Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘Smartphone Zombies’
July 30th, 2017Via: Reuters: A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii’s largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from “distracted walking.” The ban comes as cities around the world grapple […]
Motor Trend: The Tesla Model 3 “Is the Most Important Vehicle of the Century”
July 29th, 2017Via: Motor Trend: The Tesla Model 3 is here, and it is the most important vehicle of the century. Yes, the hyperbole is necessary. The original Tesla Model S was a proof of concept—it was possible to make a long-range electric vehicle. The Model X showed that you could make an electric SUV. But neither […]
Bollinger Unveils New Minimalist All-Electric Truck with Up to 200 Miles of Range
July 27th, 2017No pricing was revealed, which is good, since it would probably melt our faces off. Via: Electrek: Today, Bollinger Motors unveiled what it calls a “no nonsense back-to-basics all-electric sport utility truck (SUT).” The minimalist-looking vehicle with sharp edges and bare interior will not be for everyone, but with a promised range of up to […]
Toyota Set to Sell Long-Range, Fast-Charging Electric Cars in 2022
July 25th, 2017Toyota made a strategic error in holding out hope for hydrogen fuel cell technology as the leaders in zero emission vehicles went ahead with lithium ion batteries. By opting to attempt to make solid state battery technology viable by 2022, Toyota might be trying to make up for lost time. Via: Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp […]
Disney’s Next Movie Could Be Watching You
July 25th, 2017Via: Fast Company: Now, Disney Research has developed a neural network that seems to be chasing a similar idea–but for the world of movies. The system has been trained to watch an audience of theatergoers as they watch a film. It can track reactions like smiling and laughter on hundreds of faces in a dark […]
Wisconsin Company To Implant Microchips In Employees
July 24th, 2017“Get that bag of chips faster.” *creepy grin* Local TV news broadcasts are comedy gold in the zombie apocalypse. Via: KSTP: A Wisconsin company is about to become the first in the U.S. to offer microchip implants to its employees. Yes, you read that right. Microchip implants. “It’s the next thing that’s inevitably going to […]
Elon Musk Claims U.S. Approval for World’s Longest Tunnel
July 21st, 2017My guess is that there are so many secret underground facilities in and around Washington DC that this will simply not happen. But if this does somehow get approved, an additional guess is that you’ll be able to slap a Mr. Fusion on your Tesla before the DC hyperloop is running. In any event, Musk […]
U.S. Navy Ship in Persian Gulf Armed with Laser Weapon
July 21st, 2017Via: CNN: In the sometimes hostile waters of the Persian Gulf looms the US Navy’s first — in fact, the world’s first — active laser weapon. The LaWS, an acronym for Laser Weapons System, is not science fiction. It is not experimental. It is deployed on board the USS Ponce amphibious transport ship, ready to […]
The Tiny Satellites Ushering in the New Space Revolution
July 19th, 2017Smile for the birdy. Via: Bloomberg: With all 149 satellites in place, Planet will be able to photograph every inch of Earth’s surface every day—something even the U.S. government can’t do. This satellite constellation is one of many signs that the relationship between humans and space is changing in ways unseen since Russia and the […]
Synthesizing Obama
July 17th, 2017Via: University of Washington: Given audio of President Barack Obama, we synthesize a high quality video of him speaking with accurate lip sync, composited into a target video clip. Trained on many hours of his weekly address footage, a recurrent neural network learns the mapping from raw audio features to mouth shapes. Given the mouth […]
