Until very recently, consensus opinion has viewed electric cars as at best a niche market and at worst a passing fad. That’s changing as production and sales take off. Continue reading… “Electric car sales go exponential”
Chinese poetry scholars are ‘disgusted’ by a new book written by A.I. bot
There are 139 Chinese poems in the new book “The Sunlight that Lost the Glass Window,” and the fact they’re all written by one artificially intelligent bot doesn’t make local scholars too pleased.
“It disgusted me with its slippery tone and rhythm,” poet Yu Jian told local newspaper China Youth Daily, according to the South China Morning Post. “The sentences were aimless and superficial, lacking the inner logic for emotional expression.”
Continue reading… “Chinese poetry scholars are ‘disgusted’ by a new book written by A.I. bot”
We’re running out of domain names—what happens when they’re all gone?
The world is nearly out of good “.com” domain names—and even the fourth circuit of the United States Court of Appeals agrees.
As global internet usage rises, .com naming is going to get more and more complicated. Our languages only contain a finite number of meaningful words, so brand naming is becoming much more than coming up with a unique, snazzy moniker—it also involves knowledge of intellectual property rights, law, and a large of dash of luck.
Continue reading… “We’re running out of domain names—what happens when they’re all gone?”
Separating the hype from reality surrounding artificial intelligence
With all the attention Artificial Intelligence (AI) attracts these days, a backlash is inevitable – and could even be constructive. Any technology advancing at a fast pace and with such breathless enthusiasm could use a reality check. But for a corrective to be useful, it must be fair and accurate.
Continue reading… “Separating the hype from reality surrounding artificial intelligence”
Solving the housing crisis with cheap backyard ‘granny flats’
A startup out of Los Angeles, California, wants to bring small, pre-fabricated living spaces into the backyards of the country’s hottest real estate markets.
The homes range in size from 300 to 1,200 square feet — but don’t call them tiny homes.
Continue reading… “Solving the housing crisis with cheap backyard ‘granny flats’”
New “Instantly Rechargeable” Battery
Purdue researchers have developed technology for an “instantly rechargeable” battery that is affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe. Currently, electric vehicles need charging ports in convenient locations to be viable, but this battery technology would allow drivers of hybrid and electric vehicles to charge up much like drivers of conventional cars refill quickly and easily at gas stations.
Introducing Sweden’s Museum of Failure
Green Heinz ketchup? Fat-free Pringles? Colgate frozen lasagna? You don’t need to be an expert to know these products weren’t successful.
Which is why these creations, with dozens of others, feature in the new Museum of Failure , a wacky parade of rejected products from years gone by set up in the Swedish town of Helsingborg.
Photographing people in 3D through walls using Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi can pass through walls.
This fact is easy to take for granted, yet it’s the reason we can surf the web using a wireless router located in another room. But not all of that microwave radiation makes it to (or from) our phones, tablets, and laptops. Routers scatter and bounce their signal off objects, illuminating our homes and offices like invisible light bulbs.
Now, German scientists have found a way to exploit this property to take holograms, or 3D photographs, of objects inside a room — from outside it.
Continue reading… “Photographing people in 3D through walls using Wi-Fi”
Introducing MIT’s “living” breathing no-sweat clothing
If it was up to a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the next trend in sportswear would be clothes made out of living cells. You got that right, living microbial cells. With a design that looks like it came straight out of science fiction, the self-ventilating workout suit developed by the MIT researchers gives a new meaning to breathable and no-sweat clothing — plus, it comes with a pair of running shoes lined with the same living cells on the inside.
Continue reading… “Introducing MIT’s “living” breathing no-sweat clothing”
Over half of millennials say they’d love to start their own company
Around 49% of millennials said they plan to start their own company within the next three years, while 62% of them reported having their ideal company “that they would love to start,” found America’s SBDC Network and the Center for Generational Kinetics in a study. The researchers considered a small business “an independently owned and operated company that employs fewer than 500 people.”
Those were just two findings, but there were many others across generations.
Continue reading… “Over half of millennials say they’d love to start their own company”
Mary Meeker’s 2017 internet trends report
Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, delivered her annual rapid-fire internet trends report at Code Conference at the Terranea Resort in California.
Here’s a first look at the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley. This year’s report includes 355 slides and tons of information, including a new section on healthcare that Meeker didn’t present live.
Continue reading… “Mary Meeker’s 2017 internet trends report”
Paul Allen’s new mega-plane is the world’s largest
The initial construction of the massive airplane Paul Allen has been quietly building in the California desert is complete, and the vehicle, which would be the world’s largest airplane with a wingspan wider than Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, was wheeled out of its hangar for the first time on Wednesday.
Called Stratolaunch, the plane has some impressive stats: a wingspan of 385 feet, or longer than a football field, a height of 50 feet. Unfueled, it weighs 500,000 pounds. But it can carry 250,000 pounds of fuel, and its total weight can reach as high as 1.3 million pounds.
Continue reading… “Paul Allen’s new mega-plane is the world’s largest”
