Important Innovations

  Big, New Innovations from Asia                                                  Source:  Amazon Just Published on Amazon & Kindle Journalist Edward Kane's latest book "ASIA: THE INNOVATION POWERHOUSE" has just been published on Kindle and Amazon.  It's available as a paperback and e-book.  If you're interested in learning about the latest, big innovations coming out of Asia - from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and more - this is the book for you. For a free preview, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08PS8F3NF&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NBmZFbJ727GM4   I co-authored the book with Ed.

Switzerland and Sweden Leading the Way                                                                 Source:  Swiss Innovation Council 2020 Global Innovation Index (GII) The 2020 Global Innovation Index ranks Switzerland and Sweden as the #1 and #2 Innovation countries in the world.  For Switzerland, this is the 10th year of ranking number 1.  Europe has clearly become the global epicenter of innovation.  Eight of the top 12 leaders in innovation are European countries:  Switzerland #1, Sweden #2, UK #4, Netherlands #5, Denmark #6, Finland #7, Germany #9, France #12.  The US came in #3 in this year's annual ranking of 131 nations using 80 metrics to evaluate the level of innovation around the world. COVID-19's Impact The GII experts say COVID-19 is "severely pressuring" the long term build-up in global innovation, while it is also accelerating innovation in specific areas, particularly health care.  GII says the leading nations in innovation show year-to-year stabil

  2020 To Be Record Year For EVs in Europe                                                  Source:  Audi New Analysis In the first half of 2020, electric vehicles comprised 8% of car sales in Europe.  According to a new analysis by NGO Transport and Environment, EV's are on track to triple their market share for all of 2020 in Europe.  This is very significant growth despite the COVID pandemic clobbering overall vehicle sales.  The actual number of EV's sold in Europe is expected to double to 1 million for the year 2020. European Regulations and Incentives In the broader picture, several factors are helping to increase electric vehicle sales.  The European Union is tightening car emission standards and will continue to ratchet-up standards to reach its 2030 EU climate goals on carbon emissions.  Plus, Germany and France have put attractive EV purchase incentives into place. Overall, electric and plug-in hybrid EV's will account for 10% of European car sales in 2020.  The b

  SpaceX and Tesla Breakthroughs 2020                                         https://amazon.com/author/ekane My Latest Book On Amazon & Kindle Journalist Edward Kane's just published book "The Elon Musk Factor" showcases the biggest accomplishments and technology breakthroughs by one of the greatest innovation moguls of our time - Elon Musk.  2020 for SpaceX, Tesla and Elon Musk has rolled out a series of fascinating successes, all documented in the book.  For a free preview, go to  https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B08KHCYGY9&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_721DFb3EC2CX2    I co-authored the book with Ed. The content is fascinating

  New Flying Car Unveiled Source:  Xpeng Electric Vehicle Market Hot The Beijing Auto Show 2020 opened today and it is a rare, in-person trade show event in the Covid-19 worried world.  The show stopper was the unveiling of a new electric flying car by the Alibaba-funded China startup Xpeng.  The all-electric vehicle has eight propellers and a capsule-like frame that can sit two.  It's one of a series of flying vehicles that the electric automaker Xpeng is developing.  The prototype at the moment can reach 16.4 feet in altitude.  Xpeng says the future of vehicles will include smart mobility autonomous driving features and other technologies that will create "a multidimensional ecosystem that will be very exciting". China Auto Market Strongly Recovering China is the world's largest automotive market and it is in recovery mode from the Covid lockdowns.  Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida, during a news conference via satellite from Japan, said Nissan sales in China have returned

BOOKS BY JOURNALIST EDWARD KANE Non-fiction books on innovations and discoveries across industries in 2020 and 2019.   TOP INVENTIONS FOR THE 2020's Just Published by Amazon and Kindle  amazon.com/author/ekane SMART DEVICES FOR THE 2020's Just published by Amazon and Kindle   amazon.com/author/ekane FUTURE TRAVEL VEHICLES Just published by Amazon and Kindle  amazon.com/author/ekane FUTURE TRAVEL VEHICLES BY EDWARD KANE SPACE "Space 2020's:  What's Up There?" - Kindle & paperback "Bargain Space Trips" - Kindle & paperback "Space Renaissance in the 21st Century" - Kindle & paperback "Search For Life in Space" - Kindle & paperback TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL INNOVATIONS "Future of Transportation:  2020's and Beyond" - Kindle & paperback "Electric Vehicles for All" - Kindle & paperback "Hot Electric Vehicles fo

