Lifeboat Foundation

Sony is hiding their home helper robot, which is concerning. I have seen pictures of Elon Musk’s home helper bot and it looked really bad. At least there seems to be a race to get these things to market now.

Sony’s much anticipated new robot is under development and customers should hang on a little longer to see it, CEO Kaz Hirai said on Thursday.

Sony began working on a home robot in April this year and first disclosed existence of the project in June this year. Since then, it’s been quiet on what exactly is under development.

Continue reading “Stay tuned for new robot, says Sony CEO” »

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Predicting an economic “singularity” approaching, Kevin Carson from the Center for a Stateless Society writes in The Homebrew Industrial Revolution (2010) we can look forward to a vibrant “alternative economy” driven less and less by corporate and state leviathans.

According to Carson, “the more technical advances lower the capital outlays and overhead for production in the informal economy, the more the economic calculus is shifted” (p. 357). While this sums up the message of the book and its relevance to advocates of open existing and emerging technologies, the analysis Carson offers to reach his conclusions is extensive and sophisticated.

With the technology of individual creativity expanding constantly, the analysis goes, “increasing competition, easy diffusion of new technology and technique, and increasing transparency of cost structure will – between them – arbitrage the rate of profit to virtually zero and squeeze artificial scarcity rents” (p. 346).

An unrivalled champion of arguments against “intellectual property”, the author believes IP to be nothing more than a last-ditch attempt by talentless corporations to continue making profit at the expensive of true creators and scientists (p. 114–129). The view has significant merit.

Continue reading “'Abolish artificial scarcity': @KevinCarson1” »

Professor YongKeun Park of the Physics Department at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and his research team have developed a powerful method for 3D imaging of live cells without staining.

The new microscopic tool is called the holotomography (HT)-1. It was announced to the global marketplace through a Korean start-up that Professor Park co-founded called TomoCube.

From the measurement of multiple 2D holograms of a cell, coupled with various angles of laser illuminations, the 3D refractive index (RI) distribution of the cell can be reconstructed. This 3D map provides structural and chemical information, such as dry mass and protein concentration.

http://www.nextflex.us

Meet Samsung’s latest smartwatch: The Gear S3. http://cnnmon.ie/2bVyrpo

The newest Uber driver in Pittsburgh isn’t a person — but a Volvo Cars XC90. http://cnnmon.ie/2cbIx3f

Singapore residents can now ride in a self-driving taxi. http://cnnmon.ie/2bS9lYj