TLDR 2019-06-28

Tesla has begun to manufacture its own battery cells in an effort to reduce dependence on Panasonic. This may mean that production costs will be lowered and current deals to share data and information with outside vendors or partners will be ended. Elon Musk has acknowledged that innovation has been limited at Tesla due to its current batteries. Musk has been trying to achieve vertical integration with all levels of manufacturing within Tesla. In the past month, Tesla has been posting job listings for engineers with experience in battery cell design, producing battery cells, and manufacturing processes to make batteries.

Apple stores now sell a glucose monitor that integrates with the iPhone to give customers a way to track their blood sugar through Apple’s Health app. OneDrop is just one example of how Apple is breaking into the health industry. CEO Tim Cook has been seen testing a continuous glucose monitor, even though he is not known to have diabetes. OneDrop consists of a blood glucose meter for taking readings and an app that collects data which integrates with Apple Health. A subscription service is available for customers to receive testing strips. The OneDrop kit is sold at Apple stores for $69.95 and it comes with a free year of coaching from a certified diabetes educator.

Physicists from the US have found that when graphene is assembled into a double-layer stack, the proximity produces quantum states that have never been observed before. These states are an example of the fractional quantum Hall effect. The Hall effect is observed when voltage is deflected by the presence of a magnetic field. It was found that the Hall effect was quantized when a strong magnetic field was applied to the graphene layers. Using this knowledge, engineers could potentially build new types of electronic devices that take advantage of these quantum states.

Researchers from Columbia University have established a method for growing human hair in a dish using 3D printing without the need for implantation into human skin. The method uses a 3D printed mold and may open up potential avenues for hair restoration surgery to more people. Previous research has been successful in growing mouse and rat hair in labs, but these techniques were not effective at growing human hair. The new technique involves recreating the environment in which human hair usually grows by using a 3D printed model implanted with keratin-producing cells. 3D printers are now being used to create many different materials, for example, food, wood, and advanced medicines.

Func.Farm is a browser extension to create serverless functions from code snippets. Users only need to highlight code in their browser and select ‘Create Function’ from the right-click menu to run code. It is able to run code on multiple cloud providers instantly without users needing to navigate away from the site that the code is displayed on. Func.Farm supports multiple programming languages.

Truffle is a development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline for Ethereum. It features built-in smart contract compilation, linking, deployment, binary management, and more. A default set of contracts are included for developers to quickly test and build custom contracts.

After passing interviews and receiving a job offer, an employee might still be in the dark about whether the job position is the right move for their career. In order to determine if a company is right for you, it’s best to try to engage with a current employee and ask them about their experience. Inquiring about the company’s open-source engagements, bug-fixing policies, code quality policies, testing and validation procedures, development pipelines, and career development opportunities can provide potential employees with the information they need to decide if a position is right for them. A new job is a commitment that can significantly impact a person’s future opportunities, so it is important to obtain the necessary information in order to make the right career choice.