“Google Self-Driving Car Patent Reveals How You’ll Let AI Take the Wheel”
September 15th, 2015Via: The Verge:
A new patent from Google published today has some fascinating insight into how the company thinks that production of self-driving cars of the future might take control from the drivers they’re shuttling around — and how they could give it back, too.
The description of “Google Chauffeur,” spotted by Stanford’s Reilly Brennan, is a pretty straightforward concept. An arm on the steering column (not much different from a windshield wiper arm) could be pulled to engage a car’s self-driving mode; at that point, the system would do a check to see whether it’s ready and able to actually take control from the driver. If it isn’t — the car can’t get a GPS lock, for instance — the driver might see a “Not Available” light on the dash. Otherwise, you’d see a “Ready” light, at which point you can start taking your appendages off the wheel and pedals.
HP Will Cut as Many as 30,000 More Jobs After Split
September 15th, 2015Via: ReCode:
Hewlett-Packard will shed as many as 30,000 more jobs as it splits into two companies, the company said at a meeting with analysts in San Jose, Calif.
Tim Stonsifer, the incoming CFO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, the company devoted to corporate computing that will emerge from the split on Nov. 1, announced the reductions as part of his presentation on guidance. The restructuring will include a $2.7 billion charge.
Russian Gas Stations Ordered To Install Electric Chargers by November 1, 2016 [???]
September 15th, 2015This is absolutely bizarre.
Via: Gas2:
Let’s get a little perspective on the electric car market in Russia at the moment. First, there are no government incentives that encourage a person to buy an electric or plug-in car. Second, there are fewer than 500 such cars in the entire country.
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If previously the number of electric cars was growing very slowly in Russia, this year the market has shown a decline. In the first half of the year, fewer than 50 electric cars were sold in the entire country. That’s down 25% compared to the same period last year.
Federal Court Invalidates 11-Year-Old FBI Gag Order on National Security Letter Recipient Nicholas Merrill
September 15th, 2015Via Calyx Institute:
A federal district court has ordered the FBI to lift an eleven-year- old gag order imposed on Nicholas Merrill forbidding him from speaking about a National Security Letter (“NSL”) that the FBI served on him in 2004. The ruling marks the first time that an NSL gag order has been lifted in full since the PATRIOT Act vastly expanded the scope of the FBI’s NSL authority in 2001. Mr. Merrill, the executive director of the Calyx Institute, is represented by law students and supervising attorneys of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, a program of Yale Law School’s Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression and Information Society Project.
For more than a decade, the government has refused to allow Mr. Merrill and other NSL recipients to tell the public just how broadly the FBI has interpreted its authority to surveil individuals’ digital lives in secret using NSLs. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued by FBI officers every year without a warrant or judicial oversight of any kind.
The letters demand disclosure of user information and are almost always accompanied by complete gag orders. Today’s decision will finally allow Mr. Merrill to speak about all aspects of the NSL and, specifically, to inform the public about the categories of personal information that the FBI believes it can obtain using an NSL.
AUSTRIAN ARMY DEPLOYED TO SECURE BORDER
September 14th, 2015Via: France24:
Austria announced on Monday it would dispatch the armed forces to guard its eastern frontier, following Germany’s lead in reimposing Europe’s internal border controls after thousands of migrants streamed across its frontier from Hungary on foot.
Austrian officials said they were left with no choice after Germany’s decision on Sunday, which effectively suspends Europe’s two-decade old Schengen regime allowing border-free travel across the continent.
“If Germany carries out border controls, Austria must put strengthened border controls in place,” Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner told a joint news conference with Chancellor Werner Faymann. “We are doing that now.”
He and Faymann said the army would be deployed in a supporting role.
China: Head Transplant Team Selected for 2017 Operation
September 14th, 2015Body from executed prisoner?
Via: Independent:
The likely date and location for the first-ever human head transplant have been set, after the controversial Italian doctor that will lead the surgery said that he has selected his team of surgeons.
Radical Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero has drawn fascination and criticism after he announced plans to cut off a man’s head and put it onto another body. Many had expected that the planned operation would probably never happen – but a team has now been appointed to lead the operation.
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Since Ren refused to say where the donated body might be found, some have worried that the donated body might be taken from an executed prisoner.
In China – where the huge population and a low number of donations have led to a high demand for organs – an industry of forced donations and a black market for the sale of organs have flourished.
Canavero has said that China is keen to be involved in the procedure as a way of demonstrating its keenness for scientific research to the world, likening the race to complete the transplant to the space race.
U.S. and Russian Forces in Syria Aren’t Talking to Each Other
September 14th, 2015Via: Defense One:
In Syria, where the U.S. is leading an air campaign against Islamic State targets and Russian military advisors are arriving to help the Assad regime, the two militaries aren’t talking to each other.
Oculus, the Closed All-Seeing Eye at Ground Zero, to “Open” Each Year on 9/11
September 14th, 2015Via: YouTube:
California Fires
September 14th, 2015Via: Daily Mail:
There were post-apocalyptic scenes in California on Sunday night as raging wildfires blitzed 115,000 acres, destroying at least 400 homes and forcing thousands of terrified residents to flee.
As many as 5,000 firefighters were tackling two mammoth blazes that have torn across the state, with entire towns evacuated.
Lake and Napa counties were in a state of emergency after the Valley Fire, which erupted 100 miles north of San Francisco, destroying 400 homes and two apartment complexes, and spreading across 50,000 acres of land.
“In Japan, the Rise of the Machines Solves Labor and Productivity”
September 13th, 2015Via: Bloomberg:
The rise of the machines in the workplace has U.S. and European experts predicting massive unemployment and tumbling wages.
Not in Japan, where robots are welcomed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government as an elegant way to handle the country’s aging populace, shrinking workforce and public aversion to immigration.
Japan is already a robotics powerhouse. Abe wants more and has called for a “robotics revolution.” His government launched a five-year push to deepen the use of intelligent machines in manufacturing, supply chains, construction and health care, while expanding the robotics markets from 660 billion yen ($5.5 billion) to 2.4 trillion yen by 2020.
“The labor shortage is such an acute issue that companies have no choice but to boost efficiency,” says Hajime Shoji, the head of the Asia-Pacific technology practice at Boston Consulting Group Inc. “Growth potential is huge.” By 2025, robots could shave 25 percent off of factory labor costs in Japan, according to the consulting firm.
