Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Has Lithium-Battery Genius John Goodenough Done it Again? Colleagues Are Skeptical
March 21st, 2017Via: Quartz: Researchers have struggled for decades to safely use powerful—but flammable—lithium metal in a battery. Now John Goodenough, the 94-year-old father of the lithium-ion battery, is claiming a novel solution as a blockbuster advance. If it proves out, the invention could allow electric cars to compete with conventional vehicles on sticker price. The improbable […]
People Dropping Out of Reality to Spend Their Time in Video Games
March 20th, 2017I’ve seen this over on Twitch.tv. I watch a guy who streams a game I play. He’s 25. The only job he ever had was applying window tint to cars at his aunt’s business. Now, he and his brother live in a flop house in Long Beach and stream video games on Twitch at all […]
BMW Says Self-Driving Car to Be Level 5 Capable by 2021
March 17th, 2017Via: Reuters: German carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) is on track to deliver a self-driving car by 2021, the company’s senior vice president for Autonomous Driving, Elmar Frickenstein, said on Thursday. “We are on the way to deliver a car in 2021 with level 3, 4 and 5,” Frickenstein told a panel discussion in Berlin, explaining the […]
The Entrepreneur with the $100 Million Plan to Link Brains to Computers
March 17th, 2017Via: MIT Technology Review: Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson says he wanted to become very rich in order to do something great for humankind. Last year Johnson, founder of the online payments company Braintree, starting making news when he threw $100 million behind Kernel, a startup he founded to enhance human intelligence by developing brain implants capable […]
Facing Bread Shortage, Venezuela Arrests Bakers
March 17th, 2017Via: Miami Herald: Facing a bread shortage that is spawning massive lines and souring the national mood, the Venezuelan government is responding this week by detaining bakers and seizing establishments. In a press release, the National Superintendent for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights said it had charged four people and temporarily seized two bakeries as […]
Toy Drone Shot Down with Patriot Missile
March 15th, 2017Raytheon doesn’t mind. Meanwhile, in France: French Military Trains Eagles to Hunt Drones Via: BBC: A Patriot missile – usually priced at about $3m (£2.5m) – was used to shoot down a small quadcopter drone, according to a US general. The strike was made by a US ally, Gen David Perkins told a military symposium. […]
Seeking Adventure And Gold? Crack This Poem And Head Outdoors
March 15th, 2017This is a bit like, Ready Player One, but outdoors. Well, assuming that there is a chest of gold out there… Just buy Forrest Fenn’s books to read the clues. *wink* On a more ominous note, I hope the guy is aware of rubber hose cryptanalysis! It’s probably best to wait until you kick the […]
‘Pretty Much Tastes Like Chicken’
March 15th, 2017Via: MarketWatch: A Bay Area food-technology startup says it has successfully developed the world’s first chicken strip grown from self-reproducing cells without so much as ruffling a feather. And it pretty much tastes like chicken, according to people who were offered samples Tuesday in San Francisco, before a planned big reveal on Wednesday by Memphis […]
How Police Departments Use Civil Forfeiture to Collect Billions
March 15th, 2017Whenever you hear about tips to the police from confidential informants or “concerned citizens,” etc. keep this in mind: U.S. Communications Intelligence Secretly Shared with Law Enforcement for Use Against Americans in Criminal Investigations. So, mass surveillance and civil forfeiture: Is there a link? “It is the height of naivete to think that once collected […]
Trump to Nominate Goldman Sachs’ Donovan as Deputy Treasury Secretary
March 14th, 2017Mmm hmm. Via: Reuters: U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) Managing Director James Donovan as deputy secretary of the Treasury, the White House said on Tuesday.
