These ‘Terminator’-Style Robots Look Fascinating, But Raise the Question of Having A.I. Selecting Targets to Kill on Their Own

DARPA revealed upgrades to its Atlas robot on Jan. 20. The robot was redesigned for DARPA by Boston Dynamics, with the goal of improving power efficiency to better support battery operation. Approximately 75 percent of the robot was rebuilt; only the lower legs and feet were carried over from the original design. The upgraded robot will be used by up to seven teams competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, which will take place June 5-6 at Fairplex in Pomona, California. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.

Source: DARPAtv

New Wearable Brain Scanner Could Lead to Major Medical Breakthroughs

A team of scientists is currently developing a portable, wearable brain scanner that has the potential to lead to major breakthroughs in the medical field.

Current positron emission tomography (PET) scanners are large, bulky machines often used to detect cancer and measure the effects of certain cancer treatments.

They also can monitor blood flow to the heart, search for signs of coronary artery disease and much more.

PET scans give doctors and scientists a crucial look at the way our brains function, but the massive device hasn’t been able to reach its full potential.

There is currently no way for patients or test subjects to participate in physical activities while also undergoing a PET scan.

The new wearable version of the device is on the brink of changing that forever.

The helmet-like PET scanners are still very bulky, but they are portable enough to allow subjects to be active while wearing it.

“Every social experiment that has been done [in a brain scanner] is an artificially contrived experiment,” said Julie Brefczynski-Lewis, a neuroscientist at West Virginia University and one of the scientists leading the project, according to Live Science. “Here, you actually see what people are doing when they’re embarrassed, when they’re laughing, when they’re crying.”

That, researchers believe, could allow them to garner a better understanding of healthy brain functions and even provide more knowledge about neurological disorders like dementia, stroke and depression.

The possibilities of the wearable brain scanner concept, which was patented by Stan Majewski, got a lot of attention in the science community.

Brefczynski-Lewis and others then came together and teamed up with Majewski to start working on a prototype.

Building a wearable brain scanner is an expensive process, but funding for the project was made possible through the president’s BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative.

The National Institutes of Health awarded the research team $1.5 million through the initiative.

Some of the new possibilities with such a device would be the ability of researchers to monitor the brain of an autistic person in a social situation or monitor a stroke patient’s brain during rehab exercises.

Early testing with the prototype revealed that it is working efficiently, but not producing the type of quality results the researchers would want it to.

Studies on a “fake brain” revealed that while the device worked, the images it provided were fuzzier than they would be on the typical PET images.

As the team continues to try and improve the scanner’s results, the wearable scanners could make their medical debut soon.

 

Google ‘Nova’ Rumors Suggest the Tech Giant Could Become New Wireless Carrier This Year

Google mobile carrier

Recent reports have surfaced that suggest Google is well on its way to becoming a major mobile carrier and even further expanding its reach into the telecommunications market.

Google is one tech giant that has done it all over the years, including helping consumers find answers to the embarrassing questions they didn’t want to ask their friends, taking over the largest video-sharing platform to help spread the joy of cat videos through YouTube, making geology class a little more bearable with Google Earth and challenging discussions of privacy in America with the development of Google Glass.

With self-driving cars and futuristic glucose-level tracking contact lenses also in development, Google has always been the tech giant with amazing tricks up its sleeve.

Now, Google is allegedly preparing for a mobile carrier takeover.

According to a report by The Information, Google could soon be selling mobile phone plans directly to consumers thanks to project “Nova,” which is supposed to be headed by Nick Fox, the vice president of product development at Google.

The report claims that Google will essentially be teaming up with Sprint and T-Mobile in order to bring “Nova” to life and become a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).

The plan, allegedly, is for Google to buy space on Sprint and T-Mobile airwaves and then sell its own packages directly to consumers.

It’s essentially the same business model behind other MVNOs like Virgin Mobile and Straight Talk. The difference here, however, is that “Nova” would be taking advantage of two mobile carriers’ airwaves as opposed to the one that most MVNOs have access to.

In other words, the idea itself is not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but it is certainly a big move on Google’s behalf.

Other reports also hinted that Google, in its true innovative fashion, is developing new communication apps to work on the Nova network.

If the rumors are true, Google is on schedule to launch the new services later this year.

Microsoft’s HoloLens to Make It Possible for Scientists to Walk Around on Mars From the Comfort of Their Offices

Scientists explore Mars through headset

Microsoft’s latest collaboration with NASA will give scientists the ability to explore Mars without actually stepping foot on the Red Planet.

While many people assumed the future of space exploration involved getting more astronauts to land on other planets, Microsoft’s HoloLens has opened the door for virtual space exploration.

The HoloLens headset makes the most out of 3-D simulations and virtual environment projections to create a detailed holographic image of Mars.

NASA’s Pasadena, California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing the new platform called OnSight, and the developers are hopeful that the new device could significantly accelerate space exploration.

“OnSight gives our rover scientists the ability to walk around and explore Mars right from their offices,” Dave Lavery, program executive of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, explained in a press release.

With NASA’s help, the HoloLens will go beyond creating your average Mars look-a-like.

