features – Page 3 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Air Force torch cuts through locks like a hot knife through butter

Firefighters, police and soldiers don’t have many good options when they want to breach a door: blowtorches and lock picks are usually slow, while battering rams, explosives and guns aren’t exactly subtle. The US Air Force and EMPI recently crafted a far better solution, though. Their TEC Torch creates a brief but super-hot (5, 000F) metal vapor jet that cuts through steel in less than a second, making short work of virtually any lock. In some ways, it’s like Star Wars ‘ Qui-Gon Jinn cutting through doors with a lightsaber — it’s just faster and less dramatic. Via: We Are the Mighty , Business Insider Source: US Air Force (PDF) , EMPI

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Air Force torch cuts through locks like a hot knife through butter

Pop-up sensor would give robot surgeons a sense of touch

Robotic surgery is no longer the stuff of science fiction. However, these robots can’t really feel their way around — the need for super-small mechanisms rules out existing approaches to touch. That’s where Harvard researchers might come to save the day. They’ve developed a pop-up sensor whose four layers collapse to a tiny footprint (just a tenth of an inch) when necessary, but expand into a 3D sensor thanks to a built-in spring. The design is extremely sensitive, too, with a light intensity sensor that can detected mere millinewtons of force. Source: Harvard University , IEEE Sensors Journal

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Pop-up sensor would give robot surgeons a sense of touch

Netgear’s Nest Cam competitor has seven days of cloud video recording

These days, connected cameras like the Nest Cam (previously known as the Dropcam) aren’t exactly special. There are a slew of competitors out there, like Logitech’s Circle and Samsung’s SmartCam , so the only way to stand out is by offering something others don’t. And that’s precisely what Netgear is doing its latest connected camera, the Arlo Q, by giving you seven days of cloud video recording for free. Logitech offers 24 hours of free cloud recording, in comparison. And Nest, whose original camera pioneered this whole category, still doesn’t have any video recording without a subscription. Beyond that, the Arlo Q delivers what you’d expect: 1080p video recording and two-way audio that’s accessible through a mobile app. It’ll be available in the US come December for $220, and it’ll eventually head to Australia, Canada and Europe.

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Netgear’s Nest Cam competitor has seven days of cloud video recording

MetroPCS site flaw exposed the data of 10 million subscribers

It’s not just hacks that put your personal data out in the open — sometimes, it’s just poor coding. Security researchers Eric Taylor and Blake Welsh have shown Motherboard a MetroPCS website bug that, until it was fixed this month, made it easy to get sensitive info for over 10 million subscribers. All you needed was a phone number to get a person’s home address, phone serial number and more. And if you weren’t picky, you could have whipped up a script to harvest all of the data within two days. Source: Motherboard

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MetroPCS site flaw exposed the data of 10 million subscribers

A startup is growing faux shrimp meat in the lab using algae

Someday, you might be able to throw a lab-grown meat party with not only burgers , but also tempura on the menu. A startup called New Wave Foods is developing artificial shrimp meat in the laboratory, urged by environmental destruction and the other troubles brought about by commercial fishing. According to Motherboard , the team is currently testing different ways of extracting proteins from algae that the crustaceans eat, mixing and mashing them together with protein gels to create the meat. So far, they’ve already nailed the taste, but mimicking the seafood’s texture is proving to a bit more difficult. Source: Motherboard , New Wave Foods

Cyberpunk PC classic ‘System Shock’ is getting a proper remake

While System Shock might have only just received a facelift when it launched on GOG.com earlier this year, an entire remake of the legendary PC game is now in the works — and perhaps even System Shock 3 . And if you’ve never heard of System Shock ? You should have: both the creators of BioShock and Deus Ex were involved in the game, which is a 1994 classic in its own right. Night Dive, the same company that was tasked with this year’s digital renovation, will handle the remake. It’s picked up full rights to the franchise. Via: PC World Source: Fast.Co

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Cyberpunk PC classic ‘System Shock’ is getting a proper remake

Facebook brings 360-degree videos to iOS as content creation ramps up

360-degree videos made their way into Facebook’s News Feed back in September, but it was only available for web and Android users. Now, however, iOS users can join in on the fun as well thanks to a new Facebook update that is being rolled out today. There’s also good news for Gear VR owners: you’ll now be able to play back those videos from News Feed without ever taking your headset off, making it that much easier to delve into new immersive experiences. At the same time, plenty of publishers have jumped on the 360 video bandwagon — ABC News, BuzzFeed, FrontLine, Nickelodeon and many more will be publishing new 360-degree clips onto Facebook starting today. Source: Facebook

Explore 4,500 British Museum artifacts with Google’s help

The British Museum in London holds an array of beautiful and historically significant artifacts including the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians to understand the ancient hieroglyphics used in Egypt. Today, the organisation is teaming up with Google to bring its various collections online as part of the Google Cultural Institute . The search giant has been developing this resource for years by continually visiting and archiving exhibits around the world. With the British Museum, an extra 4, 500 objects and artworks are being added to its collection, complete with detailed photos and descriptions. Source: Google Cultural Institute

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Explore 4,500 British Museum artifacts with Google’s help

In-N-Out Burger sues food delivery service DoorDash

In-N-Out Burger has sued on-demand food delivery service DoorDash due to food handling and safety concerns, according to TMZ . A part of the filing obtained by TechCrunch explains that the food chain isn’t happy that DoorDash is using its trademarks, when it has no control over how its food is handled and how much time passes between the purchase and the delivery. Further, the delivery service’s website is using In-N-Out’s logo without permission, even if the restaurant previously asked for it to be pulled down more than once. Source: TechCrunch , TMZ

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In-N-Out Burger sues food delivery service DoorDash

40 years later, Sony finally kills Betamax

Betamax: the punchline for over a decades-worth of VHS-center comedy bits and most format wars . However, Sony’s Beta cassettes can still be bought in Japan. Just about. Sony’s announced that it’s finally, finally, finally stop selling the cassettes. No need to rush to Tokyo just yet, as you still have until next March to buy-up all the Betamax supplies you’ll never need — including a cleaning tape. It’s also dropping its MicroMV camcorder tapes In a bid to… make space in the warehouse, we guess. Image credit: SSPL via Getty Images Source: Sony (Japanese)

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40 years later, Sony finally kills Betamax