Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Black Hawk Helicopter: Pilot Optional
May 3rd, 2014Via: Wired: The Army’s most iconic helicopter is about to go pilotless. The U.S. Army and defense contractor Sikorsky Aircraft demonstrated hover and flight capability in an “optionally piloted” version of the Black Hawk helicopter last month. It’s part of the Army’s effort to reduce troops and costs, in this case by letting the five-ton […]
Stephen Hawking: Artificial Intelligence Doom
May 3rd, 2014Via: Independent: Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.
Google’s Self-Driving Car on City Streets
April 28th, 2014Via: Google:
China: Ten Recycled Concrete Houses 3D-Printed in 24 Hours [???]
April 28th, 2014😯 Via: International Business Times: A Chinese construction firm based in Shanghai has succeeded in building 10 houses each measuring 200 square metres in 24 hours by using an enormous 3D printer. The houses are all eco-friendly and constructed from 3D-printed building blocks made from layers of recycled construction waste and glass fibre and mixed […]
The Desperate Hustle as a Way of Life
April 27th, 2014Via: City Paper: Here is the future: nobody gets any job security. Nobody gets a fair wage while they have a job. Nobody gets a retirement fund or even any guarantee they’ll be able to eat tomorrow. And almost everyone is doing everything they can just to get by—and paying some substantial portion of their […]
Japan’s Plan for Centimeter-Resolution GPS
April 26th, 2014Via: IEEE: A stranger to Tokyo could easily get lost in its urban canyons. And GPS navigation, stymied by low resolution and a blocked view of the sky, might not be much help. But that won’t be the case after 2018. Engineers at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corp. report that they’re on track to start up […]
Introducing AISight: CCTV Network Completely Run by AI
April 22nd, 2014Via: ITProPortal: BRS Labs’ AISight is different because it doesn’t rely on a human programmer to tell it what behaviour is suspicious. It learns that all by itself. The system enables a machine to monitor is environment, and build up a detailed profile of what can be considered “normal” behaviour. The AI can then determine […]
Pentagon’s Superpowered Autopilot Will Do the Work of 5 Crew Members
April 22nd, 2014Via: Wired: Some think that the Defense Department couldn’t possibly reduce its forces as much as it claims it will. After all, who would fly the planes? Now DARPA has an answer. The Pentagon’s research arm is developing a sophisticated, drop-in autopilot that can replace as many as five crew members of a military aircraft, […]
The New Cop on the Beat May Be a Bot
April 18th, 2014Via: Time: A Silicon Valley company called Knightscope is currently testing a prototype robot designed to detect and monitor criminal activity, much the way a police officer or a security guard would. The Knightscope K5 is a five-foot-tall autonomous robot (one presumes that its resemblance to a Dalek is merely coincidental) that roams around your […]
The Guardian Launches Small-Run Newspaper in U.S. — Stories Picked by Machine
April 16th, 2014Via: Venture Beat: The Guardian is bringing automated content-curation to U.S. newsstands using some tried and true technology: the print newspaper. The U.K.-based newspaper will launch a monthly print edition in the U.S. on Wednesday dubbed #Open001, filled with stories selected by a proprietary algorithm. The Guardian has already tested the waters with roboticcally compiled […]
