Weekly Rewind: Apple’s new campus, Lilium’s flying cars, Lowe’s comic books

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That's why we've compiled a quick and dirty list of this week's top tech stories, from Watson's role at the U.S. Open to how to get free Netflix  — it's all here.

Watson tracked every serve, set, and save to show you the best of the U.S. Open

Last Thursday, 19-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer was taken to the limit in a five-set thriller against Mikhail Youhzny at the 2017 U.S. Open.

As the action played out at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Digital Trends was invited into the heart of the Arthur Ashe Stadium to see how IBM used its cutting edge technology to track every serve, set, and rally.

IBM has been a fixture at the U.S. Open since 1990, and the company's ability to give fans better access to the biggest matches has evolved with every passing year. This year, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and a host of other technologies came together to curate the best play from each day of the tournament.

Read: Watson tracked every serve, set, and save to show you the best of the U.S. Open

New gene editing tech promises to be even better than CRISPR

Just when we were getting used to the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing revolution, a new "fourth-generation" DNA base editor has come along, offering a new way to modify the genetic code that may be safer in terms of reducing potential mistakes.

Base editing is a relatively new approach to genome editing. It describes a technique in which a target point mutation is directly converted back to the normal DNA sequence on a permanent basis, without having to introduce a double-stranded cut in the DNA. Because most human genetic variants associated with disease are point mutations, base editing could offer a means by which to advance the study and future treatment of human genetic diseases.

The fourth-generation base editor offers a way to improve base editing efficiency, while greatly reducing undesired byproducts — thereby making the edits much "cleaner."

Read: New gene editing tech promises to be even better than CRISPR

Electric jet company Lilium receives $90M to make flying cars a reality

How much money would you throw at a company promising to deliver Jetsons-like flying cars? If you're anything like the venture capitalists involved with German aviation startup Lilium Aviation, the answer is $90 million. That is how much they invested in a recently completed Series B funding round.

Among the high-profile investors are Chinese internet giant and investment company Tencent, private banking and asset management firm LGT. They joined Twitter co-founder and former CEO Evan Williams and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström as individuals with a vested interest in making Lilium's flying cars take off. The $90 million brings the total investment in the company to more than $100 million — which is hopefully enough to deliver a sweet product to the market place in the not-too-distant future.

Read: Electric jet company Lilium receives $90M to make flying cars a reality

Digital actors will never replace humans, says Andy Serkis (and he would know)

Andy Serkis' first love has always been acting. Serkis spent 14 years performing on the stage and British television before landing the coveted role of Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which took his career on a strange turn into the emerging art of motion and performance capture. Today, Serkis is known worldwide as the master of performance capture, having brought to life characters from Gollum to King Kong (in Jackson's remake), to Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, and a leading role as Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy.

While Serkis continues to explore additional performance-capture roles like Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Baloo in his directorial turn for Jungle Book: Origins, he's also spent time recently as a consultant on the first-ever Planet of the Apes video game, Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier, for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this fall.

Read: Digital actors will never replace humans, says Andy Serkis (and he would know)

Source: Weekly Rewind: Apple's new campus, Lilium's flying cars, Lowe's comic books

Lilium flying taxi company secures $90M in funding

German flying taxi company Lilium is determined to reinvent the way humans are transported. To help it take flight, the company announced it has secured $90 million in new funding.

The $90 million figure is much higher than its first round of funding, which raised $10 million, according to Tech Crunch. However, since its first investment period, Lilium has built a working prototype of its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) electric plane. The first successful flight was completed via remote control and was an essential step to ensure its design would translate to a production model.  The design makes use of rotating electric fans for take-off and flying.

Lilium Eagle electric flying car prototype during maiden test flight on April 20, 2017

Enlarge Photo

During take-off, the electric fans point vertically to propel the VTOL vehicle upward. Then, the electric fans move to a horizontal position to accelerate the vehicle through the air. Once enough lift is created, the wings take over much like a traditional airplane.

The company is aware of the hurdles it will have to overcome for its idea of transportation to one day be accepted as the norm. For example, it will need to work through red tape to ensure dozens of Lilium VTOLs flying about are even legal. However, as far as livability concerns, the company claims the VTOLs are incredibly quiet, and since they'll be flying at high altitude, people won't see them buzzing just above their heads.

Lilium claims its VTOL will allow for travel that is five times quicker than a traditional trip by car, but whether it's the first to realize such a transportation revolution remains to be seen. There are quite a few companies striving towards a similar goal, after all.

