S or N? Amazon's New Personal Robot -- Astro

Amazon's next big leap in hardware: a personal robot. On Tuesday, Amazon announced Astro, a home robot the company says can help owners keep up with tasks such as home monitoring or keeping in touch with family and friends. "One of the things I love about working at Amazon is inventing the future, and I've spent a lot of time since that day on a team that's imagining how robots can help customers in new ways at home," said Charlie Tritschler, vice president of products at Amazon in a blog post. It's available by invite only for $999.99.

Astro takes advantage of both Alexa and Ring, its line of home security offerings. The robot can be set to autonomously roam around your home to check for safety. For example, if you worry about leaving a stove on, you can ask Astro to check. Users can also ask Astro for information similar to Alexa, and with a display serving as the robot's head, they can also watch movies and TV shows as well as accept video calls. Amazon says several features have been added to Astro for owners concerned with privacy, such as the ability to turn off microphones and cameras and the option to set out-of-bounds zones within your home. The arrival of Astro is just the beginning. More companies are exploring robotics, and not just for vacuuming. Earlier this year, during the Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung unveiled Handy, which can help owners around the house with tasks like unloading the dishwasher. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Bot last month. The humanoid robot was designed to help with physical tasks that might be unsafe for humans.



Credits:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/09/28/astro-amazon-home-robot-price-how-to-buy/5901364001/

Something Crashed into Jupiter

On September 13, 2021, at roughly 6:39 PM EDT, amateur astronomers monitored and recorded a colossally bright flash of what seemed to be an impact on Jupiter. Harald Paleske of Germany was recording the shadow of Jupiter's moon, Io, as it passed in front of the planet. But other astronomers involved included José Luis of Brazil, Michel Jacquesson and Jean-Paul Arnould in France, Simone Gelelli of Italy, and Didier Walliang and Alexis Desmougin of the Société Lorraine d'Astronomie, also on France. Many also filmed the event, and suspect an impact on Jupiter.

Scientists are unsure how often Jupiter is impacted by something so massive or high-velocity that it generates an impact flash we can see from Earth, but the consensus is it's fairly often; between 20 and 60 times every year. If the Earth experienced significant impacts with the same frequency, its surface might look very different, and so would whatever survived. But luckily, Jupiter's unconscionably strong gravitational field is gigantic, and accelerates incoming meteorites to unkind speeds, multiplying the kinetic energy of the incoming bodies by several orders of magnitude, which is proportional to the level of energy released upon impact (think of how baseballs hurt more if they slam into you with greater speed).



Credits:
https://interestingengineering.com/something-enormous-just-slammed-into-jupiter

Microsoft to Make Computer Mouse from Ocean Plastic

Over the years, we’ve seen many remarkable mice from Microsoft, but the one it’s announcing today focuses on recycling and sustainability instead of innovative scroll wheel controls or high-precision DPI. The Ocean Plastic Mouse is notable because it has a shell made of 20 percent recycled ocean plastic and packaging that is 100 percent recyclable. An August 2020 pledge from Microsoft said it will pursue a goal of zero-waste operations by 2030 and put an end to the use of single-use plastics in packaging by 2025. The small box this mouse comes in, made of recyclable wood and sugarcane fibers, represents a step toward that future. Microsoft also mentions a free mail-in program so people can send their old mouse for recycling.

That plastic shell uses resin with recycled material “made from plastic waste that is recovered from oceans and waterways.” The plastic waste gets turned into pellets, and eventually, those are blended in with the other materials that make up the shell of this mouse. To create the resin used in the Ocean Plastic Mouse’s shell, Microsoft teamed up with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), which is a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. Big Oil’s involvement in an “eco-friendly” product gives more than a whiff of greenwashing, but it’s surprising as the petrochemical industry responds to the EV shift by increasing its focus on plastics. The Ocean Plastic Mouse is available for preorder starting today at a price of $24.99, featuring Bluetooth Low Energy wireless and Swift Pair connection. Like all of the Surface hardware revealed during the event, it will be available starting on October 5th in the US.

Credits:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/22/22684591/microsoft-ocean-plastic-mouse-recycled-sustainability

Michigan to Test Electrified Roadway to Recharge EVs

While at the opening ceremony of Motor Bella today, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a new initiative to develop the nation’s first wireless charging infrastructure on a public road in the U.S. right here in Michigan. State officials said that the development of a wireless charging roadway in Michigan is a step forward in starting the conversation about range anxiety as well as also accelerating the transition to all-electric transit fleets in Michigan, and across the country. “Michigan was home to the first mile of paved road, and now we’re paving the way for the roads of tomorrow with innovative infrastructure the will support the economy and the environment, helping us achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050,” said Whitmer.

