Tag: potential

AAA is testing self-driving cars to see how safe they are

Fully autonomous cars won’t be allowed on the streets until they’re safe , but how will we know when that happens? The American Automobile Association (AAA) is trying to figure that out by testing self-driving cars powered by Torc Robotics “Asimov” system. The aim is to gather information and develop safety criteria that could be used by any company developing self-driving tech. “By creating a blueprint for automakers to follow, we hope to build public trust in technology, ” said AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah CEO Tim Condon. A recent AAA survey found that 75 percent of Americans are skeptical of self-driving cars, and as a driver-focused, independent organization, the AAA feels its well-placed to help build up that trust. Torc Robotics, meanwhile, is one of the early pioneers of self-driving, having placed third in DARPA’s 2007 Urban Challenge — back when self-driving cars were a bit more bulky . The Asimov system has been cross-country tested in more than 20 states, it notes. The non-profit AAA has historically weighed in on motorist rights and safety issues, supporting increased infrastructure spending, lower speed limits and gas tax increases. It’s aware that its business model is changing rapidly, however, with the arrival of EVs, self-driving cars and other tech. Autonomous cars, it believes, “have the potential to dramatically reduce traffic fatalities on our roadways.” The AAA even launched its own one-way car-sharing service in the Bay Area recently. “We’re acknowledging that transportation habits are changing, ” Condon said. “AAA is over a hundred years old, and we remain committed to continuously innovating in the area of traffic safety.”

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AAA is testing self-driving cars to see how safe they are

HP Envy x2 hands-on: A Snapdragon-powered, always-on PC

For its first “Always Connected” PC, HP made a pragmatic choice: It stuffed a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor into its latest Surface clone, the Envy x2 . The result is compelling: A thin and light laptop with 20 hours of battery life, and built-in LTE connectivity. It’s precisely the sort of machine that Microsoft envisioned when it revealed its vision of always connected devices at Computex . At first glance, the Envy X2 doesn’t seem that different than a typical hybrid PC. It’s slightly thinner than an iPad Pro, at 6.9 millimeters thick, and it weighs just 1.54 pounds. Thanks to its aluminum case, it feels like a premium device. The bundled keyboard case, which wraps around the entire tablet, also houses its kickstand. You won’t notice anything out of the ordinary until you take a look at the “System” menu to see that it’s powered by a Snapdragon process. Which, of course, is exactly what HP wants. Based on my short time with the x2, it felt a lot like HP’s recent Spectre x2 hybrid. The keyboard was comfortable to use and sturdy enough to handle my heavy typing style. Every key also had a satisfying amount of travel, something we don’t see too often on hybrid machines (aside from the Surface devices). Its case is a bit awkward though — while it offers a decent amount of protection, a built-in kickstand would be more convenient for using the x2 for things like viewing video in bed. Since it runs Windows 10 S out of the box, it can only run apps from the Windows Store. But, just like the Surface Laptop, you can also upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free down the line. Performance-wise, the x2 kept up with me as I opened several Office apps, Paint 3D, and Edge windows and tabs. There weren’t any games to play, and I didn’t have a chance to test out extreme multi-tasking scenarios, unfortunately. But, for the most part, it seems like the x2 can handle basic productivity tasks, despite its mobile CPU. Another potential limiting factor is its 4GB of RAM, something that could easily get filled up if you’re addicted to opening dozens of browser tabs at once. Developing…

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HP Envy x2 hands-on: A Snapdragon-powered, always-on PC

