2019 – Page 83 – Impact Lab

Automobiles, Electric Automobile, Electric Vehicles, Human Behavior, Transportation

The 4 lingering obstacles to electric vehicle adoption (and what might overcome them)

February 8, 2019

Electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity, though not as quickly as electricity providers would like. EVs represented only 2.4 percent of sales in the U.S. in August, according to Auto Alliance, and a Chinese study published that month found that only 18 percent of motorists in China are willing to consider an EV.

So one of Exelon’s internal startups has set out to identify and hurdle the barriers to EV adoption.

“We’ve done a lot of testing and experimentation in this space,” said Caroline Quazzo, a manager for EZ-EV, an Exelon subsidiary that offers software and services to utilities to help them promote EV adoption. The utilities stand to gain from supplying the fuel.

As with the 5 obstacles to selling a solar home, most of Quazzo’s obstacles are rooted in ignorance (my word, not hers). At the Smart Cities Symposium in Chicago last week, Quazzo described the following obstacles:

Continue reading… “The 4 lingering obstacles to electric vehicle adoption (and what might overcome them)”

Blockchain, Crazy Stuff, Humor

The ten most ridiculous things “on the blockchain”

February 8, 2019

Oranges, babies, democracy, frozen people. We take a whirlwind tour of all things on the blockchain that probably shouldn’t be.

When you put a thing “on the blockchain,” you’re not actually putting it “on the blockchain.” Nothing is “on the blockchain.” The “blockchain” doesn’t exist. Instead, what you’re really doing is “notarizing information about a thing using a database distributed across a network of nodes, which is sometimes called a blockchain.” Or perhaps you’re “fragmenting data about a thing into non-fungible digital assets that can be traded, via a distributed network called a blockchain, for ERC20 tokens.” But those are far less catchy, so everybody just says “on the blockchain” instead.

So here we go—”The Ten Most Ridiculous Things On the Blockchain.”

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Automobiles, Big Problems, Transportation

L.A. may charge drivers by the mile, adding freeway tolls to cut congestion

February 8, 2019

Morning commuters face heavy traffic on the express lanes on the 10 Freeway. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s focus on congestion pricing could lead to similar lanes on other freeways across Los Angeles County. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

For years, Southern California lawmakers have tried to steer clear of decisions that make driving more expensive or miserable, afraid of angering one of their largest groups of constituents.

But now, transportation officials say, congestion has grown so bad in Los Angeles County that politicians have no choice but to contemplate charging motorists more to drive — a strategy that has stirred controversy but helped cities in other parts of the world tame their own traffic.

Continue reading… “L.A. may charge drivers by the mile, adding freeway tolls to cut congestion”

Automation, Food, Shopping

Stop & Shop is testing self-driving mini grocery stores

February 8, 2019

Grocery store chain Stop & Shop announced today that it will begin testing driverless grocery vehicles in Boston starting this spring, combining the hype of autonomous delivery cars, cashier-less stores, and meal kits into one experimental pilot. The launch is part of a partnership with San Francisco-based startup Robomart, whose vehicles will cart around Stop & Shop items like produce, convenience items, and meal kits to customers’ doorsteps.

The electric vehicles will be temperature-controlled to keep produce fresh, and controlled remotely from a Robomart facility. Customers can hail the mini grocery stores via an app, on an interface which feels a lot like calling an Uber. Once the vehicle arrives, customers can unlock the doors, and the items they grab are tracked with RFID and computer vision technology. When they’re done shopping, they can send the vehicle on its way, and a receipt is emailed soon after. It’s like a much tinier Amazon Go store coming directly to your house.

Continue reading… “Stop & Shop is testing self-driving mini grocery stores”

Automation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles

The road to seamless urban mobility

February 8, 2019

Will the coming mobility revolution make urban traffic better, or worse?

The age of modern transit began in 1863, when the first underground railway began rolling in central London. The line was short and smoky, and nothing like it had ever been seen before. But it worked, and cities around the world began to follow London’s lead. Over time, city authorities came to see providing transportation as one of their core responsibilities; governments often owned and ran transit systems themselves.

Continue reading… “The road to seamless urban mobility”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Science & Technology News

AI won’t take your job, people will

February 8, 2019

AI, specifically “augmented intelligence,” is going to have both an awesome and an unfortunate impact on our posterity. Let’s explore one possible way AI may impact the future of work, and how it may dramatically change how we train our workforce.

Continue reading… “AI won’t take your job, people will”

Green Friendly, Home Technology

The home of the future isn’t smart — It’s ‘Living’ and green

February 8, 2019

The varied universes of science fiction often offer inspiration for emerging technologies, or at least fitting leads for articles to describe them. Take the spaceship Moya from a sci-fi series called “Farscape,” which follows the adventures of a ragtag team of aliens very much in the spirit of “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Moya is a biomechanical ship, part of an alien race called Leviathans that’s been described as a cross between a stingray and a horseshoe crab. She comes equipped with her own version of the warp drive and repair drones, but is also capable of producing offspring, giving a whole new meaning to the term “mothership.”

