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Google and Amazon were quick to put drones to use delivering orders.

But new research suggests delivery is just one small way drones are going to replace humans. The tiny airborne vessels will soon clean windows on skyscrapers, verify insurance claims and spray pesticide on crops.

The global market for drones, valued at around $2 billion today, will replace up to $127 billion worth of business services and human labour over the next four years, according to a new research by consulting firm PwC.

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These automaker knuckleheads were planning to try and hide self driving cars into the 2030’s:

Head of GM’s foresight and trends unit says timetable for autonomous vehicles likely moved from 2035 to 2020, if not sooner.

A General Motors Co. executive credited Silicon Valley companies, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google car division and Tesla Motors Inc., for accelerating the development of autonomous vehicle technology and shortening the timetable for when safer self-driving cars hit the road.

Richard Holman, a 30-year automotive veteran running GM’s foresight and trends unit, said Tuesday that three years ago most industry participants would have estimated 2035 as a reasonable timetable for self-driving cars. Speaking to a conference in suburban Detroit, Mr. Holman said now most people see that technology being deployed by 2020, if not sooner.

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Breakthrough Starshot aims to demonstrate proof of concept for ultra-fast light-driven nanocrafts, and lay the foundations for a first launch to Alpha Centauri within the next generation. Along the way, the project could generate important supplementary benefits to astronomy, including solar system exploration and detection of Earth-crossing asteroids.

Breakthrough Starshot is a $100 million research and engineering program aiming to demonstrate proof of concept for light-propelled nanocrafts. These could fly at 20 percent of light speed and capture images of possible planets and other scientific data in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, just over 20 years after their launch.

Nextbigfuture covered the project last month when it was announced. Here is more information from the Breakthrough Initiative website.

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Anyone who has ever gotten, or even thought about getting a tattoo had heard a snarky warning from others about how they’re forever. Well, maybe they aren’t. A company called Ephemeral has designed a two-part system for tattoos that last about a year. It’d probably be a smart move for people who have trouble with commitment.

Traditional tattoos are permanent because the ink particles embedded in the skin are too large for the immune system to clear. Existing methods of tattoo removal with lasers essentially break the particles down until they can be easily cleared. Of course, it really, really hurts. Ephemeral has engineered a two-part system consisting of dye molecules encapsulated in a protective structure and a removal solution.

The protective coating of the dye molecules is engineered to last about one year, at which time it starts breaking down. The tattoo will begin fading rapidly at that point, though it’s not clear how long it will take to fully disappear. The removal solution can be added to the skin at any time by a tattoo machine over top of the Ephemeral tattoo to instantly break down the coating and “erase” parts or all of a tattoo.

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An artificial intelligence platform that has previously predicted the winners of the Oscars and the Super Bowl has now won the “holy grail” of gambling: the Kentucky Derby Superfecta.

The human-based artificial intelligence—called UNU—predicted the first, second, third and fourth horses in the Derby at 540–1 odds, earning the technology’s inventor Louis Rosenberg $10,842 from a $20 dollar bet.

The technology wins holy grail of betting by predicting Kentucky Derby Superfecta.

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QC meets Blockchaining; nice.

CoinFac Limited, a technology company, has recently introduced the next generation quantum computing technology into cryptocurrency mining, allowing current Bitcoin and Altcoin miners to enjoy a 4,000 times speed increase.

Quantum computing is being perceived as the next generation of supercomputers capable of processing dense digital information and generating multi-sequential algorithmic solutions 100,000 times faster than conventional computers. With each quantum computing server costing at an exorbitant price tag of $5 Million — $10 Million, this revolutionary concoction comprising advanced technological servers with a new wave of currency systems, brings about the most uprising event in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

“We envisioned cryptocurrency to be the game changer in most developed country’s economy within the next 5 years. Reliance of quantum computing technology expedite the whole process, and we will be recognized as the industry leader in bringing about this tidal change. We aren’t the only institution fathom to leverage on this technology. Other Silicon big boys are already in advance talks of a possible tie up”, said Mike Howzer, CEO of CoinFac Limited. “Through the use of quantum computing, usual bitcoin mining processes are expedited by a blazing speed of 4,000 times. We bring lucrative mining back into Bitcoin industry, all over again”.

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