Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
“This Secret Fuel of the Economy, Rarely Missing and Little Noticed, Is Running Out”
May 7th, 2014Via: AP: For those who fear an overcrowded planet, this is good news. For the economy, not so good. We tend to think economic growth comes from working harder and smarter. But economists attribute up to a third of it to more people joining the workforce each year than leaving it. The result is more […]
Eyes Over Compton, “We Basically Kept it Pretty Hush Hush”
May 6th, 2014Via: The Atlantic: This is the future if nothing is done to stop it. In a secret test of mass surveillance technology, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sent a civilian aircraft* over Compton, California, capturing high-resolution video of everything that happened inside that 10-square-mile municipality. Compton residents weren’t told about the spying, which happened […]
Robots Are Caring for Elderly People in Europe
May 6th, 2014Via: Vice: Judging by recent surveys, most people seem to think that robots that are actually useful will lead to some sort of apocalyptic machine uprising. But look past the military bots and automated job-stealers, and one of the most obvious applications of a service robot is an entirely unthreatening task humans are increasingly failing […]
Volvo Testing Self Driving Cars on Public Roads in Sweden
May 5th, 2014Via: Volvo: Volvo Car Group’s groundbreaking project ‘Drive Me’ – featuring 100 self-driving Volvos on public roads in everyday driving conditions – is moving forward rapidly. The first test cars are already rolling around the Swedish city of Gothenburg and the sophisticated Autopilot technology is performing well. An autonomous drive car was also shown in […]
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 […]
