Archive for April, 2015
The Machines Are Coming
April 19th, 2015Via: New York Times: THE machine hums along, quietly scanning the slides, generating Pap smear diagnostics, just the way a college-educated, well-compensated lab technician might. A robot with emotion-detection software interviews visitors to the United States at the border. In field tests, this eerily named “embodied avatar kiosk” does much better than humans in catching […]
Feds Say Cannabis Is Not Medicine While Holding The Patent on Cannabis as Medicine
April 19th, 2015U.S. Patent 6630507: Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants Via: Ben Swann:
Iris Scanner Identifies a Person 40 Feet Away
April 18th, 2015Via: Discovery: The CMU team recently posted a video successfully testing the system in a typical traffic stop scenario. Using the long-range iris scanner, the system was able to identify the driver of a vehicle by capturing an image of the eye via the side-view mirror.
What Microsoft Was for PCs, This Company Hopes to Be for Drones
April 16th, 2015Via: MIT Technology Review: Microsoft’s Windows operating system had a vital role in turning the personal computer into a ubiquitous technology. Jonathan Downey hopes his company Airware will play a similar part in the development of commercial drones. The startup today launched a control system for drone makers to bundle with their small aircraft. It […]
New Zealand: Grid Tie Solar System Deals for April-May
April 16th, 2015For readers in NZ: The solar power company that I work for is discounting grid tie systems until 30 May 2015. I got an email from the CEO last night. It’s time for us to grab more market share. In addition to discounts on the hardware, you won’t have to pay: * The distributed generation […]
Newcastle: Inside Britain’s Busiest Food Bank
April 16th, 2015Via: Vice: Since the coalition came to power in 2010, food poverty in Britain has risen dramatically. For those struggling to exist because of low pay, zero-hour contacts or delayed benefit payments, food banks aren’t just helpful – they’re a lifeline. They’ve also been one of the key points of contention in the build up […]
61-Year-Old Mailman Lands Gyrocopter on Capital Lawn to Bring Attention to Political Corruption
April 15th, 2015This incident is only hours old and media are already starting the character assassination routine on Doug Hughes. I haven’t looked into the message yet in detail, but here’s the Civilist Papers website in case you want to look at it without the media spin treatment: thecivilistpapers.org Via: Tampa Bay Times: Doug Hughes, a 61-year-old […]
U.S. Navy Tests Autonomous, Swarming UAVs
April 15th, 2015Via: Office of Naval Research: A new era in autonomy and unmanned systems for naval operations is on the horizon, as officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today recent technology demonstrations of swarming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — part of the Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program. LOCUST can launch swarming UAVs […]
Customer Service Robot at Japanese Bank
April 14th, 2015Via: Japan Times: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ took a first step toward employing nonhuman staff on Monday, with the introduction of a customer service humanoid robot at its flagship Tokyo outlet. Standing 58 cm tall and weighing 5.4 kg, the Nao robot will work at reception until April 23 before potentially being rolled out full […]
Robot Dies After Three Hours Inside Fukushima Reactor
April 14th, 2015Watch the radiation monitor numbers on the video (lower right). That thing hits 24.9 sieverts per hour. In case you don’t have an understanding of how deadly that is, see this handy radiation dose chart. Via: Guardian: Decommissioning work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a setback after a robot sent in […]
