Starry to cut half of its workforce, start hiring freeze 

Starry Inc. is the latest tech company in the Boston area to lay off workers in an effort to save capital. The Boston Internet provider startup (NYSE: STRY) said on Thursday it is laying off approximately 50% of its workforce.

Source: Starry layoffs 2022: Company to cut half of its workforce, start hiring freeze – Boston Business Journal

Creating a Reliable National Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles 

Electric vehicle (EV) owners may love their cars, but they don’t always like the state of the infrastructure needed to keep those sustainable vehicles charged up and on the road. In the San Francisco Bay area alone—a region where one would assume there are a high number of EVs and an equally ample number of public chargers—just over 70% of the city’s 657 public fast chargers were in working order, according to Autoweek.

Source: Creating a Reliable National Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles | Source Today

REYAX Technologies offers Wireless Modules for Vehicle Tracking

REYAX provides wireless technology and assists for project/product development, but the knowledges of container locks, temperature/humidity sensors or others are from individual customers. For more information click link.

Form Energy raises $450 million funding round

One of the largest funding rounds raised this year by a single tech company came from a sector that won’t surprise longtime Massachusetts tech observers: batteries. Form Energy, a maker of iron-air batteries that can store clean energy for days without incurring in high costs, said on Tuesday it raised $450 million in a late-stage investment. Sarah Bray, a spokesperson for Form Energy, said in an email that the company does not need to rely on public markets for capital at this time.

Source: Form Energy raises $450 million funding round, plans to build manufacturing facility – Boston Business Journal

Archer Aviation Offers a Glimpse of Air Taxi Operations 

Although developers of electric vertical takeoff and landing eVTOL air taxis have yet to receive certification of their aircraft, a few industry leaders have been thinking ahead to operations and what the experience will look like for passengers as well as pilots. Tom Anderson, Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) COO of urban air mobility, spoke with FLYING several weeks ago to offer his thoughts about top-line goals, including obtaining a Part 135 certificate, vertiports for maintenance, landings, and takeoffs, as well as training for pilots and technicians.

Source: Archer Aviation Offers a Glimpse of Air Taxi Operations – FLYING Magazine

US Navy’s “Death Star” Destroyer Will Be Armed With Laser Guns And Hypersonic Missiles

The US Navy’s next-generation guided missile destroyer will be armed with directed-energy and hypersonic weapons. Tom Stevens, the director of ground assembly at Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works, spoke with AP News about the future of shipbuilding. He said the new class of next-generation guided-missile destroyers (DDG(X)) would replace the service’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers. The first contracts for building DDG(X) vessels were awarded to General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine and Huntington Ingalls Industries in Mississippi earlier this summer.

Source: US Navy’s “Death Star” Destroyer Will Be Armed With Laser Guns And Hypersonic Missiles | ZeroHedge

DARPA’s New X-Plane to Make Leaps in Aerospace Tech 

DARPA has a new program, Ancillary, and they hope it will develop and demonstrate new technologies that promise to leap VTOLs, vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, forward. Ancillary, which stands for AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And Recovery X-Plane program (it’s a loose acronym) wants to build a plane that can launch from any environment or ship flight deck, in any weather conditions, without any launch or recovery equipment, like the typical ground support equipment aircraft typically require.

Source: DARPA’s New X-Plane to Make Leaps in Aerospace Tech | Manufacturing.net

Liberty Defense putting ‘ghost guns’ detectors to the test

A Wilmington-based company is putting its system for detecting ‘ghost guns’ to the test at its first beta site. Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd. announced it will deploy its technology to detect concealed weapons and other threats at one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States. The company did not disclose the name of the temple but said it was located in Georgia and that beta testing will continue over the next 12 weeks.

Source: BostInno – Wilmington company putting ‘ghost guns’ detectors to the test

Global military spending hits record high

WASHINGTON — As the annual defense policy bill makes its way through the halls of Congress, lawmakers are fighting the Biden administration’s proposal to scrap two nuclear investments.

The White House wants to retire one of those, the B83 megaton gravity bomb. But the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act prevents that from happening until the chamber receives a report on alternatives for striking “hard and deeply buried targets.”

Source: Global military spending hits record high

A global view on EV charging

As a global organization, Avnet has a privileged insight into how the EV charging infrastructure is developing across the world. Governments and private companies are generating growing momentum behind the move to fully battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). However, not all regions are developing infrastructure at the same rate.

The dynamics of refueling internal combustion engine vehicles are fundamentally different from supplying electricity for BEVs. At minimum, public charge points will be installed alongside fuel pumps. However, the obvious difference is the refuel v recharge timeframe. This creates demand for more charge points at more than just service stations.

Source: A global view on EV charging

MIT NEWDIGS moves to Tufts Medical Center

A drug development think tank at MIT that helps solves systemic health care challenges has moved its headquarters from MIT to Tufts Medical Center, where it will integrate its research with real-world clinical work.

Founded in 2009, the MIT New Drug Development Paradigms, or NEWDIGS, program works on challenges in drug development to help speed up the process from getting a drug from the bench to the bedside. Calling itself a “think and do tank,” with one foot in the biomedical industry and another in the health care delivery world, the group works with people across the health care system — treatment developers, payers, clinicians, provider systems, patient advocates, diagnostics companies, academic researchers and investors — to study how to fill gaps in patient care.

Source: MIT NEWDIGS moves to Tufts Medical Center – Boston Business Journal

Boston Dynamics, Hyundai to fund new AI Institute with $400M in Cambridge

Waltham robot-dog maker Boston Dynamics Inc. and its relatively new owner, Hyundai Motor Group, plan to invest over $400 million in a Kendall Square institute focusing on robotics, artificial intelligence and intelligent machines research.

The South Korean auto maker said on Friday that Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, will lead the organization. The name of the institute, which may be changed at the time of corporate registration, is currently Boston Dynamics AI Institute.

Source: Boston Dynamics, Hyundai to fund new AI Institute with $400M in Cambridge – Boston Business Journal