Archive for July, 2018
Walmart Patents Surveillance Tool That Can Eavesdrop on Workers and Customers
July 12th, 2018Via: Engadget: The audio surveillance system Walmart designed is composed of several sensors that can collect all kinds of audio data, including beeps and the rustling of paper bags. Any data it gathers can be used to assess an employee’s performance — for instance, the sounds items make when they’re placed inside a bag can […]
Trash Piles Up in U.S. as China Closes Door to Recycling
July 12th, 2018Via: AFP: Globally, since 1992, 72 percent of plastic waste has ended up in China and Hong Kong, according to a study in the journal Science Advances. But since January, China has closed its borders to most paper and plastic waste in line with a new environmental policy pushed by Beijing, which no longer wants […]
AI Startups and the ‘Wizard of Oz Technique’
July 11th, 2018Via: Guardian: It’s hard to build a service powered by artificial intelligence. So hard, in fact, that some startups have worked out it’s cheaper and easier to get humans to behave like robots than it is to get machines to behave like humans. “Using a human to do the job lets you skip over a […]
Hear Stanley Kubrick Explain The 2001: A Space Odyssey Ending In A Rare, Unearthed Video
July 11th, 2018Via: Esquire: I’ve tried to avoid doing this ever since the picture came out. When you just say the ideas they sound foolish, whereas if they’re dramatized one feels it, but I’ll try. The idea was supposed to be that he is taken in by god-like entities, creatures of pure energy and intelligence with no […]
YouTube Is Fighting Conspiracy Theories with ‘Authoritative’ Context and Outside Links
July 11th, 2018More than ever: https://duckduckgo.com/ Via: The Verge: YouTube is adding “authoritative” context to search results about conspiracy-prone topics like the Moon landing and the Oklahoma City Bombing, as well as putting $25 million toward news outlets producing videos. Today, the company announced a new step in its Google News Initiative, a program it launched in […]
U.S. Is Set to Become World’s Top Oil Producer, Government Says
July 11th, 2018Via: Bloomberg: The U.S. government sees oil production further climbing next year even amid transportation logjams in the country’s most prolific shale play. The Energy Information Administration sees U.S. crude output averaging 11.8 million barrels a day in 2019, up from its 11.76 million barrel a day estimate in the June outlook. “In 2019, EIA […]
Tesla Will Build Gigafactory in Shanghai to Serve Chinese Market
July 10th, 2018Via: Electrek: Tesla has now confirmed the reports that came out of China this morning about a deal to allow the start of Gigafactory 3 construction in Shanghai. The automaker confirmed the deal and said that it plans to start construction “in the near future” for the first cars to roll off the line in […]
San Francisco: Where a Six-Figure Salary Is ‘Low Income’
July 9th, 2018Via: BBC: A family getting by on $117,400 (£87,970) in San Francisco can now be considered ‘low income’, according to US government figures. How can that be the case? That workers with six-figure salaries could be considered “poor” is something that might surprise many people. Yet a recent report from the US Department of Housing […]
Two Children Died in Samoa After Receiving MMR Vaccinations
July 9th, 2018Via: New Zealand Herald: Samoan health authorities have stopped all children’s vaccinations in the island nation after the deaths of two toddlers. A full inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths has also been launched at the request of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi. The situation comes after two children, both aged 1, died […]
Engine Tests Underway for DARPA ‘Phantom Express’ Spaceplane Program
July 9th, 2018Via: Space News: A space shuttle-era main engine is undergoing a series of daily test firings to demonstrate its suitability for use on a reusable spaceplane under development. The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine is in the midst of a series of 10 100-second engine firings over the course of 10 days at NASA’s Stennis Space […]
