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ICYMI: Brightest X-ray laser, 3D printing cartilage and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-741239{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-741239, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-741239{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-741239").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Stanford's National Accelerator Laboratory is upgrading a laser beam to make it the brightest X-ray laser in the world, enabling all sorts of as-yet unseen science. Popular Chinese phone maker Xiaomi makes a ceramic-backed phone that appears to be near indestructible. And medical researchers are using patient-derived, stem-cell cartilage to repair joints by 3D-drawing them when doing surgery, rather than harvest existing cartilage from elsewhere on the body. We'd also like to share this video of the cutest little BB-8 cosplay artist. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Chocolate science, firefighter tech and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-876193{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-876193, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-876193{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-876193").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: You may want to switch careers after seeing the chocolate formula MIT researchers got to dig into; Georgia Tech came up with a heads up display for biometric tracking and environment information for firefighters; and Blue Origin landed its rocket for the third time, like bosses. Also someone made a drone with a functioning chainsaw and you can see the destructive video here. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Portable DNA lab, drone inspired by bug and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-420543{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-420543, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-420543{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-420543").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Bento Lab is releasing a portable lab to analyze DNA, the Picobug drone can autonomously switch from flying to crawling and back again, and NASA is giving the people what they want, since what they want is a HoloLens tour of what Mars is really like. We're also summing up the week for you in our TLDR segment. While we didn't include it because the news keeps changing, please do read up on the Japanese satellite that may or may not have splintered into five different pieces, but then sent some communications. Very X-Files. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Health tech for VR sickness, smarter wifi and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-1837{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-1837, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-1837{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-1837").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: The Mayo Clinic is licensing a new system that uses electrodes to fool the brain from getting sick when it doesn't detect movement while using a VR headset. New, open-source recycling machines will let makers transform plastics into whatever their hearts desire. And MIT designed a smarter wifi system that can tell who is inside a room and who is out, letting those in log on without needing a password. If you're into fire effects, check out Colin Furze's YouTube channel for a crazy DIY'd thermite launcher. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Sad unicorn truth, disease-fighting drones and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-781614{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-781614, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-781614{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-781614").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The news that a type of unicorn walked the earth at the same time as prehistoric humans makes modern-day fantasy novels make a lot more sense. CERN is getting its Large Hadron Collider back online after a hiatus to improve its electrical system. And Ethiopia is using drones to drop sterile tsetse flies over the country, intending for them to breed with the wild natives and cut back on the population of disease-carrying insects, thus lowering risk of illness to humans and animals. We also share that paleontologists mapped the evolution of the largest type of dinosaurs, learning new things about them; and also touched on how vertical farming operations are moving into grocery stores. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: A space-based full service stop, bat drone and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-426380").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: DARPA's own AAA satellite service to service satellites orbiting Earth could launch in about five years, if all the testing goes as planned. A new drone is based on the form of a bat and the resemblance is uncanny. And Google is helping robotic graspers learn hand-eye coordination by giving them new objects to pick up. If you've followed along with some of the 3D-printed prosthetics we've done stories on, you'll want to see this glitter shooting, darling girl. And as always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Teleport your hologram, changing ocean pH and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-681979{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-681979, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-681979{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-681979").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Microsoft Research developed a new 3D camera capturing system that creates a live-time 3D hologram of a person that can be sent to interact with other people, as long as they have a matching virtual reality set-up. If that's confusing, the video straightens it right up.
ICYMI: Brain injury gadget, DARPA future plane and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-363435{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-363435, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-363435{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-363435").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Samsung has jumped on the preventing-brain-injury bandwagon, developing a brainBAND to light up to indicate the severity of a hit in contact sports. Meanwhile, DARPA is designing a new airplane that is a blend between a fixed aircraft and a helicopter. And NASA is about to begin using inflatable modules at the International Space Station, in case that's something humans can set up on the surface of Mars. We hit on a number of big stories this week, but you will definitely impress your friends if you know what happened to Microsoft's AI chat bot within 24 hours. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Multi-headed 3D printer, robo plant grafting and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-815575{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-815575, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-815575{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-815575").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Autodesk built a 3D printing assembly line that gives different jobs to several print heads, allowing them to work collaboratively and quickly spit out a finished project. Clemson University used a Korean robot to graft up to 3,000 plants an hour. And a Kickstarter project for an augmented reality shirt is designed to teach kids and interested adults all about the internal organs. The Milky Way is looking stunning in newly released photos from the APEX telescope. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: AI bots, the wall-climbing drone and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-676426{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-676426, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-676426{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-676426").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Microsoft debuted a teenaged AI bot on Twitter to study human interactions and USC researchers are testing out bots with realistic faces for video chat support. Stanford's SCAMP is a UAV that can land and climb the sides of buildings. And the AxiDraw is a personal writing and drawing machine that will not screw up the decorative calligraphy on anything. We also enjoyed this survival video showing how to start a fire with a lemon. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: UAVs of the sea, real-time FaceSwap and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins has created a UAV that can stay underwater for two months, before launching through water and air. A mouth-mapping system using an off-the-shelf web camera is able to swap out anyone's lips onto the face of a famous person talking, and get pretty realistic results -- this can't end well. And Domino's is unveiling a robot delivery system in Australia that will either make you hungry or angry, depending on how you feel about 15-year-olds having a first job. Seiko created a Rube Goldberg machine with watch parts and it's darling. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
ICYMI: Spinal Cancer solution, self-lacing Nikes and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-750693{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-750693, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-750693{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-750693").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Nike will sell widely-available self-lacing shoes by the Holiday season, though we have no idea how much they will cost. Researchers at the Mayo Institute developed a polymer that will let bone regrow on it after a spinal surgery. And Playstation VR will come to the masses in October, for $400. It's been a big week in tech news with SXSW and GDC. And of course, Apple has an announcement next Monday, so be prepared with our story, here. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
It's a wrap: So long SXSW, see you next year
So much happened at SXSW, where to start? Well, you may have heard that the President rolled into town. He took the chance to warn -- the mainly tech crowd -- about not being "absolutists" on encryption, given what a hot topic that is right now. Meanwhile, Sony's R&D Lab debuted the prototype for its new Arc wearable speaker, which is worn around the neck, has voice commands and even a camera inside. Samsung, not to be outdone, showed up with headphones that let you "feel" movement in VR games via electrical impulses. We're aware that sounds like some kind of torture tool, but it is what it is.
