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Europe’s first ‘lightning hunter’ releases striking footage of severe storms

By: Thomas Macaulay

Europe’s first “lightning hunter” has generated striking animations of severe storms hitting the Earth.  Built by Italian firm Leonardo, the system is the first satellite instrument that can continuously detect lightning across Europe and Africa. The imager is comprised of four powerful cameras. Each of them can capture 1,000 images per second, day and night, and detect a single lightning bolt faster than the blink of an eye. Algorithms then send the data back to Earth, for use in weather forecasts, climate research, and air transport safety. According to Eumetsat, the European weather agency, severe storms have caused an estimated €500bn…

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Meet the finalists of the TNW València startup pitch battle

By: Thomas Macaulay

Some of Europe’s hottest startups arrived at TNW València last week to develop ideas, expand networks, create new leads, and — and most importantly of all — fight. Not in the physical sense, of course, but in a fiercely-contested TNW València pitch battle. After surviving a series of fiery knockout clashes, eight of Europe’s most electrifying startups were selected for the contest final on Friday. València provided the perfect stage for the showdown. The region is Spain’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, with the most startups per capita in the country.  It was also bathed in glorious sunshine — but this was no vacation…

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7 unmissable highlights of TNW València

By: Thomas Macaulay

Ladies and gentlemen, the moment has almost arrived: TNW València is next week!  In case you’ve been living under a rock (or frequenting another tech site, you traitor), we’re taking our cherished festival on the road. After 16 glorious years in Amsterdam, we’re bringing the show to Spain’s Mediterranean coast — and you’re all invited. We’re not only there for the sun, sea, and sand — far from it, in fact. València has the fastest-growing innovation ecosystem in Spain, and the most startups per capita in the country. On March 30th and 31st, we’ll showcase the best tech in the region…

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Why a European mobile operating system can’t challenge Android and iOS

By: Callum Booth

Recently, we asked if it was possible for Europe to have a dominant smartphone again. The answer was simple: no, not unless there’s some sort of miracle. The reason behind this is multifaceted, but the core point is that because Asia hosts the majority of the world’s mobile manufacturing facilities, it’s borderline impossible for European companies to create a good enough phone at a low enough price to succeed. But, here at TNW, we had another question: could Europe launch its own mobile operating system? Why do we need a European mobile OS? On first inspection, it’s an excellent idea.…

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Or just read more coverage about: Android

Here’s how media outlets are using generative AI in journalism

By: Thomas Macaulay

Generative AI is entering the media — and hacks are getting worried. Except for your loyal correspondents at TNW, of course, as automated output can’t compare with our flair and reporting. (At least, that’s what I’m telling my overlords.) Other journalists, however, aren’t as blessed. Last week, the owner of Britain’s Daily Mirror and the Express became the latest media magnate to add bots to the newsroom. The publisher, Reach, has posted several AI-written articles on the local news site In Your Area. According to Reach CEO Jim Mullen, they include a listicle on “7 things to do with visitors to…

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New “Canary” channel will showcase more-experimental, less-stable Windows builds

By: Andrew Cunningham
A PC running Windows 11.

Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft started its Windows Insider program in 2014 to get public feedback on Windows 10 as it was being developed. Ever since then, the company has continued to provide regularly updated prerelease builds of Windows 10 and Windows 11 to preview and test new features.

Like many public beta programs, Microsoft has maintained different channels for different users, with periodic tweaks to each channel's name and stated purpose. Today, Microsoft is renaming one channel and introducing another one. The one formerly known as the "Dev" channel will now be called the "Canary" channel, and it will be where Microsoft tests its least-stable and most-experimental features (including "major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc.").

"The builds that will be flighted to the Canary Channel will be “hot off the presses,” flighting very soon after they are built, which means very little validation and documentation will be done before they are offered to Insiders," writes Windows Insider Program Lead Amanda Langowski.

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Sunak branded ‘unspeakably idiotic’ for impeding plans to rejoin Horizon

By: Thomas Macaulay

Rishi Sunak has enraged British scientists after dimming hopes of rejoining the EU’s Horizon programme. Prospects of reentering the €96 billion research scheme had grown after a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland was struck on Monday. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the agreement as “good news” for scientists and researchers. She said work to associate the UK with Horizon could start “immediately” after implementing the terms. Scientists had overwhelmingly welcomed the breakthrough. Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, the UK’s foremost collective of scientific voices, called for access to Horizon to be swiftly secured. “These schemes…

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Bad news, junior developers: You will be judged by your documentation

By: Ari Joury

Developers become developers because they like to code. Many have taken up coding as teens after school, or during after-hours after their cubicle job. They realize how much power they can get from their IDE and their command line, and they get addicted to it. Even when developers land that dream job where they can code all day, many keep their side projects going in the evenings and during after-hours. I personally know developers who keep coding on the train after they leave their office — because what else is one going to do on a train? Coding is a…

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New sensor promises to bring ‘true colour’ to smartphone photos

By: Thomas Macaulay

In the fiercely contested smartphone market, photography can be a key battleground. Alongside the insatiable desires for better batteries, durability, storage, and processing, camera quality consistently ranks as a key factor when choosing a phone. At CES 2023, Spectricity, a startup based in Belgium, unveiled a new entrant to the competition: the S1 chip.  Spectricity claims the S1 is the first truly miniaturised and mass-manufacturable spectral image sensor for mobile devices — and the company is targetting sector dominance. Within two years, Spectricity boldly predicts the sensor will be inside every smartphone. The bullishness derives from a singular focus: measuring…

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Ukraine’s year of war exposes changing roles for cyber weapons

