Power

“Unlocking the Potential of Kubernetes Clusters with Loft Labs’ Virtualization Innovation”

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It may seem like a paradox to have virtualized Kubernetes clusters. Loft Labs saw a similar problem with resource utilization in Kubernetes clusters that VMware saw with server utilization, and has built a virtualization tool to make them more efficient by sharing common underlying applications. Loft Labs lets users share these common applications with multiple virtual clusters in the same way that VMs share server resources. “We’re essentially turning many clusters into one cluster, and then have virtual clusters on top of the common applications,” CEO Lukas Gentele told TechCrunch. And the thing that we learned was the problem of sharing Kubernetes clusters, isolating tenants in the cluster and how hard it is.

Concerns Raised by UK’s Competition Authority about Big Tech’s Dominance in the GenAI Sector

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The U.K.’s competition watchdog has sounded a warning over Big Tech’s entrenching grip on the advanced AI market, with CEO Sarah Cardell expressing “real concerns” over how the sector is developing. She said it’s important that competition enforcers don’t repeat the same mistakes with this next generation of digital development. But for now the CMA has not gone that far, despite clear and growing concerns about cozy GAMMA GenAI ties. “It may be that some arrangements falling outside the merger rules are problematic, even if not ultimately remediable through merger control. (The short version of what it wants to see is: accountablity; access; diversity; choice; flexibility; fair dealing; and transparency.)

“Proxima Fusion Secures $21M Funding to Expand Groundbreaking ‘Stellarator’ Nuclear Fusion Technology”

Proxima Fusion
Venture capitalists’ appetite for fusion startups has been up and down in the last few years. The road to true fusion power remains long, but the kicker is that it’s no longer theoretical. He added the timeline was to be able to get to fusion energy by the mid-2030s. If we manage to get to that then the middle of the 2030s is possible.”The startup’s investors are equally convinced. And there are at least 43 other companies developing nuclear fusion technologies.

Photoncycle’s ingenious hydrogen solution addresses the need for affordable energy storage

Product Straight Green
For years, the solar energy sector has grappled with interseasonal energy storage. The claim is this tech does the storage more cost-effectively than any battery or liquid hydrogen solution on the market. It enables hydrogen storage at densities approximately 50% greater than liquid hydrogen, presenting a significant advancement in hydrogen storage solutions. A robust, reusable energy storage solution could bridge these timings, ensuring a stable energy supply when these renewable sources encounter unavoidable intermittent periods. The firm certainly has investors’ attention: Photoncycle just raised $5.3 million (€5 million) to build its first few power storage devices in Denmark, which Photoncycle has chosen as its test market.

“ElevenLabs Teams Up with Rabbit to Enhance Voice Control on Its Device”

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Hardware maker Rabbit has tapped a partnership with ElevenLabs to power voice commands on its devices. The Rabbit r1 will ship with ElevenLabs’ tech, which will enable voice commands from the users and how the pocket AI device talks back to them. ElevenLabs said that while r1 was poised for voice interaction from the start, the company’s low latency models will make interactions more human-like. Our collaboration is about making the r1 a truly dynamic co-pilot, ” ElevenLabs’ CEO Mati Staniszewski said in a prepared statement. In January, Rabbit said that it will use Perplexity AI’s solutions to answer users’ questions on the device.

“The Intelligence of Honda’s Hydrogen-Fuelled CR-V: Breaking Stereotypes”

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Just like battery-electric cars 20 years ago, hydrogen fuel cell cars suffer from the old chicken and the egg problem. Nobody wants to buy a fuel cell vehicle until the supporting infrastructure is in place, but it’s tough to invest in infrastructure when nobody owns a fuel cell vehicle. Honda sees four ways to apply the second-generation hydrogen fuel cell: in consumer and commercial fuel cell vehicles, in stationary power stations and in construction machinery. Honda learned that Clarity Fuel Cell owners usually drove very short distances, five or 10 miles at a time and a hydrogen fuel cell isn’t the most efficient on quick trips. The fuel cell CR-V has a 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster with all the power-delivery information your nerdy brain could possibly want.

“Honda’s Strategic Decision: The Advancement of Hydrogen Fueled CR-V e:FCEV”

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Just like battery-electric cars 20 years ago, hydrogen fuel cell cars suffer from the old chicken and the egg problem. Nobody wants to buy a fuel cell vehicle until the supporting infrastructure is in place, but it’s tough to invest in infrastructure when nobody owns a fuel cell vehicle. Honda sees four ways to apply the second-generation hydrogen fuel cell: in consumer and commercial fuel cell vehicles, in stationary power stations and in construction machinery. A Honda CR-V with a twistHonda is not new to the hydrogen fuel cell game. 2025 Honda CRV e:FCEV inside and outThe e:FCEV looks a lot like the standard CR-V, but those with sharp eyes will notice a few key differences.

Founders may have ceded excessive control to VCs in blocking IPOs

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Late-stage VCs may be preventing their startups from going public in 2024 Founders might have unintentionally given their VCs too much power to block an IPOWhile some investors are loudly bemoaning that the IPO window can’t stay shut forever, other VCs themselves are actually part of the problem. It’s a common term for late-stage investors agreeing to pay higher prices for their stake to boost a startup’s valuation. When late-stage startups raised at sky-high valuations in 2021 they may not have realized how much power they were giving their late-stage investors if the market cooled, which it did. “People confuse up and to the right, with a god-given right,” Hinkle said. He added that there is always a lot more friction between investors and startups about the decision to IPO than investors would like to admit.

“Empowering Solar Power in Spain: SolarMente, with Support from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Backing”

Solarmente Co Founders Wouter Draijer And Victor Gardrinier
Draijer said the company started off as an installer of solar panels in Spain, but after the pandemic, it decided it should offer a solar energy management system. “Solar is not a product,” Draijer said, explaining why most Spaniards can’t or just don’t want to pay upfront for solar panels. That’s why SolarMente offers subscription-based energy management services, which include installing solar panels without upfront costs. “We’re using this round to really power our super app for home energy,” Gardrinier said. But first, SolarMente wants to further expand across Spain, where its subscription solar offer just became available nationwide, Draijer told TechCrunch.

SIP Introduces Verrus: A Revolutionary Battery-Powered Data Center Concept

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Jonathan Winer, the co-founder and co-CEO of SIP, said that the first three data centers designed using Verrus’ architecture will be located in Arizona, California and Massachusetts. (Alongside the new business, SIP is also launching the Data Center Flexibility Initiative to bring stakeholders like energy companies, tech giants and regulators together in the meantime.) Observing the strain that data centers in particular have on the electrical grid, SIP turned its attention to those data centers themselves. Simply building more data centers, whether run by third-party data center operators or by the hyperscalers themselves, will not keep up with demand. As SIP sees it, simply adding more data centers — which has been the approach up to now — is not a sustainable approach longer term.