Redesigning the iPhone Source:  Stock Smartphone image 2020 New Product Launches Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, Apple is moving forward with a number of new products and product modifications. Of most importance, it's redesigning the iPhone this year.  Reports indicate 2, new iPhonePro models with 3 cameras on the back.  And the screens are expected to be slightly larger.  These smart phones will also have new iPodPro's LIDAR,  3-D scanning systems.  There are also reports that the iPhone 11 will be replaced by 2 lower end, 2 camera models. More New Products In the second quarter of 2020, Apple is expected to release a smaller, less expensive HomePod speaker.  There are also expectations of new versions of Apple TV, MacBookPro and a new entry level iPAD. Some exciting new tech to look forward to and check out.

BMW's Electric Future: Expanding EV Lineup Source:  BMW iX3 Rapidly Expanding Production For BMW, the future of mobility is electric and the future is now.  The global automotive leader has big electric plans.  Right now, it has 12 electric vehicle models, including the new BMW 330e, the BMW X5xDrive45e, the BMW X3xDrive30e - all plug-in hybrids, along with the all-electric Mini Cooper SE.  In 2020, they'll be joined by the all-electric BMWiX3 and the BMWX1 plug-in hybrid. By 2030, 50% of BMWs Sold Will Be Electric Vehicles BMW plans on having 25 electric models by 20023, more than half of which will be all electric.  By 2021, the company estimates 25% of all BMWs sold in Europe will be electric, 33% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. EV Demand to Double in 2020 Based on these new projections, BMW is significantly ramping up production.  It's more than doubling its staff at its global Center of Excellence for Electric Mobility in Dingolfing, Bavaria. BMW p

From Maryanne Kane, to all my friends on social media, a Very Happy New Year!!! May 2020 be the best for you!!! Image:  Boston Fireworks Celebration on Charles River Stock Image

Chinese Mars Lander Passes Important Landing Test Source:  Chinese Mars Lander Test China - Emerging Space Power China just successfully completed a landing test of its Mars lander that will contain a rover to explore Mars.  This puts China squarely on track for its Mission to Mars in the summer of 2020.  This mission involves landing on and exploring the Red Planet.  Mars is cold and barren but it's considered the only planet other than Earth that is habitable.  The Chinese space mission could contribute to the international effort to learn about and start understanding the climate conditions and mineral resources on Mars. Billions of Dollars Invested in Space China is pouring billions of dollars into its military-run space program.  It hopes to have a crewed space station in orbit by 2022.  China's space investment is paying off.  Early in 2019 it landed a rover on the far side of the Moon, which is a first.  Clearly, China is emerging as a major space power along

Developing Customized Software to Combat It Source:  DARPA Disinformation Attacks Becoming More Technologically Innovative The U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is launching a project to thwart large-scale disinformation attacks.  DARPA considers these automated fake news attacks and fake social media posts as a threat to national security.  The new program's goal is to develop and deploy customized software to immediately spot fake news disinformation. Experts say the pace of innovation in new means to hack and disseminate disinformation is unprecedented. Massive News Scanning and Evaluation by Algorithms DARPA is now in discussions with software developers to design the system.  The Pentagon's R&D center wants to put the potential systems through rigorous testing.  The algorithm testing/detection process will scan and evaluate 250,000 news reports, 250,000 social media posts with 5,000 fake news items put into the mix.  The

AI Political Cybercrime Global Research Findings Artificial intelligence experts at Oxford University, Cambridge University and 2 dozen more of the world's leading AI experts, are issuing a warning.  The 2020 elections could be easily meddled with through the accelerating advances in AI. AI Accelerating in Performance AI enhanced software, they say, will enable people with no technical expertise, to easily produce audio and videos that are nearly impossible to distinguish what's real and what's not. They say AI is becoming increasingly easy to use and could be a major weapon for foreign operatives to spread disinformation and disrupt elections. Action Needed The AI experts are issuing the warning in the hope that the industry will take precautions to guard against the misuse of AI and let the many exciting breakthroughs enabled by AI continue to flourish.