Gen Xers and boomers will remember the musical powerhouse that was Janet Jackson in the late 1980s. But now her music has been found to have a new power — it can crash laptops. This week Microsoft chief software engineer Raymond Chen shared the story of what happens when older Windows XP laptops play the music video for Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation.” Specifically, Chen recalls a colleague’s tale from Windows XP product support. An unnamed major computer manufacturer discovered that playing the video would crash certain models of laptops. Greetings, tech nerd! Are you into gadgets? And apps? And other cool tech stuff? Then this weekly newsletter is for you.
Europe has some of the most progressive, human-centric artificial intelligence governance policies in the world. Compared to the heavy-handed government oversight in China or the Wild West-style anything goes approach in the US, the EU’s strategy is designed to stoke academic and corporate innovation while also protecting private citizens from harm and overreach. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The 2018 initiative In 2018, the European Commission began its European AI Alliance initiative. The alliance exists so that various stakeholders can weigh-in and be heard as the EU considers its ongoing policies governing the development and deployment of AI technologies.
Late last week, the City ofNew York announced a revolutionary way to curb the problem of speeding using speed limiters. It’s not only a first for the city, but a massive upgrade on efforts rolled out this year in Europe. As part of a new six-month pilot program, 50 city fleet vehicles are fitted with active intelligent speed assistance (ISA), which restricts a vehicle’s maximum speed, preventing it from exceeding local speed limits. If successful, the City of New York will extend the initiative across the City’s entire 30,000 vehicle fleet, which includes fire engines, police cars, sanitation trucks, street pavers, and passenger vehicles, spread across 60 agencies.
There’s nothing quite so dramatic and inspirational as a scientific breakthrough. But what happens when different groups of scientists can’t seem to agree on the science? DeepMind, an Alphabet research company based in London, published a fascinating research paper last year wherein it claimed to have solved the huge challenge of “simulating matter on the quantum scale with AI.” Now, nearly eight months later, a group of academic researchers from Russia and South Korea may have uncovered a problem with the original research that places the paper’s entire conclusion in doubt. The implications for this cutting-edge research could be huge, if the paper’s conclusions are true.
Picture it. Using an app, you order a new mobile phone on Amazon or a burger from your favorite restaurant. A mere 20 minutes later, you get an alert on your phone and head out to the backyard to see a drone descending from the sky holding your package. Your package gently drops to the ground, and the drone flies off. And it’s being led by retail behemoths Amazon, Walmart, and a slew of food delivery companies. I spoke to industry insiders to get the state of play and see an industry evolving from nascent to the mainstream, but for regulatory restrictions.
Drone deliveries are hot right now. In the US, companies like Walmart and Amazon taking the lead. As well as the industry rollout, there’s a slew of innovation in technology and hardware solutions that augment and enhance the delivery experience. Let’s take a look. Dronedek drone docking stations I’ve raised the challenge of what I call “the last steps” to get the package to the customer. This especially becomes a challenge when they don’t have a backyard for easy drop-off. Hi there, EV nerd! Subscribe now for a weekly recap of our favorite mobility stories
In this series we examine some of the most popular doomsday scenarios prognosticated by modern AI experts. Previous articles include Misaligned Objectives, Artificial Stupidity, Wall-E Syndrome, Humanity Joins the Hivemind, and Killer Robots. We’ve covered a lot of ground in this series (see above), but nothing comes close to our next topic. The “democratization of expertise” might sound like a good thing — democracy, expertise, what’s not to like? But it’s our intent to convince you that it’s the single greatest AI-related threat our species faces by the time you finish reading this article.
The idea of a car that turns into a plane in three minutes sounds like a dream. Imagine you’re driving along during peak hour. You get an alert of incoming traffic and shapeshift into an aircraft that takes to the skies, overtaking commuter delays, toll bridges, and construction delays — suck it, gridlock! But the reality of the flying car (aka air car) is a lot less spontaneous and a lot less flexible. And I’m here to burst your bubble following the news of Samson Sky’s successful FAA inspection. This week, after 14 years of design, R&D, and fundraising, Samson Sky, creators of the Switchblade flying car, announced that after an inspection by an FAA agent, the vehicle successfully completed high-speed taxi testing and is ready to take flight.
Say you had millions of dollars to spend. If you’re an automotive enthusiast, perhaps you’d buy the latest Ferrari or a 1956 Aston Martin. But would you spend an exorbitant amount for a car you can’t physically drive? It may sound illogical, but research by Vanarama shows people are digging deep into their pockets to buy car-related NFTs. This means that they own the cars’ digital rendering (although anyone can view and download it), but they’ll never get to lay a single hand on the vehicle. In fact, as per the study, buyers are willing to pay even more for the NFT version than the actual car.
