IEN Radio

It’s been a big year of cargo ship disasters, and so we’ll forgive you if you have a short memory for the individual catastrophes which have befallen global shipping in recent months. If the name Felicity Ace jogs your memory, that’s probably because the horror of watching a ship catch fire and sink over the course of several days was amplified by its content: the ship was carrying millions of dol...

Last summer, Jeff Bezos spent 11 minutes in space and determined that it would be best for the planet to move all polluting industries to space . Now, we've heard of many theories, everything from 3D printing native materials to using a combination of moon dust, lunar ice and astronaut urine to build bases .  Last week, DARPA kicked off a new program for space-based manufacturing, but it&apos...

A federal jury convicted a former general electric power engineer of conspiracy to commit economic espionage. The decision followed a four-week jury trial.  The offender, Xiaoqing Zheng, worked at GE Power & Water in Schenectady, New York as an engineer specializing in sealing technology.  Evidence showed Zheng, and others in China, conspired to steal GE’s trade secrets regarding its steam and...

Reports have recently emerged regarding thefts of brand new vehicles from factory storage lots in the Detroit area, and unfortunately it’s not the first time. In 2018, then-Fiat Chrysler fell victim to a rash of thefts from secure holding areas where robbers made off with brand new Jeeps, Ram pickups and Challenger Hellcats. At the time , local police hadn’t ruled out an “inside job” saying that i...

If Red Bull really does give you wings, then now is the time. For years, the maker of the energy drink has sponsored an array of the most outrageous stunts in the name of marketing. These have included a world record snowmobile jump of 412 feet, and a racecar ascending winding Pike’s Peak at 87-mile-hour – not to mention an exploit where a snowboarder climbed and then snowboarded down a 3,000 mete...

Aston Martin has revealed the final edition of its V12 Vantage sports car. As the automaker plans to introduce its first fully-electric vehicle in 2025 and offer an electric option in all new car lines beginning in 2026, this new sports car represents the last fossil-fuel version of this line.  In an interview with Reuters, Aston Martin executive chairman and investor Lawrence Stroll said, “This V...

When it comes to the global supply chain for high-demand semiconductors, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. And it seems just as analysts were hinting at a future reprieve from bottlenecks, there’s been another big hit that could have far reaching implications for the auto industry. Just before midnight on March 16th, a 7.4 Magnitude earthquake struck near the Fukushima province in northeast Jap...

Whenever a Tesla employee gets fired, it seems to make headlines. In this instance, John Bernal, a former Autopilot employee at Tesla, was fired last month because of video reviews he conducted on his YouTube channel.  In a video of his channel, AI Addict , Bernal revealed, “I was fired from Tesla in February with my YouTube being cited as the reason why.” He adds uploads were off company time or...

At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, Soviet officials joined with Italian automaker Fiat to form a state-owned Russian car company. Over the decades, the brand that came to be known as Lada became a symbol for Russia’s industrial self-sufficiency from its massive factory in the southwest — and its accompanying domestic supply chain. Today, it’s a much different world, and if it was already...

A rare Toyota sold for $2.535 million at Gooding & Co.’s Amelia Island collector car auction to earn the achievement of the most valuable Japanese car sold at auction, according to CNN Business .  It was a Toyota 2000GT, which is a model that was produced from 1967 to 1971. However, it is not merely a Toyota. This specific vehicle tacked on an additional name making it formally known as a 1967...

Last month the Military Health System put out a release that helped justify my father’s reasoning for ignoring my ongoing pleas for a Nintendo Entertainment System during my formative years – video games make you lazy.  Granted, he was also worried about us monopolizing the TV in the living room, but his approach does reinforce the concerns in the release – namely that new recruits are struggling...

If movies like Deep Impact and its superior, Armageddon, have taught us anything, it is to be wary of massive pieces of space rock that threaten our very way of life.  Luckily, people much brighter than the masses are paid to figure out ways to thwart extraterrestrial blows. Some of those people are at NASA and are investigating a proposal for a line of defense that could break apart asteroids day...

