Crayola’s New Pen Writes On Any Surface Using Melted Crayons as Ink
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Working in a similar fashion to 3D-printing pens, but without the futile exasperation of actually trying to make 3D objects, Crayola’s new Crayon Melter turns colorful sticks of wax into a thick, goopy, ink that lets kids write on almost any surface imaginable. Can you hear the sound of parents crying in the distance?
Although it uses an enclosed and protected heating element to turn smaller pieces of unwrapped crayons into liquid wax, and a low-temperature extruder that’s safe to touch, Crayola is still targeting its Crayon Melter pen at older kids aged eight and up which hopefully means they’re past the age of writing on walls, furniture, or themselves—hopefully.
It takes about a minute to liquify the pieces of crayon after they’ve been inserted into the back of the melting chamber, at which point you can just start writing with it like an oversized ballpoint pen. Aside from being another novel way for kids to draw that will maybe hold their attention for a few more minutes, the Crayon Melter has the potential for being a legitimately useful tool for grownups too.
The melted crayons adhere to countless surfaces you could never draw on with a regular crayon, and once it dries, which happens almost immediately after extrusion, the results are waterproof and durable, depending on the surface. Removing wax from a pane of glass is almost certainly a lot easier than a piece of fabric.
The Crayon Melter is expected to hit stores later this year in August for $25, and will only include eight crayons to get you started, so maybe it’s time to dig up that bucket of crayon shards you had as a kid.
Drop Everything, Japan’s Aspark Owl Electric Hypercar Just Did 0-60 In 1.9 Seconds
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Time and space have seemingly been bent, and it was a small engineering firm in Japan that made it happen. Until today, the idea of a sub-2-second 0-60 time in a street-legal hypercar seemed the impossible barrier to break, but with the recent accomplishments of the Aspark Owl, announced yesterday, it is starting to seem like it could happen.
The Aspark Owl is a surprisingly sexy electric sports car, was launched at the Frankfurt Auto Show last year, where it was spotted by our own David Tracy. Back then the car was claimed to theoretically make 430 horsepower, 563 all-wheel lb-ft of torque, weigh under 1900 pounds, and sprint to sixty in just two seconds flat.
It has now beat that last number.
In the video above, Aspark has thrown down the gauntlet to the world of supercars, setting a 0-60 time of just 1.921 seconds. Admittedly, the car was fitted with a set of Hoosier racing tires (they appear to be quite similar to the Continental racing tires currently used in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship), and a rear-wheel-only burnout was conducted before the test to warm up the tires, but a 1.921 second 0-60 is a 1.921 second 0-60. While this was an incredible feat, Aspark claim they will continue to tweak the formula until this sub-two-second 0-60 time can be accomplished on street-legal tires.
The test appears to have been completed in the back lot of a small manufacturing facility, perhaps the same facility where the car was assembled. It must take serious balls to point an expensive prototype built of fragile carbon fiber at a short stretch of pavement and aim for 60 miles per hour. The test driver proved he had plenty of balls.
Aspark says the OWL will enter a production run of 50 units soon, and will be priced at about $4.4 million. If you absolutely have to show your Tesla-owning middle-management neighbor who is the boss of the electric car commute, buy yourself an Aspark.
Another Dog Food Company Has Recalled Food Tainted With a Euthanasia Drug
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Several major dog food brands owned by J.M. Smucker have been recalled by the FDA after small amounts of a euthanasia drug were discovered inside. And if the story sounds familiar, that’s because a completely different company, Against the Grain Pet Food, issued an identical recall last week.
The new recall includes everything from brands like Gravy Train to Skippy to Kibbles ‘N Bits, and even though the FDA says it’s “unlikely” that your dog will get sick, we’ve got a complete list of the products below.
“The FDA’s preliminary evaluation of the testing results of Gravy Train samples indicates that the low level of pentobarbital present in the withdrawn products is unlikely to pose a health risk to pets,” the FDA said in a statement.
“However, any detection of pentobarbital in pet food is a violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act—simply put, pentobarbital should not be in pet food. The FDA is investigating to learn the potential source and route of the contamination.”
The FDA hasn’t commented yet on any connection between the February 14th recall of dog food produced by Against the Grain Pet Food and this new recall by J.M. Smucker. No deaths have been reported relating to either recall.
