Rent-a-robot: New answer to labor shortage
TECHNOLOGY:
Rent-a-robot: A new answer to labor shortage
Silicon Valley has a new pitch to persuade small companies to automate: rent-a-Robot.
Audi Grandsphere, Self Driving Car
The Audi Grandsphere, revealed Wednesday, is the German automaker's idea of what self-driving luxury car could be, with controls that fold away and lounge-style seats in the front.
 Audi has yet to release anything like a fully self-driving car, but the Grandsphere concept plays with the idea of how we interact with vehicles when the driver doesn't need to acually drive. Much like the recently unveiled Audi Skysphere concept, which imagined a sports car in which driving is optional, the Grandsphere concept imagines a luxury car where the driver can just ride.
And while the engineers at Audi haven't actually gotten the Grandsphere to drive itself yet, automotive interior designers are playing with the possibility
Usually, in big, roomy luxury cars, the back seat is where you really want to be. Those are the seats that recline like those in a first-class airline cabin, and it's where you might have access to a drinks cooler and glasses for refreshments. The front seats are nice, too, but not as much fun, because that's where the serious business of driving takes place.
But there's no need for pleasure to take a back seat in the Grandsphere. The steering wheel and pedals fold away into the dashboard and the floor when the concept car goes into "autonomous mode."
Then the front seats can slide back and recline. To allow the maximum possible space for those front seats, the back seats are nearly non-existent. There's just a small two-seat bench in the back, which seems hardly luxurious at all.
The Grandsphere is about as long as an Audi A8L, Audi's current long-wheelbase luxury car, but all that space is given over almost entirely to the comfort of two people and, perhaps, a couple of other less fortunate guests. The emphasis on the front seat comfort allowed designers to give the four-door Grandsphere the sloping shape of a two-door touring car.
Those two front occupants have access to a host of entertainment options. Between the seats, where most cars have a cent
Palestinian boy, 13, is the youngest tailor in Gaza.
Palestinian boy, 13, is the youngest tailor in Gaza.
Palestinian Ahmed Abbas used to watch his father making clothes at his small workshop in the Gaza strip for years before he one day picked up a pair of scissors and cut his first line of fabric.
Intervention to End the Aging Process
Is this the end of ageing?
Just how far can we intervene in the way our bodies age?
Fear Spreads in Kabul as Taliban Take Charge
Fear Spreads in Kabul as Taliban Take Charge
The day after the Taliban installed themselves in the presidential palace in Kabul, seizing control over Afghanistan two decades after being toppled from power by the U.S. military, fears intensified on Monday about a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule and the threat of reprisal killings.
Kabul’s international airport was under the protection of foreign forces, including thousands of U.S. soldiers sent to the country to assist in a hasty evacuation. It was a scene of desperation, sadness and panic.
Thousands of Afghans flooded the tarmac on Monday morning, at one point swarming around a departing U.S. military plane as it taxied down the runway. Images of people clinging to a hulking U.S. military transport, even as it left the ground, quickly circulated around the world. It seemed to capture the moment more vividly than words: a symbol of America’s military might, flying out of the country even as Afghans hung on against all hope.
Lionel Messi tears down on leaving Barcelona Club
Lionel Messi fought back tears as he began a press conference at which he confirmed he is leaving Barcelona, the football club where he has played his entire career.
He was emotional before he even made an opening statement.
“These recent days, I’ve been giving lots of thought about what I could say, and the truth is that I can’t think of anything,” Messi told a news conference as hundreds of fans, many wearing his number 10 jersey, massed outside Barca’s Camp Nou stadium to bid farewell to the player.
Turkey: Foreign tourists evacuated as wildfires threaten resorts
01 August 2021, 05:37 BST
Tourists have been evacuated from beaches in south-western Turkey, where raging wildfires are now threatening hotels and homes.
Turkish Coastguard vessels - assisted by private boats and yachts - were deployed to bring holidaymakers to safety, according to local media.
In the city of Bodrum, three five-star hotels were reportedly evacuated.
The fires, which have been burning since Wednesday, have left six people dead.
