Waymo Opens Up Self-Driving Car Program to the Public in Phoenix Following Initial Success

For the last month, Waymo has been testing out a small fleet of self-driving vehicles with a handful of participating residents in Phoenix, Arizona, and this week the company has noted the success of that test by opening up applications to join its autonomous car program to all Phoenix citizens. Dubbed the “early rider program” and stocked by 600 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans, Waymo said it will be accepting “hundreds of people with diverse backgrounds and transportation needs” into the program.

The Waymo trial is extensive, offering those participating full-time, on-demand access to one of the self-driving minivans, which can drive the participants anywhere within the targeted area, equivalent to “about twice the size of San Francisco.” Waymo said that its intention in the test is to really delve into the reasons why people would prefer using an autonomous vehicle over a traditional car.

In a new video posted today to highlight Waymo’s self-driving van, one of the first families in the program mention small but meaningful advantages like taking stress from traffic out of the equation, and not having to ask a parent for a ride every day.

Our early riders will play an important role in shaping the way we bring self-driving technology into the world — through personal cars, public transportation, ride-hailing, logistics and more. Self-driving cars have the potential to reshape each and every one of these areas, transforming our lives and our cities by making them safer, more convenient and more accessible.

Now, the early rider program is open up to the Phoenix public at large. During the application process, Waymo asks potential participants to answer questions including why a self-driving car is most needed in the household and how it would improve the lives of those who use Waymo’s van. Although the test is expanding this week, the company still says that it is accepting only a “limited number of early riders at this time.”

Waymo originally began as a self-driving initiative within Google in 2009, and then spun off into a subsidiary of Alphabet late last year. Besides Waymo, a growing number of companies have shown interest in self-driving vehicle technology, but none have yet to launch a program as practical as Waymo’s current public test in Phoenix. Uber has tested a fleet of self-driving cars in places like San Francisco, but the car-hailing company subsequently faced restrictions from the California DMV and pulled the cars from the road.

Even Waymo itself sued Uber earlier this year, with Waymo claiming that Uber stole its self-driving intellectual property. The lawsuit was specifically tied to Waymo’s LiDAR system, which works by bouncing millions of laser beams off of surrounding objects to create a 3D picture of the world for detecting and avoiding objects. Waymo alleged that a former Google employee had stolen the LiDAR data after he had moved over to Otto, a self-driving trucking company that was then acquired by Uber.

In the midst of the self-driving car boom, Apple is now rumored to be working on an autonomous car software of its own that could be placed within existing vehicles. Early rumors of an “Apple Car” have since been dashed “for now” as the company focuses on building the self-driving system. The team behind that initiative is said to have until the end of 2017 to “prove the feasibility” of its autonomous technology, at which time Apple will officially decide a final direction for the platform.

Tags: Alphabet, Waymo
Discuss this article in our forums

Epson Expression Home XP-420 review

Research Center:
Epson Expression Home XP-420 Small-in-One

Years ago, an advertising campaign extolled the virtues of “thin and rich.” The ads talked about cigarettes, however; when it comes to printers, “small and cheap” seems a bit more reasonable.

Epson’s Expression Home lineup of MFPs hits that nail on the head. These units are lumped under the banner of “Small-in One” (a play on all-in-one of course) and are three-function models — they print, copy, and scan. If you need fax capability you’ll have to pay a bit more for an Expression Premium or Expression Photo model that adds this functionality.

And at a street price of around $80, the otherwise humdrum Expression Home XP-420 is a remarkably good deal.

What’s in the box

The XP-420 is a three-function device, so there’s no fax telephone cord packed in the box. What the box does contain is the XP-420 itself, a power cord, a CD containing print and scan drivers, a setup poster, and a very short user’s guide. There’s a set of starter ink cartridges, too — no word on their capacity, strangely.

Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends

This Expression Home model can’t print on CD/DVDs, so no special tray is included, nor is a USB cable. You’ll have to provide your own or use Wi-Fi to connect to the MFP. It’s a no-frills product with no frills in the packaging to clutter up the box either.

