Product Launch

StePacPPC's Xgo Pouch Cuts Cucumber Spoilage, Extends Shelf Life to 16 Days

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StePacPPC's Xgo Pouch Cuts Cucumber Spoilage, Extends Shelf Life to 16 Days

Tefen, Israel – September 29, 2026 -- StePacPPC has launched a patent-pending resealable pouch that extends the shelf life of moisture-sensitive cucumbers to 16 days by combining modified atmosphere, humidity control, and condensation management in a single package.

Xgo PAZ pouch solves a longstanding packaging trade-off for cucumbers

Traditional laminated stand-up pouches restrict water vapor transmission, trapping moisture that accelerates microbial decay in cucumbers. Packers have historically countered this by macro-perforating the film, but that sacrifices modified atmosphere protection, speeds dehydration, and still allows condensation to form. StePacPPC's Xgo pouch integrates three functions -- modified atmosphere, modified humidity, and condensation control -- into one film structure, according to CTO Gary Ward.

MassDOT Deploys 14 TAPCO Wrong-Way Trailers as Fatal Crashes Nearly Double

Brown Deer, Wis. – September 29, 2026 -- The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has deployed 14 mobile Wrong-Way Detection Trailers built by TAPCO, part of a statewide push to identify wrong-way driving risk at unsignalized highway ramps before crashes occur. Texas and Arkansas transportation departments have also adopted the mobile trailers since the product launched earlier this year.

Fatal wrong-way crashes nearly doubled nationally over the past decade

Fatal wrong-way crashes on U.S. divided highways rose from 278 a year in 2014 to 520 in 2023, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Over that decade, 4,164 fatal wrong-way crashes killed 5,730 people, with wrong-way fatalities climbing faster than the overall fatal-crash rate.

Metacon Unveils 20 MW Module, Cuts Hydrogen Plant Costs Up to 70%

Uppsala – – September 29, 2026 -- Metacon AB has launched a 20 MW multi-level alkaline electrolysis module designed to cut balance-of-plant costs for large-scale hydrogen production by up to 70% on area-related infrastructure.

Compact design slashes steel and piping costs for hydrogen developers

The Swedish company's new module reduces steel structure costs by up to 30% and piping system expenses by up to 50% compared with conventional building-based electrolysis installations. The stacked design places electrolyser stacks on a lower level with gas-handling equipment and cooling units above, shrinking the plot footprint required per megawatt of installed capacity.

Alder Renewables Hits 1,000-Hour Biocrude Pilot, Eyes Commercial Scale-Up

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Alder Renewables Hits 1,000-Hour Biocrude Pilot, Eyes Commercial Scale-Up

San Antonio – September 29, 2026 -- Alder Renewables has completed 1,000 hours of continuous operation at its integrated industrial pilot, producing on-spec Alder Renewable Crude (ARC) from commercially sourced woody biomass pyrolysis oil. The sustained run validates the company's low-temperature conversion process and generates operating data now feeding into equipment design for its first full-scale commercial project.

Pilot data will size larger commercial units

The 1,000-hour campaign confirmed Alder's integrated process can hold continuous operation while repeatedly meeting product specifications. Alder is applying the results to refine process controls, operating parameters and equipment design for scale-up engineering.

Hoerr Schaudt Delivers $25M Kansas Playscape, Wins Koch Backing

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Hoerr Schaudt Delivers $25M Kansas Playscape, Wins Koch Backing

Wichita, Kan. – September 29, 2026 -- Landscape architecture firm Hoerr Schaudt has completed a $25 million civic playscape at Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas, featuring what is believed to be the first aviation-themed playground of its scale in the world and one of the largest educational water play environments in the United States.

Adventure Playscape spans 10 themed environments built into a renaturalized riverfront landscape

As master planner and design lead, Hoerr Schaudt organized the site as a continuous riverfront campus of paths, gardens and native plantings rather than a collection of standalone attractions. The project incorporates more than 40,000 plants emphasizing native Kansas species and grasses, 500 tons of Kansas limestone, and 250 new trees alongside preserved existing trees. City water consumption at Exploration Place is expected to decline through revised irrigation design and stormwater management.

