Shiny Shiny daily round up: Hyundai announces EV with solar panel roof

Hyundai’s new electric car, the Ioniq 5, has a solar panel roof and can charge other EVs. Unfortunately, the solar panel roof is not available as standard – and right now we don’t know how much this optional extra will set you back. Nor will you won’t be able to rely on the sun to fully recharge the 58 kWh standard range or 72.6 kWh long-range battery inside the Ioniq 5. Instead, it will act as a complementary charging source that can help extend the vehicle’s range. Hyundai says that the solar panels can add up to 2,000km per year (around 5-6km per day) of additional range, providing it’s driven in sunny environments – not the UK then. See Tech Radar here: https://www.techradar.com/news/hyundais-new-electric-car-has-a-solar-panel-roof-and-the-ability-to-charge-other-evs

The NHS has launched the UK’s first Covid test drone delivery service in Scotland. Argyll & Bute Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP) has begun carrying Covid test samples and other medical materials on drone delivery flights between medical facilities in the Argyll & Bute region. The delivery drones, operated by the logistics arm of advanced air mobility company Skyports, will carry up to 3kg of critical medical supplies up to 40 miles. Cargo to be carried will include Covid-19 and other test samples, medicine, essential personal protective equipment (PPE) and Covid-19 testing kits. See full story on Tech Digest. 

A report has discovered that 350,000 tonnes of clothing are binned every year in the UK – with £2.7 billion spent on outfits worn once before being discarded. To highlight the ongoing problem of fast fashion, stylist Miranda Almond has sifted through the rejected items to curate a new collection, the ‘Rewear Edit’. Working in conjunction with Vanish, the sustainability advocate is set to showcase the garments when they are modelled during London Fashion Week – February 19th to 23rd. See full story on Transition Earth

Facebook said on Tuesday it will restore Australian news pages after negotiating changes with the government to a proposed law that forces tech giants to pay for media content displayed on their platforms, writes Reuters. After a series of talks between Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a concession deal has been struck, with Australian news expected to return to the social media site in the coming days. 

Streaming platform Spotify is to launch in 85 new markets, bringing the service to more than a billion extra people. The announcement came via a live streaming event featuring Justin Bieber, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Spotify has also announced a new higher sound-quality subscription service and a new advertising marketplace for podcasts. See story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56164840

Back in January, Samsung announced that its Galaxy Watch Active2 and Galaxy Watch3 would finally receive support for ECG and blood pressure monitoring in 31 markets across the world. Although that announcement made it seem like the rollout was imminent, it has actually taken until today for these features to finally become available. To get the new features to work you will need to download the Samsung Health Monitor app from the Galaxy Store and install a new software update for your watch. For more details see here: https://www.gsmarena.com/ecg_and_blood_pressure_monitoring_are_finally_live_for_galaxy_watch_active2_and_watch3_in_31_markets-news-47880.php

Chris Price