the problem of the fact that GPS is a 2D service that only works with a clear line of sight to the sky.

According to the prepared statement released jointly by NextNav and Spartacus, the Pinnacle product of NextNav does use current GPS technologies to provide floor level location for an item or person within three meters 94% of the time, and has consistently been shown as the most accurate vertical location technology available. Pinnacles customer base includes numerous governments that use it in public safety operations, Parsons said.

On the NextNav website, the company said the basis for the Pinnacle data is barometric sensors available in devices such as phones, which can then be utilized to provide altitude measurements.

The second commercial product of NextNav is TerraPoiNT, which seeks to bring full 3D accuracy in such a way to provide position, navigation and timing. It can enhance or replace current GPS technologies, Parsons said on the investor call. Its technology has been deployed in 47 markets, with plans to build out the network with proceeds from the transaction with Spartacus.

On its website, NextNav said its TerraPoiNT system uses ground-based transmitters installed in a service area. It said its signal strength is 100,000 times greater than that of GPS.

Our technology provides 3D accuracy where GPS cannot: indoors and urban areas, he said.

NextNav has developed a significant moat around its business, Parsons said. We are the only technology that has shown the ability to provide equivalent services to GPS of Position, Navigation and Timing, or PNT services, he said.

The fully diluted value of the merger was put at approximately $1.2 billion. About $400 million of the proceeds is expected to be put back into the company for further growth.

Parsons said that once the network is fully deployed, it can produce adjusted EBITDA margins of 70%. The marginal cost of operating the network is low once the development costs are sunk.

Common stock in NextNav will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol NN.

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NextNav, with its warehouse-ready positioning technology, going public via SPAC - FreightWaves

It was sleek, cone-shaped, a little confusing like something Hollywood would give a sci-fi villain for a quick getaway.

It wasnt a helicopter. And it wasnt an airplane. It was a cross between the two, with a curved hull, two small wings and eight spinning rotors lined up across its nose and tail.

At the touch of a button on a computer screen under a nearby tent, it stirred to life, rising up from a grassy slope on a ranch in central California and speeding toward some cattle grazing under a tree who did not react in the slightest.

It may look like a strange beast, but it will change the way transportation happens, said Marcus Leng, the Canadian inventor who designed this aircraft, which he named BlackFly.

BlackFly is what is often called a flying car. Engineers and entrepreneurs like Leng have spent more than a decade nurturing this new breed of aircraft, electric vehicles that can take off and land without a runway.

They believe these vehicles will be cheaper and safer than helicopters, providing practically anyone with the means of speeding above crowded streets.

Our dream is to free the world from traffic, said Sebastian Thrun, another engineer at the heart of this movement.

That dream, most experts agree, is a long way from reality. But the idea is gathering steam. Dozens of companies are now building these aircraft, and three recently agreed to go public in deals that value them as high as $6 billion. For years, people like Leng and Thrun have kept their prototypes hidden from the rest of the world few people have seen them, much less flown in them but they are now beginning to lift the curtain.

Lengs company, Opener, is building a single-person aircraft for use in rural areas essentially a private flying car for the rich that could start selling this year. Others are building larger vehicles they hope to deploy as city air taxis as soon as 2024 an Uber for the skies. Some are designing vehicles that can fly without a pilot.

One of the air taxi companies, Kitty Hawk, is run by Thrun, the Stanford University computer science professor who founded Googles self-driving car project. He now says that autonomy will be far more powerful in the air than on the ground, and that it will enter our daily lives much sooner. You can fly in a straight line and you dont have the massive weight or the stop-and-go of a car on the ground, he said.

The rise of the flying car mirrors that of self-driving vehicles in ways both good and bad, from the enormous ambition to the multibillion-dollar investments to the cutthroat corporate competition, including a high-profile lawsuit alleging intellectual property theft. It also re-creates the enormous hype.

