Tesla wins bid to build world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia

An artist’s impression of the Tesla Powerpack, which will be built in Australia | Tesla

Tesla has just won a big deal in South Australia that comes with big stakes. The Australian state just awarded the electric car firm the bid to install the world’s largest lithium-ion battery that will be used to store wind energy from French company Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm, which is located outside of Jamestown, South Australia. Tesla CEO Elon Musk proclaimed that they will build the 100-megawatt battery within 100 days or else they’ll do it for free. Musk acknowledges the risk that comes with the project, though. He says, “There is certainly some risk, because this will be the largest battery installation in the world by a significant margin. The next biggest battery in the world is 30 megawatts.”

South Australia has been dealing with blackouts since September last year and this project hopes to bring in additional power that the state can use during emergencies. The battery, together with the wind farm, will be working around the clock to make sure this happens. Tesla expects to finish the project by December this year. If they won’t be able to meet its deadlines, Tesla might be on the hook for US$50 million or more in installation costs.

Source: BBC + The Verge

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explodes in hotel room causing fire damage

Despite issuing a global recall last week, Samsung is still a hot topic because of its defective Galaxy Note 7 flagship. Reports of a Note 7 spontanously exploding in a hotel in Austrialia and causing US $1,400.00 worth of damage.

“My brand new Note7 exploded this morning while I was still asleep, it was plugged in and charging,” he said. “Phone completely fried, I can’t eject the SIM tray to retrieved [sic] my SIM or the SD card. I was using original charger and cable if you are wondering. Charred the hotel room bed sheet and the carpet when I whacked it down to the floor, burnt one of my finger [sic] while doing that too.”

Credit to Samsung, they gave the customer a loaner to replace his charred device and they apparently also covered all the damage done to the hotel room. 

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Lytro expands availability, coming to Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore

Lytro Inc., creator of the world’s first consumer light field camera, has announced that it will expand distribution to both US and international customers. Lytro takes photos like any other digital camera but users can manipulate the photos on the Web to change the focus points. The revolutionary idea here is that you can focus on images after they are taken and keep finding different focus points in one single photo.

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Samsung gains advantage in court case against Apple, can now sell Galaxy Tab in Australia

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

After a bitter and public lawsuit, it looks like Samsung managed a victory and might be able to sell its Galaxy Tab device in time for the holiday shopping season in Oz. The Australian court today overturned an earlier ruling that sided with Apple's allegations Samsung had copied its iPad and iPhone.

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