Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Facebook Envisions Using Brain Waves to Control Mobile Phones, Input Data at 100 Words Per Minute
April 20th, 2017I already watch what I say around my mobile phone, so how about a brain computer interface from Facebook? This is so far down the no-fucking-way path for me that it’s almost hilarious. Even if people were willing to use such a thing, it’s not coming anytime soon. Here’s why: Long ago, I worked for […]
Courts Are Using AI to Sentence Criminals
April 18th, 2017Via: Wired: Algorithms pervade our lives today, from music recommendations to credit scores to now, bail and sentencing decisions. But there is little oversight and transparency regarding how they work. Nowhere is this lack of oversight more stark than in the criminal justice system. Without proper safeguards, these tools risk eroding the rule of law […]
Apple Receives Permit in California to Test Self-Driving Cars
April 15th, 2017Via: Reuters: Apple Inc has secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, fuelling speculation that it is working on self-driving car technology in a crowded arena of companies hoping to offer those cars to the masses. The permit allows it to conduct test drives in three vehicles with six drivers, the state Department […]
Burger King Trolls Google Home Devices
April 13th, 2017Update: Amazon’s Alexa Could Soon Recognize Users by Their Voices If Amazon is working on it, the rest of them probably are. Via: Ars Technica: Amazon’s Alexa may be about to get smarter. According to a report from Time, the online retailer is working on voice identification software for Alexa that would allow the service […]
Delivery Robots: A Revolutionary Step or Sidewalk-Clogging Nightmare?
April 12th, 2017Via: Guardian: Sharing a sidewalk with one of DoorDash’s delivery robots is a bit like getting stuck behind someone playing Pokémon Go on his smartphone. The robot moves a little bit slower than you want to; every few meters it pauses, jerking to the left or right, perhaps turning around, then turning again before continuing […]
Chinese Firm Halves Worker Costs by Hiring Army of Robots to Sort Out 200,000 Packages a Day
April 11th, 2017Via: South China Morning Post: A viral video showing an army of little orange robots sorting out packages in a warehouse in eastern China is the latest example of how machines are increasingly taking over menial factory work on the mainland. The behind-the-scenes footage of the self-charging robot army in a sorting centre of Chinese […]
Amazon’s Robot War Is Spreading
April 5th, 2017Via: Bloomberg: It was Amazon that drove America’s warehouse operators into the robot business. Quiet Logistics, which ships apparel out of its Devens, Mass., warehouse, had been using robots made by a company called Kiva Systems. When Amazon bought Kiva in 2012, Quiet hired scientists. In 2015 it spun out a new company called Locus […]
Cyborgs at Work: Employees Getting Implanted with Microchips
April 3rd, 2017Like many of you out there, I first heard about this technology in the 1990s. Decades later, a passive microchip implant seems like a practically innocuous fairy tale compared to the privacy hell that has metastasized all around us. In terms of technologies of political control, think of a chip implant as something like a […]
Autonomous Nissan Leaf
April 1st, 2017Via: Fully Charged:
Connecticut Considering Use of Drones Outfitted with Deadly Weapons for Police
March 31st, 2017Via: AP: Connecticut lawmakers are considering whether the state should become the first in the country to allow police to use drones outfitted with deadly weapons, a proposal immediately met with concern by civil rights and liberties advocates. The bill would ban the use of weaponized drones, but exempt police. Details on how law enforcement […]