It is a risky comparison. Google and other self-driving companies did not deliver on the grand promise that robo-taxis would be zipping around our cities by now, dramatically reshaping the economy.

But that has not stopped investors and transportation companies from dumping billions more into flying cars. It has not stopped cities from striking deals they believe will create vast networks of air taxis. And it has not stopped technologists from forging full steam ahead with their plans to turn sci-fi into reality.

The spreadsheet was filled with numbers detailing the rapid progress of electric motors and rechargeable batteries, and Larry Page, Google co-founder, brought it to dinner.

It was 2009. Many startups and weekend hobbyists were building small flying drones with those motors and batteries, but as he sat down for a meal with Thrun, Page believed they could go much further.

Thrun had only just launched Googles self-driving car project that year, but his boss had an even wilder idea: cars that could fly.

When you squinted your eyes and looked at those numbers, you could see it, Thrun remembered.

The pair started meeting regularly with aerospace engineers inside an office building just down the road from Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. Pages personal chef-made meals for his guests, including a NASA engineer named Mark Moore and several aircraft designers from Stanford.

Those meetings were a free flow of ideas that eventually led to a sprawling, multibillion-dollar effort to reinvent daily transportation with flying cars. Over the past decade, the same small group of engineers and entrepreneurs fed a growing list of projects. Moore helped launch an effort at Uber, before starting his own company. Page funneled money into multiple startups, including Lengs company, Opener, and Thruns, Kitty Hawk. New companies poached countless designers from Pages many startups.

It is the Wild West of aviation, Moore said. It is a time of rapid change, big moves and big money.

The next few years will be crucial to the industry as it transitions from what Silicon Valley is known for building cutting-edge technology to something much harder: the messy details of actually getting it into the world.

BlackFly is classified by the government as an experimental ultralight vehicle, so it does not need regulatory approval before being sold. But an ultralight also cannot be flown over cities or other bustling areas.

As it works to ensure the vehicle is safe, Opener does most of its testing without anyone riding in the aircraft. But the idea is that a person will sit in the cockpit and pilot the aircraft solo over rural areas. Buyers can learn to fly via virtual reality simulations, and the aircraft will include autopilot services like a return to home button that lands the plane on command.

It has enough room for a 6-foot, 6-inch person, and it can fly for about 25 miles without recharging. The few Opener employees who have flown it describe an exhilarating rush, like driving a Tesla through the sky an analogy that will not be lost on the companys target customer.

Leng sees all this as a step toward the starry future envisioned by The Jetsons, the classic cartoon in which flying cars are commonplace. I have always had a dream that we could have unfettered three-dimensional freedom like a bird does that we can take off and just fly around, he said.

BlackFly will initially be far more expensive than your average car (perhaps costing $150,000 or more). And its combination of battery life and mileage is not yet as powerful as most anyones daily commute requires.

But Leng believes this technology will improve, prices will drop to the cost of an SUV and the world will ultimately embrace the idea of electric urban flight. By putting his vehicle into the hands of a relative few people, he argues, he can open the eyes of many more.

Others in the field are skeptical. They estimate it will be years or even decades before regulators will allow just anyone to fly such a vehicle over cities. And they say the technology is too important and transformative to remain a plaything for millionaires. So they are betting on something very different.

When Thrun watches his flying vehicle Heaviside rise up from its own grassy landing pad, he sees more than just the trees, hills and crags of the California test site. He envisions an American suburbia where his aircraft ferries people to their front doors sometime in the future.

Yes, there are regulatory hurdles and other practical matters. These planes will need landing pads, and they could have trouble navigating dense urban areas, thanks to power lines and other low-flying aircraft.

There is also the noise factor, a crucial selling point over loud combustion engine helicopters. Sitting a few hundred feet from the vehicle, Thrun boasted about how quiet the aircraft was, but when it took off, he had no choice but to stop talking. He could not be heard over the whir of the rotors.