Features and Design

All of Epson’s “Small-in-One” models are physically slight and light. The XP-420 measures only 15.4 × 11.8 × 5.7 inches when the input and output trays are not extended and weighs in at just 9 pounds. You’ll need a bit more room to actually operate the device as the dimensions increase to 15.4 × 20.8 × 11 inches when the trays are extended.

Paper is fed from a hopper at the rear, which folds down and hides behind a hinged flap when the printer is not in use. This input tray has a capacity of 100 sheets of letter or legal paper, while the output tray, which you pull out from the bottom of the front panel, can hold somewhat fewer. Epson doesn’t give the capacity, but the tray was pretty filled after a performance test runs of 44 pages.

Epson Expression Home XP-420 Small-in-One Compared To

Canon Pixma MX492

Epson WorkForce WF-2660

Canon PIXMA MG7520

Brother MFC-J4420DW

Brother MFC-J870DW

Epson WorkForce WF-7510

Samsung Printer Xpress C410W

Dell C1765

Canon Pixma MG6320

Seiko SLP 450

HP OfficeJet 7410

HP PhotoSmart 8050

HP Photosmart 7760

HP 1100D

HP DeskJet 9670

The XP-420 has built-in templates to produce lined paper as well as calendars, a nice extra.

There’s nothing fancy about the XP-420’s looks or layout. The top panel is hinged and swings up to allow access to the scanner platen. There’s no ADF, nor does the MFP offer print duplexing.

The somewhat limited controls are on a tilting section on the front, with a very clear and crisp 2.5-inch color LED panel. This is not a touch screen, but a four-arrow touch panel, with an OK button in the center that makes it easy to navigate through the screens.

Given how inexpensive the XP-420, we were pleasantly surprised to find an SD Card slot on the bottom left of the front panel. While the output isn’t quite photo quality, you can print photos directly from the flash card without using your computer. You can also scan directly to Facebook if your network (or PC/Mac) is connected to the Internet. You can also do basic photo editing from the MFP using the LCD screen and control arrow buttons. The XP-420 also has built-in templates to produce lined paper as well as calendars, a nice extra.

Many low-cost printers and AiOs use a two-cartridge system, with black and tri-color cartridges. Out of cyan? Throw out the rest of the color cartridge. Yuck. The XP-420 fortunately isn’t one of these. It has four separate ink tanks and uses Epson’s DuraBrite Ultra pigment-based inks.

Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends

Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends

Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends

Jessica Lee Star/Digital Trends

The 220 cartridges provide approximately 175 pages for the black cartridge, 165 pages for the Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, and cost about $18 for the black and $13 for each of the color cartridges. A better buy are the 220XL cartridges, which provide about 500 pages of printing from the black cartridge and 450 pages from the color cartridges with the black cartridge priced at about $30 and the color cartridges $17. As with many inexpensive inkjets, a full set of XL replacement cartridges will cost about the same as the device originally did.

Setup and performance

Setup provided no surprises. The XP-420 doesn’t have a wired Ethernet port, but it does have USB and can connect over Wi-Fi or using Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct generally cuts the device off from the Internet, losing the Scan to Cloud or Facebook capabilities. As with all Epson printers these days, the XP-420 provides connectivity through Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and Epson’s own Epson Connect.

We installed the ink cartridges, waited for the printer portion to prime, and installed the drivers. We connected through Wi-Fi using WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), which just requires that you press the WPS button on your router or access point and wait for the device to find and connect to the XP-420.

A full set of XL replacement cartridges will cost about the same as the printer originally did.

Epson doesn’t rate the Expression Home XP-420 as particularly fast; the company says you can expect about 9ppm in black, 4.5ppm in color. With our mostly black document set, we topped out at 7ppm — not particularly fast, but not too sluggish either.

Print quality was a mixed bag. We tested using three papers: Epson Glossy Photo Paper, Epson Premium Presentation Matte, and Hammermill Color Copy Digital, a paper that’s a bit brighter than other Hammermill papers we’ve used in the past. Prints were somewhat light with the photo and presentation paper and a bit on the dark side using the Hammermill paper. If you are going to use the XP-420 for printing photos, stick with photo paper for the best results.

