Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Waymo One Robotaxi Service Available to “A Few Hundred Customers” in Arizona
December 5th, 2018Meatsack still onboard. Via: Los Angeles Times: Robot cars are now officially a real business. Waymo on Wednesday launched a commercial robot ride-hailing service in Arizona called Waymo One. Like Uber or Lyft, customers will summon a ride with a smartphone app. But in this case, the car will be driving itself. “This is a […]
Mastercard and Microsoft Have a Frightening Plan to Create Universal “Digital Identities”
December 4th, 2018Via: FastCompany: Sometimes a business inadvertently drops the pretense and just tells the world its real intentions. We saw this yesterday, when Amazon bragged about how it “allowed” an employee to lose 100 pounds by endlessly delivering boxes. Amazon saw this as a heartwarming tale about how great it is to work for the e-commerce […]
Space X: Same First Stage Successfully Used for Third Launch
December 3rd, 2018Via: CBS: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket using a first stage making a record third flight vaulted away from the California coast Monday, boosting 64 small satellites into orbit for a wide variety of government, academic and private-sector users — including artists — in a commercial launch chartered by Seattle-based Spaceflight. The Falcon 9’s well-traveled […]
Robot Janitors Are Coming to Mop Floors at a Walmart Near You
December 3rd, 2018Via: MSN: Robots are coming to a Walmart Inc. near you, and not just as a gimmick. The world’s largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the U.S. by the end of the January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. […]
China ‘Is the Only One in the Race’ to Make Electric Buses, Taxis and Trucks
December 3rd, 2018“Chinese makers produced 99% of electric buses deployed globally from 2014 to 2017.” Via: Wall Street Journal: A national project to replace millions of gasoline-fueled taxis, buses and trucks with new electric models is boosting China’s ambitions to lead the global shift to battery-powered transportation. Signs of progress can already be found on American, as […]
Rivian R1T All-Electric Pickup Truck
November 29th, 2018I’ve mostly stopped posting about future electric vehicles (you can’t even shake a stick at all the announcements), but the Rivian R1T is particularly interesting. Days before the Rivian R1T was officially announced, Elon Musk said that Tesla will be bringing their pickup to market much sooner than previously indicated. It’s easy to see why, […]
Chinese Government Gets Real Time Location Tracking Data On Electric Vehicles
November 29th, 2018Via: East Bay Times: When Shan Junhua bought his white Tesla Model X, he knew it was a fast, beautiful car. What he didn’t know is that Tesla constantly sends information about the precise location of his car to the Chinese government. Tesla is not alone. China has called upon all electric vehicle manufacturers in […]
Google Pays $1 Billion for Huge Mountain View Business Park
November 26th, 2018“All the better to see you with, my dear.” Via: The Mercury News: In a head-spinning mega-deal, Google has paid $1 billion for a huge Mountain View business park, the Bay Area’s largest real estate purchase this year. It is also the second-largest property purchase in the United States this year, eclipsed only by another […]
Harvesting Battery Modules from Wrecked Tesla Model X 90D
November 26th, 2018Via: HBPowerwall:
Google Patents Reveal Plans to Monitor Our Moods, Our Movements, and Our Children’s Behavior at Home
November 25th, 2018I found myself thinking of a haiku about an imaginary situation in which my father (who died a while back) would be standing in a room, arguing with one of these “smart” speakers and eventually challenging it to a fight with his weapon of choice, a yard-long section of 2×4 lumber. Old man stands bugeyed […]
