August 2018 – Page 6

Some Americans will get to vote via blockchain this November

August 10, 2018

VOTING GOES MOBILE. The 2016 U.S. election was not exactly the most secure affair. Even though tech companies and lawmakers are still sorting out what happened, that’s not stopping West Virginia from thinking big and bold in 2018.

According to a CNN report published Monday, the state plans to let soldiers who are permanent residents of the state but are serving overseas vote via their smartphones using a blockchain voting app called Voatz. It will mark the first time U.S. citizens can vote via mobile app.

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Big Problems, Crime Prevention, drones

Assassin drones are here. Now what?

August 10, 2018

It was perhaps inevitable that would-be political assassins would turn to off-the-shelf drones.

Security forces check a nearby building after an explosion was heard while Maduro attended a ceremony in Caracas on August 4, 2018. Photo: JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images

A failed attack by explosives-laden drones on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro could be a harbinger of a new era. Cheap, easy-to-use, remotely-piloted aerial vehicles aren’t just toys, anymore. They’re potential tools of assassination.

But don’t panic. This is not the first time assassins have adapted a new technology for nefarious ends. Politicians and their protectors have ways of coping.

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Biotech, DNA, New Discoveries

Gene editing technique allows silkworms to produce spider silk

August 9, 2018

An analysis of transformed cocoons. Morphology of the WT-1, FibH+/-, FibH-/-, WT-2, MaSp1+/-, and MaSp1+/+ cocoons. Scale bar represents 1 cm. Credit: Jun Xu

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has succeeded in using a gene editing technique to get silkworms to produce spider silk. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes the technique they used and the quality of the silk produced.

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Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk, Robotics, Robots

OpenAI creates Dactyl robot hand with “unprecedented” dexterity

August 9, 2018

Open AI — a non-profit started by Elon Musk — has found a way to programme a robot hand so that it can nimbly manipulate an object using human-like movements it has taught itself.

“We’ve trained a human-like robot hand to manipulate physical objects with unprecedented dexterity,” said OpenAI of its Dactyl system, which is shown in a video twisting a block into 50 different requested orientations.

Dactyl works by training the robot hand in a simulation and then transferring the knowledge gained there to the real world.

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Big Problems, drones, government, Military

The Army is buying microwave cannons to take down drones in mid-flight

August 9, 2018

The high-powered microwave system would be mounted to an aircraft.

The US Army has a new plan for microwaving drones out of the sky. In a public solicitation last Friday, the agency announced its intention to purchase an airborne high-powered microwave system from Lockheed Martin, which is intended for use against drones. The weapon, which would be mounted to an airplane, would disable fixed-wing or quadcopter drones with a beam of focused radiation.

Drone countermeasures are particularly relevant in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that was carried out by a pair of hexacopter drones rigged with remote-triggered explosives. Public video collected by Bellingcat indicates the attack was carried out by drones similar to DJI’s Matrice 600. Each drone was equipped with a kilogram of C4 explosive, according to a statement by Venezuelan security forces. The Matrice 600’s maximum carrying capacity is 5.5 kilograms.

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Coding, Education, Employment, Higher Education, Latest Trend

News flash:It’s about the skill set, not the suit or the degree

August 8, 2018

High School failed me. As a high school dropout, I knew I was taking a risk by rejecting the ‘normal route’ and knew I always wanted to be in the business world. During one assignment in my computer class, I did not show up in a suit and tie for the presentation. The teacher docked me for not ‘dressing proper’, which I found puzzling. After all, this class was about desktop publishing – why should this be an issue? It should be about the substance of my work and not some preconceived, superficial notion about how I looked. For me, it has always been about the substance and not the suit.

The good news is that federal aid for colleges has reached its high-water mark. The bad news is that millions of young adults feel they have no choice but to enroll in a four-year University, something that brings with it an inordinate amount of debt for many students.

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Automation, Biotech, Ford Motor Company, Wearables

Exoskeletons debut at Ford factories

August 8, 2018

Staff will now be augmented by exoskeletons in Ford factories across the world.