This hybrid of biology and technology is a fantastical spin on real-world concepts that come with labels like organicism, biotecture, or living architecture. The basic idea of these theories is simple: Integrating biological systems into our living spaces, whether it’s the home, the office, or the first rocket carrying humans to Mars, is imperative for creating more sustainable and healthier environments.

“To develop a more sustainable relationship with the natural world, we need to allow chemical exchanges that take place within our living spaces, and between the inside and the outside,” wrote Dr. Rachel Armstrong, a professor of experimental architecture at Newcastle University who also holds a medical degree.

Continue reading… “The home of the future isn’t smart — It’s ‘Living’ and green”

Advertising, Latest Trend, Marketing, Science & Technology News

3 reasons why brand storytelling is the future of marketing

February 7, 2019

When creating your marketing strategy, don’t forget about the bigger story: what makes you human?

In today’s fast-paced, overly-automated, and digitally-driven society, humanity is becoming the new premium. The internet constantly rewards us with convenience and instant gratification, making the human touch increasingly more scarce and coveted.

In this environment, businesses can no longer afford to be faceless entities. To survive, businesses need to connect with audiences, pull at their heartstrings, and engage with them on a much deeper level than seen before. That’s where brand storytelling comes in.

Brand storytelling is the cohesive narrative that weaves together the facts and emotions that your brand evokes. In addition to giving your customers reasons why they should buy a product or service, businesses need to start sharing the story behind their brand, why it exists, and why this matters, consistently across all communication.

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Bill Gates, Futurist, Historical Perspectives, Microsoft, Science & Technology News

Bill Gates made these 15 predictions back in 1999 — and it’s scary how accurate he was

February 7, 2019

His forecasts turned out to be eerily prescient.

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote a book titled Business @ the Speed of Thought.

In the book, Gates made 15 bold predictions that at the time might have sounded outrageous.

But as Markus Kirjonen, a business student, once noted on his blog, Gates’ forecasts turned out to be eerily prescient.

Here are the 15 predictions Gates made just about 20 years ago — and how close they’ve come to being true.

Continue reading… “Bill Gates made these 15 predictions back in 1999 — and it’s scary how accurate he was”

DaVinci Institute, Future, Futurist, Great Videos, Tom Frey

DaVinci Speaker Series : Disruptive Technology

February 7, 2019

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Many disruptive technologies are entering the current marketplace: autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, blockchain, 3D printing, etc. Each of these technologies is expected to obsolete and displace a large number of businesses with the associated job layoffs and supply chain interruptions. A question of concern is whether these disruptions by themselves or in combination with financial cycles, changes in government policies and cultural shifts can de-stabilize our economy or amplify economic fluctuations resulting in a ‘techno-apocalypse’?

Advertising, Fashion, Latest Trend

Inclusive fashion is the future of runways and retail

February 6, 2019

Thin, white, young, stereotypically “feminine” or “masculine”—those are some of the characteristics that traditionally defined who the fashion industry prioritized.

That’s starting to change. Fashion is under mounting pressure to cater to all customers, as tech-empowered shoppers wield more influence over brands and new upstart labels, willing to serve the shoppers established brands have ignored, are rewarded. This isn’t a passing phase: By 2025, management-consulting firm Bain & Company predicts luxury shoppers will consider a brand’s values, such as inclusivity and diversity, just as much as the quality of the products it sells when deciding how to spend their money.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, communication, Machine Learning, Science & Technology News

The big deal about an AI model that can talk like you

February 6, 2019

Meryl Streep is pitch perfect as the narrator of the Norah Ephron novel Heartburn. In the audiobook version, Streep’s classic delivery brings alive the emotional turmoil as well as the self-deprecating wit of Rachel Samstat, who has just found out about her husband’s affair. In the Harry Potter audiobooks, it’s singer-actor Jim Dale who creates the magic.

Now let’s say you are discomforted by American and British accents. You prefer to hear Heartburn and the Potter books in voices you can relate with. You want to switch the genders of the narrators. You want the Muggles speaking in the voice of your favourite Bollywood actor. You want to be the narrator.

Those are real options a Bengaluru startup expects to offer as it develops an artificial intelligence model for cloning voices. It reckons there is massive business opportunity in impersonating voices, and not just from the growing popularity of audiobooks. Think voiceovers for ads, narrations for education-technology platforms, real-time translations, automated responses, voice assistants, smart speakers.

Continue reading… “The big deal about an AI model that can talk like you”