Scanning was on a par for this price point. Scans were somewhat slow, but the output was quite useable. Copying was a drag, and made worse by the lack of an ADF or duplex scan or print capability. Scanning and copying are definitely there for convenience, but we wouldn’t count on them for moderate to heavy use.

Conclusion

The old adage that “You get what you pay for” definitely applies to the Expression Home XP-420. It’s somewhat slow compared to many other inkjets, and output quality, while fine for reports and such, suffers when printing photos. The standard 220 ink cartridges are inexpensive, but offer less than 200-page estimated yields.

Having said that, these characteristics are more than acceptable in a multifunction device that scans and copies too, especially one with a street price of under $80.

While the XP-420 wouldn’t be our first choice for a family that prints a lot, or one that needs photo quality output, it’s a pretty good deal if you want to reward a middle school student with his or her own printer. It’s also inexpensive enough to have around as a back-up in case your main print device fails in the middle of an important job — or if you find the family is hogging the printer.

Highs

• Good features for the price
• Uses separate ink tanks for each color
• Large color LCD panel for a low-cost MFP
• Slot for printing directly from an SD card

Lows

• Output okay, but not really photo quality
• On the slow side
• No ADF or duplexing

Supreme Court declines to hear Oracle’s copyright case against Google

Way back in 2010, enterprise company Oracle accused Google of lifting copyright-protected code from Java, the programming language it acquired from Sun Microsystems, to design Android. A San Francisco trial judge disagreed but a higher court sided with Oracle, ruling that Google’s use of Java’s application programming interfaces (APIs) constituted infringement. The Mountain View-based search giant appealed that decision, but was dealt another blow today: the Supreme Court declined to hear its case, effectively letting the preceding court’s decision stand.

The outcome of Oracle v. Google, as the case is known, has wide-ranging implications for software development. At issue is whether Google’s incorporation of 37 Java APIs — lists of publicly-accessible functions in software that programmers can use to build things — in Android are “fair use,” or sufficiently transformative enough that copyright rules don’t apply. Oracle says they aren’t — it alleges that APIs, like a book or movie or TV show, are specific enough to copyright. Google argues otherwise, asserting that APIs are merely ideas, not dictum, for interacting with a type of software.

Oracle, ideally, is seeking a license from Google for its use of Java APIs. Although Java is an open source programming language and Google gives its Android operating system away for free, Oracle contends that, like a trademarked logo on a bumper sticker, it’s entitled to payment when companies make use of its intellectual property. It’s an argument not entirely without merit — Google, Oracle notes, is the only major commercial user of Java technology that doesn’t have a license. (The Dalvik virtual machine, the engine responsible for running Android apps in older versions of the operating system, is an implementation of Java.)

If Oracle prevails, the precedent isn’t too difficult to imagine: “free” software could become basically useless to developers who refuse to fork over usage fees. Projects like Linux would be on the hook for any APIs which duplicate functions in commercial software. Cloud computing storage platforms could be at risk — many are based heavily on APIs developed by Amazon. And open frameworks that supply tools as simple as dialogue windows, menus, and buttons for apps could justifiably shutter access to developers who don’t pay the de facto subscription.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, the case returns to a lower court where both sides will argue the “fair use” issue — the appeals court in May ruled that the Java APIs had an “overall structure, sequence, and organization” unique enough to warrant intellectual protection. Whether the court will buy the conceit of Google’s defense — that programming languages like Java are “open and interoperable” — this time around is unclear, but there’s a lot riding on the final judgement. In a brief submitted to the court, the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes that a ruling in favor of Oracle could give companies holding API copyrights “unprecedented and dangerous power” over developers.

Laggy touchscreen? Google’s Chrome TouchBot is here to help

Input lag — the measure of the time it takes your smartphone to register a finger’s tap or swipe — is quite bothersome above a certain threshold. High touchscreen latency makes a device feel sluggish and unwieldy, unpleasant characteristics you’d obviously hope not to find in any expensive new handset. Google, thankfully, feels the same, and it’s being proactive about minimizing the problem with a robot called Chrome TouchBot.

