new technology – Page 19

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, new technology, Science & Technology News

First programmable memristor computer aims to bring AI processing down from the cloud

August 2, 2019

First programmable memristor computer aims to bring AI processing down from the cloud

The memristor array chip plugs into the custom computer chip, forming the first programmable memristor computer. The team demonstrated that it could run three standard types of machine learning algorithms. Credit: Robert Coelius, Michigan Engineering

The first programmable memristor computer—not just a memristor array operated through an external computer—has been developed at the University of Michigan.

It could lead to the processing of artificial intelligence directly on small, energy-constrained devices such as smartphones and sensors. A smartphone AI processor would mean that voice commands would no longer have to be sent to the cloud for interpretation, speeding up response time.

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Automation, Employment, new technology, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

The threat to the $100,000-a-year tech worker

July 29, 2019

Much of the discussion around the future of work focuses on what is already disappearing: jobs in factories, on farms, and in restaurants.

But coming automation-fueled job losses and changes will reverberate far beyond — and eventually reach seemingly safe workers in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street.

And those in-demand workers may not be prepared for what’s coming, as the bulk of government and company reskilling efforts are targeted toward the lower end.

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Human Behavior, new technology, Robots, Science & Technology News

The second coming of the robot pet

July 16, 2019

MITA YUN DIDN’T get into robotics to save the world. The lunar rovers she built as a student at Carnegie Mellon, and the software she developed as an engineer for Google—that stuff was just practice. The things Yun really wanted to make were friends.

Yun had hungered for companionship since she was a little girl in China. She’d begged her parents for a pet, but no dice. These were the days of China’s one-child policy, so no sibling either. Instead, Yun’s parents filled her room with a menagerie of stuffed animals, which she liked to imagine springing to life, their little paws dancing on her bedspread, their little bodies stuffed with possibilities.

In 2017, Yun quit her job at Google to start building the friend she’d always wanted. She started a company, called Zoetic, and recruited a few other roboticists to take her imaginary sidekick and turn it into a commercial product. Two years later, she’s ready to introduce her creation: a small, interactive robot called Kiki, which goes on pre-sale later this month.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Music, new technology, Science & Technology News

Meet Endel: the first ever algorithm to sign a music distribution deal with a major label

July 8, 2019

Endel highlights how AI could change the way music is both created and experienced.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are slowly but surely infiltrating multiple industries, slowly weaving their way into our daily lives. Medical professionals are using deep learning models to identify cancer, weak AI to construct better buildings and machine learning to drive the world of robotics.

Continue reading… “Meet Endel: the first ever algorithm to sign a music distribution deal with a major label”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, new technology, Science & Technology News, Social Media

Adobe’s prototype AI tool automatically spots Photoshopped faces

June 29, 2019

An example of a manipulated photo, the defects spotted by the algorithm, and the original image. Credit: Adobe

Though it’s just a research project for the moment.

The world is becoming increasingly anxious about the spread of fake videos and pictures, and Adobe — a name synonymous with edited imagery — says it shares those concerns. Today, it’s sharing new research in collaboration with scientists from UC Berkeley that uses machine learning to automatically detect when images of faces have been manipulated.

It’s the latest sign the company is committing more resources to this problem. Last year its engineers created an AI tool that detects edited media created by splicing, cloning, and removing objects.

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Automobiles, Engineering, new technology, Science & Technology News

The Reinvention of steel could make car bodies 30% lighter

June 10, 2019

To keep clients, Nippon Steel is developing super-strong metal

Cars must get lighter to meet new emissions rules or electrify.

Imagine the weight of 24 elephants bearing down on a tiny spot the size a postage stamp.

That’s how much pressure Nippon Steel Corp.’s strongest metal can withstand. The Japanese company is pushing the envelope in order to stay relevant as the auto industry, its most important customer, goes through major changes.

Continue reading… “The Reinvention of steel could make car bodies 30% lighter”

Driverless vehicles, new technology, Science & Technology News, Transportation

First commercial crossing of the north sea by autonomous vessel

June 5, 2019

A 12-meter (40-foot) autonomous vessel has sailed across the North Sea with a token cargo of oysters – making it the first commercial crossing by an autonomous vessel.

The vessel, designed and built in Essex, U.K., docked in the Belgian port city of Oostende last week following a successful transit from West Mersea. The voyage lasted 22 hours.

The box of oysters weighed around 5 kg – just a fraction of the current model’s maximum payload of up to 2.5 tons.

The SEA-KIT vessel USV Maxlimer is operated by SEA-KIT International Ltd, and is designed and developed by Hushcraft Ltd, based in Tollesbury, Essex. The vessel can be transported in a single 40-foot container.