Even so, Thrun says Kitty Hawk will build an Uber-like ride-hailing service, in part, because of simple economics. Heaviside is even more expensive than BlackFly; Thrun said it costs around $300,000 to manufacture. But with a ride-hailing service, companies can spread the cost across many riders.

Wisk Aero, a company that spun out of Kitty Hawk in 2019 with backing from Page and Boeing, sees the future in much the same way. It is already testing a two-seat vehicle, and it is building a larger autonomous air taxi that may have more seats.

Many believe this is how flying cars will ultimately operate: as a taxi, without a pilot. In the long run, they argue, finding and paying pilots would be far too expensive.

This arrangement is technically possible today. Kitty Hawk and Wisk are already testing autonomous flight. But once again, convincing regulators to sign off on this idea is far from simple. The Federal Aviation Administration has never approved electric aircraft, much less taxis that fly themselves. Companies say they are discussing new methods of certification with regulators, but it is unclear how quickly this will progress.

It is going to take longer than people think, said Ilan Kroo, a Stanford professor who has also worked closely with Page and previously served as CEO of Kitty Hawk. There is a lot to be done before regulators accept these vehicles as safe and before people accept them as safe.

No one is flying in an electric taxi this year, or even next. But some cities are making early preparations. And one company has 2024 in its sights.

In another central California field not far from where Kitty Hawk and Opener are testing their prototypes, Joby Aviation recently tested its own. Called the Joby Aircraft, this polished, pointy prototype is much bigger than Heaviside, with more space in the cabin and larger rotors along the wings.

From several hundred yards away, with a traditional helicopter flying above, observers had trouble determining how loud it was during takeoff and landing. And it flew without passengers, remotely guided from a command center trailer stuffed with screens and engineers on the ground. But Joby says that by 2024, this vehicle will be a taxi flying over a city like Los Angeles or Miami. It too is planning an Uber for the skies, though its aircraft will have a licensed pilot.

Joby believes that regulators are unlikely to approve autonomous flight anytime soon. Our approach is more like Tesla than Waymo, said executive chairperson, Paul Sciarra, using this burgeoning industrys favorite analogy. We want to get something out there on the way to full autonomy.

To aid in these plans, it has partnered with Toyota to manufacture aircraft and acquired Uber Elevate, the air taxi project Moore helped create inside the ride-hailing giant. In the coming months, Joby plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that will take it public at a $6.6 billion valuation. Two other companies, California-based Archer and Germany-based Lilium, have struck similar deals.

The SPAC deals allow the companies to advertise ambitious business projections, something the Securities and Exchange Commission otherwise prohibits in initial public offerings. In an investor presentation, Joby touted a trillion-dollar market opportunity.

After launching in one city, the company says, it will quickly expand to others, bringing in $2 billion in revenue and more than $1 billion in gross profit within two years, according to its investor presentation. Until then, it will lose more than $150 million each year.

Reid Hoffman, venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder, is an investor behind the SPAC that is merging with Joby. He admires the vehicles cool factor. Its like Uber meets Tesla in the air, he said, taking venture capitalist speak to the skies. But he was most attracted to the companys potential to redefine cities, commutes and gridlock for a broad group of people.

Of the three going public, Joby is the only one whose prototype is now flying. And both its rivals are facing questions over their technology. One has been sued by Wisk, accused of intellectual property theft after poaching several engineers, and the other recently abandoned a prototype because of a battery fire.

Some believe that even with pilots in the cockpit, these companies will be hard pressed to launch services by 2024. There is a big gap between flying an aircraft and being ready for revenue, said Dan Patt, who worked on similar technology at the Department of Defense.

Flying cars may reach the market over the next several years. But they will not look or operate like the flying cars in The Jetsons. More likely, they will operate like helicopters, with pilots flying people from landing pad to landing pad for a fee.

They will be greener than helicopters and require less maintenance. They will be quieter, at least a little. And they may eventually be cheaper. One day, they could even fly on their own.