Chrome TouchBot, the product of Finnish design company OptoFidelity, is responsible for testing Android and Chrome OS devices for touchscreen lag. It measures the delay between input and response using high-speed cameras and a dexterous mechanical arm that mimics a user’s swiping, tapping, and pressing. If the arm’s conductive cylindrical tip encounters any issues — longer-than-average lag time or failure to register taps, for example — the subject of the test is set aside for further analysis.

Google seems intent on reversing a historical trend. In 2013, cloud streaming company Agawi recorded an iPhone 5 response time nearly twice as fast as the Android flagships at the time, the Galaxy S4 and HTC One (M7). “App responsiveness is judged by how quickly the app can respond to your inputs,” said Rohan Relan, cofounder and CEO of Agawi, in an interview with Venturebeat. “Smartphone with touchscreens that have [less lag] feel snappier. This is why, to many users, the iPhone keyboard feels more responsive than an Android phone keyboard.”

But better touchscreen responsiveness has benefits beyond making devices and apps feel speedier. Paul Dietz, a researcher at Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group who prototyped a display with a 1 millisecond response time, said it changes your perceptions around the on-screen buttons you’re manipulating. “You start to have things actually feel like a real physical object,” he said in a video.

Touchscreens with sub-10 millisecond lag times aren’t yet feasible, but Google’s helping along efforts by releasing Chrome TouchBot’s source code and latency tests. If you’d like to subject your own tablets, laptops, and smartphones to rigorous testing, head on over to the Chromium page to get started.

Google Earth View highlights surreal scenes from around the globe

Today, the novelty of Google Earth has worn off for many, but it’s hard to dispute just how amazing the service was when it launched back in 2005. Having access to satellite imagery on that scale seemed like something more suited to the Batcave than a Web browser, and having been under constant development over the past decade, it’s even more useful now than it was then.

From illegal marijuana farming to the bottom of the ocean, Google Earth has given us the opportunity to see things we might not have been able to otherwise. As the service celebrates its 10th birthday, several new features are being rolled out to ensure that it continues to wow users as it continues to mature and develop.

Voyager is a new way of navigating through the desktop version of Google Earth. It allows users to become acquainted with what Google Earth’s engineering manager Sean Askay describes as “the newest and most interesting imagery around the globe.” This includes seeing sights such as the Taj Mahal from Street View, a selection of cities rendered in 3D and a highlight tour of interesting locations.

It also contains Earth View, an eye-catching collection of satellite images that aims to gather images of our planet at its most beautiful. The project began, like several other notable Google projects, as part of the company’s ethos that 20 percent of each employee’s time should be spent working on projects to further Google’s reach.

There are more than enough projects in the world of technology that only serve to make a profit, but Google Earth certainly isn’t part of that number. For anyone with a passing interest in the planet they live on, it offers up a real treasure trove of things to see — for anyone without the means to explore the farthest reaches of Earth firsthand, it’s about the best alternative that we have for the time being. Isn’t that worth a spot on your hard drive?

The burger of the future comes from crickets, not cows

Agriculture has come a long way in the past century. We produce more food than ever before — but our current model is unsustainable, and as the world’s population rapidly approaches the 8 billion mark, modern food production methods will need a radical transformation if they’re going to keep up. But luckily, there’s a range of new technologies that might make it possible. In this series, we’ll explore some of the innovative new solutions that farmers, scientists, and entrepreneurs are working on to make sure that nobody goes hungry in our increasingly crowded world.

Across the world, it’s not uncommon for human beings to practice entomophagy — the consumption of insects — without a second thought. In fact, insects are often considered a delicacy in certain cultures. From the chapulines (toasted grasshoppers) of Mexico to the fried tarantulas of Cambodia, bugs regularly find their way into our bellies — without the accompaniment of braggadocious Instagram posts – “#OMG# I can’t believe I’m eating this!”

In much of Europe and North America, though, we don’t like to eat things with more than four legs. Insects are considered to be gross — not just because they live between bedsprings and below floorboards, but because of their crunchy texture and their villainous perception. Ask the next person you speak to their opinion on eating bugs, and you’re likely to receive an expression that’s a combination of disgust and incredulity.

