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Japanese designers have developed a 'wearable chair'

Aching legs from standing up for too long could soon be consigned to the past after designers in Japan developed a wearable chair that straps onto your body.

Respite can be found at any time when wearing the Archelis, or “wearable chair”, as it locks into place once users relax their legs and allows people to walk as they’re wearing it.

Archelis was initially built for surgeons who spend hours in the operating theatre but it could catch the eye of tired waiters, bored bar staff and even the weary commuter.

Source: http://www.breakingnews.ie/business/japanese-designers-have-developed-a-wearable-chair-719945.html

Google computers qualify as drivers in automated cars, US government says 

Google has managed to persuade the US government that the tech company’s computers – rather than humans – should be defined as the “drivers” of a growing fleet of autonomous vehicles.

In a significant precedent for Google and other companies developing autonomous car technology, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ruled that the software behind some automated cars should be considered the driver.

The decision was contained in a letter that was sent from the federal agency to Google, now a unit within a wider company named Alphabet.

For automakers, the agency’s ruling is a key step in being able to mass-produce self-driving vehicles and sell them to consumers. And on a philosophical level, it’s the most high-profile instance in which a federal agency has said a computer fits the legal definition of a human.

The lengthy document was in response to a request submitted in a November by Google to see how federal safety regulations – such as rules about seats, mirrors and brake pedals – would apply to a self-driving car. The government agency sets and enforces safety standards for US vehicles.

Google wanted to know, for example, if its autonomous vehicles had to abide by a rule that requires vehicles to have an “occupant seat for the driver”.

The government agency responded that, because it interprets the term “driver” as the self-driving system, “the ‘driver’ in this provision would not need an occupant seat”.

Google’s cars “will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years,” the NHTSA wrote in the letter, which was sent last week and unearthed by Reuters on Tuesday. “If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable to identify the ‘driver’ as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving.”

Tech firms and automakers have been experimenting with self-driving cars for years. They can often be seen on the roads around Google’s Silicon Valley campus – though usually with a human ready to take the controls if needed.

But these vehicles have operated in a patchwork of state, local and federal regulations. If any automaker wanted to mass produce a driverless car to sell to consumers, it would need approval from the NHTSA.

Google in many ways has led a race among tech firms and automakers to bring driverless cars to the masses. Other competitors include Tesla, General Motors and Toyota. Uber, the ride-hailing app, has a research facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working on technology that could replace its fleet of human drivers.

Google says its cars have self-driven more than 1m test miles, with trips in California, Texas and Washington state. Its latest model lacks a steering wheel and a brake lever.

That’s for safety reasons, according to the NHTSA letter. The tech company told regulators these features are missing because they “could be detrimental to safety because the human occupants could attempt to override” the self-driving system’s decisions, according to the letter.

The agency’s ruling likely won’t have any immediate effect on Google’s operations.

Although the NHTSA said it agreed the software was the driver in a Google car, it also said it had no test to evaluate whether the software was a good one. It also said the company would have to work around federal rules requiring cars to have basic safety features – like brake pedals. This could be done by having rules changed or by Google petitioning for an exemption, the agency said.

“Those standards were drafted at a time when it was reasonable to assume that all motor vehicles would have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and brake pedal, almost always located at the front left seating position, and that all vehicles would be operated by a human driver,” the government said.

The US Department of Transportation so far has supported Silicon Valley’s push to take humans out of the driver’s seat, viewing it as a way to minimize traffic deaths. The White House budget, released this week, includes $4bn over the next decade to promote the development of self-driving cars.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/09/google-computers-self-driving-cars-human

Blog: https://www.madinks.ie

Better, Faster, Cheaper: Innovative 3D Printing Inks Open a Vast New World for Metal Printing 9th February 2016

Most everyone in the 3D printing industry is well aware that the future for high quality components seems to be in metal 3D printing. With that in mind, researchers have been steadily refining the process, and now a team at Northwestern University has come up with a process that even allows the use of inexpensive rust powder, which is more lightweight, offers greater stability, and is safer and more affordable in comparison to other iron powders.

Findings regarding this new process were recently discussed in a paper, ‘Metallic Architectures from 3D-Printed Powder-Based Liquid Inks,’ by Adam E. Jakus, Shannon L. Taylor, Nicholas R. Geisendorfer, David C. Dunand, and Ramille N. Shah, just published in Advanced Functional Materials. These researchers have discovered a way to create new and complex metallic architectures via 3D printing with a new class of inks that will extend to a range of metals and mixtures, alloys, oxides, and compounds.

Ramille Shah

“This is exciting because most advanced manufacturing methods being used for metallic printing are limited as far as which metals and alloys can be printed and what types of architecture can be created,” said Dr. Ramille Shah, assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and of surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine, who led the study. “Our method greatly expands the architectures and metals we’re able to print, which really opens the door for a lot of different applications.”

