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Dec 17, 2015
SpaceX is launching its most powerful rocket for the first time this weekend
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: Elon Musk, space travel
Dec 16, 2015
Google ‘disappointed’
Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Google says it’s disappointed by draft rules that would ban driverless cars from traveling on public roads in California without a licensed human driver.
Dec 16, 2015
Carlota Perez: In the midst of ICT revolution: next revolution 30 years out | vimeo.com
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: business, computing, economics, finance, governance, innovation, policy, robotics/AI, science, strategy
Economist Carlota Perez talk about the future of ICT.
Dec 16, 2015
Russia, China Building ‘Robot’ Army
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: business, ethics, military, robotics/AI, security
Despite more than a thousand artificial-intelligence researchers signing an open letter this summer in an effort to ban autonomous weapons, Business Insider reports that China and Russia are in the process of creating self-sufficient killer robots, and in turn is putting pressure on the Pentagon to keep up.
“We know that China is already investing heavily in robotics and autonomy and the Russian Chief of General Staff [Valery Vasilevich] Gerasimov recently said that the Russian military is preparing to fight on a roboticized battlefield,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said during a national security forum on Monday.
Work added, “[Gerasimov] said, and I quote, ‘In the near future, it is possible that a complete roboticized unit will be created capable of independently conducting military operations.’”
Dec 16, 2015
This Concept Car Has A Drone Landing Pad
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: futurism, transportation
Dec 16, 2015
Facebook teams up with Uber to make it easier to meet your friends in real life
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: transportation
Dec 16, 2015
Did we just discover a new subatomic particle? Scientists are being super cautious
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: particle physics
Dec 16, 2015
Akamai: Global average Internet speed grew 14% to 5.1 Mbps, only 5.2% of users have broadband
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: internet
Here are the top 10 countries with the fastest Internet.
Global average connection speeds rose 14 percent year over year to 5.1 Mbps in Q3 2015. Unfortunately, just over 5 percent of users now have broadband speeds of at least 25.0 Mbps. The latest figures come from Akamai, which today published its quarterly State of the Internet Report for Q3 2015.
The firm found 126 countries experienced an increase in average connection speeds year over year, ranging from 0.2 percent in Japan to a 147 percent rise in Congo (the only country to see average connection speeds more than double from the previous year). Nineteen countries saw their average connection speeds decrease year over year, with losses ranging from 0.6 percent (to 1.8 Mbps) in Namibia to 64 percent (to 1.3 Mbps) in Sudan.
Dec 16, 2015
Team adds to quantum computing toolkit with mixed-atom logic operations
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have added to their collection of ingredients for future quantum computers by performing logic operations—basic computing steps—with two atoms of different elements. This hybrid design could be an advantage in large computers and networks based on quantum physics.
The NIST experiment, described in the Dec. 17 issue of Nature, manipulated one magnesium and one beryllium ion (charged atom) confined in a custom trap (see photo). The scientists used two sets of laser beams to entangle the two ions—establishing a special quantum link between their properties—and to perform two types of logic operations, a controlled NOT (CNOT) gate and a SWAP gate. The same issue of Nature describes similar work with two forms of calcium ions performed at the University of Oxford.
“Hybrid quantum computers allow the unique advantages of different types of quantum systems to be exploited together in a single platform,” said lead author Ting Rei Tan. “Many research groups are pursuing this general approach. Each ion species is unique, and certain ones are better suited for certain tasks such as memory storage, while others are more suited to provide interconnects for data transfer between remote systems.”
