Business – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Nov 17
2015

Space Mining Bill Passes In Congress

According to international treaties, no country is allowed to own things like moons or asteroids. But what about a company?

A new bill would allow space mining companies to own pieces of space. Although they couldn’t own a whole asteroid, for example, the bill would ensure that space mining businesses would legally own the resources they extract from that asteroid.

Last week the bill passed in the Senate with a few amendments, and yesterday those amendments were accepted in the House of Representatives. Now the bill is off to the Oval Office, where space policy experts predict President Obama will sign it into law.

Nov 17
2015

Airbus Envisions Transparent Airplane Cabin Walls in Future

Transparent walls and customized cabins may be ahead, according to Airbus.

If you think in-flight Wi-Fi and lie-flat seats are cutting edge, just wait until 2050. That’s when aircraft cabins will feature holographic pop-up gaming displays and seats that adjust to each passenger’s size and shape, according to Airbus. In its vision for the future, Airbus predicts that the cabin walls of planes will be transparent, providing amazing views of the earth. Those with vertigo could block the view with an opaque hologram around their seat. Themed zones will replace first, business and economy classes, so individuals could choose areas in which to relax, play games, interact with other passengers or hold business meetings with people on the ground. This could even top the flying car.

Nov 16
2015

Lessons from the PC video game industry — By Chris Dixon | Medium

“The subtitle to this post is a variation of William Gibson’s famous remark: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” An obvious follow up question is: if the future is already here, where can I find it?”

Nov 12
2015

Businesses braced for bout of regulation on cyber security | Financial Times

“Companies around the world are bracing themselves for an avalanche of cyber security regulation, as governments scramble to introduce rules forcing corporate groups to build stronger defences against catastrophic hacks.”

Nov 9
2015

Inside Apple’s perfectionism machine — By Lance Ulanoff | Mashable

“For those struggling to understand what Apple is up to, it might be best to imagine the Apple logo as a giant, rose gold-colored apple sculpture that’s being polished beyond perfection, to some sort of ideal, a level of quality that is so undeniable that no competitor dares forget it.”

Nov 5
2015

Panera CEO Says Robots Will Replace Human Workers

Using a touch-screen ordering station instead of speaking to a human while ordering a Panini at Panera is in the imminent future, reports Business Insider.

According to Panera founder and CEO Ron Shaich, a robot revolution will take over companies as labor prices increase and what he calls “digital utilization” goes up, according to the report.

Nov 3
2015

Skype founders invent self-driving robot that can deliver groceries for £1

The local delivery market is worth approximately £150bn in the UK alone. This includes parcel and delivery companies (20 pc) and personal shopping trips by people (80 pc). Starship said that robot deliveries are potentially five to fifteen times cheaper than current “human-powered” delivery services.

“It does not take the whole delivery chain from an Amazon warehouse to your doorstep, it only takes the last few miles. But right now the last few miles are the most difficult part for the delivery vans. They need to find parking spaces and so forth, so our robot is taking care of that,” said Mr Heinla.

“For the large e-commerce companies it helps to reduce the costs. For the local businesses it opens up new possibilities, allowing people to order deliveries over the internet rather than coming to the store physically.”

Oct 29
2015

This Building Doesn’t Need A/C: The Building Itself Is An Air Conditioner — By Ben Schiller | Fast Company

“This ingenious cooling system circulates cooled air in an endless loop—all without any electricity.”

Oct 28
2015

Yamaha shows Motobot motorcycle-riding humanoid robot

The aim of the exercise is to develop rider-support systems similar to those we are seeing developed in automobiles to make driving safer. “We want to apply the fundamental technology and know-how gained in the process of this challenge to the creation of advanced rider safety and rider-support systems and put them to use in our current businesses, as well as using them to pioneer new lines of business,” says Yamaha’s release.

Oct 23
2015

Landmark Is Working On A Virtual Reality World’s Fair — By Stephanie Topacio Long | Digital Trends

“Technology is finally catching up with Landmark Entertainment Group’s big ideas. The global entertainment design firm announced Thursday that it is collaborating with Pavilion of Me to create a virtual reality experience called the Virtual World’s Fair that will launch in 2017.”