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Recovering mobility after a stroke or an accident can take a lot of hard work. Now a team in Manchester is using virtual reality to help patients get moving again.

Marge Brown cannot help the tears welling up in her eyes as she watches her husband stroll on a treadmill through a virtual wood he can see on the giant video screen in front of him.

Six years ago, Kenneth had a massive stroke which left his left side paralysed. Doctors told him he would never be able to walk again and advised he would be best cared for in a residential home.

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Hmmmm;


Liberty International Underwriters (LIU), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance, has launched a cyber extortion endorsement to its Product Recall and Contamination insurance policy for food and beverage companies.

This endorsement offers coverage to food and beverage policyholders for cyber extortion monies and consultant costs up to the policy sub-limit for acts against production and day-to-day operations.

“With operations being mostly automated now and an increasing reliance on technology, the food and beverage industry faces a very real risk of having its systems hijacked by cyber criminals and held for ransom,” said LIU Senior Vice President of Global Crisis Management, Jane McCarthy. “But what many companies don’t realize is that cyber extortion is not always covered under a typical cyber policy or by a general liability policy. We developed this to address the risks associated with new technology and –‘ransomware’–, malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.”

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Imagine robotics and other AI on QC; because it is coming and on a very large scale.


The computer chip has now reached middle age. Like most of us in middle age, it is not as sprightly as it once was, and is set to be superseded by younger forms of computing. Enter the quantum computer. It’s set to transform our lives, the way we work and play.

What exactly is quantum computing?

In a nutshell, conventional microprocessors are limited to binaries of ones and zeros, which limits their processing capability. But quantum computers hinge on the principles of quantum physics, which allows for something called ‘superimposition.’ This means an electron can exist as a zero and one at the same time, as opposed to either one or zero. This allows for levels of processing power that are millions of times greater than we currently have.

Beautiful future lays ahead in QC.


Quantum physics not only explains how matter behaves at the subatomic level, but is also used to create many devices in our everyday lives, from lasers and transistors to GPS and mobile phones. The next wave of innovation could lead to unbreakable encryption and computers that are up to one million times faster. On 6 April, Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) unit organised a workshop to discuss with experts the potential of these new quantum technologies.

Exploiting the quirks of the quantum world

Quantum theory looks at matter at the subatomic level — down to electrons. And that behaviour, compared to our everyday world, is very strange. For example, an electron can be in different places at the same time, a phenomenon known as superposition. Or it can interact with another particle at a large distance thanks to an effect called “entanglement”.

Facebook Live is looking to tap its billion-plus user advantage and built-in social and group features to gain an edge on rivals like Periscope. As such, it has revealed live streaming within groups and events, real-time reactions, invitations to watch video with friends and a live map showing video in 60 countries. Later today, the social network will launch the service in LA (on Facebook Live, of course) with appearances by Mark Zuckerberg and product chief Chris Cox. If you’ve been using Live, Facebook will give you a heads-up as to when to tune in to the broadcasts.

The biggest and most logical feature is the ability to broadcast live within groups and events. If you’re putting on a concert, race or charitable event, for example, it makes infinite sense to be able to stream key moments to a ready-made captive audience. The feature will let friends and family who are subscribed but can’t make it in person can still experience the fun at a distance. Creators also get five new Instagram-like filters, and Facebook will soon let you doodle directly onto live video.

Facebook Live Reactions Demo Video

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Three years have passed since the publication of the volume of essays “The Singularity Hypotheses” — a publication that was marked at the time by a London Futurists discussion event. During these three years, public awareness of the concepts of an intelligence explosion has grown sharply — fuelled, in part, by statements from luminaries such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk.

In this event, Amnon Eden, lead editor of Singularity Hypotheses, returns to London Futurists to provide an update on the controversies about the Singularity. Topics to be covered will include:

• Luddites, Philistines, and Starry-Eyed: The War over Killer Robots.
• AI (Artificial Intelligence) vs. IA (Intelligence Augmentation)
• “Technological Singularity”: A Definition, Sufficient and Necessary Conditions.
• Perennial Fallacies, Debunked and Re-debunked.
• Learning from the media storm.

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