A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the discovery of seven Earth-sized exoplanets to a chair that helps you work out — it’s all here.
College student turns his Honda Civic into a self-driving car for $700
College students are permanently broke, constantly having to sacrifice the finer things in life (meals) in favor of the bare essentials (beer). By facing those hardships, few students are likely to be able to afford a self-driving car anytime soon. Can those college smarts be put to better use? That was the case for Brevan Jorgenson. A senior at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Jorgenson is the proud owner of a self-driving Honda Civic — and all it cost him was $700 (plus the cost of the car itself).
NASA just discovered 7 Earth-sized exoplanets, 3 in the habitable zone of a dwarf star
Holographic 3D printer uses lasers to print thousands of times faster than its rivals
Fed up with the world-weary, jaded expressions of your additive manufacturing friends, who think they’ve seen it all when it comes to 3D printers? If so, you may be interested in Daqri, an augmented reality startup, which has developed a cutting-edge hologram-powered 3D printer. If you’ve felt that what was missing from 3D printing was green lasers and tubs of goo, this could be the technology you’ve been waiting for!
Steve Jobs’ spaceship-like ‘Apple Park’ is finally finished, and it opens in April
For months, we’ve come to call Apple’s next campus “spaceship” because of its UFO-like shape, but Apple had another name in mind. The new 175-acre headquarters in Cupertino will officially be called “Apple Park.” The move-in process from the company’s current facility will begin in April, and it’s expected to take more than six months as it involves moving more than 12,000 people. During this process, construction is scheduled to continue on park lands and various buildings.
Sprint will demonstrate gigabit connectivity at the Mobile World Congress
Don’t look now, but Sprint’s joining the gigabit club. On Wednesday, the Now Network announced a collaboration with electronics company Ericsson that will have data transferred at 1Gbps over a 4G LTE connection — fast enough to download an HD movie in about eight seconds. It is scheduled to take place at the upcoming Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona and Sprint says it is an industry first.
Whirlpool issues an official warning concerning some of its defective dryer models catching fire
Some of Whirlpool’s dryer brands including Hotpoint, Indesit, and Creda now face a bit of scrutiny, as the dryers now carry a fire hazard. Hotpoint, a subsidiary of Whirlpool, published a message on its website warning customers in the U.K. and Ireland that some dryer models sold by the company in those locations potentially pose a fire risk. The warning reads: “As part of this review, we have identified a potential concern with two types of tumble dryers (condenser and vented dryers).
Aude Lemordant, Two-Time Acrobatics World Champion Can’t Get Enough Time In The Sky
In 2005, Aude began aerial acrobatics competitions. By 2009 she’d joined the French team and two years later she’d win the French National Championship. Aude’s roster of victories would achieve new heights in 2013 when she won the FIA World Championship in individual, freestyle, and team categories. In 2015, she took home the World Championship title again. Check out our interview with her.
Roam Robotics’ lightweight, affordable exoskeleton designed for everyday folks
There are a number of companies in existence developing cutting-edge exoskeletons that will help us perform feats of strength or endurance beyond what our bodies can otherwise manage. But while a lot of these creations are bulky, expensive, and rely on electromechanical components to work, San Francisco-based Roam Robotics is taking a different approach. Instead, it’s focusing on designs that are largely constructed out of plastic and high-strength fabrics.
Make sitting an active activity with the MÜV chair on Kickstarter
Who says sitting has to be sedentary? Certainly not the team behind the MÜV chair, a new kind of seat that’s here to prove that you don’t have to sit still when you are sitting. This new-fangled chair promises to “keep your body active while you sit,” and encourages your fidgety habits, all in the name of health. After all, sitting could kill you, citing a 2015 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that suggested that a sedentary lifestyle increases our chances of falling victim to a disease or condition that could prove fatal.
Want to make Netflix browsing even easier? Try this useful trick
With a seemingly ever-growing library of content, there’s plenty to watch on Netflix, as long as you can find something that interests you. The streaming service conveniently allows users to search by general categories, but if you want to get even more specific, a new trick to help you out has been revealed. As it turns out, the streamer has assigned codes to each genre and subgenre, and you can access the full list of movies or programs manually, according to What’s On Netflix.
