Researchers can now create 3D-printed structures made entirely of liquid

Scientists at Berkeley Lab, in conjunction with the Department of Energy, have devised a way to construct 3D structures completely made from liquid. They used a modified 3D printer to inject tiny streams of water, some as small as one millimeter in diameter, into silicone oil to sculpt tubes of liquid within another liquid.

This technique could be used for liquid electronics and to create flexible devices. Visiting faculty scientist Tom Russell said, “It’s a new class of material that can reconfigure itself, and it has the potential to be customized into liquid reaction vessels for many uses, from chemical synthesis to ion transport to catalysis.”

As New Atlas explains, the water doesn’t disperse into droplets when it’s injected, due to a nanoscale “surfactant” coated inside the injecting tubes, which surrounds the water, reduces surface tension, and separates the water from the silicone oil.

A “nanoparticle supersoap” comprised of gold nanoparticles and binding polymers forms around the water threads and locks the structures into place. It’s like a protective flexible glass sheath shrunk down to a molecular level. The scientists created a number of different structures, some of them several meters in length.

“This stability means we can stretch water into a tube, and it remains a tube,” added Russell. “Or we can shape water into an ellipsoid, and it remains an ellipsoid. We’ve used these nanoparticle supersoaps to print tubes of water that last for several months.”

The team modified a regular 3D printer so it could extrude liquid through a syringe. The printer could then insert the needle into the oil and inject the water streams into a programmed pattern.

“We can squeeze liquid from a needle, and place threads of water anywhere we want in three dimensions,” said Forth. “We can also ping the material with an external force, which momentarily breaks the supersoap’s stability and changes the shape of the water threads. The structures are endlessly reconfigurable.”

The technology may also lead to fabrication of complex coatings with specific magnetic properties, or even electronics that can repair themselves.

Funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Russell developed the process with researcher Joe Forth, and the results of their findings were published in March in the journal Advanced Materials.

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If you’re a Best Buy customer, you may want to check your accounts

If you’re a Best Buy customer, you’re going to want to check your credit cards. Just a day after Sears, Kmart, and Delta admitted that they were affected by the breach of the data firm [24]7.ai, Best Buy has come forth with a statement of its own, effectively raising its hand to say that it has been impacted as well.

“Best Buy offers chat services for customers coming to us via their phone or computer,” the company noted in a blog on its corporate website. “We, like many businesses, use a third-party for the technology behind this service and that company, [24]7.ai, told us recently that they were the victim of a cyber intrusion.”

This hack (in fact, a piece of malware) happened between September 27 and October 12 of 2017, and as a result, it would appear that payment information “may have been compromised.” And if [24]7.ai compromised customer payment information, that means that Best Buy customers were likely affected.

Best Buy notes that since the data firm gave notice of the potential risk, the company has been hard at work attempting to solidify “the extent to which Best Buy online customers’ information was affected.” And thus far, the electronics giant seems to be quite optimistic. In fact, it says, “As best we can tell, only a small fraction of our overall online customer population could have been caught up in this [24]7.ai incident, whether or not they used the chat function.”

This is much better than Sears, Kmart, and Delta, who collectively believe that thousands of their own customers were likely victims of this attack. All the same, even if it is only a “small fraction” of Best Buy’s customer base, for folks who are impacted, it’s still far too many. To that end, the company noted, “We are fully aware that our customers expect their information to be safeguarded and apologize to the extent that did not happen in this case.”

In response to the attack, Best Buy has set up a website that customers can visit in order to ask questions or address concerns. Best Buy will also contact affected customers directly, and has noted that they will not be held accountable for any fraudulent charges that resulted from the data breach. Furthermore, the company is offering free credit monitoring services where needed.

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Xiaomi is setting up three new smartphone factories in India to meet demand

Xiaomi is furthering its commitment to local manufacturing by setting up three new factories in India.

Xiaomi started assembling phones in India back in 2015 — committing to the government’s Make in India initiative — and now the company is announcing that it is launching three new smartphone manufacturing facilities in the country. Xiaomi made the announcement at its inaugural Supplier Investment Summit, where it is hosting 50 global smartphone component suppliers to educate them about the intricacies of India’s manufacturing ecosystem.

