Archive for the 'Technology' Category
VW Orders $14 Billion Worth of Battery Cells from Northvolt’s Gigafactory
March 16th, 2021Via: Electrek: Volkswagen Group confirmed that it placed a new order for $14 billion worth of battery cells from Northvolt’s Swedish gigafactory, and it is taking a bigger stake in the battery manufacturer. Northvolt is a battery startup founded by two former Tesla executives who worked on Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada with Panasonic.
Are U.S. Special Forces Quietly Using Armed Robots?
March 12th, 2021Via: Forbes: It seems Special Forces had an urgent need for an armed robot and bypassed the existing Army projects. An R&D budget document from the Office of the Secretary of Defense reveals that Special Operation Command developed a Lightweight Remote Weapons System (LRWS), a miniature version of the CROWS turret: “Description: LRWS rapidly developed […]
First AI System for Contactless Monitoring of Heart Rhythm Using Smart Speakers
March 11th, 2021Via: University of Washington: UW researchers have developed a new skill for a smart speaker that for the first time monitors both regular and irregular heartbeats without physical contact. The system sends inaudible sounds from the speaker out into a room and, based on the way the sounds are reflected back to the speaker, it […]
NY Testing ‘COVID Passport’
March 4th, 2021Via: Fox: With the limited resumption of sporting events at venues in New York, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center will be used as testing grounds for a new digital pass that could confirm the owner’s COVID status. It will confirm an individual’s vaccination or recent negative coronavirus test. First tested at the Brooklyn […]
SpaceX Successfully Launches and Lands Starship Prototype… Then It Exploded
March 4th, 2021Via: Space Flight Now: The latest prototype of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle — Starship SN10 — took off from the company’s South Texas test site and flew to an altitude of more than 30,000 feet Wednesday, then descended to a controlled vertical landing after two previous test vehicles crashed at touchdown. Minutes later, the 16-story […]
Skydio: Drones With ‘Most Advanced AI Ever’ Coming Soon To Your Local Police Department
March 3rd, 2021Via: Forbes: It claims to be shipping the most advanced AI-powered drone ever built: a quadcopter that costs as little as $1,000, which can latch on to targets and follow them, dodging all sorts of obstacles and capturing everything on high-quality video. Skydio claims that its software can even predict a target’s next move, be […]
China’s ‘Sharp Eyes’ Program Aims to Surveil 100% of Public Space
March 3rd, 2021Via: Dave Gershgorn: One of China’s largest and most pervasive surveillance networks got its start in a small county about seven hours north of Shanghai. In 2013, the local government in Pingyi County began installing tens of thousands of security cameras across urban and rural areas — more than 28,500 in total by 2016. Even […]
The Navy Plans To Launch Swarms Of Aerial Drones From Unmanned Submarines And Ships
March 3rd, 2021Via: The War Zone: The U.S. Navy has handed a contract to Raytheon for versions of its Coyote small unmanned aerial vehicle configured as loitering munitions, also known as “suicide drones.” The service says that it specifically wants them to support the development of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles as platforms to launch drone swarms, […]
Israel: ‘Freedom Bracelet’ Tracking Device Launched As Alternative To Quarantine
March 2nd, 2021Via: Summit News: Israel has rolled out what it is calling a ‘Freedom bracelet’, a tracking device that will serve as an alternative to a two-week quarantine for anyone entering the country from abroad.
Reasons Why Bill Gates Is Now America’s Biggest Farmland Owner
February 28th, 2021The inflation hedge is definitely a part of it, but my guess is that future production of dangerous frankenpHood is the main driver. Via: New York Post: For investors who know what they’re doing, agricultural land offers financial stability in uncertain times. “Farmland has had a remarkably consistent ability to hedge against inflation,” Sherrick says. […]
