Technology

Former NASA engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober along with two freshmen from Stanford University and a software engineer from the Bay Area, have created a record-smashing domino-building robot named the “Dominator.” Attempting to tackle this problem by hacking a Roomba five years ago, Mark and his team have finally created a robot capable of cracking the scale and reliability issues. Among the features that made it all possible are 3D printed funnels that allow the Dominator to hold and drop 300 dominos all at once and omni-wheels which allow the robot to move in any direction to adjust for small corrections. The machine consists of 2400+ 3D printed parts and is programmed with more than 14,000 lines of code with the sole goal of setting up dominos as fast as possible. Behind the scenes, a so...

Cassie — a bipedal robot from Agility Robotics — has just earned itself a new achievement by running a full five kilometers without needing any sort of tether. The new feat was achieved through something known as a deep reinforcement learning algorithm, which enables Cassie to teach itself how to maintain balance throughout the run by making small adjustments as it goes. OSU Dynamic Robotics Laboratory’s Yesh Godse explains that “Deep reinforcement learning is a powerful method in AI that opens up the skills like running, skipping and walking up and down stairs.” Overall, the five-kilometer run took Cassie just 43 minutes and 49 seconds, although it did falter twice, the first time due to computer components overheating and the second time simply because it took a turn too sharply. Despite...

Samsung Electronics has released its second-quarter earnings, reporting 20 percent higher revenue and 54 percent higher operating profit year-on-year despite its mobile division taking a hit due to component shortages. The company made an operating profit of 12.57 trillion won (~$10.97 billion) off 63.67 trillion won (~$55.56 billion) in revenue. Samsung says its mobile business suffered from the industry-wide component shortage as well as “production disruptions” in its Vietnam factories, some of which were closed after a COVID outbreak. Combined with weak seasonality resulting in less demand, revenue declined from the previous quarter, though it was still up year-on-year. The semiconductor business continues to be Samsung’s biggest financial driver, contributing more than a third of the ...

Engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober has created a robot that can make domino murals at lightning speed, and has shown it off with a video of it arranging 100,000 dominoes into a Super Mario Bros.-themed mural in just over 24 hours. Rober says it would take a team of seven humans a week to do the same thing. The robot, named the “Dominator,” achieves this by putting down 300 dominoes at a time — which are, of course, loaded into it by another robot. Rober says in the video that the current version of the Dominator is the culmination of years of work from him and his team, and he goes into how the device actually works, as well as showing some of the failed designs that led to the final product. If the name Mark Rober rings a bell, it may be because we’ve covered some of his exploits in the pas...

If you pay even the slightest attention to tech news, you’ve probably recently seen nonstop criticism of Facebook’s handling of COVID-19 misinformation, along with a barrage of negative headlines tied to a new book about the company called An Ugly Truth. These headlines generally paint the picture of a tech giant that is on the outs with users, advertisers, lawmakers, and its Silicon Valley peers. But as the world’s largest social network showed Wednesday, the reality of how its business is performing couldn’t be more opposite. Facebook said its revenue grew 56 percent in the second quarter to $29 billion, meaning it grew faster during the period than Apple or Microsoft. More impressively, its profit grew an astounding 101 percent to $10.4 billion. Daily users across Facebook, Instagram, a...

Amazon’s Kindle e-readers with built-in 3G will begin to lose the ability to connect to the internet on their own in the US in December, according to an email sent to customers on Wednesday. The change is due to mobile carriers transitioning from older 2G and 3G networking technology to newer 4G and 5G networks. For older Kindles without Wi-Fi, this change could mean not connecting to the internet at all. As Good e-Reader first noted in June, newer Kindle devices with 4G support should be fine, but for older devices that shipped with support for 3G and Wi-Fi like the Kindle Keyboard (3rd generation), Kindle Touch (4th generation), Kindle Paperwhite (4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th generation), Kindle Voyage (7th generation), and Kindle Oasis (8th generation), users will be stuck with Wi-Fi only. In...

Netflix will require the casts and some crew on its productions in the US to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a measure that comes as the Delta variant continues to spread across the country. Deadline first reported that the streaming giant recently notified its production teams that it would require casts and crew working in “Zone A” on US productions to be vaccinated. Deadline described this classification as including both cast members and those who are in close contact with them. According to the report, Netflix plans to make few exceptions to the new vaccination policy, with exclusions including age, medical, and religious reasons. Netflix confirmed the measure to The Verge but declined to comment further. Similar measures have been taken by companies including Facebook and Google for ...

When Tesla debuted its futuristic utility truck — aptly named Cybertruck — in 2019, pre-orders flooded in. The vehicle was originally slated to arrive at the end of this year, but due to production delays, the truck’s delivery date has now been pushed back. The truck’s updated production status was brought up during Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call earlier this week. “Cybertruck is at a stage where we finished basic engineering of the architecture of the vehicle. As Elon said, it carries much of the structural pack and large casting design of the Model Y being built in Berlin and Austin,” said Lars Moravy, vice president of vehicle engineering. “Obviously, those take priority over the Cybertruck, but we are moving into the beta phases of Cybertruck later this year and we will be lookin...

Apple will be requiring customers and staff at most of its more than 270 US retail stores to wear masks even if they are vaccinated, according to a new Bloomberg report, bringing back a requirement that had been removed starting in June. The change goes into effect Thursday. “After carefully reviewing the latest CDC recommendations, and analyzing the health and safety data for your local area, we are updating our guidance on face masks for your store,” Apple informed workers in a memo obtained by Bloomberg. “Starting July 29, face masks will be required in store for customers and team members — even if they’re vaccinated.” Apple employees who work in its corporate offices have also been told they must wear masks inside of Apple office buildings, Bloomberg reports. Apple didn’t immediately ...

Workers at a Houston, Texas facility that processes repairs for Apple, Dell, and Lenovo reportedly say they are working in “sweatshop” conditions, according to a story from Insider. Workers’ toilets are reportedly unsanitary and insufficient, they say they lack air conditioning, and they claim their pay is low at CSAT Solutions, a company that acts as a repair partner for tech companies like Apple. In the report, which is worth reading in its entirety, employees also reportedly say there aren’t enough bathrooms or parking spots for the number of workers, and that they’re not allowed to use their phones while working, even in the case of family or personal emergencies. One employee told Insider that she got off work to discover that her son had been taken to the hospital after being burned....