Ducati's new 215-hp, carbon crotch rocket is lighter than its World Superbike racer

[MOTORCYCLES] [Ducati's new 215-hp, carbon crotch rocket is lighter than its World Superbike racer] Ducati has released its most powerful motorcycle ever, in a package that's so light it would need to add ballast to race in World Superbike. The extraordinary 1299 Superleggera packs 215 horses, weighs just 344 lb (156 kg) and leaps to the top of our Christmas wishlist at just US$80,000. [Read more] [URBAN TRANSPORT] [MIT rolls out driverless scooter] ​Make way autonomous cars, because now there are autonomous scooters. A team from MIT has developed a self-driving mobility scooter using algorithms that not only allow users to sit back and enjoy the ride, but could be applied across a spectrum of different vehicles. [Read more] [MOTORCYCLES] [Honda releases 2017 CBR1000RR: The famous Fireblade goes electronic] It's been 25 years since Honda sent the motorcycle world into an ever-escalating nuclear arms race with the original Fireblade. Now, the flagship superbike gets a 10-horsepower boost, drops 33 pounds and goes fully electronic to put it back in the hunt with the top dogs in the open class. [Read more] [ENERGY] [Flexible solar tiles to make move inside and recycle artificial light] Roofs have long been the realm of solar panels, but soon, they might make their way indoors too. A Virginia Tech team is developing low-cost, flexible solar tiles that could be incorporated into curtains and wallpaper to capture both natural sunlight and artificial light. [Read more] [SPACE] [NASA outlines six new storm-chasing CubeSats] The main focus of shoebox-sized CubeSats is studying Earth and testing technologies in orbit. NASA has outlined six new small satellite missions to be launched over the next few months, equipped with new methods of studying the Earth’s atmosphere, climate and weather. [Read more] [MOBILE TECHNOLOGY] [2016 Smartphone Comparison Guide] New Atlas continues its annual pre-holiday tradition of breaking down the features, specs and intangibles of the best smartphones you can buy. [Read more] [MUSIC] [Learning sleeve sheds light on guitar-playing basics] ​Learning to play the guitar is tough. Tuition videos, online tab and music books are all good, but having to constantly look from guitar to teaching aid and back again can be frustrating. FretX uses LEDs embedded in a low profile learning sleeve that shows the player fretting finger positions. [Read more] [SCIENCE] [Color highlights detail in electron microscope images] ​Electron microscopes are useful for creating a topographical map of cell structures, but grayscale images are produced. Researchers have developed a new method for producing electron micrographs with several colors, highlighting different components and details that normally wouldn’t be visible. [Read more] [DRONES] [Intel christens its Shooting Star drone with record-breaking light show] Intel has smashed its own record-breaking spectacle from a year ago, setting 500 drones in flight simultaneously to show off the capabilities of its new firework-killing aircraft, the Shooting Star. ​ [Read more] [SPACE] [When galaxies collide: A strong shock in the eyelids] ​​A team of astronomers has used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe a gigantic tsunami of stars and interstellar material that has created striking eyelid-shaped formations in a distant spiral galaxy. [Read more] [COMPUTERS] [Adobe gets experimental: Photoshopping voices, drawing hacks and VR editing] What if it were just as easy to edit a pre-recorded voice as it is to manipulate a photo? Adobe’s experimental Project VoCo is poised to do just that. This technology was demoed at the annual Adobe MAX conference last week alongside sneak previews of other exploratory software. [Read more] [MATERIALS] [More pop might be in store for e-readers thanks to colorful graphene balloons] Scientists have discovered a way to warp graphene membranes to control the color that they display, raising the possibility of using these "mechanical pixels" to add some color to the e-reader mix. ​​ [Read more] [AUTOMOTIVE] [Tesla unplugs free supercharging perks for new owners] The network of Tesla Superchargers makes it easier to own an electric car, but the days of Model S owners topping up batteries for free are almost over. Anyone who buys a Tesla after January 1, 2017 will be given a number of free charge credits, at which point they'll have to pay for power. [Read more] [MOTORCYCLES] [Mini motorbike makes for a fun, fashionable and clean commute] Who said getting around needs to be a slog? Not Vanda Electrics, that's for sure. Fresh from unveiling plans for its country's first home-grown hypercar earlier this year, the Singaporean firm is now showing off a new mini motorbike designed for clean, cost-effective and quirky urban commuting. [Read more] [MOBILE TECHNOLOGY] [Oak dock puts augmented reality on the table] Augmented reality has already proven useful for handy car owners and first responders, but its value extends well beyond practical applications. ToneTree has created an iPhone dock designed to turn tabletops into an AR playground, for gamers or budding musicians on the road. [Read more] [ARCHITECTURE] [London's bridges are lighting up] The bridges along the River Thames in London, UK, are to be lit up as a major piece of public art. Six proposals have been shortlisted as part of the Illuminated River competition, which is aimed not only at delivering visually outstanding designs, but ones that make use of new technologies. [Read more] [AUTOMOTIVE] [Modded Mini wobbles to two-wheel Nordschleife lap record] The Nordschleife has grabbed plenty of attention lately, with a glut of records ​for front-drive cars, but none of the record attempts can match Han Yue's latest lap. Yue used a modified Mini to lap the Nordschleife on two wheels, completing the lap in just over 45 minutes. [Read more] [SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR NEW ATLAS READERS] [A Lifetime Subscription to the World’s Fastest VPN is Now At its Lowest Price Ever] Make sure your personal data and Internet activity are never exposed with the extremely reliable VPN trusted by over a million users. PureVPN’s self-managed VPN network has a wider reach (550+ servers nodes in 141 countries) and allows more simultaneous device connections (five) than pretty much any other VPN out there. [Read more] You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at [newatlas.com] (or [gizmag.com] before August 2016). 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