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Sweden drops investigation into Julian Assange rape allegations
Sweden has dropped its investigation into Julian Assange over allegations of rape, dramatically changing the plot in a standoff that has lasted seven years. The charges were first leveled at the WikiLeaks founder in 2010, causing him to seek asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 after losing a series of appeals. He's been sequestered there ever since, and could finally go free once the withdrawal of his warrant is confirmed by a London court, possibly by the end of the day.
World's fastest camera can capture rapid molecular processes
Those high-speed cameras that capture over million or even over a billion frames per second have got nothing on Lund University's creation. The Swedish University's invention can film at a rate equivalent to five trillion images per second -- that's enough to capture anything that happens within 0.2 trillionths of a second. We're talking about events much faster than anything your GoPro can capture, particularly natural processes and reactions in chemistry, physics and biology.
Rickard Nordin, Sweden's 'Hearthstone'-streaming politician
For many people, eSports cropped up when they weren't looking, growing out of the passionate local communities built by game creators and players. Professional teams now compete in high-stakes leagues for prestige, tournament winnings and lucrative sponsorship deals -- but only in places where eSports is encouraged to take root. Many countries don't offer pro game players the same ease of travel as traditional athletes, leading lawmakers to continue debating just how much the state should support the local video game scene. Such is the case with Sweden, but national Parliament member Rickard Nordin is rallying his peers to embrace the financial and cultural benefits eSports can bring, and he's reaching out to fans (near and far) on a platform fitting his mission.
Swedish Ambulances can hijack your in-car tunes during emergencies
When people tell you not to play music at full blast in your car, they're not necessarily raining on your parade -- there's a real concern that you might not hear an emergency vehicle until the last moment. You might not have to worry quite so much if a Swedish experiment proves successful, though. Ambulances in Stockholm are testing a KTH-made system (EVAM) that interrupts in-car audio with a voice warning when they're close by and responding to a crisis. The only requirement is that your car's FM tuner support the Radio Data System format, which is common in the cars you see on the road. The interruptions are speed-sensitive, too, so you'll get notices at greater distances when you're on the highway.
Volvo is testing self-driving cars with real families
Picture a self-driving car test in your head and you probably see an engineer or two scrutinizing data... and no one else. Everyday people, if they're present at all, tend to be relegated to the back seat. Volvo is trying something different: it just revealed that it's conducting autonomous vehicle tests with an ordinary family, the Hains from Gothenburg, Sweden. The four-person household is convenient for marketing, of course (we care about people!), but they serve an important purpose: they'll help Volvo understand how non-engineers deal with self-driving tech. How do they react when the car switches between manual and autonomous modes, and what do they do at those times when they aren't taking the wheel?
Sweden effectively bans camera drone flights
Don't bring a drone with you to document your trip to Sweden -- you could find yourself in legal trouble. The country's Supreme Administrative Court has effectively banned camera drone flights through a ruling. Camera-equipped drones are surveillance cameras, the court argues, and that means they need a permit indicating that they'll be used to prevent crime or accidents. And since you probably aren't flying a drone to keep watch over your home, you're likely out of luck.
Julian Assange: I'll turn myself in if Chelsea Manning walks
America's most wanted hackers apparently think they've got some leverage over the US government. The ACLU last week began petitioning the Obama administration for a full pardon for Edward Snowden and, on Thursday, Julian Assange announced that he would willingly hand himself over to US authorities. But that's if, and only if, the Feds drop their court-martial conviction of Chelsea Manning.
Sweden debuts the world's first 'electric highway'
Fossil fuels are bad for the planet, and freight haulage is one of the more carbon-intensive activities that operate today. That's why Siemens and Scania have teamed up to trial what's being called the world's first "electric highway." Much like an electrified railroad, the 1.2 mile stretch has a series of wires hanging overhead that a pantograph-equipped truck can connect to. Then, the vehicle can deactivate its fuel-burning engine and coast along on that delicious, dirt-cheap electricity, switching back when the wires stop.
Call Sweden's national number and talk to a random Swede now
The news almost reads like an Onion headline: Sweden, the country, has got its very own telephone number. And you can call it anytime you like to chat with a random Swede about, well, anything really. The quirky announcement is the work of the Swedish Tourist Association, which has created the number as a 250th anniversary tribute to the country's abolishment of censorship. It's an initiative designed to highlight the country's commitment to freedom of expression in a time when, according to the tourism board's CEO Magnus Ling, "many countries try to limit communication between people." But before you open the dialer on your cellphone, be aware that the call is not toll-free and you will be charged local and international rates.
ICYMI: Supersonic jetliner, the issue of sea sponge and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA gave Lockheed Martin $20 million to make a preliminary design of a supersonic jetliner that will break the sound barrier without a sonic boom. Stanford students are putting a self-driving Audi through a race course to improve AI algorithms. And MIT says it has found proof that sea sponges are the first animal on earth. Finally, Sweden's McDonald's has a new happy meal box that turns into a virtual reality headset. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
In Sweden, McDonald's Happy Meals come with VR goggles
Swedish kids (and adults) can get a toy much sweeter than Barbies and Hot Wheels with their Happy Meals this month. Over the weekends of March 5th and March 12th, 14 McDonald's outlets in Sweden are bundling real, working virtual reality headsets with their Happy Meal boxes. In fact, the boxes themselves were designed to transform into "Happy Goggles." You just have to cut on the dotted line, fold it a bit, slip in the goggles and your phone to get something similar to Google Cardboard. The best part is, it will only cost you around $4.10, and that includes the grub inside. It most likely won't be as good as more expensive VR devices, but it sounds like an affordable introduction to the world of virtual reality.
