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UK to let driverless cars loose on roads by January

Anxious to start… not driving in the UK? Though late to the party, the government is has announced that driverless cars will hit the streets in three UK cities starting in January 2015. To kickstart research, the Department of Transport also launched a £10 million ($17 million) fund. All of that follows an announcement that the government was re-coding road laws to accommodate such vehicles. US states followed a similar trajectory back in 2011 by first passing new road laws, then approving self-driving vehicles for road use, accompanied by a human driver. There are now quite a few players in the self-driving game, which only kicked off in earnest once Google jumped in . Since then, new projects have launched from Volvo , Audi and Google again . A UK company called MIRA specializing in such vehicles told Sky News that though it had driverless tech, “we lag behind actually getting (it) into some real field trials.” [Image credit: AP/Michael Sohn] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: BBC Source: Telegraph

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UK to let driverless cars loose on roads by January

Amazon runs the numbers to convince you that e-books should be cheaper

After unsuccessfully trying to charm authors , Amazon is now appealing to its customers during the ongoing war with Hachette. The retailer has revealed the reasons behind the spat, i.e. cheaper e-book prices , and the noble intentions behind it. Using its vast archive of data, the company believes that titles that, surprise, surprise, are priced at $15 won’t sell as well as those that are priced at $10. As obvious as it sounds, the company’s data says that for every 100, 000 copies of the book that are bought for the higher price, 74, 000 more copies would be bought at the lower figure, making a total profit of $1, 738, 000. Given that e-books incur no printing, warehousing or transportation costs, Amazon feels that it’s a fair trade off. The company is also opening up about its proposed revenue split with publishers, saying that both Hachette and the author would receive 35 percent of the profits, or around $60, 000 in the example above, with Amazon taking the remaining 30 percent ($52, 000 as commission. The Kindle team, however, doesn’t believe that the publishers are playing fair with their talent, keeping a bigger portion of that pot for themselves. Another way that Amazon would like to drive a wedge between publishers and authors is by pointing out that the cheaper books have a much better chance of appearing on the bestseller lists — so authors should be insisting their books are sold for $10. Of course, Amazon didn’t say how many titles in its e-book library regularly make 100, 000 in sales, so perhaps this is all a bit of very wishful thinking. Filed under: Amazon Comments Via: Werner Vogels Source: Amazon

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Amazon runs the numbers to convince you that e-books should be cheaper

Ford, GM Sued Over Vehicles’ Ability To Rip CD Music To Hard Drive

Lucas123 writes: The Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies is suing Ford and General Motors for millions of dollars over alleged copyrights infringement violations because their vehicles’ CD players can rip music to infotainment center hard drives. The AARC claims in its filing (PDF) that the CD player’s ability to copy music violates the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992. The Act protects against distributing digital audio recording devices whose primary purpose is to rip copyrighted material. For example, Ford’s owner’s manual explains, “Your mobile media navigation system has a Jukebox which allows you to save desired tracks or CDs to the hard drive for later access. The hard drive can store up to 10GB (164 hours; approximately 2, 472 tracks) of music.” The AARC wants $2, 500 for each digital audio recording device installed in a vehicle, the amount it says should have been paid in royalties. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ford, GM Sued Over Vehicles’ Ability To Rip CD Music To Hard Drive

FreedomPop’s free data and voice are now available on tablets

Many people can’t really justify buying a cellular-equipped tablet — why pay for more data when your phone probably does the trick? FreedomPop is undoubtedly aware of that thriftiness, as it just started offering its namesake free service on tablets. Whether you buy one of the carrier’s pre-supplied tablets or bring your own, you’ll get the same gratis 500MB of LTE data, 500 messages and 200 voice minutes as a phone customer . That may not make sense at first, but FreedomPop reckons that it’s important for apps that ask for a phone number. It’s much easier to hail an Uber car when you can supply some digits, for example. It could also serve as a backup if your phone’s battery dies, or if you’re nearing your limits on a capped phone plan. The catch, besides the relatively low 500MB data ceiling, is the device selection. FreedomPop is selling only the aging Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 ($199) and original iPad mini ($319), and any tablet of your own will have to play nicely with the Sprint network that FreedomPop uses for LTE. You’re getting more free data than T-Mobile offers , though, and the phone functionality should be icing on the cake. Filed under: Tablets , Wireless , Mobile , Sprint Comments Source: FreedomPop

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FreedomPop’s free data and voice are now available on tablets

