Those stylish flash tattoos could do more than just look cool in the future. A team from MIT and Microsoft Research has developed a fabrication process called "DuoSkin," which can be used to make temporary metallic tattoos that double as on-skin interfaces. MIT Media Lab already demonstrated their capability in three different ways. First, they can be used for input to control mobile devices and computers, transforming your skin into a trackpad, a button or a slider. They can also be used to turn your skin into a display of sorts, changing colors based on your body temp. Finally, they can store data that phones and other NFC-enabled devices can read.
One of the team's lead researchers, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, said DuoSkin tattoos are pretty easy to make. You can use any graphics software to create patterns for the circuit and simply slap on a gold leaf layer on top for conductivity. A lot of research teams besides Kao's are also developing high-tech temp tattoos, but these ones look like something people would actually love to wear. If you want to know more about DuoSkin than what the video below reveals, make sure to check out MIT's scientific paper on the project's official website.
You could see 100D versions of the Model S and Model X in the near future.
Tesla has dropped hints that it's ready to extend the range of its electric cars (there was an allusion to a "P100D" hidden in firmware), but it now looks like that long-distance technology is getting closer to fruition.
Dutch regulators have approved 100D and P100D versions of both the Model Sand Model X, hinting that a 100kWh power pack might soon hit the streets. If the listings are accurate, the Model S would get a whopping 380 miles on a charge -- no mean feat when the 90D can 'only' manage 294 miles. The Model X would likely have a shorter range given that the existing SUV officially tops out at 257 miles, but it's reasonable to say that you'd get over 300 miles on a charge.
Handwriting is a skill that feels personal and unique to all of us. Everyone has a slightly different style -- a weird quirk or a seemingly illegible scrawl -- that's nearly impossible for a computer to replicate, especially as our own penmanship fluctuates from one line to the next. A team at University College London (UCL) is getting pretty close, however, with a new system it's calling "My Text in Your Handwriting." A custom algorithm is able to scan what you've written on a piece of paper and then reproduce your style, to an impressive degree, using whatever words you wish.
To capture your scrawl, the team will ask you to write on four A4-sized sheets of paper (as little as one paragraph can deliver passable results, however). The text is then scanned and converted into a thin, skeletal line. It's broken down by a computer and a human moderator, assigning letters and their position within a word. They also look for "splits," where the line changes from a letter into a "ligature," -- the extra bits you need for joined-up handwriting. Finally, there are "links" which indicate that two separate marks are part of the same letter, for instance when crossing a "t."
The algorithm then works to replicate your handwriting style by referencing and adapting your previously scanned examples. You will have written the same letter on a number of different occasion, so the computer will look for the one that works best for the word or phrase it's trying to sketch out. A degree of randomness is then applied to ensure that the same letters and combinations aren't used more than once (an easy way for humans to figure out if a computer has written something).
Once your written examples or "glyphs" have been selected, the computer will figure out the appropriate spacing in between each letter. The height of each character and where it sits on the line is also taken into consideration. Finally, the "ligatures" are added to the computer-generated piece, along with some basic texturing to mimic the pen and ink you were using.
The results are fairly believable. As an experiment, the team asked a group to decide which envelopes -- all seemingly handwritten -- were produced by a computer. They chose incorrectly 40 percent of the time.
"Up until now, the only way to produce computer-generated text that resembles a specific person's handwriting would be to use a relevant font," Dr Oisin Mac Aodha, a member of the UCL team said. "The problem with such fonts is that it is often clear that the text has not been penned by hand, which loses the character and personal touch of a handwritten piece of text. What we've developed removes this problem and so could be used in a wide variety of commercial and personal circumstances."
The ability to scan and interpret handwriting isn't new -- plenty of apps let you sketch with a stylus or finger, and then convert this into text. Similarly, it's possible for software to reproduce digital text in a variety of seemingly human, handwritten styles. But the ability to reproduce your personal penmanship -- with words and sentences you might not have shown the computer -- is unprecedented. It could be used to help elderly people who are starting to lose their writing ability, or translate handwritten text into new languages while keeping the personality of the author.
If you're wondering if this sort of technology could be used to forge signatures and documents, the answer is yes, it's possible. The team at UCL has stressed, however, that their system works both ways, meaning it could be used by law enforcers to spot computer-aided forgeries too. Still, it's best to be wary the next time someone tries to sell you an autograph.
The engine is thrice as powerful as the one it currently uses.
SpaceX has recently inched closer to realizing its head honcho's -- that's Elon Musk, but you already know that -- ambitious Mars plans. It has sent its next-generation rocket engine, the one it's developing for the rocket that will ferry a spacecraft to the red planet, to its McGregor, Texas facility for testing. Company president Gwynne Shotwell made that revelation during the Small Satellite Conference in Utah. A spokesperson also confirmed to Ars Technica that the engine is being prepped for testing in the Lone Star State.
SpaceX hasn't revealed much about the engine yet. We know, however, that it's called "Raptor," and that it will power Falcon Heavy's successor, the reusable rocket SpaceX is building for its Mars Colonial Transporter project. Musk once said at a Reddit AMA that it's capable of producing 500,000 pounds of thrust at liftoff. That makes it thrice as powerful as the engines its Falcon 9 and Heavy rockets use and puts it on par with the Space Shuttle engine.
The CEO expects his Raptor-powered rocket to be able to lift off with a spacecraft that's 100 times the size of an SUV and carry up to 100 tons of cargo. It's important for manned missions bound for Mars to be able to carry huge amounts of supplies, since spacefarers on board face a long journey ahead of them.
SpaceX's goal is to launch its first manned flight to Mars as soon as 2024, and this latest development means that timeframe could be viable. According to Ars, rocket engine development can take up to seven years, and full-scale testing typically happens towards the end of its development. It's still unclear what kind of tests the company will do in Texas, though -- we'll just have to wait for the update Shotwell promised to reveal in the next few months.
Tesla is considering two possible scenarios that would explain the fatal Model S crash in Florida, and according to ReutersandThe New York Times, neither is about Autopilot. During a meeting with the US Senate Commerce Committee, the automaker reportedly presented two theories. First is the possibility that the car's automatic emergency braking system's camera and radar didn't detect the incoming truck at all. The other theory is that the braking system's radar saw the truck but thought it was part of a big structure, such as a bridge or a building. It's programmed to ignore huge structures to prevent false braking, after all.
If you'll recall, the Model S in this incident collided with a tractor trailer while Autopilot was on. Since the company's semi-autonomous driving system is a fairly new technology,
both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the incident. According to NTSB's preliminary results, the car was speeding when it crashed into the bigger vehicle.
It's worth noting that the automaker considers its braking system a separate entity from Autopilot, which is in charge of steering and changing lanes. Tesla has always denied that the accident was caused by Autopilot, though it ended up breaking things off with the company that made its image recognition hardware.
A statement Tesla released in June only said that "Neither [the feature] nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied."