By: Thomas Macaulay

On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is commemorating horrific losses — and remarkable defiance. The country’s fierce resistance on the battlefield has been echoed on the digital front — where Kyiv has unique experience. The conflict with Russia has become the world’s first full-scale cyberwar, but Ukraine was a test bed for digital weapons long before the invasion of 24 February, 2022. Since Putin’s troops began flooding across the border, the cyber tactics have shifted dramatically. These developments have made Ukraine a bellwether for digital warfare. And to the surprise of analysts, cyber attacks have had a limited impact…

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Values of European unicorns plunge amid sharp fall in public markets

By: Thomas Macaulay

A rough year in public markets has taken a heavy toll on startups. According to new research, every unicorn in Europe that went public in 2021 has since shrunk in valuation. The losses follow record-highs for VC exit valuations in 2021. PitchBook, a financial data firm, attributed the downturn to a shrinking public market. The company found that 13 unicorns went public during 2021’s bull market and IPO frenzy. Yet none have gone on to have positive share price returns. Their numbers paint a gloomy picture. By the end of 2022, more than half of them had lost over 75% of their…

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Studies show women are less likely to apply for jobs at male-dominated startups

By: Kirstie McDermott

Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos: what these names have in common is they are all founders of some of tech’s most powerful companies. The other key thing they have in common is they’re all men. While there are many women founders—Melanie Perkins of Canva and Sandy Lerner of Cisco are just two, along with Mira Murati, the CTO of OpenAI, creator of the much-lauded ChatGPT—there is a significant gender disparity in the technology industry. There are many systemic reasons for this. Globally, women make up over 50% of the population, but own only 1% of the total…

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These are the next 6 industries that are ripe for tech disruption

By: Emily DSilva

When it comes to investing in innovation, certain industries have flourished over others. Those that haven’t are now facing a do or die situation to keep up with the demands of a modern society, the ever-prominent concern around the climate crisis, inflation issues, and an aging population. Looking at the global stats Tracxn collected from 230+ sectors between 2013 and 2023, it’s clear which industries — education, hospitality, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, real estate and construction, and commercial airline — have fallen behind, received less funding and seen less successful startups being founded. Whether it’s been down to high costs, difficulty…

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Sun, sea, and startups: València’s tech sector is poised to explode

By: Jill Petzinger

València regularly tops rankings of the best cities in the world, due to its stellar combo of 300-plus annual days of sun, the Med on your doorstep, and a lifestyle that values free time, exercise, and good food. But it’s not all paella and chill. The Valèncian region’s startup scene — based mainly in its capital plus the smaller cities of Alicante and Castellón — has been revving up in recent years, and is now making its mark in everything from AI, fintech, and cybersecurity, to cleantech, healthtech, and industrial IoT. With TNW’s first conference in València just around the corner, we…

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Car with no human inside drives on European road for first time

By: Thomas Macaulay

For the first time, a car with no human inside has driven on a public road in Europe. The feat was accomplished by Vay, a German startup. The company uses an approach called “teledriving” to remote-control cars from sites located miles away. Operators pilot the vehicles with steering wheels, petals, and monitors. They also recieve road traffic sounds via microphones and headphones. The system resembles racing simulators for video games — only the action on the screens is happening for real. Redundant mobile networks provide the data transmission. In the event of a network failures or emergency, the vehicle automatically…

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Can the UK’s approach to AI regulation give it an edge over the EU?

By: Thomas Macaulay

The EU’s landmark AI Act is moving closer to reality, as a rival rulebook forms across the English Channel. The union aims to agree on draft rules for the world-first AI statute next month, Reuters reported on Monday. “We are still in good time to fulfil the overall target and calendar that we assumed in the very beginning, which is to wrap it up during this mandate,” Dragos Tudorache, an MEP and co-rapporteur of the EU AI Act, told the news agency. As the EU legislation nears enactment, lawmakers in the UK are shaping a very different approach. Their priorities are…

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This is the ‘world’s first’ 100% cultivated steak fillet. Fancy a bite?

By: Thomas Macaulay

A UK startup has produced another milestone in the strange science of lab-grown meat: the first-ever cultivated steak fillet. The landmark was laid by 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT), a bio-tech firm based in Newcastle. Founded in 2019, the company cultivated human corneas for vision-impaired people before applying its techniques to meat. 3DBT has good reasons for the move. CE Delft, an independent research firm, estimates that cultivated meat could cause 92% less global warming and 93% less air pollution, while using 95% less land and 78% less water. There is also a strong business case for the produce. Consulting firm McKinsey predicts the market…

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EU’s green tech funding plan divides bloc over global subsidy race

By: Thomas Macaulay

The EU’s new green tech funding plan has sparked concerns about an escalating global subsidy race. The initiative was launched in response to the US’ Inflation Reduction Act. The act provides $369 billion of subsidies for green technologies, largely through tax credits for products “made in America.” The incentives have triggered fears that EU companies will be enticed to redirect investment and production to the US. Critics claim the measures amount to protectionism that violates existing trade agreements. In response to the act, the EU this week unveiled the Green Deal Industrial Plan — a roadmap to make the bloc’s…

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How startups can protect their IP: 8 tips from a patent attorney

By: Thomas Macaulay

For tech startups, the most valuable assets are often invisible.  While businesses were traditionally built on physical resources, the contemporary economy is increasingly driven by intangibles. The chip firm Arm, for instance, earned a $40 billion valuation and a reputation as the UK’s leading tech company — despite never manufacturing a single chip. Instead, the company designs the processor architecture that’s used in countless devices. This intellectual property-based business model has transformed stock markets. In 1985, under a third of all assets in the S&P 500 were classed as intangible by 2020, that proportion had risen to around 90%. Startups,…

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Big corporations are buying up homes and “eroding the American dream of homeownership”

By: Bob Hennelly
“Investors bought 24 percent of all single-family houses sold nationwide last year," according to new report

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