A Week of Cool News: Dune, AI Photo Use, Tiny Cars, Made-in-Lab Cells, and Travel Watches

The Next Dune Movie and What Comes After

Imagine a story about a young man named Paul Atreides on a desert planet. The third movie (called Part Three) will show the end of Paul’s personal story. In it, a big war fought for religious reasons (a “holy war”) is happening because of him, and there are lots of tricky arguments between groups (political tensions) that always feel dangerous. As a fun bonus, the actor Robert Pattinson (who the writer jokes is a “little freak”) shows up with hair and eyebrows bleached white.

This movie will be the last one made by director Denis Villeneuve. But the movie series only tells the stories from the first two books in the Dune book series. That means there are more books left, so other directors could make new movies later if they want.

The writer says good things come to those who wait, and hopes some eager director (chomping at the bit) will make a movie about Leto II (Paul’s son) and his big, disgusting sandworm body (a sandworm is a giant worm that lives in the sand) for big-screen IMAX theaters.

• Part Three finishes Paul Atreides’ tale
• Holy war in motion, political tensions ever-present and threatening
• Robert Pattinson cameo with bleached hair and eyebrows
• Villeneuve’s series ends, but franchise only covers first two novels
• Wish for future film about Leto II’s big, disgusting sandworm body in IMAX

Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out

Meta is the big company that owns Facebook and Instagram. They made a new tool called Muse Image that uses AI (that’s “artificial intelligence,” meaning smart computer programs) to create new pictures. According to a report by WIRED, this tool lets anyone type in a public Instagram username and use Meta’s AI to make a new image that looks like that person, unless the person has said “no” (opted out).

A long time ago (about 10 years), some older folks (Baby Boomers) posted messages like “I HEREBY DECLARE I DO NOT GIVE FACEBOOK OR INSTAGRAM PERMISSION TO USE MY PHOTOS… SHARE THIS AMEN” thinking that would protect them. The writer thought that was silly then, but now maybe those people (like aunt Peggy, who puts SlimFast diet shake in her coffee and jokingly is said to have Paul Atreides-level prescience, meaning future-seeing power) were onto something.

Important: If your Instagram account is public, Meta’s Muse Image can use your photos and likeness to make AI pictures by default. You must actively opt out to stop this. This brings obvious moral and legal risks because people could use your face to fulfill their own fantasies, and adds another reason to delete social media.

• Reported by WIRED: tag a public profile in a prompt → Meta AI creates image using that person’s likeness
• Public accounts are opted in by default
• It would be naive to think nothing could go wrong
• Another point in the “time to delete all social media” column

Fiat Topolino EV Brings Micromobility to America for Just $13,995

Micromobility just means small, light ways to get around. Fiat (a car brand) has brought a tiny electric car (EV = runs on battery instead of gas) called the Topolino to the United States. It costs only $13,995 to start. The writer daydreams all week about driving it wearing a little scarf and big gardening hat to an antique store for ice cream (picturing themselves in the South, always eating ice cream).

The car is a two-seater and comes in a mint green color called Verde Vita Mint, with two model choices:

• Standard Topolino: has asymmetrical doors and a glass roof
• Topolino Dolce Vita: adds rope doors and a roll-back soft top (like a convertible)

Both versions can go about 46 miles on a charge, refill power in ~5 hours, and top speed is 19 mph. Right now it’s not fully street legal yet, but a Street Legal Conversion Kit coming this Fall will bump speed to 25 mph and let it drive on most roads posted at 35 mph or less. The writer says commuting in it would be impossible to stop talking about.

• Price: starting at $13,995
• Range: up to 46 miles
• Charge time: about five hours
• Current top speed: 19 mph (25 mph after kit)
• Kit expected Fall, enables legal road use on slower streets

Scientists Build Fully Synthetic Life Form That Can Eat and Reproduce

Scientists at the University of Minnesota made a cell (the tiny package that makes up living things) from man-made (synthetic) non-living chemical components. They nicknamed it SpudCell. This lab-made cell can grow, copy its own instruction booklet (genome), divide, and continue across multiple generations.

This shows that “being alive” is like a sliding scale. For example, viruses aren’t usually called fully alive but can replicate inside host cells. SpudCell is in a similar gray area: it acts like a cell in important ways but still relies on outside intervention to survive, including ribosomes (essential building-block makers) being “fed” to the cell because it cannot produce them itself.

Important: SpudCell is NOT a fully living creature. It depends on humans giving it key parts. Even so, this finding could have major implications for synthetic biology and the bioeconomy, like making medicines, materials, or industrial chemicals.

• Made from synthetic, non-living chemical components
• Can grow, copy genome, divide, persist generations
• Needs external ribosomes fed to it
• University of Minnesota could use a PR grant to rename it better, writer jokes

Haim Viajero SE: Watches Made for Travel Buffs

Haim is a watch company. They made a new group of watches called Viajero SE (Viajero means “traveler”). They are perfect for people who love trips (like the writer, who never shuts up about travel and studying abroad 16 years ago). Each watch has an enamel dial with hand-drawn 17th-century maps, and a spinning ring (bezel) that includes three rows of cities and can account for half-hour time zones like Mumbai and Tehran. The custom Atlas-shaped rotor (spinning weight) can be seen through the exhibition caseback.

Three styles:

• Antique Cobalt: dark cobalt bezel with full-color map, extension of previous Viajero Air model
• Grayscale: monochromatic with subtlest blue contrast on hands/markers
• Polyglot (writer’s favorite): salmon-toned bezel, displays each city in its native script (writer feels like imposter having failed to learn many languages)

All versions:

• 39.5mm stainless steel case (watch body size)
• Beads-of-rice bracelet (metal strap)
• Powered by Sellita SW330 automatic movement (self-winding)

If you’re in Chicago, stop by the Windup Watch Fair (going on now) and see Haim’s table this weekend for in-person view.

• Travel-themed enamel dials with old maps
• Bezel tracks world cities, incl. half-hour zones
• Three color/styles options
• See-through back shows Atlas rotor
• On show in Chicago at Windup Watch Fair

Summary

This week’s mix gives us: a peek at the ending of Villeneuve’s Dune movies with possible future stories about sandworm Leto II; a warning that Meta’s AI can silently use your public Instagram photos unless you opt out; a cute, cheap Fiat Topolino electric micro-car coming to America; a lab-made “almost alive” SpudCell that could change medicine; and beautiful Haim traveler watches with map faces. Something for movie fans, privacy watchers, car dreamers, science curious, and watch lovers alike.

FAQ

1. What is Meta’s Muse Image tool doing with Instagram photos?
It lets people generate AI-made pictures using the likeness of public Instagram accounts as source material, unless those accounts opt out. Public accounts are included by default.

2. How fast and far can the Fiat Topolino go?
It goes up to 46 miles per charge, tops at 19 mph now, and after a fall kit, 25 mph on streets posted 35 mph or less.

3. Is SpudCell a living organism?
Not fully. It’s made from non-living chemicals and can grow and divide, but it needs scientists to feed it ribosomes, so it sits in a gray area between living and non-living.

4. What makes Haim Viajero SE watches good for travelers?
They have old map dials and a city bezel that can track different time zones, even half-hour ones, plus a see-through back with a special Atlas-shaped rotor.

5. Will there be more Dune films after Part Three?
Villeneuve’s series ends after Part Three (covering only first two novels), but future filmmakers could adapt later books, perhaps featuring Leto II’s big, disgusting sandworm body.