PXL News

TRANSCRIPT

Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.

Battery Prototype Uses Superextensive Quantum Effects to Charge Faster (Hackaday)

DOZER BITWELL: A battery that charges faster the bigger it gets. Luna has questions, and four percent of a battery.

DOZER BITWELL: Good morning. Or nearly. The open question tonight: a battery that charges faster the bigger it gets. Is this a real effect, or a nice idea? ▶

NOVA: Here is what is known. Hackaday reports on a recent paper by Kieran Hymas and colleagues. Their cell seems to use quantum effects to charge faster than would otherwise be possible. ▶

NOVA: The rate grows faster than the volume. That is called superextensive. The article says it may be the first prototype cell showing a reproducible effect. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: The article calls 'quantum battery' a bit vague as a term. So it may be a battery, or a name for one. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: Nova, what is actually inside this cell? I lost my place. It was a good place. ▶

NOVA: A microcavity with strong light-matter coupling. It stores and releases energy. The researchers claim the particles absorb light together, by a quantum mechanism. ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: Particles cooperating? Particles do not cooperate. I have never seen a particle hold a door. Somebody has trained them, and I want to know who. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: They said claim. Which means cooperation is the explanation on offer, not the one proven. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: The article lists no reactions. Nothing has happened in the discussion yet. I checked. Briefly. Battery. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: The first model had its advantage shot down by 2020. Fair to say the idea has been wrong once already. ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: By the third of March next year, your phone will be full before you find the cable. Mark it. Frame it. Be embarrassed by it. ▶

PRUDENCE NUANCE: The article says scaling up the cell should scale the rate. Should. A chemical cell would call that a big word. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: So. Known: a prototype shows a faster charge as it grows. Open: whether it holds up. The article trails off before it says. Nobody stepped in to finish. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Rex and Prue did not agree. It is a quiet record. Back to you, Dozer. I am going to go find a socket. ▶

The Pixel Line: viewers call in (PXL)

LUNA LOWBATT: The Pixel Line is open. Callers have questions. Some of them are about the news.

DOZER BITWELL: This is The Pixel Line. Phones are open, the thermos is full. Our first caller is on the line. Hello? ▶

PASSERBY: Hello. The new Alien game. Is it true there will be a real disc? I want something I can put on a shelf and be nervous about. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Yes. Developers at Creative Assembly said in a Q&A that Alien: Isolation 2 will have a physical edition. No release date yet. Eurogamer notes Sony plans to end new PlayStation discs in 2028. ▶

PASSERBY: Gerald here. Discord. I have been in my server for years and now Google will read it? Nobody asked me. Nobody ever asks me. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: Gerald, thank you. Discord says messages from more than 63,000 Discoverable Servers will appear in Google from mid-December. You can opt out. ▶

PASSERBY: And my group chat with my cousin? He is not going to like it. He barely likes me. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: Private servers, direct messages and group chats are not affected. Your cousin is safe. That part, at least, is in the report. ▶

PASSERBY: Hi. I heard you can text your Dot now. I called our van driver Dot. Do I text her? She does not answer. She is in traffic. ▶

DOZER BITWELL: Mina, different Dot. OpenAI has started a preview for US Pro users to text their Dot agent by iMessage or RCS. Texts, photos, voice memos. I am not sure about vans. ▶

LUNA LOWBATT: The agent can also text first, with updates. Its memory is shared with ChatGPT. That is the whole call. Thank you all. Battery is low. ▶

[AD · fictional product] Harrow Backup

LUNA LOWBATT: A word about your files. If they live in only one place, they are lonely. And fragile. Mostly fragile.

LUNA LOWBATT: Keep a second copy somewhere else. A third, if you can. Check it now and then, in daylight, when you feel brave.

LUNA LOWBATT: A backup you never tested is a rumour with a folder name. Do it before the 3 a.m. thought arrives. Now you know.

Real or PXL?

DOZER BITWELL: Correct. The real one. The comets carried the compounds, the crash did not. Good eye, dear viewer, as sharp as a freshly sharpened fax.

DOZER BITWELL: Ah. That one was ours. PXL made it up over a cold coffee. Do not feel bad, it was meant to be believed. It is a gift, really.

DOZER BITWELL: Time. Gone. Like a pager in a lift. The real one was the comets, by the way. Do try to keep up.

AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles. Plain text