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Big Problems, Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News, Solar Energy

This desalination device delivers cheap, clean water with just solar power

June 3, 2019

In a coastal city in Namibia, a small shipping container near the beach sits surrounded
by solar panels. Inside, new technology uses that solar power
to turn ocean water from the Atlantic into drinking water.

Namibia is in the middle of a prolonged drought. The president recently declared the second state of emergency in three years because the lack of rain is leading to severe food shortages. But if scaled up, this technology could help supply households and agriculture with fresh water. The basic tech that it uses for desalination, called reverse osmosis, isn’t new. But because the system can run on solar power, without the use of batteries, it avoids the large carbon footprint of a typical energy-hungry desalination plant. It’s also significantly cheaper over the lifetime of the system.

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communication, Internet, new technology, Science & Technology News

Japan plans for 10 billion 5G devices by adding 14-digit phone numbers

May 23, 2019

Increased data bandwidth might be the best-known advantage of 5G cellular technology, but new 5G networks will also support billions of newly connected devices, ranging from cars to internet of things sensors — each with their own telephone number. With its 5G rollout just around the corner, Japan is preparing for a surge in demand for new phone numbers by expanding the maximum number of digits from 11 to 14, a change that will enable mobile carriers to offer 10 billion new numbers starting with the 020 prefix.

In the United States, seven-digit local numbers are always preceded by three-digit geographic area codes, and while Japan has a similar 10-digit system for geographic numbers, it has used either 10- or 11-digit numbers for non-geographic numbers. Japanese mobile phones and other wireless devices are assigned non-geographic numbers.

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Food, Google, new technology, Science & Technology News

Restaurants are ignoring calls from Google’s Smart Assistant

May 13, 2019

Hello, This Is Robot

Almost exactly a year ago, everyone was flipping out over Google’s newly announced Duplex feature, which basically pretends to be a human assistant in order to make reservations at restaurants or schedule trips to the hairdresser.

But the AI-powered assistant has struggled to win over the hearts of service workers. The Verge reports that restaurants are hanging up on Google’s auto-calling voice assistant — sometimes because they’re creeped out by how lifelike it sounds.

“I was spooked at how natural and human the machine sounds,” server Shawn Watford of Birmingham, Alabama told The Verge. “It was so weird [that] when it called, I immediately hung up.”

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cutting edge, Engineering, new technology, Science & Technology News, security

Move over, silicon switches: There’s a new way to compute

May 9, 2019

Logic and memory devices, such as the hard drives in computers, now use nanomagnetic mechanisms to store and manipulate information. Unlike silicon transistors, which have fundamental efficiency limitations, they require no energy to maintain their magnetic state: Energy is needed only for reading and writing information.

One method of controlling magnetism uses electrical current that transports spin to write information, but this usually involves flowing charge. Because this generates heat and energy loss, the costs can be enormous, particularly in the case of large server farms or in applications like artificial intelligence, which require massive amounts of memory. Spin, however, can be transported without a charge with the use of a topological insulator—a material whose interior is insulating but that can support the flow of electrons on its surface.

Continue reading… “Move over, silicon switches: There’s a new way to compute”

Alzheimer's Disease, Machine Learning, new technology, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

Five key ideas you need to understand now if you want to be ready for the world of 2030

April 14, 2019

With a new series of the BBC science podcast Futureproofing on air this month, presenter Timandra Harkness explains how to get ready for the world of the future.

Just a building that keeps the rain out and your clean underwear in? Think again. The home of 2030 will be smart, connected and emotional.

“Our notion of home will change drastically,” says Sce Pike, CEO of Oregon-based IOTAS. “The notion of home is no longer four walls and a roof and a place, a location, but actually something that travels with you throughout your life.”

How does it do that? By learning your preferences and your habits, and automatically adjusting the light, heat, even your TV channels, before you have to ask. “It’s about how that home reacts to you and makes you comfortable,” says Pike.

Category: new technology

First programmable memristor computer aims to bring AI processing down from the cloud

The threat to the $100,000-a-year tech worker

The second coming of the robot pet

Meet Endel: the first ever algorithm to sign a music distribution deal with a major label

The Reinvention of steel could make car bodies 30% lighter

First commercial crossing of the north sea by autonomous vessel

This desalination device delivers cheap, clean water with just solar power

Japan plans for 10 billion 5G devices by adding 14-digit phone numbers

Restaurants are ignoring calls from Google’s Smart Assistant

Five key ideas you need to understand now if you want to be ready for the world of 2030

Continue reading… “Five key ideas you need to understand now if you want to be ready for the world of 2030”