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Toronto’s ArtWalk 2.0 combines art and technology to bring a multi-sensory experience

Toronto’s ArtWalk 2.0 combines art and technology to bring a multi-sensory experience

Toronto’s new ArtWalk 2.0 combines art and technology to provide viewers with a fresh and modern take on outdoor public art and the best part? It’s all for free. 

ArtWalk 2.0 is a new, immersive augmented reality (AR) and audio experience that showcases over 70 outdoor public art pieces across downtown Toronto.

Organized by Toronto Downtown West BIA, ArtWalk 2.0 allows people to use their technology to view digital art in the city’s most popular areas. This includes the CN Tower, King Street W. and Front Street W. among others. 

“ArtWalk 2.0 creates an experience where residents and visitors alike can connect with the district’s rich concentration of art and history. It encourages dialogue, ignites curiosity, and transforms Toronto’s downtown into an interactive cultural playground,” Director, Marketing & Communications of Toronto Downtown West BIA Dana Duncanson said in a statement. 

Viewers will use an online map and go on a

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Dutch hyperloop centre aims to advance futuristic transport technology

Dutch hyperloop centre aims to advance futuristic transport technology

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The split in a hyperloop tube allows vehicles to change directions at a test facility of the new European test centre for hyperloop transportation technology, which opened in Veendam, northern Netherlands on March 26.Peter Dejong/The Associated Press

A 420-metre white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept northern Netherlands could usher in a new era in the transportation of people and freight.

The tube is the heart of the new European Hyperloop Center that opens Tuesday and will be a proving ground in coming years for developers of the evolving technology.

Hyperloop, once trumpeted by Elon Musk, involves capsules floating on magnetic fields zipping at speeds of around 700 km/h through low-pressure tubes. Its advocates tout it as far more efficient than short-haul flights, high-speed rail and freight trucks.

But since Mr. Musk unveiled the concept that he said could shuttle

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Battery material groups expect use of solid-state technology to accelerate before 2030

Battery material groups expect use of solid-state technology to accelerate before 2030

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Leading battery material executives, who are witnessing breakthroughs in the development of next-generation “solid-state” batteries, are bringing forward their forecasts for the take-up of the technology, previously dismissed as too expensive and difficult to produce.

So-called solid-state battery technology has been regarded as the most promising development to solve the problems of the lithium-ion batteries in use at present, such as the driving range they provide on a single charge and their risk of catching fire.

Although development timetables have been pushed back repeatedly, Mathias Miedreich, chief executive of Umicore, one of the world’s largest producers of battery materials, is now expecting solid-state batteries to take more than 10 per cent of the global market by 2030.

Commercial development at Japanese carmakers such as Toyota and Chinese battery maker CATL

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CSIS director says China’s concerted effort to steal Canadian technology is ‘mind-boggling’

CSIS director says China’s concerted effort to steal Canadian technology is ‘mind-boggling’

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Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault prepares to appear before the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on April 29.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Canada’s top spy says China’s concerted efforts to steal cutting-edge Canadian technology is mind-boggling, and is designed to build the People’s Liberation Army as a formidable force against Western interests.

David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told MPs on the Canada-China committee Monday that Chinese hacking and other espionage activities have become a serious threat since Xi Jinping became president in 2012.

Canada and other wealthy Western countries have been targeted by People’s Republic of China actors to obtain high-end technology, he said.

“The statistics is mind-boggling in terms of the amount of attempts against government institutions every day. But more and more we see that those entities

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How NASA uses simple technology to track lunar missions

How NASA uses simple technology to track lunar missions

This photograph shows a mockup laser retroreflector array (LRA) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, demonstrating the basic design: a metallic semi-hemispheric disk, with eight silica glass cubes embedded in its surface. NASA/Goddard

NASA is using a simple but effective technology called Laser Retroreflective Arrays (LRAs) to determine the locations of lunar landers more accurately. They will be attached to most of the landers from United States companies as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) initiative. LRAs are inexpensive, small, and lightweight, allowing future lunar orbiters or landers to locate them on the moon.

These devices consist of a small aluminum hemisphere, 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter and 0.7 ounces (20 grams) in weight, inset with eight 0.5-inch-diameter (1.27-centimeter) corner cube retroreflectors made of fused silica glass. LRAs are targeted for inclusion on most of the upcoming CLPS deliveries headed to the lunar surface.

LRAs

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