Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Driverless Big Rigs to be Trialed in UK
March 6th, 2016Via: BBC: Driverless lorries are to be trialled in the UK, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm in his Budget speech this month. The Department for Transport said the UK would “lead the way” in testing driverless “HGV platoons”. The technology enables vehicles to move in a group, using less fuel, it said. The […]
U.S. Military Researchers Discuss LENR Co-Deposition, “Thermal Runaways”
March 3rd, 2016Background: 2012: Navy Commander Halts SPAWAR LENR Research Via: Cold Fusion Now: More: LENR Co-deposition
ARPA-E Batteries to Challenge Tesla?
March 3rd, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar Power systems in New Zealand. — If you’re interested in energy generation and storage technologies that will actually be for sale in the near to medium term, you can safely ignore most press releases about new energy technologies working only in labs. That stuff might as well be on a different […]
Justice Dept. Grants Immunity to Staffer Who Set Up Clinton Email Server
March 2nd, 2016Via: Washington Post: The Justice Department has granted immunity to the former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official. The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, […]
“Former Google CEO Schmidt to Head New Pentagon Innovation Board”
March 2nd, 2016Via: Reuters: Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive officer of Google, has agreed to head a new Pentagon advisory board aimed at bringing Silicon Valley innovation and best practices to the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday. Carter is due to discuss the new Defense Innovation Advisory Board with Schmidt during the […]
Billboards to Track People via Mobile Phones
March 2nd, 2016“All data is anonymous and aggregated, they say, meaning individual consumers cannot be identified.” Oh sure. Via: New York Times: Pass a billboard while driving in the next few months, and there is a good chance the company that owns it will know you were there and what you did afterward. Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, […]
New Consumer-Grade Drone’s Autonomous Flying Modes Include Collision Avoidance
March 2nd, 2016Via: The Verge: When drones got smart enough to navigate using GPS, and to follow people around, the naysayers pointed out they still couldn’t see anything. It could follow you, sure, but not while avoiding trees. … That all changes today with the introduction of DJI’s new drone, the Phantom 4. It’s the first consumer […]
Here’s How Electric Cars Will Cause the Next Oil Crisis
March 1st, 2016Via: Bloomberg: A shift is under way that will lead to widespread adoption of EVs in the next decade. Battery prices fell 35 percent last year and are on a trajectory to make unsubsidized electric vehicles as affordable as their gasoline counterparts in the next six years, according to a new analysis of the electric-vehicle […]
Google Unveils Neural Network with “Superhuman” Ability to Determine the Location of Almost Any Image
February 28th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review: Here’s a tricky task. Pick a photograph from the Web at random. Now try to work out where it was taken using only the image itself. If the image shows a famous building or landmark, such as the Eiffel Tower or Niagara Falls, the task is straightforward. But the job becomes […]
Mercedes-Benz Swaps Robots for People on Its Assembly Lines
February 26th, 2016Sure, for luxury items. Will a customer look at the price of a Mercedes and think, “They should have made a more standardized car so I could save a couple grand.” No. a Mercedes customer will not think that. Many luxury brands, from clothes to watches to yachts to planes, rely on human labor. Overall, […]
