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The Latest Highlights & Trends in Tech

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Atlas is the adorable and terrifying faceless face of the future

Atlas – The Next Generation

Robotics company Boston Dynamics has developed a new version of its humanoid robot; “Atlas,” which can walk in snow, pick up heavy objects and even stand up after a fall. It can also apparently put up with borderline bullying from a BD employee according to the above video, which has already sparked a lobby of memes. The Google-owned engineering company is dedicated to creating robots that move like animals, and it shows off a updated version of its human-like Atlas design in the new video. Standing 175cm tall and weighing 82kg, the new Atlas has long arms, short legs, a tiny cylindrical head and is designed to operate outdoors as well as inside buildings. Can anyone say “Johnny 5 is alive?”

Will.i.am and the voice-activated smart watch

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Music producer and Black Eyed Pea Will.i.am has returned to the world of wearable technology with a voice-activated smart watch named Dial that runs on a bespoke operating system called AneedA. The device, which launched officially during London Fashion Week, is the American musician's second wearable technology product, following the Puls cuff released back in 2014. The “Dial” has a built-in 4G mobile telecommunications system and uses its own SIM card, so doesn't need to be synced to a phone or another device, setting it apart from competitors in an actually incredibly smart way. Along with its two-megapixel front-facing camera, the smart watch can make and receive calls, send emails and texts, play music, and also allows users to track their fitness. The wearer navigates and controls the device mostly by speaking into it, activating its own AneedA OS.

We've been working on a vision, a product and a platform that we believe will move the needle in popular culture. It is not tethered to a device, it is the device” Will.i.am

The devices design bears a definite resemblance to its predecessor, but features a slightly wider screen that measures 1.63 inches across. The device has been created by Will.i.am's technology company i.amplus, and was partly funded by the windfall he received when headphone brand Beats was sold to Apple for £2.1 billion. The Dial will go on sale exclusively with mobile provider Three in the UK from early April 2016. Prices are not yet available, but Telegraph reports that the device will only be available on a two-year contract. It is likely to cost about £20 to £25 up front, with monthly costs of around £20. So less than a top-of-the-range phone, but still pretty pricey! Will.i.am had previously launched a series of design and tech-focused projects, including an eyewear range with designer George Gorrow, and a collection of products for Coca Cola made with sustainable materials.

Sony gear up their shot at the VR goldmine

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Sony sent out invites for a PlayStation VR event being held in the middle of March this week, with the invite-only event to be held on March 15 in San Francisco. The event will begin with a presentation on the PlayStation VR, followed by several hours of hands-on demos. The event will be held as part of the 2016 Game Developers Conference. The event might also see Sony unveiling one of the three new glove control options it's reportedly patented for the system. According to Sony Computer Entertainment's trio of patent applications, the controller is designed to be used with a head-mounted display, which we assume is Playstation VR. The first patent is for a “Thumb Controller,” the second is referred to as a “Glove Interface Object,” and the third is designated as “Systems and methods for providing feedback to a user while interacting with content.” All three are similar in concept, but have different inventors. The most interesting patent is for the glove, which features a flex sensor that tracks the position of your fingers, as well as a contact sensor to register when and if you're touching something, and a communication module to transmit the data to a head-mounted display.

UK manufacturer unveils hydrogen-powered car

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Water is supposedly the only bi-product expelled from the exhaust of UK manufacturer Riversimple's new hydrogen-powered electric car. The company's Rasa prototype, which is reportedly capable of travelling 300 miles on a full tank of hydrogen, was designed to be as ecologically friendly as possible by not only featuring the revolutionary exhaust, but by incorporating an interior trim made from recycled plastic bottles and lightweight materials such as a carbon-composite chassis. As for the science behind the vehicle: Compressed hydrogen is stored in a tank at the rear of the two-seater vehicle, and when the vehicle is in motion, hydrogen passes through a small fuel cell where it reacts with oxygen to generate water and electricity. The electricity drives then in turn motors positioned in each of the four wheels, which are also designed to recover half of the energy produced when the vehicle is braking. Recovered braking energy is stored in a compartment at the vehicle's front, and then served back to the electric motors for a boost in acceleration when needed. The vehicle's design is based around a set of gull-wing doors, made famous by the DeLorean DMC-12 (otherwise known as the time machine from Back to the Future), which were fitted to enable people of all shapes and sizes to get in and out of the vehicle comfortably in tight spaces. Riversimple Chief Designer Chris Reitz created the vehicle's distinctive shape to be both functional for passengers to use and efficient when travelling through the air at relatively low speeds.