The thing is, sooner than later, we may not have much of a choice. As the population grows, so does our need for food sources with manageable environmental footprints. Traditional livestock operations simply can’t scale to meet the demands of an eventual 9 billion meat-eating humans without wreaking havoc on the environment. Adding insects to our diets could help us avoid stressing our already overburdened food system.

The Six-Legged Solution

So, are we destined for a diet of damselflies and daddy longlegs? Right now, it’s hard to imagine ordering a Crunchwrap Supreme stuffed with fried ants instead of ground beef, but we’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz, co-founders of Exo Protein, think they might have found a workable solution: crickets.

Rather than whole crickets, though, the team at Exo is pulverizing the little guys into “cricket flour,” which is really less like traditional flour and more like a protein powder made of insects. The powder is then used to create a line of protein bars, which are actually pretty good (according to those of us in the office brave enough to try them).

Exo Protein bars are made from cricket flour.(Credit: Exo Protein)

They don’t taste like bugs, and you won’t end up with little tiny legs in your teeth; in fact, if someone were to hand you an Exo bar sans wrapper, you probably wouldn’t notice many differences from protein bars you’ve eaten in the past.

Exo Protein is just one example. In the past decade, dozens of similar companies have popped up with cricket-based products of their own — and they’re not all protein bars. From cookies to banana bread to crackers and chips, you could practically fill an entire pantry with all the bug-based food choices available today.

But why would you choose to? What benefits are there to eating crickets? Well, actually, there are no shortage of reasons to make the switch – or to at least entertain the possibility.

You could practically fill an entire pantry with all the bug-based food choices available today.

First of all, they’re good for you. Crickets are efficient sources of iron and vitamin B12, and they’re a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids. By percentage, cricket flour contains nearly twice as much protein as beef jerky, with little to no fat content. Other insects, like mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, also rate highly in terms of nutritional value.

Part of the reason Lewis began to explore entomophagy was his search for a better protein. Animal proteins are full of beneficial nutrients and vitamins, but they’re horribly inefficient to produce. On the other hand, plant-based proteins are environmentally sustainable, but lack many essential amino acids that the human body requires. “With insect proteins, you’re not sacrificing anything,” says Lewis. “[It’s] the best of both worlds.”

The most pressing reason to start grubbing on grubs is the astonishing difference between the environmental footprint of cattle ranching and the environmental footprint of insect farming. Cows (and, relatively speaking, pigs and poultry as well) require vast amounts of water to farm. Estimates vary wildly, but a study funded by the Beef Checkoff program (which itself is funded by cattle ranchers, so this number is probably on the low end) claims that one pound of boneless beef requires 441 gallons of water to produce. In comparison, cricket flour requires just one gallon of water per pound.

Consumption of insects has a smaller impact on the environment. (Credit: Exo Protein)

Farming crickets doesn’t just save water. As opposed to cows, crickets don’t produce methane, which is the greenhouse gas most often associated with the depletion of our ozone layer. Crickets are far more efficient to feed as well, yielding up to 12 times as much edible protein, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

No one worries about the welfare of bugs, either. Insect farmers aren’t required to provide their “livestock” with space to roam, so replacing cows with crickets would have an enormous impact upon the world’s ecosystems.

On top of all that, bugs also don’t carry zoonotic diseases — infectious diseases that can be spread to humans from animals. They include Ebola, SARS, and influenza, among others. This isn’t to say that insects don’t pose infectious risks – they’re great at that – but most of the scary stuff comes from warm-blooded animals.

Making it Mainstream

Unfortunately, the Western world might not be ready to welcome insects onto their plates quite yet. Right now, due to the relative size and emergent status of the industry, cricket flour (and food made with it) isn’t cheap. As a result, only a small percentage of the population can afford these foods — least of all those who live under the poverty line, where hunger is at its worst.

Lewis compares it to “making jerky when there are only two cattle ranches,” and says that costs will come down as the supply chain grows. Exo has modeled its business to reflect that, focusing first on eliminating stigma and warming people up to the idea of eating crickets, rather than pushing their products to shelves as soon as possible.

