IEN Radio

Whenever the conversation between my follow comic book nerds turns to the topic of super powers, my first choice is always the ability to fly. Maybe that’s why the concept of an individual jetpack has always intrigued me. And now, finally, it seems that the U.S. military is getting serious about the potential of such a piece of equipment for its soldiers. Earlier this month, the Defense Advanced R...

For years, automakers have increased their focus on trucks and SUVs as much for their higher profit margins as the heavy demand from car buyers. Even the cheapest trucks in the North American market will set you back more than $25,000, and the prices for a leading pickup with all the bells and whistles — say, a Chevrolet Silverado High Country from General Motors — start at more than double that a...

Back in 2018, a sanitation worker lost one finger and fractured another when his hand got caught in the crimping bar of a jammed ice cream wrapping machine at New Jersey-based Fieldbrook Foods Corporation. It happened again this past September, when a maintenance mechanic lost two fingers while trying to repair the same machine. OSHA reported March 15 that when it investigated in September, it fou...

Harley-Davidson has a problem, and it’s one many of us have: there’s something about Gen Z it just doesn't get.  But for Harley, it’s more than just a disconnect with the TikTok generation: The last time Harley reported the average age of its customer, it was 48… which means Harley isn’t reaching Millennials either. And the results of this gap means America’s most notable bike brand is strugg...

From July 2016 to May 2019 Izaak Kemp worked as a contractor at the Air Force Research Laboratory and National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. During his time at the base, which oversees the development of advanced laser and hypersonic weaponry, military satellites, and space vehicles, Kemp enjoyed a Top Secret clearance. This would seem to mesh with h...

Fisker Inc., a company that describes itself as a designer and manufacturer of the "world’s most emotion-stirring, eco-friendly electric vehicles," has announced a memorandum of understanding with Foxconn to develop a new electric vehicle. Codenamed "Project PEAR" — Personal Electric Automotive Revolution — the plan calls for Fisker and Foxconn to collaborate on a new vehicle....

I don’t think it would be biased in any way to say that Ford knows how to make a good pickup truck.  Their F-150 has been the best-selling truck in the U.S. since 1976 and the best-selling overall vehicle in America since 1981.  That’s why it came as a surprise when the company recently announced that it would need to recall 87,350 F-150 and Super Duty Trucks due to windshields that, according to...

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency consistently offers leading-edge product developments that often begin with military applications before transferring the technology to the mainstream.  While that’s the case with a lot of imaging and material technologies, their latest announcement will hopefully remain with the Department of Defense. DARPA recently awarded $22 million in contracts to...

Americans love a good mystery, especially one that involves an unidentified flying object. Just a guess, but the pandemic may have facilitated more than your average usage of the FBI’s online data vault as amateur sleuths finally had the time on their hands to really get at Roswell. Meanwhile, a modern day uncertainty has been confounding airspace observers since August. That’s when pilots began s...

More than two years ago, Volkswagen announced an $800 million initiative to expand its lone U.S. plant to produce electric vehicles. But a trade dispute involving the supplier of batteries for those forthcoming vehicles has complicated those plans. LG Energy Solution alleged that fellow Korean company SK Innovation lured away dozens of its employees in an effort to steal its trade secrets. A judge...

Sometimes, the Russian military reminds me of that oddball uncle who comes to the kid’s birthday party wearing camo pants, boots and a cutoff vest with military patches. You’re really not sure if he’s as tough as he looks or as crazy as he sounds, but either way, you make sure to keep an eye on him. After hearing a couple of recent news stories funneling out of Moscow, I think you’ll get my point....

Executives from Intel, IBM, Texas Instruments say the U.S. tech sector is “at risk.” The domestic electronics sector has long decried the long, slow migration of semiconductor manufacturing from the U.S. to overseas factories — and warned of the potential implications for both commercial supply chains and national security. But just in case policymakers weren’t completely convinced by pleas from s...

