Apple plans to launch electric smart car by 2019

Is Apple trying to be the next Tesla Motors?

Apple has reportedly green-lit its mammoth project to build an electric car, and it hopes to have a new vehicle on the road by 2019.

It has been rumored that Apple was planning to step into the automobile business and now it is definitely confirmed. The company gave an approval for tripling the 600 employees already working on the project, code-named Titan.

According to different reports Apple has faced difficulties as a result of its lack of experience in the area. It has been rumored that the team may tap a company such as BMW, and may even consider using the i3 design as the foundation for the self-driving Apple Car. But only one thing can be sure, Apple is definitely moving forward with the project.

An Apple entry into the electric car market will significantly shake up the automobile industry and create serious competition to Tesla Motors. 

Lexus created fully functional ‘Origami car’ made totally out of cardboard

Modern technology has definitely proven that you can design and build models from different materials. Speaking of that, Japanese car brand Lexus has reviled a life size, fully functional electric replica of its IS sedan. The main body, interior and wheels are made out of cardboard. But still, thanks to the electric motor this Origami car can be driven.

Five people from Laser-cut Works and Scales and Models (London based companies) were commissioned to design and build this Origami car. They laser-cut 1,700 pieces based on the digital model of the regular car, and stuck them all together using a water-based/wood glue. It took them 3 months to put everything together.  They used a 3D model of the existing IS saloon, which then they divided into principal parts, including the main body, dashboard, seats and wheels. 

"Once we could see the physical pieces taking shape, we could identify where we needed to make improvements -- as with anything, there were some elements of trial and error, but as we had all the resources we needed in-house, this made the changes easier to produce."

The cardboard Origami Car will be on show as part of the Grand Designs Live event at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, UK, from 8 to 11 October 2015.

Still, don’t expect to see this car on the streets. It’s still made out of a cardboard.

In 2017 Japan will present world's first fully robotic farm

In a world where the population is only getting bigger and recourses are starting to deplete, the “old fashioned” way of growing food is just not good enough. Today’s world population is getting closer to 7.5 billion (more specifically 7.21 billion at the moment). Population of such huge dimensions is definitely going to need a lot of food, water, a place to live, etc. According to some accountings, 200 kg food per year is needed to one human being. That means 1 trillion and 500 billion kg food per year (7.5 billion x 200 kg). 

Even though, recently there are some efforts of automation of food production, still its almost impossible to expect that the current food production will produce a quantity of food of those dimensions. 

On the other hand, there are truly some breakthroughs in the field of creating artificial fields on which are going to be possible to grow different types of plants.

Japanese company named Spread in 2017 will open its first fully automated lettuce farm. The farm is planning to be a 4.800 square meter (52,000 square foot) fully-automated indoor complex that’ll cost up to 2 billion yen to build ($16.5 million USD).

According to Spread, there are six stages to growing a lettuce at a factory: seeding, germination, raising the seedlings, transplanting them into a larger bed, raising the vegetable and harvesting. The most impressive fact is that the whole process plus, temperature control, humidity, level of carbon dioxide, sterilization of water and lighting hours is going to be fully automated. People are probably going to be needed only to confirm the germination. Beyond that, every process is automated, it says.

Stacker cranes are going to carry the lettuce seedlings and hand them over to robots which will take care of transplanting them. Once, fully grown they will be harvested and delivered automatically to the factory’s packaging line.

Spread is going to go even further. Apparently automation is not the only news from Spread. The farm will also recycle the 98% of the water used in the processes. And, because the farm is indoor there will be no need of harmful pesticides or, insecticides (Is it possible this farm to healthily the food production?). 

The Kyoto-based firm Spread already produces 21.000 heads of lettuce every day, but after building the new automated firm, they expect to increase their production to 30.000 heads a day. And, because apparently robots are going to be the next farmers, the new factory is going to cut labor cost by 50 %, meaning the cost for the consumers are going to be reduced as well.

So, it may be a problematic concept if you look from the cutting labor side, but in terms of ecology, and efficiency it’s absolutely positive.  

Pepsi is making a Pepsi Smartphone?

Apparently one of the biggest beverages seller Pepsi will launch its first Android Smartphone in China.

There have been a theses about it on the Chinese social media called Meebo and, few android blogs are posting neat details about a Pepsi branded android phone being presented in Beijing on October 20. It will actually be a pretty decent mid-range phone called P1. It will include a 5.5-inch 1080p display, an octa-core processor from MediaTek, a 13-megapixel rear camera (5-megapixels in front), 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

According to the first leaked photo of the phone, you can expect it to be “packed” in thin 7.62 mm metal case. It runs Android 5.1 and, the price is expecting to be 1,299 yuan which is equivalent to $205.

PepsiCo Inc. share that the phone will be available only in China and that, another company will manufacture the phone. So, no the company is not going into the mobile phone manufacturing business. “But we are committed to engaging with Chinese consumers at this point of connectivity, and in innovative ways, to grow our brand,” it said.

The same as “Pepsi Crystal” and video game “Pepsiman” its just the company’s way of licensing its branding.