10
Technology
Lego already debuted its own take on the divisive Tesla Cybertruck design, but theirs was purely for the lols. This Lego Cybertruck, however, submitted to the official Lego Ideas crowdsourcing website, is actually a remarkably faithful representation, and comes complete with fully articulating tailgate and &frunk& (front trunk, for the uninitiated).
The design, by Lego Ideas user BrickinNick, recreates remarkably well the throwback polygonal cyberpunk aesthetic of the actual Cybertruck, and BrickinNick says that it could be adapted to have even more moving parts, including opening passenger doors, a slide-out ramp and maybe even a companion Tesla ATV kit so you can replicate the stage demo in even more detail. This would, of course, mean we absolutely must get a minifig Elon, too — and maybe swappable shattered windows.
Lego Ideas allows anyone to create an account and submit their down design, then the community votes on those submissions. Get enough votes and Lego will consider actually producing said design as a kit. Obviously, when thereIP from other companies involved itnot a sure thing, but this campaign already has around 2,000 supporters as of this writing, so itdoing well in the realm of user support.
Love it or hate it, the Cybertruck does make a pretty great Lego design, so herehoping this actually one day becomes a shipping kit.
- Details
- Category: Technology
Read more: This Lego Cybertruck is one even Elon can love
Write comment (92 Comments)
Rocket Lab launched its tenth Electron spacecraft on Friday morning, successfully delivering payloads for clients Spaceflight and Alba Orbital. The launch company also had an important secondary mission for this launch: testing the guidance, control and navigation systems of their first-stage rocket recovery system.
Rocket Lab announced earlier this year that it would be aiming to convert its Electron launch system into a partially reusable one, after initially designing and operating it as a one-time-use launcher and spacecraft. To that end, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck revealed how the company will look to effect a controlled re-entry for the Electron first-stage rocket booster, after which it&ll be caught mid-air by a helicopter as it descends at a speed slowed by an onboard parachute.
This morninglaunch provided a test for a key element of that system — the re-entry control and navigation equipment and software that helps the first-stage effect the crucial first part of recovery, by returning to Earthatmosphere after separating from the rest of the launch vehicle.
The first-stage re-entry seems to have gone according to plan, as Rocket Lab on Twitter termed it a &successful guided re-entry of stage 1.& In fact, Beck said that the Stage 1 recovery actually went &better than expected,& which indicates it outperformed whatever parameters the company had set to define success in this case — probably pretty broad, because the whole purpose of the re-entry in this instance was to test and gather data.
Rocket Labapproach differs from SpaceXfirst-stage recovery process, which the company demonstrated yet again during a launch earlier this week. Rocket Lab won&t be using propulsion to achieve either re-entry or landing, like SpaceX does, which will be more efficient and practical for a smaller launch vehicle. Instead, itturning the booster around in space using a controlled burn to orient it optimally for a re-entry that helps it shed enough of its speed to allow it to deploy its parachute and descend at a rate where it can be caught by the helicopter — a maneuver thatactually relatively simple compared to a propulsive landing, despite its seeming complexity.
Depending on what happens with recovery of this booster, which Rocket Lab didn&t attempt to catch mid-air but which it is hoping to recover from the ocean, we should get an idea of next steps — including possibly when we&ll see an attempt to not just recover a rocket, but also refurbish and reuse it.
- Details
- Category: Technology
Read more: Rocket Lab launches 10th Electron mission with successful rocket booster re-entry
Write comment (90 Comments)Style Theory, a platform for renting designer apparel in Indonesia and Singapore, announced today it has raised $15 million in Series B funding. The startup says this is the first closing of the round. It was led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, the early-stage venture arm of SoftBank Group, with participation from other investors, including Alpha JWC Ventures and the Paradise Group.
Both SoftBank Ventures Asia and Alpha JWC Ventures are returning investors, having previously participated in Style TheorySeries A.
Founded in 2016 by Raena Lim and Chris Halim to counteract the waste created by fast fashion, Style Theory currently has more than 50,000 pieces of clothing and 2,000 designer bags in its inventory. In addition to its app, the company opened a flagship store on Orchard Road in Singapore last month. On average, Style Theorysubscribers rent up to 20 pieces of clothing and two designer bags a month and it has delivered more than one million items since launching, its founders say.
Style Theory co-founders Raena Lim and Chris Halim
Part of the funding will be used to further develop Style Theorytech platform. In an email interview, Lim and Halim told TechCrunch that Style Theory uses machine-learning algorithms to personalize clothing and fit recommendations for users based on their browsing and rental history and decide which designers and styles to carry. The startup also built a customized warehouse management system and distribution network that uses its own fleet of couriers to lower costs. In order to manage its inventory as the company scales up and expands into new markets, it plans to start using RFID tagging and will attach passive RFID tags on each of its rental items.
Lim and Halim say they plan to launch new apparel categories in Singapore and Indonesia before possibly expanding into more countries in 2020.
While Rent the Runway and Le Tote are the best-known fashion rental apps in the United States, Style Theoryoperating model has several key differences to serve the Southeast Asia market, Lim and Halim say. Longer work hours means many customers are often not at home to receive deliveries. They also rely on public transportation more than most Americans. In order to make the service more convenient, Style Theory opened its brick-and-mortar store and partners with automated locker providers, co-working spaces and department stores. Its app includes different payment solutions, as the regions they serve have relatively lower credit card penetration rates.
Style Theoryinventory is also picked with a diverse array of customers in mind.
&With the melting pot of cultures, we have to approach our merchandise mix with consideration to the different societal standards of formality and modesty in the workplace and social environment,& said Lim and Halim.
&Not only does our assortment have to serve the all-year tropical climate, with a seasonal selection for travel, we have to also meet the demands for the different cultural groups and customer preferences. We have introduced a line up of modest wear in Indonesia and more festive wear during the celebratory seasons in the year.&
In a press release, SoftBank Ventures Asia senior partner Sean Lee said, &Fashion has emerged as one of the last frontiers of the sharing economy, and with an attractive business model, Style Theory has proven that the company can change the way people consume fashion in Southeast Asia. I am excited to support Style Theoryexpansion across the region as well as continuous disruption.&
- Details
- Category: Technology
The Witcher TV series is coming to Netflix in December. It's based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, and the first season is 8 episodes long. Henry Cavill, best known as Superman in Man of Steel, plays Geralt of Rivia. He's a mutated, supernatural monster hunter, who gets caught between two warring human nations: the Nilfgaardian Empire and
- Details
- Category: Technology
Read more: The Witcher on Netflix: everything we know about the TV series
Write comment (97 Comments)It's been a month of grilling interviews, intense debates and outrage from the public for both Boris Johnson and the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. And now, it is time for the next round. Read on to see how to watch the BBC Prime Ministerial Debate online - aka Johnson vs Corbyn 2!
For both party leaders, November wasn't exactly a month of
- Details
- Category: Technology
A new vulnerability that could allow potential attackers to hijack VPN connections on affected NIX devices and inject arbitrary data payloads into IPv4 and Ipv6 TCP streams has been discovered by security researchers.
The researchers disclosed the security flaw they detected, tracked as CVE-2019-14899, to Linux distro makers, the Linux kernel
- Details
- Category: Technology
Read more: VPN connections could be hacked due to Linux security flaw
Write comment (93 Comments)Page 179 of 5614