Archive for June, 2019
Project Kuiper Initiative: Amazon Will Spend Billions to Build Satellite Internet Service
June 6th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Amazon.com Inc. plans to spend billions of dollars building a network of thousands of satellites to provide broadband internet service, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said. The Project Kuiper initiative, disclosed earlier this year, is the type of big bet the company needs to keep making as its massive scale renders smaller endeavors […]
A Glass Battery That Keeps Getting Better?
June 6th, 2019As usual, never hold your breath waiting for disruptive battery technology to transition from the lab to a product that you can buy. But this is a weird one… Via: IEEE: Is there such a thing as a battery whose capacity to store energy increases with age? One respected team of researchers say they have […]
New Algorithm Allows Modification of Talking Head Videos as Easily as Editing Text
June 6th, 2019Via: Stanford: In television and film, actors often flub small bits of otherwise flawless performances. Other times they leave out a critical word. For editors, the only solution so far is to accept the flaws or fix them with expensive reshoots. Imagine, however, if that editor could modify video using a text transcript. Much like […]
Towing an Iceberg to South Africa
June 6th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: “To make it economically feasible, the iceberg will have to be big,” Sloane says. Ideally, it would measure about 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) long, 500 meters wide, and 250 meters deep, and weigh 125 million tons. “That would supply about 20% of Cape Town’s water needs for a year.” Sloane has already assembled […]
Amazon Claims Prime Air Drones Will Start Delivering Packages ‘Within Months’
June 6th, 2019Via: USA Today: Within a matter of months, your future Amazon orders could be delivered by a self-driving drone. Officials with the online shopping giant unveiled the latest Prime Air drone design Wednesday at Amazon’s re:MARS Conference (Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space) in Las Vegas. “We’ve been hard at work building fully electric drones […]
TSA Allowing Illegal Migrants to Fly Without Proper Documents
June 6th, 2019Via: Washington Examiner: The federal agency tasked with overseeing security at transportation hubs has been violating its own policy by allowing migrants who have been released from federal custody onto flights despite not having required documents, according to several Department of Homeland Security officials. For the past six months, the Transportation Security Administration has allowed […]
Pentagon Eyes Rare Earth Supplies in Africa in Push Away from China
June 6th, 2019In other news: Maybe Africa Really Will Be the New China. Via: Reuters: The U.S. Department of Defense has held talks with Malawi’s Mkango Resources Ltd and other rare earth miners across the globe about their supplies of strategic minerals, part of a plan to find diversified reserves outside of China, a department official said […]
Police Building Surveillance Networks with Amazon’s Ring Doorbells
June 5th, 2019Via: Cnet: While residential neighborhoods aren’t usually lined with security cameras, the smart doorbell’s popularity has essentially created private surveillance networks powered by Amazon and promoted by police departments. Police departments across the country, from major cities like Houston to towns with fewer than 30,000 people, have offered free or discounted Ring doorbells to citizens, […]
Carnival Cruise Lines Hit With $20 Million Penalty For Environmental Crimes
June 5th, 2019A $20 million fine isn’t even a slap on the wrist for Carnival. On revenue of $18.8 billion, I wonder, in which column on their spreadsheet this will go? Chicken Feed? Pocket Lint? F-U-We’ll-Do-It-Again? Via: NPR: The cruise line giant Carnival Corporation and its Princess subsidiary have agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $20 […]
Australia: Police Raid ABC Over Leaked Information That Detailed Special Forces Killings of Civilians in Afghanistan
June 5th, 2019Via: ABC: Australian Federal Police officers have left the ABC’s Sydney headquarters more than eight hours after a raid began over a series of 2017 stories known as the Afghan Files. The stories, by ABC investigative journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan […]
