We believe that everyone’s future can be richer, happier and more efficient. But you can’t embrace that future unless you take the first, most crucial step: being informed about it.
Welcome to The Tipping Point, a regular post on Future Tech for people who don’t have enough time to read all the full news stories. Instead we shorten them, concentrate everything into one post, put that in your face, and you have to suck it. So let’s go!
This Weeks News!
COMPUTE: DNS over HTTPS Will Give You Back Privacy that Big ISPs Fought to Take Away
EFF
“An absurd thing is happening in the halls of Congress. Major ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon are banging on the doors of legislators to stop the deployment of DNS over HTTPS (DoH), a technology that will give users one of the biggest upgrades to their Internet privacy and security since the proliferation of HTTPS. This is because DoH ensures that when you look up a website, your query to the DNS system is secure through encryption and can’t be tracked, spoofed, or blocked. “
CRYPTO: Introducing Lightning Rod – Asynchronous Lightning Payments
Breez
“Lightning Rod enables users to complete payments asynchronously. In other words, they react when they want, not when the client wants them to. We’ll provide a simplified depiction of how it works here, but you’re welcome to check out our GitHub for full details.”
ENERGY: Trump’s coal subsidies failed, and the largest private US coal company files for bankruptcy
Electrek
“Murray Energy Holdings Co, the largest private coal company in the United States, has filed for bankruptcy in the midst of a rapidly diminishing demand for coal. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in Columbus, Ohio’s US Bankruptcy Court to restructure more than $2.7 billion of debt, according to Bloomberg.”
MEDICINE: Behind the Scenes of a Radical New Cancer Cure
Undark
“Birzer’s cancer had grown, and fast — first during one type of chemotherapy, then through a second. Out of standard options, Birzer’s local oncologist had referred her for a novel treatment called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy — or CAR-T. Birzer and Johnson knew the treatment was risky. They were warned there was a chance of death. There was also a chance of serious complications such as multi-organ failure and neurological impairment. But it was like warning a drowning person that her lifeboat could have problems. Without treatment, the chance of Birzer’s death was all but certain. She signed the consent form.”
MEDICINE: A New Crispr Technique Could Fix Almost All Genetic Diseases
Wired
“If Crispr-Cas9 is like scissors and base editors are like pencils, then you can think of prime editors to be like word processors” Why is that a big deal? Because with such fine-tuned command of the genetic code, prime editing could, according to Liu’s calculations, correct around 89 percent of the mutations that cause heritable human diseases. Working in human cell cultures, his lab has already used prime editors to fix the genetic glitches that cause sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease. Those are just three of more than 175 edits the group unveiled today in a scientific article published in the journal Nature.
NANO: Potential Nanotechnology Treatment for Celiac Disease Revealed
AZNano
“Developed by a team of researchers at Northwestern University, the treatment deploys a biodegradable nanoparticle with a gluten core. By building a shell around the gluten compound (gliadin) the Northwestern team could train the immune system to accept the compound into the body. During the phase-2 trial, patients that received the treatment demonstrated a significantly reduced autoimmune response versus patients that received a placebo.”
ROBOTICS: DJI Mavic Mini Released!
DJI
Coming in at $599 AUD ($399 USD) including the controller the super leaked Mavic Mini looks like a bit of a bitter sweet drone. Great price, great 30 minute flight time, great 249 g weight and apparently great to fly… but hobbled a bit with it’s 2.7K recording, no object avoidance and no Ocusync. Check out a great in depth review below for the full details!
We’ve also already added it to our fantastic Drone Comparison Sheet so check it out for a full break down of how it compares to all the other DJI drones out there!
TRANSPORT: Hyundai reveals pricing and specifications for Ioniq 2020 electric
The Driven
“Previously noted for its position as the cheapest electric car in Australia, the new 2020 electric Ioniq shrugs off the mantle of most affordable electric car in favour of longer range, a bigger battery, more power, big screen technology and fresh styling. The new all-electric Ioniq, which has range of 311km, up about 30% from its predecessor, is now priced from $48,490 for the Elite Trim and $52,490 for the Premium trim, both before on road costs. This is about $4,000 more than its previous pricing of $44,990 before on roads.”
TRANSPORT: Tesla’s latest software update, is a win-win
TechAU
“Once again, Tesla is rolling out a software update (this will be the 4th since I got my Model 3) which not only adds a 5% performance improvement but also delivers a couple of nice new features. Two new features in this update are Scheduled Departure and Automatic Navigation. Right now these two features are separate but I think have a massive opportunity to merge, or at least work together.”
And that’s it for this week! Let us know in the comments what you think or if you have found any other important news!
The benefits include: 1) How to get those silky smooth videos that everyone loves to watch, even if you're new 2) How to fly your drone, from taking off to the most advanced flight modes 3) Clear outlines of how to fly with step-by-step instructional demonstrations and more 4) Why flying indoors often results in new pilots crashing their drone 5) What other great 3rd party apps are out there to get the most out of your drone 6) A huge mistake many pilots make when storing their drone in the car and how to avoid it 7) How to do all of these things whilst flying safely and within your countries laws.
