CYBER DUMP 50 / INTERACTIVE NFC, VR WORKOUTS, MECH ROBOT, SNAKEBOT
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Welcome to Cyber Dump number 50, your look at what's happening in this insane age of technology that we live in. As always, all source links mentioned are below.

- Youtube link
- Archive.org mirror
- Torrent
- Keybase mirror

DIY

First off, here's a really cool DIY custom NFC business card created by dutch tinkerer Sjaak. What I thought was really cool about it, is that the NFC function is interactive, so when you press a button, it changes the NFC output. Something like this would be awesome for sharing public keys, bitcoin addresses etc.

http://smdprutser.nl/blog/pcb-businesscard-nextgen-nfc-enabled/

VIRTUAL REALITY

The VR Health Institute launched a few months ago, and it's goal is to scientifically test the health benefits of using VR games. In general, they found that users often are exercising much more than they realized in game, and that this could be a good way to keep fit for those that don't enjoy regular workouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnMCxmfhh1k
http://vrhealth.institute/

Here's another interesting tertiary use case for VR. Software company, Yulio has developed a gaze tracking system that can determine exactly where users are looking, creating heat maps of hotspots. Obviously this will be used for advertising, but it could also be useful for scientific studies, and generally understanding what humans are drawn to.

https://vrscout.com/news/vr-heat-map-analytics-designers-retailers/
https://www.yulio.com/

3D PRINTING

A woman in Wales became the first person in the world to have custom 3D printed titanium bones successfully replace her original jaw bone, which had an aggressive form of cancer. Previous procedures involved making moulds from 3d printed parts, but this is the first instance of the 3d printed parts themselves being fitted directly to the face.

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20171024-meet-the-welsh-woman-with-the-first-3d-printed-jaw-in-the-world.html

AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality app AirMeasure have revealed an experimental use-case they're working on, which helps drivers to parallel park better. The user measures the gap, and the app automatically calculates the rest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyrBtaeVvTs

Windows also announced their mixed reality capture studios in San Francisco, Seattle and London, allowing people to create holograms for use with their new headsets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m2B74YnfLI

DRONES

Google's X division has been testing out their Project Wing delivery drones in Australia, bringing supplies to farmers and families who live out in the sticks. I wonder how long it will take before similar projects start testing in cities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLkMdwEWRc

ROBOTICS

A few months ago, astronaut Paolo Nespoli became the first human in space to remotely control a robot back on earth. This was all part of an experiment to simulate robots servicing solar farms on Mars. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfhDS7zSz-0

OCRobotics unveiled a curious looking robot this week. Called the X50, this snake-like bot is aimed for use in dangerous or confined spaces, and it's unique form allows it to operate quite successfully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76GlNfdHUNk

Speaking of cool robots, this one snook under my radar. The Guardian GT by Sarcos is a crazy looking mech-type robot, which mimics the arm and hand movements of the operator. This thing is pretty amazing, and has surprising responsiveness and dexterity, considering it's massive size.

https://vimeo.com/214119048
sarcos.com

Researchers at Wyss Institute and Harvard have created tiny hybrid robots, that can both fly, and swim underwater. One thing that I thought was genius was the use of electrolyte plates to produce oxyhydrogen bubbles for buoyancy, then when it reaches the surface, it ignites the gas to propel it out of the water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrgQ65UsbZ0

And finally, Sony Japan recently announced their new home robot, the Xperia Hello. This seems to be an evolution of the Alexa and Google Home bots, but now introducing a face and camera into the mix. These things would be way cooler if they didn't come with inevitable data mining nonsense that I suspect this will have.

Anyways, that's it for this week. As always, thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFCwU3E3m5U
http://www.sonymobile.co.jp/product/smartproducts/g1209/

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BY NODE