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Papercraft-inspired math turns any sheet into any shape

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The team started by establishing the constraints on lengths and angles that need to be met for producing any given cut pattern, and then use a numerical optimization approach to determine the generic patterns themselves (such as their orientation, number and size). From there, it’s a matter of using mechanical analysis to manage the deployment path and its stability. The researchers crafted 2D and 3D models to verify that the method worked.

The result is pretty, as you might imagine, but it could also be highly practical once put into use. You could produce clothes, vehicle surfaces or other objects using just a sheet. This wouldn’t always work due to the nature of kirigami (you don’t really want a poncho full of holes), but it’s also just the beginning. The Harvard group hopes to bring origami into the mix, allowing even more complicated objects that would only need the right algorithm to come to life.

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DICE cancels ‘Battlefield V’ close combat mode to help its focus

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It’s not certain why this mode got the cut where other changes didn’t, but it may be a simple matter of concentrating on what BFV does best. The Battlefield series is defined by large-scale multiplayer bouts, and even the Firestorm battle royale mode lines up with that philosophy. Intimate ten-player matches? Not so much — as Eurogamer suggested, that’s what Call of Duty is for. Rather than trying to compete with as many rival shooters as possible, DICE appears happier to focus on those areas where Battlefield stands out.

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Sony and Yamaha are making a self-driving cart for theme parks

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As before, Sony feels the sensors eliminate the need for windows. A 49-inch 4K monitor on the inside provides a mixed reality view of the world, while four 55-inch 4K displays bombard passers-by with ads and other material. It will even use AI to optimize promos for outside people based on factors like age and gender — not quite Minority Report levels of eerily accurate ad targeting, but getting there.

The two companies expect to use the Sociable Cart for services in Japan sometime in fiscal 2019 (that is, before the end of March 2020). It won’t, however, be available for sale. Not that you’d really want one given its glacial 11.8MPH top speed. This is strictly for fun on closed circuits, not your next pub crawl.

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Trump tries to overturn ruling stopping him from blocking Twitter users

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“Public officials who address matters relating to their public office on personal accounts will run the risk that every action taken on that account will be state action subject to constitutional scrutiny,” according to the filing.

The challenge may face an uphill battle. In the earlier ruling, Circuit Judge Barrington Parker noted that @RealDonaldTrump is “one of the White House’s main vehicles” for official activity — it’s under scrutiny precisely because many of Trump’s tweets are state actions. He “hereby ordered” companies to find alternatives to production in China on August 23rd while using his personal account, for example, and incorrectly . If Trump was allowed to block critics of his policies on his personal account, other politicians could simply shift their announcements to personal accounts to avoid their responsibilities for civic interaction.

This lines up to a degree with a January ruling that an official’s Facebook page is a public forum. As it is, there are calls for consistency across the aisle. Critics have sued Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arguing that they, too, shouldn’t be blocked on Twitter merely based on disagreements. While Trump may not be fond of seeing critics’ tweets, the ruling could also ensure that rival politicians have to contend with online objectors of their own.

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Divorce dispute leads to accusation of crime in space

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McClain has acknowledged accessing the account, but said she was checking finances as she’d always done during the relationship, with Worden’s knowledge and permission. McClain was “totally cooperating,” according to her attorney.

This isn’t the first instance of crime allegations linked to space programs. The New York Times noted that NASA caught a widow trying to sell a Moon rock in 2011, while an Austrian businessman sued a space tourism outfit in 2017 to reclaim his deposit on a trip that appeared to have stalled. However, this appears to be the first instance of accusing an individual of committing a crime while in space. While the subject of crime in space was likely to come up at some point, few would have expected it to come relatively quickly.

It raises a number of questions about handling accusations of crime in space. Will NASA have to give lawyers access to a secretive network as part of the discovery process, for instance? And while the jurisdiction is relatively clear here (it went through a NASA network and affected someone in the US), it’s not certain what would happen if there was a crime committed exclusively in space. These questions will have to be answered at some point, though, especially when the US intends a more permanent human presence in space.

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OnePlus 7T might pack a wide-angle camera

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While these images are just leaked renders, a leaked photo from last year purportedly shows the CEO of OnePlus presenting a phone with a circular camera module. The OnePlus 7T will reportedly have a 6.5-inch display, a teardrop notch to house its selfie camera and a glass back panel, just like the OnePlus 7. In addition, OnLeaks says there will be a McLaren “Senna” Edition, presumably based on the sports car of the same name. The manufacturer is expected to hold a launch event on September 26th for the OnePlus 7T, the OnePlus 7T Pro and even the OnePlus TV, which it will release in India.

