Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Tesla’s Second Generation Autopilot Could Reduce Crash Rate by 90%, Says CEO Elon Musk
January 21st, 2017Whatever you think about autonomous drive technologies, my point with posting these stories is not to be a cheerleader one way or another. I just want to be sure everyone knows that this stuff is real and it is coming. Millions of drivers will lose their jobs, and these are not minimum wage, burger flipping […]
Making AI Systems That See The World As Humans Do
January 20th, 2017Via: PhysOrg: A Northwestern University team developed a new computational model that performs at human levels on a standard intelligence test. This work is an important step toward making artificial intelligence systems that see and understand the world as humans do. “The model performs in the 75th percentile for American adults, making it better than […]
F-16 and SU-27P in Mock Dogfight Over Area 51
January 17th, 2017The idiotic Daily Mail is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. In fact, there is nothing unusual about what was photographed. Assessing foreign military hardware is one of the normal things that happens at Area 51, and is nothing new. See, Foreign Technology Evaluation: During the Cold War, one of the missions […]
Tesla to Power Gigafactory with World’s Largest Solar Rooftop Installation
January 17th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Inhabitat: Just last week Tesla announced battery production had started at their Nevada Gigafactory, but didn’t mention one thrilling detail in their January 4 announcement: the Gigafactory could be powered by the world’s largest solar rooftop installation. An investor handout revealed a 70-megawatt (MW) […]
Robot Cars Can Learn to Drive without Leaving the Garage
January 17th, 2017Via: MIT Technology Review: The computers that control self-driving cars are gaining valuable knowledge about the real world in some surprising ways—including browsing online maps and playing video games. Researchers at Princeton University recently developed a computer vision and mapping system that gathered useful information about the physical properties of roads by studying Google Street […]
Airbus CEO Sees ‘Flying Car’ Prototype Ready by End of Year
January 17th, 2017Via: Reuters: Airbus Group plans to test a prototype for a self-piloted flying car as a way of avoiding gridlock on city roads by the end of the year, the aerospace group’s chief executive said on Monday. Airbus last year formed a division called Urban Air Mobility that is exploring concepts such as a vehicle […]
Air Force Tests IBM’s Brain-Inspired Chip as an Aerial Tank Spotter
January 17th, 2017Nope, there aren’t any SkyNet jokes in the article. Via: MIT Technology Review: Satellites, aircraft, and growing numbers of drones—the U.S. Air Force has a lot of electronic eyes in the sky. Now it’s exploring whether brain-inspired computer chips could give those systems the smarts to do things like automatically identify vehicles such as tanks […]
‘Side Hustle’ as a Sign of the Apocalypse
January 14th, 2017Definitely related: L.A. Coliving: PodShare Via: Medium: “These days, everyone needs a side hustle,” starts the Uber commercial recruiting new drivers. And it’s got bouncy music and the dude is hip and it makes it sound like this is super fun and I’m sitting there thinking: Are they seriously trying to make a “second job” […]
Why Smart People Don’t Multitask
January 12th, 2017Via: CNBC: You may have heard that multitasking is bad for you, but studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain. Every time you multitask you aren’t just harming your performance in the moment; you may very well be damaging an area of your brain that’s critical to your future […]
Facebook: Building 8
January 12th, 2017Wikipedia: Transcranial Pulsed Ultrasound: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is undergoing research to develop a helmet that could control the minds of soldiers through the use of TPU. It would have the potential to control a soldier’s stress and anxiety levels with the click of a remote controlled button.[5] Sound waves would target specific […]
