Archive for the 'Technology' Category
New Way to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries
July 20th, 2018Cobalt has been a very well known choke-point in lithium based energy storage systems for many years. Tesla, for example, has been reducing its dependence on cobalt and will go cobalt free for its next generation of cells. Although, what that means, in terms of an ETA, isn’t clear. The point is that the largest […]
Waymo’s Autonomous Vehicles Are Driving 25,000 Miles Every Day
July 20th, 2018Via: TechCrunch: Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, has driven 8 million miles on public roads using its autonomous vehicles. Waymo CEO John Krafcik shared the company’s milestone Friday while onstage with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval at the National Governors Association conference in Santa Fe, N.M. […]
Pentagon Sees Quantum Computing as Key Weapon for War in Space
July 19th, 2018Disclosure: I am long Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL). — I had not heard of quantum technologies being applied to inertial navigation systems before. Check out this 2014 piece from New Scientist: IN 2016 a British submarine will slip its moorings and set sail under the guidance of the quantum world. The navigation system it will […]
Pentagon Working on Neural Interface
July 18th, 2018Via: NextGov: The idea of humans controlling machines with their minds has spun off sci-fi blockbusters like “Pacific Rim” and entire subgenres of foreign film, but while today skyscraper-sized fighting robots exist only on the big screen, the Pentagon is building technology that could one day make them a reality. Today, the Defense Advanced Research […]
Researchers Mount Successful GPS Spoofing Attack Against Road Navigation Systems
July 17th, 2018Via: Bleeping Computer: Academics say they’ve mounted a successful GPS spoofing attack against road navigation systems that can trick humans into driving to incorrect locations. The research is of note because previous GPS spoofing attacks have been unable to trick humans, who, in past experiments, often received malicious driving instructions that didn’t make sense or […]
Digital Ads Are Starting to Feel Psychic
July 17th, 2018Via: The Outline: Earlier this year, my friend Max gave me a knife from Japan as a gift. That evening, as I was lying in bed looking at Instagram, I scrolled passed an ad of what looked like exactly the same knife. I did a double take, got out of bed, retrieved the knife from […]
The Twitch Streamers Who Spend Years Broadcasting to No One
July 16th, 2018Via: The Verge: When John Hopstead first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a decaying world. Famed for its brutal and exacting gameplay, Dark Souls is a popular game to live stream: if you’re going to die hundreds of times, you might as well perish with […]
All Ears: Always-On Listening Devices Could Soon Be Everywhere
July 13th, 2018Via: Wall Street Journal: If every tree falling in every forest might soon be heard by an internet-connected microphone, what hope is there for our privacy? Already when you’re sitting in a room with an iPhone, an Apple Watch and a smart assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home, you’re surrounded by a dozen microphones. […]
Walmart Patents Surveillance Tool That Can Eavesdrop on Workers and Customers
July 12th, 2018Via: Engadget: The audio surveillance system Walmart designed is composed of several sensors that can collect all kinds of audio data, including beeps and the rustling of paper bags. Any data it gathers can be used to assess an employee’s performance — for instance, the sounds items make when they’re placed inside a bag can […]
AI Startups and the ‘Wizard of Oz Technique’
July 11th, 2018Via: Guardian: It’s hard to build a service powered by artificial intelligence. So hard, in fact, that some startups have worked out it’s cheaper and easier to get humans to behave like robots than it is to get machines to behave like humans. “Using a human to do the job lets you skip over a […]
