Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Yamaha Shows Motobot Motorcycle-Riding Humanoid Robot
October 28th, 2015Via: Gizmag: Yamaha produced somewhat of a surprise at the Tokyo Motor Show today when it showed a motorcycle-riding robot. Unlike most two-wheeled debutants, Yamaha’s new Motobot isn’t starting out on a small capacity motorcycle, but release images show the humanoid robot riding Yamaha’s most sporting motorcycle, the 1000cc R1M.
Inside the Pentagon’s Effort to Build a Killer Robot
October 28th, 2015Via: Time: The defense program DARPA is working to create an artificial brain—but what will it mean for humanity if it succeeds? … I am headed to the laboratory of Dr. Garrett T. Kenyon, whose program falls under the rubric of synthetic cognition, an attempt to build an artificial brain. Roboticists define artificial brains as […]
Bill Would Give Legal Protection to Firms that Share Data with Government
October 27th, 2015Via: Washington Post: The Senate on Tuesday passed a cybersecurity bill that would give companies legal immunity for sharing data with the federal government, over the protests of some lawmakers and consumer advocates who say that the legislation does not adequately protect Americans’ privacy. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, must now be reconciled […]
‘Zeno Effect’ Verified: Atoms Won’t Move While You Watch
October 27th, 2015Via: Cornell University: One of the oddest predictions of quantum theory – that a system can’t change while you’re watching it – has been confirmed in an experiment by Cornell physicists. Their work opens the door to a fundamentally new method to control and manipulate the quantum states of atoms and could lead to new […]
Google Employee Living in a Truck in the Company Parking Lot Is Saving 90% of His Income
October 27th, 2015Via: Business Insider: A 23-year-old software engineer at Google is saving about 90% of his take-home pay. When your only fixed living cost is truck insurance, you can save a large chunk of your income. One San Francisco-based Google employee in this exact situation, who lives in a 128-square-foot truck in the company’s parking lot, […]
Citigroup Testing Eye-Scanning ATM
October 27th, 2015Via: NBC: No card reader, no PIN pad, no touch-screen display — how you bank at your ATM could drastically change in the not-so-distant future. Citigroup is testing an automated teller machine made by Canton, Ohio-based Diebold that relies on your smartphone and perhaps an eye scan to dispense your cash.
Why Self-Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill
October 27th, 2015Via: MIT Technology Review: Self-driving cars are already cruising the streets. But before they can become widespread, carmakers must solve an impossible ethical dilemma of algorithmic morality.
Wal-Mart Seeks to Test Drones for Home Delivery, Pickup
October 26th, 2015Via: Reuters: Wal-Mart Stores Inc applied Monday to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories, a sign it plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in using drones to fill and deliver online orders. The world’s largest retailer by revenue has for several months been conducting indoor […]
Google Turning Its Lucrative Web Search Over to AI Machines
October 26th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Google has been one of the biggest corporate sponsors of AI, and has invested heavily in it for videos, speech, translation and, recently, search. For the past few months, a “very large fraction” of the millions of queries a second that people type into the company’s search engine have been interpreted by an […]
Morocco Poised to Become a Solar Superpower with Launch of Desert Mega-Project
October 26th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Guardian: When the full complex is complete, it will be the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world , and the first phase, called Noor 1, will go live next month. The mirror technology it uses is less widespread and more expensive […]
