Google has announced new features in its Maps app designed to help electric car drivers find a charge.
Tech
New Smash Bros. Ultimate Freebie Available Now For Switch Online Members – GameSpot
Nintendo is giving away another free item pack for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For a limited time, Switch Online subscribers can grab the free Spirit Board Challenge Pack 7, which includes an assortment of helpful items for the game’s Spirit Board mode.
This particular pack contains items that will make it a little easier to battle tough Spirit Board foes. You’ll receive the following:
- 3,000 Spirit Points
- 5 Rematch
- 5 Damage 50%
- 5 Weaken Minions
- 5 Health Drain
To claim the free item pack, select the Nintendo Switch Online icon from the system’s dashboard and highlight Special Offers on the left sidebar. You’ll see the item pack listed among the other freebies. Alternatively, you can go into the Switch Online tab in the eShop and find the item pack listed there.
Like previous Smash Bros. Ultimate freebies, this Spirit Board Challenge Pack is only available for paid Switch Online subscribers. You will not be able to claim the item pack during a free trial for the service. Individual subscriptions cost $4 for one month, $8 for three months, and $20 for one year, while an annual family plan costs $35.
Nintendo revealed Smash Bros. Ultimate’s next DLC character, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, during this year’s Game Awards. The One-Winged Angel joins the roster on December 22 alongside new FF7 Mii Fighter costumes, but players have a chance to unlock him early.
From now until December 22, Nintendo is holding a special Sephiroth Challenge event for those who’ve already purchased the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or his individual challenger pack. If you can defeat Sephiroth in a stamina battle, you’ll add him to your game ahead of his official release date.
Sephiroth marks the third DLC character to arrive as part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2, joining Min Min from Arms and Steve from Minecraft. Three more add-on fighters are still on the way, although Nintendo hasn’t revealed their identities yet. The Fighters Pass Vol. 2 costs $30.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
Tech
Cytiva Introduces Its Xcellerex Magnetic Mixer at Interphex – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Cytiva introduced its Xcellerex magnetic mixer at the annual Interphex meeting in New York City this week. The single mixing system has been specifically designed to address challenges faced by customers engaged in large-scale monoclonal antibody, vaccine, and genomic medicine manufacturing processes, according to Amanda Halford, president, bioprocess, Cytiva. Sized in 2000 and 3000 L capacities, the mixer offers several configurations to cater to diverse mixing processes, she adds.
“We’re tapping into our differentiated portfolio to solve a wide range of challenges for our customers,” continues Halford. “Our new magnetic mixing system is flexible and capable of meeting the many demands and constraints during buffer and cell culture media preparation. By reimagining the design, we’ve tackled some of the biggest obstacles to downtime.”
A major contributor to time and money losses are leaks. A minor leak can cause or lead to a major setback—it can mean a full working day lost for our customers, notes Jon Van Pelt, vice president, bioprocess single use technologies, Cytiva. When dealing with a 3000 L batch of cell culture media, the estimated financial loss can cost between $60k to upwards of $100k. That’s just the material and labor. It doesn’t factor in the opportunity cost and other effects caused by not having media available for your cell culture processes, continues Van Pelt.
Mixer biocontainer
To help prevent leaks, the system includes a mixer biocontainer incorporating user-centered design elements aimed to bolster durability and improve ease of use. This evolution in design results in enhanced safeguards, providing added protection against leaks throughout shipping, storage, and operation, says Halford.
Another constraint during the development of drug therapies is the quality and time it takes to mix a batch. Mixing floating powders, like cell culture media, can be a challenge with many of the mixing systems currently available, maintains Halford, pointing out that most of these systems have underpowered impellers and with a circular or cubicle shape that is less than ideal, particularly for large production volumes. Powder tends to float on the surface of the liquid, making it difficult to mix evenly into the fluid or leading to prolonged mixing times.
The new mixing system has an impeller that when combined with the mixer’s hexagonal shape creates a vortex, enhancing the interaction at the liquid surface, according to Van Pelt. This vortex effectively pulls down the floating powders into the main body of the liquid to allow for a more efficient and shorter mixing process, he explains.
