Google Expanding its Driverless Car Program.

Google had a (not very well-kept) secret when it unveiled its experimental self-driving car: that first example you saw was just a mockup that lacked many of the basics. At last, however, the internet giant has unveiled a complete prototype of the car that has everything it needs to hit the road, including the autonomous driving system and typical mechanical parts like braking, lighting and steering. Yes, it still looks like a koala on wheels, but this motorized marsupial is now ready to hit the test track.

The company is bringing "a few" of the prototype autonomous vehicles to Austin, Texas within the next few weeks. They'll stick to the same northern parts of the city as the modified Lexus SUVs do today, so don't expect to see one parked outside of Stubb's BBQ any time soon. Still, this is a rare chance to see Google's robotic ride outside of its native habitat -- so long as you aren't trying any fancy bike tricks, you're in for a treat.

Credits:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/31/google-self-driving-car-in-austin/

http://www.cnet.com/videos/google-unveils-their-first-self-driving-car/

A Qwerty Keyboard for Your Phone or Tablet

Typing with your thumbs on a smart phone or tablet is a pain. It's inefficient and it's slow. So seeing a need, LG has launched the first “rollable” keyboard for mobile devices, one where users can fold into a stick and carry it in their pocket or bag. Unlike other portable keyboards on the market, LG’s Rolly Keyboard (model KBB-700) folds up along the four rows to create an easy-to-carry “stick” that fits into one’s pocket as easily as any purse or briefcase.

Featuring high-contrast keys and a fold-out mobile device stand, typing on Rolly Keyboard is extremely comfortable because its 17mm key pitch is nearly as generous as the 18mm key pitch found on most desktop keyboards. Made of impact-resistant and durable polycarbonate and ABS plastic, typing on the keyboard offers satisfying tactile feedback not found on flexible silicone keyboards. Two sturdy arms fold out to support smartphones as well as tablets 1 in an upright position. Simply unfolding the Rolly Keyboard enables the auto pairing function to connect easily to two different devices at the same time via Bluetooth 3.0 with the ability to toggle between the two with a simple key press. A single AAA battery powers the keyboard for up to three months of average use.

Credits:
http://www.lgnewsroom.com/2015/08/lg-develops-full-size-keyboard-for-pockets/

Austrialia Uses High Tech to Track Honeybees

Since January 2014, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has been using (radio-frequency identification) RFID tags to track bees. These tiny chips monitor the movements of the bees, with a view toward finding out where the insects go, and what role those places may play in colony collapse disorder, the mysterious phenomenon of disappearing bees. Today, US-based tech company Intel and the CSIRO have announced a partnership, using Intel's Edison postage stamp-sized Breakout Board Kit computer, originally designed with wearable technology in mind, to help monitor the bees. 

Researchers have strong suspicions about what causes colony collapse, which is a massive problem in food production, since bees are so integral to plant pollination. Proposed causes include pesticides, fungicides and miticides, as well as diseases and parasites, loss of genetic diversity through breeding or genetically modified crops. But it's difficult to pin down what the exact causes are. By tracking where the bees go, researchers hope to gain some insight into what environments the bees are exposed to. To date, more than 15,000 bees in Tasmania, Australia, as well as the Brazilian Amazon in partnership with the Vale Institute of Technology, have been tagged with tiny RFID backpacks.

Link to the video.

Credits: 
http://www.cnet.com/news/intels-edison-joins-the-quest-to-save-the-bees/

Go Jek -- An App to defeat traffic in Jakarta

Uber is great; so is Lyft. But what if traffic is so bad, an entire city is nearly gridlocked? In Jakarta, there is an app with a solution to this problem. While motorcycle taxis, known locally as ojek, have long been a popular form of transport in Jakarta, Go-Jek is the first attempt to introduce a hi-tech booking system and guaranteed service standards. Outside of Go-Jek, ojek riders congregate on street corners, and are not officially registered. Payments have to be made in cash, and prices are a matter of negotiation. By contract, Go-Jek recruits and trains its staff, who get uniforms, helmets, and a smart phone on which they manage their pick ups.

The brainchild of 30-year-old Indonesian entrepreneur Nadiem Makarim, the Go-Jek app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since the service launched in Jakarta at the start of this year. He also decided that passengers would like to see an increased level of trust and accountability. Therefore the app allows customers to see the distance to their destination, and calculate the exact cost of the journey. For each kilometre (0.6 miles) travelled with Go-Jek, customers are charged 4,000 rupiah (29 cents; 20p).

Windows 95 turns 20 Years Old

Windows 10 was recently released by Microsoft. Many tech analysts feel this software could determine the success or failure of the tech giant. Most reviewers think Windows 10 is a significant improvement to Windows 8. Twenty years ago today, people were lining up at CompUSA or Best Buy at midnight. It wasn’t a new Call of Duty game, Apple’s latest iPod, or any type of hardware at all that shoppers were waiting for. It was software, and not just any software: Windows 95.

