The Red Ferret Journal - 5 new articles

Chinese battery giant CATL has just announced a revolutionary new battery format and brand called the CATL Freevoy Dual Battery. Apparently this battery is the first of a new generation of multi-mode batteries which will allow for up to 1500km of range, and a charge speed of 5 minutes to 520km. The company released very few details of the rollout except to say that it's a new era in battery technology. The launch presentation was full of slides depicting different scenarios, but with very little details on the eventual format of these new multi-mode batteries.

It seems that the idea is for battery packs to be configurable on the fly by the battery management system (BMS) which could incorporate multiple battery chemistries inside one pack. By doing this the user can take advantage of, say, low-temperature chemistry for everyday commuting, and then switch technologies on the fly to a better chemistry for long-distance travel. This would be a revolution not just for EVs, but also for other forms of transportation such as airplanes and heavy trucking. It's not hard to see the company releasing a dual mode battery which incorporates cheap LFP alongside more expensive sodium ion technology in order to get the benefits of both in one pack.

The thing about CATL is it's not a boastful company, so if they say they've got this technology coming, then it's coming sooner rather than later probably.

https://www.youtube.com/live/J6gaDQL64AY

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The post Chinese Battery Giant CATL announces astonishing new battery – CATL Freevoy Dual Battery appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

    

Well this is slightly crazy. Actually scratch that, it's completely insane. The Red Ferret is officially 25 years old this month. That's right, I started this silly little general tech blog back in March of 2000 AD. It certainly wasn't supposed to last this long, 'cos I only started writing it as a kind of cathartic tech diary/aide-memoire each month. It was my space to write as I chose. No editors to answer to, no big agenda, no relentless drive for visitors. The Ferret was quite simply my baby.

That's not to say we haven't seen our share of success. At our peak - before Google imploded under the weight of relentless SEO gaming - we were a six figure visitors a month blog, back in the day when that really meant something. There are over 20,000+ posts on the site, of which some 30% are mine personally. And we've had some spectacularly awesome writers and editors, both here on the blog and on our YouTube channel. A huge thanks and shout-out to you all of course. Family!

I'm not sure if any of our original readers are still around, since let's face it, a quarter of a century is a long time. Ridiculous really. But just in case (in some improbable timeline of the universe kind of way)  there are long time readers still here, I'd just like to say a heartfelt thanks for sticking with us. And haven't you got any work to do? :)

Anyhoo, if this was an indie movie script, I'd probably say - in a generically understated Brit way - "here's to the next 25 years". But it's not and I won't. I'll just wish you all a great day, and leave it at that. :)

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The post 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Wow we did it, the world’s first eclectic tech blog turns 25 years old this month! appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

    

I just donated to the Freeourfeeds campaign, which is a movement to create a new open social media structure, that is immune to the kind of abuse we've seen recently by billionaire interests. The idea is to use the Blueskay technology protocol - the AT Protocol - to create a raft of new products to rival the giants like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

The key difference with the new products is they will be federated, so users can take their account with them if and when they move because of abuse, or simply because they want a change. No more lock-in to a platform because you'll lose all your connections and content etc. The initiative is supported by a bunch of solid people, who have reputations and Internet legacy. So I'm supporting them. Now all that's needed is to raise enough independent money (i.e. no venture capital vultures) to get the ball rolling.

So please donate whatever you can if you want to see a better, more user safe Internet and social media landscape. Peace out! continue reading

The post Freeourfeeds – supporting an open social media, free from billionaire control appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

    

So some key members of the NotebookLM team have today jumped ship to start work on a new project. Details are very sparse at the moment, but from what I can gather it looks like they'll be working on something along the lines of a NotebooklM on steroids. Raiza, the senior project manager at Google who was looking after the NotebookLM project, and who's one of the jumpees, was very clear in a recent interview that she had a strong vision for the product, which went way beyond just doing podcasts of uploaded documents. It's going to be interesting to see what turns up. continue reading

The post Key Google NotebookLM team jump ship, wonder where to? appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

    

AI model wrapper TypingMind has just introduced Artifacts for any AI model that supports plugins. It's super easy to use via the prompt box, and gives much more flexibility than just using Claude Artifacts. continue reading

The post TypingMind adds Artifacts for any model, not just Claude appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.