Origami-like soft robot can lift 1000 times its weight

Soft robotics allow machines to move in ways which mimic living organisms, but increased flexibility usually means reduced strength , which limits its use. Now, scientists at MIT CSAIL & Harvard have developed origami-like artificial muscles that add much-needed strength to soft robots, allowing them to lift objects as much as 1, 000 times their own weight using only water or air pressure. One 2.6 gram muscle is able to lift a 3 kilogram object, which is the same as a duck lifting a car. The artificial muscles are made up of a plastic inner skeleton surrounded by air or water inside a sealed bag — the “skin”. Applying a vacuum to the inside of the bag initiates the muscle’s movement, creating tension that drives the motion. No power source or human input is needed to direct the muscle, as it’s guided purely by the composition of the skeleton . In experiments, the researchers created muscles that can lift a flower off the ground, twist into a coil and contract down to 10 percent of their original size. They even made a muscle out of a water-soluble polymer, which means the technology could be used in natural setting with minimal environmental impact . Other potential applications include deep sea research, minimally invasive surgery and transformable architecture. The muscles are scalable — the team built them at sizes ranging from a few millimeters up to a meter — and cheap to produce. A single muscle can be made in under ten minutes for less than a dollar. Even the research team itself was surprised by how effective the technology is. “We were very surprised by how strong the muscles were. We expected they’d have a higher maximum functional weight than ordinary soft robots, but we didn’t expect a thousand-fold increase, ” said CSAIL director Daniela Rus. “It’s like giving these robots superpowers .”

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Origami-like soft robot can lift 1000 times its weight

DNA ‘computers’ could lead to self-activated smart pills

Imagine a pill that knew if you were ill enough to need drugs, and wouldn’t release chemicals if it thought you didn’t need it. That’s the breakthrough that’s been made at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands by a team of researchers ld by Maarten Merkx. The team has harnessed the power of DNA itself to form an organic computer that performs crude calculations on the state of your health. When you get ill, or suffer from a chronic condition, doctors normally prescribe drugs to help you get better, but this is based on a set of generic guidelines. The idea is that a smart pill will be able to offer specific doses, tailored to your needs, reducing the risk of side effects and waste. The computation comes in the form of the DNA, which looks for molecules that it can react with as a form of data-gathering. Put simply, the pill will journey inside your body and sniff the local environment to decide if you need more medicine. Of course, like so many things at the bleeding edge of technology, it’s still early days for this form of treatment, but the potential is exciting. Source: TUE , Nature

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DNA ‘computers’ could lead to self-activated smart pills

‘Super Mario Run’ is now available

Finally, there’s a Mario game on smartphones. As promised , Nintendo has released Super Mario Run today, giving iPhone and iPad users a new way to run, leap and spin through the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s an auto-runner, meaning the portly plumber will jog, hop and vault over obstacles automatically. You tap the screen to jump, leaping across gaps and goombas to collect colorful coins. It sounds simple, but there’s a surprising amount of complexity to the platforming. Like Rayman Jungle Run , timing is essential to unlock contextual moves, such as rolls and wall jumps. The game has a one-time fee of $9.99. Nintendo is keen to avoid the free-to-play mechanics that plague so many smartphone games, focusing instead on quality and traditional replayability. The levels are challenging enough, tasking players to collect coins of increasing difficulty. With plenty of stages and worlds to explore, they should keep you preoccupied for hours. There’s also Kingdom Builder, a basic village design mini-game, and Toad Rally, an aysnchronous multiplayer mode that emphasises style over brute-force level completion. The three modes feed into one another too, unlocking one-time “rally tickets, ” enemy score multipliers and more. It’s not all rosy, however. Nintendo has been criticised for demanding an always active internet connection . (The company says it’s to stop piracy.) If you’re the type of person that likes to game on their morning commute, or has to ration a modest data cap each month, this could be a deal-breaker. Regardless, it’s a landmark moment for the company and it’s beloved mustachioed mascot. Miitomo was an interesting experiment, sure, but it pales in comparison to the potential of Super Mario Run . This is a true platformer, albeit one with limited controls, that could make a ton of money and improve Nintendo’s standing in the public conscience. Source: Super Mario Run (iOS)

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‘Super Mario Run’ is now available

