😎Dope E-Ink Monitors, Ice Cubes that don't Melt, and Stabby Drones

y drone haz talons

Dec 06, 2021

Why hello friends! How are you this fine Monday?

We put up our tree last weekend . . . and all of our ornaments are out of reach of our children.

Took about 30 seconds of watching my daughter make the little clone trooper walk through the air before we moved all the ornaments up a few branches.

I gotta find some ornament crafts to do with her.

It was a crazy week last week wasn’t it? With Jack stepping down from Twitter, Square being rebranded as Blocks, and this crypto dip.

When does the multi-year dip begin tho . . .

How was your Spotify Wrapped this year? I discovered that I am in the top 5 percent of all Powerwolf listeners . . . I blame the new album haha.

Lofi started taking over my 2021 playlist - and I started my own Lofi playlist to begin my catalog.

Here it is if you want to follow along

Let’s dive on in!

🕶Dope E-ink Monitors

Ok, so you’re suffering from eye strain staring at your blue screen monitor.

What do you do?

You take a break maybe, or you just keep grinding.

HOWEVER -what if you could relieve eye strain?

BEHOLD

It’s an e-ink monitor

Yeah, I had no idea this existed.

Can you imagine reading a book, browsing Spotify, or working on a document? It sounds like pure bliss!

I’ve always enjoyed the more natural e-ink display, and have always yearned for it on a phone.

Seriously, this one has been a real temptation

Maybe I should scale down for my next phone.

There’s also a 13 external monitor available too, for your portable needs. Check out this promo video.

It says that it will be available soon. I hope it doesn’t cost toooo much!

Go check it out, and all the other nifty e-ink tablets.

Boox E-ink Monitor

🧊Ice Cubes that Don’t Melt

You know how they ship out packages with all those little plastic ice packs?

I bet a lot of people just toss em in the trash.

I couldn’t find a number, but I bet there’s hundreds of 1000’s of them in landfills rotting for who knows how many years.

What about eco-friendly solutions? Well . . .

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a new type of cooling cube that could revolutionize how food is kept cold and shipped fresh without relying on ice or traditional cooling packs. These plastic-free, "jelly ice cubes" do not melt, are compostable and anti-microbial, and prevent cross-contamination . . . The cooling cubes contain more than 90 percent water and other components to retain and stabilize the structure. They are soft to the touch like a gelatin dessert and change color depending on temperature. (source)

Sounds like an ecological dream come true! I have to wonder - are they . . . edible?

Reminded me of this meme.

Resist eating the jelly ice cubes.

Fortunately, they are completely recyclable for the average consumer. No worrying about special pickups or anything like that. Just toss them in the trash!

Early tests have shown the cubes can withstand up to 22 pounds without losing form. They can be reused a dozen times—just a quick wash with water or diluted bleach—and then disposed of in the trash or with yard waste. (source)

Hopefully they’ll be commercially available soon!

I promise I won’t eat any . . .

Go read more about them at the link.

Non Melting Ice Cubes

✈Stabby Drones

Don’t worry - I don’t mean stabby in the kill sense.

I mean more like the - We watched falcons flying around and decided we needed to add talons.

Matt Simon from Wired writes about drones with talons - and these things are absolutely terrifying.

Here - look at this thing.

Despite the odd looking addition -it’s actually born from a very practical concern.

Over the years, quadcopters have mastered the skies, but not so much the landing: A drone is liable to tip over and bork its rotors on a moderately uneven surface. Birds, by contrast, can wrap their feet around just about anything, getting a grip with their toe pads and talons, which get a purchase on the roughness of a branch. (source)

It’s a fantastic point - drones suck at landing unless its their little base or a nice even surface.

What if you want to save battery and have your drone observe a bear from a tree branch or something? The researchers are currently working on a way to automate the landing and takeoff.

One of SNAG’s current limitations is that it isn’t autonomous. To do these experiments, a pilot had to remote-control the robot. But Lentink and his colleagues are working on a way for the robot to localize a branch, calculate how to approach it, and make the landing on its own. (source)

I think it’s only a matter of time until we see many drones with this tech. It just makes so much sense, after all.

Especially . . . for the three letter agencies.

The year is 2035. _____ was captured in ______ by a massive flying FALCN drone. “It just swooped out of the sky and grabbed him” said an eye witness. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. His guards tried to shoot - but the little drones flew at their faces and . . .”

Yup, just a little nightmare fuel for ya.

Go read more about it at the link! It goes into a ton of detail on the mechanics of the talons.

Drones with Talons