TLDR 2021-12-31

Robinhood will launch a beta version of its cryptocurrency wallet next month. The program will be available for tens of thousands of waitlisted users. More than 1.6 million people signed up for the waitlist. Robinhood users are currently only able to withdraw their cryptocurrency investments as cash balances, but this will change with the introduction of the crypto wallet. There is no set date for when the final version of the wallet will be available to the general public.

A newly leaked official render of Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra shows a device that is pretty much a Note in every way except for its name. The phone features a wide screen, an S Pen silo, a flat top and bottom, and a camera array that is similar to the layout from the S21 Ultra. The leaked render is available in the article. A link to a gallery showing real-world shots of the S22 Ultra is also available.

A team of researchers have announced the development of a fully photonics-based approach to quantum computing. The team's approach could lead to the development of rack-sized, mostly maintenance-free large-scale quantum computing systems. Photonics-based quantum computing takes advantage of emerging quantum properties in light. The new design allows for a reduction in required raw materials without the complexity of controlling multiple quantum computing units.

Boston Dynamics' Stretch robot is designed to move heavy boxes just as fast as an experienced warehouse worker, all day long. The robot can transfer boxes that weigh as much as 50 pounds from the back of a truck to a conveyor belt at a rate of 800 boxes per hour. It can also unload boxes from pallets, put boxes on shelves, build orders out of multiple boxes from different places in a warehouse, and load boxes onto trucks. Human workers will still be required to monitor the robot and to handle other more nuanced parts of the job. Stretch will start shipping to customers in 2022.

This tutorial teaches developers how to create a cryptocurrency using Solidity and the ERC20 Token standard. Readers will learn how to develop and deploy Ethereum Smart Contracts, create ERA20 Tokens, set up local Ethereum development environments, deploy on Polygon Mumbai, and visualize custom tokens on MetaMask. No previous Solidity knowledge is required.

SynapseML is an open source library for creating scalable machine learning pipelines. It builds on Apache Spark and SparkML to enable new kinds of machine learning, analytics, and model deployment workflows. SynapseML adds many deep learning and data science tools to the Spark ecosystem that enable highly-scalable predictive and analytical models for a variety of datasources.

Researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science are working on a COVID-19 vaccine that delivers lifelong immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine is a modified version of a smallpox vaccine with some of its protein components replaced with those from the SARS-Cov-2 spike protein. It promises to deliver potent neutralizing antibodies with a single dose, inducing strong cellular immunity for long-term protection. Tests on mice and monkeys have shown promising results. The earliest the vaccine will be available will be in 2024.

The Psyche mission, scheduled to launch in August 2022, aims to study the surface of 16 Psyche, an asteroid that is thought to be the remnants of a protoplanet. The asteroid is about as wide as Massachusetts and has a metal-like density. Orbiting an asteroid can be harder than orbiting a planet as they have little gravity, so the spacecraft's propulsion system must do all the work. This article talks about the Psyche mission and the technologies that were developed for it.