pioneer

Birmingham, UK-headquartered housing developer St. Modwen plans to build up to 350 fully electric homes in Birmingham – on the MG Rover site that was once home to the MINI – and the development will pioneer smart grid technology. The Longbridge, South Birmingham, homes will be powered by a smart grid, which is being developed with SNRG, a developer, installer, and operator of smart grid networks in the UK. SNRG was formed in 2018 with backing from Centrica, an energy services and solutions provider. As SNRG…

If you want to get away from everything, you could do worse than head for Boot, in Eskdale, Cumbria. With a population of just 15, the tiny village is reached via the hazardous, winding Hardknott Pass, which shares the title of England’s steepest road. It is inaccessible in winter months and a challenging drive even in summer. “The Woolpack pub at the bottom does a good trade from people who come over,” chuckles Mickey Jupp, who has lived here for 39 years. “They come in and say: ‘Can I have a large brandy?’”Before moving…

Paytm was the poster boy for India's tech startups, only to lose two-thirds of its value since its IPO and become a symbol of the industry's crash. Now its founder promises a sharpened focus on financial performance to convince investors of the money-losing company's prospects.The digital-payments provider is set to become India's first Internet company to hit $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,963 crore) in annual revenue by the end of this fiscal year in March, said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 44. The brand, known formally as One97…

Sir Clive Sinclair has died at the age of 81. The computing pioneer died at home in London on Thursday, September 16, after a prolonged illness. Considered to be one of Britain's most prolific inventors and entrepreneurs, Sinclair is most famous for making computers accessible to the masses by bringing them into homes. In addition to popularising the home computer at what was largely considered to be affordable prices, he is also known for producing the first slim-line electronic pocket calculator in 1972.  His passion…

The Nissan Leaf, a pioneer electric vehicle and one of the cheapest EVs currently on the market, is nearing the end of its life span. According to a report in Automotive News, Nissan does not plan on introducing a next-generation version of the Leaf and may even discontinue the nameplate altogether. Production of the current version of the Leaf is set to wind down by mid-decade, the outlet reports, citing three anonymous sources. In the report, a spokesperson for Nissan declined to speculate on the Leaf’s future but…

Cryptocurrency pioneer Justin Sun will fly to space on billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin's flight next year and invite five other crew mates, he said on Wednesday, joining a small list of wealthy entrepreneurs indulging in space travel.Sun, who founded blockchain platform TRON, also revealed himself to be the anonymous bidder who paid $28 million (roughly Rs. 210 crore) in an auction for a seat to join Bezos aboard Blue Origin's first crewed mission in July."I won the auction six months ago but missed the launch.…

HackerNoon has introduced many new great features, options, and improvements. One of them is ‘Notifications.’ It turns out that these notifications aren’t only supposed to keep you up-to-date with all things related to your new stories, but also to remind you about your old stories. That’s how I got this nostalgia notification.You have probably heard stories about actors who don’t like to watch their own old movies. I don’t like to read my old stories either. But, this one was different. So, what am I doing right now? Am…

Big brands are rushing to the metaverse but the path to profit is still unclear and mass adoption may be years away, one of the sector's biggest players, Sebastien Borget, told AFP in an interview.Borget is co-founder of The Sandbox, a platform that began life as a game for mobile phones and PCs but is transforming itself into a virtual world where anyone can buy land in the form of digital tokens.Fashion brands like Gucci and Adidas, financial firms Axa and HSBC, and Warner Music are among those who have already chosen…

A band turning up for a session at Studio Electrophonique in the late 1970s could have been forgiven for thinking they had the wrong address. An ordinary Sheffield council house with a caravan parked on the driveway, it was semi-detached with deep pile carpets and a toy poodle with a bark like a wildebeest.But behind the chintzy curtains, an RAF veteran and panel-beater called Ken Patten had handbuilt one of the most pioneering electronic studios in Europe. In return for a £15 recording fee, he helped some of Sheffield’s…

Harold Hamm, the billionaire fracking pioneer who helped launch the U.S. shale boom, is looking to take Continental Resources Inc. CLR 14.11% private, offering about $4.3 billion in cash to buy the portion of the company’s shares he and his family don’t already own. Mr. Hamm, 76, and other members of his family collectively hold about 83% of Continental, the Oklahoma City-based oil producer he ran for decades as chief executive, fueling a…