Tag: Technology

Impact Lab > Technology
Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The search for data scientists grows frantic as startups produce more data

There are nowhere near enough “data scientists.”

It is currently accepted that the people who understand Big Data – the enormous datasets of information being collected with nearly every click of every computing device on the planet – will rule the roost in the future. If you can predict behavior by measuring and monitoring people’s machines down to an almost atomic level, you can make both your customers and your shareholders much happier.

 

 

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government, Hot Issues, Science & Technology News

The right of the American people to keep and fly drones

The right to keep and fly drones.

A Virginia House panel approved, last week,  a two-year moratorium on drone use within the state. In December, the City Council in Berkeley debated a similar proposal from its Peace and Justice Commission. The Peace and Justice Commission wanted to prohibit the city from purchasing, borrowing, testing or using drones, or allowing “drones in transit.” However, hobbyists would have been allowed to use drones which didn’t carry cameras or audio surveillance equipment. The legislation was shot down because, as Berkeley Councilman Gordon Wozniak argued, “Berkeley doesn’t have jurisdiction over its airspace and can’t enforce it unless we buy Patriot missiles to shoot things down.” Both of these bills were prompted by law enforcement officials wanting to use drones for surveillance and intelligence gathering.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) calls this “spying.”

 

 

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Great New Product, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Crazyflie – super tiny new quadrocopter

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBUVYZkODI&hd=1[/youtube]

Crazyflie is a nippy new quadrocopter and has just been made available for pre-order by Sweden’s Bitcraze. Unlike other pint-sized fliers like the (yet to be released) NanoQ and MeCam, this impressive-looking critter won’t arrive in one piece and all ready to fly. Instead, Crazyflie is being made available as a self-build quadrocopter development and hacking kit.

 

 

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Analysis, Globalism, Science & Technology News

Top 7 best-case scenarios for the future

If things go really well, our civilization will continue to evolve and diversify.

A lot of science fiction and visions of the future from futurists lean towards the negative – and for good reason.  Our environment is a mess, we have a nasty tendency to misuse technologies, and we’re becoming increasingly capable of destroying ourselves. But the demise of the civilization is by no means guaranteed. Should we find a way to manage the risks and avoid dystopic outcomes, our far future looks astonishingly bright. Here are seven best-case scenarios for the future of humanity.

 

 

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

38 predictions about the future of tech, science, and humanity

Predicting the future.

What does the future of humanity hold?  Looking ahead at our future is an integral part of human nature.  Information Is Beautiful Studio have compiled 38 predictions about the future of tech, science, and humanity in general — with an educated guess as to their odds of actually becoming reality. (infographic)

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The origins of ‘big data’

Digital technology is changing both how words and ideas are created and proliferate, and how they are studied.

The fundamental building blocks of language and culture are words and phrases, much as genes and cells are to the biology of life.  Words are how we express ideas.  Tracing their origin, development, and spread is not just an academic pursuit but a window into a society’s intellectual evolution.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Historical Perspectives, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

Researchers analyzing New York Times archives to predict the future

Researchers are creating software that analyzes 22 years of New York Times archives, Wikipedia and about 90 other web resources to predict the future.

Microsoft and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers are creating software that analyzes 22 years of New York Times archives, Wikipedia and about 90 other web resources to predict future disease outbreaks, riots and deaths — and hopefully prevent them.

 

 

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Photo Perspectives, Science & Technology News, Space

European Space Agnecy wants a 3D printed building on the moon

Moonbase

The European Space Agency wants to 3-D print a moon base.  But one of the biggest challenges would be the expense (in terms of energy) to get supplies off of Earth.  One way is to send as little as possible to the Moon.  Couldn’t we just make a moon base out of rock?  After all, the moon is already made of rocks. (Pics)

 

 

 

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Business, Entertainment, Science & Technology News

Netflix’s plan to kill the cable industry

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

Netflix is guaranteed to make the cable industry nervous with its plan to disrupt the industry. “The traditional entertainment ecosystem is built on (managed dissatisfaction), and it’s a totally artificial concept,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tells GQ’s Nancy Hass. “The point of managed dissatisfaction is waiting.”

 

 

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Science & Technology News

China tests smart-grid technology

The State Grid Corporation of China is running the smart-grid project using passive optical networking technology.

Smart-grid technology testing has begun in China hat could eventually be deployed nationwide to make the delivery of electricity more reliable and efficient. It might also serve as a way to deliver high-speed Internet, TV, and telephony to the farthest reaches of the country.

 

 

 

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