Archive for December, 2018
EVs, Oil, And ICE: Impact By 2023 And Beyond
December 16th, 2018Via: Ross Tessien – SeekingAlpha: Legacy auto companies are planning on the EV disruption taking several decades. But disruptions never take that long once the new technology can match the old. Related: “The electrification of the truck market is the next multibillion dollar opportunity that the traditional American automakers will fumble.”
Megapack: Tesla Making Shipping Container Sized Battery for Utility Scale Energy Storage
December 15th, 2018They’re going into a 1.2 GWh project in California. 1.2 GWh… Via: Electrek: Electrek has learned some exclusive information about Tesla’s Megapack, the company’s upcoming new stationary energy storage product. The big new battery system is going to debut at Tesla’s giant 1.2 GWh energy storage project with PG&E in California. As we reported earlier […]
Parrot Uses Alexa to Order Watermelon, Lightbulbs While Owner Is Out
December 15th, 2018Via: Newsweek: A peckish parrot has been caught ordering strawberries, a watermelon and even a water boiler through his foster owner’s electronic personal assistant. Rocco, an African Grey, requested the items through an Alexa device while his minder was out of the home. Luckily, due to a parental lock, none of his attempted purchases went […]
Federal Judge Rules Obamacare Unconstitutional
December 14th, 2018Via: Reuters: A federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was unconstitutional based on its mandate requiring that people buy health insurance, a decision in a case that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth agreed with a coalition of […]
J&J Knew for Decades that Asbestos Lurked in its Baby Powder
December 14th, 2018Via: Reuters: A Reuters examination of many of those documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, shows that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos, and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the […]
Affect Recognition: Face Scanning Combined with Insane Pseudoscience
December 14th, 2018You’ll love this one. Via: The Intercept: Facial recognition has quickly shifted from techno-novelty to fact of life for many, with millions around the world at least willing to put up with their faces scanned by software at the airport, their iPhones, or Facebook’s server farms. But researchers at New York University’s AI Now Institute […]
Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Doorbell Cameras
December 14th, 2018Via: ACLU: Recently, a patent application from Amazon became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year. While the details are sketchy, the application describes a […]
Virgin Galactic Test Flight Reaches Edge of Space for First Time
December 13th, 2018Via: CBS: Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo carried two test pilots out of the discernible atmosphere Thursday, the company’s first piloted flight to the edge of space and a major milestone for Richard Branson’s plans to eventually launch tourists on brief, sub-orbital trips to space. It was the fourth non-government, purely commercial flight to carry pilots […]
Harvard’s $39B Endowment Is Reportedly Buying Up California’s Vineyards—and Their Water Rights
December 13th, 2018Via: Fortune: Harvard University’s endowment is reportedly buying up vineyards in California’s wine country, along with the water rights belonging to those properties. Instead of making the land purchases in its own name, Harvard is using a wholly owned subsidiary—named Brodiaea after the scientific name for the cluster lily—to buy vineyards. Harvard created Brodiaea in […]
France in a Nutshell: “The Government Stopped Listening to the People 20 Years Ago”
December 13th, 2018Via: Of Two Minds: The elites’ clever exploitation of politically correct cover stories has enthralled the comatose, uncritical Left, but not those who see their living standards in a free-fall.