Can we do this tomorrow morning? Probably not, Thrun said. But if you squint your eyes and look at one of these prototypes, he added, you can see it happen.

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What is a flying car? - The Indian Express

Presidents Moon Jae-in and Emmanuel Macron hold talks on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Cornwall, England, Sunday. (Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in the southwestern British county of Cornwall.

During the 45 minute pull aside meeting, the two leaders shared their countries' measures against the coronavirus pandemic and economic conditions, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

Macron told Moon that France hopes to strengthen cooperation with South Korea on key technology areas. He expressed hope the two sides will boost ties, particularly in areas of cutting-edge technology, such as semiconductors and electric vehicles, and also expressed interest in areas of public health and energy.

Moon reciprocated by saying that South Korea also hopes to bolster ties in the areas, either with France or the European Union.

Macron said that cooperation in culture and education is an important axis sustaining the Seoul-Paris relationship. Moon replied by saying he hoped to see growth in bilateral exchange in terms of training and education in the fields of artificial intelligence and software.

Moon also briefed Macron on the outcome of his recent summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, expressing anticipation for positive diplomatic developments towards North Korea and the United States.

Macron, in response, reiterated his strong support toward Seouls Korea peace process initiative, Park said. (Joint Press Corps)

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Moon, Macron discuss bilateral cooperation in cutting-edge technology industries - The Korea Herald

It doesn't matter if you're a growth, value, income, or momentum-focused investor -- building a successful investment portfolio takes skill, research, and a little bit of luck.

But what's the best way to find the right combination of stocks? Because funding things like your retirement, your kids' college tuition, or your short- and long-term savings goals will definitely require significant returns.

Enter the Zacks Rank.

What is the Zacks Rank?

The Zacks Rank is a unique, proprietary stock-rating model that utilizes earnings estimate revisions to help investors build a winning portfolio.

There are four main factors behind the Zacks Rank: Agreement, Magnitude, Upside, and Surprise.

Agreement is the extent to which all brokerage analysts are revising their earnings estimates in the same direction. The greater the percentage of analysts revising their estimates higher, the better chance the stock will outperform.

Magnitude is the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate for the current and next fiscal years.

Upside is the difference between the most accurate estimate, which is calculated by Zacks, and the consensus estimate.

Surprise is made up of a company's last few quarters' earnings per share surprises; companies with a positive earnings surprise are more likely to beat expectations in the future.

Each one of these factors is given a raw score that's recalculated every night, and then compiled into the Zacks Rank. Using this data, stocks are classified into five groups, ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Strong Sell."

The Power of Institutional Investors

The Zacks Rank also allows individual investors, or retail investors, to benefit from the power of institutional investors.

Institutional investors are responsible for managing the trillions of dollars invested in mutual funds, hedge funds, and investment banks. Research has shown that these investors can and do move the market due to the large amount of money they deal with, and thus, the market tends to move in the same direction as them.

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In order to determine the fair value of a company and its shares, institutional investors design valuation models that focus on earnings and earnings estimates. Because if you raise earnings estimates, it then creates a higher fair value for a company and its stock price.

Institutional investors then act on these changes in earnings estimates, typically buying stocks with rising estimates and selling those with falling estimates; an increase in earnings estimates can translate into higher stock prices and bigger gains for the investor.

Retail investors who get in at the first sign of upward revisions have a distinct advantage over larger investors since it can often take weeks, if not months, for an institutional investor to build a position. They'll also benefit from the expected institutional buying that could follow.

Not only can the Zacks Rank help you take advantage of trends in earnings estimate revisions, but it can also provide a way to get into stocks that are highly sought after by professionals.

How to Invest with the Zacks Rank

The Zacks Rank is known for transforming investment portfolios. In fact, a portfolio of Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks has beaten the market in 26 of the last 32 years, with an average annual return of +25.41%.

Moreover, stocks with a new #1 (Strong Buy) ranking have some of the biggest profit potential, while those that fell to a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) have some of the worst.