Microsoft’s Windows 95 release on August 24th, 1995 was a highly anticipated launch. Jay Leno helped launch the software alongside Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, with a lot of jokes and the appearance of the entire Windows 95 development team on stage. It was a huge day for Microsoft with TV commercials blasting the Rolling Stones’ "Start Me Up" with images of the new Start button that we still (just about) use today. Microsoft even hired Jennifer Anniston and Matthew Perry to create an hour-long cyber sitcom all about Windows 95, and the software was so popular that 7 million copies were sold during the first five weeks.

Windows 95 Ad

Windows 95 Kickoff with Execs dancing to the Rolling Stones

Tile Keeps Track of the Stuff You Lose

Tired of losing your keys or other important objects? You could always check out Tile, especially now that the makers of the popular location-tracking dongle have upgraded to a new second-generation version. The new version is still called Tile and it's the same size. But comes with a few new features designed to help you track down missing items. First, Tile will now emit a noise that's approximately three times as loud as the first-generation device. So, suppose you can't find your car keys (that have said Tile attached to them). Since you've already paired it to your iOS or Android device, you pull up the app on your smartphone and tap a button, which will cause your tile to emit a loud noise if your keys are within range. Simple as that.

If you have your keys but not your phone, meanwhile, you can tap your Tile to cause your smartphone to emit a noise. Tile has updated its Web app to allow you to start hunting for your phone or Tile dongle that way as well. A new crowd-sourced search feature will also conscript other Tile users to help hunt for your Tile-linked smartphone (or Tile dongle), if you can't find them. If someone in the Tile community detects that your device is near them, you'll get a notification as to where it might be. The user who helped you won't have any idea that they played any part in your hunt—so, no, they aren't going to find your smartphone or keys before you get to them (at least, not because they also use Tile).

Top Emojis by State

America — land of the free, home of the brave — loves its emojis. Nearly 74% of Americans report using an emoji every single day. Now we have the U.S. Emoji Report to break down exactly which emojis are the most popular in each state, according to a study by SwiftKey. The company dug into its data and analyzed more than a billion aggregate emojis to learn how people use them across the U.S.

Top highlights:

• Arkansas - #1 for the boar emoji (Univ. of Arkansas’ mascot is the Razorbacks) 
• California - ranks highly for taxi emoji (Uber and Lyft founded here)
        -- Also ranks high for sushi, ramen, lemon, sunset and bike 
• Hawaii - #1 for everything you would expect (surfing, rainbows, waves, pineapples, volcano) - interestingly, it’s also #1 for the basketball 
• Iowa - #1 for corn (sadly not Nebraska as the cornhusker state, but it’s next door! And Nebraska uses the corn often as well) 
• Maine - #1 for volcanoes (Maine has SUPERvolcanoes- among world’s biggest!) 
• Missouri - ranks highly for cops 
• One of Nevada’s top emoji is interestingly the angel emoji 
• New York - #1 for Statue of Liberty emoji

Which state uses the most / least…? 

• Happy emoji: South Dakota 
• Sad emoji: New Jersey 
• Violent emoji: Louisiana
  Least Violent : Montana 
• Wedding emoji: Idaho
  Least Weddings : Vermont 
• Junk food emoji: Oregon
  Least: Mississippi 
• Tech emoji: Kansas
  Least: North Dakota 
• Religious emoji: Arkansas
  Least: Wyoming 
• Sports emoji: Delaware
  Least: Alaska

SwiftKey aggregated data from people who’ve downloaded their very popular keyboard app(s) and ran the findings into a Javascript program. If you go to SwiftKey’s website, you’ll see that clicking on each location shows you a selection of the emoji that state uses more than any other state. (There are a few other options to explore, too.) It’s also unclear if those are ranked or extracted in real time. Either way, the static map appears to just show you a different most popular emoji for each state. That makes for fun “Can you believe Pennsylvania loves cherries so much?!” blog posts. It’s hardly sound data science, however.

Credits:
http://fortune.com/2015/08/19/most-used-emoji-per-state/

Facebook Intern Fired for Exposing Data Breach

Remember the magical Marauder’s Map from the Harry Potter books that reveal the whereabouts of characters as they roam classrooms and the halls of Hogwarts school? A student developer, Aran Khanna from Harvard University, has created a Chrome extension that works similar and also named it Marauder’s Map. The extension that allows you to watch every footstep of your Facebook friends by grabbing location data from Facebook Messenger and rapidly plotting your friends’ locations on a map. We all are aware that Facebook shares our location data with our friends, however, what we probably aren’t aware of the accuracy of that data and easiness of extracting that data from the messaging service.

However, Khanna was supposed to intern at the tech giant this summer. After releasing his app which used Facebooks public data and describing on his blog how to use this data, Facebook withdrew it's offer of employment.