Dolphin emulator now supports every GameCube game

The open-source Dolphin emulator has been able to run nearly every GameCube title since 2009 , but one title has stumped it — Star Wars: The Clone Wars . It turns out that the 14-year-old game used some pretty clever, tricky-to-implement memory tricks. However, the team says it finally cracked the game with a more accurate memory emulator, which had the added benefit of other GameCube titles more stable. More than any other GameCube title, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes advantage of the GameCube’s mappable memory to set up its own custom RAM structure. Unfortunately, it can change those on the fly in mid-game, crashing the emulator. To fix the problem, the Dolphin team had to rewrite a large chunk of the code that deals with so-called “block address translations (BATs).” The result is an emulator that can run every single official GameCube title with fewer crashes, but is a tad slower (8-15 percent) with those that use a different type of memory addressing. So, even though you can run the Dolphin software on a Mac, PC, Linux or Android machine, the team recommends as fast a computer as possible for certain titles. The Dolphin emulator was created as a software research experiment to do retro gaming, but because it runs Wii games (which Nintendo still sells) , it has been exploited for piracy. You can still legally run GameCube titles on a Wii console, but the last one, Madden NFL 08 , was released in 2007. Since they’re now moving into a preservation phase, the updated emulator is good news for gaming history geeks, despite the potential for misuse. Source: Dolphin

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Dolphin emulator now supports every GameCube game

Verizon’s ‘LTE Advanced’ network promises 50 percent higher speed

Every wireless carrier has various tests that say its network is the best, but most still view Verizon as the best overall choice when looking for that all-important combo of speed and reliability. (That combo doesn’t come cheap , of course.) Today, the company is announcing a new focus on speed: with the rollout of “LTE Advanced, ” Verizon claims that users will see “50 percent higher peak speeds.” The new speed bump is available to users in 461 cities across the country. Of course, it’s going to take significant testing to verify the veracity of Verizon’s claims. Verizon says that LTE Advanced works by combining the multiple bandwidth channels your phone can use into what’s effectively one bigger, faster pipe to your phone. “Typical” download speed will stay around 5 to 12 Mbps, but combining two channels can net peak speeds up to 225 Mbps — that’s a lot faster than most home broadband, let alone what you’ll usually see on your smartphone. The carrier also says that it can combine three channels for speeds close to 300 Mbps. Verizon’s estimates for “typical” speeds seem low to us, but there’s no question that two- or three-channel speeds are significantly faster than what the carrier currently offers. Even if Verizon only reaches half of what it promises for peak speeds, it’s a pretty significant boost over the status quo. It’s not at all clear what circumstances will let your phone take advantage of these higher speeds, however. Verizon vaguely says that it’ll kick in “when you need it most, ” typically under conditions with “big data use.” Still, the potential for faster download speeds can’t hurt. To take advantage of LTE Advanced, you’ll need a relatively recent smartphone — Verizon says Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S7 are compatible with the service, as well as various Moto Droids and iPhone models. There’s a link in Verizon’s press release that claims to show all LTE Advanced phones, but the bizarre selection of devices there does not cover any recent devices, so we’re assuming that’s a mistake. The full list of LTE Advanced cities can be found here . Source: Verizon

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Verizon’s ‘LTE Advanced’ network promises 50 percent higher speed

Tesla and Solar City agree to a $2.6 billion merger

Tesla has confirmed that it will buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion, a deal that unites two Elon Musk firms as one giant green company. The merged business will sell solar panels, Powerwall batteries to store the energy and electric cars that run on it. It’s the “end-to-end clean energy” solution promised by Elon Musk in his ” Master Plan Part Deux ” just two weeks ago. SolarCity also revealed that it will introduce an “integrated solar and storage offering, ” and a solar product “focused on the 5 million new roofs installed each year in the US.” Musk previously said that any merger would not impact Tesla’s plans for the upcoming Model 3 EV and Gigafactory, which just officially opened . While the companies will soon be united, Tesla and SolarCity have worked closely together over the years , and the latter was founded by Musk’s cousins, CEO Lyndon Rive and director Peter Rive. Musk is, of course, the chairman and largest shareholder of both firms. SolarCity is set to release its earnings next week and said that it installed more photovoltaic panels than forecast last quarter (201 megawatts compared to 185 megawatts). However, it added that residential installations were down slightly. The acquisition is not yet final, as it includes a “go-shop” provision that will allow other potential buyers to submit offers for SolarCity until September 14th, 2016. Source: Securities and Exchange Commission , SolarCity

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Tesla and Solar City agree to a $2.6 billion merger