Ship Operators Explore Autonomous Sailing
August 31st, 2016Via: Wall Street Journal:
“All hands on deck” may become a thing of the past.
Ship designers, their operators and regulators are gearing up for a future in which cargo vessels sail the oceans with minimal or even no crew. Advances in automation and ample bandwidth even far offshore could herald the biggest change in shipping since diesel engines replaced steam.
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Oskar Levander, vice president for innovation at Rolls-Royce’s marine unit, said moving toward greater autonomy and unmanned shipping could cut transport costs 22%. The bulk would come from lower staff costs, though such vessels also would be more fuel efficient by eliminating the need to carry equipment to support people onboard.
A Candidate’s Death Could Delay or Eliminate the Presidential Election
August 30th, 2016Via: U.S. News and World Report:
Chaos would ensue if a vacancy emerges near Election Day.
The presidential election could be delayed or scrapped altogether if conspiracy theories become predictive and a candidate dies or drops out before Nov. 8. The perhaps equally startling alternative, if there’s enough time: Small groups of people hand-picking a replacement pursuant to obscure party rules.
The scenarios have been seriously considered by few outside of the legal community and likely are too morbid for polite discussion in politically mixed company. But prominent law professors have pondered the effects and possible ways to address a late-date vacancy.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution which requires a popular election for the electors serving in the Electoral College,” says John Nagle, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, meaning the body that officially elects presidents could convene without the general public voting.
“It’s up to each state legislature to decide how they want to choose the state’s electors,” Nagle says. “It may be a situation in which the fact that we have an Electoral College, rather than direct voting for presidential candidates, may prove to be helpful.”
Driverless Taxi Firm Eyes Operations in 10 Cities by 2020
August 29th, 2016Via: AFP:
A US software firm which chose Singapore for the world’s first public trial of driverless taxis hopes to be operating in 10 Asian and US cities by 2020, an executive said Monday.
Doug Parker, nuTonomy’s chief operating officer, said the firm is eyeing tests by early next year in three other Asian countries which he declined to name.
German Savers Lose Faith in Banks, Stash Cash at Home
August 29th, 2016Via: Wall Street Journal:
German savers are leaving the security of savings banks for what many now consider an even safer place to park their cash: home safes.
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Savers now face the prospect of being charged fees on their deposits. Some companies and large private depositors already incur charges.
The latest such sign that penalty rates are creeping in comes from a small cooperative bank in the Bavarian town of Gmund on the Tegernsee lake. As of Sept. 1, the bank, Raiffeisenbank Gmund, will charge its customers 0.4% on deposits above €100,000.
Chicago: “Array of Things”
August 29th, 2016Via: USA Today:
The Windy City has begun installing what sounds and looks a whole lot like a Fitbit that can measure the vitals of a bustling metropolis.
Chicago, which partnered on the project with researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory and several corporations, last week installed the first two of 500 modular sensor boxes. The devices will eventually allow the city and public to instantly get block-by-block data on air quality, noise levels, as well as vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
The project — dubbed the Array of Things and described by Chicago officials as a “fitness tracker for the city” — is a first-of-its-kind effort in the nation. Plans are in the works to replicate the project in the coming years in more than a dozen other cities, including Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Seattle. The Chicago project was funded with the help of a $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant.
“Five years out, if we’re successful, this data and the applications and tools that will grow out of it will be embedded in the lives of residents, and the way the city builds new services and policies,” Chicago’s chief information officer Brenna Berman told USA TODAY. “It will be viewed as a utility — the same way view our street lights and the way we view our buses. They are there for us and they help us get through the city more easily. … They are just part of our everyday life.”
The 10-pound, beehive looking boxes — affixed on light poles — are fitted with sensors that will allow the city to measure air and surface temperature, barometric pressure, light, vibration, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone and ambient sound intensity. Two cameras in each sensor box will collect data on vehicle and foot traffic, standing water, sky color and cloud cover.
Amazon and the CIA Want to Teach AI to Interpret Satellite Imagery
August 25th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review:
Why can’t computers watch the Earth from above and automatically map our roads, buildings, and trash heaps? Satellite operator DigitalGlobe is teaming up with Amazon, the venture arm of the CIA, and chipmaker Nvidia to try to make it happen.
In a joint project, DigitalGlobe today released satellite imagery depicting the whole of Rio de Janeiro to a resolution of 50 centimeters. The outlines of 200,000 buildings inside the city’s roughly 1,900 square kilometers have been manually marked on the photos. The SpaceNet data set, as it is called, is intended to spark efforts to train machine-learning algorithms to interpret high-resolution satellite photos by themselves.
Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Show Cancelled After Discussing Hillary Clinton’s Health Situation
August 25th, 2016See: Dr. Drew Pinsky On Hillary Clinton’s Medical Situation: “Gravely Concerned”:
A week later…
Via: New York Post:
HLN has canceled its appointment with “Dr. Drew.”
The current-affairs show, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky (“Celebrity Rehab,” radio’s “Loveline”), has been axed after 5 1/2 years. It will be replaced — at least for the time being — with reruns of “Forensic Files” and CNN originals (documentaries, etc.).
‘Mind-Controlled Nanobots Could Release Drugs Inside Your Brain’
August 25th, 2016Hmm.
Via: New Scientist:
A man has used thought alone to control nanorobots inside a living creature for the first time. The technology released a drug inside cockroaches in response to the man’s brain activity – a technique that may be useful for treating brain disorders such as schizophrenia and ADHD.
Getting drugs to where they need to be exactly when you want them is a challenge. Most drugs diffuse through the blood stream over time – and you’re stuck with the side effects until the drug wears off.
Now, a team at the Interdisciplinary Center, in Herzliya, and Bar Ilan University, in Ramat Gan, both in Israel, have developed a system that allows precise control over when a drug is active in the body.
The group has built nanorobots out of DNA, forming shell-like shapes that drugs can be tethered to. The bots also have a gate, which has a lock made from iron oxide nanoparticles. The lock opens when heated using electromagnetic energy, exposing the drug to the environment. Because the drug remains tethered to the DNA parcel, a body’s exposure to the drug can be controlled by closing and opening the gate.
New Zealand: Domino’s to Test Pizza Delivery Drones
August 24th, 2016Via: NZ Herald:
Aerial pizza delivery may sound futuristic but Domino’s has been given the green light to test New Zealand pizza delivery via drones.
The fast food chain has partnered with drone business Flirtey to launch the first commercial drone delivery service in the world, starting later this year.
Proxima b: Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star, ‘Temperature Suitable for Liquid Water to Exist on Its Surface’
August 24th, 2016Via: European Southern Observatory:
Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and is the closest exoplanet to us — and it may also be the closest possible abode for life outside the Solar System.