Still, it’s doubtful that Westerners will fully embrace entomophagy anytime soon. Normalizing something considered so weird is always a gradual process, and must be handled with care. If you visited a restaurant tomorrow and the waiter told you that the daily special was locust mole, you probably wouldn’t order it. And who could blame you? It’s a foreign cuisine.

By percentage, cricket flour contains nearly twice as much protein as beef jerky.

There are, however, precedents for the adoption of foreign cuisines by the Western world. Lewis points to sushi as a prime example. Today, everybody has that one friend who absolutely loves sushi. It’s a popular food, no doubt about it. Until the invention of the California roll in the 1970s, though, sushi wasn’t even on the map for most Americans.

The inclusion of avocado (which itself languished, unappreciated, for years before a surge in the late 20th century, and for which global demand now outstrips supply) and the replacement of raw fish with crab meat helped to popularize the roll, which was first served in the former Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles.

The key, though, according to Lewis, was the roll’s design, which hides the shellfish behind layers of rice and seaweed. With Exo, Lewis and Sewitz are trying to do the same thing, except with crickets.

Eating insects is a widely accepted practice across many eastern cultures.

The bug-filled Trojan horse isn’t limited to Exo bars. Insects au gratin, a project authored in London by Susana Soares and Andrew Forkes, sought to combat stigmas by aesthetically reshaping entomophagous food products. The project involves mixing insect flour with gelling agents and flavoring — such as icing butter or cream cheese — to produce a consistency that can then be 3D printed into novel shapes and cooked (or eaten raw).

Since the project’s conclusion in 2015, though, there’s been little research done on the topic, and it’s difficult to say whether such an undertaking would ever be efficient enough to implement on a large scale.

We have sold out of @vivapoquitos chapulines all three nights at @SafecoField. By the numbers:

901 orders30.8 lbs18,000+ grasshoppers pic.twitter.com/LpUUOZTHWA

— Safeco Foodie (@SafecoFieldEats) April 14, 2017

The good news is that there’s not one “right” method of normalizing entomophagy. Companies like Exo are currently blazing the trail, helping shape an industry that’s still in its infancy. Creative individuals will keep coming up with ideas, and eventually, one is bound to strike gold. If we can imbibe massive quantities of kombucha and kale, surely we can scarf down a few creepy-crawlies – we just need the right motivation.

Associating entomophagy with familiar traditions could prove effective: In April, fans at Seattle Mariners games scarfed down more than 18,000 chapulines over three days. The snacks — courtesy of Poquitos Mexican Cuisine – were so popular that the stadium sold out all three days (to the surprise of both the Mariners organization and Poquitos), with more grasshoppers eaten at Safeco Field than the restaurant sells during the course of an entire year. Still, despite receiving offers from various edible insect suppliers, the team “[doesn’t] have plans to expand that portion of the menu.”

A 2013 study in Belgium offered some hope, showing that consumers would be willing to cook and eat insects if they could be imbued with familiar flavors. That’s presumably why companies like Chirps Chips are selling cricket-flour snacks covered in Cheddar and BBQ flavoring – because that’s what we’re used to.

For many, though, it’s going to take more than some ranch-flavored dust to be convinced. A Dutch study in 2016 found that humans’ perception of food is largely dependent upon the food’s “appropriateness” – subjects in the study were predisposed to prefer patties labeled as “beef,” even after experiencing no sensory difference during taste-testing.

In April, fans at Seattle Mariners games scarfed down more than 18,000 chapulines over three days.

Simply put, we’re not prepared (yet) to simply replace cows with crickets and move forward. A possible stopgap solution – one supported by the FAO – is the use of insects as feed for livestock, which adds a much-needed degree of separation between mealworms and mouths.

Silkworm larvae and termite flour, which are cheap to farm and full of nutrients, have proven to be adequate replacements for the high-priced fishmeal and meat meal usually fed to poultry.

