Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Google’s Smart City Dream Is Turning Into a Privacy Nightmare
October 26th, 2018Via: Engadget: Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet division focused on smart cities, is caught in a battle over information privacy. The team has lost its lead expert and consultant, Ann Cavoukian, over a proposed data trust that would approve and manage the collection of information inside Quayside, a conceptual smart neighborhood in Toronto. Cavoukian, the former […]
A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley
October 26th, 2018Begins? haha That’s a good one. Just off the top of my head, I thought of this one from 2011. Via: New York Times: The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children […]
The Parallel Stories of Tesla and Apple, as Model 3 Has Its ‘iPhone Moment’
October 25th, 2018Part of my comment on Tesla from 9 October: The long argument, of course, is that Tesla is different. Is it? Yep. I think so. In my opinion, the correct past analogy is Apple and the initial release of the iPhone. What Tesla is doing is “iPhone” level in terms of EVs and energy storage. […]
Tesla Surprises with $312 Million Profit in Third Quarter
October 24th, 2018Via: Autoblog: Tesla is reporting that the Model 3 has gross margins of over 20 percent, which has in part driven Tesla into profitability. Ahead of the earnings webcast, Tesla released a shareholder letter detailing its third-quarter results. According to the letter, Tesla has turned a profit — and a sizable one. The letter reports […]
X-37B Military Space Plane Wings Past 400 Days on Latest Mystery Mission
October 19th, 2018Via: space.com: The latest mystery mission of the U.S. Air Force’s robotic X-37B space plane has now passed the 400-day mark. This mission — known as Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) — was rocketed into Earth orbit on Sept. 7, 2017, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center […]
Tesla Model 3 Drive System Designed to Last for Over One Million Miles
October 16th, 2018Via: Electrek: Tesla says that the Model 3 drive system is designed and validated for over one million miles of range. Today, the automaker released impressive pictures of Model 3 drive units after testing, which Elon Musk says “drove 1M miles”.
Smart Home Surveillance: Governments Tell Google’s Nest To Hand Over Data 300 Times
October 15th, 2018Shocker. Via: Forbes: Anyone pumped for this week’s launch of Google’s Home Hub might want to temper their excitement. A smart home is a surveilled home. That’s been the concern of privacy activists since citizens started lighting up their abodes with so-called “smart” tech in recent years. Take Google’s current smart home division, Nest Labs. […]
How An Amateur Rap Crew Stole Surveillance Tech That Tracks Almost Every American
October 12th, 2018Via: Forbes: Today TransUnion says TLO is capable of “processing trillions of records at sub-second speeds.” It can quickly uncover relevant data like individuals’ family members and social media profiles. One of the most important features for law enforcement combines photos from surveillance cameras with a huge trove of license plate numbers to nearly instantly […]
Tesla Increases the Price of the Powerwall as Demand Greatly Outpaces Production
October 12th, 2018Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — I wrote a comment on Tesla and the Powerwall a few days ago: I can’t personally speak to the quality of Tesla’s vehicles, but I’ve had a Powerwall 2 at home since the end of June and, as a working professional in the solar + […]
Boston Dynamics: Parkour Atlas
October 11th, 2018Via: Boston Dynamics: Atlas does parkour. The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace. (Step height 40 cm.) Atlas uses computer vision to locate itself with respect to visible markers on […]
