Then suddenly, overnight, the company unveiled its battery electric vehicle online in Japan. Highly strategic, if you ask me, with the timing of COP26. But before we dig into the bigger issues this suggests, let’s take a quick look at what’s on offer. Innovation born out of friend rivalry The Solterra is the result of a two-year project: the development of the e-Subaru Global Platform together with Toyota Motor Corporation....
Back in April, experts from the International Monetary Fund warned global lockdowns are likely to push us into the worst economic slump in years. They weren’t wrong. A recent survey by the US Census Bureau found a third of businesses reported experiencing an enormous negative effect from the COVID-19 pandemic, with roughly one in 20 owners expecting to shut doors within the next six months. And with a second wave looming over us, things might get even worse....
I propose to you, however, that nature’s insatiable thirst for balance has ultimately led us to create a potential rival to our dominance as a species on this planet…Artificial Intelligence. The pertinent question then becomes, what aspects of our infamous ingenuity will AI augment, and perhaps ultimately surpass? What is AI & Machine Learning? Essentially what some really smart people out there are trying to achieve, is a computer system that emulates human intelligence....
The problems started on August 7, when the British government scrapped an algorithm used in visa applications, following allegations that it was creating “speedy boarding for white people.” Weeks later, England joined Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in ditching a model used to calculate school exam results after evidence emerged that it had penalized poorer students. ‘Fuck the algorithm’ pic.twitter.com/k4Vny0L4tF — Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) August 17, 2020 The algorithms must have thought their month couldn’t get any worse....
Uranus was first seen in 1781, and seventy years later, astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi announced his discovery of an “eighth planet,” orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. This object, Ceres, was found to the largest member of the main asteroid belt, and was classified as such in 1851. At that point, the solar system was said to contain 13 planets (including Neptune, first seen in 1846), and the number of recognized planets was reduced to just eight members....
It addresses one of the biggest roadblocks for PCs running on ARM architecture, like the Surface Pro X. There are many apps that are only available in 64-bit versions these days — Microsoft points out Autodesk Sketchbook and Rocket League — that simply wouldn’t work on ARM-based devices. Microsoft introduced an emulator for 32-bit/x86 apps early on, but x64-only apps were left in the dark. Now you can take your pick....
The feature, which underwent extensive testing over the past six months, lets you add a second layer of authentication to your Windows accounts, by plugging a USB key into your PC. To reiterate, using the security key with your Windows PC will not fully eliminate the need for passwords. Rather, you’ll first enter your password, and then use the YubiKey to complete the login. This way, it’s next to impossible for an attacker to access your system even if they know your password....
The new system — called Leonardo — is being constructed by French IT firm Atos for Italian inter-university consortium Cineca. It’s expected to deliver 10 exaflops of FP16 AI performance, which will be harnessed by Cineca researchers to simulate planetary forces behind climate change and molecular movements inside a coronavirus molecule. Nvidia said its computing platform will accelerate the high-performance workloads while combining extremely high throughput and low power consumption....
Spencer, speaking with Stevivor, was in part responding to a derisive remark he’d made in 2016, in which he dismissed VR available at the time as “demos and experiments.” While he said he doesn’t mean to diminish the work of VR developers, he said he still has reservations about what VR means for gamers: We’re used to companies not ruling anything out, if only because heaven forbid one console appear to be falling behind its competition....
However, we might see the debut of an under-screen camera in a mainstream phone, thanks to Xiaomi. According to a report by ITHome, the Chinese tech company is set to introduce this technology in three devices this year: the CC 11, the Mix 4, and the Mix Fold 2. [Read: Why entrepreneurship in emerging markets matters] Apart from the models featuring under-screen cameras, there’s no word about the specifications and features of these unique front shooters....
The Smash Bros Ultimate patch, which rolled out today, adds support for Labo VR goggles among a few other general improvements. In order to access this feature, you’ll need to update the game and then look for it in the “Games & More” menu. The appropriate icon looks like the Labo goggles. As you might have guessed, this isn’t intended to allow you to play in full-on spars with your friends....
And how does Twitter decide which tweets to show you at the top of your feed? These platforms are driven by algorithms, which rank and recommend content for us based on our data. As Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, Boston, explains: So if we are making decisions based on what’s shown to us by these algorithms, what does that mean for our ability to make decisions freely?...
At Unwinnable, we use a classic-turned-modern publishing model. We have online articles, but our main operation is our magazine: a monthly PDF that you subscribe to like a print magazine. So we’re always looking for ways to make our subscribers’ experience better. Earlier this year, we revamped our subscriber Discord server into a proper community, and I learned a lot working with the Unwinnable team to engage subscribers this way....
Indeed, Zoom’s market cap swelled to hit $67.43 billion yesterday, buoyed by continued market optimism for ‘stay-at-home’ stocks that also drove the wider NASDAQ 100 (NDX) index up 1.17%. [Read: United Airlines just got kicked out of the NASDAQ 100 by a company that helps you sign PDFs] But to say that Zoom has simply outperformed the market is a severe understatement. The company’s stock is up 250% since the start of the year (from $68....
One of today’s greatest technology mysteries is not how Bitcoin works, but who created it. On October 31, 2008, someone, somewhere, published Bitcoin‘s white paper on a cryptography mailing list under the ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ pseudonym. It’s been well over 10 years but despite the many Faketoshis, we aren’t any closer to knowing who the real Nakamoto is. There have been many candidates, some of them even self-nominated (aka Craig Steven Wright and most recently James Bilal Khadid Caan), but none have been able to deliver definitive evidence to prove their outlandish claims....
While most folding e-bikes are basically an amalgam of pre-made frames and components, GoCycle’s bikes are purpose-built, unified constructions – the company’s founder was an ex-McLaren designer. Today the company announced the GXi, its most powerful model yet. The GXi sports a 500W front hub motor (250W in the EU) and promises a 20 mph top assist speed (25 km/h speed limit in Europe) and up 80 miles (50 km) of range....
Recent death reviews have found that stalking by technology and the use of fake social media identities are becoming more common elements in cases of domestic and family violence homicide. In Australia, there are two leading agencies working to reduce this kind of technology-enabled abuse: WESNET and the eSafety Commissioner. Both provide training for advocates and practitioners, as well as resources for victims and survivors. WESNET also provides replacement phones....
Not all of these instances were focused on how people can’t or shouldn’t trust Facebook, though. In reality, about half of the times trust was mentioned, it was used in a derogatory manner by a Senator. The other half was Marcus defending the company’s position. On numerous occasions he argued how Libra will earn trust, or is supposedly designed to be trustworthy. If only there was a digital currency system that was completely trustless in its design… Either way, trust was clearly a key topic at Tuesday’s Senate hearing....
Sometimes, scientists needed to assume that the quantum objects were waves to get the correct result. Other times, they needed to assume that the objects were, in fact, particles. Sometimes either approach would work. But other times only one approach would lead to the right result, and the other approach returned a bogus one. The history of this problem goes back quite a bit, but recent experiments have shed some new light on this old question....
My time in the sumo house has taught me a lot. Not only how to become a good sumo wrestler — or how to gain 11 kilos in six weeks — but also the mindset to be successful in your professional career. I could write a whole book on why sumo wrestlers make amazing colleagues (which I actually did), but I’ll just stick to the top three reasons in this article....