With the new process, researchers are able to skip numerous time intensive and expensive tasks from relying on lasers or beams, to eliminating the need for a metal powder bed. The inks are created in any size volume from small to large as solvents, powders, and a biomedical elastomer called polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) are mixed together.

“The resulting 3D-printed green-bodies can be handled immediately, are remarkably robust, and may be further manipulated prior to metallic transformation,” state the researchers in their paper. “Green-bodies are transformed into metallic counterparts without warping or cracking through reduction and sintering in a H2 atmosphere at elevated temperatures.”

Beginning as a liquid, this new 3D ink is quick to become a solid as printing progresses through a simple syringe-extrusion process at room temperature. The new process is well-suited for making structures of any size (referred to as ‘green bodies’) that can be handled directly after printing.

“We used a biomedical polymer that is commonly used in clinical products, such as sutures,” Shah explained. “When we use it as a binder, it makes green bodies that are very robust despite the fact that they still comprise a majority of powder with very little binder. They’re foldable, bendable, and can be hundreds of layers thick without crumbling. Other binders don’t give those properties to resulting 3D printed objects. Ours can be manipulated before being fired. It allows us to create a lot of different architectures that haven’t really been seen in metal 3-D printing.”

The use of a furnace is another part of what makes this process so unique, and allows for uniform temperature that logically allows for uniform components without defects or problems often encountered like warping or cracking. Basically, the only thing limiting size of the prints is the size of the furnace. Many extrusion nozzles can be used at once (as opposed to one laser on a powder bed) to print extremely large sheets.

“To me, as a metallurgist, I’m amazed that the structure does not deform or break apart, despite shrinking extensively during densification,” Dunand said. “That is not something that I see often.”

With oxides such as rust that are then turned into metal via a reduction process, manufacturers should see numerous benefits.

“It might seem like we are needlessly complicating things by adding a third reduction step where we turn rust into iron,” Dunand said. “But this opens up possibilities for using very cheap oxide powders rather than corresponding expensive metal powders. It’s hard to find something cheaper than rust.”

The team sees this process as being conducive for the fabrication of items such as:

Batteries

Solid-oxide fuel cells

Medical implants

Mechanical parts for larger structures like rockets and airplanes

Onsite manufacturing of components

This process should be garnering a great deal of attention from those interested in 3D printing with metal as it offers such an expansive application as well as versatility, considering that 3D models can be built with inks made from both single and mixed oxide powders–and this can be done with over two dozen different metal-based materials. While many have seen a new world opening through metal 3D printing, this new process shows the potential to expand it substantially further.  Discuss the future of 3D printing in the Innovative 3D Ink forum on 3DPB.com.

Source: http://3dprint.com/114922/3d-printing-metallic-inks/

HP printer ink cartridges are washing up all over the UK 5th February 2016

LONDON — Thousands of Hewlett Packard printer cartridges have been washing up on the UK's beaches.

The plastic products have been particularly prevalent on the southwest coast of England, with beachcombers discovering them on sands across Cornwall. They were lost at sea following an Atlantic storm more than a year ago, HP says, and have also been spotted in Ireland, France and Portugal.

Cornish writer and beachcomber Tracey Williams has been keeping track of the cartridges on her Lego Lost At Sea Facebook page, which was initially set up to track Lego bricks spilt from a cargo ship but has broadened to cover all kinds of floating debris since, with photos submitted from beach cleaners worldwide.

"Many people post images of the items they find during beach cleans and we started to notice that HP cartridges were turning up in different parts of the country," she told Mashable. "We asked people to look out for them and started to keep track of who had found them and where. I live by a beach and am interested in (and concerned by) cargo spills, their impact on the environment and where all the debris ends up."

Williams has created a Google map of all the locations cartridges have been found globally.

Oddly, it's not just cartridges. Several people have found mini monkeys stranded on the sand too - a mystery that's yet to be solved by the beachcombers.

Plastic monkeys have also been discovered near the cartridges.

HP UK and Ireland told Mashable that "a number of cartridges" were lost at sea following an Atlantic storm. The company says it is "committed to collection and recycling the products as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"Based on global standards, we can confirm there is no risk to sea life from the ink as it is water based," the company added. They've set up a free phone line and email recycling service, encouraging anyone who finds the cartridges in the UK to call 0800 0969766 or email [email protected] (for Irish residents it's 1800 848 859 or [email protected]) and say they are setting up a fund to support the collection of cartridges.

Earlier this week, thousands of pink plastic bottles appeared in Cornwall. They were believed to have fallen off a container ship. The National Trust organised a clean up operation.

Source: http://mashable.com/2016/01/08/hp-cartridges-uk/#Zve7o_RjiuqP

Epson Deals on MEGA 10 PACK Printer Ink Cartridges 4th February 2016

Looking for printer ink cartridges for your Epson printer.  We stock a full range of money saving compatible Epson (10 pack) printer cartridges.  All our compatible Epson mega packs include FREE DELIVERY, next day throughout Ireland.  Our printer inks are manufactured to the highest standards, and we offer real value when you select our multipack options.