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Reitz created the vehicle's distinctive shape to be both functional for passengers to use and efficient when travelling through the air at relatively low speeds” Chris Reitz

Reitz said of his ecologically sound, and surprisingly attractive machine: “I always like it when technology is pushed to its limit, and looking globally at what kind of cars are on the market and what technology is available, I think we really are pushing it to the limit with the Rasa.” Riversimple Founder, Hugo Spowers, added: “The Rasa engineering prototype marks another key milestone in bringing an affordable and highly efficient hydrogen-powered car to market. The Rasa gives us the opportunity to introduce customers to a more convenient concept of motoring, a lightness of ownership that neither places a burden on the pockets of motorists or the surrounding environment. The car is simple, light and fun in every respect.” Riversimple is conducting a public trial of the vehicle later this year and working towards the development of a production model, which is expected to be available in 2018.

Australian scientists create the world's thinnest condom

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A group of researchers at the University of Queensland have developed a new method of using fibres from grass to manufacture condoms that are apparently as thin as human hair. The scientists developed a way of extracting nanocellulose from the Australian native spinifex grass, which can be used as an additive in latex production. This allowed the team to design and experiment with new material combinations for the contraceptive. According to researcher Darren Martin, the addition of spinifex nanocellulose significantly improves the physical properties of latex, making condoms both stronger and more flexible. To create the material, the spinifex grass is chopped and pulped alongside sodium hydroxide until it resembles paper pulp. It's then forced through a small hole under high pressure, which peels the nano-fibres away from the pulp. The nanocellulose is then placed in water, to which materials such as water-based rubber latex can be added. The team has tested the latex formulation in the United States. They conducted a burst test that inflates condoms, and measures the volume and pressure.

We were able to get down to about 45 microns on our very first commercial dipping run, which is around the width of the hair on your head” Darren Martin

The Week in Apple

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With the upcoming OS X 10.12 operating system update set to drop this Autumn, Apple will finally be adding something Apple acolytes have been asking for incessantly for year; cross-platform Siri integration. Apple has reportedly been testing Siri on OS X internally since at least 2012, but the company has only just developed a clear vision for full integration across its OS X devices. Well, they do say that good things come to those who wait. Apple will most likely be introducing OS X 10.12 at its World Developers Conference in June. Siri functionality will be available through Mac's menu bar, similar in location to the Spotlight magnifying class or notifications icon. Pressing the Siri icon on the menu bar will enable its voice control feature, in much the same way that the Cortana feature works on Windows 10 machines. Users will also have the option to create keyboard shortcuts to activate Siri. OS X 10.12, code-named Fuji, will also include minor user-interface tweaks across core system application windows, but nothing like Apple's 2014 OS X update.

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In further Apple news, the company is is doubling down on iOS encryption in response to government hacking. After the highly publicised conflict between Apple and the FBI over backdoor entry into iOS devices (The FBI is currently fighting for a backdoor into Apple products that wouldn't require the user's password), Apple is looking for new and better ways to block access to its customers' information, according to the New York Times. Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly behind his rivals heavy-handed stance, to a point. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, the Facebook CEO said he doesn't agree with the FBI's choice of action. He said that he “Doesn't feel that building back doors is the way to go,” and that he is “Sympathetic” to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple itself. However, he also acknowledged the other side of the argument. Specifically, Facebook's own responsibilities to help deal with terrorism, stating: “At the same time, we feel we have a pretty big responsibility to help prevent terrorism.” He went on to underline his own company's stance on the matter: “We have very strong policies that if there’s content on Facebook promoting terrorism, we’ll kick them off.” Sounds like he's just covering all bases here, but then, that's Zuckerberg all over!

Nice reveal groundbreaking tram system

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French designer Ora ïto has revealed his tram designs for the French city of Nice, which will be charged through the ground rather than via overhead cables. Created with French rail company Alstom, Ora ïto's trams will run on the new 7 miles east-west line through Nice, which the city's inhabitants approved in a January 2016 vote. To lessen the impact of the tramway on the historic city, the trams will charge through the ground to avoid prominent overhead contact lines. The streamlined carriage exteriors are coloured a reddish ochre, to match the pigments used on the facades of 17th-century buildings including Place Massena and Villa Matisse. Each 44-metre Alstom Citadis X05 train can accommodate 300 travellers, and 19 vehicles are so far planned for the route. The trams will feature LED lighting and large individual seats, and display journey-related information on extra-wide screens. Double doors along the length of the train will be added to offer better accessibility. The first trams are due to be delivered in the summer of 2017, and implemented the following year.

The tramway is a means of transport that consumes the least energy and is in demand in today's cities” Ora ïto

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