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Weekly Tech Recap - № 193 - KOSEN Robocon, 3D printed motorcycle, Bill Gates and Pied Piper, Tim Cook loves Google, Affetto

November 23, 2018.

KOSEN Robocon 2018

KOSEN Robocon 2018.

Robot from Nara College. © ひらっきー ? @hilucky0920.

KOSEN are schools in Japan that teach technology. They offer a 5-year engineering program for 15-year-olds graduating from high school. Teams of students representing various KOSEN schools throughout the country compete on a given theme at an annual robotics meet, the KOSEN Robocon. This year, the challenge was throwing a bottle, riffing off the popular bottle-flip internet challenge. You have to hand it to the students for their creative achievements.

Youtube, “ROBOCON official channel.”

 

3D printed motorcycle

Nera, e-motorcycle.

Nera. © BigRep.

Nera is an electric motorcycle that is entirely 3D printed. Like the bicycle tire we wrote about in May, this motorcycle is the work of BigRep, a German company that distributes big Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, which can produce objects as large as a cubic meter. Everything but the bike’s electrical components were 3D-printed, including the airless tires, rims, frame, fork, and seat. The in-house designer Marco Mattia Cristofori authored the blueprints for this futurist creation. The Nera measures 190 x 90 x 55 cm and weighs 60 kilos. Unfortunately, the motorcycle isn’t for sale — it’s just a demo to show off the wonders possible on the BigRep printers.

Mashable, “3D-printed electric motorcycle actually runs, but it’s not for sale.”

 

Bill Gates digs the Silicon Valley series

Bill Gates or Richard Hendricks?

Bill Gates ou Richard Hendricks ? © @BillGates.

In a post published on his personal blog, Bill Gates admits liking Silicon Valley, the popular HBO series that follows the tribulations of the startup Pied Piper. “The show is a parody, so it exaggerates things, but like all great parodies it captures a lot of truths. Most of the different characters you see in the show feel very familiar to me. The programmers are smart, super-competitive even with their friends, and a bit clueless when it comes to social cues. Personally, I identify most with Richard, the founder of Pied Piper, who is a great programmer but has to learn some hard lessons about managing people.” However, the Microsoft founder does have one little critique. He wishes the series didn’t give the impression that large companies like Hooli are usually inept while the small ones such as Pied Piper are always nimble. But then again, he also admits that he is, naturally, somewhat biased. Of course, Microsoft is not completely inept, far from it. Bill Gates even tweeted a photo that appears to be an edited picture of himself dating from 1985, except with Thomas Middleditch’s face, who plays Richard Hendricks. There probably lies the deeper meaning of Bill Gates’s post: the series must bring on waves of nostalgia for his early-career days.

The Gates Notes, “If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch ‘Silicon Valley’.”

Mashable, “Bill Gates has a few things to say about HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’.”

 

Tim Cook stands up for Google as default search engine

Tim Cook.

Tim Cook. CC0 1.0, Wikimedia Commons.

In an interview with Axios on HBO, Tim Cook defended Apple’s decision to use Google as the default search engine. This decision doesn’t jibe with the company’s strong rhetoric on the protection of personal data and private life, considering that Google’s business model is to make money using users’ data to target ads. “I think their search engine is the best. Look at what we’ve done with the controls we’ve built in. We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we’ve tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through the course of their day. It’s not a perfect thing. I’d be the very first person to say that. But it goes a long way to helping.” Apple brings in several billion dollars annually from its Google licensing agreements (the exact number is undisclosed, though Goldman Sachs estimates it at over 9 billion, which is huge) to integrate Google Search in iOS and macOS. Furthermore, Cook estimates that federal privacy regulations are inevitable, given that the self-regulating approach has failed.

Ars Technica, “Tim Cook defends using Google as primary search engine on Apple devices.”

 

Disturbing yet Endearing: Affetto the robot head

Affeto Robot.

Affeto. © Osaka University.

A trio at Osaka University has been working on an android head-and-face since 2011. They’re making progress. By deforming 116 micropoints of its facial anatomy, they can raise its eyelids, pucker a lip, or release all features of the face. It explores more nuanced expressions, ranging from quizzical, to thoughtful, to pondering, to sly, to relaxed and alert. It doesn’t utter a sound, so watching it is oddly meditative. If all children were this quiet, I might have one. Until then, a robot head will do.

Osaka University, « Researchers in Japan Make Android Child’s Face Strikingly More Expressive. »

TechCrunch, “Affetto is the wild-boy-head robot of your nightmares.”