Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
U.S. Drone Helicopters to Begin Troop Re-Supply Operations in Afghanistan
October 6th, 2011Via: Wired: Next month, the Afghanistan war gets a boost. Specifically, a boost from a robotic helicopter that ferries gear to U.S. troops. Check out the video above. That’s the K-MAX helicopter, a collaboration between defense giant Lockheed Martin and Connecticut aerospace company Kaman, lifting off from an Arizona test site in August, after its […]
It’s Man vs. Machine and Man Is Losing
October 6th, 2011More machines, fewer workers. Via: Wall Street Journal: In the man-versus-machine competition, machine is winning. And it’s not just Watson beating humans on “Jeopardy.” Since the recession ended, businesses had increased their real spending on equipment and software by a strong 26%, while they have added almost nothing to their payrolls.
Introducing Siri: DARPA’s Ghost in Apple’s Machine
October 5th, 2011So their eyes are growing hazy cos they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy, well… give em what they want —10,000 Maniacs – Candy Everybody Wants One of the stocks that I used to kick around in the 1990s was that of a now long dead company called General […]
Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog Quadruped Robot Prototype
October 1st, 2011Via: ieee Spectrum: …those weights that AlphaDog is carrying in a few of the clips weigh a total of 400 pounds (180 kilograms), and the robot will be able to carry that load up to 20 miles (30 kilometers) over the course of 24 hours without having to refuel.
U.S. Military Wants Drones that Detect ‘Adversarial Intent’
September 28th, 2011Oh sure. Via: Wired: Perhaps the idea of spy drones already makes your nervous. Maybe you’re uncomfortable with the notion of an unblinking, robotic eye in the sky that can watch your every move. If so, you may want to click away now. Because if the Army has its way, drones won’t just be able […]
Will Robots Steal Your Job?
September 27th, 2011Via: Slate: They might not know it yet, but some of the most educated workers in the nation are engaged in a fierce battle with machines. As computers get better at processing and understanding language and at approximating human problem-solving skills, they’re putting a number of professions in peril. Those at risk include doctors, lawyers, […]
U.S. Assembling Drone Bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula
September 21st, 2011Via: Washington Post: The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said. One of the installations is being established in Ethiopia, a U.S. […]
A Future for Drones: Automated Killing
September 20th, 2011Via: Washington Post: One afternoon last fall at Fort Benning, Ga., two model-size planes took off, climbed to 800 and 1,000 feet, and began criss-crossing the military base in search of an orange, green and blue tarp. The automated, unpiloted planes worked on their own, with no human guidance, no hand on any control. After […]
The $300 Million Cable That Will Save Traders Milliseconds
September 13th, 2011Now with more Flashcrash! Via: Telegraph: In the high-speed world of automated financial trading, milliseconds matter. So much so, in fact, that a saving of just six milliseconds in transmission time is all that is required to justify the laying of the first transatlantic communications cable for 10 years at a cost of more than […]
DARPA Researchers Rig Cyborg Beetles to Capture Energy That Powers Neuro Control Electronics
September 3rd, 2011The creature flaps its wings and generates power for the electronics that the remote operators use to control its flight. Sound familiar? Governments figured out this model long ago: Income tax, property tax, sales tax, fuel tax, fart tax, etc. They’ve got everyone coming and going, the system feeds on our activity through taxes and […]
