What's Emerging end of June 2024
A newsletter on interesting stuff that is emerging around the world so you can think about strategy.
Welcome to our end of June Newsletter
A bit of an electric vehicle and batteries theme this edition
In the next few weeks Paul will continue to work on the strategy implementation consultation process with RSL Victoria. Paul is also working on a scenario and Foresight Forum project with the Professional Standards Authority on the future of the professions and implications for standards and regulation. He will also continue in his role of Chair with venture philanthropy organisation Social Venture Partners Melbourne that is conducting a wide-ranging strategy review in March (just completed - stand by for news from that). He is also setting up the business plan proposal for a new social enterprise business (we could tell you what it is, but we would have to kill you).
If you are interested in talking to us about any of our strategy approaches, foresight approaches, workshops, or conference presentations, please Contact Us.
The Emergent Futures Team
In case you missed it. The most popular link from the last edition
(with 15% of people opening it despite it being in the newsletter two weeks in a row)
The NSA advises you to turn your phone off and back on once a week
There are several ways to protect yourself, the NSA suggests. Paul: I follow most of these, especially using a vpn and not using public wifi. I also give out Porta Power USB blockers as prizes at conferences - they prevent data theft if you are charging through a USB cable, even on a power point. (you can be hacked this way - it is called Juice Jacking)...… Read more.
What are we Writing About?
As all our work in the last two weeks has been private there is nothing in this section this edition Paul will expand more on the future scenarios he presented to the Agriculture Sustainability Summit hosted by Ag Minister Murray Watt and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen in the next edition.
What’s Emerging
Batteries on wheels: Energy retailer Amber launches trial for bi-directional EV charging
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has lobbed $3.2 million in funding to emerging retailer Amber Electric to trial electric vehicle (EV) smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services with residential customers. Paul: this technology is a big thing for the future. If it can be done cost effectively it makes your electric car a mobile battery, reduces the value of home storage batteries, changes demand flows in the grid and makes electric cars more appealing........…..Read More
SMS delivers world’s largest excavator – Komatsu PC8000 – to Copper Mountain
For earlier in the years: SMS Equipment has delivered the world’s largest excavator – an electric Komatsu PC8000-11 – to the Copper Mountain mine........….….Read more
New South Wales health data shows whooping cough is at its highest rate since 2016
A paediatric infectious diseases expert says the pandemic means young people have avoided the usual cycle of whooping cough surges. Paul: this is a bit of a global phenomenon........…..Read More
Magnetic tape shipments reached a record 152.9 exabytes in 2023
The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) format for tape-based magnetic data recording was developed in the Nineties as an open-standard alternative to proprietary tape formats. The technology provides native encryption and compression support, and it is still one of the most used "cold" storage media in data center and enterprise environments. Paul: an interesting insight into technology cycles..........…..Read More
An influencer’s AI clone started offering fans ‘mind-blowing sexual experiences’ without her knowledge
In 2023, Marjorie released a “digital version” of herself. Fans could chat with CarynAI for US$1 per minute – and in the first week alone they spent US$70,000 doing just that.Less than eight months later, Marjorie shut the project down. Marjorie had anticipated that CarynAI would interact with her fans in much the same way she would herself, but things did not go to plan. Paul: I am somewhat sceptical of this story as a publicity stunt, but it does raise important issues.......……. Read more
An AI Cartoon May Interview You for Your Next Job
As if trying to land a new gig isn’t demoralizing enough, job seekers are meeting with characters powered by generative AI who are capable of meeting with infinite candidates to judge their skills..........……. Read More
Detecting hallucinations in large language models using semantic entropy
Large language model (LLM) systems, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, can show impressive reasoning and question-answering capabilities but often ‘hallucinate’ false outputs and unsubstantiated answers.Researchers need a general method for detecting hallucinations in LLMs that works even with new and unseen questions to which humans might not know the answer. Paul - a little nerdy but important ......…..Read more
Developing Vaccinations to Mitigate Methane Emissions from Animal Agriculture in New Zealand
Paul - an interesting talk from my LinkedIn friend and speaker at the future of livestock conference I helped organise and facilitate. A little nerdy but a possible important path of climate change success
The world’s largest solar farm just came online in China
The 3.5-gigawatt (GW), 33,000-acre solar farm is outside Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. The state asset regulator’s website cited the Power Construction Corp of China and said it came online on Monday. The solar farm will generate about 6.09 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually. Assuming an EV consumes about 3,000 kWh per year, 6.09 billion kWh could power 2.03 million EVs annually.....….. Read more
Australian bushfires could be more intense and extensive than current predictions, study suggests
The International Panel on Climate Change's sixth report last year predicted a longer fire season in Australia and a greater number of dangerous fire weather days. But a new report in the International Journal of Wildland Fire suggests that communities will also face more multi-day fires, with limited opportunity to control the fires overnight, compared to current climate projections..……. Read more
Could we launch resources from the moon with electromagnetic railguns?
In 1974, the late Princeton University professor and space visionary Gerard O'Neill proposed using electromagnetic rail guns to lob payloads from the moon. O'Neill suggested using "mass drivers" based on a coil gun design to accelerate a non-magnetic object. One application for mass drivers was launching moon-derived materials into lunar orbit for in-space manufacturing..……. Read more
Apple supplier TDK says battery breakthrough can deliver higher performance for wearable devices
Japanese electronic parts maker TDK on Monday said it had successfully developed a material for its solid-state batteries, making a breakthrough that it estimates could deliver significantly higher performance for wearable devices. The Tokyo-based Apple supplier said the material for its small solid-state batteries had an estimated energy density of 1,000 Watt hours per liter, or Wh/l, which is approximately 100 times greater than the energy density of TDK’s conventional mass-produced solid-state battery...........….….Read more
Ferrari Is Removing Built-In Nav Because Who Even Uses That
Like the CD-ROMs of navi systems from years past, in-car maps are clunky, unintuitive, and hardly used........….…Read more.
BHP rejects hydrogen and hybrids, will go straight to electric for giant haul trucks
Electric excavators and battery haul trucks, not hydrogen or hybrid options, are preferred to displace diesel in iron ore mining, BHP says. However, the diversified miner’s carbon footprint will get worse before it gets better as commodity production ramps up to meet global demand, investors were warned at a roundtable on Wednesday. “It’s not going to be a straight line”, climate vice-president Graham Winkelman said, as the company grows to meet increasing global demand for its commodities, particularly Australian iron ore for making steel....……...… Read more.
Business and Other Tips
Collecting OSINT on Discord: a guide
An in-depth guide for collecting publicly available information on the popular voice, video and text messaging app, Discord.… Read more.
Coles and Telstra loyalty point phishing scams are circulating. Here's how to spot one
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (AMCA) has reported a sharp rise in shopping points and rewards-based SMS scams, and is warning customers to be vigilant...… Read more.
How to fix common Apple CarPlay issues: A frustrated user's guide
When it works, it's great, but when it doesn't, it can be frustrating to figure out what's wrong.… Read More
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