It is said that The Michigan Department Of Transportation will release a Request for Proposal on Sept. 28 to design, fund, and create the Inductive Vehicle Charging Pilot along a one-mile stretch of state-operated roadway in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb counties. “At MDOT, we know the future of mobility involves connectivity, and this initiative dovetails nicely with our other successes linking vehicles and infrastructure through technology,” said MDOT Director Paul C. Ajegba. “This is a model we will build on across the state to further promote the governor’s broad and ambitious vision. We’re in the midst of the most significant shift in the automotive industry since the Model-T rolled off the assembly line more than a century ago, and Michigan is once setting the course manufacturing the vehicles of the future and deploying charging solutions that make EV adoption more widely available” said Trevor Pawl, Chief Mobility Officer with the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification.

Click here for the video

Credits:
https://www.abc12.com/2021/09/21/gov-whitmer-launches-initiative-nation-leading-wireless-ev-charging-infrastructure-michigan/

Viper: The Moon Rover

On Monday, NASA announced the autonomous VIPER vehicle — which is about the size of a golf cart — will touch down near the western rim of the Nobile Crater at the lunar south pole in 2023. It will spend at least 100 days exploring multiple lunar environments in this mountainous region. The VIPER mission is part of NASA’s larger Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon by 2024, and reconnaissance VIPER provides during its sojourn at the lunar south pole could be crucial to those efforts. VIPER is expected to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Moon. It could inform future crewed Artemis missions since water is both essential for long-term human occupancy and a potential source for handy items in space, like rocket fuel. Lunar ice is one of the resources VIPER is looking for.

The VIPER mission has been aimed at the Moon’s south pole since VIPERs inception in 2019, but exactly where the rover should land to do the best science was the topic of extended and meticulous research. While the region west of the Nobile Crater is mountainous, NASA determined it is accessible by the rover — and will also provide access to small craters of scientific interest nearby. VIPER team scientists have already planned the 10 to 15-mile route during the rover’s 100-day mission. This route includes stops for at least six sites of interest as well solar charging and warming pit stops — the floors of some craters in the region, cast in permanent shadow, can measure a chilling negative 414 degrees Fahrenheit. VIPER will hunt for sub-surface water using a Neutron Mass Spectrometer, and then drill up to three feet beneath the lunar regolith to take samples using its Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain, or TRIDENT.



Credits:
https://www.inverse.com/science/why-nasas-viper-mission-is-important-for-future-moon-landings

Robots Deliver Food to Hungry College Students

Starship Technologies is expanding its footprint, deploying dozens of its pint-sized six-wheeled delivery robots on college campuses this fall. Currently, the company operates on 20 college campuses in 15 states with a global fleet that totals 1,000 robots. This expansion would add 85 more robots to that fleet. Starship claims that it has facilitated over 1.5 million deliveries worldwide since its founding in 2014. The company has raised $102 million so far, including $17 million in fresh funding announced earlier this year.

Each robot is electric, has a trunk that can fit about 20 pounds of cargo, and has a number of embedded cameras that can be used to identify obstacles and help guide it to its destination. The robots have a delivery radius of three to four miles and can travel a maximum speed of 4mph, which is obviously slower than a delivery by a human on a bike or in a car. And they can climb curbs but not stairs, which may limit their appeal to customers who live in multistory buildings.

Credits:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/10/22617175/starship-technologies-delivery-robots-college-campuses

Virtual panther at Carolina NFL game

The Carolina Panthers tweeted a video of a giant virtual panther leaping around Bank of America Stadium last weekend which went viral. The video is ridiculous. A big virtual cat jumps into the stadium, paces around the field, shreds a New York Jets flag (the Panthers’ Sunday opponents), and hops away with a menacing roar. It’s proved to be hugely popular, with 5.6 million views on Twitter. In short, what’s going on is that an animation of the virtual panther, which was made in Unreal Engine, is being rendered within a live feed of the real world. That means camera operators have to track and follow the animations of the panther in real time as it moves around the stadium, like camera operators would with an actual living animal. To give the panther virtual objects to climb on and interact with, the stadium is also modeled virtually but is invisible.

