TLDR 2022-03-31

Music hardware startup Roli has announced the Seaboard Rise 2, a compact squishy keyboard with subtle ridges running down the center of each key. The frets allow players to feel keys rather than having to rely on their vision to hit the right notes. Seaboard's keyboards feature a smooth continuous playing surface that allows musicians to blend and bend notes like they would on a guitar, but some players have found it hard to play the instrument without looking at the keys. Roli is developing educational products to raise a generation of new musicians without ties to traditional training methods. A video that shows the Seaboard Rise 2 in action is available in the article.

Apple is planning to build its own in-house technology and infrastructure for financial services. Financial services are a rapidly growing part of Apple's overall product strategy. Developing these services will help Apple create more consistent recurring revenue from customers. Apple is working on payment processing, risk assessment for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks, and additional customer-service functions. The company is preparing to release a pay later feature and hardware subscription bundle to which these new plans will likely apply.

Despite vast improvements in battery technology, electric vehicles still have to deal with slow battery charging speeds. A team of scientists has demonstrated that quantum batteries employing global operation can achieve quadratic scaling in charging speed. A typical electric vehicle with a 200 cell battery can charge 200 times faster using quantum charging. Quantum charging could find applications in fusion power plants in the future. The technology is still in its infancy and it will be a while before it can be implemented anywhere.

People are experimenting with a method of alter their minds by playing conflicting frequencies into each ear. Those who listen to binaural beats report reduced pain, enhanced memory, and lower anxiety and depression. The theory is that the different frequencies induce changes in the brain, resulting in particular wave patterns. This article looks at the different ways people use binaural beats and some of the research into the phenomenon. Researchers have yet to prove the effectiveness of binaural beats.

Grafana Mimir provides long-term storage for Prometheus, a systems and service monitoring system. It features massive scalability, a global view of metrics, cheap and durable metric storage, high availability, and a multi-tenant architecture. An introductory video is available on the Grafana Mimir website.

The same CSS code can sometimes output different and unexpected results. CSS is a complex system and subtle differences can change how properties behave. This article looks at layout algorithms to make sense of what is happening in CSS. Layout algorithms, or layout modes, affect every element as they are rendered in HTML. It can be difficult to understand the CSS mechanics without first understanding layout algorithms.

The EU's new battery regulations will require a wide range of manufacturers to produce devices with easily removable, replaceable, and recyclable batteries. Devices affected by this law include smartphones and other typical consumer appliances. It also affects batteries for light means of transport, such as e-bikes and e-scooters. The law will mean that many devices will have to be redesigned. Manufacturers have until January 1, 2024, to comply with the law.

The Hubble telescope has revealed a star system from the early universe and the most distant stars ever detected. Officially named WHL0137-LS but nicknamed 'Earendel', the star system is 8.2 billion years older than the Sun. It started shining within just 900 million years of the Big Bang. 12.8 billion years passed before its light reached the Hubble telescope. It took three and a half years to confirm the system's existence after it was first observed. Studying the ancient star system could teach astronomers many things about the history of the universe.