All that Andrew McCalip wanted for his 34th birthday was a shipment of red phosphorus. It was a tough request—the substance happens to be an ingredient for cooking meth and is controlled by the US Drug Enforcement Agency—but also an essential one, if McCalip was going to realize his dream of making a room-temperature superconductor, a holy grail of condensed matter physics, in his startup’s lab over the next week. It required four ingredients, and so far he had access to three.His followers on X (that is, Twitter, post-rebrand), offered ideas: He could melt down the heads of a pile…
Author: Bernie
Product photos by Richard Butler The Sony a6700 is the latest enthusiast-level APS-C mirrorless camera from Sony. It uses a 26MP BSI CMOS sensor with image stabilization, with a comprehensive set of stills and video features. Key specifications 26MP BSI CMOS APS-C sensor Bionz XR processor and dedicated ‘AI Processing Engine’ AF tracking with subject recognition, 759 AF points with 93% coverage 11 fps shooting with mech or electronic shutter Lossless Raw compression option HEIF and HLG Still Image modes 4K up to 60p from 6K capture 4K/120 from 1.58x crop 10-bit video with 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 color S-Cinetone, S-Log3…
New robotic grippers can handle a plethora of disparate objects. Credit: Jie Yin Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a robotic gripping device that is gentle enough to pick up a drop of water, strong enough to pick up a 6.4 kilogram (14.1 pound) weight, dexterous enough to fold a cloth, and precise enough to pick up microfilms that are 20 times thinner than a human hair. In addition to possible manufacturing applications, the researchers also integrated the device with technology that allows the gripper to be controlled by the electrical signals produced by muscles in the forearm,…
HackerOne, a widely known bug bounty and penetration testing platform, is cutting up to 12% of its workforce as the global economic slowdown continues to impact the tech community. The San Francisco-based startup announced its layoffs on Wednesday, TechCrunch learned and confirmed with the startup. The decision will impact the startup’s employees worldwide, including those in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Netherlands and other countries, HackerOne CEO Marten Mickos said in an email to employees, which was also posted to the company’s blog. “This comes as disappointing news, as we’ve all built strong connections with our fellow Hackeronies. These actions…
Soccer icon Lionel Messi has made an immediate impact in Miami. After netting a game-winning free kick in his MLS debut, he scored two goals and added an assist to lead Inter Miami to a win in his second game. Next up for Messi and Miami is a Leagues Cup knockout game against Orlando City tonight. The Leagues Cup is a 47-team knockout tournament that includes every club from both the MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. After coming off the bench in his first game for Miami, Messi was in the starting lineup for his second game. Messi is expected to start again…
The latest US video game sales charts for both software and hardware are in from Circana, which was previously known as the NPD Group. The best-selling video game for the month of Juny was the long-awaited Diablo IV, which shot straight to the top spot and was followed by Final Fantasy XVI, both of which were new entries. It should be noted that Nintendo doesn’t share eShop sales data, so Nintendo’s first party games such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are based on physical sales alone. The best-selling video game format in sales and dollars was…
In late 2017, three entrepreneurs — Abhinav Das, Aditya Bhatia and Akash Bansal — came to the mutual realization that the final steps of building furniture — specifically painting and sanding — were incredibly time-consuming, not to mention costly. Often, painting and sanding will take weeks compared to the mere hours it takes for assembly and, depending on the furniture, can’t be automated with traditional robotics. So Das, Bhatia and Bansal co-founded Orangewood Labs, a company creating a remotely operated robotic arm designed to paint furniture. A member of Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 cohort, Orangewood recently raised $4.5 million in…
Two-minute reviewDedicated time-lapse cameras are specialist devices in their own right, but taking this one step further is the Enlaps Tikee 3 Pro+ which is one of the most sophisticated and feature-packed cameras of its type. This is a high-spec time-lapse camera designed to capture long and short time-lapses in even remote locations with WiFi or 4G connectivity for remote set-up and image uploads to the Enlaps website where time-lapse videos can be created, downloaded and shared.As a result of the features available, which we’ll expand on later, the Tikee 3 Pro+ is one of the more expensive time-lapse cameras…
We look to the future here at Nintendo Life. Why, take this episode of NLFM, the little ol’ chip and game music podcast we’ve got going: it’s got an exclusive first listen of the soundtrack to Gaijin Games’ upcoming BIT.TRIP FLUX and goes simultaneously back and forth in time with one of the best tunes to ever come out of the Metal Gear series.We’re also people of our time, eavesdropping on the just-released WiiWare title lilt line as well as catering to the holiday season now in full swing thanks to some nifty chip musicians.Lest we forget our past, we…
By University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science August 2, 2023Professor Patrick Hopkins of the University of Virginia is developing a freeze-ray device to cool electronics in spacecraft and high-altitude jets. The technology is based on plasma, which surprisingly cools surfaces before heating them. With a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force, the team is exploring ways to amplify and prolong this cooling effect. (Artist’s concept.)A University of Virginia professor believes he has discovered how to create a freeze-ray device, inspired by the Batman villain, Mr. Freeze. Rather than being a weapon, this device is intended to…