The goal with the summit is to facilitate component makes to set up shop in India. Although Xiaomi, Samsung, and other Android manufacturers have set up factories in India to locally assembled devices, the components for the phones are imported from other countries as there’s no ecosystem yet in the subcontinent. With Xiaomi being the country’s largest smartphone vendor, it is looking to drive the change on this front.

Should all the 50 suppliers decide to set up base in the country, Xiaomi says it would lead to the “biggest ever single investment in the electronic manufacturing industry,” bringing in added investments of $2.5 billion and create over 50,000 local jobs. That’s certainly an ambitious goal, and it remains to be seen whether there’s enough skilled labor available for setting up component manufacturing facilities.

The new manufacturing facilities should alleviate long-standing supply issues.

Xiaomi started assembling phones back in 2015, with its first factory set up in partnership with Foxconn. A second factory followed last year, along with a powerbank plant that was set up in collaboration with Hipad Technologies in November 2017. Xiaomi says that over 95% of its phones sold in the country are locally assembled, which is an interesting statistic as it means an overwhelming majority of sales are from the budget Redmi series. The Mi Mix 2, then, accounts for less than 5% of Xiaomi’s sales.

With its upcoming plants, Xiaomi is also looking to manufacture integral components that go into its phones. Its upcoming factory in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu (also in partnership with Foxconn) will leverage Surface Mount Technology to locally manufacture Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). With the particular component making up almost 50% of the value of a phone, Xiaomi is looking to save costs by manufacturing it locally. The company says that by Q3 2018, nearly all of its locally assembled phones will come with PCBs made at its Tamil Nadu facility.

From Xiaomi India head Manu Jain:

Xiaomi’s high-quality, well-designed products at honest prices have been instrumental in disrupting the Indian smartphone industry. In 2015 we extended our long-term commitment to the Indian market by joining the ‘Make in India’ programme. Today we are deepening this commitment with three more smartphone factories and our first SMT plant dedicated towards local manufacturing of PCBA units.

Xiaomi is one of the pioneers in the country to start local assembly of PCBAs, and I believe we will continue to play a key role in transforming India into a global manufacturing hub.

The new factories should hopefully make it easier for local customers to get their hands on Xiaomi’s latest phones. Two months after its launch, the Redmi Note 5 Pro is still incredibly hard to get a hold of, and boosting local manufacturing should alleviate that particular issue.

NVIDIA will end 32-bit OS GeForce support this month

NVIDIA recently warned that the end was nigh for GeForce support on 32-bit operating systems, and it has now put dates to that event. It will halt GeForce GPU driver support at the end of April, meaning users will lose access to new GeForce Experience features and game ready updates. Moreover, NVIDIA will end security updates by January 2019, so continuing to use your 32-bit OS with a GeForce card beyond that date could actually put it at risk.

There’s probably still a fair few folks using 32-bit versions of Windows or Linux, despite the fact that a 64-bit version of Windows XP was released on October 25th, 2001. I doubt that many of those are gamers, but there’s always that person who only plays certain games “and they run just fine so why should I change?”

NVIDIA is killing driver support or both newer GTX cards and Fermi models used on lower-end system. That will affect 32-bit versions of Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10, Linux and FreeBSD. That means it’s probably time for an upgrade, unless you’re playing games in a cave and not connected to the internet.

Via: Hot Hardware

Source: NVIDIA

Sony’s pro 4K camcorder has Netflix-friendly ‘Instant HDR’

HDR has become just as important as 4K for streaming and Blu-Ray users who care about seeing films and series the way the creators intended. Manufacturers therefore have to cater to producers who want it, as we’re seeing with Sony’s new $4,750 FS5 II camcorder launched at NAB 2018. It supports RAW 4K (via an external recorder) like RED, Arri and other rivals, but includes a twist with Instant HDR. That makes it possible to both output HDR live for broadcast or previews on set, while retaining detail for finessing in post-production.

