Google is taking the next step in competing with mobile operators by extending its free Wifi alternative for voice and data “in the next few weeks”.
The service, called Wifi Assistant, will be available to all owners of Google Nexus phones in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK and Nordic countries, said Google in a statement.
Continue reading… “Google to offer free Wifi mobile calling in North America and Europe”
Near the end of 2014, Uber co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick flew to Pittsburgh on a mission: to hire dozens of the world’s experts in autonomous vehicles. The city is home to Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics department, which has produced many of the biggest names in the newly hot field. Sebastian Thrun, the creator of Google’s self-driving car project, spent seven years researching autonomous robots at CMU, and the project’s former director, Chris Urmson, was a CMU grad student.
Continue reading… “Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet in Pittsburgh This Month”
After twelve months, eight patients and 2,052 sessions spread over 1,958 hours, Duke University is publishing some promising results from a study seeking to demonstrate the ability for brain-machine interfaces to help restore mobility in humans.
Continue reading… “VR and exoskeletons help paraplegics regain movement”
In the future, robots will increasingly replace farm workers, using artificial intelligence to plant, grow and harvest our food.
In fact, many farms are already using fleets of robots, which can tend to fruits and veggies more efficiently than a human can.
Here’s a look at seven machines that are currently aiding farmers around the world.
Continue reading… “7 robots replacing farm workers around the world”
IBM’s Watson has done everything from winning at Jeopardy to cooking exotic meals, but it appears to have accomplished its greatest feat yet: saving a life. University of Tokyo doctors report that the artificial intelligence diagnosed a 60-year-old woman’s rare form of leukemia that had been incorrectly identified months earlier. The analytical machine took just 10 minutes to compare the patient’s genetic changes with a database of 20 million cancer research papers, delivering an accurate diagnosis and leading to proper treatment that had proven elusive. Watson has also identified another rare form of leukemia in another patient, the university says.
Continue reading… “IBM’s Watson saves a woman from leukemia”
China’s futuristic straddling bus was an idea that sounded straight out of a science fiction novel. It seemed too good to be true. And, as it turns out, it may be.
Just days after its high-profile unveiling in the northeastern city of Qinghaungdao—quashing doubts that the project would ever get off the ground—the bus (or train, as some have argued) seems to have driven right into a ditch of dashed hopes.
Continue reading… “Derailing Into Controversy: China’s Straddling Bus”
China’s long-awaited ‘straddling bus’ received its inaugural test run in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province this week.
The Transit Elevated Bus, to give it its official title, is designed to help combat gridlock by letting passengers soar over the tops of cars on the increasingly-congested roads of China’s major cities.
Continue reading… “‘Straddling bus’ soars over cars in China”
The spectacular growth of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) market in China continues; state media reports that sales were up a massive 162% to 170,000 units in the first half of the year. NEVs include pure-electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).
The 170,000 NEVs were divided by 134,000 EVs and 36,000 PHEVs.
Continue reading… “Chinese Electric Car Sales Up 162% So Far This Year”
Recent attacks on civilians in the U.S. and Europe have exposed a gap in the intelligence community’s efforts to track suspected extremists and prevent mass killings, a half dozen American, British and French counterterrorism officials told Reuters.
The attacks have a common theme of being carried out by actors with an apparent history of mental illness – but few if any direct links to extremist groups.
George Matus was 11 years old when he flew his first drone. “I was immediately hooked,” the young man tells me with a grin. By age 16 he was competing as a professional drone racer and acting as a test pilot for new aircraft. Now 18, he recently finished high school but decided to defer college, opting instead to pursue a fellowship offer from tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
Continue reading… “Fastest consumer drone in the world records 4K video at 85 miles per hour”
Electric power could be the dominant form of propulsion for all new cars sold in the UK as early as 2027, with more than 1.3 million electric cars registered each year, according to forecast analysis by Go Ultra Low, the government and industry-backed campaign.
This means that, according to Go Ultra Low, the UK is on target to meet a government forecast that all new cars and vans will be electrically-powered by 2040.
Continue reading… “Electric cars could eclipse fossil fuels by 2027”
It may be time to start rewriting lawyer jokes. Smart, time-saving computers are quickly elevating the profession.
Continue reading… “Law firms will soon be filled with robot lawyers”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.