SXSW showed me Here's Active Listening buds are a sound idea
"SXSW is all about the big ideas." I've been saying it all week long. It's true. Here in Austin is not the place to launch a phone, it's where you show an idea about how to get people to Mars, or how to feel g-force in mobile VR. This is where apps like Twitter and Foursquare breakthrough and gain mainstream popularity. It's where vaporous ideas can crystalize into something people understand. Here -- a pair of earbuds that modify the audio around you -- had me struggling to understand them. Until this weekend, that is.
Sennheiser's 3D audio for VR feels totally natural
Sennheiser announced its 3D audio platform AMBEO at CES this year, and today at SXSW I got a chance to try a VR demo and see how it sounds. Using a standard pair of headphones and a stock Gear VR, I was transported into a church where a lone piano player sat a few feet in front of me. As she began to play, I looked all around the virtual room -- and the audio mix adjusted on the fly, no matter how I moved, to keep the piano's audio rooted exactly where it should be in the virtual space.
J.J. Abrams talks to SXSW about how technology has democratized filmmaking
After President Obama's keynote, a SXSW session featuring J.J. Abrams alongside his friend Andrew Jarecki (writer and director HBO miniseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst) was probably the hottest panel of the conference. Around 2,000 attendees showed up to get a tease of West World, the HBO series Abrams is executive producing, and hear a conversation between Abrams and Jarecki about how technology has changed filmmaking for the better.
AirJamz is a wristband that turns air guitar into wear guitar
The tagline reads: "AirJamz is the wearable Air Guitar that you have to see to believe." To be fair, you probably can believe it, especially if you're familiar with Zivix. The company is best known for Jamstik, a small wireless guitar that helps you learn to shred, or play more than just axe-sounds, with your iPhone and iPad. AirJamz is for those that want to forego the whole playing part altogether, and just pretend they're slaying. Imagine Guitar Hero boiled down into a $50 wristband with an accelerometer and an app that "plays" guitar if you strum along in time and you've basically got it. We got to see it in action at SXSW, demoed by some of the world's finest fictional fretboard aficionados.
ICYMI: Drawing bot, 3M's future plan and an orb with a soul
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-232743{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-232743, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-232743{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-232743").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Artist Sougwen Chung creates art with help from a robotic arm, take a tour of 3M's exhibit, which visualizes the challenges the earth will face by 2050 and finally, bask in the glow of a large orb with AI that changes its display depending on what the humans around it are doing. There will be one more SXSW-dedicated ICYMI episodes this week, but we'll be back on Thursday from the studio. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
NASA wants your help to get to Mars in the next 25 years
The idea of a manned mission to Mars got in the public consciousness in a big way over the past few years, thanks in large part to Andy Weir's novel The Martian and its excellent big-screen adaptation. I'll admit that I haven't always been fascinated by space travel, but the book and movie captured my imagination in a way I hadn't expected and made the SXSW panel "Surviving the Red Planet" a must-see. The panel reinforced the fact that a true mission to Mars remains a long way off, but it also had a big focus on recruiting the talent out there to help NASA get there -- even if you're not a rocket scientist, or a scientist of any kind.
US bill would train law enforcement to fight online harassment
People weren't just talking about how to deal with online harassment at SXSW -- they were also taking steps to put anti-harassment laws on the books. Representative Katherine Clark has unveiled a federal bill, the Cybercrime Enforcement Training Assistance Act, that would provide $20 million per year to law enforcement (including dispatchers, police and prosecutors) to equip it for tackling harassment and other internet crimes. An extra $4 million would go toward a national set of resources that would teach cops how to investigate these crimes and deal with their repercussions for women, the LGBT community and other groups.
