Weekly recap

Weekly Recap: Tilt Brush, Drone Ballet, Super-battery, SpaceX, Spider Workers, etc.

By Laurent Gloaguen,

May 6, 2016.

Tilt Brush 3D Painting

Tilt Brush lets you paint in 3D space with virtual reality. For the moment, this Google application is only available for use with HTC Vive (via Steam). Spectacular.

⇨ Google, “Tilt Brush.”

Drone Ballet in front of Mount Fuji

Japanese company MicroAd has created a mesmerizing show using twenty Sky Magic drones set against beautiful Mount Fuji. The Tsugaru-shamisen music accompanying the performance was created by Yutaka Oyama. The Blossom Princess, Konohanasakuya-hime, goddess of Mount Fuji and daughter of Ōyamatsumi, seems to appreciate the tribute, as a wave of sakura floods the Earth at sunrise.

⇨ The Verge, “Watch drones perform ‘ballet’ with 16,500 LEDs in front of Mount Fuji.”

⇨ Voir aussi : Vimeo, “Sky Magic Future Vision.”

World Record for Zapata

We have already introduced you to Franky Zapata, former Jet Ski champion and inventor of the hydropropelled Flyboard. Zapata destroyed a world record with his Flyboard Air, in Sausset-les-Pins, France, his home country, where he covered a distance of 2 252 meters on his hoverboard. The previous record, held by Montrealer Alexandru Duru, was only 276 meters.

⇨ Guinness World Records, “Franky Zapata sets new farthest hoverboard flight record in France.”

The Battery that Just Won’t Stop

The problem with batteries is that they wear out and die. Their performance takes a nosedive after a certain number of recharging and use cycles, usually 5,000 to 7,000. Mya Le Thai, a doctoral candidate at the University of California (Irvine), seems to have found a way to make a battery whose performance never declines. The battery is made of gold nanowire covered in manganese dioxyde nestled in a layer of electrolyte gel. So far, the prototype has withstood 200,000 recharging cycles without any sign of performance loss. Nanowire electrode batteries could revolutionize the world of electronics and have an impact on just about every industry.

⇨ UCI Department of Chemistry, “UCI chemists create battery technology with off-the-charts charging capacity.”

⇨ ACS Energy Letter, “100k cycles and beyond: extraordinary cycle stability for MnO2 nanowires imparted by a gel electrolyte.”

Chrome vs. IE

It was bound to happen. The desktop version of the Google browser has overtaken Internet Explorer, according to statistics published by NetMarkerShare.

⇨ Market Share Reports, “Desktop Top Browser Share Trend.”

Mission to Mars

SpaceX, the company headed by Elon Musk, has announced plans to send its SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the red planet as early as 2018. This would make SpaceX the first private-sector company to land equipment on another planet.

⇨ National Geographic, “SpaceX Plans to Send Spacecraft to Mars in 2018.”

Robospiders

Siemens has just unveiled a new generation of 3D printing robots able to work as a team. These robots can move around a 3D object, working on it collaboratively. Unfortunately, Siemens has yet to release a video showing its arachnorobots in action. We can’t wait.

⇨ Siemens, “Spider Workers.”

Who is Satoshi?

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has claimed paternity for Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s anonymous creator has been hiding behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The announcement was greeted with skepticism. Craig Wright has since taken down his blog.

⇨ BBC, “Australian Craig Wright claims to be Bitcoin creator.”

⇨ Quartz, “Two early bitcoin developers who worked directly with Satoshi Nakamoto weigh in on his real identity.”