Riot Games adds to its world of virtual influencers who promote ‘League of Legends’

https://www.engadget.com/seraphine-riot-games-virtual-influencer-200538923.html

“Seraphine” first appeared on social media in late June, posting selfies to Instagram and tweeting about her desire to “share music and hopefully connect with people.” By August she was releasing songs to a Soundcloud account. But Seraphine isn’t a typical social media personality — for one thing, she’s an animated character. For another, she’s dropped League of Legends easter eggs in her posts that have sparked rumors about her association with it. Now, Riot Games has confirmed that she’s a “virtual influencer,” not unlike the other virtual bands created by the company: True Damage and K/DA.

Friday, Seraphine announced she’s collaborating with K/DA on an upcoming song. “I’ll be working with them to help produce their album and (gasp!) feature on an upcoming track,” she tweeted. In turn, K/DA tweeted a group picture featuring Seraphine with the accompanying text, “Asked and answered.”

Riot Games quelled some of our curiosity with a statement saying in part that Seraphine is a “digital influencer and artist” associated with the developer. And that we can expect to see Seraphine work with many collaborators to “help bring her to life musically, vocally, and artistically,” the statement said.

That answers a few questions, but speculation remains … is Seraphine the next League champion? Is she simply advertising the game? With the League of Legends championship coming later this month, hopefully we’ll know soon.

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

September 4, 2020 at 03:15PM

Amazing Matchsticks Powered Cardboard Craft [Video]

https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2020/09/07/amazing-matchsticks-powered-cardboard-craft-video/

From The S:

In this video, we make retractable wings of cardboard craft based on a Tomcat jet fighter. About 30000 matchsticks were used to power the jet.

[The S]

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September 7, 2020 at 03:27PM

Why Masks Work BETTER Than You’d Think: The Science and The Stats

https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2020/09/08/why-masks-work-better-than-youd-think-the-science-and-the-stats/

From Minute Physics:

This video is about how masks (whether surgical, or N95, or cloth) are counterintuitive and actually work much better epidemiologically than one might expect. Masks do double-duty, and the fraction of interactions with masks is much higher than the fraction of people wearing masks, so partially adopted, partially effective masks are able to reduce the basic reproduction number surprisingly well.

[minutephysics]

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September 8, 2020 at 08:52AM

Swedish startup Volta unveils electric truck, to manufacture in UK

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/07/volta-trucks-zero-electric-cargo-vehicle-revealed/


STOCKHOLM — Swedish startup Volta Trucks unveiled on Thursday its Volta Zero, a 35,000-pound electric truck, with plans to start production in 2022 in the United Kingdom.

Following the success of companies such as Tesla in popularising electric cars, truck makers have also turned their attention to electric vehicles, including Volvo and Daimler as well as startups like Rivian and Nikola.

Trials will start next year with parcel delivery companies such as DPDgroup in the UK and other firms in Europe. Volta aims to put 500 vehicles on the road by 2022, CEO Rob Fowler told Reuters.

“We are also well progressed with another seven or eight customers,” he said.

Volta said its trucks would feature advanced driver assistance systems, 90% fewer mechanical parts than traditional internal combustion engine vehicle and offer a range of 93 to 124 miles on a single charge. Top speed is 56 mph, and it has a payload capacity of nearly 19,000 pounds, The company also plans to offer refrigerated variants that are cooled by battery power, rather than an auxiliary diesel-powered cooler.

The company said the first Volta vehicle was manufactured by Prodrive in Warwick, central England, and it was in talks with a small number of suppliers for contract manufacturing of its trucks.

It declined to give details about its current funding. Fowler said the company was interested in raising funds to fuel the capital-intensive business.

“We acknowledge there are challenges in this space, but we’re confident that we’ve got the right people around which allows us to go out and raise money when we need to in the future,” he said.

Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter. Additional information added by Joel Stocksdale

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September 7, 2020 at 07:25AM