January 6, 2017 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Fewer People Are Dying of Cancer Than Ever Before

The number of Americans dying of cancer has dropped to a 25-year low, equaling an estimated 2, 143, 200 fewer deaths in that period, says the new annual report from the American Cancer Society. In that time, the racial and gender disparities that exist in cancer rates have also narrowed somewhat, but they remain wide in many places. From a report on The Outline: Though the incidence of cancer remained stable for women and dropped slightly — by 2 percent — in men, rates remain overall 20 percent higher in men while rate of death for men is 40 percent higher than in women. The rates of both incidence and death vary wildly based on the type of cancer. The data that the ACS is using run through the end of 2014 for incidents of cancer and through 2013 for deaths. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women.. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continued here:
Fewer People Are Dying of Cancer Than Ever Before

Amber’s sensors aim to save farmers’ grain from spoilage

CES is most known as a show for computers , cars and seriously strange stuff , but there’s no shortage of people here trying to solve big problems the rest of us have never heard of. Take Amber Agriculture for instance: run by students at the University of Illinois, the startup as developed a finger-sized sensor meant to be stuck inside silos to help farmers monitor the quality of their stored grain. What’s more, Amber’s approach falls in line with other big trends at the show. You’ve heard of the smart home — the Amber team is trying to help build the smart farm. The idea is simple enough — these sensors monitor temperature and humidity, along with the volatile compounds that signal how moist a farmer’s grain is. Since this is 2017, those farmers will be able to monitor that key data from their smartphones, and that sort of easy access should help them figure out the ideal time to sell and ship their crop. Here’s the thing, though: there’s more to this idea than just helping the world’s farmers demand the best possible prices. Amber co-founder Lucas Frye also believes that some serious long-term good could be possible if the company could work with farmers in countries where grain spoilage has been a pressing issue. Frye, a competent, low-key pitchman, said the startup’s vision is on some level about protecting our food supply. That said, smart moisture management won’t be able to fix every grain spoilage problem around the world. Consider India: spoilage and grain rot is a recurring problem there, but that’s thanks in large part to logistical issues like finding places to actually store those huge crop hauls. For now, though, global problems are taking a back seat while Amber makes sure everything works the way it’s supposed to. There’s no firm word on pricing yet, but that’s to be expected — after finalizing some design elements and striking some deals, the startup’s leaders are gearing up for its first set of field trials in early 2017. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Continued here:
Amber’s sensors aim to save farmers’ grain from spoilage

DARPA tests buoy network for fallback military comms at sea

It doesn’t matter how many war machines you have under your command if you can’t relay orders to their operators. Maintaining communications is just as important as firepower, and DARPA wants the armed forces to have as many contingencies as possible when networks go down or are actively jammed. Setting up a fallback network is even trickier on the open ocean, but the agency’s Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program is well on its way to a solution. That solution being a collection of “node” buoys, deployed from ships or planes, that are tethered together by fiber optic cables to create a radio frequency data network. The fiber cables connecting the buoys may be thin, but are being developed to survive 30 days in challenging underwater environments, which should cover the time it takes to restore normal comms. Powering the network presents another problem, though the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab have created a concept buoy that draws energy from the constant ebb and flow of the ocean. The TUNA program has been in DARPA’s pipeline for the past few years , and with the first phase now complete, the next step is to build a fully working system and test it at sea. DARPA’s seafaring solution compliments another ongoing program called Dynamic Network Adaptation for Mission Optimization (DyNAMO) . Its goal is to develop a system that allows all different types of equipment found in different types of aircraft to talk to each other, creating something of a peer-to-peer communications network in the sky. Source: DARPA

See original article:
DARPA tests buoy network for fallback military comms at sea

Cadillac is renting vehicles as a subscription service for $1,500 a month

Variety is the spice of life, but reality is full of commitments. Buying a car typically means being stuck with a specific model for the duration of ownership . If you have enough money to burn, however, Cadillac has another option: don’t own a car. Subscribe to one. Today the company announced Cadillac Book, a “luxury vehicle subscription service” that lets you rent various Cadillac vehicles on the fly. Basically, it’s an app-based rental service that carries only one brand of vehicle and costs $1, 500 a month. Cadillac is selling the idea as a convenience service — Book members don’t own their car, but they aren’t responsible for insurance or maintenance either. They also have the option to trade it out for another vehicle at a drop of the hat. If the sedan you normally borrow from the service doesn’t have enough room for an upcoming road trip, all you have to do is tap a few buttons in the service’s app, and Book will deliver the SUV to your home lickity split. The trade off, of course, is Book users still don’t own that car, and they’re paying more for the service than they would in financing the vehicle. It’s like Spotify , but for cars. Do you care if you own the music if you have access to it whenever you want? It’s an interesting idea, but at $1, 500, it’s clearly only aimed at a wealthy demographic. Still, it’s a month to month service — so if you’re willing to pay $50 a day for your own personal fleet of luxury cars, you can have it for a shorter-term rental. The service is expected to launch in February in New York, and will expand to other markets later. Source: Cadillac

Follow this link:
Cadillac is renting vehicles as a subscription service for $1,500 a month

Check out the first Windows VR headsets from Dell, HP and Acer

Just a few days after Lenovo unveiled its Windows 10 VR headset , Microsoft showed off what HP, Dell and Acer are working on at a CES media event. Unfortunately, they were all under glass, so all we could do was ogle at the hardware. Still, the designs look pretty interesting. Acer’s looks like it comes straight from its gaming design crew, while HP’s has a cool black aesthetic. I was particularly surprised by Dell’s headset, which resembles the PlayStation VR in a few ways. There’s still a lot we don’t know about these headsets yet, unfortunately. We hear they’re all going to be available this year, with the cheapest going for around $300. Microsoft reps say they should work with integrated laptops in graphics, but of course, we’re taking that with a grain of salt. The only thing that’s certain right now is that it’s going to be a big year for Windows Holographic and VR in general.

