Archive for the 'Technology' Category
IBM: Use AI to Identify Vaccine-Hesitant Parents
May 8th, 2019Mmm hmm. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black Via: IEEE: Growing skepticism toward vaccines has sparked a flareup of measles outbreaks affecting New York City neighborhoods, cruise ships, international airports and even Google’s Mountain View headquarters. To help family physicians reach out to […]
Computer Chips Based on Biological Neurons May Help Simulate Larger and More-Complex Brain Models
May 5th, 2019Via: The Scientist: Neuromorphic chips’ ability to perform complex computational tasks while consuming very little power has caught the attention of the tech industry. The potential commercial applications of neuromorphic chips include power-efficient supercomputers, low-power sensors, and self-learning robots. But biologists have a different application in mind: building a fully functioning replica of the human […]
Robots Edge Closer to Unloading Trucks in Amazon-Era Milestone
May 4th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: As FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. beef up automation to keep pace with surging e-commerce and a potential threat from Amazon.com Inc., they’ve been stumped at a crucial stage: loading and unloading trucks. Robot makers are getting close to solving part of that puzzle. Siemens AG and Honeywell International Inc. have […]
Tesla Expects Global Shortage of Electric Vehicle Battery Minerals
May 2nd, 2019Via: Reuters: Tesla Inc expects global shortages of nickel, copper and other electric-vehicle battery minerals down the road due to underinvestment in the mining sector, the company’s global supply manager for battery metals told an industry conference on Thursday, according to two sources. … Sarah Maryssael, Tesla’s global supply manager for battery metals, told a […]
For Lower-Paid Workers, the Robot Overlords Have Arrived
May 2nd, 2019Via: Wall Street Journal: It’s time to stop worrying that robots will take our jobs — and start worrying that they will decide who gets jobs. Millions of low-paid workers’ lives are increasingly governed by software and algorithms. This was starkly illustrated by a report last week that Amazon.com tracks the productivity of its employees […]
ACLU: Border Agents Violate Constitution When They Search Electronic Devices
May 2nd, 2019Via: NPR: The American Civil Liberties Union says it has uncovered new evidence that federal border agents are violating the Constitution when they search travelers’ electronic devices. The ACLU, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued the federal government in 2017, alleging that its “warrantless and suspicionless searches” of electronic devices at the U.S. ports […]
Virgin Orbit
May 1st, 2019Via: The Verge: Right now, hundreds of space startups are racing to develop newer, smaller rockets, in order to take advantage of the proliferation of smaller satellites within the aerospace industry. Many of these companies want to get to space the old-fashioned way, by making a rocket that takes off vertically from the ground. But […]
U.S. Searches of Phones, Laptops at Airports Rising
May 1st, 2019Via: AP: U.S. government searches of travelers’ cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and were being done for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims scouring the electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional. The government has vigorously defended […]
The U.S. Has a Battery Problem in the Race for Electric Car Supremacy
April 30th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: The U.S. push to challenge China’s dominance in the production and sale of electric vehicles has at least one weak link: Most of the raw materials needed to make the batteries are dug elsewhere. Both Chinese and U.S.-based companies have invested heavily in lithium mining projects in Chile, Australia and Argentina, some of […]
FCC Approves SpaceX’s Plans to Fly Internet-Beaming Satellites in Lower Orbit
April 30th, 2019In case you’re not being hit with enough EM smog already… Via: The Verge: The Federal Communications Commission has approved SpaceX’s request to fly a large swath of its future internet-beaming satellites at a lower orbit than originally planned. The approval was a major regulatory hurdle the company needed to clear in order to start […]
