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25 Oct 2024

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Researchers discover a way to restore lost battery capacity
Rechargeable batteries are now used everywhere, from smartphones to electric vehicles. They’re convenient and more environmentally friendly, and they’ve come a long way in capacity and performance. But there’s always been a big problem with all rechargeable batteries: the fact that they lose capacity over time. Sure, there are best practices you can use to prevent unnecessary degradation and thereby extend the lifespan of a rechargeable battery. For example, keeping a battery between 30 and 70 percent can prolong its longevity. There’s even a dedicated feature that does this for you on modern iPhones and Android phones. Even so, rechargeables still lose capacity despite best practices, and eventually they get so bad that you need to replace them. But we might now be one step closer to that being a problem of the past. Related: Researchers discover a way to boost battery lifespans Restore battery capacity with a simple trick Researchers at Stanford University have discovered a method that can partially restore the capacity of silicon batteries. The findings were presented in an article in Science. Silicon anodes wear out over time as individual particles split and can no longer be used for charging. However, a relatively simple trick can be used to ensure that those silicon particles reconnect. The method involves exposing the battery to targeted current pulses for around five minutes, and these pulses cannot exceed 4 volts (otherwise the capacity will actually be reduced). In initial tests, this method was able to recover a battery’s capacity by 30 percent. A step toward future possibilities Lithium-ion batteries are currently the most commonly used, but silicon batteries are also installed in numerous products such as drones, wearables and electric vehicles. In the future, findings such as these could help to develop more powerful batteries that do not need to be replaced as often. In terms of sustainability alone, it would also be helpful to find a method of restoring batteries to their full capacity after prolonged use. Until then, however, further tests need to be carried out to analyse the long-term effects.

Get $250 off on this RTX-powered Dell gaming laptop today
We love finding magical deals on gaming laptops, and this one for the Dell G15 certainly qualifies. Now on sale for $850 at Dell.com, you can get the G15 for a solid 23 percent off its original $1,100 MSRP. What makes this deal so magical? Well, this laptop is powered by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, one of the best graphics cards you can get for price-performance without shelling out an absolute fortune. This GPU is powerful enough to push high-quality settings in all but the most demanding of modern games. And those games are going to look good on this laptop’s 15.6-inch 1080p display with a refresh rate of 165Hz for smooth frame rates. The 3ms response time is fast enough for anything but top-level competitive esports, and it supports Nvidia G-Sync for zero screen tearing. That’s further bolstered by its AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU, the 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and the 512GB SSD on board. That’s a strong configuration that can easily handle any task you throw its way, can quickly load all your apps and games, and can store all the documents, photos, and videos you need on hand. (You can later upgrade the RAM to 32GB, too.) Grab this Dell G15 gaming laptop for $850 while you still can because this Dell.com deal isn’t going to last forever. Save $250 on this RTX-powered Dell gaming laptopBuy now at Dell.com

Exclusive: Celonis expands ANZ footprint with bold growth plans
Celonis is expanding its presence in Australia and New Zealand, aiming for growth and partnerships while targeting the broader Asia-Pacific market.

Nice! Windows 11’s monthly updates are now faster and less disruptive
Earlier this month, the massive 2024 update to Windows 11 arrived with lots of new features and improvements along with several removed features and apps. One of the many pain points of that update was just how long it took to install on most PCs. But Microsoft says in a blog post that Windows 11 24H2 is worth installing because it “includes several improvements to how you install monthly updates” which lead to “reduced installation time, restart time, and central processing unit (CPU) usage for Windows monthly updates.” Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro In other words, after updating to Windows 11 24H2, you should experience faster and more efficient system updates going forward. In fact, monthly Windows 11 updates should install 45.6 percent faster and use up to 25 percent less processing power, plus the amount of time you spend in the restart phase could also be reduced by up to 39.7 percent for some computers. Microsoft attributes the faster monthly updating process to three efficiency factors: parallel processing of component manifests, optimized reading and parsing of component manifests, and scalable use of available RAM. It’s just one of the many reasons to consider updating to Windows 11 24H2 — if your device hasn’t been blocked from it. Further reading: Must-know details about Windows 11 24H2

RBNZ thinking about lingering inflation pressures, Orr says in US speech
Goldman Sachs interpreted the comments as reducing the probability of a 75 basis-point rate reduction at the RBNZ’s November meeting.

Exclusive: How Celonis customers achieve sustainability goals through AI application
Celonis is using AI to help clients achieve their sustainability goals by optimising processes and illuminating emissions, amidst rising regulatory pressures.