Machine learning is starting to come online in all kinds of arenas lately, and the trend is likely to continue for the forseeable future. What was once only available for operators of supercomputers has found use among anyone with a reasonably powerful desktop computer. The downsizing isn’t stopping there, though, as Microsoft is pushing development
Read MoreAt a time when cryptocurrency was synonymous with blockchain technology, IOTA proposed a modification. IOTA, as its name would suggest, aspired to be a cryptocurrency for the future of Internet of Things (IoT). But its founders thought that the blockchain had “too sluggish transaction times and skyrocketing fees” to be able to power the world of connected
Read MoreYou may remember that earlier this year Leap Motion revealed Project North Star, a kind of open-source reference design for an Augmented Reality (AR) headset. While it’s not destined to make high scores in the fashion department, it aims to be hacker-friendly and boasts a large field of view. There’s also an attractive element of “what
Read MoreThis holiday period, Plugged is running a very special advent calendar. Over the course of 12 days, we’ll be sharing a selection of sweet, sweet deals. You can thank us later. We wanted to do something special for our final day of TNW’s advent. It is Christmas after all. So, on this magical day, we’re giving
Read MoreSure there are the occasional functional Christmas tree ornaments; we had one that plugged into the lights and was supposed to sound like a bird gently trilling its song, but was in fact so eardrum-piercing that we were forbidden from using it. But in general, ornaments are just supposed to be for looks, right? Not
Read MoreRaymond Zhong / New York Times: As Huawei comes under government scrutiny worldwide, a look at the company’s aggressive culture that encouraged employees to bend the rules, up to a point — SHENZHEN, China — Earthquakes, terrorist attacks and low oxygen levels on Mount Everest could not hold them back. As Huawei comes under government
Read MoreA Raspberry Pi Zero (W) and Arduino are very different animals, the prior has processing power and connectivity while the latter has some analog to digital converters (ADCs) and nearly real-time reactions. You can connect them to one another with a USB cable and for many projects that will happily wed the two. Beyond that,
Read MoreKaren Weise / New York Times: Rakuten: Amazon’s share of US online sales can dip to ~20% around Thanksgiving only to soar to ~50% before Christmas, as users trust Amazon to deliver on time — SEATTLE — Olivia Zimmermann started her holiday shopping early this year, buying a Bluetooth speaker from Best Buy for her
Read MoreWhen those first fat drops of summer rain fall to the hot, dry ground, have you ever noticed a distinctive odor? I have childhood memories of family members who were farmers describing how they could always “smell rain” right before a storm. Of course rain itself has no scent. But moments before a rain event,
Read MoreWe love a good drone build here at Hackaday, but no matter how much care is taken, exposed propellers are always a risk: you don’t have to look far on the web to see videos to prove it. Conventional prop-guards like those seen on consumer drones often only protect the side of the propeller, not
Read MoreAbrar Al-Heeti / CNET: Despite challenges in penetrating the US market, Huawei says it has shipped over 200M smartphones in 2018 globally, up from last year’s 153M units — Huawei has set a record for itself by shipping more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, the company said in a statement Sunday. Despite challenges in
Read MoreNeither snow nor rain nor political impasse can keep its defense satellites from trailing St. Nick and his reindeer on Christmas Eve. NORAD still tracking Santa despite government shutdown – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreDevin Coldewey / TechCrunch: Cloud Imperium, the developer of a yet-to-be fully launched space sim Star Citizen, raises $46M at a $460M valuation after crowdfunding $211M over six years — The story of the game Star Citizen and Cloud Imperium, the company developing it, is almost too ludicrous to believe … Cloud Imperium, the developer
Read MoreWe love IoT gadgets, but are occasionally concerned that they might allow access to the wrong kind of hacker. In this case, [Kevin] has created an IoT tree that allows anyone to control the pattern of lights, and he’s invited you to do so! We played with the tree a bit, and the web interface
Read MoreCommentary: Move over, Marvel. CNET’s Bonnie Burton explains why the new Aquaman movie made her a DC fan. Jason Momoa's Aquaman is the superhero the world needs right now – CNET Source: CNet
Read MorePatreon, a crowdfunding site for content creators, is facing a rebellion after its human moderators booted a creator who had violated its hate speech policy. Patreon Bars Anti-Feminist for Racist Speech, Inciting Revolt Source: NY Times Tech
Read MoreThe SpaceX CEO shares some surprising details about the materials being used to create his massive new rocket. Elon Musk shows off massive Mars 'Starship' prototype rocket – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreAlastair Marsh / Bloomberg: Crypto efforts of banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays are in limbo after bitcoin’s months-long fall and weak demand from institutional clients — Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and many more built it. But they didn’t come. — Limbo—that’s where to find Wall Street when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Crypto efforts
Read MoreAs the late screenwriting legend William Goldman famously said; “nobody knows anything” so predictions – especially about technology – always run the risk of making people look silly in the not-so-distant-future. That said, I’m going to go out on a limb and say in the next few years we’re going to see more people becoming
Read MoreA familiar spirit, or just a familiar, is a creature rumored to help people in the practice of magic. The moniker is perfect for Archimedes, the robot owl built by Alex Glow, which wields the Amazon AIY kit to react when it detects faces. A series of very interesting design choices a what really gives
Read MoreTech companies say consumers prefer being shown ads that are relevant to them. But a professor’s research shows they trade data for those ads not because of convenience but resignation. Advertising: Sharing Data for Deals? More Like Watching It Go With a Sigh Source: NY Times Tech
Read MoreHuawei shipped more smartphones than it ever has even as international tensions rise. Despite U.S. crackdown, Huawei ships a record 200 million smartphones Source: Washington Post Tech
Read MoreJustin Lynch / Fifth Domain: How a US shutdown affects its cybersecurity workforce: NIST among worst-hit agencies with 85% staff furloughed, DNI’s analysis and operations staff cut by 60% — America’s federal cybersecurity workforce will see sharp reductions if Congress fails to pass a spending bill to keep the government open … How a US
Read MoreBy just about any measure, Microsoft had a pretty good 2018. I have five suggestions on how CEO Satya Nadella and his teams can keep customers happy and make money in 2019. My Microsoft wish list for 2019 Source: ZDNet Microsoft
Read MoreKyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Temi, a startup that plans to officially launch its telepresence robot in January, raises a $21M Series B led by Alibaba’s ex-CTO, bringing total raised to $83M — Temi, a robotics startup headquartered in New York, is betting big on its eponymous Temi telepresence product — and it’s taking new investors
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