Excerpt from:
Check out the first Windows VR headsets from Dell, HP and Acer

A Coal-Fired Power Plant In India Is Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Baking Soda

schwit1 quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: In the southern Indian city of Tuticorin, locals are unlikely to suffer from a poorly risen cake. That’s because a coal-fired thermal power station in the area captures carbon dioxide and turns it into baking soda. Carbon capture schemes are nothing new. Typically, they use a solvent, such as amine, to catch carbon dioxide and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere. From there, the CO2 can either be stored away or used. But the Guardian reports that a system installed in the Tuticorin plant uses a new proprietary solvent developed by the company Carbon Clean Solutions. The solvent is reportedly just slightly more efficient than those used conventionally, requiring a little less energy and smaller apparatus to run. The collected CO2 is used to create baking soda, and it claims that as much as 66, 000 tons of the gas could be captured at the plant each year. Its operators say that the marginal gain in efficiency is just enough to make it feasible to run the plant without a subsidy. In fact, it’s claimed to be the first example of an unsubsidized industrial plant capturing CO2 for use. schwit1 notes: “A ‘climate change’ project that doesn’t involve taxpayer dollars? Is that even allowed?” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View post:
A Coal-Fired Power Plant In India Is Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Baking Soda

A Squishy Clockwork BioBot Releases Doses of Drugs Inside the Body

the_newsbeagle writes: Making micro-machines that work inside the body is tricky, because hard silicon and metal devices can cause problems. So bioengineers are working on soft and squishy gadgets that can be implanted and do useful work. Here’s a soft biobot that’s modeled on a Swiss watch mechanism called a Geneva drive. With every tick forward, the tiny gizmo releases a dose of drugs. Getting the material properties just right was a challenge. “If your material is collapsing like jello, it’s hard to make robots out of it, ” says inventor Samuel Sia. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View article:
A Squishy Clockwork BioBot Releases Doses of Drugs Inside the Body

Who needs a six-inch touchscreen Windows desktop?

Dutch startup Ockel believes that what the world needs right now is a six-inch, Windows 10 desktop PC that’s also kind of a tablet. Ish. The nonfunctioning prototype was on show at CES, with final models expected to reach Indiegogo backers in May. Which give us a few months to wonder what exactly we’d ever use it for. Ockel made a name for itself building credit card-sized PCs for people who wanted to take their desktop with them wherever they went. The Sirius B (and its pro-edition brother) were both hits, prompting the company to build a version that you could use on the go. That product was the Sirius A, a wedge-shaped device with eight regular-sized ports at the back and a touchscreen up top. Both versions are pitched as full-bodied desktops that you can happen to use in motion, with full-size USB (and USB-C), HDMI, DisplayPort and even an Ethernet jack. The vanilla edition will run Windows Home and ships with 4GB RAM / 64GB Storage, while the Pro version runs Windows Pro and packs 8GB RAM/128GB storage. Both, however, will run off the same Intel Atom x7-Z8750 processor. The company won’t be drawn on a battery size, but it’s hoped that it’ll last for up to four hours at a time. As Ockel’s Nathalie van Wijkvliet explains, the idea was to create a desktop that you could take with you and use, should the need arise. She said that “it’s not a smartphone, not a tablet and not a PC, ” but an amalgamation of the three. It’s hoped that the device will be used by doctors on their rounds in a hospital and as a more elegant remote control for a smart home. That’s great, but for the fact that the Ockel Sirius A will retail for $700 (Regular) or $800 (Pro) and — have you heard of these things called laptops? If you want a desktop you can take with you, then you can pick one of those up for a lot less than $700. If you want a portable computing device that’s a little less demanding that can also double as a smart home control, then grab a $200 premium Android tablet. This device reminds me a little of the Neptune Pine , another crowdfunding success that looked great on paper and wasn’t great in reality. The notion of having a slightly shrunk-down smartphone on your wrist was great in theory, but… not so much in use. I’m sure a small subset of people will find a reason to love it but everyone else should maybe steer clear. Nick Summers contributed to this post. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017. Source: Indiegogo

See the original article here:
Who needs a six-inch touchscreen Windows desktop?

FTC Takes D-Link To Court Citing Lax Product Security, Privacy Perils

Reader coondoggie writes: The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against network equipment vendor D-Link saying inadequate security in the company’s wireless routers and Internet cameras left consumers open to hackers and privacy violations. The FTC, in a complaint filed in the Northern District of California charged that “D-Link failed to take reasonable steps to secure its routers and Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, potentially compromising sensitive consumer information, including live video and audio feeds from D-Link IP cameras.” For its part, D-Link Systems said it “is aware of the complaint filed by the FTC.” According to the FTC’s complaint, D-Link promoted the security of its routers on the company’s website, which included materials headlined “Easy to secure” and “Advance network security.” But despite the claims made by D-Link, the FTC alleged, the company failed to take steps to address well-known and easily preventable security flaws such as “hard-coded” login credentials integrated into D-Link camera software — such as the username âoeguestâ and the password âoeguestâ — that could allow unauthorized access to the cameras’ live feed, etc. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original article here:
FTC Takes D-Link To Court Citing Lax Product Security, Privacy Perils

Allergy Experts Now Recommend Introducing Peanut Products to Babies

Parents have been told to avoid giving peanut-containing foods to babies for a long time, but recent research has started to suggest the opposite . Now, the National Institutes of Health recommend parents introduce peanuts to babies as young as four to six months. Read more…