According to a new survey, two-thirds of the consumers in the U.S. with broadband are not very familiar with smart home services or products or where to buy them.
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An estimated 5 million complete human genomes will be sequenced by 2020
Genomics pioneer Craig Venter
In 2000, researchers finished the first draft of the human genome. Although the decreasing cost of the technology has far outpaced Moore’s Law since then, we have yet to fully leverage all that new information, to make it really useful.
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Darkhotel tricks hotel Wi-Fi users into downloading malicious software
Business travelers beware of Darkhotel.
There are a lot of reasons not to use Wi-Fi in a hotel. It’s often expensive, sluggish, and unreliable. Sometimes it seems like nobody knows the network password, and when trouble arises it’s hard to convince the front desk that there’s a problem with their network, not one with your devices.
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Artificial intelligence is not a threat, it’s a tool
It’s a mistake to worry about us developing malevolent AI anytime soon.
Rodney Brooks – There has been several articles in the press recently, and several high profile people who are in tech but not AI, speculating about the dangers of malevolent AI being developed, and how we should be worried about that possibility. Should we be worried?
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Will robot brains catch up to human-level intelligence in 25 years?
Computers are improving at an exponential rate.
Futurists started predicting that in just a few decades machines would be as smart as humans soon after computers evolved in the 1940’s. Every year, the prediction seems to get pushed back another year. The consensus now is that it’s going to happen in … you guessed it, just a few more decades.
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Could we run the entire world on solar power?
We all want to find an alternative to fossil fuels as soon as possible. The most viable answer to the planet’s energy needs is visible to us any time we look upward. The amount of solar energy that hits just 1 square mile of this planet over the course of a year is equal to 4 million barrels of oil, and the energy that hits the Earth in a mere 40 minutes can fuel all of humanity’s energy needs for a year. Isn’t that incredible? (Infographic)
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rHEALTH diagnoses hundreds of diseases using a single drop of blood
rHealth Device
This month, the XPRIZE Foundation announced the winner of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE. The global competition was aimed at accelerating the availability of hardware sensors and software sensing technology as a means to smarter digital health solutions. The winning device is called the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHEALTH) system. It can potentially run hundreds or even thousands of lab tests using a single drop of blood, and those tests, in turn, can be used to diagnose a range of diseases. (Video)
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Space entrepreneurship is about to become huge despite setbacks with Antares and Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo
October was a tough month for space enthusiasts and the world’s private space industry. The explosion of the Antares rocket, which was headed to the International Space Station, was followed just a few days later by the crash of Virgin Galactic’s and Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipTwo space plane.
Calysta, Inc. believes natural gas can feed the world
Alan Shaw, CEO Calysta, right and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be gobbled up by protein-producing microbes. The protein biomass is converted into things like food for farmed salmon or chemicals or other products, according to Ian Shaw, CEO of Calysta Inc., and Josh Silverman, the chief scientific officer. That salmon, of course, is an important source of protein that could serve a growing human population.
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Stanford researchers develop a way to store solar energy more cost-effectively for use at night
How electrolysis could produce hydrogen as a way to store renewable energy.
There isn’t a cost-effective way to store large-scale solar energy. But researchers at Stanford have developed a solution by using electrolysis to turn tanks of water and hydrogen into batteries. During the day, electricity from solar cells could be used to break apart water into hydrogen and oxygen. Recombining these gases would generate electricity for use at night.
Fabrics may soon be able to yield more health data than devices
Data from smart apparel will begin carving a health roadmap for the wearer.
What if your outfit made more than a fashion statement? Thanks to miniaturization and state-of-the-art integration of electronics, smart clothing is a burgeoning new space in which sensors are now fixed, woven, and embedded into everyday wear. Hap Klopp, founder of North Face, says, “Fabrics will generate more data than devices in the next 10 years.” Many analysts estimate large-scale adoption by 2020.
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Micro-scallop robots can swim through your blood, eyeballs
A micro-scallop robot is only a fraction of a millimeter in size.
Simplicity is important when designing robots on the micro or nano scale (like, small enough to fit inside your body). There just isn’t room for complex motors or actuation systems. There’s barely room for any electronics whatsoever, not to mention batteries, which is why robots that can swim inside your bloodstream or zip around your eyeballs are often driven by magnetic fields.(Video)
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