Rubik's Cube artist Big Wendy created a mosaic portrait of Rubik's Cube inventor Erno Rubik using 400 tactile cubes while blindfolded. She says:
Erno Rubik, the creator of the Rubik's Cube, is turning 76 today. As a Happy Birthday, I dedicated my first blindfolded mosaic to him. The actual portrait took me around 7 hours to finish and the prep took around 3. I used 400 tactile cubes to complete this project and was blindfolded the entire time, only using my hearing as a guide.
So she's not technically doing the portrait from memory since the cubes are tactile and she's using her own audio cues, but it's still super impressive. The obvious escalation from this is to do an entire mosaic from memory, but that sounds so insanely impossible the only person up for the job is me. When you're blessed with a big brain and amazing memory like me, you, uh, ya know, remember stuff real good. Because am smarts. I...what were we talking about again?
Keep going for the full time-lapse video of Big Wendy completing the portrait.
A copy of Super Mario Bros. still in its original plastic sealing became the highest-selling video game ever when it was sold to an anonymous bidder last Friday at a Heritage Auctions' event with a winning bid of $114,000. The cartridge was graded in A+ condition and fetched so much because the box featured a short-lived hangtab variant of the original packaging. According to Rolling Stone:
"This unopened copy of this [Nintendo] launch title soared to record heights in part because it was part of one of the short production runs of the game packaged in boxes with a cardboard hangtab underneath the plastic, an indication that it was part of one of the first variants produced after Nintendo started using shrink-wrap to seal the games rather than stickers," Heritage Auctions said of the packaging.
In total, Friday's auction of sealed Nintendo games brought in over $699,000, well exceeding its $428,000 pre-estimate auction. Other notable items included a sealed copy of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out that sold for $50,000 and a first-pressing, ultra-rare copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 that had the "Bros." placed on the left side of the front cover; that item, one of only 10 known to exist, sold for $38,000.
I personally prefer to buy my games on Steam, but some people still like having hard copies and I don't blame them. And for what this person paid, I bet they went straight home without even stopping for lunch so they could tear the box open and give it a try. Look, I get it. We're all socially distancing and there's nothing to do but stay home and play video games. Some people wait for Steam sales, others go to an auction and pay the price of a Porsche. At the end of the day, we're all really just the same.
An intrepid programmer had a friend with dyslexia and thought they could recreate their description of what it's like using JavaScript. I don't have dyslexia myself so I can't say if it's accurate, but according to commenters who claim to have the disorder it's a pretty close representation. The picture doesn't really do it justice, as the live site actually mimics the sensation of letters jumping around. And if that's really what it's like, I can see why reading and writing would be a nightmare. I mean, I don't even have dyslexia and I already find it difficult to read anything more advanced than Highlights. And by "read" I mean look at the Spot the Difference section.
Aircraft manufacturer Boom plans on unveiling their XB-1 prototype on October 7th, which would be the first independently-developed supersonic jet. According to Airline Ratings:
The fuselage is complete, the wings tested and installed and the engines are ready to fire up. In April, the manufacturing team installed XB-1's wing to the forward fuselage in a quick and seamless operation. Boom says that it has made significant progress to the aft fuselage build-up which hosts the XB-1's three supersonic engines. The XB-1's titanium aft fuselage can withstand temperatures in excess of 800°F.
Drop tests for XB-1's nose and main landing gears are also underway, while the pilots are training in the flight simulator.
The prototype is a proof of concept before production of a full scale 50-seat supersonic airliner, to be called the "Overture". The timeline for the planned entry into airline service has now also slipped from the previously envisaged 2023-24 to between 2025 and 2027.
The original Concorde was retired in 2003 and there haven't been any commercial supsersonic flights since. But really, just how fast do we really need our air travel to be? I guess flying to Taiwan in half the time would be neat, but I've watched cartoons and in the future we're all going to be zipping around in tubes anyway so I'm not sure there's going to be a huge market for this.