Volvo is the latest to add phone-free Spotify to its rides
Volvo has been involved with a fair bit of high-tech stuff as of late, but the latest announcement from the company is a little less fantastical than garbage-collecting robots. The Swedish car manufacturer is partnering with Stockholm-based Spotify for a native streaming app in its XC90 SUV, S90 sedan (above) and V90 wagon this spring, no mobile device required. Accessing the streaming service in your new ride will require a Spotify Premium account, much like using it on a PlayStation 4 or other device would.
Exoplanet census suggests Earth really is special
There are an estimated 700 million trillion terrestrial planets in the observable universe. Among them, Earth may very well be one of a kind according to a new study from Uppsala University in Sweden. Astronomer Erik Zackrisson and his team have been running computer simulations to model all of the terrestrial planets that are likely to exist in the universe. The probabilistic exoplanetary statistics that they've gleaned from these simulations could potentially upend the Copernican principle and will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal (it's currently up on arXiv).
Fighting games to fairy tales: The unlikely story of 'Unravel'
Unravel is a thoughtful, heartwarming game that feels like mix of LittleBigPlanet, Limbo and Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina, all wrapped up in a cozy sweater your grandmother just finished knitting. If it weren't a digital-only title, its disc would probably smell like freshly baked gingerbread cookies and sunshine. The game stars Yarny, a tiny creature made of red yarn who voyages into the Swedish wilderness to collect an old woman's memories. Yarny uses his body's thread to solve platforming puzzles, allowing him to cross rivers, leap over gulfs and fight off beastly bugs. More importantly, though, Unravel tells this grandmother's story, offering snapshots of a life filled with family, love and heartache. Unravel is a departure for developer Coldwood Interactive, whose releases include Ski-Doo Snow X Racing, Freakout, Move Fitness and The Fight: Lights Out. This shift didn't happen by accident, according to creator Martin Sahlin: "Unravel was basically a reaction to those previous games, an effort to do something completely different."
The Pirate Bay won't be blocked on its home turf
Numerous countries order their internet service providers block The Pirate Bay, but its home country of Sweden won't be one of them... at least, for now. A Stockholm court has ruled that Sweden can't make ISPs block the piracy site, since those companies aren't responsible for what their customers do. The networks aren't participating in any crimes, according to the ruling -- they're just the delivery medium.
'Bedtime Stories for Awful Children,' a free ebook from 'Year Walk' devs
The dark, freezing woods of Sweden are the perfect breeding ground for terrifying tales of naughty children who get what they deserve. This week, Simogo -- the developer of beautifully macabre game Year Walk, and mysterious narrative experiences Device 6 and The Sailor's Dream -- released a free, illustrated ebook collecting a handful of five re-tooled, scary Swedish folk tales. It's called Year Walk Bedtime Stories for Awful Children, and it's available in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. "We think obnoxious children all over the world deserve dark nightmares," Simogo writes.
The last Pirate Bay co-founder has served his jail time
For years, authorities had played a game of cat and mouse with the co-founders of file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. The long game eventually paid off, with Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Warg and Fredrik Neij all being sent to prison within a six month period. Sunde and Warg have since walked free, leaving Neij as the final site founder still serving a custodial sentence. At least until now. TorrentFreak reports that the 37-year-old has been released after serving two-thirds of what should have been a ten-month stretch.
Sweden's 'dream home' crowdsourced from 200 million web searches
If you adore box-like, red houses with open kitchens and around 1,200 square feet of space, guess what! You're an average Swede, apparently. Real estate site Hemnet and architects Tham & Videgård came up with the design by crowdsourcing preferences for size, number of rooms and floors, using 200 million clicks on 86,000 properties. "The result is partly a mathematical translation of the statistical 1.5 floors within a cubic volume," according to the team. The home makes the open kitchen the focal point of the house, highlighting its social importance to Swedes.
Deezer adds podcasts to its music streaming service
It's become increasingly difficult for music streaming services to differentiate from one another. They all offer huge music libraries, mobile apps and the ability to store specific tracks, albums and playlists offline. Aside from dropping their subscription prices, how can a company like Deezer persuade people to switch? With podcasts, it hopes. That's right, the company is now pitching its service as a home for all of your favortie audio. So whether you're catching up on Serial or looking for some tunes to keep you company on the bus, there's only one app you should have to keep on your home screen now.
Play 'Space Invaders' for charity while waiting in Swedish airports
Take a mind journey with us: You step off of an international flight and walk to the baggage claim areas in Sweden's Stockholm Arlanda Airport or Göteborg Landvetter Airport. You're tired, you're waiting for your luggage, and you have a pocketful of foreign coins. Usually, you'd drop them off in the Red Cross donation box, which takes any type of currency, and you'd continue standing, waiting. Now, the Swedish Red Cross and Swedavia Swedish Airports have turned those donation boxes into classic arcade cabinets -- drop in any currency from any country and start playing Pac-Man, Galaga or Space Invaders before grabbing your bags. It's better than letting those coins collect dust, and classic video games have been scientifically proven* to help travelers shake off that "I've been sitting for 18 hours" look.
