Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
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, […]
Atlas, The Next Generation
February 24th, 2016Via: Boston Dynamics (aka Google, aka Alphabet Inc): A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess […]
Ground Delivery Drones Ready to Roll in England
February 23rd, 2016Via: USA Today: “Ground drone” delivery robots that could easily be mistaken for toilet bowls on wheels are about to start rolling through London. Starship Technologies CEO Ahti Heinla says the company’s fleet of “small, safe, practical, free from CO2 emissions, and best of all, earthbound” robots can deliver packages and groceries at a fraction […]
The NSA’s SKYNET Program May be Killing Thousands of Innocent People
February 16th, 2016Via: Ars Technica: In 2014, the former director of both the CIA and NSA proclaimed that “we kill people based on metadata.” Now, a new examination of previously published Snowden documents suggests that many of those people may have been innocent. Last year, The Intercept published documents detailing the NSA’s SKYNET programme. According to the […]
U.S. Tells Google Computers Can Qualify as Drivers
February 9th, 2016Via: Reuters: U.S. vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), of its decision […]
Eagles Are Being Trained to Take Out Illegal Drones
February 1st, 2016Via: Engadget: Forget anti-drone drones, one of nature’s most majestic hunters may soon play a valuable role in taking down dangerous UAVs. As part of a new trial, the Dutch National Police force has begun training eagles to intercept troublesome drones during an emergency, when another capture device might put people below at risk. In […]
New Technologies Give Government Ample Means to Track Suspects, Study Finds
February 1st, 2016“The history of technology shows that what is invented for convenience can soon become a target of surveillance.” “The history of technology shows that what is invented for convenience can soon become a target of surveillance.” “The history of technology shows that what is invented for convenience can soon become a target of surveillance.” Via: […]
Project Skybender: Google Working on Solar Powered Drones for 5G Internet Access
January 31st, 2016Via: Guardian: Google is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America in New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from the air, the Guardian has learned. In a secretive project codenamed SkyBender, the technology giant built several prototype transceivers at the isolated spaceport last summer, and is testing them with multiple drones, according to […]
Lawyers, Doctors and Public Servants in Firing Line from Rise of the Machines
January 30th, 2016Via: Canberra Times: Machines will end about 40 per cent of today’s Australian jobs within two decades and they’re coming for middle class occupations, one of the nation’s automatisation experts has warned. University of Sydney professor of data science and machine learning Hugh Durrant-Whyte said Canberra’s public servants would be among those in the firing […]
Israeli Drone Feeds Hacked By British and American Intelligence
January 29th, 2016Via: The Intercept: AMERICAN AND BRITISH INTELLIGENCE secretly tapped into live video feeds from Israeli drones and fighter jets, monitoring military operations in Gaza, watching for a potential strike against Iran, and keeping tabs on the drone technology Israel exports around the world. Under a classified program code-named “Anarchist,” the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters, or […]
