DIY Powerwalls
There is a new way to get more power into your home and the people of the internet are going up against Tesla in the world of POWERWALLS!
Apparently a lot and we mean A LOT, of batteries aren’t being recycled, which accounts for a lot of unaccounted for power going to waste. So why not upcycle them and create a powerwall?!
View the video above to see exactly how to get more power from your used batteries, just make sure to follow them to a T and don’t miss anything out, otherwise you could get seriously hurt and or burn your house down!
Robotic Arms?
Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are not prosthetics, they are extra arms designed to help a user complete a task, an amputee may also use these devices but they are meant to be used as add-ons to your usual arms.
You wont be able to start throwing things around like some sort of comic book villain but help people complete tasks that are difficult or irritating, (or well you know needs more than one person) – so imagine carrying lots of boxes or shopping, or holding up a piece of MDF whilst you nail it into the wall or ceiling.
They weigh 10lbs and sit atop your shoulders , each arm has 5 degrees of freedom and you can attach a variety of attachments depending on your task. The SRL’s rely on a pair of inertial measurement units strapped to a users wrists, which then allows the machine to figure out the best position to place itself. It can also be programmed to complete tasks such as pushing an elevator button or opening a door if your hands are full.
Is this cool or are we getting lazier as humans?
Bundesliga using Video Assistant Referees?
MLS began using video assistant referees this month and the Bundesliga, Germany’s top flight began utilising the tech too. All 23 referees within the league will now serve as an assistant video referee during the 2017-2018 campaign. The VAR system is very controversial, slowing down match pace being a huge worry it was used in a penalty situation between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen.
FIFA technical director Marco Van Basten argues otherwise:
“Football will remain the same….But we’re working so that through the video assistants it will become more honest. All that we want is that the result at the end of a game is achieved in a regular manner.”
Different leagues may employ the VAR differently but Bundesliga can only apply it in specific situations, 4 to be exact, irregularities in goal decisions, penalties, red cards and if there is mistaken identity when a player is given a red card.
Hologram Rock Tour?
Rock Star Ronnie James Dio passed away in 2010, but thanks to holograms the fomer Black Sabbath Frontman will once again start touring Europe on November 30th before going stateside next spring.
The set will change nightly according to Rolling Stone and audio recordings were pulled from his entire career. “He” will also get a backing band each night and some nights “he’ll” have singers Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest) and Oni Logan (Racer X) alongside him. The stage will go back to thee Sacred Heart and Dream Evil tours, and allegedly the band are booking between 80 and 100 shows.
To see how this may look check out the video above!
MS PAINT GOING AWAY?!
There was a lot of furore online recently with a lot of people upset a the prospect that the Windows Fall Creators Update is taking away MS PAINT?!
Well kind of.
The drawing programme that came with every Windows operating system from 1985 is being removed from the OS as a basic feature and will move to the Microsoft store. (so we can still draw a big mess and then fill it in!)
It’s becoming Paint 3D and has a ton of new 3D capabilities and do all of the things the old paint could do and for free!
Gun-firing drones
US firm reveals gun-toting drone that can fire in mid-air
A tech firm in America has developed drones that are able to aim and fire while flying in mid-air.
The Tikad drone, developed by Duke Robotics, is armed with a machine-gun and a grenade launcher.
The gun can be fired remotely by remote control and have been designed to with the ideal to reduce military casualties by cutting down the number of troops on the ground.
Campaigners have been pretty vocal about the concerns they have about these drones, such as them being mis-used and killing innocent people.
Robotics expert Professor seems to agree with these concerns as he said ‘there have been many legal cases of human-rights violations using the large fixed-wing drones, and these could potentially result in many more.”
There has already been a lot interest in the drone from several governments but how it will be rolled out in the future will depend on America.
Biologic
This is a really cool new piece of tech that utilises the natural behavior of certain microorganisms to power objects and interfaces, the same way a motor might.
BioLogic relies on Bacillus subtilis natto—a bacterium, commonly used in Japanese cooking, that reacts to atmospheric moisture, to create clothing that adjust to it’s wearer breathing rhythm as their body heat and humidity increase and decreases, curling upwards allowing it to ‘breathe’ if it gets to 100% humidity the flaps will be 100% open allowing it to breathe freely.
BioLogic have turned natto cells into a film which then was printed on to layers of spandex and turned in to clothing. Different patterns printed onto the cells will create different behaviour patterns. For example, to make the fabric curl it is applied uniformly across the fabric, to make it bend sharply the cells are applied in straight lines.
Google WorldSense
Google have recently announced a standalone Daydream VR headset that will utilise the Tango Augmented Reality system, the way it does this is not with cameras around the room like with a HTC Vive, a head on camera like the Playstation VR but with camera’s built into the headset itself.
Calling this tech ‘World Sense’ it allows users to walk around in AR/VR worlds without the fear of walking into walls or falling down the stairs.
“The idea is that you have everything you need for VR built right into the headset itself, there’s no cables, no phone and certainly no big PC. The whole device is designed just for VR……..World Sense enables what’s known as positional tracking and with it your view in the virtual world exactly matches your movement in the real world. It works by using a handful of sensors on the device that look out into your surroundings, and that means it works everywhere, there’s no set-up and no cameras to install.” (Head of Google VR Clay Bavor)
It does support the Daydream controller but it won’t be visible in the VR world nor will it interact with things that are in the Virtual world like much of the other VR systems available today.
Scotland’s Renewable Energy
During the 1st 6months of 2017 Scotland generated enough power by their wind turbines to power Scotland for more power than they actually need for 6 days straight.
The data was collated by WeatherEnergy and later analysed by WWF Scotland, which concluded that the turbines generated 1,039,001 MWh of electricity in June which is enough energy to power 3M homes!
Dr Sam Gardner, the acting director of WWF Scotland, said in a statement
The first six months of 2017 have certainly been incredible for renewables, with wind turbines alone helping to ensure millions of tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions were avoided.
Scotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change.
If we want to reap the same rewards in the transport and heating sectors, we need the Scottish Government to put in place strong policies on energy efficiency and transport in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.
Karen Robinson of WeatherEnergy also released a statement:
It’s great to see this data confirm that Scotland is knocking it out of the park on wind power with total output for June in particular up on the same period compared to the past two years.
There’s no doubt renewables are helping households increasingly avoid fossil fuels for their electricity needs.