Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Ford’s Vision for Package Delivery Is a Robot that Folds Up Into the Back a Self-Driving Car
May 23rd, 2019Ford conveniently doesn’t show you the robot retrieving the package from the vehicle. As a former FedEx driver who worked with delivery trucks piled top to bottom with packages for years, I chortle deeply and satisfyingly at this one. Assume that the self driving issue is somehow sorted out, which isn’t going to happen anytime […]
U.S. Postal Service Testing Self-Driving Trucks for Hauling Mail Between Hubs
May 21st, 2019In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how intercity freight is the low hanging fruit of the self driving world. Here we go… Via: Reuters: The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday started a two-week test transporting mail across three Southwestern states using self-driving trucks, a step forward in the effort to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology for hauling […]
Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars
May 20th, 2019A friend of mine is an AI researcher. I know that “AI researcher” is a nebulous term, but let it suffice to say that he is highly qualified in this area. Back in April, I asked him what he thought about Tesla’s big self driving dog and pony show. In short, I asked him: Is […]
Chicago and Detroit Have Bought Real-Time Facial Recognition Systems
May 19th, 2019Via: Wired: Civil liberties activists trying to inspire alarm about the authoritarian potential of facial recognition technology often point to China, where some police departments use systems that can spot suspects who show their faces in public. A report from Georgetown researchers on Thursday suggests Americans should also focus their concern closer to home. The […]
Daily Mail Claims U.S. Has Combat Ready EMP Cruise Missiles
May 17th, 2019Flashback 2012: CHAMP – Lights Out Via: Daily Mail: The U.S. Air Force has deployed at least 20 missiles that could zap the military electronics of North Korea or Iran with high-power microwaves, rendering their military capabilities virtually useless without causing any fatalities, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively. Known as the Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced […]
Robots Take the Wheel as Autonomous Farm Machines Hit Fields
May 16th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Robots are taking over farms faster than anyone saw coming. The first fully autonomous farm equipment is becoming commercially available, which means machines will be able to completely take over a multitude of tasks. Tractors will drive with no farmer in the cab, and specialized equipment will be able to spray, plant, plow […]
RealTalk: This Speech Synthesis Model Our Engineers Built Recreates a Human Voice Perfectly
May 16th, 2019Via: Medium: Today we’re excited to announce that our Machine Learning Engineers Hashiam Kadhim, Joe Palermo and Rayhane Mama have produced the most realistic AI simulation of a voice we’ve heard to date. It’s the voice of someone you’ve probably heard of before?—?Joe Rogan. (For those who haven’t: Joe Rogan is the creator and host […]
Driverless Electric Truck Starts Deliveries on Swedish Public Road
May 16th, 2019Via: Reuters: Resembling the helmet of a Star Wars stormtrooper, a driverless electric truck began daily freight deliveries on a public road in Sweden on Wednesday, in what developer Einride and logistics customer DB Schenker described as a world first. Robert Falck, the CEO of Swedish start-up Einride, said the company was in partnership talks […]
Britain: Police Fine Pedestrian £90 for Disorderly Behaviour After Hiding His Face from Facial Recognition Camera
May 16th, 2019Via: Daily Mail: Police fined a pedestrian £90 for disorderly behaviour after he tried to cover his face when he saw a controversial facial recognition camera on a street in London. Officers set up the camera on a van in Romford, East London, which then cross-checked photos of faces of passers-by against a database of […]
All Four Major Wireless Carriers Hit With Lawsuits Over Sharing, Selling Location Data
May 13th, 2019Via: TechDirt: We’ve noted repeatedly that if you’re upset about Facebook’s privacy scandals, you should be equally concerned about the wireless industry’s ongoing location data scandals. Not only were the major carriers caught selling your location data to any nitwit with a checkbook, they were even found to be selling your E-911 location data, which […]