Reuters has tabulated just how much damage Hyundai and partner company Kia recently took in the market after it was announced the automakers were no longer planning a deal with Apple to produce a much-buzzed-about Apple car or its components. And it was sizable. In early January, Hyundai had confirmed a report that the company was in talks with Apple over potential plans to develop self-driving ca...

Multiple news outlets reported last week that President Biden will soon issue an executive order aimed at reviewing critical US supply chains and ultimately find ways to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign suppliers for technology, raw materials and medical supplies. Citing officials familiar with the matter, the reports said that the order will focus on both government contractors and privat...

A congressional panel is opening an investigation into widespread COVID-19 infections and deaths of U.S. meatpacking plant employees, saying that the Trump administration didn’t do nearly enough to protect workers. On Feb. 1, the chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis sent letters to OSHA, Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and JBS USA informing them of the new investigatio...

Metal Shark. Loitering munitions. Collaborative swarming behaviors. That’s who and what this episode will cover, thanks to a recent agreement between the Marine Corps. and Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark for a new type of long-distance, autonomous warship. Technically classified as the Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV), the objective for Metal Shark will be to create a 30’ craft...

When Fiat Chrysler announced its intention to merge with European car company Groupe PSA, industry analysts warned that there would be casualties: specifically by way of trimming down the number of vehicles in Dodge and Chrysler’s slow-moving portfolios. But recently Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis -- the new moniker for the now-fourth-largest global automaker -- tried to allay those fears,...

More than two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a new effort, known as the China Initiative , to crack down on the passing of valuable research and intellectual property to the nation’s top economic rival. In subsequent months, the initiative led to charges against more than two dozen researchers, including six visiting scientists and 10 American academic researchers. But the lat...

When you’re on the cutting edge of AI development, it’s all but guaranteed that some of your more extreme ideas will wind up in a development holding pattern. And for Microsoft, this is one of those times, as company leaders recently released more details on a robotics project that will be staying in the concept phase… at least for now. And the reason is a good one: it’s too disturbing. Microsoft...

In case you were wondering if customization in the automotive realm was beginning to slow, the Sentry Civilian is here to reassure you that is not the case. Designed and manufactured by Toronto-based Inkas, a provider of bullet-resistant vehicles, the Sentry Civilian looks to combine military-level security with J-Lo-level luxury. On the exterior, the SUV features bullet-resistant windows, run-fla...

Despite the fact that the world’s richest increased their wealth dramatically during the pandemic, there were still some moments of philanthropy that might even warm the heart, and hands , of Bernie Sanders himself. The latest is from Elon Musk, the man battling it out with Jeff Bezos for world’s richest person, who has announced an initiative that targets innovation related to climate change. In...

Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods conglomerates, and it wants its suppliers to pay up… to their employees. The London-based company announced a sweeping set of social equity initiatives on January 21st, topping them with by saying it will ensure that everyone who directly provides goods and services to the company earns at least a living wage or income by 2030. Unilever — which...

While the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is still slowly being rolled out, one major food manufacturer is already going public with its plan to encourage employees to get the shot. Chobani president and COO Peter McGuinness said in a January 22 LinkedIn post that the company will give its employees up to six hours of paid time off to get vaccinated — devoting three hours for each of the two vaccine dose...

Researchers from McMaster University in Canada have cultivated a new meat using a method they say offers a more natural flavor and texture than other other alternatives to traditional meat. The first sample was cultivated using cells from mice.  The researchers make the meat by stacking thin sheets of lab grown muscle and fat cells. It sounds odd, but it's the same technique used to grow tiss...

The Food and Drug Administration this week announced a settlement with a Washington state juice producer over unsanitary conditions and contaminated products. The FDA said a federal judge, at its request, entered a consent decree between the agency and Sunnyside, Washington-based Valley Processing Inc. — and its owner and president — to halt the distribution of adulterated juice products. The FDA...