Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘Deep Learning’ Professor to Head Facebook AI Lab
December 16th, 2013Via: New Yorker: Earlier today, Facebook announced that one of the most prominent artificial-intelligence researchers in the world, Yann LeCun, will be joining the company to direct a massive new A.I. effort spread across offices in California, New York, and London. While it might sound like just another Facebook hire, the move, which LeCun describes […]
China Landed Rover on Moon
December 14th, 2013Update: Chinese Rover Landed on Moon and Launched Successfully Via: CNN: China’s first lunar rover deployed successfully from the unmanned spacecraft Chang’e-3 that landed on the moon Saturday. Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in Chinese) is a six-wheeled lunar rover equipped with at least four cameras and two mechanical legs that can dig up soil samples […]
GOOGLE BUYS BOSTON DYNAMICS
December 14th, 2013😯 Via: New York Times: BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas have joined Google’s growing robot menagerie. Google confirmed on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has gained an international reputation for machines that […]
NASA Unveils ‘Valkyrie’ Robot for DARPA Competition
December 13th, 2013Via: IEEE Spectrum: Valkyrie (officially designated “R5” by NASA) is a 1.9 meter tall, 125 kilogram, 44 degree of freedom, battery-powered humanoid robot. A team from NASA’s JSC in Houston, in partnership with the University of Texas and Texas A&M and with funding from the state of Texas itself, built the robot for the DRC, […]
Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She’s A Robot
December 13th, 2013Via: Time: The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy. When Scherer asked point blank if she was a real person, or a computer-operated robot […]
New Zealand: Customs Seizes Man’s Electronic Equipment
December 13th, 2013Via: New Zealand Herald: A backpacker coming home for Christmas had every bit of electronic equipment stripped from him at the airport. A Customs officer at Auckland International Airport took law graduate Sam Blackman’s two smartphones, iPad, an external hard drive and laptop – and demanded his passwords. Mr Blackman, 27, who was breaking up […]
Bargains, Bargains: Facial-Recognition Cameras Hidden in Eyes of Mannequins
December 12th, 2013Via: CBS: Big Brother could be at your favorite store. As CBS 2?s Don Champion reported, a growing number of stores are using discrete and sophisticated technology — including mannequins with facial-recognition cameras hidden in their eyes — to track shopper demographics in an effort to boost sales. Retailers say the marketing data technology allows […]
Intel Contractors Give Millions to Lawmakers Overseeing Government Surveillance
December 12th, 2013Via: Maplight: In response to documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, the congressional committees in charge of overseeing the government’s intelligence operations have come to the defense of the surveillance and data collection programs, and the agencies that administer them. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate […]
Canada to Stop Delivering Mail to City Homes Over 5 Years
December 12th, 2013Via: New York Times: Canada’s postal service said Wednesday that it would cease home delivery over the next five years, and substantially increase postal rates. Though Canada would become the first Group of 7 country to end all residential mail delivery in cities and older suburbs, Canada Post shares many problems with postal services in […]
NSA Uses Google Cookies to Pinpoint Targets for Hacking
December 11th, 2013Via: Washington Post: The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance. The agency’s internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the […]
