Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Amazon Launching New Grocery Store Brand as Alternative to Whole Foods
November 11th, 2019Via: Cnet: Amazon on Monday said it plans to open its first new brand of grocery store in California next year, as it amps up its ambitious push to become a bigger name in food. “Amazon is opening a grocery store in Woodland Hills in 2020,” an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNET on Monday morning, […]
Google Collecting Complete Health Histories on Millions of Americans
November 11th, 2019Unbelievable. Via: Wall Street Journal: Google is engaged with one of the U.S.’s largest health-care systems on a project to collect and crunch the detailed personal-health information of millions of people across 21 states. The initiative, code-named “Project Nightingale,” appears to be the biggest effort yet by a Silicon Valley giant to gain a toehold […]
Inside Amazon’s Plan for Alexa to Run Your Entire Life
November 11th, 2019Comedy Gold on Cryptogon this morning. Via: MIT Technology Review: The creator of the famous voice assistant dreams of a world where Alexa is everywhere, anticipating your every need. … The crux of the plan is for the voice assistant to move from passive to proactive interactions. Rather than wait for and respond to requests, […]
Ireland: AI System to Search “Near Infinite Combinations” of Materials to Improve Hydrogen Production Through Electrolysis
November 8th, 2019Via: PhysOrg: The team aims to now use artificial intelligence to put a large number of earth-abundant metals and ligands (which glue them together to generate the catalysts) in a melting pot before assessing which of the near-infinite combinations yield the greatest promise. In combination, what once looked like an empty canvas now looks more […]
Google Wants More Pentagon Work
November 7th, 2019Via: DefenseOne: The company’s senior vice president for global affairs said Tuesday that the search giant has Pentagon contracts to work on cybersecurity, business automation, and deepfake detection — and is looking for more. “It’s been frustrating,” said Google’s Kent Walker, referring to rising public perceptions that the company is opposed to doing national security […]
Uber Eats Delivery Drone
November 4th, 2019Via: TechCrunch: Uber has unveiled more details about its plans for Eats delivery via drones. If all goes according to Uber’s plan, it will start flying its first drone model before the end of the year. Uber’s design, which it unveiled at the Forbes 30 under 30 Summit today, is made to carry up to […]
The Race for Quantum Supremacy
November 2nd, 2019Via: Vice:
The Fantasy of Opting Out
November 1st, 2019Via: The MIT Press Reader: Consider a day in the life of a fairly ordinary person in a large city in a stable, democratically governed country. She is not in prison or institutionalized, nor is she a dissident or an enemy of the state, yet she lives in a condition of permanent and total surveillance […]
Piper Announces First General Aviation Aircraft to be Standard Equipped with Autoland Capability
October 31st, 2019Via: Piper – Press Release: The Halo system, once engaged either automatically or by a passenger, gains immediate situational awareness and assumes control of all systems necessary to bring you and your passengers safely to the best suited runway. During all phases of flight it communicates with passengers and appropriate air traffic control facilities regarding […]
Tesla Summon: “A Tragedy Waiting to Happen”
October 27th, 2019The “Summon” feature is cringe inducing. Fully autonomous robotaxis in a year or two? No way. Via: ZeroHedge: Seemingly undeterred by disturbing video on social media and a regulator inquiry into the company, Tesla continues to forge forward blindly and recklessly into the realm of autonomy. Most recently, Tesla said on its conference call Wednesday […]
