The weaponised SUV set to terrify America’s streets
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/25/pepper-spray-school-run-apocalyptic-suv-reznavi-vengeange
-- Pepper spray for the school run? The weaponised SUV set to terrify America’s streets
The extreme features of the Rezvani Vengeance – including electrified door handles and blinding strobe lights – are wholly in tune with lethal trends in the US market
In southern California, parking lot warfare just got real.
Not content with their supersized pickup trucks and child-killing SUVs, America’s road warriors can now go full military apocalypse, with the arrival of the Rezvani Vengeance.
While its competitors offer heated seats and optional roof-racks, this souped-up SUV boasts bulletproof glass, blinding strobe lights, electrified doorhandles,
and wing mirrors that can shoot pepper spray – handy for putting those pesky cyclists in their place.
“Vengeance is yours,” trumpets the website, which details how the car can release a dense smoke screen to confuse people following you, as well as detect electromagnetic pulses from nuclear weapons.
Always handy for the supermarket run.
Picking up the kids from school?
You can announce your arrival through the car’s booming intercom system.
Or why not just drive straight through the gates?
The vehicle’s hefty steel ram bumpers and military-grade tyres would make mincemeat of any parking barrier – and dispatch the headteacher while they’re at it.
One thing oddly missing from the Vengeance (priced from $285,000, rising to $499,000 with all the extras) is a rear windscreen, because of course that would be unsafe.
Instead, drivers are treated to a live video rear-view mirror and a front camera overlaid with “augmented reality”.
Perhaps it shows an imaginary zombie army for you to mow down on your way to the mall.
Who needs a rear windscreen?
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https://www.rezvanimotors.com/rezvani-vengeance#vengeance-security-package-military-package
-- Vengeance — Rezvani
Bullet proof glass and body armor
Underside explosive protection
Smoke Screen
Military Runflat Tires
Thermal Night Vision System
Reinforced suspension
Electromagnetic Pulse Protection
Ram Bumpers
Optional explosive device detection
Bullet proof vests and helmets
Electrified Door Handles
Siren and Horn Options
Strobe Lights
Blinding Lights
Intercom System
Magnetic Dead Bolts
Gas masks
First Aid kit
Hypothermia kit
Pepper Spray Dispenser
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in Spain :
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https://www.businessinsider.com/spain-spend-millions-euros-trains-too-big-for-rail-tunnels-2023-2
-- Spain: 31 Trains Costing $276M Were Too Big for Rail Tunnels
$276 million was spent on 31 Spanish trains before it was realized they were too big to fit in the tunnels
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https://en.protothema.gr/spain-builds-submarine-70-tons-too-heavy-after-putting-a-decimal-in-the-wrong-place/
-- Spain builds submarine 70 tons too heavy after putting a decimal in the wrong place | protothemanews.com
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https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/spanish-boat-big-for-home-base.html?chrome=1
-- Oops! - New Spanish Sub is Too Big For It's Home Port
Part of a four-submarine fleet ordered by the Spanish government in 2003, the sub, part of the S-80 series, is too big for the port of Cartegena for which it was designed.
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AI :
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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/meta-facebook-layoffs-employees-job-cuts-second-round-3346136 2023-03-14
-- Facebook-parent Meta to lay off 10,000 employees in second round of job cuts - CNA
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said on Tuesday (Mar 14) it would cut 10,000 jobs, just four months after it let go 11,000 employees, the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs.
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https://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/1155650909/google-chatbot--error-bard-shares
-- Google's AI chatbot, Bard, sparks a $100 billion loss in Alphabet shares : NPR
Google's parent company, Alphabet, lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday after its new artificial intelligence technology produced a factual error in its first demo.
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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/microsoft-revamp-bing-search-engine-more-ai-google-rivalry-heats-3261326 20230208
-- Microsoft to revamp Bing search engine with more AI as Google rivalry heats up - CNA
Microsoft is staking its future on AI through billions of dollars of investment.
Working with the startup OpenAI, the company is aiming to rival Alphabet Inc's Google and potentially claim vast returns from tools that speed up all manner of content creation, automating tasks if not jobs themselves.
The power of so-called generative AI that can create virtually any text or image dawned on the public last year with the release of ChatGPT, the chatbot sensation from OpenAI.
Its human-like responses to any prompt have given people new ways to think about the possibilities of marketing, writing term papers or disseminating news, or even how to query information online.
Microsoft Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi said at the briefing that the Bing search engine will be powered by AI and run on a new, next generation "large language model" that is more powerful than ChatGPT.
A chatbot will help users refine queries more easily, give more relevant, up-to-date results, and even make shopping easier.
Microsoft is now aiming to market OpenAI's technology, including ChatGPT, to its cloud customers and add the same power to its suite of products, including search.
Google has taken note.
On Monday it unveiled a chatbot of its own called Bard, while it is planning to release AI for its search engine that can synthesize material when no simple answer exists online.
The rivalry in search is now among the industry's biggest, as OpenAI sets up Microsoft to expand its 9 per cent share at Google's expense, said Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.
"Microsoft is looking to win this AI battle," he said in a research note on Monday.
For the quarter ending Dec 31, Alphabet reported US$42.6 billion in Google Search and other revenue, while Microsoft posted US$3.2 billion from search and news advertising.
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https://statesidealternatives.com/business/two-germans-parked-a-mangled-russian-tank-in-front-of-the-russian-embassy-in-berlin-as-an-anniversary-gift/ 2023-02-24
-- Two Germans parked a mangled Russian tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin as an anniversary gift
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