The FS5-II canhandle 60 fps high-framerate 4K recording, shoot 4K 120 fps in four-second bursts, and output 240 fps 1080p for eight seconds. Internally, it can handle 8-bit 4K at 30fps, or HD at up to 120 fps. However, many production pros will probably attach an Atomos Ninja or other device and record RAW 4K using Apple’s new ProRes RAW or regular ProRes recording formats. It also packs new color science that improves skin tones, a common complaint about the last model.

Sony said that the FS5-II is Netflix-approved in all 4K modes and is already being used on multiple series. However, it’s not much of an improvement over the last model, as News Shooter notes, since most of the features, apart from 120 fps internal HD recording, came to the previous model via (paid) firmware updates. Unlike Panasonic with the GH5 and GH5s, Sony avoids putting features like 10-bit internal recording on its A7 lineup to avoid cannibalizing its pricey professional products.

Sony also launched a pair of smaller camcorders. The PXW-Z280 uses three half-inch CMOS sensors, and can record 4:2:2 10-bit 4K at 60 fps, while the PXW-Z190 uses three 1/3-inch chips and can also handle 4:2:2 10-bit 4K video.

Via: Cinema 5D

Source: Sony

Irrigation robots could help grow wine grapes in California

We all know by now that robots are the future of farming, and things are no different for winemakers in The Golden State. Faced with the shortage of water and workers, they asked researchers from the University of California to create an irrigation system that needs minimal human input. What the team came up with is a system called Robot-Assisted Precision Irrigation Delivery (RAPID) that uses a machine to monitor and adjust water emitters attached to irrigation lines.

The researchers have been working to advance and refine the system since 2016, and RAPID is actually the second version of the project. In a new report, IEEE talks about where the researchers are with it, a bit over a year after it received a $1 million grant from the Department of Agriculture. The publication says team leader and UC professor Stefano Carpin is currently testing the system using a unmanned ground vehicle, but that he intends to build a specialized machine for it.

The RAPID robot will have GPS, so it can map its route around vineyards, and will rely on drone and satellite imagery to monitor the weather. It will also have a “grasping hand” in order to be able to turn the water emitters to increase or decrease the flow of water. See, current drip irrigation systems deliver the same amount of water to the whole vineyard. That is far from ideal since soil moisture levels and other conditions could differ between blocks of land when you have hectares upon hectares of crops. Carpin wants the RAPID machine to be able to customize the water output for each block, so the growers’ grapes can get the optimal amount wherever they’re planted.

The scientist told IEEE that he expects to be done with a prototype of his robot next year, when his team will also be installing adjustable emitters to the irrigation pipes. He expects to start testing the system on an actual farm by the summer of 2020.

Source: IEEE

Telegram app is a favorite of Kremlin officials, but Russia wants to block it

prykhodov/123rf.com

Telegram has denied a request by the Russian state security service to provide backdoor access to encrypted messages on the popular messaging app. Reuters report that Roskomnadzor, the state’s communications authority, has responded by filing a lawsuit on Friday to block access to the company’s services.

The FSB, the Russian security service, has claimed that it needs access to the encrypted messages to counter terrorist plots. It cited the explosion on the St. Petersburg metro system in 2017 as an example, saying the attackers used Telegram to plan the bombing.

In a statement to The Independent, a lawyer for Dubai-based Telegram argued that the Russians’ demands were “technically impossible,” because Telegram uses end-to-end encryption. “It’s very important for us to understand what they have requested, and the legal and evidential basis they are using,” said Ramil Akhmetgalieyev.

Threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won't bear fruit. Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) March 20, 2018

Partly because of Telegram’s strong message encryption, the app has also become a widely used unofficial government communication system within the Kremlin. The service, which boasts 200 million users, now features “channels,” which are used in Russia as unofficial anonymous political blogs to circulate talking points and boost voter turnout.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov even counts on Telegram to organize his daily press briefings. “We use it, it’s very convenient, but the law is the law and we might have to look at different options,” he said.

