Tech Digest daily round up: Dutch couple become first to move into 3D printed house
A Dutch couple has become Europe’s first tenants of a fully 3D printed house in a development that its backers believe will open up a world of choice in the shape and style of the homes of the future. Elize Lutz, 70, and Harrie Dekkers, 67, retired shopkeepers from Amsterdam, received their digital key – an app allowing them to open the front door of their two-bedroom bungalow at the press of a button – on Thursday. “It is beautiful,” said Lutz. “It has the feel of a bunker – it feels safe,” added Dekkers. Inspired by the shape of a boulder, the dimensions of which would be difficult and expensive to construct using traditional methods, the property is the first of five homes planned by the construction firm Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix for a plot of land by the Beatrix canal in the Eindhoven suburb of Bosrijk. The Guardian
The sister of a six-year-old boy who suffered a fractured skull after being hit by an e-scooter rider has called for a ban on the devices for under-21s. It comes as latest figures show more than 70 people have been injured during the government’s e-scooter trials – including 11 people who were seriously hurt. Brooklyn Smith said her little brother Jamie suffers anxiety attacks at the sight of e-scooters after he was knocked unconscious by a teenager riding one of the vehicles in Leicester. Sky News
A controversial new bill that would stop tech companies from deplatforming politicians has been approved by both houses in Florida’s legislature. The bill must now be signed off by Trump ally, Governor Ron DeSantis. The legislation allows platforms to suspend accounts, but only for 14 days, and could fine the platforms as much as $250,000 per day for violating the law. NetChoice, a group that promotes free expression on the internet, testified against the legislation last month. Donald Trump was banned by Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube after the deadly Capitol Hill riots in January. BBC
NASA’s Mars helicopter keeps exceeding expectations: Ingenuity completed its fourth flight on Friday, traveling farther over the Martian surface than on any of its previous journeys. NASA engineers were prepared for the 4-pound helicopter to crash, since they’re pushing it to new limits with each flight. But in this case, the tiny rotorcraft soared above rocks, sand ripples, and small craters at record speed. The helicopter has thus far proven so successful that NASA announced on Friday it will give Ingenuity an extended mission. The original plan was to abandon the helicopter after its fifth flight. But now, NASA engineers plan to turn Ingenuity’s photos into a 3D map of the uncharted terrain it covered on Friday. From that data, they’ll pick a new airfield where the drone will try to land during its fifth flight, in about a week. Business Insider
Shares in Vaccitech, the spin-out company behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine technology, slumped by as much as a fifth as it made its debut in New York yesterday. Vaccitech had priced its market float at a significant premium to its most recent funding round last month, expecting to land a valuation of $579m, but saw shares slide in early trading on the Nasdaq. The company was founded by Professor Sarah Gilbert and Professor Adrian Hill – both key figures in the Covid-19 vaccine development. The pair had held stakes of around 3pc in the business going into the IPO, according to Vaccitech’s latest filings on Companies House, and had been on track to crystallise fortunes of as much as $17m each in the float. However, the sell-off saw their paper wealths slip. Telegraph