Let's take a look at Generac Holdings (GNRC), which was added to the Zacks Rank #1 list on June 11, 2021.

Headquartered in Waukesha, WI, and founded in 1959, Generac Holdings Inc. is a leading manufacturer of power generation equipment, energy storage systems and other power products including portable, residential, commercial and industrial generators. In addition, the company manufactures light towers, which provide temporary lighting solutions for various end markets, and commercial and industrial mobile heaters and pumps that are used in the oil & gas, construction and other industrial markets. Its product portfolio also includes engines, alternators, transfer switches, mobile heaters, power washers, water pumps, energy monitoring devices and other components of outdoor power equipment for residential and commercial use. The company has a wide distribution network spanning independent residential dealers, industrial distributors and dealers, national and regional retailers, e-commerce partners, wholesalers, equipment rental companies, equipment distributors, and solar installers. It also boasts a direct sales channel to various individual customers.

Nine analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2021, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $1.28 to $9.96 per share. GNRC also boasts an average earnings surprise of 26.1%.

Analysts are expecting earnings to grow 53.9% for the current fiscal year, with revenue forecasted to rise 42.9%.

Additionally, GNRC has climbed higher over the past four weeks, gaining 17.5%. The S&P 500 is up 1.1% in comparison.

Bottom Line

With a #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, positive trend in earnings estimate revisions, and strong market momentum, Generac Holdings should be on investors' shortlist.

If you want even more information on the Zacks Ranks, or one of our many other investing strategies, check out the Zacks Education home page.

Discover Today's Top Stocks

Our private Zacks #1 Rank List, based on our quantitative Zacks Rank stock-rating system, has more than doubled the S&P 500 since 1988. Applying the Zacks Rank in your own trading can boost your investing returns on your very next trade. See Today's Zacks #1 Rank List >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportGenerac Holdings Inc. (GNRC) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

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This Top Computer and Technology Stock is a #1 (Strong Buy): Why It Should Be on Your Radar - Yahoo Finance

The new technology requires minimal manpower and does not need high-end technical adequacy for its operation that cuts the operational expense to a large extent.

Low and medium-scale enterprises in automobile, food, and other sectors would soon have access to a new wastewater treatment technology that would reduce the high costs of existing technologies for handling oily wastewater generated at their source points. The new technology, which consists of an affordable electric field-assisted membrane separation device for oily wastewater treatment, is developed by Dr Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department in Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Built with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the technology works on a combination of Electrocoagulation and Electroflotation Enhanced Membrane Module (ECEFMM) techniques for wastewater treatment, Science and Technology Ministry said in a statement.

While Electrocoagulation uses electrical charge for changing the particle surface charge, allowing suspended matter to form aggregates, Electroflotation separates suspended particles from water using hydrogen and oxygen bubbles generated by passing electricity through water, the ministry noted. So far, the separation technology running in different sectors for treating such oily wastewater involves the installation of an electrolytic cell or DAF followed by membrane unit. However, installing two separate units requires a high footprint area compared to the present unit, where two-unit operations are being assimilated in a single unit, said Dr Bhattacharjee.

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Due to the high cost of existing technologies, a large amount of untreated oily wastewater is discharged into the aquatic bodies without following the guidelines of the Pollution Control Board. However, the new technology is feasible in terms of capital and recurring investment for low-scale and medium enterprises and has a good market potential. By integrating the Electrochemical process setup with the membrane module in a single hybrid ECEFMM setup, one process has been eliminated. This significantly lowers the initial capital investment expense along with the additional advantage of reduced installation area requirement.

Moreover, the new technology requires minimal manpower and does not need high-end technical adequacy for its operation that cuts the operational expense to a large extent. The government said that the recovered spent oil can be used as an industrial burner oil, furnace oil, mould oil, hydraulic oil, etc., which would lead to revenue generation scope for low-income groups.

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This DST-backed wastewater treatment technology to reduce costs for low, medium scale enterprises - The Financial Express