Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Anonymous Drone Photos Lead to Indictment for Texas Polluters
December 29th, 2012Via: Slashdot: In January of this year, we posted news of a major pollution site in Texas that was the subject of some anonymous amateur sleuths with drones, who used their UAVs to document the release of a “river of blood” (pig blood, that is) into the Trinity River as it flows through Dallas. Now, […]
Military Turns to ESPN to Help Analyze Drone Footage
December 22nd, 2012Via: USA Today: Can SportsCenter teach the military something about combating terrorists? After rapidly expanding the number of drones around the world, the Air Force is now reaching out to ESPN and other experts in video analysis to keep up with the flood of footage the unmanned aircraft are transmitting. “They’re looking at anything and […]
Citizen Drone Warfare?
December 20th, 2012How long until direction finding and jamming equipment will have to be carried by police? I know: Ban drones! Via: YouTube:
‘A Dog on Two Legs?’
December 17th, 2012Via: Der Spiegel: A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can’t do it anymore. … […]
Woman Has Extraordinary Skill at Controlling Robotic Arm with Her Thoughts
December 17th, 2012Why Rise of the Machines? The military side will use the data from brain machine interfaces like this to develop algorithms for their killer robots. Remember the one from 2004, about the rat neurons that learned to control a simulated aircraft? ‘Brain’ In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer: A University of Florida scientist […]
Kurzweil Joins Google
December 15th, 2012Via: kurzweilai.net Ray Kurzweil confirmed today that he will be joining Google to work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing. “I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining Google as Director of Engineering this Monday, December 17,” said Kurzweil.
The Great Decoupling of the U.S. Economy
December 14th, 2012Via: Andrew McAfee’s Blog: What’s going on? Why have the things that workers care about – jobs and wages – become decoupled from the the other things that economy-watchers care about? So far, explanations for this unhappy phenomenon include tax and policy changes, and the effects of globalization and offshoring. These are clearly powerful forces, […]
Human Operator Taxies X-47B on Flight Deck of Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S. Truman
December 12th, 2012Via: U.S. Navy: The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Systems (UCAS) demonstrator taxies on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Harry S. Truman is the first aircraft carrier to host test operations for an unmanned aircraft.
U.S. Air Force X-37B Returns to Orbit
December 12th, 2012Via: NBC: An Atlas 5 rocket sent the Air Force’s X-37B mini-shuttle on its first repeat flight on Tuesday, kicking off a months-long classified mission reportedly aimed at testing advanced spy satellite sensors.
A U.S. Apple Factory May be Robot City
December 9th, 2012Probably the biggest caveat that’s not mentioned about this alleged insourcing boom is that some companies will be looking to gain the benefits of manufacturing in the U.S. but using robotic labor to do it. —The Insourcing Boom Via: Computer World: Apple’s planned investment of $100 million next year in a U.S. manufacturing facility is […]
