Global 5G Deal Poses Significant Threat To Weather Forecast Accuracy
A long-awaited international deal governing how the world’s technology companies should roll out 5G technology poses serious risks to weather forecast accuracy, according to data from federal agencies and the World Meteorological Organization.
How A Group Of Citizens Revived A British Era Lake In India
The lake was built by the British for irrigating nearby farmlands. But gradually it became a dumpsite for Salem’s municipal solid waste. In 2010 the Salem Citizen’s Forum (SCF) took over the work of cleaning the lake. Using the silt of the lake, the SCF created 45 small islands.
Tim Westergren, Digital Radio Pioneer, Returns To Break The Music Industrial Complex
Disillusioned after leaving Pandora, Tim Westergren set out to create a better kind of streaming platform. His new Sessions app helps musicians get paid. Can he save struggling artists while redeeming himself?
Rising Tides, Troubled Waters: The Future Of Our Ocean
Ninety percent of the large fish that were here in the 1950s are now gone. One metric ton of plastic enters the ocean every four seconds. But the biggest problem, thanks largely to our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels, is that the ocean is heating up fast.
Google And Amazon Are Now In The Oil Business
Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have been very vocal about their efforts to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. But as The Wall Street Journal has reported, these same companies are currently teaming up with fossil fuel industry to help them squeeze as much oil and gas out of the ground as possible.
Can We Terraform The Sahara To Stop Climate Change?
We are going to examine the feasibility and effect of afforestation in the two largest subtropical deserts in the world, the Sahara and the Australian outback. These are the perfect candidates for afforestation, neither have large competing human populations, agricultural activity, or large natural animal and plant populations.
The Display Of The Future Might Be In Your Contact Lens
As my eyes flitted around the room, I moved through a virtual interface only visible to me—scrolling through a calendar, looking up commute times home, and even controlling music playback. It’s all I theoretically need to do to use Mojo Lens, a smart contact lens coming from a company called Mojo Vision.
Credit Card Companies Are Tracking Shoppers Like Never Before
Transactions have given rise to a complex data-selling ecosystem. At the heart of it are credit card processing networks, including Visa, American Express, and Mastercard, the latter of which took in $4.1 billion in 2019 for services that include marketing analytics as well as fraud detection.
The History Of CTRL + ALT + DELETE
In 2013, Bill Gates admitted ctrl+alt+del was a mistake and blamed IBM. With the del key across the keyboard from the other two, it seemed unlikely that all three would be accidentally pressed at the same time. Here’s the story of how the key combination became famous in the first place.
One Of The Country’s Largest Utilities Is A Fiery Mess. How Can California Fix It?
For the last 150 years, Pacific Gas & Electric has been playing political hardball to maintain its monopoly over California’s electricity. Last year, a PG&E power line ignited the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history.
Can Computers Ever Replace The Classroom?
Derek Haoyang Li is the founder of Squirrel AI, an education company that offers tutoring delivered in part by humans, but mostly by smart machines, which he says will transform education as we know it. Other entrepreneurs are making similarly extravagant claims about the power of online learning.
Ed Smith And The Imagination Machine: The Untold Story Of A Black Video Game Pioneer
Thirty-seven years ago, New York-based APF Electronics, Inc. released The Imagination Machine. APF’s playful computer never rivaled the impact of products from Apple or Atari, but they remain historically important because of the man who co-created them: Ed Smith, one of the first African-American electronics engineers in the video game industry.
Thirty-seven years ago, New York-based APF Electronics, Inc. released The Imagination Machine. APF’s playful computer never rivaled the impact of products from Apple or Atari, but they remain historically important because of the man who co-created them: Ed Smith, one of the first African-American electronics engineers in the video game industry.
Synthetic Media: The Real Trouble With Deepfakes
Keeping on top of manipulated videos and images is no easy feat. Scientists trace the roots of their proliferation, dig up new techniques to counter digital forgeries and warn of the growing dangers ahead.
The Doomsday Invention: Will Artificial Intelligence Bring Us Utopia Or Destruction?
Philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that true artificial intelligence, if it is realized, might pose a danger that exceeds every previous threat from technology—even nuclear weapons—and that if its development is not managed carefully humanity risks engineering its own extinction.
Speedgate, The Sport Invented By Artificial Intelligence
A team of designers in Portland, Oregon, tasked their artificial intelligence system with building a new team sport for us humans. The result of that pet project, Speedgate, is being heralded as the first viable AI-created field game. It has since become an indie sports phenomenon, with proposed leagues in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Kudos, Leaderboards, QOMs: How Fitness App Strava Became A Religion
Strava is a fitness and sports tracking platform that launched in 2009 and bills itself the “number one app for runners and cyclists”. The app offers community, training data and motivation to millions of athletes. Even runners who dislike tech can’t bear to be without it.
Silicon Valley’s #MeToo Moment Didn’t Change Anything
Despite tech’s reckoning with equality over the past few years, the industry’s storied history of inequality carries on. A small sampling: Only 11% of executive positions in Silicon Valley are held by women, and women make up only 9% of partners at the top 100 venture capital firms.
Under The Darkest Sky
Today, 40 percent of oil and gas rigs working in the United States are located on what is known as the Permian Basin, a vast oil reserve covering 75,000 square miles in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. A movement is forming to protect the night sky from light pollution given off by the drilling operations.
What’s Creating Thousands Of Craters Off The California Coast?
Just off the coast of California, thousands of craterlike depressions, some as big as buses, dot the seafloor. These “micro depressions” are roughly 10 meters across and 1 meter deep—and nearly one-third of them contain garbage.
The Most Common Airbnb Scams Worldwide
Scammers all over the world have figured how best to game the Airbnb platform: by engaging in bait and switches; charging guests for fake damages; persuading people to pay outside the Airbnb app, and engaging in clumsy or threatening demands for five-star reviews to hide the evidence of what they’ve done.
Documenting Life On India’s Disappearing Islands
Photographer Sushavan Nandy experienced the devastating effects of flooding first hand, as a child living in Jalpaiguri in North Bengal, India. This project shows the disruptive effects of climate change and flooding on individual lives.