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After Math: We're on our own
It has not been a proud week for America, what with the current administration randomly deciding to remove us as signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement and all. Luckily, the United States is still a nation of self-starters and problem-solvers who are willing to stand up, as 100 cities and six states across the country did on Thursday, and pledge to tackle climate change themselves -- with or without help from the Feds. They're not the only ones, researchers from Keio University have developed a pair of robotic arms to help their user out when nobody else is around while a team from Harvard University showed off robotic shorts that make you run faster. Numbers, because how else would you know which is the loneliest one?
We're not getting Luke Skywalker's prosthetics any time soon
In 1937, robot hobbyist "Bill" Griffith P. Taylor of Toronto invented the world's first industrial robot. It was a crude machine, dubbed the Robot Gargantua (PDF, Pg 172) by its creator. The crane-like device was powered by a single electric motor and controlled via punched paper tape, which threw a series of switches controlling each of the machine's five axes of movement. Still, it could stack wooden blocks in preprogrammed patterns, an accomplishment that Meccano Magazine, an English monthly hobby magazine from the era, hailed as "a Wells-ian vision of 'Things to Come' in which human labor will not be necessary in building up the creations of architects and engineers."
After Math: Big Business
It's been a bumper week for corporate America. Apple pledged a billion dollars to support US manufacturing jobs, Facebook announced it's closing in on two billion users and Valve let on that it receives 75,000 complaints every day. Every. Day. Numbers, because how else are the books going to get cooked?
Concentrates are the future of cannabis
The cannabis industry is in the midst of an unprecedented renaissance. Strains are stronger, consumption methods more numerous and availability greater than ever before. Medical-grade marijuana now averages around 20 percent THC -- a threefold increase from the "hippie weed" your parents toked back in the '60s. Smoking has been usurped by vaping and edibles as the preferred dosing methods, making the concentrates and oils more valuable commodities than the flowers they're derived from. The good times certainly are rolling, but how long can we keep up this relentless march toward pure THC distillate?
LinkedIn tries to be your tech news source with 'Trending Storylines'
Most every social network offers a news aggregation service to help keep its users abreast of what's happening in the world around them. However, many of these feeds (looking at you Twitter and Facebook) tend to devolve into echo chambers as users both consciously and unconsciously filter out dissenting opinions. On Wednesday, LinkedIn announced that it is debuting its own aggregation service, dubbed "Trending Storylines", which aims to help members of its community break out of their respective bubbles and find more diverse news sources.
Daimler is going all-electric with 'Smart' cars in North America
Smart, a subsidiary of Daimler AG, announced on Tuesday that starting in 2018 all of its vehicles sold in North America will be of the electric variety. The company plans to stop selling the gas-powered Fortwo and Fortwo Cabrio in the US and Canada at the end of the 2017 model year.
FCC halts nine companies from participating in the 'Lifeline' program
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced on Friday that the FCC will not let nine companies participate in the federal Lifeline program, which provides low-cost internet connectivity for some of America's lowest-income households. This decision comes just weeks after Pai's democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler, had granted the companies permission.
After Math: Game over
This was a week of tremendous loss. America said goodbye to John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, Twitter accidentally murdered @-replies for a day, Fitbit cannibalized its new acquisition of Pebble and new studies suggest that robots are probably going to decimate retail jobs right after they finish working over those manufacturing and shipping positions. Numbers, because how else will you know how many survivors remain?
German Intel chief: Russia is trying to 'destabilize' the country
America's recent elections weren't the only event that Russia has been accused of meddling in. On Thursday, President Dr Hans-Georg Maaßen of the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), Germany's internal intelligence service, issued a brutally frank press release laying out the BfV's accusations against Russia.
The USS Zumwalt can't afford its own $800,000-per-round ammo
The USS Zumwalt, America's newest stealth destroyer packs some impressive firepower but there's just one problem: the US Navy can't afford the ammunition for the vessel's 155-millimeter Advanced Gun Systems. These weapons are designed to fire a GPS-guided shell, dubbed the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, up to 60 miles where it strikes with unprecedented accuracy. What's more, the Zumwalt can lob up to ten of these shells every minute. But while the LRLAPs are quite lethal, they're also ludicrously expensive at $800,000 a pop.
