Who is going to decide how we travel around our cities – Californian tech giants or local transport businesses? On Tech Tent we hear from the UK firm helping local taxi operators take the fight to Uber and from an American scooter firm trying to change the law in Britain. I took a trip to… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Emerging Technologies
Why robots will build the cities of the future
Shinichi Sakamoto is 57, and works for Shimizu, one of Japan’s biggest construction companies. He is part of a greying, and dwindling, workforce. “The thing is, statistics show a third of [Japanese construction] labourers are over 54 years old, and they are considering retiring so soon,” says Mr Sakamoto, who is deputy head of Shimizu’s… Read more »
Lyft Will Pay You to Ditch Your Car. Will It Work?
WHAT WOULD IT take for you to give up your car? An all-access pass to a bicycle, maybe, plus some safe lanes to ride in? A smartphone, stocked with apps for cheap ride-hail services? A competent public transit system? A chauffeur, willing to drive you around instead? Lyft, the transportation service provider that has always said its… Read more »
NBA League Pass: Fans to be able to buy access to live fourth quarter action
A last-minute Champions League-winning goal, or a Ryder Cup-winning putt – how much would you pay to watch those sporting climaxes? If you’re an NBA fan, it will cost you very little. Starting this season, fans will be able to watch just the last quarter of a game “in real-time” for $1.99 Source: BBC Sports Date: September… Read more »
The first holographic smartphone will be released later this year
AT&T and Verizon announced this week they will start selling a holographic smartphone later this year. The Red Hydrogen One smartphone is the first phone from video equipment company Red. The Android phone’s killer feature is a “holographic display” that projects 3D images that can be viewed without special glasses. You will be able to… Read more »
Meet the robo-farmers that pick and plant
It seems there are few jobs robots can’t do these days, even the most delicate jobs, like picking asparagus or potting plant seedlings. But they’re only needed because humans can’t – or won’t – do the work, farmers say. Source: BBC Business Date: April 20th, 2018 Link to video: http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-43824607/meet-the-robots-that-can-pick-and-plant-better-than-we-can Discussion 1) Robots that can pick and plant seeds… Read more »
Technology reveals fear and other emotions
The fear levels of an audience have been measured to show how machines are beginning to reveal people’s deepest feelings. The demonstration was part of a talk given by Dolby Labs chief scientist Poppy Crum at the TED conference in Vancouver. The ability to hide emotions is becoming “a thing of the past”, she said. The professor believes… Read more »
Meet the gargantuan air freighter that looks like a whale
Passenger aircraft are built in sections around the world then assembled in various locations, so how do you transport huge parts like wings and fuselages? Meet the super-transporters – giant planes for giant jobs. Source: BBC Technology of Business Date: April 6th, 2018 Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43641665 Discussion 1) “why not simply build everything in one place to do away… Read more »
Brain back-up start-up ‘will be the death of users’
A start-up that claims it will one day allow people to back-up their brains admits it will come at the ultimate price: death. Nectome has said it will one day be capable of scanning the human brain and preserving it, perhaps running a deceased person’s mind as a computer simulation. However, its current process requires a fresh… Read more »
Maybe Nobody Wants Your Space Internet
the question is whether enough of the world’s unconnected people want all this internet, from all of these companies, and whether these companies are fully considering the financial and social constraints of the developing world. “It’s still very early to say, from a demand perspective, whether there’s enough market to fulfill all of these mega constellations,” says… Read more »
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