Keep going for some more production shots as well as the official Boom XB-1 video.
Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a silicone rubber face mask they believe is as effective as N95 masks but can be sterilized and used multiple times. According to MIT News:
The masks are based on the shape of the 3M 1860 style of N95 masks, the type normally used at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Most of the mask is made of silicone rubber, and there is also space for one or two N95 filters. Those filters are designed to be replaced after every use, while the rest of the mask can be sterilized and reused.
"With this design, the filters can be popped in and then thrown away after use, and you're throwing away a lot less material than an N95 mask," Wentworth says.
The researchers tested several different sterilization methods on the silicone masks, including running them through an autoclave (steam sterilizer), putting them in an oven, and soaking them in bleach and in isopropyl alcohol. They found that after sterilization, the silicone material was undamaged.
So basically the idea is instead of swapping out an entire N95 mask you just swap out the filters. I guess that technically qualifies as reusable, but it's sort of like saying my N95 mask is reusable because the straps come off and you just have to swap out the part that covers the nose and mouth. Just eyeballing it they're probably getting three replacements for every one N95 mask replacement based solely on the amount of filter material. Better than nothing I guess.
The device works through a pressure pad under the car seat cover, which can sense weight over 5 lbs. When a baby is in the seat, the system starts itself up and monitors the temperature.
If the temperature reaches above 102 degrees, the seat will set off an alarm along with a warning on the LCD display. A text will also be sent to the parent's phone. If the parent does not reset the button within 60 seconds, a message is sent to 911 with the built-in GPS chip, called an Arduino, sending the car's location to emergency services.
Wow this is inspiring. You know what I was doing when I was 12? It was less "inventing devices that would save lives" and more "getting my arm stuck in vending machines trying to steal snacks." Did my efforts help society? Maybe not, but they did result in 911 being called just like Lydia's device so obviously we're both equally great people.
Japan's FamilyMart chain is planning on introducing robots to its workforce this summer to stock store shelves. According to Time Out:
Instead of being fully automated, FamilyMart's robots will be operated by store employees via VR terminals at a separate location. The addition of these new robots will hopefully allow people to have a more flexible work schedule and help stores that have limited staff.
The robots will be tested out in selected FamilyMart locations in Tokyo this summer, with an aim to have them installed in at least 20 stores by 2022. If all goes well, these new robots could become as integral to Japan's konbini as cup noodles and fried chicken.
The robots are designed by Telexistence and are more like robotic drones than actual autonomous robots, so there's less risk of an I, Robot situation happening here. Smart move, because I find customers usually prefer it when robot employees actually do their job instead of turning on their masters and doing murder instead.
Announced in 2019, Sony is now selling its Reon Pocket, a personal temperature control unit that sells for about $130 (14,080 Japanese Yen). According to Design Boom:
the reon pocket utilizes thermoelectric cooling but sony says you can also use it as a heater on winter days. it can supposedly cool a user's body temperature by 13 degrees celsius (23 degrees fahrenheit) and raise your temperature by about 8 degrees celsius (about 14 degrees fahrenheit).
the reon pocket is a bluetooth device about the size of a card wallet that slips into a special undershirt with a pocket at the base of the neck. it connects to an app which gives users control of the temperature via their smartphone.
the wearable air conditioner supports ios and android, has a battery life of 90 minutes and a charge time of 2 hours. it looks a little like an apple mouse, weighs just 85 grams and uses USB-c.
It's a similar concept as the Embr Wave, which is a wearable bracelet that also heats and cools, but sells for more than double the price at $299. I imagine the Reon Pocket is more effective since it sits at your neck/back versus your wrist, but the problem is you have to wear that stupid undershirt to make it work. Although I suppose you could skip the shirt and just tape it to your back like John McClane in Die Hard. Yippee ki-yay, you poor sweaty bastards. I've got a weird device taped to my back and that makes me cooler than you. Literally.
