Uber Opening Robotics Research Facility In Pittsburgh To Build Self-Driving Cars
February 3rd, 2015Via: TechCrunch:
Driver-on-demand service Uber is building a robotics research lab in Pittsburgh, PA to “kickstart autonomous taxi fleet development,” sources close to the decision have confirmed to TechCrunch. They say the company has hired talent from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, including lead engineering and commercialization experts.
S&P Reaches $1.38 Billion Settlement with U.S. Government, States
February 3rd, 2015No, it’s not comedy hour this morning on Cryptogon.
Via: Reuters:
McGraw Hill Financial Inc (MHFI.N) and its Standard & Poor Ratings Services unit have reached a $1.38 billion settlement with the U.S. government and several states over ratings of mortgage-backed securities that went sour in the runup to the 2008 financial crisis.
McGraw Hill said it would pay $687.5 million to the U.S. Department of Justice and $687.5 million to 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The settlement contains no findings of violations of law by McGraw Hill or its ratings unit, the company said.
U.S. Considers Providing Arms to Ukraine
February 2nd, 2015Not good.
Via: Guardian:
President Barack Obama’s administration is considering providing Ukrainian forces with defensive weapons and equipment in the face of a rebel offensive that has shattered a five-month truce, according to the New York Times.
The newspaper quoted US officials as saying secretary of state John Kerry and US joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey were open to discussions of the idea and that Nato military commander General Philip Breedlove supported providing such lethal aid.
One official was quoted as saying that US national security adviser Susan Rice was also prepared to reconsider her previous resistance to providing such assistance.
…
The White House has stopped short of providing military aid to Ukraine in order to avoid provoking Russia. Months of sanctions against Russia have not so far convinced Russia to cease arming the rebels, convincing some in the Obama administration that military support for Ukraine is required.
‘Get Your Loved Ones Off Facebook’
February 1st, 2015Via: Saintsal:
It’s not just what Facebook is saying it’ll take from you and do with your information, it’s all the things it’s not saying, and doing anyway because of the loopholes they create for themselves in their Terms of Service and how simply they go back on their word. We don’t even need to click “I agree” anymore. They just change the privacy policy and by staying on Facebook, you agree. Oopsy!
Facebook doesn’t keep any of your data safe or anonymous, no matter how much you lock down your privacy settings. Those are all a decoy. There are very serious privacy breaches, like selling your product endorsement to advertisers and politicians, tracking everything you read on the internet, or using data from your friends to learn private things about you – they have no off switch.
Facebooks gives your data to “third-parties” through your use of apps, and then say that’s you doing it, not them. Everytime you use an app, you’re allowing Facebook to escape it’s own privacy policy with you and with your friends. It’s like when my brother used to make me punch myself and ask, “why are you punching yourself?” Then he’d tell my mum it wasn’t his fault.
Senior Abbott MP Concedes Australians Ready to Leave the Grid
January 31st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ.
Via: RenewEconomy:
A senior member of Australia’s ruling Coalition has conceded that Australian consumers are ready to leave the grid, and rely instead on solar and storage, and suggested that state-owned assets such as electricity networks need to be sold quickly before they lose too much value.
The admission was made on ABC News Radio on Friday morning by Steve Ciobo, a parliamentary secretary in the Tony Abbott government and the Federal Member for Moncrieff, in Queensland, where the state government is looking to privatise its energy assets.
The comments are interesting because it is the first time that a senior Abbott government member has acknowledged that rooftop solar and the emergence of battery storage is going to disrupt the market and devalue network assets.
It is signifiant because it recognises what is widely accepted within the industry itself – that cleaner and distributed energy is going to grow, and underlines why the Coalition governments in Queensland and NSW are keen to privatise their electricity grid sooner rather than later.
“If you look at for example, the poles and wires business, there is no doubt that there is massive change happening,” Ciobo said in the interview.
“That’s a market where I have little doubt in the future that you’ll see more and more people drop off the electricity grid, because they’ve got batteries and solar panels. So I think that the sooner we lease assets like that and realise their value, the better, because it’s an asset that just becomes worth less every single day.”
Related: Australia: Networks Told They Need to Play Fair with Solar Customers, or Die
China’s Pearl River Delta Overtakes Tokyo as World’s Largest Megacity
January 31st, 2015Via: Guardian:
China’s Pearl River Delta has overtaken Tokyo to become the world’s largest urban area in both size and population, according to a report from the World Bank. The megacity – which covers a significant part of China’s manufacturing heartland and includes the cities of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan and Dongguan – is now home to more people than the countries of Canada, Argentina or Australia.
