Category: Science & Technology News

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Science & Technology News

Uber Copter to offer flights from lower Manhattan to J.F.K.

 

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For an 8-minute, one-way flight, the average ride will cost between $200 and $225 per person and include private ground transportation on both ends of the trip.

Uber is planning on demand service from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy International Airport.

When Uber announced an aerial ride-hailing division, Uber Elevate, three years ago, the internet and news media buzzed with chatter of flying cars becoming a reality in the not-so-distant future.

While these aerial vehicles have yet to debut, the ride-hailing service is expanding into helicopter service, called Uber Copter, starting July 9 in New York City.

The new service, booked through Uber’s app, will take passengers between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport, an eight-minute flight.

Continue reading… “Uber Copter to offer flights from lower Manhattan to J.F.K.”

AI, Big Data, City Planning, Science & Technology News

How Stockholm is leading the way for smart cities

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‘Being smart is about working in a smarter way with different partners and empowering citizens’

Stockholm is one of the world’s most connected cities, and a beacon for innovators and international talent. We are also a forward-looking city, leading the environmental and smart city agendas. By 2040, we have the ambition to be both carbon neutral and the smartest city in the world.

Continue reading… “How Stockholm is leading the way for smart cities”

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

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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”

Analysis, Children, Human Behavior, Report, Science & Technology News

World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century

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For the first time in modern history, the world’s population is expected to virtually stop growing by the end of this century, due in large part to falling global fertility rates, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the United Nations.

By 2100, the world’s population is projected to reach approximately 10.9 billion, with annual growth of less than 0.1% – a steep decline from the current rate. Between 1950 and today, the world’s population grew between 1% and 2% each year, with the number of people rising from 2.5 billion to more than 7.7 billion.

Continue reading… “World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century”

Amazon.com, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, security

Amazon wants to sell “surveillance as a service”

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In case Amazon’s surveillance capabilities weren’t extensive enough with its Echo, Ring, and Key products, not to mention all the data Amazon routinely collects on its customers, the company recently received a US patent to provide “surveillance as a service.”

The patent is for an “unmanned aerial vehicle”—the technical term for a drone—that “may perform a surveillance action at a property of an authorized party” and could “image the property to generate surveillance images.” Amazon suggests in its patent, filed June 12, 2015, and granted June 4 of this year, that drone-based surveillance would be superior to traditional video-camera installations that have limited range, are liable to miss things, and can be manipulated or damaged by an intruder.

Continue reading… “Amazon wants to sell “surveillance as a service””

Animals, Big Problems, DNA, Science & Technology News

Using CRISPR to resurrect the dead

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Gene-editing breakthroughs could allow us to bring extinct species, like the woolly mammoth, back from the dead. But should we?

It really is worse than you think.

We’ve gorged ourselves on fossil fuels, vacuumed up the Earth’s forests and spewed toxic gases into the atmosphere for years on end. The planet is getting warmer, we’re poisoning insect populations with reckless abandon and pulling fish out of the ocean at an alarming rate. The most recent prognosis for a biodiverse Earth is incredibly grim, with 1 million species threatened with extinction in the coming decades.

The havoc we’ve generated has kickstarted Earth’s sixth great extinction event, the first by human hands. This rapid decrease in biodiversity due to human activity is unprecedented.

But we may be able to reverse it.

Continue reading… “Using CRISPR to resurrect the dead”

Energy, Green Friendly, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Energy

Britain generating more electricity from zero carbon than fossil fuels for first time since industrial revolution

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Wind turbines on the west coast of cumbria near workington, Cumbria, Uk, with a flock of Herring Gulls flying past.

The figures were described as a landmark tipping point.

Britain is generating more of its energy from zero carbon sources than fossil fuels for the first time since the industrial revolution in a landmark tipping point, National Grid has confirmed.

In what was described as an historic milestone, and a watershed moment, the amount of electricity coming from wind, solar, nuclear and hydro power overtook coal and gas by more than one percentage point at the end of May.

Continue reading… “Britain generating more electricity from zero carbon than fossil fuels for first time since industrial revolution”

Driverless vehicles, Human Behavior, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Human drivers bullying self-driving cars: Unlawful or fair game?

 

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The official California DMV Driver Handbook provides prescribed driving practices that everyone is supposed to comply with while driving on our state roadways, including topics such as safe driving methods when the roads are wet from rain (admittedly, we don’t get much rain, but when we do, California drivers are known to freak-out and drive crazily), and driving when there is a tough curve or when on a steep hill, plus what to do when driving nearby animal-drawn vehicles or coming up to railroad tracks.

There are over 130 pages of crucial material in our DMV Driver Handbook, which licensed California drivers get tested on and presumably need to understand and are expected to obey (alright, I acknowledge that many don’t, but without those explicitly “you are on notice” regs, I think we’d agree that there might be chaos or at least even worse driving exploits than we already experience).

Continue reading… “Human drivers bullying self-driving cars: Unlawful or fair game?”

Law Enforcement, Robots, Science & Technology News

Huntington Park Police to deploy ‘RoboCop’ to monitor public areas

The Huntington Park Police Department is set to unveil “HP RoboCop,” the latest tool in the force’s arsenal that will keep an electronic eye on public areas, the city of Huntington Park announced in a news release.

The device is “an autonomous data machine that is meant to serve outdoors,” that will use 360-degree HD video footage to “act as an extra set of eyes and monitor areas such as parks, city buildings and corridors where police might not have the time to consistently patrol,” the release said.

The city released a video of HP RoboCop rolling down a sidewalk, making electronic sounds and at one point even saying, “Good day to you.”

Continue reading… “Huntington Park Police to deploy ‘RoboCop’ to monitor public areas”

Automation, Automobiles, Driverless vehicles, Science & Technology News

What is our plan for zero-occupancy vehicles?

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In the transportation world, there has always been consensus that there is nothing worse than the single-occupancy vehicle. But there soon could be.

A common techno-utopian vision of the near-future city is one where automated vehicles come when called and whisk you to your destination, as you sit, relaxed and untroubled by traffic. But consider the opposite vision, that gridlock will be made worse by autonomous vehicles, which will spend much of their time driving around the city with no passengers. There is simply nothing about a vehicle being autonomous that makes it more likely to achieve higher occupancy. In fact, the current trajectory of AV deployment roadmaps and our transportation policy response ensures its average occupancy will be lower.

Continue reading… “What is our plan for zero-occupancy vehicles?”

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