“Process engineers and scientists, who currently experience problems with tight facility constraints or complicated installation of large-scale consumables, will benefit from its compact size, allowing it to fit into tight facility spaces without compromising on capacity or requiring the need for facility expansion,” says Van Pelt. “We are always listening to our customers—solving issues to more quickly get life-changing therapies to patients.”
Tech
Aaron Sluchinski adds Kyle Doering to lineup for next season – The Grand Slam of Curling
Aaron Sluchinski’s team announced Wednesday on social media that Kyle Doering has joined the club for next season.
Sluchinski was searching for a new player after second Kerr Drummond stepped back from competitive curling late last month. The Airdrie, Alta., team also includes third Jeremy Harty and lead Dylan Webster.
Sluchinski had a breakout season, winning the Boston Pizza Cup to represent Alberta at the Montana’s Brier for the first time and also competed in three Grand Slam of Curling events. The team finished 16th in the world rankings and seventh among Canadian clubs.
Doering has spent the past two years playing with Edmonton’s Karsten Sturmay and was also on the lookout for a new squad after his skip announced his departure from competitive curling.
Winnipegger Doering earned a silver medal at the world men’s curling championship earlier this month as the alternate on Team Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue.
Doering captured the Canadian junior title and a world junior bronze medal in 2016 playing with skip Matt Dunstone.
The Canadian men’s curling landscape has seen several shifts in recent days. Brendan Bottcher’s teammates announced Tuesday they were looking for a new skip and Reid Carruthers’ team revealed Wednesday it has parted ways with skip Brad Jacobs.
Skip Glenn Howard also announced his retirement Tuesday.
Meanwhile, skip John Epping unveiled his new team last week, featuring third Tanner Horgan, second Jacob Horgan and lead Ian McMillan.
Tech
New EV features for Google Maps have arrived. Here’s how to use them. – The Washington Post
The updates include a tool to help drivers find nearby chargers with real-time information about availability and charging speed, the ability to find charging stops on longer road trips and more detailed instructions about how to find chargers within parking lots and garages.
Google expects to start rolling out these features “in the coming months,” according to a blog post. Some will come first to people who drive a car that comes with “Google Built-in,” the company’s driver-assistance software. Google updated its other route-finding app, Waze, with information on EV chargers last month.
The update addresses one of Americans’ top concerns about owning an electric vehicle: finding a place to charge. Range anxiety remains a significant barrier for EV sales — especially for drivers who don’t own a house. Among people who don’t drive an EV, roughly half say they think finding a place to charge would be “extremely” or “very” difficult, according to a 2023 Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
EVs make up roughly 7 percent of new U.S. car sales, which some experts believe is a tipping point at which electric cars will quickly become popular and take over the market. But lately, the EV market appears to be cooling off. Sales slowed in the first quarter of this year.
In addition to building more charging stations, companies can make driving an EV easier by building apps that help drivers find chargers, said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive. “That could be really helpful with mitigating some of those concerns about charging anxiety,” she said.
Find available EV charging stations
For electric-car drivers who need a last-minute charge, Google is developing a feature that can find nearby chargers with updated information about how many ports are available and their charging speed. The company says this feature will eventually be available to all drivers but will be available first for drivers with Google Built-in.
Plan a road trip with EV charging stops
The Maps update will allow EV owners with Google Built-in to plan where they can power up when taking long trips with multiple stops, such as a cross-country road trip. The feature will access information about your car’s battery life to suggest the best places to charge up.
The company also announced a search feature that allows travelers to look for hotels with electric car chargers.
Locate hard-to-find EV charging stations
Some EV chargers are tucked in hard-to-find corners of parking garages. The Maps update will crowdsource information from Google reviewers to generate more detailed instructions about how to get to a charger. According to the company’s blog post, the instructions might read something like, “Enter the underground parking lot and follow the signs toward the exit. Just before exiting, turn right.”
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