The Pax Era aims to be the Keurig of vaporizers
Out of all the ways to ingest THC, oil concentrates are far and away the messiest, stickiest and most irritating method. Unlike shatter, crumble or even wax, all of which maintain their shape and texture to some degree, oils have a knack for getting everywhere. It's especially tricky when you're trying to dribble minuscule amounts of oil into teensy Smurf-size cartridges used by mixed-media vapes (I'm looking at you, DaVinci Ascent). The new Era pen vape from Pax, however, solves that issue by taking a page out of the Keurig playbook and operating on a pod-based system.
US builds a $100 million African drone base to fight Boko Haram
The Department of Defense announced on Friday that it is investing $100 million in a drone base located in Agadez, in central Niger. The base will serve as a central surveillance hub in the fight against both Boko Haram and roaming militant groups linked to al Qaeda.
Julian Assange: I'll turn myself in if Chelsea Manning walks
America's most wanted hackers apparently think they've got some leverage over the US government. The ACLU last week began petitioning the Obama administration for a full pardon for Edward Snowden and, on Thursday, Julian Assange announced that he would willingly hand himself over to US authorities. But that's if, and only if, the Feds drop their court-martial conviction of Chelsea Manning.
New Snowden docs suggest Shadow Broker leak was real
On Monday, a group of hackers calling themselves the Shadow Broker put up a number of cyber-espionage tools reportedly stolen from NSA-associated hacking outfit, the Equation Group. Edward Snowden has already publicly speculated that the intrusion and theft was actually just another salvo in the ongoing Digital Cold War happening between the US and Russia. However, nobody was 100 percent certain that the tools for sale really were NSA property. Now, Snowden has released documentation to The Intercept that suggests the tools really are what the Shadow Brokers say they are.
US Navy to arm its submarines with 'Blackwing' spy drones
The Navy recently announced its plans to deploy an armada of stealthy spy drones from AeroVironment aboard its submarines and UUVs. Specifically, the Navy is going with the small-form "Blackwing" UAV, a four-pound flyer with a 20 inch wingspan that collapses down to fit into a 3-inch diameter launch tube. It will use its array of electro-optical and infrared sensors as well as its anti-spoofing GPS capability to act as the submersible's remote eyes and ears.
China wants to put a man on the moon by 2036
A senior Chinese official announced yet another ambitious plan for the space-faring nation at a press conference on Saturday. PLA Lt. Gen. Zhang Yulin -- who is also deputy commander of the China Manned Space Program -- told reporters that China plans to land an astronaut on the Moon by 2036. This announcement eclipses China's earlier claims that it will explore the dark side of the moon in 2018 and launch two new space stations (one this year, another in 2022). It already sent a rover to the moon in 2013. The country will reportedly use the next "15 to 20 years", according to Reuters, to build out the necessary infrastructure.
You can buy the Vive at brick and mortar stores this summer
HTC announced on Friday that its new VR headset, the Vive, will be available for sale both online and off come this summer. The company is partnering with Microsoft Stores in the US and Canada -- as well as Gamestop, but that's only in America -- to sell the devices in their retail locations.
Feds indict seven Iranians for hacking banks, NY state dam
Just days after accusing Syrian hackers of a wide range of crimes, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch unsealed an indictment against seven Iranian nationals on Wednesday, charging that the men launched dozens of denial of service attacks against targets beginning in 2011. These included the cybersystems of numerous US banks including JP Morgan, PNC and Capital One, as well as the NYSE and AT&T. They are even accused of trying to take control of a small dam in Rye, NY at one point.
Russia wants permission to fly a spy plane over the US
Russia requested permission on Monday to fly a surveillance plane equipped with an advanced electro-optical imaging sensor over the US, despite objections from American officials. Both the US and Russia are signatories on the Open Skies Treaty, an international agreement that allows for unarmed observation flights over the entirety of the 34 member nations. The treaty was originally designed to increase the military transparency of member nations. However the US is arguing that Russia is exploiting the spirit of the treaty by using such advanced technology.
Bipartisan education bill makes computer science a priority
Yesterday, the president signed a new education bill designed to replace the 13-year old No Child Left Behind act, reducing federal controls on state education systems -- but it does something else, too. The Ever Student Succeeds act places computer science on the same level as other "well-rounded" subjects. Coding and computer literacy is now just as important as math and science.
