2017 – Page 40 – Impact Lab

AI, Alternative Transportation, Automation, Automobiles, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Drone, drones, Electric Automobile, Electric Vehicles, Elon Musk

All fossil-fuel vehicles will vanish in 8 years in twin ‘death spiral’ for big oil and big auto

May 18, 2017

No more petrol or diesel cars, buses, or trucks will be sold anywhere in the world within eight years. The entire market for land transport will switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we have known it for a century.

This is the futuristic forecast by Stanford University economist Tony Seba. His report, with the deceptively bland title Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030, has gone viral in green circles and is causing spasms of anxiety in the established industries.

Continue reading… “All fossil-fuel vehicles will vanish in 8 years in twin ‘death spiral’ for big oil and big auto”

Blockchain, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Crypto-Technology, Employment, Technological Unemployment

Companies of the future: No CEO, no boss, managed by blockchain

May 15, 2017

We can get rid of bad bosses once and for all. At least that’s the promise of a radically new type of organization based on blockchain technology.

It’s called a Decentralized Autonomous Organization and it has no CEO, CFO, or VPs.

In fact, there’s no hierarchy at all. Of course, any time you bring people together in a group, there are bound to be politics, but it won’t be the “command and control” structure that most of us are used to.

Continue reading… “Companies of the future: No CEO, no boss, managed by blockchain”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Banking, Big Data, Big Problems, Bitcoin, Blockchain, brain hacking, Coding, Coding Schools, Crime, Crime Prevention, Crypto-Technology, Money Talk, new technology, New Viewpoints, privacy

7 laws that will have to change because of blockchain

May 16, 2017

“Code is law,” as described in Lawrence Lessig’s book ‘Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace’, refers to the idea that computer code has progressively established itself as a predominant way to regulate behavior to the same degree as legal code.

With the advent of blockchain technology, code is assuming an even stronger role in regulating people’s interactions.

However, while computer code can enforce rules more efficiently than legal code, it also comes with a series of limitations.

Continue reading… “7 laws that will have to change because of blockchain”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Birth, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, drones, Economy, Education

27 common uses for A.I. in 2027 that don’t exist today

May 16, 2017

If you’re impress with the progress we’re making with A.I. so far, hang onto your hats. We’re just getting started. Over the next 10 years, artificial intelligence will make more progress than in the fifty before it, combined. With countless quickly oncoming applications to business, government, and personal life, its influence will soon touch absolutely every aspect of our lives.

Here are 27 surprising ways life and society that will be forever changed by artificial intelligence over the coming decade.

Continue reading… “27 common uses for A.I. in 2027 that don’t exist today”

Drone, drones, Engineering, Future, Futurist, Human Behavior, Inventions, Latest Trend

The next extreme sport – drone skydiving

May 14, 2017

Unlike typical consumer-aimed quadcopter drones, Latvian company Aerones specializes in big UAVs that can carry hefty loads. Last year, they showed off one of their big lifter’s prowess by towing YouTuber Kaspars Balamovskis on a snowboarding run.

Today, they released another stunt video spotlighting one of their heavy lifters hauling a man a thousand feet in the air — before he let go to skydive back down to earth. Check out the video!

Continue reading… “The next extreme sport – drone skydiving”

Alternative Transportation, Big Problems, Future, Latest News, Latest Trend, Mass Transit, Science & Technology News

Electric planes and $25 tickets could be the future of regional air travel

May 10, 2017

Imagine taking your next trip of a couple hundred miles. New York City to Boston, for example. Or Houston to Dallas. Tampa to Miami. The obvious choice now might be to drive. But what if you could show up at an airport at one of those cities, bypass security checkpoints, board a small hybrid-electric plane with luggage in hand, and be on the ground at your destination in about an hour — all for $25 each way?