OnePlus7T

Image: OnLeaks X Pricebaba



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Scientists bioprint living tissue in a matter of seconds

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The approach, volumetric bioprinting, forms tissue by projecting a laser down a spinning tube containing hydrogel full of stem cells. You can shape the resulting tissue simply by focusing the laser’s energy on specific locations to solidify them, creating a useful 3D shape within seconds. After that, it’s a matter of introducing endothelial cells to add vessels to the tissue.

The resulting tissues are currently just a few inches across. That’s still enough to be “clinically useful,” EPFL said, and has already been used to print heart-like valves, a complex femur part and a meniscus. It can create interlocking structures, too.

While this definitely isn’t ready for real-world use, the applications are fairly self-evident. EPFL imagines a new wave of “personalized, functional” organs produced at “unprecedented speed.” This could be helpful for implants and repairs, and might greatly reduce the temptation to use animal testing — you’d just need to produce organs to simulate effects. This might be as much an ethics breakthrough as it is a technical one.

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CDC identifies a death potentially linked to vaping

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To be clear, the CDC hasn’t confirmed yet whether the patients’ lung conditions were truly caused by vaping. Investigators looking into the cases haven’t even found a common link yet, other than the fact that the patients vape. Some of them admitted using tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, which causes the “high” in marijuana, and American Vaping Association president Gregory Conley is reportedly confident that the illnesses were caused by devices containing cannabis.

CDC official Ileana Arias said, however, that “[m]ore information is needed to know what is causing these illnesses.” Authorities are investigating several theories, including the possibility that the illnesses are caused by toxic substances like heavy metals, such as lead, or specific flavorings. The lung injuries doctors have been seeing are consistent with chemical inhalation injuries, after all, and the FDA has no control over the ingredients manufacturers are using.

FDA Center for Tobacco Products director Mitch Zeller said the agency is already testing products to figure out if they contain harmful substances. Its findings would only be helpful if the illnesses truly are being triggered by substances in commercial products, though. See, another theory is that people are emptying out commercial nicotine pods and filling them with concoctions of their own containing various chemicals, including THC oil.

Zeller said various government agencies are already using a lot of resources to investigate the problem, seeing as it seems to be growing as the days go by. The number of cases has more than doubled over the past week, and the patients are showing extensive, even permanent, lung damage requiring days on a ventilator. Before their situation became that serious, patients reported a gradual start of symptoms that include breathing difficulties, vomiting, nausea, chest pain and fatigue.

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AT&T and FTC settle lawsuit over data throttling

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The case very nearly didn’t go forward in the first place. An appeals court effectively tossed the lawsuit in 2016 on the grounds that AT&T’s common carrier status exempted it from disclosing its throttling activity. In 2018, however, a federal court decided that the FTC could proceed with the case after noting that AT&T’s data services weren’t part of its common carrier status.

The lawsuit alleged that AT&T misled legacy unlimited data customers about its throttling plan, failing to adequately inform them that they’d see dramatic slowdowns after using a certain amount of data each month. This wasn’t really the unlimited service they’d signed up for, the FTC argued. AT&T balked at the lawsuit, arguing that few people were affected and that it notified customers of imminent throttling through text.

There’s no doubt that the wireless landscape has changed a lot since the lawsuit began. Like it or not, throttling is a staple of many US carriers (including Engadget parent Verizon), whether it’s after a given amount of general usage or for specific services like video. A settlement might not carry much weight unless it forces substantial changes to existing disclosure practices.

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Tesla’s solar panels reportedly caught fire at an Amazon warehouse

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The incident reportedly happened back in June 2018, but the e-commerce giant just came out with the information. Bloomberg says Amazon told the publication via email that it has taken steps to protect its facilities and will no longer install any more Tesla systems going forward. We’ve reached out to both companies to confirm the news and will let you know if they do, and if they’re planning to work things out.

After news came out that Walmart sued Tesla, the companies released a statement saying they’re in discussion to resolve the issue. The Amazon warehouse incident seems to be much smaller in scale — the e-commerce giant said it has a very small number of Tesla solar installations to begin with — but a claim from such an enormous company still isn’t a good look for SolarCity. The division’s operations haven’t been going as well as the company had hoped. It reportedly faced production issues last year due to technical challenges, and a more recent report said it’s been exporting majority of the solar cells produced at its New York gigafactory instead of using them for Solar Roof installations.

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