Autonomous vehicle safety has been grabbing some headlines recently, with Nvidia trumpeting its Safety Force Field (SFF) safety platform, and then being called out by Intel’s MobileEye unit for ripping the idea off by copying elements of its Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) system. The longer version of the story is that both of those frameworks, and others developed by researchers around the world, depend on vehicle control systems that can dependably execute driving maneuvers as needed. However, most autonomous vehicle testing gets done on and assumes good weather and road conditions. To operate at the limits of performance under harsh conditions like wet or icy roads means that a great deal of additional sensor information needs to be incorporated into the AI systems in autonomous vehicles.
Robots have been able to pick up and move objects for decades, but only if they were programmed with exact instructions to complete the task. Neural networks have opened up new frontiers in robotics research, giving machines the ability to cope with oddly sized objects and unexpected conditions. Google sold off some of its robotics projects a few years back, but the company refocused on machine learning. Google AI researchers have built a simple robot arm that , which is more impressive than you might assume. We all know how to toss something into a bin — it’s a skill you pick up as a child.
The Sun is a relatively quiet G-type star (G2V), but the key word is “relatively.” While it avoids the massive storms known to affect so-called flare stars, it occasionally releases both solar flares and coronal mass ejections. On March 20, NASA detected such a flare with an associated CME. The coronal mass ejection will hit Earth on March 23 and may push the northern lights far south, lighting up skies in the northern United States and southern Canada. Flares and CMEs are related but distinct events. Both occur near sunspot groups and are related to sudden shifts in the Sun’s magnetic field.
When AT&T rebranded its LTE service as “5G E” in certain markets in an attempt to mislead consumers, companies like Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint cried foul, as did users. There’s been little interest in repeating the confusion of the early 4G transition when that moniker was hijacked and used to refer to HSPA+, a technology that offered a modest improvement on 3G performance but nothing like the eventual capabilities of what we now call LTE. AT&T, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to gain market share by lying about its network and publicly doubled down on the strategy, praising itself for breaking “our industry’s narrative.
Ads are a necessary component of modern technology, but they come with drawbacks even when they aren’t being used to scam people. Some ads in Android apps have been scamming people, though. An investigation by ad analysis firm Protected Media, and Buzzfeed News has found that a popular ad network was exploited by fraudsters to push hidden video ads in apps, which . Protected Media detected the fraudulent ads on Android phones, but the scheme doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Android itself. The affected apps aren’t even to blame. Developers often use banner ads to monetize free apps, and that’s how the scammers get into your phone.
Want to travel the world, and speak at least a bit of each local language? Right now, you can tackle eight languages with this week’s Humble Bundle. • Spend a buck, and you’ll get pocket city guides for Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and Beijing. And with three months of Spanish, French, and German instruction, you can start learning right away. Spend at least $1Spanish Language Learning Subscription – 3 monthsFrench Language Learning Subscription – 3 monthsGerman Language Learning Subscription – 3 monthsPocket BarcelonaPocket ParisPocket RomePocket TokyoPocket BeijingGo beyond the average price, and you’ll get handy guides for visiting Spain, France, Italy, Japan, and China.
Technology has made it easier than ever to create content, be it photos, video, or an angsty Tumblr blog. You might have a device in your pocket right now that can record 4K video at dozens of megabits per second. In 2018, humanity created 33 zettabytes (that’s 33 billion petabytes), and that number will rise to about 175 zettabytes by 2025. Some computer scientists are worried that our ability to create data will eventually outstrip our ability to store it, so Microsoft is looking at ways to store that data in DNA. The company has created the world’s first , as PCMag reports.
Google rolled out the last year, letting players experience the new Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in a browser. We all suspected this was just the start of a major game streaming initiative for Google, and now we know for certain. At GDC 2019, Google has unveiled Stadia, its new cloud-based gaming platform. It lets you play AAA games on any device with Chrome including laptops, phones, tablets, and TVs. Gaming Anywhere Stadia is all about making games more accessible. Playing a high-end game right now involves buying expensive dedicated hardware and waiting through lengthy downloads. Some people simply won’t put that much time and effort into getting set up to play the game.
It hasn’t been easy to find a decent VR headset with better specs than the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive and a reasonable price. While the HTC Vive Pro offered higher visual fidelity, it’s also been quite expensive. Initially, just the headset cost $800, and that’s still the price tag for the complete bundle with controllers and other necessary equipment. HP’s latest headset is intended for the commercial market, but it could find a place in the consumer space as well. The Reverb Virtual Reality Headset Professional Edition is intended to focus on the spaces where VR technology has been most-successful to-date: commercial markets.
