Lifeboat Foundation

FUTURISM UPDATE (November 22, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon

BBC NEWS: Robots face new test of creative abilities. A US professor is proposing a new way to test whether artificial intelligence (AI) is on a par with that of humans. http://lnkd.in/eq8HWGx

FINANCIAL TIMES: Google break-up plan emerges from Brussels. The European parliament is poised to call for a break-up of Google, in one of the most brazen assaults so far on the technology group’s power. http://lnkd.in/eBaysU3

THE ECONOMIST: Is Germany’s economy getting too weak to pull Europe out of its crisis? http://lnkd.in/e6vF9kU

Continue reading “FUTURISM UPDATE (November 22, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon” »

Dezeen Magazine

News: building work has begun in Beijing on the National Art Museum of China by French architect Jean Nouvel, who beat Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid in a competition for the project in 2013.

The design for the National Museum of China (NAMOC) by Jean Nouvel features an intricately patterned perforated facade, which wraps around part of the building.

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FUTURISM UPDATE (November 21, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon

CleanTechnica: Biomimicry Run Amok: New Micro Air Vehicles Can Swarm Like Bees http://lnkd.in/dMpRCPB

FINANCIAL TIMES: Space junk or Russian satellite killer? It is a tale that could have come from the cold war. A mysterious object launched by the Russian military is being tracked by western space agencies, stoking fears over the revival of a defunct Kremlin project to destroy satellites. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cdd0bdb6-6c27-11e4-990…z3JdykV8Dw

TECH CRUNCH: Eric Schmidt’s Farm2050 Collective Will Back Agriculture Tech To Feed Earth’s Growing Population http://lnkd.in/eBAaTfe

Continue reading “FUTURISM UPDATE (November 21, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon” »

Quoted: “Bitcoin technology offers a fundamentally different approach to vote collection with its decentralized and automated secure protocol. It solves the problems of both paper ballot and electronic voting machines, enabling a cost effective, efficient, open system that is easily audited by both individual voters and the entire community. Bitcoin technology can enable a system where every voter can verify that their vote was counted, see votes for different candidates/issues cast in real time, and be sure that there is no fraud or manipulation by election workers.”

Read the article here » http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239809?hootPostID=ba473f…aacc8412c7

“It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice, really; it’s an imperative.” — Michael Collins, former astronaut

By Paul Rubens — BBC

Passwords are a pain. We choose simple words that are easy to remember, but equally easy for hackers to guess.

Yet we still forget them. And they also get stolen with alarming frequency.

Continue reading “Has the flawed password system finally had its day?” »

Quoted: “The Factom team suggested that its proposal could be leveraged to execute some of the crypto 2.0 functionalities that are beginning to take shape on the market today. These include creating trustless audit chains, property title chains, record keeping for sensitive personal, medical and corporate materials, and public accountability mechanisms.

During the AMA, the Factom president was asked how the technology could be leveraged to shape the average person’s daily life.”

Kirby responded:

“Factom creates permanent records that can’t be changed later. In a Factom world, there’s no more robo-signing scandals. In a Factom world, there are no more missing voting records. In a Factom world, you know where every dollar of government money was spent. Basically, the whole world is made up of record keeping and, as a consumer, you’re at the mercy of the fragmented systems that run these records.”

Continue reading “BitCoin, Cryptocurrency, and Blockchain Technology — FACTOM” »

FUTURISM UPDATE (November 20, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: The Cognitive Usefulness of the Internet of Things http://lnkd.in/dqVF9PX

ZDNet: Internet of things: Poised to be a security headache? Nearly 95 percent of enterprises are at least concerned about the security of the Internet of things. Here’s a look at a potential security model. http://lnkd.in/dBvktGj

CNNMoney: FAA can regulate drones http://lnkd.in/dX2iKEH

Continue reading “FUTURISM UPDATE (November 20, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon” »

By Ben Coxworth — Gizmag

Four years ago, we first heard about how Korean scientists had proposed using sound to charge mobile phones. They explained that it could be done via a piezoelectric effect, in which zinc oxide nanowires converted sound-caused vibrations into electricity. At the time, the researchers couldn’t generate enough of a current to actually charge a phone. Now, however, scientists from Nokia and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have succeeded in doing so.

Like the Korean team, the Nokia/QMUL researchers utilized zinc oxide, in the form of a sheet of tiny nanorods. As is the case with other piezoelectric materials, zinc oxide produces an electrical current when subjected to mechanical stress. The nanorods will actually bend in response to sound waves, creating that stress in the process.

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