The complete list of recalled Smucker dog food
The list of dog food brands being recalled by J.M. Smucker isn’t exactly small:
Gravy Train with T-Bone Flavor Chunks, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910052541
Gravy Train with Beef Strips, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 791052542
Gravy Train with Chicken Chunks, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910034418
Gravy Train with Beef Chunks, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910034417
Gravy Train with Chicken Chunks, 22-ounce can, UPC 7910051645
Gravy Train with Beef Chunks, 22-ounce can, UPC 7910051647
Gravy Train Chunks in Gravy with Beef Chunks, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910034417
Kibbles ‘N Bits 12-can Variety Pack – Chef’s Choice American Grill Burger Dinner with Real Bacon & Cheese Bits in Gravy, Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Turkey Bacon & Vegetables in Gravy, 12 pack of 13.2-ounce cans, UPC 7910010377, 7910010378
Kibbles ‘N Bits 12-Can Variety Pack – Chef’s Choice Bistro Hearty Cuts with Real Beef, Chicken & Vegetables in Gravy, Chef’s Choice Homestyle Meatballs & Pasta Dinner with Real Beef in Tomato Sauce, 12 pack of 13.2-ounce cans, UPC 7910010382, 7910048367, 7910010378
Kibbles ‘N Bits 12-Can Variety Pack – Chef’s Choice Homestyle Tender Slices with Real Beef, Chicken & Vegetables in Gravy, Chef’s Choice American Grill Burger Dinner with Real Bacon & Cheese Bits in Gravy, Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Beef & Vegetables in Gravy, 12 pack of 13.2-ounce cans, UPC 7910010380, 7910010377, 7910010375
Kibbles ‘N Bits Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Beef & Vegetables in Gravy, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910010375
Kibbles ‘N Bits Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Turkey, Bacon & Vegetables in Gravy, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910010378
Kibbles ‘N Bits Chef’s Choice Homestyle Tender Slices with Real Beef, Chicken & Vegetables in Gravy, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910010380
Ol’ Roy Strips Turkey Bacon, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 8113117570
Skippy Premium Chunks in Gravy with Beef, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910050250
Skippy Premium Strips in Gravy with Beef, 13.2-ounce can, UPC 7910050245
What if my dog gets sick?
So what if you literally just fed your dog one of these foods? The FDA has a list of symptoms to look for, though again, the agency stresses that it’s unlikely the levels of pentobarbital present in the recalled food will make your dog ill.
“Pets that eat pet food containing pentobarbital can experience drowsiness, dizziness, excitement, loss of balance, nausea, nystagmus (eyes moving back and forth in a jerky manner) and inability to stand,” the FDA said.
“Consuming high levels of pentobarbital can cause coma and death. However, pentobarbital present in the withdrawn products is at a low level unlikely to pose a health risk to pets.”
If your dog does become sick after consuming any of the food listed above it never hurts to take your Very Good Boy or Very Good Girl to the vet just to be on the safe side.
The company that makes the pet food, the J.M. Smucker Company, says that it only found “extremely low levels of pentobarbital” originating from a single supplier but that it’s issuing a voluntary recall just to be safe.
“We take this very seriously and are extremely disappointed that pentobarbital was introduced to our supply chain,” Barry Dunaway, President of Pet Food and Pet Snacks said in a statement.
“We will continue to work closely with our suppliers and veterinarians to ensure the ingredients used in our products meet or exceed regulatory safety standards and our high-quality standards,” Dunaway continued.
“Above all, we are a company that loves pets and understand the responsibility we have in providing high quality food for the pets our consumers love.”
India inches ahead in the race to build a Hyperloop
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Plenty of places have committed to exploring the economic viability of building a Hyperloop, but nobody has been brave enough to say they’ll actually construct one. It’s why the news coming out of India’s latest announcement is such a big deal, because it includes a pledge to build a working test track.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sir Richard Branson announced the partnership between Virgin Hyperloop One and the Indian state of Maharashtra. The deal will see the pair look into developing a high-speed link between the cities of Pune and Mumbai, with the route going via Mumbai International Airport.
At current speeds, it takes around three and a half hours to make the 100-mile journey, either on a train or by car. Hyperloop One believes that it can shrink that journey time down to a slender 25 minutes, as well as dramatically reducing freight times between Mumbai’s port and the inland Pune.
That’s important, since around a quarter of all the freight that passes through Mumbai’s ports has Pune as its destination or place of origin. A Hyperloop that carries freight between the two cities would potentially reduce 25 percent of all the heavy goods traffic on the roads.
Much like so many other nascent Hyperloop projects, the Mumbai – Pune project will begin with a six-month feasibility study. But, if the numbers come up right, then the state will press ahead to build a test track that will form a segment of the final planned route.
The test track is expected to be built within three years, meaning that India could be running test journeys by 2021. After plenty of further research and development work, and the economics work out, additional sections will be added to the line, which could be fully working as early as 2028.
Swype, one of the original apps we ever covered on this site, has apparently been put to rest by its owners. Nuance, the company that bought Swype in 2011 for $100M, told a redditor today that they are no longer developing for the Swype keyboard and that they have decided to exit the “direct-to-consumer keyboard business.”
We reached out to Nuance and have yet to hear back, but XDA claims to have confirmed with the company that Swype is indeed dead. We know for sure that the iOS version was discontinued at the beginning of this month. The odd thing here is the fact that a new Android version was supposed to have been released on the day they announced iOS’ demise.
Either way, if you look through any of the recent reviews for Swype, it appears as if the app is struggling. Most acknowledge that the app is no longer what it once was. That’s too bad.
If we hear back from Nuance, we’ll be sure to update this post.
