YouTube has lost major advertisers as the controversy over inappropriate videos targeting and featuring minors on its site grows. At the heart of the matter are a glut of videos hosted on YouTube that feature predatory comments directed at children, as well as inappropriate videos that target and/or feature minors. YouTube has taken steps to address the problems amid the … Continue reading
Image credit – Shuguang Li / Wyss Institute at Harvard University
As the popular saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, which for the most part can also be applied to all sorts of things in life, even robotics where the parts that tend to bend or move the most can sometimes be its weakest point. This is why robotics that are flexible, while useful, aren’t typically seen as strong as its more rigid counterparts.
However researchers at MIT CSAIL and Harvard have created origami-like robotic “muscles” (via Engadget) that are not only flexible and soft, but also have the requisite strength where it is capable of lifting 1,000 times its own weight, thanks to the use of water or air pressure where one 2.6 gram of “muscle” is capable of lifting a 3 kilogram object.
This is achieved through the use of various metals, such as a metal coil or a sheet of plastic that has been folded in a certain pattern. It is then surrounded by air or fluid (such as water) and sealed inside a bag that acts as the muscle’s “skin”. A vacuum is then applied to the inside of the bag which initiates the muscle’s movement, and creates tension that drives the motion.
According to Daniela Rus, Ph.D., one of the senior authors of the research paper, “We were very surprised by how strong the actuators [aka, “muscles”] were. We expected they’d have a higher maximum functional weight than ordinary soft robots, but we didn’t expect a thousand-fold increase. It’s like giving these robots superpowers.”
Researchers Create Robotic ‘Muscles’ That Lift 1,000 Times Its Weight , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
YouTube has recently come under fire for how their system has allowed inappropriate videos to sneak in under the radar. A couple of weeks ago, it was noticed that disturbing videos designed to look like children’s videos managed to sneak onto YouTube Kids, and recently videos were discovered that showed children being abused.
Now it seems that according to The Guardian, it has been noticed that YouTube’s autocomplete search results are listing child abuse search terms. For example some have noticed that when typing “how to have” in the search box, they were shown autocomplete results such as “s*x with your kids”. The Guardian quotes experts to suggest that “s*x” helps to make it past YouTube’s filters which might be looking for the word “sex” instead.
That being said, YouTube has since responded swiftly following the discovery, and have removed those autocomplete results from their search. A statement provided by a YouTube spokeswoman reads, “Earlier today our teams were alerted to this profoundly disturbing autocomplete result and we worked to quickly remove it as soon as we were made aware. We are investigating this matter to determine what was behind the appearance of this autocompletion.”
To YouTube’s credit, the site has been taking active steps in trying to clamp down on such videos and also ways to circumvent its filters. For examples videos that are flagged as adult-only on the main YouTube site won’t show up in YouTube Kids, and so on.
YouTube Gets Rid Of Autocomplete Results That Show Child Abuse , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
As much as we’re sure many out there would love to get an electric car and do their part for the environment, there are many concerns, such as charging and range. While range has improved tremendously over the years, charging is still an issue where the number of EV chargers is considerably less than the number of gas stations.
This means that finding a place to charge your car will become a much harder task, compared to driving and expecting to find a gas station a few miles later. Various companies have been doing their part in helping spread out EV chargers, and it looks like Shell is hoping to contribute as well, with the company announcing their plans to build 80 high-powered EV charging stations across Europe.
Shell’s announcement is part of a joint venture between BMW, Daimler, Ford, and Volkswagen, where the plan is to bring these 80 EV charging stations across highway sites in Europe in 2019, which includes regions such as Belgium, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Shell will also be using the IONITY technology which is capable of up to 350 kilowatts in power output, and can charge a car in as little as 5-8 minutes. According to Shell’s head of retail Istvan Kapitany, “Customers want to go on long journeys in their electric vehicles and feel confident that there are reliable, comfortable and convenient places to charge them quickly.”
Shell Announces Plans To Build 80 EV Charging Stations Across Europe , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
If you find yourself checking your smartphone a couple of times every hour, or maybe more, you’re definitely not alone in this. It is becoming an increasingly common sight where you see people who are out with friends but yet spend all their time on their phones, or families who are out for a meal but yet no one is paying attention to each other.
The smartphone addiction is real, and with our lives becoming increasingly connected, it’s easy to see why. However this doesn’t mean that we should accept it, and that’s what designer Klemens Schillinger is hoping to address by creating a series of objects called the “Substitute Phone” that is designed to help curb our smartphone addiction.
As you can see in the image above, the Substitute Phone is shaped like a regular smartphone (no edge-to-edge displays, we’re afraid). However in the in middle of the body it features a series of stone beads that are positioned differently and which are meant to mimic the different motions used on smartphones, like swiping, pinch to zoom, and so on.
We suppose this is similar to how some people try to fight their cigarette habits by putting something else in their mouth, like a lollipop, a pencil, and so on. The Substitute Phone is actually the second project of Schillinger aimed at trying to get people to put their phones down. Just last month the designer unveiled the Offline Lamp which only powers on when you put your smartphone into a drawer compartment in the base of the lamp.
The ‘Substitute Phone’ Helps Curb Smartphone Addiction , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
According to a recent study, it was suggested that using a laptop to take notes during class might not be as conducive for one’s understanding of the subject as you might think. However the upside to using a laptop (or tablet) is that your notes are stored digitally and accessible wherever you go, but that’s also where Moleskine’s Smart Writing System comes in.
Launched last year, the Smart Writing System basically allows users to handwrite their notes into a Moleskine notebook, and have those notes digitized and sent to an app on iOS or Android devices. Now the good news is that if you wanted the same feature but on your Windows 10 computer, you’re in luck as Moleskine has recently announced a collaboration with Microsoft that will see them launch a dedicated Windows 10 app that more or less does the same thing.
The app itself is free and will see users have their notes digitized and sent to their Windows 10 computers. In addition to being able to do what it already does, the app for Windows 10 will allow users to draw images and charts that can then be copied into PowerPoint, OneNote, and Word, so if you’re out and about and are sketching some ideas, you’ll be able to transfer them to Microsoft Office on the fly.
That being said, this is predicated on you owning the Smart Writing System, which will cost $199 for the Paper Tablet notebook and the Pen+, with replacement planners priced at $30.
Moleskine’s ‘Smart Writing System’ Now Has A Dedicated Windows 10 App , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
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