The newest dental tech? 3D printed teeth that kill bacteria

Teeth are important, especially if you’re a fan of steak, but losing them can be a problem. You’re stuck with some low-tech replacement options, like false teeth, plates and sometimes getting drills in your face. But that’s not the future. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have come up with a plastic that can be used to 3D print teeth that will actually leave your mouth cleaner than if you didn’t have them installed. The antimicrobial plastic can “…kill bacteria on contact, but on the other hand it’s not harmful to human cells”. It gets rid of bacteria in the most metal way possible – the antimicrobial quaternary ammonium salt-infused plastic makes bacteria explode and die. The plastic is still in testing but, should it pass strength tests for placement in the human maw, expect it to hit the market soon after.

Source: New Scientist

Pre-silenced pistols are a thing – even if that thing is still a working prototype: Meet the Maxim 9

Movies have taught us that silencers are magical gun attachments, capable of making a metal casing around exploding gas and powder whisper-quiet. We know that’s not true but we’d still like to see it in action. And a gun like the Maxim 9, a custom-created sidearm that integrates a silencer into its design, could make that happen. The creation of a company called SilencerCo, the Maxim 9 looks like every futuristic gun we’ve ever seen in a video game or action movie, with a front-heavy design that fits a silencer. It’s still a prototype, even if it doesn’t look or act like one, but it should be available by the end of this year.

Source: via Ars Technica

Amazon might want in on the augmented reality space

No, you think? Amazon almost certainly wants a piece of the augmented reality pie, the one being baked by Google, Microsoft (with Hololens), and other smart glasses manufacturers. We can probably get rid of the ‘almost’ in that last sentence, as a patent application from the company has been unearthed pointing towards their desires. To wit, glasses that can simulate a small screen as well as a large display, for overlays in the real word as well as media consumption. Amazon would achieve this by letting their glasses go opaque as needed. It’s still a patent, though, so we’re not sure when or even if we might see something like this from Amazon. And Amazon isn’t saying right now.

Source: Re/Code

Apple Music, by the numbers

Apple Music popped up in July, after a fairly long wait for the service, but its only now that the trial period has started to come to an end that we’re hearing some decent information on user numbers. Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking at the Wall Street Journal‘s Live event, has dropped a user total – 15 million. Not bad, though 8.5 million of those are said to still be availing themselves of the free trial. That does mean that Apple has around 6.5 million paying users, more or less. The question now is: will they keep paying for it?

Source: Engadget

Pioneer heads into the ‘it still exists?’ dedicated music player space with the XDP-100R

Music players are still around. We’re not talking about the iPod and its Apple-flavoured ilk – those are still around, though we hear less of them these days The Pono, Sony’s Walkman, that Marshall phone, they’re all aimed at the music-centric user with a lot of cash. Now Pioneer are joining the party with a high-end media player, the XDP-100R, that supports streaming, a lengthy battery life, two microSD slots (up to 128GB each) as well as 32GB of internal storage and a few more high end features besides. The XDP-100R goes for around $500, or R6,650 before tax and import duties here in the real world, and that’s quite the price to pay for some dedicated music hardware. Still, we daresay that Pioneer will pick up a few sales, here and there. It’s a Japan-only release for the moment though, so imports will be essential.