Daily Archives: October 6, 2021

BMW’s New Factory Robots Can Paint Complex Designs on Cars

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BMW is taking the next step with customization with a newly developed robot that can quickly paint vehicles with complex designs like a giant inkjet printer.

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BMW worked with another German company, Duerr, to create a new factory robot that can paint two-tone finishes, or create elaborate designs on a vehicle, without any in-between masking required. The robot’s called the EcoPaintJet Pro and instead of a traditional paint sprayer on the business end, it uses a contraption that’s not unlike the print head on your inkjet printer. Jets of ink, as small as half a millimeter in thickness, are sprayed through an orifice plate which creates defined edges as it hits the vehicle. When combined with the precision movements of the EcoPaintJet Pro’s robotic arm, intricate designs can be created with transitions between colors that look as crisp as if masking techniques, such as tape or stencils, had been used.

At the BMW Dingolfing plant in Munich, the new robot and paint technique is being piloted on 19 new BMW M4 Coupés that roll out of the factory with a special two-tone finish featuring M4 branding on the hood and tailgate

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The precision of the applied paint means there’s no overspray—excess paint that ends up inside a painting room that has to be cleared away and disposed of, resulting in wasted materials and the use of harsh chemicals. BMW also believes the EcoPaintJet Pro will result in lower energy consumption as it will change how the sealed and highly ventilated painting rooms in its factories operate. “Since paint separation is no longer required, the amount of air needed is also lower. At around 7,000 operating hours, this results in energy savings of more than 6,000 megawatt-hours and reduces the carbon footprint by nearly 2,000 tonnes per year.”

Source: BMW’s New Factory Robots Can Paint Complex Designs on Cars

Telegraph newspaper exposes 10TB of server, user data online

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The Telegraph newspaper managed to leak 10TB of subscriber data and server logs after leaving an Elasticsearch cluster unsecured for most of September, according to the researcher who found it online.

The blunder was uncovered by well-known security researcher Bob Diachenko, who said that the cluster had been freely accessible “without a password or any other authentication required to access it.”

After sampling the database to determine its owner, Diachenko saw the personal details of at least 1,200 Telegraph subscribers along with a substantial quantity of internal server logs, he told The Register.

“A significant portion of the records were unencrypted,” he said. Screenshots he provided showed information including the user-agent string and device type, while categories of personal data included subscribers’ first and last names, email addresses, subscriber status, IP addresses and device type and operating system.

Affected users “should be on the lookout for targeted phishing and scams,” Diachenko advised. “Names and emails in the database can be used to send readers targeted scam messages.”

Aside from potential scam emails, the risk from this breach is relatively low unless having your news-reading habits collated in one place might cause professional embarrassment: Diachenko highlighted that in the data sample he viewed were a handful of gov.uk email addresses.

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Source: Telegraph newspaper exposes 10TB of server, user data online • The Register

Oculus Quest VR Goggles Becomes a Paperweight When Facebook Goes Down

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When Facebook went down yesterday for nearly six hours, so did Oculus’ services. Since Facebook owns VR headset maker Oculus, and controversially requires Oculus Quest users to log in with a Facebook account, many Quest owners reported not being able to load their Oculus libraries. “[A]nd those who just took a Quest 2 out of the box have reported that they’re unable to complete the initial setup,” adds PCGamer. As VRFocus points out, “the issue has raised another important question relating to Oculus’ services being so closely linked with a Facebook account, your Oculus Quest/Quest 2 is essentially bricked until services resume.” From the report: This vividly highlights the problem with having to connect to Facebook’s services to gain access to apps — the WiFi connection was fine. Even all the ones downloaded and taking up actual storage space didn’t show up. It’s why some VR fans began boycotting the company when it made all mandatory that all Oculus Quest 2’s had to be affiliated with a Facebook account. If you want to unlink your Facebook account from Oculus Quest and don’t want to pay extra for that ability, you’re in luck thanks to a sideloadable tool called “Oculess.” From an UploadVR article published earlier today: You still need a Facebook account to set up the device in the first place and you need to give Facebook a phone number or card details to sideload, but after that you could use Oculess to forgo Facebook entirely — just remember to never factory reset. The catch is you’ll lose access to Oculus Store apps because the entitlement check used upon launching them will no longer function. System apps like Oculus TV and Browser will also no longer launch, and casting won’t work. You can still sideload hundreds of apps from SideQuest though, and if you want to keep browsing the web in VR you can sideload Firefox Reality. You can still use Oculus Link to play PC VR content, but only if you stay signed into Facebook on the Oculus PC app. Virtual Desktop won’t work because it’s a store app, but you can sideload free alternatives such as ALVR.

To use Oculess, just download it from GitHub and sideload it using SideQuest or Oculus Developer Hub, then launch it from inside VR. If your Quest isn’t already in developer mode or you don’t know how to sideload you can follow our guide here.

Source: Oculus Quest Becomes a Paperweight When Facebook Goes Down – Slashdot

Scientists Have Successfully Recorded Data to DNA in Minutes not hours

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researchers at Northwestern University have devised a new method for recording information to DNA that takes minutes rather than hours or days.

The researchers utilized a novel enzymatic system to synthesize DNA that records rapidly changing environmental signals straight into its sequences, and this method could revolutionize how scientists examine and record neurons inside the brain.

A faster and higher resolution recording

To record intracellular molecular and digital data to DNA, scientists currently rely on multipart processes that combine new information with existing DNA sequences. This means that, for an accurate recording, they must stimulate and repress the expression of specific proteins, which can take over 10 hours to complete.

The new study’s researchers hypothesized they could make this process faster by utilizing a new method they call “Time-sensitive Untemplated Recording using Tdt for Local Environmental Signals”, or TURTLES. This way, they would synthesize completely new DNA rather than copying a template of it. The method enabled the data to be recorded into the genetic code in a matter of minutes.

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Source: Scientists Have Successfully Recorded Data to DNA in a Few Short Minutes