Instead, the device will use actual images and data from NASA’s Curiosity rover.

This means the researchers will also be able to see live readings and data come in over the headset as well as getting a live, virtual look at the planet.

As they explore the planet, the scientists will also be able to assign activities for the rover to complete and see simulations of what the results will likely be.

The project is truly extending the possibilities of the HoloLens, which many tech-lovers anxiously awaited for gaming purposes or for better ways to interact with loved ones from miles away.

If OnSight proves to be successful, the headset will be much more than a breakthrough in communication and entertainment; it would pioneer the future of remote space exploration.

“Previously, our Mars explorers have been stuck on one side of a computer screen,” said Jeff Norris, the OnSight project manager. “This tool gives them the ability to explore the rover’s surroundings much as an Earth geologist would do field work here on our planet.”

Later this year, NASA plans to use the OnSight technology for multiple rover operations and embark on a remote Curiosity mission.

 

Beyond the Flying Car: 10 Futuristic Modes of Transportation Everyone Should Know About

Futuristic transportation

 

the Space elevator

The Space Elevator

There was once a time when having the first man step foot on the moon was a daunting task and one that many people thought was certainly impossible. Now that several men and women have boldly gone where so few have ever gone before, engineers have their sights set on the future — an elevator to space. LiftPort Group, headed by former NASA researcher Michael Laine, said it could build an elevator to the moon using technology that is already available. With another Japan-based company making the same claim, one can only wonder if the next great space race will be a race to build the first elevator into outer space.

orbital maglev

Orbital Maglev

This transit system literally takes other public transportation out of this world. It would essentially be a rail system in space and allow riders to travel freely from outer space back to Earth. With the idea of “space tourism” becoming a hot trend for researchers, the idea is an interesting one. Based on today’s technology, however, it will be quite some time before the expensive project is ever brought to life.

New Generation of 13-Inch Laptops Are Pushing Battery Life to New Limits

two day battery life in laptops

In today’s fast-paced society, it’s hard to find a professional of any kind who doesn’t have a laptop he or she totes around on a daily basis.

Even on their off days, many professionals are always expected to be plugged in and somehow connected to their work, hence the importance of a laptop with battery life that can hang in for the long haul.

It’s also why the tech-savvy, the white-collar workers, the emerging entrepreneurs and the dedicated students are praising the arrival of the “two-day laptop battery.”

Battery life has always been a major selling point for today’s electronics, and, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Geoffrey A. Fowler, consumers can finally get their hands on laptops that will allow them to complete two full days of work without ever reaching for a charger.

Fowler tested four of the latest 13-inch laptops that boast impressive battery life when compared to their competition.

He put the Acer Aspire S7-393, the Apple MacBook Air 13, the Dell XPS 13 with a power companion and the Lenovo Thinkpad X250 with the additional 68+ battery through three separate tests.

One test focused on running video throughout the day. Another focused on more simple digital content and the daily web surfing of the average consumer. The last test was a more rounded approach where he took each of the laptops with him and used them throughout his daily life.

Test results from battery life test

Two quickly emerged as leaders in the tech world when it comes to digital stamina.

After putting the laptops through a variety of different tests, Fowler found that the Dell XPS 13 with its additional power companion and the Lenovo Thinkpad X250 with an extra-large removable battery outperformed the competition by a long shot.

Both laptops soared past the 15-hour battery mark and the Lenovo Thinkpad X250 even found its way into the 20-plus hour territory.

If you take away the external battery help that both laptops offer in exchange for some extra cash, Fowler says the Dell XPS 13 is actually the laptop to look out for this year.

Without the external battery, the Dell laptop’s battery life reached an impressive 12 hours, and it accomplished this with a cheaper price tag and less weight than its competitors.

In other words, the small, lightweight laptop hosts an incredibly impressive battery for its size. Since laptops are meant for those who are constantly on the go, exchanging a few hours of battery life for overall convenience could be in a consumers’ best interest.

Some consumers may be asking just how are laptop batteries packing more juice without making laptops any heavier or larger.

Fowler explains that it’s all made possible thanks to better processors.

“The latest models from Acer, Dell and Lenovo contain a new kind of processor from Intel, 5th Generation Core, that adds about 90 minutes of battery life, compared with last year’s laptops,” he reported. “And older models, like the current MacBook Air, contain last-generation Intel chips that still provided a massive 50 percent battery boost over anything from early 2013 or before.”

These processors have become more efficient at shutting down nonessential functions when users don’t need them.

“Why be ready to crunch the numbers to render 3-D imagery when all you’re doing is scanning top-10 lists of cats,” Fowler asks in his review of the laptops.

Processors aren’t the only difference that’s boosting battery life either.

It also comes down to the size and brightness of the screens, whether or not the display is high-resolution and, of course, watt hours — the basic units used for measuring battery capacity.

So without the external batteries, which will cost tech shoppers roughly another $100, the laptops didn’t quite last an entire two days of work.

With these new lightweight external battery plug-ins, however, it can be possible for traveling laptop users to get the most out of their devices for roughly two days, even if they left their chargers at home.