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May 14, 2017

A New “Tube Transport” System Could Get You From New York to Beijing in 2 Hours

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Instead of just being regional, why not go international? That’s the idea behind ET3’s tube transportation concept, which it calls the “mag-lev limo.” It would be capable of traveling from New York to Beijing in 2 hours.

Transportation of the future is being developed today: autonomous electric vehicles, flying cars, and the futuristic pods that make up the Hyperloop are just a few notable examples. There’s another idea vying to be the next generation of public transportation, and while it might look something like the Hyperloop, this tube transport company’s CEO Daryl Oster explains why it’s different:

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May 14, 2017

A Smart Electric Car Could Be Yours in 2020

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

EVE and NOMI will change the way you drive.

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May 14, 2017

Telescope Upgrades Will Allow Scientists to See 13 Billion Years Into the Universe’s Past

Posted by in category: space

A new update to the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array radio telescope will let scientists see the universe as it was 13 billion years ago.

While we are used to much of our tech getting smaller, telescopes seem to be embracing the philosophy of bigger is better. The HERA (Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array) radio telescope is among those massive arrays peeking not only to far distances, but also through billions of years.

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May 14, 2017

Android Pay adds support for 71 more banks and merchants

Posted by in categories: finance, mobile phones

Android Pay keeps growing its network of supported institutions. The mobile payment system added as many as 71 new places where you can carry out Android Pay transactions. The complete list of new additions is available at the end of the article.

With Android Pay, both your credit card and the institution that services it must be compatible in order for the system to function. Google keeps adding new banks and merchants in order to increase its range of support. Once set up, the system works by simply tapping your phone on a payments terminal at the store. The functionality is also available in Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches.

Recently, Android Pay was updated with PayPal integration, enabling users to pay quickly using their PP balance. The service is available in 13 countries across the world.

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May 14, 2017

Brain zaps let minimally conscious people communicate for a week

Posted by in categories: innovation, neuroscience

By Helen Thomson

People in a minimally conscious state have been “woken” for a whole week after a brief period of brain stimulation. The breakthrough suggests we may be on the verge of creating a device that can be used at home to help people with disorders of consciousness communicate with friends and family.

People with severe brain trauma can fall into a coma. If they begin to show signs of arousal but not awareness, they are said to be in a vegetative state. If they then show fluctuating signs of awareness but cannot communicate, they are described as being minimally consciousness.

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May 14, 2017

5 Books That Will Make You More Well-Rounded

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” ―Margaret Fuller

Want to know one of the “secrets” to becoming a better leader? Become a more voracious reader.

One of the best ways to “stand on the shoulders of giants” is to read. We hear it all the time—that the most successful people, our greatest leaders, are people who read constantly (including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett).

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May 14, 2017

Is College Education Dead?

Posted by in category: education

The world isn’t changing — it has already changed. Just a few decades ago, the path to the “good life” seemed so obvious. Go to school. Graduate college. Pay your dues. Build your career.

Just play by the rules and you’d be guaranteed a spot at the table.

That’s what we were promised by our parents, our grandparents, our teachers and professors, our politicians and our society as a whole.

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May 14, 2017

My favorite college professor was YouTube

Posted by in category: futurism

It was an invaluable tool to enhance my learning process.

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May 14, 2017

This guy designed a hologram virtual assistant that actually works — just watch

Posted by in categories: business, holograms, robotics/AI

Many of us have already come to know the disembodied voices of personal assistants like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa, but now a software engineer has finally put a face to a name.

Jarem Archer, who works as a consultant through his business, unt1tled, created a hologram device to match Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistant from Windows 10. She’s just like Cortana the Halo character, which Microsoft based its own on — she’s a slightly translucent, blue-light babe with a hip-waist-bust ratio that exposes her origins in the world of gaming. But Archer’s Cortana is 3D and paces around inside a pyramid prism that rests on a table. In his demo video, he asks Cortana if he’ll need an umbrella, and she then pulls up a graphic with the temperature and assures him that it’s “probably not necessary.”

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May 14, 2017

How to create the ‘perfect’ AI-driven bot

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Imagine the perfect personal assistant.

This partner would understand your needs — often before you’ve even expressed them — and know exactly how to deliver what you’re asking for. They would make helpful suggestions without becoming intrusive, and keep you from missing appointments and opportunities. Most importantly, this personal assistant would be someone you can trust implicitly.

Now, how do you embody those traits in an artificial intelligence-powered service? Our experience creating our travel assistant app, Mezi, illustrates key principles of AI regarding the ongoing role of human involvement and how to draw the dividing line between valued assistance and unwelcome intrusion. Here’s what we’ve learned recently.

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