Archive for June, 2015
This Robotic Bricklayer Can Build a House in Two Days
June 26th, 2015Via: Engadget: For all the modern tools and heavy machinery found on construction sites these days, one aspect has remained a decidedly manual labor: bricklaying. Just as they did 6000 years ago when masonry was first developed, today’s bricklayers still perform their backbreaking work almost exclusively by hand. But thanks to Australian engineer, Mark Pivac, […]
Mountain View Man Renting Out Small Tent Near Google For $965 Per Month
June 26th, 2015Via: CBS: The housing crisis in the South Bay has a new form of short-term rental popping up. A man in the Monta Loma neighborhood of Mountain View is renting out a Coleman tent in a “beautiful garden” outside his home for visitors or slightly more permanent residences for the high price of $46 per […]
Deadly Attack on Hotel in Tunisia
June 26th, 2015Via: Guardian: At least 27 people have been killed in a gun attack on a beach in front of hotels in the Tunisian resort of Sousse. Witnesses reported that gunmen opened fire on the beach between the Soviva and Imperial Marhaba hotels. Tunisia’s interior ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui told the state news agency the […]
Man Decapitated in France by Attacker Who Tried to Blow Up Factory
June 26th, 2015Via: Independent: A man has reportedly been decapitated by suspected Isis supporters at a factory in France. The murdered man’s head was found attached to a wire mesh fence surrounded by two black flags linked to the terrorist group near the entrance to the Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, police said. According to Le Parisien […]
California Lawmakers Approve Strict Vaccination Requirement
June 25th, 2015Via: Los Angeles Times: California lawmakers on Thursday approved one of the toughest mandatory vaccination requirements in the nation, moving to end exemptions from state immunization laws based on religious or other personal beliefs. The measure, among the most controversial taken up by the Legislature this year, would require more children who enter day care […]
U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track TPP Trade Bill
June 25th, 2015So it goes… Via: Stuff: US lawmakers approved legislation key to securing a hallmark Pacific trade deal by a comfortable margin on Wednesday, advancing President Barack Obama’s efforts to strengthen US economic ties with Asia. Senators voted 60 to 38 to approve legislation to streamline Congress’s consideration of trade deals, including Obama’s 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership […]
Processed Food Losing Market Share to Fresh and Organic Alternatives
June 24th, 2015With regard to “organic,” watch out: Who Owns Organic Brands And Why You Should Care. Via: Fortune: Major packaged-food companies lost $4 billion in market share alone last year, as shoppers swerved to fresh and organic alternatives. Can the supermarket giants win you back? Try this simple test. Say the following out loud: Artificial colors […]
China’s Troubling Robot Revolution
June 24th, 2015Via: New York Times: OVER the last decade, China has become, in the eyes of much of the world, a job-eating monster, consuming entire industries with its seemingly limitless supply of low-wage workers. But the reality is that China is now shifting its appetite to robots, a transition that will have significant consequences for China’s […]
Why the Saudis Are Going Solar
June 23rd, 2015Disclosures: I sell solar power systems in NZ. I’m long Enphase Energy. — Via: The Atlantic: Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad Al Saud belongs to the family that rules Saudi Arabia. He wears a white thawb and ghutra, the traditional robe and headdress of Arab men, and he has a cavernous office hung with […]
Google Eavesdropping Tool Installed on Computers Without Permission
June 23rd, 2015Via: Guardian: Privacy campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on conversations held in front of a computer. First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google’s Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping […]