Category: Ideas

Impact Lab > Ideas
Energy, Future, Hot Issues, Ideas, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, Transportation

What Replaces Gasoline?

Hydrogen may be winning the zero-emissions battle.

In 2016, those who still say battery-electric vehicles don’t have a future probably haven’t spent much time in California. The California Air Resources Board (CARB)’s policies, which predate those of the federal government, treat the internal-combustion engine as a chronic offender that is beyond hope for reform. For 26 years, the state has been keeping the faith in a single solution: zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), a category that includes both hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and battery-electric vehicles.

Continue reading… “What Replaces Gasoline?”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Ideas, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Robots Are Developing Feelings. Will They Become “People”?

AI systems are beginning to acquire emotions. But whether that means they deserve human-type rights is the subject of a thorny debate.

When writing the screenplay for 1968’s 2001, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick were confident that something resembling the sentient, humanlike HAL 9000 computer would be possible by the film’s namesake year. That’s because the leading AI experts of the time were equally confident.

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Automobiles, Business, cutting edge, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Ideas, Inventions, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

Comma.ai will make your car semi-autonomous for $24 a month

 

Comma.ai, the self-driving car startup helmed by iPhone hacker George Hotz, has unveiled new details about its first commercial product, the newly named Comma One. According to a report from TechCrunch, the company claims this $999 after-market kit will allow buyers to give their cars semi-autonomous abilities on a par with Tesla’s Autopilot. The physical product will be shipping before the end of the year, says Comma.ai, and will require a $24 monthly subscription fee for access to Comma.ai’s software, as well as certain in-car features like electronic power steering. The aim, said Hotz when we spoke to him earlier this year, is to provide “ghost riding for the masses.”

Continue reading… “Comma.ai will make your car semi-autonomous for $24 a month”

3D Printer, Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Ideas, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

3D printing can revolutionize the medical profession

Groundbreaking 3D printing and scanning techniques are improving access to fully customisable artificial limbs

Before the vehicle that she was travelling in flipped over and trapped her right leg, Leakhena Laing was a happy teenager who enjoyed climbing trees and playing football with friends. After her limb was amputated, she could only sit and watch.

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Alternative Transportation, Aviation, Business, cutting edge, Drone, drones, Ideas, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News, Uber

Uber plans self-flying drone taxis

If you summon an Uber in 10 years’ time, you will probably get a car that drives itself. But then again, you may not be travelling in a car at all.

The taxi-hailing app is working on technology that would allow airborne passenger drones to fly its users short distances around cities, it has emerged, raising the prospect of a future in which skylines are dotted with Uber aircraft shuttling commuters back and forth.

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Alternative Transportation, Business, cutting edge, Electric Vehicles, Ideas, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

The Sora by Lito: The Ultimate Electric Superbike?

 The zero-emissions stunner can be fully-charged in about three hours.

From carbon-filter bodywork to high-performance Ohlins suspension, the Sora by Lito has all the trimmings you’d expect from an exotic, six-figure motorcycle – except for an engine.

The Sora is the most luxurious all-electric motorcycle on the market, an expanding field that now includes speed demons like the Zero SR and the Lightning LS-218. But where other electric bikes are remarkable, the Sora is extraordinary.

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Current Events, cutting edge, Engineering, Future, Ideas, New Inventions, new technology, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News, Travel

Adorable robots help travelers at Haneda airport in Tokyo

 Hitachi’s EMIEW3 will help travelers find their terminal.

Getting lost in an international airport is never fun — but if you’re lost in Japan’s Haneda this month, you’ll at least be able get help from an adorable talking robot. From now until the 14th, Hitachi is testing its EMIEW3 humanoid robot in the airport’s passenger terminal. Over the course of two weeks, EMIEW3 will direct visitors to an information display and answer questions in both English and Japanese.

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Aviation, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, cutting edge, Engineering, Great New Product, Ideas, Inventions, Latest News, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

Stratolaunch – The World’s largest aircraft is almost ready

SEATTLE, July 22 — Seattle-based company Vulcan Aerospace announced that its Stratolaunch Systems, an air-launch platform for rockets, is close to completion.

According to the company’s website, the Stratolaunch has a wingspan of 385 feet and measures 238 feet in length. This six-engine aircraft is currently the world’s largest aircraft.

Continue reading… “Stratolaunch – The World’s largest aircraft is almost ready”

Business, cutting edge, Future, Ideas, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

Spaceflight startup Ripple Aerospace want to launch rockets from the ocean

In the constant search for low-cost spaceflight, Norwegian startup Ripple Aerospace has come up with a unique solution: How about we just get rid of, like, the land? Their plan calls for reusable cargo rockets to be built in shipyards, transported to open ocean, and launched from the sea, without so much as a floating launch pad to get in the way of the rocket’s journey from ocean to space.

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Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Drone, drones, Health & Fitness, Ideas, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, sports

Donesurfing: A new sport takes flight

 A brand new sport has been created specifically due to new technology: Dronesurfing.

A professional cinematographic company called Freefly used a drone, the Freefly Alta 8, on a day with minimal waves to help pull their boarder across the water. While the drone does have a 20-pound maximum cargo limit, it is able to pull a person across the water (after getting a running start).

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Future, Ideas, Internet, Latest News, Science & Technology News, Wi-Fi

Europe’s Plan for Free Public Wi-Fi Puts America to Shame

Free wi-fi almost anywhere you go.

When the president of the European commission gave his annual state of the union speech this week, he hit all the typical SOTU talking points—unity, pride, stability.

But tucked amid all that was an unusual promise for EU residents: free wireless internet for parks, libraries and other public spaces across Europe.

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