Bytes & Backpacks #106 🇺🇸

Why the American flag in the title of the last Bytes & Backpacks of 2024? Because on January 9th, I'm flying to Silicon Valley, so if you sense the aroma of sequoias in the next few issues, that's perfectly fine.

Across the pond, we want to bring our idea of transforming disabilities into superpowers, our smart Welcomo kiosk (not just) for building access, and we'll explore opportunities in energy, where in Europe we manage field technicians and underground gas storage facilities.

Do you know anyone who could help us with any of these areas? I'd greatly appreciate any connections. And if nothing else, please keep your fingers crossed for us! 🤞🙏

Business & Technology 👨‍💻

* European Starlink is coming! The IRIS2 project will launch 290 satellites by 2030. I'm quite happy about this because while Elon's technologies are great, they're also politically unpredictable.

* New Spectrum is also coming! And they look very interesting. If you don't know what I'm writing about, you're young.

* Remember Boston Dynamics' robodog? It cost hundreds of thousands. Well, China is now building something similar that costs thousands.

* The FBI would like to have "responsible backdoors" in encrypted apps, a mechanism to access data in "reasonable cases." Actually quite understandable, if we didn't know from history that it will be misused for other cases by the first one who can. And then only an invisibility cloak, which is in development, will help...

* Glasses are the next iPhone. For several years, I've thought that smart glasses will relatively soon change our lives. If you can't imagine how it might work, check out Google's video. And that's being very conservative.

Travel 🧳

* A guy has hidden treasures worth $2 million in several locations across the USA. And you can find them. Now that's traveling!

* Don't cycle in winter because it's cold? Check this out, you might then venture out...

* Or try crossing the Pyrenees in a camper van.

* The Balkans and its mountains. They're among the most beautiful in Europe, but still relatively uncrowded.

Nature ⛰️

* TikTok's annual carbon footprint is larger than that of all of Greece. One Bitcoin transaction consumes a pool of water, and we'd rather not even talk about the consumption of today's AI models. Still, I see it positively - major tech players and investors are starting to invest heavily in energy because they see we won't get far like this.

* In Russia, they released a tiger and tigress into the wild, almost 200 kilometers apart. .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}