CeramicSpeed Bicycle Drivetrain

dezeen reports: [edited]

Danish company CeramicSpeed has developed what could be the world's most efficient bicycle drivetrain.

The Driven drivetrain has no chain or derailleurs, making it more than 99 per cent efficient. The prior drivetrain to beat was a Shimano Dura-Ace at 97.8 per cent efficiency — or 98.37 per cent when upgraded with CeramicSpeed parts.

The Shimano Dura-Ace, like the drivetrains on most bikes, is driven by a chain. While there are many advantages to chains, they eventually stretch and wear.

In contrast, CeramicSpeed's system is connected by a carbon-fibre shaft, which turns 90 degrees from the rear wheel and pedals. On either end of the shaft are 21 low-friction ceramic bearings, which transfer torque from the rider's pedalling through the drive shaft and onto the rear cog.
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London - Somerset - London, 14-07-18 & 15-07-18

London to Somerset
Daybreak (GoPro HERO3 Edit) - OVERWERK
Chillout Tent - The Hold Steady
Mambo italiano - Alma Cogan
Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill
I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night - Kiss
Love Hurts - Nazareth
I Can Only Give You Everything - Them
Robert De Niro's Waiting - Bananarama
Did You Ever? - Nancy Sinatra
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
Rapper's Delight (single) - Sugarhill Gang
The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix) - Passion Pit
Here Is A Song - Go Kart Mozart
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
Bulletproof - La Roux
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Seven Little Girls (Sitting In The Back Seat) - Paul Evans
My Doorbell - The White Stripes
Confusion Girl (single) - Frankmusik
Feels Like I'm In Love - Kelli Marie
Chewing Gum (mylo remix) - Annie
In A Broken Dream - Python Lee Jackson
Black Betty - Spiderbait
Something In The Air - Thunderclap Newman
Jealous (I Ain't With It) - Chromeo
Planet Earth - Duran Duran
Let It Go - Idina Menzel
Dreamer - Supertramp
Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn
Magic - Pilot
Feel Good Inc (Single Edit) - Gorillaz
You Spin Me Round (like a record) - Dead Or Alive
Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
Boogie Wonderland - Earth, Wind & Fire With The Emotions
Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear - Alan Price
Living On Video - Trans-X
C'est la vie (radio edit) - B*Witched
We Bros - WU LYF
Might Be Stars - The Wannadies
Missing (Todd Terry Club Remix) - Everything But The Girl
Shine A Little Love - Electric Light Orchestra
Pump Up the Volume - M&A&R&R&S (Marrs)
Gangnam Style (강남스타일) - PSY

Somerset to London
Just A Girl - No Doubt
Bodys - Car Seat Headrest
Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse
Moonlighting - Leo Sayer
Finest Dreams (feat. Kelis) - Richard X
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Astounded (feat. Curtis Mayfield) - Bran Van 3000
Xpander (7" Version) - Sasha
Wedding Bell Blues (Marry Me, Bill) - Fifth Dimension
John, I'm Only Dancing - David Bowie
Girls On Film - Duran Duran
The Boy From New York City - The Darts
Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
Creepin Up the Backstairs - The Fratellis
Dancing in the moonlight - King Harvest
Chain Reaction - Diana Ross
Macarena - Los Del Rio
Camouflage - Stan Ridgeway
The Diary Of Horace Wimp - Electric Light Orchestra
6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps
Whip It! (feat. Chloe Angelides) - LunchMoney Lewis
Skin Deep - The Stranglers
Informer [Radio Edit] - Snow
Save Tonight - Eagle-Eye Cherry
My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains
Ready to Go - Republica
Bang Bang - B.A. Robertson
Everyday I Love You Less And Less - Kaiser Chiefs
Show Me the Wonder - Manic Street Preachers
Faith - George Michael
All Star - Smash Mouth
Blue Moon - Showaddywaddy
He Said He Loved Me - Reverend and the Makers
Hole In My Shoe - Traffic
Come back and stay for good this time - Paul Young
Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
Misirlou (Theme From Pulp Fiction) - Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
My Give A Damn's Busted - Jo Dee Messina
Hungry Like The Wolf - Reel Big Fish
Hotel California - SkaDaddyZ
Hot Pink - Let's Eat Grandma
Your Woman - White Town
The Distance - Cake
I'm a Believer (radio version) - Smash Mouth
Holiday - Madonna
What I Am - Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians
Ray Of Light - Madonna
Carey - Joni Mitchell
Django Jane - Janelle Monáe
Tonight's The Kind Of Night - Noah and the Whale
Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit - Gina G
Devil's Haircut - Beck
Call On Me - Eric Prydz
Dr Fell - Juliet Turner
Umbrella (Radio Edit) - Rihanna
Memphis In The Meantime - John Hiatt
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit
Superstar - Jamelia
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Icon Construct 3D Printed House In One Day

Wired reports: [edited]

A typical family home in the US takes an average of six and a half months to build. An Austin-based startup called Icon can produce a house nearly 200 times faster. In a day.

To be fair, the company is building houses that max out at 800 square feet. The fabrication is the work of a huge 3-D printer called Vulcan. Engineers run digital blueprints for the home through so-called slicer software, which translates the design into the programming language G-code. That code determines where the printer moves along its track, extruding 3⁄4-inch-thick layers of concrete like icing on a cake. The base material — a finely calibrated mix of cement, sand, plasticisers, and other aggregates — gets poured into a hopper at the top of the printer and flows onto the rising walls below.

The resulting abodes, which will cost $4,000 to build, are the latest addition in the tiny-house movement. In 2019, Icon intends to ship the Vulcan to El Salvador, where it’s slated to print 100 homes for disadvantaged families.

The startup’s next excursion may be even farther afield: Icon is participating in a NASA competition to develop printable space habitats using “indigenous materials,” the planetary soil available onsite.
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IBM Computer Debates Humans and Wins

Cnet reports: [edited]

IBM has created a system called Project Debater that competes in what the company calls computational argumentation – knowing a subject, presenting a position and defending it against opposition. At a press event, IBM pitted the system against two humans with a track record of winning debates.

In one debate, Noa Ovadia overall nudged two people among a few dozen in a human audience toward her perspective that governments shouldn't subsidise space exploration. But in the second, Project Debater soundly defeated Dan Zafrir, pulling nine audience members toward its stance that we should increase the use of telemedicine.

Project Debater was trained in advance on debating methods, but not the details of the debate itself, which it found out about only moments before the debate started. To formulate its argument, it had at its disposal a collection of 300 million news articles and scholarly papers, previously indexed for quick search results. But it had to find the information, package it persuasively, listen to its opponents' arguments and formulate a rebuttal.

Although IBM didn't try to pretend Debater is human, it speaks in a well-modulated female voice, and researchers call it "she." At the top of the pillar was a display showing its state of mind with curvaceous shapes in a soothing blue.

Debater showed a grasp of debating's nuts and bolts. It marshalled evidence, told you its stance, explained how its argument would proceed and made its case. It quoted authorities, like German ministers touting the economic benefits of space exploration or scientific studies showing better health outcomes for diabetes patients monitored from afar.

There were gaffes, like the moment Debater said subsidising space exploration "is more important than good roads, improved schools or better health care."
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