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Sep 14, 2015
Batband headphones provide ears-free listening
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: media & arts
Listening to music via headphones can isolate the listener from the rest of the world. The new Batband bone conduction headphones, however, allow users to to still hear what is going on around them. Audio is transmitted through the bones of the skull, while the ears remain uncovered.
Sep 14, 2015
World’s first all-electric propulsion satellite goes on line
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, space travel
Boeing has announced that the first satellite with all-electric propulsion is now fully operational. Launched last March, the ABS-3A 702SP (small platform) satellite was formally handed over to its owner, Bermuda-based telecommunications company ABS, on August 31. It will provide communications services to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
ABS-3A launched on March 1 atop a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX’s Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida along with EUTELSAT 115 West B. The geosynchronous comsat’s key technology is its Xenon Ion Propulsion System (XIPS). Previously, hybrid systems that use a mix of chemical and ion propellants have been sent into orbit, but this is the first time a satellite has been deployed with an all-electric drive.
Boeing says that the technology is based on 210,000 hours of ion propulsion flight experience and is 10 times more efficient than liquid-fueled rockets. Four 25-cm (9.8-in) thrusters using xenon as a propellant allow the 702SP satellite to maintain stationkeeping while using only 5 kg (11 lb) of fuel per year. This is a great saving because the satellite needs less fuel and smaller thrusters, which reduces launch costs.
Sep 14, 2015
Former Hyundai CEO Will Lead Google’s Self-Driving Car Initiative
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Sep 14, 2015
LG will reportedly unveil a 55-inch ‘rollable TV’ prototype in 2016
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: drones, electronics
Never mind the 111-inch double-sided TV that LG showed off at IFA earlier this month; that’s so 2015.
A rollable TV, though — now that’s something I could see fitting in nicely to my pimped-out IoT living room of 2016.
Maybe I’ll unroll this rollable TV in bed each morning, and have a drone fly over the coffee that my smart, connected coffee machine poured ahead of time — after it was pinged by my Apple Watch that I was about to wake up.
Sep 14, 2015
DARPA Taps Into the Brain To Give Patients Robo-Touch and Better Memory
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Sep 14, 2015
New York is getting wired with traffic signals that can talk to cars
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: internet, transportation
Behind self-driving, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication is one of the biggest sea changes in transportation technology on the horizon — it could have an enormous impact on driving safety, if it’s implemented quickly and correctly. The concept is pretty simple: cars, signs, and traffic signals all communicate to one another over Wi-Fi-like airwaves, so that drivers (and automatic safety systems built into cars) have more information about the traffic and environment around them. (I got a compelling demo of V2V tech put on by Ford at CES a couple years ago, and I can say that the promise is pretty huge.)
There’s no federal rule in place for requiring V2V yet, but the US Department of Transportation is hoping to get those rules in place by the end of this year — and in the meantime, it’s rolling out huge new pilot programs to put the technology to the test. In the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, traffic signals will be equipped with V2I hardware, while up to 10,000 city-owned vehicles will be outfitted with V2V. (It’s unclear whether drivers of these vehicles will have access to the data through instrumentation, or whether it’s just being collected as part of the DOT’s ongoing V2V research.)
Sep 14, 2015
Intelligent Machines: The jobs robots will steal first
Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in categories: economics, employment, robotics/AI
“Martin Ford — author of Rise of the Robots — thinks we face mass unemployment and economic collapse unless we make radical changes, such as offering humans a basic wage, a guaranteed income.”
We are on the cusp of a revolution in the way we work so move over and make room for the robots.
Sep 14, 2015
SteadXP The Future of Video Stabilization
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: media & arts
Sep 14, 2015
DARPA demonstrates robotic landing gear for helicopters
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: robotics/AI
Helicopters are versatile machines capable of all manner of maneuvers in the air, but when it comes to takeoffs and landings they are very fussy creatures, preferring flat, level pads, which are scarce in combat and rescue missions. DARPA recently demonstrated a new robotic landing gear system in an unmanned flight near Atlanta, Georgia, that’s designed to overcome these limitations by enabling landings on broken or uneven terrain with a high degree of safety.
