Round-Up

Factor’s Gift Guide: 10 Gifts for Geeks and Scifi Supremos

December 8, 2016 Callum Tyndall

Stuck trying to find a present for the geek or science fiction fan in your life? We’ve got the answer, with 10 fun but nerdy ideas for gifts this Christmas.

Pluto Plush

£14.95 from getDigital

The change of Pluto’s status from planet to dwarf planet was hard to bear and has to have been an emotional blow to the planet itself. Luckily you now have the chance to provide poor Pluto some comfort with this 1:17,000,000 plush. With the heart and arms based on the famous images sent from NASA’s New Horizons space probe, this is probably the friendliest the ice planet has ever been.

Cross Marvel Tech2 Iron Man Gift Set

£65 from Cross

To commemorate three of the most iconic characters from the Marvel franchise – Captain America, Spider-Man, and Iron Man – Cross have paired up their Tech2 Marvel pens with high quality journals to produce the perfect gift set for the Marvel fan in your life. And just in case the looks alone weren’t enough to sell you on this, the pen itself switches between stylus and ballpoint to work with touchscreens.

Spiral Planetary Nebula Mural

£25+ from Murals Wallpaper

Showing the planetary nebula NGC 5189, this mural is a beautiful addition to any astronomically inclined home. The image, captured by NASA’s Hubble Wide Field Camera, shows the star as it consumes the last remaining fuel from its core and expels glowing clouds of gas. Lighting up the darkness of space with the bright gases of sulphur, hydrogen and oxygen, this mural adds some stellar colour to any home.

Robocup

€20.95 from MonsterZeug

A great gift for fans of the ‘80s classic, this Robocop mug combines high quality ceramic with the grim visage of a cyborg to satisfy all caffeine needs. Once designed to fight crime, the part-man part-machine now serves to deliver your morning coffee. So whether you’re a fan yourself, or just trying to help a friend get over the reboot, be sure to add this to your Christmas list.

Zeitia Polygon Chrome Chandelier

£1,000 from The Chandelier & Mirror Company

If you want a lighting fixture for a geometrically inclined friend, this is the chandelier for you. Finished in chrome and composed of LED lights, the polygonal piece is sure to be as much of a talking piece as a source of illumination. Suitable for any room in the home, it may be pricey, but you’re unlikely to see much else like it.

Zero Gravity Fridge Rover

£4.99 from Mulberry Bush

A brilliant little wind up car for any space geeks out there, the Fridge Rover makes use of magnets and a clockwork mechanism to defy gravity. A nice stocking filler, just wind it up and put it on your fridge to see the rover at work as it grips and goes. The science can be kept a secret, but the fun is certain to be obvious.

Scientific Lab Flasks

£14 from Not Another Bill

Whether your recipients are just after décor that’s a little quirkier than usual or needing some new glassware for those secret experiments, these flasks have you covered. Each with 100ml or 250ml measurements, the glass homeware set features one beaker and two flasks. Bring a little science to your sauces by using them for measuring, or make your centrepiece a little more experimental and place them as a vase.

Townsend Star Wars R2-D2 Fountain Pen

£575 from Cross

You don’t need to go to a galaxy far, far away to get a great gift for the Star Wars fan in your life this Christmas. Instead, grab this limited edition pen to commemorate the original movie. With deep-etched engravings on brushed platinum plate and presented in a luxury gift box, each of these pens is individually serialised. Well worthy of a triumphant whistle.

LEGO Doctor Who Set

£49.99 from Forbidden Planet

LEGO continues its trend of producing the best licensed products out there with this Doctor Who set. Created by fan-designer Andrew Clark, this set brings together the Doctor and Clara inside the Tardis to face some of their iconic enemies. Choose from the Eleventh or Twelfth Doctor and then set him against a pair of Daleks or a Weeping Angel. Don’t blink, though, or you might miss this amazing gift.

Human Ingredients T-Shirt

£20 from the Science Museum Shop

Ever wondered just what it is that goes into making you, well, you? Wonder no more, as the Science Museum has you covered with this handy t-shirt. Presented in the manner of a food label, the t-shirt’s design lists the most commonly found elements in the human body. Your nearest and dearest will never be caught out by the pub quiz again as right in front of their nose is the answer: they’re 65% oxygen.

Futurism:
this week

Round-Up

April 13, 2018

Wanted man captured thanks to facial recognition

A Chinese man who was wanted by police for “economic crimes” – which can include anything from tax evasion to the theft of public property – was arrested at a music concert in China after facial recognition technology spotted him inside the venue.

Source: Abacus News

SpaceX president commits to city-to-city rocket travel

SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell has reiterated the company’s plans to make city-to-city travel — on Earth — using a rocket that’s designed for outer space a reality. Shotwell says the tech will be operational “within a decade, for sure.”

Source: Recode

Businessman wins battle with Google over 'right to be forgotten'

A businessman fighting for the "right to be forgotten" has won a UK High Court action against Google.. The businessman served six months’ in prison for “conspiracy to carry out surveillance”, and the judge agreed to an “appropriate delisting order".

Source: Press Gazette

UK launched cyber attack on Islamic State

The UK has conducted a "major offensive cyber campaign" against the Islamic State group, the director of the intelligence agency GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has revealed. The operation hindered the group's ability to co-ordinate attacks and suppressed its propaganda.

Source: BBC

Goldman Sachs consider whether curing patients is bad for business

Goldman Sachs analysts have attempted to tackle the question of whether pioneering "gene therapy" treatment will be bad for business in the long run. "Is curing patients a sustainable business model?" analysts ask in a report entitled "The Genome Revolution."

Source: CNBC

Four-armed robot performing surgery in the UK

A £1.5m "robotic" surgeon, controlled using a computer console, is being used to shorten the time patients spend recovering after operations. The da Vinci Xi machine is the only one in the country being used for upper gastrointestinal surgery.

Source: BBC

Futurism:
this week

Round-Up

April 6, 2018

Virgin Galactic rocket planes go past the speed of sound

Virgin Galactic completed its first powered flight in nearly four years when Richard Branson's space company launched its Unity spacecraft, which reached supersonic speeds before safely landing. “We’ve been working towards this moment for a long time,” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in an email to Quartz.

Source: Quartz

Google employees protest being in "the business of war"

Thousands of Google employees, including dozens of senior engineers, have signed a letter protesting the company’s involvement in a Pentagon program that uses AI to interpret video imagery and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes. The letter, which is circulating inside Google, has garnered more than 3,100 signatures

Source: New York Times

Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently”

MIT researchers have developed a computer interface that transcribes words that the user verbalises internally but does not actually speak aloud. The wearable device picks up neuromuscular signals in the jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalisations — saying words “in your head” — but are undetectable to the human eye.

Source: MIT News

Drones could be used to penalise bad farming

A report by a coalition of environmental campaigners is arguing squadrons of drones should be deployed to locate and penalise farmers who let soil run off their fields. Their report says drones can help to spot bad farming, which is said to cost more than £1.2bn a year by clogging rivers and contributing to floods.

Source: BBC

Californian company unveil space hotel

Orion Span, a California company, has unveiled its Aurora Station, a commercial space station that would house a luxury hotel. The idea is to put the craft in low-earth orbit, about 200 miles up, with a stay at the hotel likely to cost $9.5 million for a 12-day trip, but you can reserve a spot now with an $80,000 deposit.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

UK mobile operators pay close to £1.4bn for 5G

An auction of frequencies for the next generation of mobile phone networks has raised £1.36bn, says regulator Ofcom. Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three all won the bandwidth needed for the future 5G mobile internet services, which are not expected to be launched until 2020.