HAPPENINGS

MilliDelta robot surgeon is the size of a one cent coin The miniature bot can move much faster than its counterparts. Another tiny  robot  is gearing up to  join  the  ranks  of  microsurgeons , but this one is small enough to fit in your coin purse. Inspired by pop-up books and origami, the  milliDelta bot  measures mere millimetres when unfolded (roughly the size of a one cent coin). But, even at that scale, the miniature helper packs flexible joints and bending, piezoelectric actuators that allow it to work with force, precision, and high speed. Its creators (from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) claim it can perform a range of microsurgery and manufacturing tasks in compact spaces. Its creators (from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) claim it can perform a range of mic

Tesla’s Model 3 is the most highly anticipated car of the 21st century. It may be the most eagerly awaited car of all time. More than 450,000 people put down  $1,000 refundable deposits  to reserve one of the “affordable” battery electric sedans after Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled the car and inaugurated the waiting list in March 2016. Since then, online forums and automotive news websites have breathlessly reported every Musk tweet, production delay or postponed delivery date. Now the first Model 3s are rolling away from the Fremont factory, and we were able to secure one for a long holiday weekend test drive. So? The Model 3, from its inception as Tesla’s “mass-market vehicle,” promised the transportation trifecta of long range, low cost and high performance. The 3 was to be sporty, silent and quick, and emit zero pollutants, while going at least 200 miles on a charge and costing less than $35,000 before rebates and incentives. Many people assumed it woul

In what is being described as a "first," lifeguards successfully deployed a drone to rescue two boys in trouble while swimming off the eastern coast of Australia Thursday. It was all a bit of serendipity, too. Members of the Australian Lifeguard Service just happened to be training with the drone — which is being developed to spot sharks — when they got word that the swimmers were having difficulty nearby as they encountered a 9-foot swell in rough surf conditions, according to the surf lifesaving website in New South Wales. And the man piloting the drone at the time just happened to be Jai Sheridan, the 2017 New South Wales Lifeguard of the Year He steered the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is equipped with a flotation pod that can be dropped into the sea, toward the swimmers, who were about half a mile away. After spotting them, he dropped the pod with pinpoint accuracy. The two grabbed onto it and made it to shore with the help of the waves. A team of lif

President Trump ’s comments about the 2013 government shutdown during the Obama administration have resurfaced as the federal government races toward a shutdown of its own. Trump spoke to “Fox & Friends” in 2013 and was asked who would be fired during a government shutdown, as shown in a clip posted by "Morning Joe." “Well, if you say who gets fired it always has to be the top,” Trump said. “I mean, problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top and the president’s the leader. And he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead.” He said that further down in history, “when they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States, who the president was at that time.” “They’re not going to be talking about who was the head of the House, the head the Senate, who’s running things in Washington,” Trump said. “So I really think the pressure is on the presid

WhatsApp WhatsApp's  push  to get more businesses to use its platform, so it can finally rake in cash from its  1.3 billion users , now includes a full-fledged business app. It's appropriately dubbed  WhatsApp Business  and is available on Android in select markets including the US, UK, Indonesia, Italy, and Mexico, ahead of a worldwide rollout. WhatsApp laid out its customer service  strategy  over a year ago, describing a place where you could contact banks about fraudulent transactions and airlines about delayed flights (like  Twitter  and  Messenger  before it). Sure enough, updates including verified accounts and yellow message bubbles for businesses followed in beta. Those customer-facing tools remain, and are now joined by business profiles that display basic contact info such as a bio, email, address, and phone number (in the vein of  Instagram's  tools for companies). Plus, there's smart replies for FAQs and greetings, messaging metrics

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to have a fairy-tale romance. And it's very clear that Meghan is her own person with her own interests and seems to be a very solid human being who truly cares about others -- especially women's rights. So it should come as no surprise that  Prince Harry is a feminist , but what's lovely is that Meghan is talking about it -- noting some of the not often spoken about but great qualities about the prince.  "He's a feminist, too." Retropix/Splash News While on their third official outing together, Meghan and Harry met with royal watchers outside Cardiff Castle in Wales. According to  People , it was there that 23-year-old Jessica Phillips caught the princess-to-be's attention and told her how much she appreciated her work as a feminist and to advance women's rights. Without missing a beat, Meghan said, "He's a feminist, too," while nodding in Harry's direction. Harry just got

Look away now if you own bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. This won’t be breaking news to you if you are invested, but today has seen the entire crypto market fall by double-digit percentages. The price of bitcoin slumped by 15 percent to drop below $12,000 for the first time since December 4. Ethereum, meanwhile, fell by over 20 percent to hover above $1,000 and Ripple is down 33 percent to $1.23 at the time of writing. The price drop is having a huge impact.  According to Coinmarketcap.com , a site that is quickly becoming the go-to price checker, just one of the top 100 highest valued cryptocurrencies isn’t in the red over the past 24 hours. That’s Tether. It’s a far cry from when bitcoin hit a record of close to $20,000 exactly a month ago on December 16. Despite the drop, Ethereum, Ripple and the rest of the alt coins have largely fared worse than bitcoin. The top 10 based on coin market caps… Numbers 11-20… Finally, a little green ink at number 25…

Bank of America may be looking into cryptocurrency exchange services for its corporate clients – or at least keeping its options open should they become interested. In a patent awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, the second-largest bank in the U.S.  outlined a potential cryptocurrency exchange system  that would convert one digital currency into another. Further, this system would be automated, establishing the exchange rate between the two currencies based on external data feeds. The patent describes a potential three-part system, where the first part would be a customer’s account and the other two would be accounts owned by the business running the system. The user would store their chosen cryptocurrency through the customer account. The second account, referred to as a "float account," would act as a holding area for the cryptocurrency the customer is selling, while the third account, also a float account, would contain the equivalent a

Cryptocurrencies across the market  are in the middle of a huge crash . All cryptocurrencies are falling amid a major selloff. Most have fallen more than 10 per cent over the morning, and the price of bitcoin has dropped below $12,000. Just days ago, bitcoin was marching towards $20,000. But just today it has fallen more than 10 per cent – taking it down almost 40 per cent over the last month, but still having risen more than 1,300 per cent over the year. Bitcoin is the best performing of the various cryptocurrencies over the morning. Ripple, the third largest cryptocurrency, had dropped by as much as 25 per cent amid major volatility. Ethereum fell by more than 15 per cent. The price of cryptocurrencies tends to fluctuate wildly, and far more quickly than other more traditional assets and currencies. But the plunge on Tuesday morning is extreme even in that market. The drop came amid increasing suggestions in South Korea that officials mig