The humble office id badge is about to be unrecognizable
By: wsj Jan 06, 2020 For many employees, the workday starts by swiping a plastic ID card to enter the office. But employers can’t always be sure who’s holding the card. That humble ID badge is starting to be replaced by biometric identification systems, microchip implants and tools that monitor workers’ gaits or typing habits—technologies that […]
New Russian weapon can travel 27 times the speed of sound
By: A P News December 27, 2019 A new intercontinental weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound became operational Friday, Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin, bolstering the country’s nuclear strike capability. Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch […]
To err is human – is that why we fear machines that can be made to err less?
By: The Guardian Dec 14, 2019 One of the things that really annoys AI researchers is how supposedly “intelligent” machines are judged by much higher standards than are humans. Take self-driving cars, they say. So far they’ve driven millions of miles with very few accidents, a tiny number of them fatal. Yet whenever an autonomous […]
SpaceX’s Satellite Constellation Could Hide Killer Asteroids
By: Futurism December 04, 2019 SpaceX’s Starlink satellites could cost us more than a clear view of the stars. Astronomers have told Axios they fear the mega-constellation of tiny satellites could make it harder to spot asteroids near Earth — and that could mean they might not see one on a collision course with our planet in time […]
Cows on Russian Farm Get Fitted with VR Goggles to Increase Milk Production
By: Fabienne Lang November 26, 2019 If you walked onto the RusMoloko dairy farm near Moscow, in Russia, you may think you’ve arrived onto a bizarre futuristic film set, where cows run around fitted with VR headsets. The VR goggles aren’t props for a film, however. They have been specifically made for these dairy cows, […]
To make robots perform better, make them constantly fear death
By: Futurism Nov 20, 2019 For too long, robots have had it too easy, and it’s starting to show. To get these freeloading bots back to work, neuroscientists from University of Southern California suggest programming them to fear death. By forcing robots to operate in terms of self-preservation — in addition to whatever other tasks […]
Can the planet really afford the exorbitant power demands of machine learning?
By: John Naughton November 16, 2019 There is, alas, no such thing as a free lunch. This simple and obvious truth is invariably forgotten whenever irrational exuberance teams up with digital technology in the latest quest to “change the world”. A case in point was the bitcoin frenzy, where one could apparently become insanely rich […]
IBM, Bank of America team up to launch financial services-specific cloud
By: Imani Moise November 6, 2019 International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) said on Wednesday that it has built financial services-specific cloud technology in collaboration with Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), which will be the first major bank to use the platform. The public platform, IBM’s first industry-specific cloud, is designed to meet the high regulatory, […]
‘Care robots’ for the elderly could be developed in the UK after government funding
By: Healtheuropa Oct 30, 2019 The £33.9m (~€39.3m) research will be conducted over 5 years. The project plans to develop a sophisticated ‘care robot’ which could be deployed to assist the elderly. These robots will take on challenges like helping people up after a fall, making sure medication is taken and delivering meals. The use of ‘care […]