Urbanisation which took place over a period of several decades in Europe and North America is happening in just a few years in East Asia, which already contains eight megacities (with populations above 10 million) and 123 cities with between one and 10 million people.
With almost two-thirds of the region’s population (64%) still non-urban at present, several hundred million are expected to move to cities over the next 20 years as economies shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services, according to East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a Decade of Spatial Growth.
Oil Surges 8 Percent as U.S. Rig Count Plunges, Shorts Scramble
January 30th, 2015Disclosure: I’m long oil and multiple companies involved with oil exploration and production.
Via: Reuters:
Oil prices roared back from six-year lows on Friday, rocketing more than 8 percent as a record weekly decline in U.S. oil drilling fueled a frenzy of short-covering.
In a rally that may spur speculation that a seven-month price collapse has ended, global benchmark Brent crude shot up to more than $53 per barrel, its highest in more than three weeks in its biggest one-day gain since 2009.
The late-session surge was primed by Baker Hughes data showing the number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell by 94 – or 7 percent – this week. Earlier gains were fueled by reports of Islamic State militants striking at Kurdish forces southwest of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Brent (LCOc1) settled up $3.86 at $52.99 a barrel, after running to as high as $53.08.
U.S. (CLc1) oil futures finished up $3.71 at $48.24, soaring by nearly $3 in a final frenzied hour and ending a two-week stretch of relatively steady prices, the longest break since a seven-month rout kicked off last summer. On Thursday prices had touched a six-year low under $44 a barrel.
Poised for a bounce many thought was overdue, short traders raced to cover their positions on fears that the rout, sparked by massive U.S. shale crude supplies, was nearing its end.
“The rig count drop was a lot more than people expected and it really got the market going,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
According to Baker Hughes, the decline in oil drilling rigs was the most since it began keeping records in 1987. With drillers having idled about 24 percent of their oil drilling rigs since the summer, some traders may be betting that an anticipated slowdown in U.S. oil production is nearer than expected.
Office Puts Chips Under Staff’s Skin
January 30th, 2015Via: BBC:
Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We’re all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach – a chip under the skin.
Felicio de Costa, whose company is one of the tenants, arrives at the front door and holds his hand against it to gain entry. Inside he does the same thing to get into the office space he rents, and he can also wave his hand to operate the photocopier.
That’s all because he has a tiny RFID (radio-frequency identification) chip, about the size of a grain of rice, implanted in his hand. Soon, others among the 700 people expected to occupy the complex will also be offered the chance to be chipped. Along with access to doors and photocopiers, they’re promised further services in the longer run, including the ability to pay in the cafe with a touch of a hand.
On the day of the building’s official opening, the developer’s chief executive was, himself, chipped live on stage. And I decided that if was to get to grips with this technology, I had to bite the bullet – and get chipped too.
Hipster Churches in Silicon Valley
January 30th, 2015This one made me laugh, but it also reminded me of an old piece on io9: Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid of These Science Fictional Cults.
Via: Guardian:
When raising the issue of how to reach younger Bay Areans, one ministry in particular came up several times: Reality SF, which makes its Sunday home in a middle school auditorium in the Castro district. Reality’s website features a group of shiny young millennials lounging gaily in picturesque Dolores Park (marijuana truffles and beer not pictured). Its teachings, which are published online, address subjects like “re-imagining singleness”, “tech in spirituality” and “wisdom for charity” in a blend of CS Lewis quotes, TED Talk references, and occasional guests from groups like Praxis, a “kingdom-centered” business accelerator.
Intervention in Civil Wars Far More Likely in Oil-Rich Nations
January 29th, 2015
Via: Independent:
Conspiracy theorists have long insisted that modern wars revolve around oil. Now research suggests hydrocarbons play an even bigger role in conflicts than they had suspected.
According to academics from the Universities of Portsmouth, Warwick and Essex, foreign intervention in a civil war is 100 times more likely when the afflicted country has high oil reserves than if it has none. The research is the first to confirm the role of oil as a dominant motivating factor in conflict, suggesting hydrocarbons were a major reason for the military intervention in Libya, by a coalition which included the UK, and the current US campaign against Isis in northern Iraq.