It’s also unclear how Russia would actually ban the service, as Telegram could bypass the restrictions — unless Russia blocked all messenger traffic within the country. Andrei Soldatov, a Russian telecommunications analyst, told The Independent that the Kremlin is reluctant to go that far.

“There have been all kinds of talks and conversations, and more talks and conversations again, but no one seems ready to make a move against the tech giants,” he said. “People understand that is a political decision taken at the very top.”

If a ban is enacted, Russia would join the ranks of other totalitarian nations such as China, Bahrain, Iran, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan who have blocked or attempted to block Telegram.

German Klimenko, Vladimir Putin’s internet adviser, says there’s an easy solution — just use the Russian equivalent of AOL’s Instant Messenger instead. “People have forgotten about ICQ [a 21-year-old instant messaging service],” he said. “It’s a fully-fledged messenger, and absolutely in no way inferior to Telegram for the average user.”

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Chrome is scanning Windows, but it may be a bug

A few days ago, Kelly Shortridge, a product manager at SecurityScorecard, discovered that Chrome was running AV scans of Windows devices.

I was wondering why my Canarytoken (a file folder) was triggering & discovered the culprit was chrome.exe. Turns out @googlechrome quietly began performing AV scans on Windows devices last fall. Wtf m8? This isn’t a system dir, either, it’s in Documents pic.twitter.com/IQZPSVpkz7

— Kelly Shortridge (@swagitda_) March 29, 2018

This isn’t normal behavior from a web browser, but it does have a fairly benign explanation. Namely, it appears to be a bug related to some antivirus features that Google added to the Windows version of Chrome last year. The Chrome Cleanup tool is meant to help users restore control of hijacked systems. Justin Schuh, Google’s security lead, initially said that these scans were part of this anti-virus software.

“CCT isn’t a system-wide scan or filter,” Schuh tweeted. “It runs weekly, at background priority and normal user privs, for up to 15 mins. It scans browser hijacking points, which may cause it to follow links elsewhere. The engine is a heavily sandboxed subset of ESET.”

It turns out that wasn’t the real problem, however. Google later discovered that a bug was causing Chrome to begin file checks upon startup. The tool is meant to scan previously downloaded files, but a bug moved the scan to the start-up path, meaning it runs scans every time Chrome is opened. This can cause Windows computers to slow down when starting the browser. Google has said that it will patch the bug in a future patch. Clearing your download history might help reduce the slowdowns in the meantime.

Followed up with @swagitda_ and it turns out the log events weren’t CCT scans. Chrome existence-checks (code below) previously downloaded files, but a bug moved the checks into the startup path. Clearing download history stops the checks. Bug filed here: https://t.co/gLNHJRSGq2pic.twitter.com/r0aeVAsurr

— Justin Schuh

Even with these issues, Chrome is still a solid browser. If you’d rather explore some other options, you can check out our guide to the best web browsers in order to find one that suits you better.

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Epic Games hauls in $15 million from ‘Fortnite’ on iOS in just three weeks

Sensor Tower

It may be “free to play,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not making a ton of money. Fortnite was released on iOS platforms last month, and in the first three weeks, Epic Games has made a pile of cash just from in-app purchases.

According to Sensor Tower, a site that tracks app growth, revenue for the game has exploded, increasing 197 percent since Epic lifted the invite-only restriction. Total mobile worldwide revenue passed $15 million in only 20 days, with Epic pocketing $10.5 million of that total.

Even more surprising, Fortnite has quickly become the top-grossing game on iPhone, besting such venerable cash cows as Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans. Those games have been out for several years, but they’ve consistently maintained their top spots until Fortnite burst onto the scene. Globally, the game has racked up more than 11 million installs since its launch.

Fortnite: Battle Royale is a mode popularized by Playerunknown Battlegrounds, which drops 100 players onto a map in a giant free-for-all until one person is left standing. A steadily encroaching blue wall pushes everyone into a smaller and smaller area, and it results in a frantic mix of run-n-gun shooting and building defensive structures.

The in-app purchases don’t give any gameplay advantage; they’re mostly things like colorful costumes and victory dances for taunting a fallen foe. Epic Games is even looking for a new victory dance to add to the game with their #boogiedown contest.