Following successful trials, Ford will now offer employees the use of exoskeletons to reduce the strain of factory work.

Despite the emergence of Industry 4.0, smart factories, sensors, and data analytics, much of the heavy-duty operations of today’s industrial and manufacturing still rely heavily on human input.

Over time, the physical demand of such work can cause injury, muscle stress, and accidents.

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AI, communication, drones, Future, new technology

A world-leading technologist on what the year 2038 will look like

August 8, 2018

Currently Senior Maverick at Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly helped launch the magazine and was its executive editor for its first seven years. He has written for The New York Times, The Economist, Science, TIME, and more, and is the bestselling author of The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future. He recently sat down with Srinivas Rao on the Unmistakable Creative podcast to discuss the surprising changes that society can expect in the next 20 years.

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Energy, Latest Trend, Solar Energy, Solar Power

Power worth less than zero spreads as green energy floods the grid

August 7, 2018

Wind and solar farms are glutting networks more frequently, prompting a market signal for coal plants to shut off.

Bright and breezy days are becoming a deeper nightmare for utilities struggling to earn a return on traditional power plants.

With wind and solar farms sprouting up in more areas — and their power getting priority to feed into the grid in many places — the amount of electricity being generated is outstripping demand during certain hours of the day.

The result: power prices are slipping to zero or even below more often in more jurisdictions. That’s adding to headaches for generators from NRG Energy Inc. in California to RWE AG in Germany and Origin Energy Ltd. in Australia. Once confined to a curiosity for a few hours over windy Christmas holidays, sub-zero cost of electricity is becoming a reality for hundreds of hours in many markets, upending the economics of the business in the process.

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Employment, Entertainment, Robots

Disney invented a robotic stuntman that could put humans out of a job

August 7, 2018

This dexterous robot could put stunt doubles out of a job. Disney’s Imagineering Research and Development lab built a robotic stuntman that can perform daring flips 60 feet in the air. The robot uses a combination of lasers, accelerometers and gyroscopes to track and adjust its position in midair to mimic the actions of a real stuntman. Disney calls the technology “Stuntronics.”

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Big Problems, Cancer, Corporate Manipulation, Healthcare, Science & Technology News

Why haven’t we cured cancer? American Cancer Society – world’s wealthiest “non-profit “

August 7, 2018

Have you ever wondered where all the money goes that you donate to the American Cancer Society ?With the advancement of medicine, you’d think scientists would have unlocked the cure by now with the ACS’s help. Right?.

Is there more to this story than meets the eye?Apparently, the American Cancer Society seems to like the status quo. People with cancer are unnecessarily dying, when a cure is probably within reach of American scientists.

There’s a lot of money to be made by chemotherapy and other primitive treatments especially for the board members and their companies that sit on the ACS board.

“The American Cancer Society is fixated on damage control— diagnosis and treatment— and basic molecular biology, with indifference or even hostility to cancer prevention.

This myopic mindset is compounded by interlocking conflicts of interest with the cancer drug, mammography, and other industries.

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China, Internet, Marketing, Shopping

Taobao leads the charge in a new ecommerce trend: livestreamed shopping

August 6, 2018

She’s not your ordinary jewelry dealer. Going by the online moniker “Xiaotian,” she commands a big fan base, jokes with her customers, and models for her own business.

“Hi bao bao,” she greets her potential buyers during a livestream session one afternoon in Hong Kong, using a common, endearing nickname for online shoppers. “This is a new design that came out this week. You want me to try it on? Alright!”

Comments piled on. Some complimented the good looks of the designer who stood beside her. Others wanted to see the necklace up close. Still, others asked about the price.

That the Chinese are shopping on the internet in droves is not news. But a new trend is emerging among sellers on ecommerce platforms: they’re ditching old marketing playbooks and are turning to more personal interactions instead.

Taobao is at the forefront of that effort. Already, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon has legions of daigou agents: Chinese expats who buy foreign brands for their compatriots back home.

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