Continue reading… “Electric planes and $25 tickets could be the future of regional air travel”

Science & Technology News

Mastercard adds fingerprint sensors to payment cards

May 10, 2017

Our fingerprints are quickly replacing PINs and passwords as our primary means of unlocking our phones, doors and safes. They’re convenient, unique, and ultimately more secure than easily guessed or forged passwords and signatures. So it makes sense that fingerprint sensors are coming to protect our credit and debit cards. Mastercard is testing out new fingerprint sensor-enabled payment cards that, combined with the onboard chips, offer a new, convenient way to authorize your in-person transactions. Instead of signing a paper receipt or entering your PIN while struggling to cover up the number pad, you simply place your thumb on your card to prove your identity.

Continue reading… “Mastercard adds fingerprint sensors to payment cards”

Alternative Transportation, Aviation, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Crazy Stuff, cutting edge, Elon Musk, Engineering, Future, Ideas, Latest News, Latest Trend, People Making a Difference, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, SpaceX, Tourism, Transportation, Travel

Space Race: Experts say 2018 is the year space tourism takes off

May 10, 2017

Space. The final frontier, and quite possibly your family’s next March Break vacation.

Experts say 2018 will be the year space tourism takes off. But while great leaps are being made at what seems like warp speed, it’s a venture that’s still fraught with issues that go far beyond its out-of-this-world price tag.

Continue reading… “Space Race: Experts say 2018 is the year space tourism takes off”

Analysis, Employment, Future, Life Skills, Money Talk, Science & Technology News, Technological Unemployment

Entrepreneurs: How To Define Your Future In The Exponential Age

May 3, 2017

Recently, I’ve been impressed by a vision of the future as shared by serial entrepreneur and CEO Udo Gollub. He has noted that what happened to Kodak will happen to many industries in the next 10 years. But most don’t see it coming. Did you think, in 1998, that 3 years later you would never take pictures on film or paper again?

Digital cameras were invented in 1975. The first models had only 10,000 pixels of image resolution, but followed Moore’s law (like transistors, we’ve doubled the number of pixels per square inch every year). Similar to many exponentially growing technologies, it was a disappointment for a long time, but grew progressively more superior and went mainstream in only a few short years.

Welcome to the 4th Industrial Revolution. Welcome to the Exponential Age.

Continue reading… “Entrepreneurs: How To Define Your Future In The Exponential Age”

AI, Automation, Drone, Home Technology, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Robot lawn mowers are a thing now

May 3, 2017

From smart TVs to a modular sofa that can be controlled by an app, home tech isn’t just something for the future, it’s in our homes now. New technologies aim to make our lives easier, safer, and—sometimes—a little bit cooler. It was only a matter of time before innovators tackled the next great frontier of irritating domestic chores: the yard.

Cordless electric robot mowers are like a Roomba for your yard, traveling around the grass with a set of sharp spinning blades. They run automatically on whatever schedule you’d like, day or night, and the clippings are left on the grass as extra fertilizer.

Continue reading… “Robot lawn mowers are a thing now”

3D Printer, Engineering, New Discoveries, New Inventions, Science & Technology News, Space

Scientists use Martian dust to 3D print tools

May 3, 2017

Food and transportation aren’t the only aspects of a mission to Mars scientists must consider. Limited cargo space means to obtain tools or similar items, astronauts may need to make use of resources available on the red planet – like dirt. Four Northwestern University researchers were recently able to utilize a Martian dust simulant to 3D print building blocks and tools.

NASA started looking into space 3D printers back in 2013 to manufacture repair parts or tools. Now Northwestern scientists have used lunar and Martian dust simulants approved by NASA to 3D print tools in a process the university described as simple, scalable, and sustainable.

Continue reading… “Scientists use Martian dust to 3D print tools”

Alternative Transportation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Electric Automobile, Mass Transit, Science & Technology News, Self-driving Cars

How will maintenance change with the autonomous vehicle?

May 2, 2017

All machines eventually break down. Self-driving vehicles are no exception.

Autonomous vehicles pose two problems for the future of vehicles. The removal of the driver means there is no person providing feedback on how the vehicle performs over time. You are removing the point-person who says “something feels wrong, this needs to be checked out.” An autonomous truck could easily arrive at its destination with one fewer wheels than it left with at its origin without recognizing there is a problem.

Continue reading… “How will maintenance change with the autonomous vehicle?”