Facebook told him that “the extension violated the Facebook user agreement by "scraping" the site”. According to Khanna, Facebook had issues with him for sharing the whole story stepwise on his blog and code describing how Facebook collected and shared users' geolocation data. He emphasized, “the main problem is that every time you open your phone and send a single message it is so easy to forget about your location data being attached to it. Furthermore, it seems so harmless to assign a location with a single message, but the problem is over time the information from these messages adds up”. The users never came to know the real meaning of ‘By Default’. His primary concern over writing the code was to make people aware and the importance of the degree of private data being open to the world. Lastly, being portrayed as the villain of the whole story, Facebook updated its privacy policy and fired him.

Credits:
http://thehackernews.com/2015/08/facebook-fired-intern.html

Watson Gets Eyes

Watson is a computer built by IBM which "learns" as it experiences the world. In 2011, it famously defeated two Jeopardy Champions, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. According to IBM, "Watson is built to mirror the same learning process that we have—through the power of cognition. What drives this process is a common cognitive framework that humans use to inform their decisions: Observe, Interpret, Evaluate, and Decide." The event on TV was kind of a gimmick, but since then, IBM has built an entire unit around Watson, and this spring began offering the might of the cloud-connected cognitive computer to the healthcare industry through the Watson Health service and the Watson Health Cloud platform.

Last week IBM announced a $1 billion deal to acquire Merge Health, a provider of enterprise imaging and clinical system, with the goal of giving the supercomputer "eyes." The incorporation of Merge into Watson Health will give medical professionals the ability to leverage Watson for assistance with analyzing X-rays, MRIs, angiograms, electrocardiograms, and other medical images to spot anomalies and support their diagnoses, an IBM spokesperson said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by IBM Watson Health's Christine Douglass.

Credits: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/IBM-to-Buy-Watson-a-Pair-of-Eyes-82360.html

New solution to walking

"WalkCar" is the world smallest electric vehicle, which can be carried around in a backpack. Just lean your body toward destination you like, you can operate WalkCar. It's similar to a Segway Scooter. As small as laptop PC, the device can be brought readily, and help you move anytime and anywhere. The company Cocoa Motors is set to launch the new personal transportation device this October via Kickstarter. The lightweight aluminum board is approximately the size of a laptop and can carry loads of up to 120 kilograms.

The device works similarly to the bulkier two-wheeled Segway device, with the user shifting their weight to change direction. Stepping onto the board starts it automatically and disembarking immediately stops the motion. According to Cocoa Motors, three hours of charging provides enough power for travelling distances of up to 12 kilometres (7.4 miles). WalkCar is set to launch on crowdfunding website Kickstarter in October 2015, with a price tag of around $600 and shipping is expected in Spring 2016.



Credits
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Gadget-Ogling-Smart-Rings-Breathalyzing-Bike-Locks-and-Laptop-Sized-Transports-82382.html

LA adds 96 million balls to resevoirs

Reports of mysterious "shade balls" in Los Angeles reservoirs have been bobbing to the surface. But the black plastic spheres are there for a reason. Partially filled with water, they are now floating in Los Angeles reservoirs by the millions as part of a $34 million project to protect the region's water supply from contaminants and evaporation. The plan is expected to save the city $250 million, compared with other available plans

The idea was developed by a former biologist with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, who was inspired by the use of similar balls to keep birds from landing in ponds along airplane runways. The balls cost 36 cents each to make and are now floating on the surface of four reservoirs in the Los Angeles area, including 96 million on the Los Angeles Reservoir alone. Pure black carbon gives the balls their color after being added to the plastic to absorb UV rays. That prevents sunlight from penetrating the plastic and getting to either the water inside the balls or beneath them. A lighter-colored ball may allow sunlight to pass through into the water, rendering it ineffective, said Sydney Chase, who owns shade ball manufacturer XavierC, one of the suppliers involved in the project.




Credits:
https://gma.yahoo.com/los-angeles-reservoir-covered-96-million-shade-balls-203506517--abc-news-topstories.html

Cars can now be hacked by texting

Your car has on average 37 different computers inside them -- many of which can be hacked. Inside your car, little plastic boxes (OBD-II) promise to connect your car to the web, help drivers boost their fuel usage, and even lower insurance rates by reporting driving habits wirelessly to insurance companies. But some of these boxes can leave cars vulnerable to hacking, according to digital security researchers at the University of California at San Diego.

To illustrate, Wired reports, the researchers equipped a Chevrolet Corvette with one of these driver-monitoring telematics boxes and were able to take control of the vehicle using little more than SMS instructions sent to a specific phone number. The researchers were able to activate the wipers, engage the brakes and even disable the brakes at low speed. You can see the results in the video below. This method of attack emerges amid heightened anxiety over hacks on Jeep, Tesla and OnStar. While those hacks targeted the dashboard entertainment system to make the jump to remote control of vehicle systems, by attacking the OBD-II dongle, the researchers gained direct access to the vehicle's electronic brain to commit acts of mischief. And the problem isn't limited to the Corvette; the researchers warn that any vehicle equipped with an insecure telematics dongle may be at risk.



Credits:

http://www.cnet.com/news/researchers-hack-a-corvettes-brakes-via-insurance-black-box/#ftag=CAD590a51e