Epson 16XL Mega 10 Pack includes, 4 x Black, 2 x Cyan, 2 x Magenta, 2 x Yellow - All for just €44.99 or €4.50 per cartridge.

For more information on the compatible Epson 16XL range follow the link https://www.madinks.ie/Epson-T1636-267.html

Epson 18XL Mega 10 Pack includes, 4 x Black, 2 x Cyan, 2 x Magenta, 2 x Yellow - All for just €44.99 or €4.50 per cartridge.

For more information on the compatible Epson 18XL range follow the link https://www.madinks.ie/Epson-T1816-268.html

We have the most competitvely priced printer ink cartridges on the Irish market today.  If you are looking for cheap printer ink for your Epson printer and top quality printer ink cartridges that won't let you down, then you have come to the right place!  Madinks prides itself and our super fast delivery and great prices!

Report details Google’s “Project Skybender,” a 5G Internet drone program

If a report from The Guardian is to be believed, Google has yet another Internet-in-the-sky program in the works. This one is called "Project Skybender," and it aims to outfit drones with millimeter wave transceivers—radios that work in a slice of the spectrum that could be used in next-generation "5G" networks.

Apparently, Google currently has drones whizzing around the airspace of Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the project shares a hangar with Virgin Galactic. Currently, the drone hardware seems to be an "optionally piloted" commercial aircraft called the "Centaur," along with the solar-powered drones from Google Titan. Both aircraft are "plane like" drones with wings and front-facing propellers.

The report says that Google is using the drones to "experiment with millimeter-wave radio transmissions" and that the project "ultimately envisages thousands of high altitude 'self-flying aircraft' delivering Internet access around the world." The FCC has said that 5G millimeter wave networks could hit speeds between 1Gbps and 10Gbps. Currently, engineers are working around natural distance and signal propagation issues inherent in the higher frequency. While millimeter-wave transceivers might eventually be integrated into a smartphone, Google is presently using several stationary antennas around Spaceport America.

The company already has Project Loon, a "cell tower in the sky" program that uses high-altitude balloons to beam 4G LTE down to users. Last week we wrote about Google's FCC filings for a mysterious nationwide airborne network, but that still seems to be Project Loon, not Project Skybender. The filings that surfaced last week asked for two years of testing in the 71-76GHz and 81-86GHz bands, while The Guardian says Google has permission from the FCC to test this project at 28GHz until July. Google first starting flying the Titan drones in New Mexico in 2014, but back then it was testing in the 900MHz spectrum.

We've asked Google for a comment, and we'll post an update if we get a response.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/02/report-details-googles-project-skybender-a-5g-internet-drone-program/

Self-Driving Car Technology Poses High Hacking Risk: Study 1st February 2016

While major auto companies are working on introducing the futuristic self-driving technology in cars soon, this threatens to open new security problems for them as hackers have sensed an opportunity here, a researcher has predicted.

"We are a long way from securing the non-autonomous vehicles, let alone the autonomous ones," said Stefan Savage, computer science professor at the University of California-San Diago, in MIT Technology Review.

Pointing out security flaws to car companies which are into driverless car technology, the researcher said that extra computers, sensors and improved Internet connectivity required to make a car drive on its own increase the possible weak points.

Tech giant Google is working on autonomous cars as part of Google X project to develop technology for mainly electronic cars. The software installed in Google's cars is called Google Chauffeur.

Recently, with the help from Nasa space technology, automaker Nissan successfully test-drove its all-electric, driverless car at Nasa's Ames Research Centre in California.

Swedish automobile giant Volvo is also developing intelligent high bandwidth streaming capabilities in collaboration with Ericsson's cloud expertise and network to create a highway full of autonomous cars.

Tesla Motors, an American automotive and energy storage company, is also serious about self-driving car tech and hired processor design veteran Jim Keller to lead its autopilot hardware engineering team.

How does this technology work? The self-driving cars, or prototypes, rely on sensors to determine the surroundings and objects like pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles around it.

The software assisting the sensors then decides the speed and trajectory to drive safely.

How is this technology a threat to security? Savage said that it is possible to take control of conventional vehicles in various ways, for example by dialling into a car's built-in cellular connection or by giving a driver a music CD that makes the car connect to an attacker's computer.

Once inside the system, the hackers can take control of the brakes, engine or other components of a person's car remotely.

The developers are still not able to isolate these "important" parts of the car because everything must be connected to enable many functions people expect of cars.

This is also owing to the fact that carmakers do not know exactly what software is inside the vehicles they sell because the third-party suppliers guard the details of the software inside, things like the brake-control system or central locking components.

Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/others/news/self-driving-car-technology-poses-high-hacking-risk-study-796978