Black soldier fly prepupae, meanwhile, are extremely efficient sources of fat and protein, and — as feed — support healthy growth for chickens, pigs, and several species of fish. In Yellow Springs, Ohio, a company named EnviroFlight uses black soldier fly grass and wheat middlings to craft feed for freshwater prawns, which typically eat an expensive diet of sinking catfish feed. Taste-testers were unable to detect any difference in flavor between the catfish-fed prawns and the soldier fly-fed prawns, a good sign for the future of insects as feed.

Ultimately, though, the pressure is on us to adapt. Though feeding bugs to our cattle might seem more palatable than eating them ourselves, it won’t be enough to help slow the troubling environmental issues that currently plague our world. Eventually (unless a better option comes along), we should probably get used to the idea of eating bugs if we want to thrive in the future. So, who knows? Maybe eating Caterpies and Weedles isn’t so “Farfetch’d”after all.

Forget solar panels — these new self-charging solar batteries don’t need them

Why it matters to you

Research into solar battery technology may mean never having to plug our phones into a power supply ever again.

Scientists are working on a battery that may recharge itself, without any input from you at all. While it sounds unbelievable, it actually uses an established technology we’re all likely familiar with, just in a very new way. The battery is solar, but rather than incorporate solar panels onto the battery or the device it powers, researchers are combining dye-sythensized molecular solar cells with the lithium-ion material inside the battery itself, creating something they’re calling, “light assisted battery charging.”

The work has been carried out by researchers at the McGill University in Montreal, along with Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec, and the study has been published by Nature Communications. However, the research is still at a very early stage, and the paper is extremely technical. The experiments have been carried out in a lab, with the goal of creating a, “hybrid solar battery system,” with the potential to power small devices including mobile phones in the future, according to study leader Andrea Paolella.

If you’re wondering how the battery works, the answer isn’t very straightforward. The researchers haven’t been carrying a hybrid battery around with them, and the experiments have been performed in a controlled lab using the chemicals and materials that make up a battery cell. Even the sunlight was generated using a specially calibrated solar simulator machine, rather than the actual sun itself. However, because the tests have shown the solar cells can produce energy, the scientists can move on to the next stage and explore anode technology for use in the battery.

That’s not all, as at the same time, someone needs to come up with a way to wrap the battery and the device in a material that still lets sufficient light in to charge it up. Taking the battery out and leaving it on the windowsill would defeat the object, after all. The team is positive (if you’ll forgive the pun) about the future, but says we’re still years away from a self-charging lithium-ion battery, even if the next stages are successfully completed.

Forget solar panels — these new self-charging solar batteries don’t need them

Why it matters to you

Research into solar battery technology may mean never having to plug our phones into a power supply ever again.

Scientists are working on a battery that may recharge itself, without any input from you at all. While it sounds unbelievable, it actually uses an established technology we’re all likely familiar with, just in a very new way. The battery is solar, but rather than incorporate solar panels onto the battery or the device it powers, researchers are combining dye-sythensized molecular solar cells with the lithium-ion material inside the battery itself, creating something they’re calling, “light assisted battery charging.”

The work has been carried out by researchers at the McGill University in Montreal, along with Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec, and the study has been published by Nature Communications. However, the research is still at a very early stage, and the paper is extremely technical. The experiments have been carried out in a lab, with the goal of creating a, “hybrid solar battery system,” with the potential to power small devices including mobile phones in the future, according to study leader Andrea Paolella.

If you’re wondering how the battery works, the answer isn’t very straightforward. The researchers haven’t been carrying a hybrid battery around with them, and the experiments have been performed in a controlled lab using the chemicals and materials that make up a battery cell. Even the sunlight was generated using a specially calibrated solar simulator machine, rather than the actual sun itself. However, because the tests have shown the solar cells can produce energy, the scientists can move on to the next stage and explore anode technology for use in the battery.

That’s not all, as at the same time, someone needs to come up with a way to wrap the battery and the device in a material that still lets sufficient light in to charge it up. Taking the battery out and leaving it on the windowsill would defeat the object, after all. The team is positive (if you’ll forgive the pun) about the future, but says we’re still years away from a self-charging lithium-ion battery, even if the next stages are successfully completed.

