Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Airbus: Self-Flying Plane Just Completed Successful Taxi, Take-Off, and Landing Tests
July 27th, 2020When Boeing’s undocumented Magic-8 Ball failed: Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System: MCAS activated by input from only one of the airplane’s two angle of attack sensors, making the system susceptible to a single point of failure. It could not be instinctively disabled by pulling on the control yoke. During aircraft certification, Boeing removed a description of […]
Trump Eases Restrictions On Armed Drone Sales Abroad
July 25th, 2020Via: DefenseOne: The Trump administration is relaxing arms export restrictions, a move long sought by drone makers but one that critics say will provide little competitive edge to U.S. companies even as it alienates allies. U.S. drone makers have complained that regulations have allowed China to sell copycat dones to U.S. allies and partners. “We […]
New Lockheed CEO Says 5G Networks Key to Military Vehicle Autonomy
July 21st, 2020Absolutely unbelievable: Taiclet was head of American Tower Corp, a real estate investment trust that leases out cell tower space to communications companies. He became CEO of Lockheed in June. He was previously on its board of directors. Via: Reuters: James Taiclet, the new chief executive at Lockheed Martin the Pentagon’s largest weapons supplier, is […]
Colorado Drone Swarm Mystery… Still a Mystery
July 21st, 2020Via: The Warzone: The War Zone reached out to the FAA’s Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the FAA Pacific Division, to inquire if the FAA ever established the origins of the drone formations reported in Colorado, Nebraska, and other states. Gregor stated that “We have not received any information that enabled us to determine […]
The Cost of AI Training is Improving at 50x the Speed of Moore’s Law
July 5th, 2020Via: Arc Invest: The cost to train an artificial intelligence (AI) system is improving at 50x the pace of Moore’s Law. For many use cases, the cost to run an AI inference system has collapsed to almost nil. After just five years of development, deep learning – the modern incarnation of AI – seems to […]
Israeli Intelligence-Linked Firm Using AI to Profile Americans and Guide U.S. Lockdown Policy
July 3rd, 2020Via: The Last American Vagabond: A company tied to Israel’s military signal intelligence unit, Unit 8200, has recently partnered with the state of Rhode Island to use an artificial intelligence-based system developed in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to profile Americans potentially infected and/or “at risk” of being infected with coronavirus, then informing […]
Unidentified Wave-Glider Off U.S. Coast
June 29th, 2020I wonder if some rich person like Robert Bigelow could build a fleet of these to look for UFOs??? Via: Covert Shores: A photo has been shared on Instagram asking ‘what is this?’ Well, it is a version of the Wave Glider with a previously unseen aerial attached. The small uncrewed surface vessel (USV) was […]
Director of AI at Tesla on Self Driving Progress: We’re Hiring
June 19th, 2020A year and a bit after an AI researcher buddy of mine said, in essence, “no way” would Tesla’s full self driving thing happen anytime soon, how much closer is Tesla to making it a reality? Remember, back in April 2019, Elon Musk said that robotaxis were coming in 2020: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said […]
Political Groups Use “Deeply Spooky” Protester Location Data
June 16th, 2020Via: Ars Technica: It’s no secret that police and other law enforcement agencies have a history of using mobile phone location and other data to target or investigate individuals, and the wave of mass protests in support of black communities and against police brutality this month has provided a rich data trove for them to […]
Bricklaying Robot Set a New Lay Speed Record
June 6th, 2020Via: Popular Mechanics: A brick-laying robot named Hadrian X has broken its own record for speed, which is now up to 200 concrete blocks per hour—with the next landmark set at 240. (Its sibling robot Hadrian 112 aims to reach 1,000.)