This tech isn’t baked into an app, meaning you won’t be pointing your phone’s camera in the stadium to get another angle on the panther if you’re attending a game. The animations are intended to air live. In Sunday’s case, the video was broadcast live on the big screens at the stadium, and shortly after that, the video was posted to social media. (One cool tidbit: in the video, you can see that the stadium screens have black screens with cat eyes. Those were applied to prevent a mirroring effect, a PR rep for The Famous Group said.) While only the one animation of the panther was shown on Sunday, Slusser and Davis said that other animations for the panther are in the works. One potential example? Appearing during a crucial third down to “hover over the opposing team and growl at them,” Davis said. The illusion in the viral video is clever, but it isn’t perfect. The cat definitely looks like a big CGI creature. And near the end of the video, when the panther roars from the top of the Jumbotron, you can see that its feet don’t exactly align with the architecture on which it’s standing. But the giant virtual panther is a fun look at one possible use of AR to add to the experience of watching a big sports event.



Credits: https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/15/22672199/carolina-panthers-mixed-augmented-reality-viral-virtual-mascot

Facebook / Instagram Execs Knew Negative Impact for Teans

According to the Wall Street Journal, top Facebook officials were aware that Instagram can have a negative impact on mental health, body image and more for teenagers, particularly teenage girls. Researchers who work for the social media giant found that some of the problems were specific to Instagram and not social media as a whole for teens, according to the article. In a study of teens in the U.S. and the U.K., Facebook found that over 40% of Instagram users who reported feeling “unattractive” traced that feeling back to the platform. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” Researchers shared in a March 2020 slide presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board, reviewed by the Journal.

The research report from 2019 stated, “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.” Another read, “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” according to the Journal. Although Facebook has taken some steps to potentially reduce negative impacts for teens, such as removing counts of “likes,” the company has publicly downplayed Instagram’s impacts. The research from Facebook does indicate that not all teens experience harmful effects from using the app. For many, connecting with peers and expressing themselves outweighed potential “negative social comparison.” Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., in August requested that Zuckerberg release Facebook’s internal research on mental health impacts on young people. Facebook sent the senators a six-page letter that did not include its own studies, the Journal noted.



Credits:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/facebook-documents-show-how-toxic-instagram-is-for-teens-wsj.html

Hat Blows the Rain Away

Some ideas are so bad that we just try them anyway, at least that seems to be Ivan Miranda’s philosophy. No stranger to just totally ignoring the general consensus on what you can (or at least should) or can’t make with a 3D printer, and just getting on with it, [Ivan] may have gone a little too far this time. Since umbrellas are, well, boring, why not try to keep dry with an air-curtain hat? As you’ll see from the video, attempting to 3D print an impeller to run from a BLDC motor didn’t exactly go well. The imbalance due to imperfections in the printing process (and lack of an easy way balance it post-print) caused incredibly unpleasant (and possibly damaging) vibrations directly into his skull, not to mention the thing self-disassembling in a short time.

Not to be discouraged, he presses on regardless, substituting an electrical ducted fan (EDF), increasing the silliness-factor oh-so-little, after all as he says “I think I have a solution for all the issues — more power!” EDFs and other kinds of ducted fans are used in many applications nowadays. Thanks to advances in rare-earth magnets enabling more powerful brushless motors, combined with cheap and accessible control systems, there has never been a better time to drop an EDF into your latest madcap idea. We have covered many ducted fan projects over the years, including this great video about how ducted fans work, which we think is well worth a watch if you’ve not already done so.


Credits: 

https://hackaday.com/2021/09/11/3d-printed-hat-blasts-the-rain-away/

Texas Signs Social Media "Censorship" Bill

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a bill that aims to stop social media companies from banning users or nixing posts based solely on political opinions — the latest salvo by Republicans, who claim that these tech giants are censoring conservative users. The new law requires social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users to disclose their content moderation policies and institute an appeals process. It would also require such social media companies to remove illegal content within 48 hours.

The new law would affect companies including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It's the latest Republican effort to take on the social media giants; Florida recently passed a law that would have prohibited social media platforms from banning political candidates, but a federal judge blocked the law before it was supposed to take effect. Some Republicans have for years claimed social media companies have an anti-conservative bias, complaints that grew after former President Trump was blocked from using Twitter and Facebook after his false claims about the 2020 presidential election led to the January 6 assault on the Capitol.



Credits:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-social-media-bill-signed-law-governor-abbott/

Somethin' or Nothin': Ray-Ban / Facebook Smart Glasses

On Thursday, the first pair of smart glasses made by Facebook and Ray-Ban went on sale for $299. They’re called Ray-Ban Stories, and you’ll be able to find them pretty much anywhere Ray-Bans are sold, including LensCrafters and Sunglasses Hut stores. The frames feature two-front facing cameras for capturing video and photos. They sync with a companion camera roll app called Facebook View, where clips can be edited and shared to other apps on your phone (not just Facebook’s own). There’s a physical button on the glasses for recording, or you can say “Hey Facebook, take a video” to control them hands-free.