CorelDRAW Wins Top AI Vector Generator Nod for New Text-to-Vector Tools

NEW YORK – September 29, 2026 -- Software Experts has named CorelDRAW Graphics Suite a leading AI vector generation tool, citing Text-to-Vector capabilities introduced in the September 2026 Update.

Editable output separates CorelDRAW from single-shot AI generators

Software Experts highlighted editability as the deciding factor in its recognition. Text-to-Vector converts written prompts or existing artwork into scalable vector graphics while keeping shapes, curves, colors, and individual objects open for further manual adjustment after generation.

The tool addresses a recurring production bottleneck: AI-generated artwork is typically a starting point, not a finished asset. Logos often need resizing, apparel graphics require color swaps, and icons need reshaping before reaching final production.

Cloud Firewall Test Finds AWS, Azure Score 0% on Security

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Cloud Firewall Test Finds AWS, Azure Score 0% on Security

Austin, Texas – September 29, 2026 -- CyberRatings.org has published new Cloud Network Firewall (CNFW) test results showing security effectiveness among nine evaluated products ranging from 0% to 99.95%, with only four earning a Recommended rating.

Four vendors clear the bar with 99.7% or higher security effectiveness

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall, HPE Juniper Networking vSRX Next Generation Firewall, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Next-Generation Firewall, and Versa Networks Next Generation Firewall each achieved 99.7% or higher in Security Effectiveness, earning Recommended ratings. Tests were conducted by NSS Labs, CyberRatings' official testing partner, using the Cloud Network Firewall Test Methodology v4.1.

Huawei Unveils Intelligent RAIL 2.0 With 20 Scenario Solutions at InnoTrans

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Huawei Unveils Intelligent RAIL 2.0 With 20 Scenario Solutions at InnoTrans

Berlin – September 29, 2026 -- Huawei has launched Intelligent RAIL 2.0, a portfolio of 20 scenario-based solutions targeting railway construction, passenger and freight transport, and facility maintenance, unveiled at InnoTrans 2026 held September 22-25 in Berlin.

Huawei has already deployed rail technology across 180,000 kilometers of track worldwide

The company says it now serves more than 50 major railway customers and over 300 urban rail lines globally, positioning the new platform as an expansion of an existing large-scale deployment base rather than a market entry.

Reactive Technologies Launches Nyquist Licensing Program for Grid Tech

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Reactive Technologies Launches Nyquist Licensing Program for Grid Tech

London – September 29, 2026 -- Reactive Technologies has launched Nyquist, a technology licensing programme giving utilities, technology providers and equipment manufacturers access to its patented Edge-to-Cloud AI foundation for grid measurement and analytics.

Nyquist opens core sensing and AI technologies to external partners

The programme lets partners integrate Reactive Technologies' proprietary capabilities directly into their own products, covering high-fidelity measurement and waveform capture, precise time-synchronisation, digital signal processing, edge AI, connectivity, data infrastructure and grid analytics. Partners avoid building these complex sensing and processing systems from scratch, cutting development time for grid-monitoring products.

ORing Debuts IRoN Rail Switches with TSN, 10GbE at InnoTrans 2026

Taipei – – September 29, 2026 -- ORing Industrial Networking, a Taiwan-based industrial networking specialist with 20 years of market experience, showcased its next-generation IRoN railway Ethernet switch portfolio at InnoTrans 2026.

ORing unveils IRoN switches for onboard rail networks at InnoTrans 2026

ORing's networking equipment has already been deployed in passenger and freight rail projects across Europe, the United States, and Asia. The company positions the IRoN Series as a response to trains carrying more connected devices and data-intensive services, where critical control communications now share infrastructure with video surveillance and passenger information systems.