Urbanears’ Stadion is your stylish and performance-ready Bluetooth headset

Why it matters to you

Your headphones shouldn’t get in your way when you’re working out. Urbanears’ latest offering conforms to the shape of your head for maximum comfort and minimal hassle.

Urbanears launched its newest earphones on Tuesday, the $99 Stadion, which joins the company’s “Active” lineup of workout-friendly headphones.

Similar to the other members of Urbanears’ Active line — the Reimers earbuds and the Hellas Bluetooth on-ear headphones — the Stadion is sweatproof and lightweight. However, it’s unique in that it’s the first Bluetooth earphone headset in the Active line, making for a small, simple design devoid of cords or distracting loose parts.

Urbanears appears to have engineered the Stadion with a secure fit in mind. The headband is made with flexible coils, and wraps around the back of the head to conform to the wearer’s head shape. The earbuds are equipped with Urbanears’ EarClick technology, which affixes the earbuds to your ears, further securing the headset in place so you won’t have to worry about any annoying jostling while getting in your morning jog or afternoon CrossFit session.

Along with being stretchy and malleable, the Stadion’s headband features a three-button control scheme allowing you to skip songs, adjust volume, and accept incoming calls all from the back of the headband.

Urbanears claims users will get up to seven hours of playback on a single charge with the Stadion, making the headset a good potential pick for those long workouts or outdoor treks. Plus, built-in reflectors along the headset help keep you visible when exercising at night.

For those who require a set of earbuds that coordinates with their workout attire, the Stadion will be available in a handful of different color options, including the coral and gray “Rush,” blue and white “Team,” indigo and green “Trail,” and the black and gray “Black Belt.”

The Stadion headset is available on Urbanears’ website for $99.

Xiaomi’s phones aren’t coming to the U.S. or UK anytime soon

Xiaomi doesn’t want to jeopardise its position in Asian markets by stretching itself too thin.

Erstwhile Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra announced back in August 2016 that the company would make its debut in the U.S. market “in the near future.” We haven’t heard much about the Chinese manufacturer’s global plans since then, but it looks like customers in Western countries will have to wait awhile to get their hands on Xiaomi’s phones.

In an interview with Engadget, Xiaomi’s current global VP Wang Xiang said that there are no plans to launch the the Mi 6 in the U.S. or European markets, with Xiaomi instead prioritizing the 30 countries it currently serves:

Even though we don’t sell [in the US or Western Europe], we feel very sorry for not serving them well. What we’re after is a mass market, a massive impact, as opposed to a premium, elite thing. We want innovation for everyone.

Xiaomi faced supply constraints in its home market during Q4 2016, and for now, the focus will be on building momentum in Asian markets. Wang also mentioned that Xiaomi’s engineers are “superbusy” and wouldn’t be able to undertake the rigorous testing that accompanies a U.S. launch to ensure that its phones work on all major carriers. In a separate interview with CNET, Wang said that a U.S. launch is on the cards “in two years, if not sooner.”

Xiaomi has a small online presence in the U.S. through which it sells the Mi Box and accessories like audio products and power banks, but the company isn’t keen on selling phones directly to customers, like OnePlus and Honor. Wang called it a “hot-headed” move, stating that the manufacturer does not want “short-term gain” that could tarnish the brand’s perception. Instead, the company will release a handset in the U.S. and other Western markets once it’s fully prepared to do so and has set up a robust distribution and after-sales network:

There’s a Chinese saying: ‘Haste makes waste.’ You need to focus with patience and wait for the perfect opportunity.

Following LeEco’s capitulation, it is understandable to see Xiaomi taking a cautious approach. That said, by delaying its U.S. launch even further, Xiaomi is potentially conceding the market to its rivals. OnePlus has picked up a loyal userbase in the last three years, and Honor has made inroads into the U.S. and European markets over the course of the last twelve months.

Wang has mentioned that Xiaomi will make one or two phones with global LTE connectivity — like the Mi Note 2 — every year, as well as a successor to the futuristic Mi Mix, but customers in Western markets will have to resort to unofficial channels to get their hands on them.