Source: Lilium flying taxi company secures $90M in funding

When people will drive flying cars

Renaud Marion's Air Drive series features images of cars without wheels, levitating above the ground in various urban locations

French photographer Renaud Marion began his artistic career as a graffiti artist. He started using photography as a way to preserve his fleeting spray-painted street art, but is now a well-known photographic artist. Renaud's whimsical artworks are inspired by his childhood memories, his love for science-fiction, and the work of quirky filmmakers and photographers such as Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson, Alec Soth and Nadav Kander. In his latest body of work, Air Drive, the artist has visualised a future when people will drive flying cars.

The Air Drive series features photographs of cars without wheels, levitating above the ground in various urban locations. But the artist has added a nice retro twist to this futuristic concept, by using vintage and classic cars in his images. By catapulting these iconic cars from the glory days of automobil e production, into the future, the artist has created a surreal retro-futuristic world, inviting viewers to join him on a fun flight of fantasy.

"Growing up in the 1980s, I thought that by the turn of the century everyone would be piloting flying cars, like the landspeeder from Star Wars or the futuristic soaring machines created by French artist Moebius. I also imagined the new millennium with spaceships, parallel worlds, extra-terrestrials living with us on earth and time travel. Since my childhood fantasy of driving a floating vehicle has not yet become a reality, I decided to bring it to life in my images. After all, our dreams of today are the reality of tomorrow," Marion says.

The artist, who began this project in 2012 in Geneva, describes the process of creating his flying cars as a two-step 'manufacturing' process, which involved finding the right cars and locations, and using the right equipment.

"I walked around the streets in Geneva and took pi ctures of cars that were parked on the side of the road because I wanted to use life size models and not miniatures. I chose classic cars because they most closely resembled my childhood idea of what a flying car would look like. The first vehicles I photographed included a Chevrolet El Camino, a Mercedes 300 SL Roadster and a Jaguar XK120," he says.

He then used a digital assembly technique for removing the tyres and wheel wells from the classic cars, and merging them onto different backgrounds.

"I looked for places devoid of people and recognisable buildings, so that the cars take centre-stage against backgrounds of mid-20th century architecture in varying textures and muted colours. I specifically looked for 1970s architecture, because to me, the imposing, massive and graphic buildings from that period have a retro-futuristic look," Marion says.

When he posted the pictures online, they were appreciated not only by art lovers, but also by lovers of classic cars, and sci-fi fans. As a result, many classic car collectors offered to lend him their prized possessions such as a Mercedes 300SL Paul O'Shea, a Lincoln Continental and an Aston Martin DB356, for the project. Leica also loaned him their latest camera for the shoot, which he did in Paris, where he lives.

"What if it were true that in their time, Jules Verne or Leonardo da Vinci had unconsciously created universes to condition humans for a future they could never imagine? Today science fiction is everywhere. Is it here to prepare us to fly in spaceships, to meet people with super powers or simply to drive flying cars," the artist asks.

Jyoti Kalsi is an arts-enthusiast based in Dubai.

Air Drive will run at MB&F M.A.D. Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz until September 10.

Source: When people will drive flying cars

Protecting pacemakers; orange juice futures soar; investing in flying cars

Chronicle Staff and News Services

Published 2:31 pm, Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Image 1 of 1

This is a rendering of a landing pad pier for Lilium Aviation's flying car.

This is a rendering of a landing pad pier for Lilium Aviation's flying car.

Photo: LILIUM, NYT

Protecting pacemakers; orange juice futures soar; investing in flying cars

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Back to Gallery

Hacking a pacemaker?

About 465,000 people in the U.S. are being warned by the Food and Drug Administration that they should update the firmware for their pacemakers or they will be putting themselves at risk of potentially fatal hacks. Ars Technica reported that updating the Abbott Laboratories devices requires patients to go to a clinic, then doctors will get the pacemakers in backup mode long enough for the firmware to be patched.

Number of the day

6.2%

That's how much orange juice futures jumped Tuesday on fears that Hurricane Irma could blast key orange-producing areas of Florida, MarketWatch reported. November frozen concentrated orange juice climbed by 8.4 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $1.449 per pound. That would be the highest since May 12, according to FactSet.

Other number of the day

$90 million

That's what German flying-car startup Lilium Aviation raised in a new round of financing. The investment was led by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings. Other investors included LGT, the investment vehicle of Liechtenstein's royal family; Atomico, the venture firm run by Niklas Zennström, a founder of Skype; and Obvious Ventures, the investment firm of Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle

Source: Protecting pacemakers; orange juice futures soar; investing in flying cars

Eerie moment a thick cloud of fog suddenly swamps a busy motorway and causes an eight-car pile-up

THIS is the heart stopping moment a thick cloud of fog suddenly swamped a busy motorway causing an eight-car pile-up.

Four people were taken to hospital and the air ambulance was called following the horror smash on the M65 in Lancashire.