Podcasting patent troll: We tried to drop lawsuit against Adam Carolla

wasim muklashy Personal Audio LLC is an East Texas shell company that gleaned national attention when it claimed it had the right to demand cash from every podcaster. The company was wielding a patent on “episodic content,” which it said included anyone doing a podcast, as well as many types of online video. Now the company is trying to walk away from its highest-profile lawsuit against comedian Adam Carolla—but Carolla won’t let the case drop. In a statement  released today, Personal Audio says that Carolla, who has raised more than $450,000 from fans to fight the case, is wasting their money on an unnecessary lawsuit. The company, which is a “patent troll” with no business other than lawsuits, has said Carolla just doesn’t care since his fans are paying his lawyers’ bills. Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Podcasting patent troll: We tried to drop lawsuit against Adam Carolla

Physicist concocts ice cream that changes color when you lick it

What happens when a physicist decides to become a chef? If they’re anything like Manuel Linares, then you can expect a fusion of food and science to come out of their kitchen. For instance, one of the Spaniard’s masterpieces is an ice cream that changes colors when you lick it. He calls it the Xamaleón, a play on the Spanish word for chameleon, and it originally starts as a periwinkle blue frozen treat until it’s spritzed with Linares’ “love elixir, ” a super secret mixture he concocted himself. This mixture reacts to changes in temperature and saliva, causing the tutti-frutti-flavored ice cream to turn into purple, then into pink as you lick. As unusual as it sounds, this is just the beginning of Linares’ foray into the color-changing ice cream business: he also plans to whip up ice cream that turns from white to pink, and another one that glows under ultraviolet light. You can only get a scoop of this chameleon ice cream from one the creator’s shops in Spain right now, but he’s looking to export it to other countries, according to The Mirror . Until that happens, you can check out this video that shows how the yummy dessert transitions from purple to pink. [Image credit: Manual Linares/IceXperience / Cocinatis ] Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Geek Source: Cocinatis , Diari de Girona

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Physicist concocts ice cream that changes color when you lick it

35% of American Adults Have Debt ‘In Collections’

New submitter meeotch writes: According to a new study by the Urban Institute, 35% of U.S. adults with a credit history (91% of the adult population of the U.S.) have debt “in collections” — a status generally not acquired until payments are at least 180 days past due. Debt problems seem to be worse in the South, with states hovering in the 40%+ range, while the Northeast has it better, at less than 30%. The study’s authors claim their findings actually underrepresent low-income consumers, because “adults without a credit file are more likely to be financially disadvantaged.” Oddly, only 5% of adults have debt 30-180 days past due. This latter fact is partially accounted for by the fact that a broader range of debt can enter “in collections” status than “past due” status (e.g. parking tickets)… But also perhaps demonstrates that as one falls far enough along the debt spiral, escape becomes impossible. Particularly in the case of high-interest debt such as credit cards — the issuers of which cluster in states such as South Dakota, following a 1978 Supreme Court ruling that found that states’ usury laws did not apply to banks headquartered in other states. Even taking into account the folks who lost a parking ticket under their passenger seat, 35% is a pretty shocking number. Anyone have other theories why this number is so much higher than the 5% of people who are just “late”? How about some napkin math on the debt spiral? Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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35% of American Adults Have Debt ‘In Collections’

Onboard Storage Design: Why Vikings Never Fought For Overhead Bin Space

Vikings loved to brawl, with both their enemies and with each other. Viking sagas are filled with tales of even longstanding friends happy to settle disagreements with steel. But as they piled onto their longships to go pillaging, their boarding process was a good deal more civilized than the melee that is modern air travel. For one thing, their storage was one-to-one; when 30 Vikings got onto a ship, there were 30 places to store things. That’s because they carried their seating on board with them, and their seating doubled as their storage. Prior to boarding, the decks of a ship were bare. Each Viking plunked his chest down at his own rowing position. Enough Viking chests have been found, and replicas made, that we can take a look at their design. It’s both intelligent and purposeful. The first thing you notice is that the tops were rounded to shed water, and perhaps to provide a modicum of comfort. (more…)

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Onboard Storage Design: Why Vikings Never Fought For Overhead Bin Space

The Moon Might Be Littered With Fossils From Ancient Earth

Earth is an unforgiving place. Volcanoes erupt, rivers erode, continents break up—it’s a small miracle every time a millions-of-years-old creature is found fossilized in rock. By comparison, the moon is dead and lifeless; astronaut footprints will be preserved forever in moon dust. So it’s the moon that could hold the secrets to life on ancient Earth. Read more…

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The Moon Might Be Littered With Fossils From Ancient Earth