With their core ability of taking photos and videos, Ray-Ban Stories are essentially a sleeker version of Snapchat’s Spectacles, which first debuted in 2016 to a lot of hype that quickly fizzled. These Ray-Bans don’t have displays in the lenses, like the latest Spectacles that were unveiled earlier this year. However, speakers on both sides of the frame can play sound from your phone over Bluetooth, allowing you to take a call or listen to a podcast without pulling your phone out. A touchpad built into the side of the frame lets you change the volume or play and pause what you’re hearing. Ray-Ban Stories are the first product in a multiyear partnership between Facebook and the European eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent company. While they’re limited in what they can do, Ray-Ban Stories are the most normal-looking, accessible pair of smart glasses to hit the market so far. Both companies also see them as a step toward more advanced augmented reality glasses that overlay graphics onto the real world.



Credits:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/9/22662809/facebook-ray-ban-stories-camera-smart-glasses-hands-on

Howard University Cancels Classes After Ransomeware Attack

Howard University on Monday said it experienced a ransomware cyberattack after noticing "unusual activity on the University's network" late last week. The situation is sill being investigated, and the university canceled classes Tuesday "to give our IT team more time to address the issue," it said in a release. The school's Enterprise Technology Services shut down the university's network to investigate what happened and has been working to restore operations as soon as possible, Howard said. In the meantime, the physical campus is open only to essential employees, and campus Wi-Fi is down until the university can "determine the best and safest path to stand it up."

The university said it'll update faculty and students each day at 2 p.m. about whether campus operations will resume the next day. On Tuesday, Howard said the situation is still being investigated, and that, "there has been no evidence of personal information being accessed or exfiltrated; however, our investigation remains ongoing, and we continue to work toward clarifying the facts surrounding what happened and what information has been accessed." All online and hybrid undergraduate courses are still suspended for Wednesday, and only essential employees can access the physical campus. In-person undergraduate, graduate, professional and clinical experiential courses will resume.



Credits:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/368943

Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter, Extends its Mission

It was only supposed to fly five times. And yet NASA's helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, has completed 12 flights and it isn't ready to retire. Given its stunning and unexpected success, the US space agency has extended Ingenuity's mission indefinitely. The tiny helicopter has become the regular travel companion of the rover Perseverance, whose core mission is to seek signs of ancient life on Mars. "Everything is working so well," said Josh Ravich, the head of Ingenuity's mechanical engineering team. "We're doing better on the surface than we had expected."

Ingenuity is now being sent out to scout the way for Perseverance, using its high-resolution color camera. The purpose is twofold: to chart a path for the rover that is safe, but also which is of scientific interest, notably in geological terms. The helicopter should be able to keep operating for some time. But the approaching Martian winter will be challenging. NASA engineers, now armed with the data from Ingenuity's flights, are already working on its next-generation successors.



Credits:
https://www.sciencealert.com/remember-nasa-s-little-mars-copter-it-s-still-going-strong

Twitch Loses 25% Viewership After Streamers Boycott for a Day

Wednesday, thousands of streamers abandoned Twitch for 24 hours in protest of its ongoing facilitation of harassment campaigns known as hate raids. While the Amazon-owned streaming platform has yet to implement proposed changes to the controversial raid system, it’s clear what some previously dismissed as a small movement has had a big impact, potentially costing Twitch roughly 25% of its peak concurrent traffic for the day. Social media platforms have been criticized across the board for facilitating the spread of misinformation, hate speech, and harassment, but Twitch has come under special scrutiny for how it directly profits off of content creators it’s done little to protect. The streaming platform takes a whopping 50% cut of their subscription revenue by default, a fact that rival platforms on Facebook and YouTube have tried to leverage by offering better deals in exchange for streamers jumping ship.

#ADayOffTwitch came about because of growing frustration over Twitch’s unwillingness to crackdown more strictly on harassment and bigotry on the platform. In light of a growing number of hate raids targeting marginalized streamers and streamers of color in which bots spam channels with vitriol and slurs, content creators started putting together practical guides to help victims and calling on Twitch to overhaul the raid feature. #TwitchDoBetter, a hashtag created by streamer Rek It, Raven! built up steam throughout August around a 2018 tweet by Twitch telling people to hold it accountable. In light of the latest wave of criticism, the streaming platform rolled out improved chat filters and announced plans for a better ban evasion detection system sometime in the future. But streamers want swifter, more decisive action, which culminated in plans for a September 1 boycott.

Credits:
https://kotaku.com/twitch-takes-traffic-hit-following-streamer-boycott-ove-1847609025