Mercury Press

This is the moment a thick cloud of fog suddenly swamped a busy motorway and caused an eight-car pile-up

Mercury Press

The horror smash on the M65 in Lancashire happened on Friday

Miraculously none of those who were taken to hospital following the pile-up on Friday were said to have been seriously injured.

The terrifying video shows drivers' brake lights suddenly appearing through the heavy fog.

As drivers hit the brakes cars are seen smashing into one another, sending debris flying.

Dashcam footage – taken by Leticia Heys- shows the speed some motorists still go in adverse driving conditions.

Leticia's husband Chris uploaded the footage to Facebook and said he felt "lucky" she was not killed in the crash, The Mail Online reports.

He wrote: "Today I feel very fortunate that but for the grace of god this morning i almost lost the most precious jewel in my crown, my wife.

"The video below is the dashcam footage from her car that shows just how close she was to getting hit from behind with a big truck.

"If she hadn't moved her car onto the hard shoulder when she did the truck would undoubtedly have hit her."

Mercury Press

The road had looked clear just moments before

Mercury Press

The driver had a lucky escape when a lorry appears in the footage moments after she had pulled into the hard shoulder

A MOTHER'S LOVE Pregnant Kate is comforted by her mum as she suffers severe morning sickness while Prince Harry says he's 'very happy' about royal baby number THREE

'IT WAS JUST HARMLESS FUN' Wayne Rooney's party girl calls for Coleen to forgive him - but admits 'we would have ended up s****ing'

SUMMER OF 69 Randy naked couple perform sex acts on each other in the middle of the street in shocking Ibiza video

NUKE KID ON THE BLOCK North Korea has successfully developed a nuke that can fit INSIDE a ballistic missile

ECSTASY BAG EXPLODED IN STOMACH Ibiza drug death girl 'had five bags of drugs inside her when she died'

COL'S WEDDING BANNEDS Coleen Rooney fuels rumours she's split up with husband Wayne after she's seen in public WITHOUT her £500k wedding rings following his drink drive arrest

He added: "I'm sharing this because I feel so lucky to still have her and just want to say to everyone - please don't take your loved ones for granted (we all do it).

"You never know when you might not get to tell them you love them again.

"To my wife, you are the most amazing person I know, I married you all those years ago because I loved you more than anything and this is even more so today... I LOVE YOU!!"

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.

Source: Eerie moment a thick cloud of fog suddenly swamps a busy motorway and causes an eight-car pile-up

Man accidentally crashes car into Staten Island laundromat, six injured

A man accidentally gunned his car in reverse early Sunday as he was backing out of a parking spot in a Staten Island mall — plowing into the center of a laundromat, authorities said.

The 74-year-old driver was in a shopping mall on Page Ave. near Amboy Rd. in Tottenville around 8 a.m. when he sent his vehicle flying in the wrong direction, police said.

Bradley Grantham, 26, was inside a nearby business when he hear a loud noise that "almost sounded like an explosion."

He ran into the laundromat and saw the white Ford SUV had barreled deep into the store.

"The car was all the way in the back. Maybe 30 to 40 feet in. There were three people pinned against the wall. Several other injured people were lying to the side," he said.

Grantham said he tried to free the trapped customers but couldn't budge the truck. Emergency crews arrived within minutes and pulled everyone to safety, witnesses said.

The sudden Sunday morning crash left three people with serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening and three others with minor injuries, police and fire officials said.

"No serious injuries," said Grantham. "It could have been worse."

All six were transported to Staten Island University Hospital, authorities said.

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Source: Man accidentally crashes car into Staten Island laundromat, six injured

Flying solo in PDX this weekend, your tips and suggestions?

My wife is at a conference outside of Portland in Clackamas and I came along. I'd like to have suggestions on what to do all day tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday on my own, as I explore the city while she is busy. It is my second time in Portland but I am still very unfamiliar with the city. Your suggestions and stories and must dos welcome!!

I'm at the hotel right now and am venturing into Portland tomorrow morning. We leave Monday. I have no car and will be relying on Lyft to get me downtown and back. I am trying to figure out an itinerary of things I can do tomorrow and Sunday on my own that are fun doing solo, that are relatively walkable and interesting. I love art, books and theater. I love coffee and beer and fun cafes and people watching. I'd like to have a couple concrete destinations to check out and then fill in with stops along the way. My budget is flexible, just want to have some good stuff in my plans from people who know what they are talking about! Keep in mind I don 't have a car except Lyft. TIA!

posted by timpanogos to Travel & Transportation around Portland, OR (10 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
Source: Flying solo in PDX this weekend, your tips and suggestions?