The company had planned to “conquer” the U.S. market. In early 2019, a Swiss helicopter manufacturer held a press conference to tout its plans to “conquer” the U.S. market from its new factory in southern Louisiana. Three years later, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan — in fact, it turns out the company has pulled the plug on the project altogether. Kopter, a maker of single-turbine he...

On the night of December 10th, the Mayfield Consumer Products candle plant in Mayfield, Kentucky was demolished by a tornado that reduced it to rubble. Eight workers lost their lives, but the death toll could have been higher if not for one man who pulled victims from the rubble.  On the night of the deadly tornado, Marco Sanchez was an inmate at the Graves County Jail, but on work detail at the f...

If you’ve worked your way into becoming one of the top arms dealers in Russia, it’s probably fair to say you’ve made your share of enemies over the years. But it’s not always the ones you expect that you have to watch out for. Two days after Russian forces launch an invasion of Ukraine, the Lady Anastasia, a 450-foot superyacht reportedly owned by Alexander Mikheev, was docked at a marina on the S...

Inside BlackByte and Cobalt Strike, the ransomware group and post-exploitation tool used in a recent high-profile hack — and how both pose new risks to the industrial sector. While rogue individuals with an agenda and advanced cybersecurity skills are still prevalent, most headline-grabbing hacks are now originating from well-organized, highly talented groups or organizations. Now only does this d...

Ford announced it would split its internal combustion and electric vehicle operations into individual businesses with the goal of advancing its adaptation of new technology. Fresh off its win over Tesla for the EV Top Pick , according to Consumer Reports, the automaker out of Michigan said its transition to an EV company is progressing.  Not only did the Mustang Mach-E decline Tesla’s Model 3 a th...

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has targeted major cities, military facilities and airports — including an airfield that was hosting the world’s largest aircraft. Ukraine’s state-run defense conglomerate reported Friday that Russian forces had destroyed the Antonov-225 Mriya, Bloomberg reports. The famed six-engine cargo plane was undergoing repairs outside Kyiv. The Mriya is 275 feet long an...

Fall of 2020 may be remembered as a bit of a dark time. Many Americans were still being heavily impacted by coronavirus-related shutdowns of businesses and schools and vaccines were nowhere in sight. In the thick of it was the Fort Wayne, Indiana plant for California-based manufacturer Avery Dennison, who announced in October of that year that it would be shuttering the factory . The company, whic...

Additive manufacturing and the auto industry have formed quite the partnership. From prototyping to auto racing to keeping companies afloat despite supply chain issues, the relationship is expected to grow. A 2019 report by SmartTech Analysis projects the automotive additive manufacturing market to be worth more than $12 billion by 2028, which would be a drastic increase from $1 billion in 2017. ...

Stellantis issued a temporary stop sale on some of its 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L SUVs after owners complained their key fobs were losing connection to the vehicles and causing them to brick. The Drive reported owners using a Jeep Garage forum to air their grievances. A few days later, The Drive said Stellantis’ FCA sent a notice to dealers informing them of the stop sale and ci...

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine brought troops, tanks and airstrikes, which led to civilians using trains and cars to flee to safety. Meanwhile, according to CNN Business , numerous companies have limited manufacturing output in Ukraine while others have suspended production altogether.  Companies include a Swiss Coca-Cola bottling company, Danish brewer Carlsberg, steel manufacturer Arcel...

Tavares called employees “the heart of Stellantis” and credited their “focus on execution and excellence” for the company’s record year. He even called their commitment “tireless” which is why the sparring between Stallantis and the UAW later that day was so strange. Company CFO Richard Palmer predicted some upcoming challenges as the company reviewed its reports and cited, not just continued supp...

Virgin Group has always been ambitious. The multinational conglomerate recently went multi-planet when it began sending its first flights into space with its Virgin Galactic arm. But the company has also been making strides in developing innovative transportation methods here on earth in the meantime: most notably, Virgin Hyperloop. The plan for Hyperloop has been to utilize pod-like transportatio...

In an exciting development, The Boring Company wants to make a 6.2-mile underground transit system in Miami. Business Insider reports the Elon Musk-founded infrastructure and tunnel construction services company submitted a proposal for the project.  Its purpose would be to transport Tesla vehicles between stations on State Road 826. The proposal also states the transit system would run between th...