Citroën Ami

Aol reports: [edited]

This 2-seater electric vehicle can be leased for as little as £17 per month (with a £2,300 deposit). It can also be rented for 23p per minute or purchased outright for £5,140.

Its battery has a range of 43 miles, and its top speed is 28mph. Citroën sees it as 'a real alternative to scooters, bicycles, mopeds, or even public transport'.

It hasn't been confirmed for the UK market, but Citroen hopes it will appeal to a new generation of car buyers in Europe.

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CNN reports: [edited]

The Ami can be driven by people as young as 14 in France, or 16 in many other European countries, without a license.

It is built using as few unique parts as possible. For instance, the body parts used for the front end are identical to those used for the back. The right door is identical to the the left door. That means the driver's side door hinge is at the front while the passenger side door hinge is at the back.

There's a minimal gauge cluster. An app in the driver's smart phone, placed in a holder high in the center of the dashboard acts like the central display screen in other cars showing things like driving range and navigation. There's also a cupholder behind the steering wheel.

It can be fully charged in three hours using a household electrical outlet.
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Smithsonian Open Access

Smithsonian reports: [edited]

Welcome to Smithsonian Open Access, where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to nearly 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections — with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
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TaoTronics SoundLiberty 53 Earbuds

My current favourite earbuds, the Pamu Slides, suffered a pairing failure recently. While waiting for a replacement, I came across these budget earbuds on Amazon, and decided to give them a try. At the time they were selling for £25, they have since risen to £33, although you can get 'Amazon Returns' for less.

They are Bluetooth 5, rated IPX7 waterproof, and come with a compact charging case and the usual complement of cables and operating instructions.

Everything feels cheaper than the Pamu Slides, the earbuds are bulkier, and all the plastics are glossy black rather than matt.

However, they connected fine and stayed connected. The sound quality is perfectly acceptable (the volume can go louder than the Pamus), and they stayed in place during a 25 minute running session and after an hour's use were still very comfortable.

All for a tenth of the price of a set of Apple Airpod Pros!
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Voyager 2 glitch

Inverse reports: [edited]

Voyager 2, currently some 11.5 billion miles from Earth, is back online and resuming its mission to collect scientific data on the solar system and the interstellar space beyond. The fix is no mean feat: It takes 17 hours for a message to reach Voyager 2 from Earth.

The spacecraft had run into trouble on January 28, when NASA revealed that it had unexpectedly — and for unknown reasons — shut down. Voyager 2 went black right before it was scheduled for a manoeuvre in which the spacecraft rotates 360 degrees in order to calibrate one of its instruments.

But the spacecraft didn't make the move. As a result, two of its systems — both of which consume a lot of power — were running at the same time. The likeliest problem was that the spacecraft was using up too much of its available power supply, which triggered protection software.

Voyager 2 is sister craft to Voyager 1. Both have been travelling through the solar system — and now beyond it — for the last four decades. Together, they have transformed our understanding of our stellar neighborhood and are already revealing unprecedented information about the interstellar space beyond the Sun's sphere of influence.
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Database of old book illustrations

Kottke+ reports: [edited]

An enormous library of old book illustrations, with searchable name, artist, source, date, which book it was in, etc. There are also a number of collections to browse through, and each are tagged with multiple keywords.

Though the team behind the site doesn’t specifically list the whole site as public domain, chances are a lot of the illustrations you’ll find are way out of copyright in most jurisdictions.
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