Part of what’s driving the in-app purchases is the ability to carry over the progress and costumes you purchase to other platforms. So when you switch over to PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, you’ve got that new dance that you purchased on your phone the previous night.

Battle Royale is free to play, but you can also purchase the original Save the World mode, which pits you and some friends against endless hordes of zombies.

Some old-school gamers haven’t quite bought into the attraction of a multiplayer shooter on mobile, but there’s no denying Fortnite has become one of the surprise gaming stories of 2018. We found the game undeniably fun, despite the rather sloppy gunplay and mechanics that don’t quite realize their full potential.

Fortnite is Epic Games’ biggest success, and it may just be getting started. The revenue numbers are certain to grow in the future with the upcoming release on Google Play for Android platforms.

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An ultrawide monitor made me fitter, happier, and more productive

One of the best decisions I’ve made.

Fitter, happier
More productive
Comfortable
Not drinking too much
Regular exercise at the gym, three days a week
– Radiohead

A few months ago, I decided to augment my home office setup with two dedicated monitors that would attach to whatever computer I was using at the time, be it my mainline MacBook Pro, my Pixelbook, or, increasingly, my beloved Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. Given the expanding breadth of my job responsibilities, I needed more physical screen real estate, and two widescreen monitors — a couple of 24-inch Dell UltraSharps — would do the trick.

But then I happened upon what I still consider to be one of the most beautiful pieces of technology I’ve ever seen. I walked into a friend’s office and saw his Dell UltraSharp 38 curved monitor and knew I had to have it. With a 21:9 aspect ratio, the monitor looks comically misshapen when you take it out of the box, but when you’re sitting in front of it, the subtle bend envelops you, wrapping you in its near-4K resolution. And it completely changed the way I work.

See, a monitor this size allows you to divide your workspace into distinct quadrants without having to maneuver between two physical spaces. It’s a subtle distinction, but when placing two windows side by side, it has a notable effect on my ability to parse what’s on the screen. (It doesn’t hurt that the IPS panel, which supports a 99% sRGB color gamut, is stunning, and has 5ms latency.) That’s sitting right in front of it.

This is the most beautiful monitor I’ve ever seen.

But given its massive size, the monitor also serves double duty as a television, which I use to full effect while sitting on the exercise bike at the other end of my office. With DisplayPort, USB-C, HDMI, and multiple USB 3.0 ports, the UltraSharp 38 charges my computers when connected, and it even provides decent sound from its stereo speakers. It’s quite literally the perfect monitor. (I guess the bezels could be slightly thinner, but they’re barely noticeable given the amount of screen you get).

I don’t think I can ever go back to a regular widescreen monitor setup. The UltraWide 38 is expensive, at around $1100, but it’s an investment that should last a long, long time. And if you don’t need the absurd amount of space, Dell sells a 34-inch version for a more reasonable $800. You can also find smaller, cheaper ultrawides from companies like LG, Samsung, and Acer.

The main draw of such a monitor is the ability to luxuriate in its space. You can simply do so much in the space you have, and even though the UltraSharp 38 isn’t technically a 4K monitor, every film I’ve watched on it looks so good, I don’t care. More importantly, I feel like this is the right form factor for my environment, and lets me do more within my . For someone who spends most of his life in front of a monitor, that’s exactly what I need.

See at Dell

A few other things to note this week.

• We’re about a month away from Google I/O, and it looks increasingly like we’ll be overlapping with a few big-time phone launches, including the OnePlus 6 and LG G7 ThinQ.
• I’m intrigued by what I’ve seen from OnePlus this time around — there seems to be a concerted effort to justify what appears to be a looming price increase from the series, and I just hope that the camera quality matches the other upgrades.
• Speaking of camera quality, I am ridiculously excited to get my Huawei P20 Pro review device this week. Expect so many photos!
• I’m holding out hope that LG doesn’t end up adding the ThinQ branding to all of its phones this year, but it’s looking increasingly like that will be the case. LG has no problem shooting itself in the foot and limping away relatively unscathed, though.
• This… does not surprise me.